Path to Bliss

“From one point of view, personal liberation without freeing others is selfish and unfair, because all sentient beings also have the natural right and desire to be free of suffering. Therefore, it is important for practitioners to engage in the practice of the stages of the path of the highest scope, starting with the generation of bodhichitta, the altruistic aspiration to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings…

First visualize a neutral person whom you do not know at all. When you clearly visualize that person, you will find that you don’t feel any fluctuations of emotion, no desire or hatred—you are indifferent. Then visualize an enemy; when you visualize the enemy clearly you will have a natural reaction of hatred, feeling all sorts of ill will. Next, clearly visualize a friend or relative to whom you feel very close. With that visualization, the natural reaction will be a feeling of affection and attachment. With the visualization of your enemies, you will feel somewhat distant and will have hatred and a sense of repulsion. Reflect upon your justification in reacting so negatively to them. Although it is true that they have meted out much harm in this life, have they always done such things and been like this? You will find that they have not: in the past they must have engaged in actions beneficial to you and many others. Right now, because of being under the influence of ignorance, hatred and so forth, they have these faults; it is not their essential nature.

Reflect that delusions are within your own mind also. Although there might be a difference in the force of these delusions, in terms of being delusions they are delusions equally. You should decide that there is not much point in emotionally reacting to the people you have categorized as enemies. Then examine how you react, on the other hand, to your relatives and friends. Although it is true that they have been kind to you in this life, in the past they might have been your enemies, and even gone to the extent of taking your life. Therefore, there is no point in being absolutely or permanently attached to such people, categorizing them as your friends and relatives. Thus, there is not much difference between enemies and friends as far as yourself is concerned. They have both had times of benefiting you and they have both had times of harming you. Your having partiality towards them is groundless. Therefore, develop the mind of equanimity directed towards all sentient beings. This mind cannot be brought about by meditating just once or twice, but rather through repeated meditations over months or years.

The first step of the seven-point cause and effect method is to cultivate the recognition of all sentient beings as having been one’s mother. To do this, it is first necessary to reflect on your beginningless lives in this cycle of existence and that through many of your lives you have had to depend on your mothers. There is not a single living being that you can definitely point to as not having been your mother in the past. Perceive all sentient beings as having been your own kind mothers. If you are able to understand the beginninglessness of your lives, you will be able to understand that you have taken many forms of life that require a mother. You will find that there is not a single sentient being that has not been your mother in the past. Next, examine whether you stand to gain or lose by cultivating this recognition of others as mothers. Since you are concerned with cultivating bodhichitta, the altruistic aspiration, you should recognize that if you do not have this basic factor of recognition of others as having been your mothers, you will not have success in its cultivation. So by not developing this recognition you stand to lose.

A recognition of others as being your dearest ones need not be confined to recognizing them as mothers alone. As Maitreya recommends in his Abhisamayalankara, you can also view them as having been your best friends or closest relatives. For example, you can view all sentient beings as having been your fathers, if you relate better to your father than to your mother, or as children to whom you feel closest and for whom you have the deepest affection. The point is to bring about an effect within your mind and to develop a state of mind that will enable you to perceive all living beings as the closest objects of affection and kindness. That is how you cultivate the recognition of sentient beings as having been one’s mother.

The next meditation is on the recollection of the kindness of all beings. For this, you should visualize the person to whom you feel closest—be it your mother or father—when she or he is quite old. Clearly visualize the person at an age when she or he depends upon others’ cooperation and assistance. Doing this has a special significance, for it will make your meditation more powerful and effective. Then think that your mother, for example, has been your mother not only in this lifetime, but also in past lives. Particularly in this life her kindness was boundless at the time of your birth, and before that during gestation she had to undergo all sorts of hardships, and even after birth her affection was such that she was able to surrender her own happiness and pleasure for the sake of the happiness and pleasure of her child. At the time of your birth she felt as joyful as if she had found a treasure, and according to her own capacities she has protected you. You were thus protected until you could stand on your own feet. After reflecting upon the kindness of mothers, particularly of this lifetime, you should visualize other beings whom you find quite distant and repulsive, even animals, and take them as your object of visualization. Think that although these enemies are harmful to you and are your adversaries in this life, in past lives they must have been your most dear parents and must have even protected and saved your life countless times. Therefore their kindness is boundless. In such a manner you should train your mind.

The meditation on the recollection of kindness should be followed by meditation upon repaying that kindness. The thought to repay the kindness of mothers will come about naturally when you have been successful in recollecting this kindness—it should come from the depths of your heart. Not to repay their kindness would be unfair and ungrateful of you. Therefore, you should work according to your own capacity for the benefit of others; doing this repays their kindness.

