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Step-by-Step
Guide to Meditating on the
Bodhicharyavatara
A Step-by-Step Guide to Meditating on the Bodhicharyavatara
by Patrul Rinpoche
1. Aspiration
2. Action
There are three stages to this: (a) preparation, (b) main part
and (c) conclusion.
A. Preparation
This has three parts: (i) generating enthusiasm, (ii) the seven
branch practice, and (iii) mind training.
i. Generating Enthusiasm
Taking Refuge
Consider that you take refuge in those exceptional objects—the
three rare and supreme jewels of the uncommon greater
vehicle—and you do so with an exceptional motivation— for the
benefit of all sentient beings—until you attain complete
enlightenment; and recite verse 26 three times:
31. All the misdeeds that I, the wicked one, have done,
Faults that cling to me from my many mistakes,
And all the unbearable crimes I have committed,
I openly declare to you, the guides of all the world.
And with the final two lines of verse 65 commit yourself to the
power of resolve from the depth of your heart:
Rejoicing
Cultivate a genuine sense of joy and celebrate all the mundane
and supermundane sources of virtue and their fruits, while
reciting these verses:
B. Main Part
C. Conclusion
Cultivate joy for oneself with the verses from 26 to 33 and joy
for others with verse 34.
The practices of the bodhisattva are all included within the six
paramitas, and in essence they are defined as follows:
• An attitude of giving that is endowed with four special
features.
• An attitude of restraint that is endowed with four special
features.
• An attitude of imperturbability that is endowed with four
special features.
• An enthusiastic attitude that is endowed with four special
features.
• An undistracted state of attention that is endowed with
four special features.
• A precise discernment of things and events that is
endowed with four special features.
What are these four special features? As it is said:
Generosity in which adverse factors have disappeared,
Endowed with wisdom that is non-conceptual,
Completely fulfills all wishes,
And brings all beings to maturity at the three levels.
The adverse factors for the paramitas are stinginess, wayward
discipline, anger, laziness, distraction and misguided
intelligence[5] respectively.
The various ways in which they fulfil the wishes of beings are
as follows:
• generosity leads to the giving away of possessions and so
on;
• discipline is an inspiration to others;
• patience allows us to face harmful situations;
• diligence helps us to do what is necessary;
• concentration produces miraculous abilities and
supernatural perceptions which inspire others;
• and wisdom allows us to point out what must be adopted
and abandoned.
These [paramitas] bring all that could be wished for, and bring
beings to maturity, directly or indirectly, by leading them to
enlightenment, as a shravaka, pratyekabuddha or fully
enlightened buddha.
Or:
When our enemies and those who oppose us find
pleasure and wellbeing,
When they receive honours and rewards,
When they are offered praise,
Or when people speak well of them.
In addition, there are also those situations in which their
opposites, the twelve desirable circumstances, are prevented
from occurring, making a total of twenty-four opportunities for
us to practise patience.
This has two parts: (i) abandoning factors that are not
conducive to concentration and (ii) working with the objects of
shamatha meditation.
As it is said:
The thought of the equality of oneself and others
Is to be cultivated in the beginning with exertion.
Since we are all equal in terms of happiness and
suffering,
We should care for everyone as we do ourselves.[7]
As this states, in the beginning meditate on the bodhichitta of
equalizing oneself and others. This is done in the following
way:
At this point we might think: “Well, the future mind is not the
present ‘me’ but it is a continuation of my mind, so I will work
for my own welfare!” In that case, we should act for the
welfare of others with the idea that although other sentient
beings are not us, they are our sentient beings.
i. Identifying Wisdom
[1] Bodhicharyavatara, I, 1.
[2] Abhisamayalankara, I, 18.
[3] Patrul Rinpoche expects his audience to be familiar with the Bodhicharyavatara, or to be reading it
together with this text. Whenever he quotes from Shantideva’s work he gives only the first few syllables
of a verse. For this translation however we have given the verses in their entirety.
[4] The eight types of offering are real things which includes (i) one’s own possessions, (ii) things that
are unowned, and (iii) and one’s own body; offerings created through one’s imagination including (iv) a
ceremonial bath, and (v) pleasant substances; (vi) offerings made through the power of aspiration; (vii)
unsurpassable offering; and (viii) melodious praise.
[5] Zenkar Rinpoche gives the example of misusing our intelligence when we reflect on how all sentient
beings have been our fathers and mothers in the past. By thinking about this in the wrong way we might
decide that all beings have harmed us in the past and so they are all our enemies! That would be using
our intelligence in the wrong way.
[6] These reasons are given in Bodhicharyavatara, VI, 21
[7] Bodhicharyavatara, VIII, 90.
[8] Suhrllekha, verse 68.
[9] Zenkar Rinpoche says a modern analogy for this would be clearing the snow from our own driveway,
but not from anyone else’s.
[10] For an alternative translation, see Hopkins, J. Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation, Snow Lion,
p.162
[11] According to Zenkar Rinpoche, this means neutral feelings. They are still suffering in the broadest
sense, because they come under the category of the all-pervasive suffering of conditioned existence.
[12] According to Arya Asanga’s commentary on the Mahayanasutra-alamkara, where they are explained
in connection with the paramita of generosity, the seven kinds of attachment are: (1) attachment to
possessions, (2) postponing the practice, (3) being satisfied with just a little practice, (4) expectation of
something in return, (5) karmic results, (6) adverse circumstances, and (7) distractions.
[13] Bodhicharyavatara, X, 57