by Pema Chodron
If our teachers and others have been willing to put themselves out for us, why can’t we do the same? Is it because of arrogance, Shantideva ponders, that we can’t bring ourselves to stoop so low?
I’ve seen my son and his wife get up in the middle of the night to care for my grandchildren, who were vomiting or shitting all over themselves. They’d pick them up, clean them, and maybe lie down with them next to the toilet. Even parents we may now resent probably did the very same things for us when we were young and helpless.
As a bodhisattva-in-training, you could start today to put yourself out for others. Start with a close friend or loved one, then let your willingness to tackle more demanding situations increase. One day, you’ll be able to extend yourself to anyone, as if they were your own child. This is a gradual path of becoming more capable of stretching further.
Shantideva says that those he reveres most never thought they were too good to help him. Even if he thought of himself as foolish, his teachers never turned their backs on him. The best way he can thank them is to follow their example.
6.122
Buddhas are made happy by the joy of beings;
They sorrow, they lament when beings suffer.
Bringing joy to beings, then, I please the buddhas also—
Offending them, the buddhas I offend.
The way to make one’s spiritual teachers happy is not by making them meals or bringing them presents. It’s by putting their teachings into practice. Certainly, dharma teachers enjoy kindness and generosity as much as anyone. But it’s definitely not going to compute if we’re smiling and kind to them while being scornful and mean to others.
6.123
Just as when a man who’s tortured in a fire,
Remains unmoved by little favors done to him,
There’s no way to delight the great compassionate buddhas,
While we ourselves are causes of another’s pain.
When a man’s being burned at the stake, we can’t really offer him a choice between pork chops and fried chicken, or bring him a pizza or video to alleviate his torment. These conventional gestures of generosity would be rather flimsy in the face of his agony. Likewise, when our teachers see us intentionally causing someone to suffer, it brings them so much pain that no matter how many little favors we offer them, it does nothing to ease their sorrow.
6.124
The damage I have done to wandering beings
Saddens all the buddhas in their great compassion.
Therefore, all these sins I will confess today
And pray that they will bear with me.
When we can really acknowledge the harm we’ve caused ourselves and others, this “positive sadness” heals us. We no longer get caught in justification or guilt and can go forward without a hangover. This kind of sadness is cleansing. With this spirit, we help ourselves and simultaneously repay the kindness of our teachers and friends.
6.125
And that I might rejoice the buddhas’ hearts,
I will be master of myself, and be the servant of the world—
And not respond though others trample, wound, or kill me.
Now let the guardians of the world rejoice!
May Shantideva’s enthusiasm for the practice of patience be contagious. No matter how challenged we are, may we take responsibility for our actions and develop our ability to care for others. May we train in nonaggression, even under fire.
6.126
The great compassionate lords consider as their own
All wanderers—of this there is no doubt.
Beings, then, are Buddha’s very self.
Thus how can I not treat them with respect?
Here Shantideva explicitly says that all sentient beings are Buddha’s very self; all beings have buddha nature.
Trungpa Rinpoche explained buddha nature in various ways. He taught that all beings have “enlightened genes”—murderers and buddhas alike. Beings suffering the agony of hell have exactly the same innate ability to wake up as those enjoying the bliss of enlightenment. All have equal potential.
He also presented this teaching as “basic goodness,” saying that we could interact with one another in ways that connect us with this basic wisdom rather than obscuring it. Rather than triggering each other’s aggression and discouragement, we could pause and allow some space for everyone to experience their soft spot.
I have a vivid memory of an irate man attacking Trungpa Rinpoche about his teachings on basic goodness, saying that people were fundamentally flawed. Rinpoche calmly replied that the ultimate nature of everything tends toward goodness and there’s no way to stop it, no matter what we believe.
6.127
Venerating them will please the buddhas’ hearts,
And perfectly secure the welfare of myself.
This will drive away the sorrows of the world,
And therefore it will be my constant practice.
The best thing we can do for our teachers, ourselves, and the world is to think of benefiting rather than harming one another.
6.128
Imagine that the steward of a king
Does injury to multitudes of people.
Those among the injured who are wise
Will not respond with violence, even if they can.
6.129
For stewards, after all, are not alone.
They are supported by the kingly power.
Likewise I should not make light
Of lesser men who do me little injuries.
6.130
For they have guardians of hell for allies
And also the compassionate buddhas.
Therefore I’ll respect all living beings,
As though they were the subjects of that wrathful king.
In verses 128 through 134, Shantideva perseveres in his attempt to make us see that it makes no sense to give in to the tug of aggression. His final teaching on the value of patience is to explain, once again, that our actions have karmic consequences. As our aggressive mind grows stronger, the world appears increasingly hellish.