Having cultivated equanimity and the recognition of all sentient beings as having been one’s mother, you will see all sentient beings as objects of affection and endearment. And the more forceful your feeling of affection towards them, the stronger will be your aspiration that they be free from suffering and enjoy happiness. So the recognition of others as having been one’s mother is the foundation for the subsequent meditations. Having laid that proper foundation, recollected their kindness and developed the genuine wish to repay it, you gain a state wherein you feel close to and affectionate towards all living beings. Now reflect that all these sentient beings, although they naturally desire happiness and wish to avoid suffering, are tormented by unimaginable sufferings. Reflect upon the fact that they are just like yourself in desiring happiness, but they lack this happiness. By such reflection, cultivate loving-kindness.

When you do the meditation on compassion, reflect upon the manner in which sentient beings undergo the experience of suffering. First, in order to have a very strong force of compassion, visualize a person undergoing active sufferings. You can visualize any situation that you find unbearable. Doing so will enable you to have a strong force of compassion and make it easier to develop a genuine universal compassion. Then think about the sentient beings in other categories; they may not be undergoing manifest sufferings right now, but due to indulging in negative actions that will definitely produce undesirable consequences in the future, they are certain to face such experiences. The wish that all sentient beings who lack happiness be endowed with happiness is the state of mind called universal love, and the wish that sentient beings be free of suffering is called compassion. These two meditations can be undertaken in combination, until there is some kind of effect or change in your mind.

Your cultivation of love and great compassion should not be left in a state of mere imagination or wish alone; rather, a sense of responsibility, a genuine intention to engage in the task of relieving sentient beings of their suffering and providing them with happiness, should be developed. It is important for a practitioner to work for and take upon himself or herself the responsibility of fulfilling this intention. The stronger your cultivation of compassion is, the more committed you will feel to taking this responsibility. Because of their ignorance, sentient beings do not know the right methods by which they can fulfill their aims. It is the responsibility of those who are equipped with this knowledge to fulfill the intention of working for their benefit.

Such a state of mind is called the extraordinary attitude or special, unusual attitude. It is called unusual or extraordinary because such a force of compassion, comitting oneself to taking on such a responsibility, is not to be found in the trainees of lower capacity. As the oral traditions explain, with this extraordinary attitude there is a commitment that one will take upon oneself the responsibility of fulfilling this aim. It is like striking a deal in business and signing a contract.

After generating the extraordinary attitude, ask yourself whether or not, although you have developed the strong courage and the determination to work for the benefit of other sentient beings, you really possess the capacity and capability to bring them genuine happiness. It is only by your showing living beings the right path leading towards omniscience, and by living beings on their part eliminating the ignorance within themselves, that they will be able to gain lasting happiness. Although you may be able to work for other sentient beings to bring them temporary happiness, bringing about their ultimate aims is possible only when these beings take upon themselves the initiative to eliminate the ignorance within themselves. The same is true of yourself: if you desire the attainment of liberation, it is your responsibility to take the initiative to eliminate the ignorance within yourself.

As I just mentioned, you must also show the right path to living beings—and for that, first of all, you must possess the knowledge yourself. So long as you yourself are not completely enlightened there will always be an inner obstruction. Therefore, it is very important that you work for your own achievement of the completely enlightened state. By thinking in such terms, you will be able to develop the strong belief that without attaining the omniscient state you will not be able to fulfill what you set out to do and truly benefit others.

Based on the foundation of love and compassion, you should generate from the depths of your heart the aspiration to achieve the completely enlightened state for the benefit of all sentient beings. The cultivation of such a mind constitutes the realization of bodhichitta. After the meditation on generating bodhichitta you should engage in the practice of cultivating bodhichitta that takes the result into the path. Visualizing the spiritual guru at your crown, imagine that the guru expresses delight, saying that it is very admirable and you are very fortunate that you have generated bodhichitta and have engaged in the path of cultivating it, and that he shall take you under his care. Imagine that, as a result of the guru’s delight, he dissolves through your crown and into your heart. Then you dissolve into emptiness and from emptiness arise in the aspect of Buddha Shakyamuni. See yourself becoming inseparable from him, and rejoice. At your heart visualize all your virtues accumulated through the practice of bodhichitta. These emanate, in the form of light rays, toward all living beings and actively work for their benefit, relieving them of their suffering, placing them in the state of liberation and favorable rebirth and eventually leading them to the omniscient state.”

~ Adapted from The Path to Bliss by Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and translated by Thupten Jinpa (Snow Lion Publications, 2003).

~ Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the US Congressional Gold Medal. Unique in the world today, he is a statesman, national leader, spiritual teacher, and deeply learned theologian. He advocates a universal "religion of human kindness" that transcends sectarian differences. The Dalai Lama is universally respected as a spokesman for the peaceful and compassionate resolution of conflict. He has also been actively involved in bringing together Western scientists and Buddhist meditators, and is a founder of the Mind & Life Institute where such meetings of the minds can take place.