Bodhisattva's Way of Life
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A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life (chodjug) at the request of a large group from Taiwan. | In order to view the webcasts you will need to use RealPlayer software.  |
Date : 24-June-2006 (Day 1)
| Morning Session | ||||
| Afternoon Session |
Achieving the very best for ourselves and others. This is
what the practice of Bodhichitta is for. His Holiness the Dalai Lama
begins his explanation of Shantideva's "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way
of Life" by stressing the virtuous power of Bodhichitta, the mind
seeking Buddhahood for the sake of all creatures. It is the
Bodhisattva's defining qualityand the entrance to the great path to enlightenment.
Before turning to Shantideva's text His Holiness dwells on the
dependently arisen nature of our happiness and suffering, showing by
way of Buddha's basic teaching of the four noble truths how both of
them are produced from causes under our control. By awakening from
ignorance to wisdom we can abandon behavior that leads to more
dissatisfaction and cultivate the path that leads to stable and abiding
happiness. Having found that path we can then develop the compassionate
and joyful determination to show it to our brother and sister sentient
beings. But, urges His Holiness, a human birth is rare and brief. It
must be put to the best use now, without delay or procrastination.
His Holiness extols the "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life"
as an inspiring condensed presentation of the way to our highest state
of evolution unequalled in India or Tibet. He explores the text as far
as verse 14, commenting on the title, the salutation, the promise of
composition, the purpose of composing and, in the body of the text,
entering on Shantideva's eloquent preliminary praises of the precious
Bodhichitta.
Date : 25-June-2006 (Day 2)
| Morning Session | ||||
| Afternoon Session |
In the morning's introductory remarks His
Holiness touches on the themes of impermanence and the non-material
nature of the mind. How is it that all things are continually passing
away in a ceaseless flux? From where does the ever-transforming stream
of mind emerge? He reminds us that all suffering arises from
self-grasping ignorance. We oppose that ignorance with the twin
essentials of the path, the wisdom of dependent arising and compassion.
Since the full practice of one needs an understanding of the other
which should be taught first?
Returning to Shantideva's opening chapter extolling the
all-encompassing meritorious power of Bodhichitta, with heartfelt
emotion His Holiness contrasts the destructive effects of
self-obsession with the unlimited benefits of the Bodhisattva's main
practice of cherishing others. He then illuminates Shantideva's
extended version of the seven-limb prayer with its stark description in
the confession section of the predicament of one who remains stuck in
the pain and stupidity of self-grasping.
Date : 26-June-2006 (Day 3)
| Morning Session | ||||
| Afternoon Session |
In his preliminary remark His Holiness the Dalai Lama first
draws attention to the multiplicity of levels and varieties of
teachings within Buddhism itself and identifies the qualities they
share with other worthy religions and paths of practice that have
appeared in the world. Then His Holiness shows what sets Buddhism apart
from those other paths, its rejection of a self-sufficient, independent
self, and then he demonstrates just how the wisdom of selflessness,
applied to persons and objects alike, will eradicate not just a
portion, but the whole spectrum of the disturbing emotions of
attachment and aversion.
His Holiness brings the week's uncommon glimpse into the radiant heart of conventional and ultimate Bodhichitta to a close by reciting the last Dedication chapter of Shantideva's Guide.
Presenting the remaining verses of Chapter 3 His Holiness whole
heartedly endorses Shantideva's commitment to Bodhichitta as the
supreme method for arousing conducive factors and eliminating
hindrances for ourselves and others.
Generating Bodhichitta is a daunting task but we have the precious
opportunity here and now. When shall we have it again? To remain any
longer under the sway of the disturbing emotions is a terrible fate.
Shantideva's eloquent reasoning in Chapter 4 and the first movement of
Chapter 5 and His Holiness's unassuming example of what it is to
vanquish the self are a uniquely inspiring and compelling combination.
Date : 27-June-2006 (Day 4)
| Morning Session | ||||
| Afternoon Session |
Maitreya in the "Sublime Continuum" and
Nagarjuna in the "Praise to Suchness" both make the challenging
assertion that primordial wisdom is present within delusion. Thus His
Holiness the Dalai Lam begins his discussion of the clear light level
of mind. The clear light nature is the subtlest possible level of mind.
His Holiness details some of the ygic feats someone with access to this
level of mind is capable of. It is what transforms into the enlightened
omniscient consciousness and it fashions the body of subtle form we
will also have on the Buddha ground. To actualize the Buddha potential
within most of us need to follow a gradual approach beginning with
study of texts such as the "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life".
