The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion

by Chogyam Trungpa

  But I found that the approach of devotion and longing alone was not very effective. It was too early to introduce vajrayana devotion because we had not done enough basic training. So I developed a new tactic, which was purely in accordance with this slogan.

  After Jamgön Kongtrül departed from Surmang, I kept thinking of him, and it actually cheered me up. When I visited him at his monastery, if there was any problem or chaos happening, I told Jamgön Kongtrül about it. And when I came back to Surmang, whenever anything happened, whether it was problems and chaos, or goodness and celebration, I would just come back to my existence and my memory of him, as well as my memory of the path and the practice. In doing so, I began to experience a quick and very direct awareness. That awareness was not particularly related with the memory of Jamgön Kongtrül. It was the awareness that comes when you are just drifting off, and the process of drifting brings you back. That is what this slogan is all about. When you are drifting off, if that process of drifting off brings you back, that is the mark of perfect practice.

  The main logic of this section of the slogans, or the evaluation of mind training, is quite straightforward—it is not to let yourself be wounded by the fangs of the kleshas. The way to begin is by realizing that the point of all dharma is the taming of one’s ego. That is the scale on which practitioners can be weighed. Then, rather than relying on the opinions of others, you rely on your own judgment as to how you are doing. Then you develop cheerfulness because you are not trapped in heavy-handed discipline. Whenever extremely evil situations or extremely joyful situations occur, you can experience joy. Finally, the mark of all this training is that you can practice even when distracted.

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  Point Six: Disciplines of Mind Training

  [On the bodhisattva path,] with the help of shamatha and vipashyana, you learn how to consolidate yourself as a mahayana practitioner—how to be in a state of compassion, kindness, openness, and gentleness. At the same time, you experience a state of egolessness in which there is no clinging. When you reach the point where you are not dwelling on anything connected with ego, atman, or soul, the activities described in the lojong text begin to manifest and to permeate your life.

  THE SIXTH point of mind training contains sixteen slogans about the discipline or ethics of mind training. Once more we are trying to crack our ego, this time by means of prajna, the sixth paramita. In the mahayana, as in the hinayana, prajna is regarded as the sword that cuts the bondage of ego, and the way to develop prajna is through vipashyana practice. So the prajna of vipashyana is what realizes egolessness.

  Vipashyana is particularly connected with postmeditation experience. It is a way of relating to your world and to a larger sense of your life. By means of vipashyana, you are sharpening your intelligence in order to work with yourself, so that whatever occurs in your life is governed by prajna. Prajna cuts through habitual or potential neurosis. It is like a sword that cuts you into pieces, or a surgeon who cuts into you and examines you. If you are arrogant, you won’t allow anybody to dissect you, because arrogance is a form of solidifying. But in this case, you give in to the surgeon and let their knife cut through you. You don’t try to hold yourself together, and you are not afraid of your ego being exposed. Getting sewn up afterward is not particularly your concern, either. Dissecting is the important point.

  Tremendous mindfulness and awareness develop through the bodhisattva path. With the help of shamatha and vipashyana, you learn how to consolidate yourself as a mahayana practitioner—how to be in a state of compassion, kindness, openness, and gentleness. At the same time, you experience a state of egolessness in which there is no clinging. When you reach the point where you are not dwelling on anything connected with ego, atman, or soul, the activities described in the lojong text begin to manifest and to permeate your life. You realize that there is no “I” to rely on, and no “am” to propagate your existence. Because of that, you are able to exchange yourself for others. By first sacrificing yourself, you are able to overcome obstacles and relate with the rest of the world. You learn how to deal with your journey on the path by means of the sword of prajna. So prajna brings you to one of the most crucial and important points of the mahayana path: the realization of twofold egolessness.

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  Always abide by the three basic principles.

  This slogan is based on maintaining three basic principles: keeping the refuge and bodhisattva vows, refraining from outrageous actions, and developing patience.

  Keeping the Refuge and Bodhisattva Vows

  The first of the three principles is keeping the promises you made when you took the refuge and bodhisattva vows. It is quite straightforward: you should keep these promises completely. In practicing the buddhadharma, you keep the discipline of all three yanas. You practice hinayana mindfulness, mahayana benevolence, and vajrayana crazy wisdom—all at the same time.1

  Refraining from Outrageous Actions

  The second principle is refraining from outrageous actions. When you practice lojong, you realize that you should put others before yourself, so you try to act in a self-sacrificing manner. However, your attempt to manifest selflessness may become exhibitionism. You think that you are manifesting your unselfish actions because of your so-called convictions, but your actions are still based on the idea of your being a decent person. You have less sense of protecting this, but you might act on a whim and become very crazy. You might try to demonstrate your unselfishness by getting involved in outrageous actions such as getting arrested, going on long fasts, or lying down in the street in the name of bodhisattva activity. Many people have done just those things. However, that kind of activity should be regarded as exhibitionism rather than the accomplishment of bodhisattva action. If you begin to behave in a crazy style, unfounded in tradition, you may decide to disregard the dignity of other traditions and disrupt whole social setups. That is not supposed to happen. You should restrain yourself from doing such frivolous things.

