The Way of the Bodhisattva

Bodhichitta.

Developing our bodhichitta is the central theme of The Way of the Bodhisattva.

But what, exactly, is bodhichitta?

The editors at the Padmakara Translation Group tell us in the introduction: “What is bodhichitta? The word has many nuances and is easier to understand, perhaps, than to translate. For this reason we have used the Sanskrit term, in the hope that by dint of careful definition it may be incorporated into, and allowed to enrich our language. Chitta means “mind,” “thought,” “attitude.” Bodhi means “enlightenment,” “awakening,” and is cognate with the term buddha itself. This gives us “mind of enlightenment,” “awakened mind”—the attitude of mind that tends toward Buddhahood, the enlightened state. It should be noted that bodhicitta is not a synonym for compassion; it is a broader term in which compassion is implied.”

Beautiful.

So, bodhichitta is, essentially, an awakened mind.

And, as Shantideva tells us:

“For like the supreme substance of the alchemists, It takes our impure flesh and makes of it The body of a Buddha, jewel beyond all price. Such is bodhichitta. Let us grasp it firmly!”

I love the image of the alchemist.

How ‘bout a quick tangent?

Did you know the mythical alchemist wasn’t actually interested in turning lead into gold in a literal sense. Nopers. He was interested in turning hatred/sadness/challenging experiences into love/joy/courage.

How’d he do it? He used a Philosopher’s Stone.

In other words, he cultivated an awakened mind. Or, as Shantideva would put it: He was rockin’ his bodhichitta.

LET US GRASP IT FIRMLY!

Two things about bodhichitta: 1) It’s essential that we cultivate it; and, 2) We’ve gotta be super diligent about cultivating it because it’s so easy to lose it and slip back into our old habits!

The key here is we need to KNOW that it’s going to be a LOT of work. We need to commit for the long term.

A couple pieces of wisdom from two leading meditation teachers comes to mind.

First, Eknath Easwaran who tells us this in his brilliant Conquest of Mind (see Notes): “In Sanskrit we have a word which means “heroes at the beginning”: people who take up a job with a fanfare of trumpets but soon find that their enthusiasm has tiptoed down the back stair. Those who go far in meditation are the ones who keep on plugging. They may not be very spectacular; they may never hear a trumpet. But they keep on trying day in and day out, giving their best in every situation and relationship, never giving up. Such people are bound to reach their goal.”

And, Matthieu Ricard who gives us this wisdom in his great book Why Meditate (see Notes): “Excessive effort can also result from impatience or exaltation, two states that lead nowhere. If you begin climbing a high mountain at a run, your lungs will soon force you to stop. In the same way, if you draw a bow too far, it will break, or if you try to cook on too high a flame, you will end up burning your food.

Demanding immediate results is an aspect of unsteadiness of mind or laziness. His Holiness the Dalai Lama joked: “In the West, people would like enlightenment to be fast, easy, and if possible, cheap!” In the same way that it takes patience to grow a crop, steadiness is indispensable for the practice of meditation. It does no good to pull your plants to make them grow faster!”

Bottom line: We’ve gotta commit OVER THE LONG RUN.

You committed?

Love that.

Reminds me of one of our most dominant recurring themes in these Notes: The fact that LIVING these truths is what it’s all about. Theory is rudimentary spirituality. Practice is the advanced stuff.

I love the way Vernon Howard puts it in his great book The Power of Your Supermind (see Notes): “You see, knowing the words is not the same thing as living the meaning. Suppose I memorize the printed instructions on a first-aid kit. Does that mean I can give first aid? No. The full meaning comes when I admit I know nothing and then try, practice, succeed.”

While we’re on the medical theme, how about Anthony de Mello’s brilliant comments from Awareness(see Notes)? He tells us: “Imagine a patient who goes to a doctor and tells him what he is suffering from. The doctor says, ‘Very well, I’ve understood your symptoms. Do you know what I will do? I will prescribe a medicine for your neighbor!’ The patient replies, ‘Thank you very much, Doctor, that makes me feel much better.’ Isn’t that absurd? But that’s what we all do. The person who is asleep always thinks he’ll feel better if somebody else changes. You’re suffering because you are asleep, but you’re thinking, ‘How wonderful life would be if somebody else would change. How wonderful life would be if my neighbor changed, my wife changed, my boss changed.’”

