In Praise of Great Compassion

In Praise of Great Compassion

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

In Praise of Great Compassion, the fifth volume of the Library of Wisdom and Compassion, continues the Dalai Lama's teachings on the path to awakening. While previous volumes focused on our present situation and taking responsibility for creating the causes of happiness, this volume concerns opening our hearts and generating the intention to make our lives meaningful by benefiting others.

We are embedded in a universe with other living beings, all of whom have been kind to us in one way or another. More than any other time in human history, we depend on one another to stay alive and flourish. When we look closely, it becomes apparent that we have been the recipient of great kindness. Wanting to repay others’ kindness, we cultivate a positive attitude by contemplating the four immeasurables of love, compassion, empathic joy, and equanimity, and the altruistic intention of bodhicitta. We learn to challenge the self-centered attitude that leads to misery and replace it with a more realistic perspective enabling us to remain emotionally balanced in good and bad times. In this way, all circumstances become favorable to the path to awakening. (Source: Wisdom Publications)

Citation

Dalai Lama, 14th, and Thubten Chodron. In Praise of Great Compassion. Library of Wisdom and Compassion 5. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2020.

Publisher Link

https://wisdomexperience.org/product/in-praise-of-great-compassion/

People Mentioned

Vasubandhu

RelationshipsLinksRKTS DataTable of Contents

Readings

 

In Praise of Great Compassion Introduction by Thubten Chodron

Venerable Thubten Chodron introduces In Praise of Great Compassion, the fifth volume in The Library of Wisdom and Compassion series that presents His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings on the stages of the path to awakening for a modern, Western audience.

 

In Praise of Great Compassion: Bodhicitta in the Pali Tradition by Thubten Chodron

Venerable Thubten Chodron reads an excerpt from "In Praise of Great Compassion" co-authored with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Bodhicitta and the ten perfections in the Pali Tradition.

 

In Praise of Great Compassion: Cultivating Bodhicitta in the Chinese Tradition by Thubten Chodron

Venerable Thubten Chodron reads an excerpt from In Praise of Great Compassion, Volume 5 of The Library of Wisdom and Compassion series that presents His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings on the stages of the path to awakening.

 

In Praise of Great Compassion: Transforming Adversity Into the Path by Thubten Chodron

Venerable Thubten Chodron shares an excerpt from "In Praise of Great Compassion," Volume 5 of The Library of Wisdom and Compassion, on the Tibetan Buddhist genre of mind training teachings that show us how to transform challenges into opportunities for spiritual practice.

 

Library of Wisdom and Compassion: In Praise of Great Compassion by Thubten Chodron

Venerable Thubten Chodron gives an overview of the fifth volume of The Library of Wisdom and Compassion, In Praise of Great Compassion. She teaches on the four immeasurables and how to distinguish them from their near enemies. She explains the difference between sharp and modest faculty Mahayana practitioners and between the self-centered attitude and the self-grasping ignorance. She concludes with sharing the four great vows in the Chinese Buddhist tradition.

• Prefacexi
• Abbreviationsxvii
• Introduction1

• 1. THE FOUR IMMEASURABLES3
  • The Four Immeasurables in the Pāli Tradition3
  • The Three Higher Trainings and the Four Immeasurables4
  • Introduction to the Four Divine Abodes6
  • Meditation on Love11
  • Counteracting Animosity and Anger13
  • Continuing the Meditation on Love19
  • Cultivating Love Benefits Self and Others23
  • Meditation on Compassion27
  • Meditation on Empathic Joy29
  • Meditation on Equanimity29
  • Types of Equanimity31
  • The Four Divine Abodes and Insight33
  • Near and Far Enemies of the Four Immeasurables35
  • The Four Immeasurables in the Mahāyāna38
  • The Four Immeasurables in the Vajrayāna45
  • An Intimate Feeling with All Beings46

• 2. THE ALTRUISTIC INTENTION OF BODHICITTA49
  • The Fundamental Vehicle and Mahāyāna49
  • The Ultimate Purpose of Dharma Practice52
  • What Is Bodhicitta?54
  • The Causes of Bodhicitta58
  • The Benefits of Bodhicitta62
  • Bodhisattvas as Inspiring Role Models67
  • Two Types of Mahāyāna Disciples69

• 3. HOW TO CULTIVATE BODHICITTA: THE SEVEN CAUSE-AND-EFFECT INSTRUCTIONS75
  • The Seven Cause-and-Effect Instructions76
  • Training the Mind to Be Intent on Others' Well-Being78
  • Developing the Attitude That Is Intent on Others' Welfare Bodhicitta91

• 4. EQUALIZING AND EXCHANGING SELF AND OTHERS117
  • Equalizing Self and Others118
  • The Disadvantages of Self-Centeredness124
  • Benefits of Cherishing Others128
  • Exchanging Self and Others131
  • Using Jealousy, Competition, and Arrogance in the Exchange136
  • How to View the Body138
  • Taking and Giving140
  • True Practitioners145
  • Comparing and Combining the Two Methods146

