The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion

by Chogyam Trungpa

  53

  Don’t vacillate.

  You should not vacillate in your enthusiasm for practice. If you sometimes practice and other times do not, that will not give birth to certainty in the dharma. Therefore, don’t think too much. Just concentrate one-pointedly on mind training.

  54

  Train wholeheartedly.

  Trust yourself and your practice wholeheartedly. Train purely in lojong—single-mindedly, with no distractions.

  55

  Liberate yourself by examining and analyzing.

  Simply look at your mind and analyze it. By doing those two things, you should be liberated from kleshas and ego-clinging. Then you can practice lojong.

  56

  Don’t wallow in self-pity.

  Don’t feel sorry for yourself. If somebody else achieves success or inherits a million dollars, don’t waste time feeling bad that it wasn’t you.

  57

  Don’t be jealous.

  Don’t be jealous if somebody else receives praise and you do not.

  58

  Don’t be frivolous.

  It is frivolous to be jealous of your friend’s success. If an acquaintance is wearing a new tie or a new blouse that you yourself would like, don’t capriciously point out its shortcomings to them. You could say, “Yes, it’s nice, but it has a stain on it,” but that will only serve to irritate them. It won’t help either their practice or your own. Don’t engage in such frivolity.

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  Don’t expect applause.

  Don’t expect others to praise you or raise toasts to you. Don’t count on receiving credit for your good deeds or good practice.

  CONCLUDING VERSES

  When the five dark ages occur,

  This is the way to transform them into the path of bodhi.

  This is the essence of the amrita of the oral instructions,

  Which were handed down from the tradition of the sage of Suvarnadvipa.1

  Having awakened the karma of previous training

  And being urged on by intense dedication,

  I disregarded misfortune and slander

  And received oral instruction on taming ego fixation.

  Now, even at death, I will have no regrets.

  [These two verses are the concluding comments of Geshe Chekawa Yeshe Dorje, the author of The Root Text of the Seven Points of Training the Mind.]

  1. Suvarnadvipa (Skt.) means “golden land.” A reference to Sumatra, where Atisha received the lojong teachings from Serlingpa.

  43

  Additional Mind-Training Instructions

  Happiness usually is considered the high point of experience, and suffering is usually considered the bottom, so you are trying to roll up those two ends of experience. This is what the dharma is all about, very simply and basically. Happiness and suffering could meet together properly.

  When you want to go, you want to stay.

  When you want to stay, you want to go.

  In addition to the fifty-nine Atisha slogans, the various commentaries have further slogans that are very colorful and beautiful, such as this one. This slogan, from Jamgön Kongtrül’s commentary, is about conflicting emotions. When you are here, you want to be there, and when you are there, you want to be here. That kind of conflict is absolutely silly, and this problem has become heightened in modern times because we have so much freedom, so many options. We have rental cars all over the place, airports all over the place, taxis everywhere. We can do anything we want as long as we have money. Even if we do not have money, we can hitchhike. We can go anyplace we want, and we have the freedom to do anything we want.

  Too much freedom can be a problem. It may cause you to panic and institutionalize yourself in a mental hospital where you can be given drugs, get food and shelter, and nobody will bother you. At the same time, there is always the possibility of indulging in your freedom, which is absolutely sickening. You want to go when you stay, and you want to stay when you go. You want to have a change. You want to move out to California. You want to join the Peace Corps and go to Africa instead of staying in your townhouse. You want to be a great poet instead of doing your plumbing. You want to change your life and make it brighter or more valid. But all those possibilities become questionable. There are all kinds of choices, but they are not real choices, simply superficial demonstrations of freedom. All kinds of absurdities come out of that approach, which is especially strong in the Western world. Providing all kinds of conveniences provides all kinds of neurosis at the same time.

  Atisha never had any idea of that kind of thing, nor did Jamgön Kongtrül, but what they had to say is completely right on the dot. Your wanting to go when you want to stay and your wanting to stay when you want to go is an expression of the restlessness of mind, which takes place all the time. When your disposition is like that, the best place by far is right where you are sitting. Your present state is the most pleasant—you cannot get any better than this. It is the best you can get. You are alive here, and you can handle yourself here. Moreover, because you have gone through your discipline, your study, and your practice, you can make friends with your discomfort.

  It is fortunate that you are not born in hell.

  It is fortunate for you that you are not being cooked and burnt.

  In this slogan, from a commentary attributed to Serlingpa entitled Stages of the Heroic Mind,1 the idea is that this is the best place you can be, so don’t complain, just go along. You should be grateful that you have not actually gotten into a worse situation. Considering how you are handling yourself and how your neurosis is expanding all the time, you could have gotten into a much more terrible situation—but since you have not, you should be grateful. Where you are is best. Thinking in this way is supposed to be a way of cheering up. It is good attitude to take, although it may be very hard to do so.