He uses the analogy of not retaliating to harm done by lesser men supported by the power of a wrathful king. In other words, getting miffed at even little grievances strengthens the power of aggression; and the consequences will always be unpleasant.
Most of us feel it’s OK to indulge in little irritations, lightweight gossiping, or a teensy-weensy bit of slander. But by doing so, Shantideva says, we’re reinforcing negative mind. On the other hand, if we can catch the seduction of hostility and petty-mindedness at this subtle stage, it’s much easier to nip it in the bud.
The guardians of hell and the compassionate buddhas are both our allies. If we’re intelligent about the potential consequences of our actions, both pain and pleasure will motivate us to act wisely.
6.131
And yet, the pains of hell to be endured
Through making living beings suffer—
Could these ever be unleashed on us
By all the fury of an angry king?
6.132
And even if that king were pleased,
Enlightenment he could not give to us,
For this will only be achieved
By bringing happiness to living beings.
Is there anyone who can cause us as much pain as we cause ourselves by strengthening negative mind? A king might imprison or even kill us; but when our mind is seething with aggression, it will feel like eternal hell. On the positive side, even if he were pleased with us, what could a king really do? Give us a job, lots of money, a nice house? What are these transitory pleasures compared to finding ultimate freedom and unshakable happiness? Nothing can bring us as much suffering, or happ
iness, as our own mind.
6.133
Granted, then, that future buddhahood
Is forged through bringing happiness to beings;
How can I not see that glory, fame, and pleasure
Even in this life will likewise come?
6.134
For patience in samsara brings such things
As beauty, health, and good renown.
Its fruit is great longevity,
The vast contentment of a universal king.
Shantideva makes one last pitch. If unshakable, indestructible buddhahood isn’t enough of a carrot, how’s this? If we practice as he suggests, we will look good, feel good, and be famous!
When scowling and uptight, even conventionally beautiful people are disfigured. What’s more, anger isn’t good for our health or longevity and results in people not liking us. Even if nothing else penetrates, pondering these worldly benefits of patience might motivate us to take Shantideva’s advice.
Should you find that this takes time and you relapse into aggression, never forget the importance of being patient and tolerant with yourself.
*For further instructions on meditation, see chapter 4 in my book When Things Fall Apart.
Enthusiasm
Heroic Perseverance
CHAPTER 7 BEGINS the third and final section of The Way of the Bodhisattva. The first three chapters present ways of connecting with bodhichitta. The next three chapters explain how to keep it from diminishing. In this third section, Shantideva tells us what causes bodhichitta to grow and flourish ever more and more.
The paramita of enthusiasm works like a miracle ingredient that brings eagerness to all we do. What the bodhisattva commits to isn’t a trivial matter. Without enthusiasm, we might push too hard or give up altogether. As the Zen master Suzuki Roshi put it: “What we’re doing here is so important we had better not take it too seriously!” The key is finding this balance between “not too tight” and “not too loose,” not too zealous or too laid-back.
In this spirit, Trungpa Rinpoche encouraged us to lead our lives as an experiment, a suggestion that has been very important to me. When we approach life as an experiment, we’re willing to try it this way and that way because, either way, we have nothing to lose.
This immense flexibility is something I learned from the example of Trungpa Rinpoche. His enthusiasm enabled him to accomplish an amazing amount in his life. When some things didn’t work out, Rinpoche’s attitude was “no big deal.” If it’s time for something to flourish, it will; if it’s not time, it won’t.
The trick is not getting caught in hope and fear. We can put our whole heart into whatever we do; but if we freeze our attitude into for or against, we’re setting ourselves up for stress. Instead, we could just go forward with curiosity, wondering where this experiment will lead. This kind of open-ended inquisitiveness captures the spirit of enthusiasm, or heroic perseverance.
7.1
Thus with patience I will bravely persevere.
Through zeal it is that I shall reach enlightenment.
If no wind blows, then nothing stirs,
And neither is there merit without perseverance.
Wind is an apt metaphor for enthusiasm. Like wind in the sails of a ship, there’s nothing heavy-handed about it. It doesn’t take thousands of people to push a ship across the ocean; when the sails go up, the wind moves it forward naturally and easily.
At the same time, this verse conveys a feeling of urgency. As Suzuki Roshi said, the work we’re doing is very important. The wind of delight and the urgency with which we apply it work together. There is no time to lose—but not to worry, we can do it.
7.2
Heroic perseverance means delight in virtue.
Its contrary may be defined as laziness:
An inclination for unwholesome ways,
Despondency, and self-contempt.
Two main topics are presented in verse 2. The first is the definition of enthusiasm, or heroic perseverance, as delight in virtue. The second is the opposite of enthusiasm: the klesha of laziness.