  Developing Patience

  The third principle is developing patience. There is often some confusion about patience. You can be patient with your friends, but you cannot be patient with your enemies. You can be patient with people you are trying to cultivate, or your protégés, but you can’t be patient with those who are outside of your circle of protégés. That approach is a form of personality cult, the cult of yourself, which is not a good idea.

  At the prajna level, you realize how much you are trying to become something. When you have become somewhat accomplished in lojong practice, you may feel that it is time for you to branch out and become a leader or a hero, but you should watch out for that. With prajna, you are aware of such conduct and what you are doing. You are constantly watchful of all that.

  Spiritual practice based on your own self-snugness and self-delight is most dangerous. You have your viewpoint worked out, your philosophy worked out, even your quotations. You have your grammar and your language already set up. But after all that, you still do not want to give up your ego, which is problematic. You do not want to give up your most sacred and secret property. With that approach, you are not actually following the journey properly, but maintaining some kind of ground. The dharma should not be perverted on the basis of such self-happiness or personal confirmation.

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  Change your attitude, but remain natural.

  This slogan applies to the attempt to impose your power and authority on others. You usually practice gentleness and tenderness toward yourself, and the opposite of that toward others. First you want to preserve your own ground—others come afterward. But you need to reverse your attitude of always wanting to protect your own territory, so that you reflect on others first, and on yourself later.

  You also try to get away with things. If you want something from outside, you send someone else to get it for you, instead of going and getting it yourself. You don’t wash the dishes, hoping that somebody else will do it. Changing your attitude means reversing your attitude altoget
her, so that instead of making someone else do something for you, you do it yourself.

  Having changed your attitude, the slogan then says to be natural and to relax. Because you are taming your basic being and your mind altogether, you do not constantly push other people around. Instead, you take the opportunity to blame yourself. You are changing your attitude so that instead of cherishing yourself, you cherish others—and then you just relax. It is very simple.

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  Don’t talk about injured limbs.

  Because of your arrogance and aggression, you might like to talk about other people’s defects as a way of building yourself up. The point of this slogan is not to do so. “Injured limbs” can refer to a psychological defect or to a physical defect such as being blind, dumb, or slow. You may realize that a person is having problems dealing with their life, but you do not have to exaggerate that by making remarks about it. Instead of taking delight in their defect, you could simply accept it. Instead of regarding it as an ugly defect, you could recognize that it is just that person’s response to reality. This same general approach is also found in Christianity. According to both Christianity and Buddhism, nobody is considered disreputable or condemned on account of their physical defects, but everybody is regarded as a worthy person.

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  Don’t ponder others.

  Because you have labored through your tonglen practice and worked so hard, you may develop tremendous arrogance. You feel that having gone through so much effort makes you more worthy than others. When you meet somebody who has not accomplished what you have, you like to put them down. You like to point out other people’s little misgivings and problems. When somebody does something to you that violates your principles, you keep picking on that. You would like to make sure that person is subject to attacks, problems, and unhealthiness. The point of this slogan is simple: don’t do that.

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  Work through the greatest defilements first.

  Whatever is your greatest obstacle—whether it is aggression, passion, pride, arrogance, jealousy, or what have you—you should work with that first. You shouldn’t say, “I will sit and meditate first, and I will deal with that later.” Philosophical, metaphysical, poetic, artistic, or technological hang-ups are always related with your own neurosis. You should bring that out first rather than last. When you have a problem, you should work with that problem. All means should be applied in trying to tame it. But you should not try to arrive at certain results. The idea is to work on the highlights that come up, rather than regarding them as just junk. Whatever problem arises in your state of mind, you should work on it simply, directly, and straightforwardly. You do not just want to work with the chicken shit; you want to work with the chicken itself.

  Calligraphy by Chögyam Trunpga Rinpoche.

  “Always meditate on that which is most difficult. If you do not start right away, the moment a difficulty arises, it is very hard to overcome it.”

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  Abandon any hope of fruition.

  You should give up any possibility of becoming the greatest person in the world by means of your training. You may quite impatiently expect that lojong practice will make you a better person. You may hope that you will be invited to more little clubs or gatherings by your protégés and friends, who are impressed with you. The point of this slogan is that you have to give up any such possibilities; otherwise, you could become an egomaniac. In other words, it is too early for you to collect disciples.

