Newsgroup: it.cultura.religioni.buddhismo
Titolo: è pieno di saggi

"BODHICITTA AND GREAT COMPASSION" - an edited excerpt from
oral teachings given by Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche, the Abbot of
Triten Norbutse Monastery in Katmandu, Nepal, during the Ngondro
Retreat at Serenity Ridge, November, 2003.
To practice bodhicitta is to generate and to develop enlightened mind
on the basis of great compassion. That is, to develop buddha mind or
enlightened mind for the benefit of all sentient beings.
We are practicing not only for our own benefit, not only for our own
peace, but in fact, we have to think that our practice is for the
purpose of helping all other beings, not only a few beings, all
sentient beings in all universes, not just this universe. We believe
that there are thousands, billions of universes. So we have to think
of helping all sentient beings in all those billions of universes.
So it is a very big mind, very huge! It seems to be impossible.
On the basis of great compassion we develop this mind. If you
don't have great compassion, this kind of mind, this intention,
can not come. So, first we have to develop great compassion within
ourselves.
Great compassion is very, very important. It is one of the two main
pillars of the path of liberation. These two pillars are known as
method and wisdom. Similarly, there are two kinds of bodhicitta,
relative and absolute. Absolute bodhicitta manifests with one's
development of wisdom, the meditation on and knowledge of the
absolute truth. Relative bodhicitta, this great intention to help
all sentient beings, is what we refer to mainly as method.
Without this great compassion, we can not get fully enlightened. In
order to get fully enlightened we have to be liberated from two
extremes - the extreme of samsara and the extreme of nirvana.
You see, sometimes, we are too peaceful. This can be dangerous as it
can lead
us toward falling into the extreme of nirvana, or thinking only of
our
own benefit. Upon experiencing some level of realization, we may
then fall into a level of meditation like a cessation type
of contemplation in which we are very peaceful and seem to have
completely purified our negative emotions. We may easily remain
in this situation for eons and eons. It is said that one sentient
being from hell will attain enlightenment much faster than one who
has fallen into this type of meditation.
This extreme is a kind of nirvana, but it is not the final result,
not full enlightenment. We call it causality nirvana, relative
nirvana. There are still many things we have to purify, very subtle
defilements. But in this state, because it almost looks like we
don't have any defilements, if we don't also have this
practice of
method, of great compassion, we're in trouble. Great compassion
is something that reminds us not to simply look out for our own well-
being or to only look for our own peace. It actually brings about
our getting reborn back into samsara in order to help all other
beings, and this leads more swiftly to our own enlightenment.
Therefore, great compassion is a kind of antidote, a practice which
can protect us from falling into the extreme of nirvana.
We are protected from falling into the extreme of samsara mainly by
the antidote of wisdom, the knowledge of the absolute truth. The
real root of samsara can only be cut by this wisdom, and not by any
other practices. Other practices help to purify many negative
emotions, which then help bring us into knowledge of the absolute
truth, but these practices themselves can not cut the root of
samsara. The root of samsara can only be cut by knowledge of the
absolute truth, also known as the view. Therefore, view is most
important on the path, and this view or wisdom must always be
combined with method, or great compassion and bodhicitta. Always!
Therefore, we call the path of liberation a unification of method and
wisdom.

è vuoto di saggi
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