What we generate now is, more often than not, merely conceptual bodhicitta. Everything I have just explained may already be familiar to you, and you may even be able to explain it to others just as I have. Outwardly, you appear to possess great bodhicitta. Yet if, at the end of the day, you quietly examine your own mind, you will find that very little of it is genuine.
We may have read countless Buddhist texts, yet that does not necessarily mean we have generated authentic bodhicitta—including myself. Even if I am often moved to tears by thoughts of bodhicitta, once I carefully examine my own mind, I still find myself wondering whether I am merely putting on a performance.
Possessing extensive theoretical knowledge about bodhicitta and aspiring to generate it are certainly good things. However, conceptual understanding alone is sometimes powerless. This is because, within our mental continuum, what predominates is still selfishness, together with the many forms of attachment that arise from it.
If we fail to observe these selfish tendencies and attachments while allowing them to remain the dominant force, then although we may constantly speak of "generating bodhicitta," the fundamental motivation behind our actions remains self-interest. As a result, bodhicitta itself becomes nothing more than a tool serving our selfishness.
The greatest characteristic of those who fail to make progress in practice is that they do not observe themselves. One must learn to examine one's own motivation in everything one does. This is extremely difficult, yet at the same time remarkably simple. That may sound contradictory, but the reason is that the mind is habitually directed outward, making it difficult to turn back and observe itself.
Once this understanding has genuinely taken root, however, you will naturally remind yourself to keep looking inward. Getting started then becomes quite easy. Yet you will soon discover that it is difficult to continue observing deeply. Again and again, you find yourself unable to sustain the observation, because your habitual tendencies continually pull your mind back outward.
For example, it is not difficult to notice that you are becoming angry. But if your habitual tendencies are deeply ingrained, even when you recognize your anger, you still cannot restrain it—the anger takes over, and you just let it rip.
There was once someone who, before getting into an argument, first removed the pendant containing The Sole Son of All Buddhas Tantra that he was wearing, because he believed that if he kept it on, the negative karma created would increase many thousands of times over.
This shows that he had indeed reflected upon himself, yet he still failed to overcome his habitual tendencies. Likewise, before committing certain harmful actions, we often experience hesitation. But that hesitation is almost never born of bodhicitta; rather, it arises from fear that we ourselves may suffer harm.
——Excerpted and complied from "Genuine Bodhicitta and Conceptual Bodhicitta."
This article is a preliminary translation draft and has not yet been reviewed or proofread by the speaker.
Comments (0)