  In summarizing the lojong teachings, and to conclude his commentary, Jamgön Kongtrül gives four instructions: bring down happiness, cheer up suffering, understand that everything is a dream, and invite bad omens as wealth. The first instruction is to create a counterweight for happiness. The second is to create a great terminator of suffering. The third instruction is to understand that everything is just a dream, that nothing relevant is taking place. It is to realize that everything is just an upsurge of your neurosis, desires, and wrong conclusions about things as they are. Your thinking, your considering what to do or what not to do, is a waste of your time. You understand what is irrelevant and what is not irrelevant. The fourth instruction is to invite bad omens as wealth. It is to regard anything that goes wrong, any mishaps and problems that take place in your life, as a treasure. You invite unwanted ego collections as wealth.

  The four instructions are extraordinarily wise and powerful remedies to deal with strong emotions and to correct mistakes. Such instructions are said to be necessary in these deteriorating times or dark ages in order to subjugate misunderstandings and spiritual materialism. They are a way to roll up suffering and roll down happiness. Happiness usually is considered the high point of experience, and suffering is usually considered the bottom, so you are trying to roll up those two ends of experience. This is what the dharma is all about, very simply and basically. Happiness and suffering could meet together properly.

  Usually our expectations are the opposite of these four dharmas. We expect that we can increase our happiness, kill our suffering, and not invite bad omens. We believe that reality is solid. But those particular expectations are irrelevant. Instead, the point is to realize that such experiences are actually workable.

  1. This commentary can be found in Mind Training: The Great Collection, translated and edited by Thupten Jinpa (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2006).

  Part Eight

  THE BODHISATTVA’S JOURNEY

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  The Paths and Bhumis

  Altogether on the bodhisattva path, there are ten stages, or bhumis. At each of the ten stages you are loosening up and getting more inspired, because there
is less bondage of samsaric confusion or aggression. However, there is more to the bodhisattva path than purely engaging in peaceful activities or being a “goody-goody.”

  THE TEN BHUMIS: STAGES OF THE BODHISATTVA PATH

  Having practiced mahayana meditation and understood mahayana philosophy in terms of the shunyata experience, as you go through the process of the mahayana path you get to various spiritual levels, which are called bhumis in Sanskrit. Such states of being are permanent. They are not just temporary experiences, or nyam.1 Altogether on the bodhisattva path, there are ten stages, or bhumis. Each stage has various attributes, virtues, and styles of dealing with the world.2 The Tibetan word for bhumi is sa, which means “level,” “earth,” or “ground.” At each of the ten stages you are loosening up and getting more inspired, because there is less bondage of samsaric confusion or aggression. However, there is more to the bodhisattva path than purely engaging in peaceful activities or being a “goody-goody.”

  The paramitas are the contents of the bhumis. Each of the ten bhumis is associated with a particular paramita. The paramitas are what you practice, and the bhumis are what you get out of that practice. It is like going through the educational system: first you learn how to spell, how to read, and how to do math, and later those skills become the basis of your business or profession. It is very simple.

  THE FIVE PATHS

  The mahayana journey can also be described in terms of the five paths: the paths of accumulation, unification, seeing, meditation, and no more learning. The first two paths—the path of accumulation and the path of unification—are usually associated with the hinayana. The last three paths—the path of seeing, the path of meditation, and the path of no more learning—are usually associated with the mahayana.3

  The Path of Accumulation

  From the mahayana perspective, the path of accumulation, which is the first path, establishes your journey on the enlightened path of the bodhisattva right from the beginning. The background of egolessness, compassion, and trust provides a starting point and a general motivation. With that starting point, and on the basis of the evolution of your practice experience through an understanding of shila, samadhi, and prajna, you can enter onto the path of the bodhisattva very simply and directly.

  The path of accumulation itself is divided into three stages: the lesser, medium, and greater paths of accumulation.

  ATTITUDE LIKE THE EARTH. On the first stage of the path of accumulation, which is the lesser path of accumulation, your attitude is very respectful. You would like to enter the path. You begin to experience the sacredness of your world, and whatever you perceive or do becomes trustworthy and ordinary. You have respect for reality, and you do not confuse things. You work with your life in accord with the four elements of fire, earth, water, and air. There is a quality of rightness about interacting with your world in this way. You are not upset by the sunrise and sunset, by shadows, by snow falling, by raindrops, or by gusts of wind. Changing weather conditions do not affect your state of mind. The analogy for such an attitude is the earth. You are like the earth, which is very solid, sits through the four seasons, and has evolved for millions of years.

  INTENTION LIKE GOLD. On the second stage of the path of accumulation, which is the medium path of accumulation, your intention is like gold. As a decent person, a good citizen of the bodhi path, you trust the process of the path. Because of that, you never change your mind, but remain solid in your practice. The analogy for intention is gold: gold remains pure, and that quality never changes, even over millions of years. Likewise, until the attainment of enlightenment, the quality of good intention never changes. It is like a trustworthy friend who never gives up on you.