His Holiness returns to the theme of vigilance
which is the subject of Chapter 5. Constant alertness is needed to
subdue the wild elephant of the mind and to train it in the ways of
Bodhichitta. Then His Holiness brings us to the challenge of dealing
with the great enemy of our own anger. This is the subject of Chapter
6, The Patience chapter, a radical tour de force in which Shantideva
shows how external enemies and the situations that provoke our anger
are a Bodhisattva"s best teachers, exposing the reality of ego-clinging
like no other
Date : 28-June-2006 (Day 5)
| Morning Session | ||||
| Afternoon Session | Break | Break | Break | Break |
Compassion, Bodhichitta and the wisdom
realizing dependent arising and emptiness: In a brief introduction to
the day's teachings His Holiness the Dalai Lama highlights these three
indispensable elements of the path to enlightenment, rarely presented
so vividly and persuasively as in the "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way
of Life".
His Holiness concludes Chapter 5, the chapter on
patience. Anger perpetuates the cycle of violence and suffering. The
practice of patience does not consist in weakly giving in to oppression
but in that which squarely opposes the chief oppressor, our own anger.
In Chapter 6, on enthusiastic perseverance, the obstacle is laziness,
the laziness of idleness, the laziness of being distracted by the mean
and trivial and lastly the laziness of putting oneself down.
Date : 29-June-2006 (Day 6)
His Holiness the Dalai Lama reflects on the
connotations of the Sanskrit word Dharma holding, protecting and
the equivalent Tibetan term chos bringing about
transformation. Major religions such as Christianity speak of the
protection afforded by closeness to a creator god while scientists see
transformation mainly in physical terms, so Buddhist notions of
protection and transformation are seen to be fruitfully different from
those of either theistic religion or materialistic science.
His Holiness then concludes his reading of the
chapter on enthusiastic perseverance. In the presence of His Holiness
and listening to Shantideva's radiant speech the heroic Bodhisattva
enterprise is no longer something far-off and improbably exalted. It
becomes something assured, manifest to our eyes and ears.
The profounder factors that complete the
Bodhisattva ideal are still to be detailed however. Chapter 8, Meditative Concentration, begins with the call to single-pointed
concentration. To achieve this state of blissful mental intensity all
samsaric indulgences must be withdrawn from and foregone, His Holiness
warns, as he gives his personal meditational instructions. With the
mind in this serviceable state the actual stages of meditation on
compassion and Bodhichitta can begin. The first is equalizing self and
others.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama begins the morning by
bestowing the Bodhisattva vows. Once we have determined to cultivate
Bodhichitta and do the Bodhisattva deeds it is appropriate to take at
least the vows of aspiring Bodhichitta but today His Holiness bestows
the vows of engaging Bodhichitta as well. The method is to recite three
times verses 23 and 24 from Chapter 3. The assembly recites
Shantideva's seven-limb prayer, the whole of Chapters 2 and 3 as an
accompaniment to the ceremony.
Next His Holiness returns to the method of
actually developing Bodhichitta. Mantra and recitations are not enough.
We must study Shantideva's ingenious and varied arguments and take to
heart his rousing appeals and completely reverse our ordinary attitude
of putting ourselves before others. His Holiness gives an intriguing
glimpse of his own lifelong endeavor to understand emptiness and
generate Bodhichitta and the sequence in which they struck home in him.
With manifest deep feeling he definitively sets forth the key paradox,
that cherishing ourselves is the gateway to everything undesired.
Cherishing others instead not only works for other's welfare but
quickly fulfils our own purposes too. We achieve Buddhahood in no other
way.
The Bodhichitta His Holiness has so far
concentrated on is conventional Bodhichitta. The Mahabodhisattvas who
directly engage in clearing the obstructions to liberation and to
omniscience away from their minds forever do so by applying the direct
antidote of ultimate Bodhichitta, which is the non-dual wisdom of
emptiness enhanced by the conventional Bodhichitta wish for
enlightenment for the sake of all. His Holiness distills the essence of
the ninth wisdom chapter in a succinct and effortlessly authoritative
presentation of how all phenomena are dependently arisen, empty of
inherent existence, mere dependently imputed.
His Holiness brings the week's uncommon glimpse into the radiant heart of conventional and ultimate Bodhichitta to a close by reciting the last Dedication chapter of Shantideva's Guide.