Once we have trust in the teachings, we’ll naturally take delight in virtue. When I realized, for example, that Shantideva’s instructions could cut through my unhappiness, I became enthusiastic about applying them. Delight in virtue, in this case, meant working wisely with my emotions and learning to gently tame my mind. It meant reaching out to offer kindness and support to as many beings as possible—and doing this eagerly, not out of a sense of duty.
I can tell you from experience that when there’s a shift toward eagerness, life takes on a whole new meaning. Not the meaning that comes from careers or relationships, but the meaning that comes from using everything that happens as an opportunity to wake up. There will always be challenges, but they need not be seen as obstacles. It’s all part of the path to enlightenment.
The opposite of enthusiasm is laziness. Here Shantideva presents three kinds: laziness, per se; not being willing to make an effort; and the despondency of self-contempt. In verse 2, he describes the first two together as an inclination for unwholesome ways.
Trungpa Rinpoche calls the first kind of laziness “comfort orientation.” We use comfort to escape from our uneasiness. This doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy comfort in our lives; we just don’t need to become addicted to it. This is what sentient beings predictably do, even little bugs and beetles. Did you ever wonder what those flies are doing, repeatedly struggling up a sunny window and falling down? Like most of us, they’re looking for comfort.
There’s a sutra in which beings from another galaxy visit the Buddha to discuss the dharma. They are shocked when the Buddha tells them he teaches the truth of suffering to get beings to enter the path. They find this an extremely crude technique and say that where they come from, enlightenment is directly introduced through pleasing smells. The Buddha replies that he’d be glad to use such an approach, but it would never work here because Earth beings immediately become attached to pleasure.
The second kind of laziness Trungpa Rinpoche calls “loss of heart.” We feel we’ve tried and tried, but we never get it right. Things never seem to work out. We indulge in discouragement and lose our will to help ourselves or anyone else.
The third kind of laziness Trungpa Rinpoche calls “couldn’t care less.” This despondency of self-contempt takes the wind out of our sails. Doubting ourselves so profoundly is much more stubborn and bitter than merely losing heart.
7.3
Complacent pleasure in the joys of idleness,
A craving for repose and sleep,
No qualms about the sorrows of samsara:
These are the source and nurse of laziness.
In verse 3, Shantideva discusses the first kind of laziness: laziness, per se, or comfort orientation. This kind of laziness hopes to avoid the unpleasantness of life. If we could just get comfortable enough, if we could get that hot tub or go on that shopping spree, maybe we could outsmart samsara. Or, maybe the simple life would do it: a cabin in the woods, a life filled with beauty and peace. Of course, all that will quickly shatter when the doctor tells us our test results aren’t good, but meanwhile, comfort looks like the solution to our discontent.
In the following verses Shantideva once again contemplates the certainty of his death. This is a traditional antidote to laziness: an antidote to investing so much hope in short-lived comforts and wasting our precious human birth.
7.4
Snared by the trapper of defiled emotion,
Enmeshed and taken in the toils of birth,
How could I not know that thus I’ve strayed
Into the mouth, the very jaws, of Death?
Verse 4 refers to the nidana chain, the chain of cause and effect that generates samsara. The wheel of samsara spins around and around, from birth to
inevitable death. Like a poor animal snared by the trapper of defiled emotion, we’re trapped in this cycle of suffering. Happily, we can interrupt the samsaric chain reaction by taming our mind and patiently refraining from escalating our kleshas. This, in fact, is what all Shantideva’s teachings address: how to free ourselves from the vicious cycle of samsara.
7.5
Don’t you see how one by one
Death comes to claim your fellow men?
And yet you slumber on so soundly,
Like a buffalo beside its butcher.
Lulled into comfort orientation, we prefer false security to facing the facts. Shielding ourselves from the disquieting realities of groundlessness, impermanence, and death, we slumber on so soundly, like a buffalo beside its butcher. But for how long will this strategy work?
7.6
All paths of flight are blocked,
The Lord of Death now has you in his sights.
How can you take pleasure in your food?
How can you delight to rest and sleep?
Imagine the feeble comfort of a feast just before we’re lead to our death. By the same token, how can we be seduced by food and rest, if they’re just further ways of cocooning in transitory pleasures? When the Lord of Death has you in his sights, the absurdity of this is obvious.
Of course, if we were able to experience the preciousness of each moment, we could genuinely enjoy our food and rest. Trungpa Rinpoche once said that enlightenment is like smelling tobacco or hearing a bugle for the very first time. We don’t usually experience life this freshly. Instead of appreciating each unique and fleeting day, don’t we generally use life’s pleasures to numb or distract ourselves?
7.7
Death will be so quick to swoop on you;
Gather merit till that moment comes!
Wait till then to banish laziness?
Then there’ll be no time, what will you do?