  WHOLESOMENESS LIKE THE FULL MOON. On the third stage of the path of accumulation, which is the greater path of accumulation, your wholesomeness is like the full moon. Your intentions are clear and your attitude is good, and you are not trying to be devious or tricky in order to escape. You develop generosity, discipline, and all the rest of the paramitas on a small scale, and you feel that you can act appropriately. The analogy for wholesomeness is the full moon: wholesomeness is like the full moon because you accumulate and expand various good dharmas.4

  The Path of Unification

  On the second path, the path of unification, your willingness is like a burning fire. Having already experienced the three stages of the path of accumulation, you are looking forward to the possibility of entering the mahayana. At this stage, you see that obstacles to the path of dharma can be burnt. You regard them as fuel rather than as barricades.5

  The meditation experience of the path of unification is called nampar mitokpa. Mitokpa is “nonconceptualization,” and nampar means “completely” or “properly”; so nampar mitokpa is “complete nonconceptualization.” It is the final realization of the desolateness of the meditative state. Based on your shamatha-vipashyana experience, you begin to enter into shunyata practice and realization.

  FOUR STAGES OF DISCRIMINATION. It is also said that on the path of unification, you develop four stages of discrimination: heat, crest, patience, and higher dharma.

  Heat: a hint of mahayana. The path of unification is complete preparation for the mahayana. It is not the mahayana as such, but you get a hint of mahayana, a hint of shunyata. This is called trö, or “heat.” It is like getting a fever before becoming seriously ill. With trö, you sense the possibility of treading on the path of the bodhisattva, and being a mahayanist who is fully dedicated to working with sentient beings. You are excited that you might attain the first bhumi at some point.6

  Crest: terrifying sharpness and conviction. With crest, or tsemo, you develop terrifying sharpness and conviction. Tsemo means “peak,” or “crest,” as in the growing tip of a tree or plant. You are beginning to touch a sensitive point of your development, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Tsemo is very penetrating. You feel a sharpness inside you, as if you had swallowed a razor blade. There is the possibility for the first time of becoming superhuman. But that cannot be achieved unless you relate with that insight and are willing to live with it.

  The combination of heat and crest leads into a further process, the development of five perceptions and five powers.

  The first perception is faith in your discovery.

  The second perception is energy. You are not tired of what you are trying to do, but you are highly energized and interested. The third perception is mindfulness, or trenpa. Mindfulness is twenty-four-hour work; you are completely at the mercy of the dharma. Trenpa brings egolessness because your only interest is in awakening bodhichitta. You have no personal interest in anything else.

  The fourth perception is samadhi, or meditative absorption. With samadhi, even ordinary thoughts such as fantasies of aggression or sex become sources of inspiration on the bodhisattva path.

  The fifth perception is prajna, or knowledge. You begin to discover all kinds of subtleties in the world—subtleties of colors and shapes, and implications of energy exchange—and whatever happens in your life becomes tremendously sharp. Life reveals itself on its own, not according to your own preconceived ideas, or ego’s version of things.

  All five perceptions are based on selflessness and the recognition that you are advancing on the path.

  Along with the five perceptions, five powers develop at this point. The five powers are that faith never needs to be sought; energy never needs to be sought; mindfulness never needs to be sought; meditative absorption never needs to be sought; and prajna, or knowledge, never needs to be sought. With the five powers, you have complete command. You have developed the five perceptions, and you are confident about those abilities.

  Patience: complete identification with the teachings. With patience, the teachings are a part of your system, so you are not impatiently looking forward to the next excitement, but you are willing to wait. Because you have identified with the teachings completely and thoroughly, you feel that you have the right to expound the teachings. The result of patience
is that you develop the mental power to memorize the words you read or hear from the teacher. Forgetfulness is based on trying to preserve things for yourself. In contrast, an egoless approach toward sentient beings brings a tremendously sharp memory and powerful recollection.

  Higher dharma: becoming a part of the lineage. Having developed conviction and powerful mental recollection, you begin to have the idea that you are a holder of the dharma. Although you may not yet have become a teacher, you feel that you are becoming a part of the lineage.

  On the path of unification, you realize that your mind and body can be synchronized independent of the kleshas, or conflicting emotions. You have begun to take on an attitude that allows you to burn up the fuel of the kleshas. This change of attitude is based on joining mind and body; it is based on joining the very tranquil and the very active. You accumulate physical merit at the level of the ayatanas, or sense perceptions, and you join that with a pure state of mind, achieved by shamatha-vipashyana. By joining together the very tranquil and the very active, you are joining your intention and your action. That is what you do when you take the bodhisattva vow. Combining skillful means and prajna comes much later on the path, although it could happen even at this point, since it is a natural tendency already.