• 5. BECOMING A BODHISATTVA149
  • The Self-Centered Attitude and Self-Grasping Ignorance149
  • Self-Interest and Self-Confidence152
  • Integrating the View with Bodhicitta153
  • Who Can Generate Bodhicitta?156
  • Definite and Indefinite Lineage157
  • Can Bodhicitta Degenerate?158
  • Signs of Irreversibility159
  • Classifications of Bodhicitta160

• 6. HOMAGE TO GREAT COMPASSION171
  • Compassion Is the Root of All Goodness172
  • The Three Principal Causes of Bodhisattvas176
  • Compassion Observing Sentient Beings182
  • Compassion Observing Phenomena188
  • Compassion Observing the Unapprehendable192
  • Combining Wisdom and Compassion199

• 7. ASPIRING AND ENGAGING BODHICITTA207
  • Identifying Aspiring and Engaging Bodhicitta207
  • The Ceremony for Generating Aspiring Bodhicitta210
  • Guidelines of Aspiring Bodhicitta213
  • Engaging Bodhicitta216
  • Taking the Bodhisattva Vow218
  • The Bodhisattva Ethical Code in the Tibetan Tradition223
  • A Kind Heart236

• 8. LOVE, COMPASSION, AND BODHICITTA IN CHINESE BUDDHISM239
  • Love and Compassion - Prerequisites to Bodhicitta239
  • Causes and Conditions to Generate Bodhicitta244
  • Ten Factors to Spur the Generation of Bodhicitta247
  • Vasubandhu on Cultivating Bodhicitta and the Bodhisattva Vow258
  • Exhortation to Resolve on Buddhahood262
  • Cultivating the Three Types of Mind and the Five Great Vows264
  • The Four Great Vows 272
  • The Bodhisattva Ethical Code in Chinese Buddhism274
  • The Bodhisattva Ethical Code in Japanese Buddhism282
  • Bodhicitta, True Suchness, and Buddha Nature283
  • The Five Stages of Cultivating Bodhicitta284

• 9. BODHICITTA AND BODHISATTVAS IN THE PĀLI TRADITION287
  • Compassion287
  • The Compassion of Arhats and Śrāvaka Learners290
  • Compassion in Daily Life291
  • Levels of Love and Compassion296
  • The Bodhisattva Path297
  • The Bodhisattva in Pāli Literature300
  • For the Success of Bodhicitta305

• 10. MIND TRAINING309
  • Taking Adversity into the Path311
  • Specific Advice for Difficult Situations315
  • A Lifetime's Practice320
  • The Commitments and Precepts of Mind Training322
  • Gāthās to Train the Mind334

• Notes345
• Glossary353
• Recommended Reading367
• Index371
• About the Authors393

Karuṇā - Skt करुणा  Tib ཐུགས་རྗེ་  Ch 悲  

Go to the page with the definition of 'compassion'

Bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt बोधिचित्त  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།  Ch 菩提心  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhicitta'

Bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt बोधिचित्त  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།  Ch 菩提心  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhicitta'

Bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt बोधिचित्त  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།  Ch 菩提心  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhicitta'

Stender, Daniel. "Bodhicitta." In Buddhism and Jainism, edited by K. T. S. Sarao and Jeffery D. Long, 252–54. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2017.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhicitta'

Ringu Tulku. "Bodhicitta." In Śāntidevas "Eintritt in das Leben zur Erleuchtung", transcribed and prepared by Gabriele Hollmann, 171–84. Vol. 3 of Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Hamburg: Universität Hamburg (Weiterbildendes Studium), 1999. https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/4-publikationen/buddhismus-in-geschichte-und-gegenwart/bd3-k10rinpoche.pdf.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhicitta'

Bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt बोधिचित्त  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།  Ch 菩提心  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhicitta'

Avidyā - Literally "unknowing," it refers to a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of the nature of reality. As such, it is considered to be the root cause of suffering and the basis for the arising of all other negative mental factors. Skt अविद्या  Tib མ་རིག་པ་  Ch 無明  

Go to the page with the definition of 'ignorance'

Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Vajrayāna - The esoteric Buddhist tradition which developed as a syncretic system involving deity worship, use of mantras, physical energy, and mystical practices. It is also known as the mantra tradition and the tantric school as a result of being based on texts known as tantras. Skt वज्रयान  Tib རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ།  Ch 金剛乘  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Vajrayāna'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Arhat - A person who has reached nirvāṇa by eliminating the three poisons of attachment, hatred and ignorance having followed the path of seeking individual liberation as a Śrāvaka or a Pratyekabuddha. An arhat, thus, is a person who has overcome the cause of rebirth in the cycle of existence and will not take an ordinary birth again. Skt अर्हत्  Tib དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།  Ch 阿羅漢  

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Śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt श्रावक  Tib ཉན་ཐོས།  Ch 聲聞  

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