Hah.

Here’s to moving beyond mouthing syllables and actually LIVING our wisdom! :)

P.S. The Buddha says this about it (see Notes on The Dhammapada): “Like a lovely flower full of color but lacking in fragrance, are the words of those who do not practice what they teach.”

Genius.

We talk about this all the time as well.

If there’s a remedy when something challenging happens, DO SOMETHING about it!

If you can’t do anything about it, all your worry/anxiety/etc. isn’t going to help. So, ACCEPT it. And change your attitude about it. Period.

The Serenity Prayer pretty much tells us the same thing: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

Love that as well.

Reminds me of Eknath Easwaran’s mojo from Conquest of Mind where he tells us: “Meditation is warm-up exercise for the mind, so that you can jog through the rest of the day without getting agitated or spraining your patience.”

Meditation is warm up for our day-to-day lives and practicing gracefully dealing with little problems gets us strong so we can deal with the bigger stuff.

I love to approach each little challenge as an opportunity to see if I can step in between the normal stimulus—>response pattern and choose the most empowered response. I find that as I practice this with the little stuff, I’m able to much more consistently gracefully handle the bigger stuff.

As Buddha says: “Little by little a person become evil, as a water pot is filled by drops of water… Little by little a person becomes good, as a water pot is filled by drops of water.”

Here’s to getting better little by little…

Reminds me of Rumi’s wisdom (see Notes): “Travelers, it is late. Life’s sun is going to set. During these brief days that you have strength, be quick and spare no effort of your wings.”

The Buddha echoes this as well telling us: “Don’t waste a moment, for wasted moments send you on the downward course.”

Aristotle taught the same thing: “We live in deeds, not years; In thoughts not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs.”

And so did Benjamin Franklin: “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.”

And, for that matter, so did Brian Tracy (see Notes on Focal Point): “Time management is really life management, personal management, management of yourself. People who value themselves highly allocate their time carefully. They give their time usage a lot of thought. When you love your life, you love every minute of it. You are very careful about misusing or wasting any of the precious minutes and hours of each day.”

How about you?

Are you gathering merit and sparing no effort of your wings?! :)

Diligence means “joy in virtuous ways.”

LOVE. THAT.

You have joy in virtuous ways?

Sweet! :)

JOYFULNE

Reminds me of the Buddha, Seneca, Walter Russell and Kahlil Gibran.

First, the Buddah tells us the same thing: “If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart.”

While Seneca (see Notes onLetters from a Stoic): “There is nothing the wise man does reluctantly.”

While Walter Russell (see Notes on The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe) echoes the wisdom as well: “He also believes that every man should be master of anything he does and should do it in a masterly manner, with love, no matter what it is, whether physical work, menial or boring work, or inspirational work.”

And Kahlil Gibran puts it beautifully in The Prophet: “Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake bitter bread that feeds but half a man’s hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.”

In short: If you’re gonna do it, love it. Put your whole heart into it! Approach it, as Shantideva encourages us to, with a joyfulness that never knows satiety!! :)

Shantideva’s not messing around.

Marcus Aurelius (see Notes on Meditations) had a similar approach: “When force of circumstance upsets your equanimity, lose no time in recovering your self-control, and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it.”

Make it a game. When you feel yourself off-balance and you’re losing your equanimity/mindfulness, see just how fast you can get it back.

As we practice this, it becomes a LOT easier.

So, let’s rock it! :)

Love that.

Derivations of this story are told in different cultures.

The essential question is: Do we try to carpet the entire world to avoid stepping on something funky? Or, do we put on a pair of shoes and comfortably walk around wherever we want?

The moral of the story is clear. Don’t try to change everyone and everything around you. Change yourself. :)