  By relating properly to reality, you may have been able to achieve something. But in the buddhadharma, we are not looking for temporary revelation, and we are not saying that you have to achieve something. You may have become a great speaker, or a great psychologist who can cure people’s neuroses. You may have become an accomplished literary figure who has written important books, or a famous musician who has produced successful song collections. But your connection with reality has been based on trying to subjugate the world in your own particular style, however subtle and sneaky it may be—and you may hope to attain enlightenment in the same way.

  As a professional achiever, you think you can approach practice in the same way, using the same kind of tricks. You think that you can actually con the buddha mind within yourself and sneakily attain enlightenment. But according to this slogan, any pursuit of this life’s happiness, joy, fame, or wisdom, as well as the hope of attaining some state of glorious liberation in the life hereafter, could be regarded as a problem.

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  Abandon poisonous food.

  This is a very powerful slogan. It means that no matter what practice you do, if that practice is based on your own personal achievement, it is spiritual materialism. If your practice is for your own individual glory, it is poisonous. And if you think, “If I sit properly, with the greatest discipline and exertion, then I will become the best meditator of all!”—that too is a poisonous attitude. Likewise, thinking that you are in the right and others are wrong, or that you would like to conquer their wrongness or evil because you are on the side of God, is also like eating poisonous food. Such food may be presented to you beautifully and nicely, but when you eat it, it begins to stink.

  If the practice of egolessness begins to become just another way of building up your ego—building your ego by giving up your ego—it will not take effect. In fact, rather than providing an eternally awakened state of mind, it will provide you with death, because you are still holding on to your ego. So whether you are sitting or doing postmeditation practice, if you are practicing for the purpose of self-improvement, it is like eating poisonous food.

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  Don’t be so predictable.

  Usually everything we do is predictable. If someone brings us a bottle of champagne, we repay that kindness by inviting them to dinner. And when someone does something bad to us, we repay them as well. Slowly we build up society in that way. But when somebody is about to inflict pain on you, rather than strategizing or waiting until that person actually attacks you, you could communicate immediately and directly.

  As ordinary worldly people, we have relationships with both enemies and friends. We understand the debt we owe to our friends, and we hold resentment for our enemies. When somebody inflicts pain on us, we keep our resentment in long-term storage because we would eventually like to strike back at that person. We do not forget that insult in even twenty years. It is all very predictable.

  This slogan has an interesting twist. Some people are trustworthy: when you become friends with people like that, they always remember your friendship, and the trust and commitment between you lasts for a long time. You should always remember your mutual connection with such trustworthy friends. But some friends are untrustworthy: they give you a bad deal and a lot of conflict. You should not constantly hold a grudge against them, and should not always remember that person’s bad dealings with you. You need to give up your long memory of antagonism.

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  Don’t malign others.

  Disparaging people is a way of showing off your own virtue. When you talk about other people, it may be pleasantly coated with sugar and ice cream, but underneath you are trying to put them down. You think that your virtues seem stronger when the virtues of other people are lessened, so you want to show that they are less virtuous than you are. For instance, you might have better training in meditation, so you think, “Somebody else has a shorter attention span in shamatha practice than I do. Therefore, I am better.” Or you may be well educated in the dharma, so you think, “Somebody else knows fewer dharma terms than I do. Therefore, I am better.” Fundamentally, you are saying that other people are stupid and that you are better than them. You should not disparage or malign people in that way.

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  Don’t wait in ambush.

  This slogan is about attacking people when they are weak. If you are having a disagreement with somebody, you don’t usually attack them right away because you don’t want to be in a powerless position. You wait for them to fall apar
t, and then you attack. Sometimes you pretend to be their adviser, and you attack them in that disguise, pointing out to them how wretched they are. You say, “I have been waiting to tell you this. Now that you are falling apart completely, I am going to take the opportunity to tell you that you are not so good, and that I am in much better shape than you are.” That is opportunism, a bandit’s approach. That bandit’s approach of waiting in ambush actually happens quite frequently. You wait for somebody to fall down so that you can attack; you wait for that person to fall into a trap. You want them to experience misfortune, and you hope that misfortune will take place in a way that will allow you to attack.

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  Don’t bring things to a painful point.

  This slogan means not to humiliate people. The bodhisattva approach is to encourage people on their path. However, you may try to discourage people and slow down their journey so that you can stay ahead of them. You may try to relate to them in a way that you think will help you progress much faster on the path than they do. But according to this slogan, instead of doing that, you should do the opposite—you should come along behind the others. You should not blame your own dissatisfaction, pain, and misery on anybody else, and you should not try to impose your power on others.