Practice

Practice

Practice wisdom and compassion as a way of life

Introduction

The application of bodhicitta in practice is central to the Mahāyāna pursuit of full enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. According to Mahāyāna masters, bodhicitta is a prerequisite for a practice or path to qualify as a Mahāyāna path leading to the state of a fully awakened buddha. Only when the practice is motivated or informed by bodhicitta (byang chub sems kyi rtsis zin pa) can it be considered as a bona fide part of the Mahāyāna path. Thus, the masters strongly recommend the cultivation of the altruistic thought of bodhicitta before beginning any project or activity. This is because, in the Buddhist system, the moral value of an action is determined by the quality of intention or the state of the mind.

Buddhist masters teach that mind can be in any of the three states:

1. A virtuous state with positive thoughts and emotions, such as thirst for knowledge, devotion, compassion, love, etc.
2. A nonvirtuous state with negative thoughts and emotions, such as arrogance, hatred, jealousy, etc.
3. A neutral state with neither positive nor negative states of mind.

Furthermore, the virtuous mind can be of three types:

1. An inferior mind wishing happiness and well-being in this mundane world.
2. A middling mind wishing a higher state of lasting happiness, fulfillment, and freedom beyond the ordinary world.
3. A superior mind wishing a higher state of lasting happiness for all sentient beings.

This last superior mind is bodhicitta and the one recommended by the Mahāyāna masters before beginning any project or activity.

Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen, a twentieth-century teacher of bodhicitta, thus writes in The Jewel Lamp: A Praise of Bodhicitta (Byang chub sems kyi bstod pa rin chen sgron ma):

Should one launch something, launch with bodhicitta. Should one think of something, think of bodhicitta. Should one analyze something, analyze with bodhicitta. Should one examine something, examine with bodhicitta. (v. 98)

Patrul Rinpoche, a paragon of bodhicitta practice in nineteenth-century Tibet, also proclaimed in his Aspiration to Generate Bodhicitta (Bskal mang gong nas sogs):

If present, this alone is sufficient for reaching buddhahood. If this is absent, one is handicapped in reaching buddhahood. May I generate this pure thought of awakening, The unmistaken seed of buddhahood. (v. 6)

In the beginning, a practitioner must cultivate the mind (cittotpāda) of awakening through a concerted effort by taking the bodhisattva vow repeatedly, engaging in the various contemplative techniques, receiving teachings on bodhicitta and bodhisattva practices, and utilizing other methods. Gradually, one would become accustomed to thinking of bodhicitta, which would also become stronger and constant. When bodhicitta naturally arises without effort, a person is said to have formally become a bodhisattva. Thus, Jigme Lingpa said:

It is more important to have the supreme mind naturally arise than to consciously cultivate it.

However, a beginner must make a contrived effort to generate bodhicitta, firstly by cultivating the aspiring bodhicitta and then by engaging in the practice of engaged bodhicitta. Śāntideva presents the distinction between the two in the following verses from his text The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryāvatāra):

Bodhichitta, the awakened mind, Is known in brief to have two aspects: First, aspiring, bodhichitta in intention; Then active bodhichitta, practical engagement.

Verse 1.15

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 33
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.

[ toggle Tib. ]

[ tib / wyl ]

བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དེ་མདོར་བསྡུས་ན། །

རྣམ་པ་གཉིས་སུ་ཤེས་བྱ་སྟེ། ། བྱང་ཆུབ་སྨོན་པའི་སེམས་དང་ནི། །

བྱང་ཆུབ་འཇུག་པ་ཉིད་ཡིན་ནོ། །

byang chub sems de mdor bsdus na/_/

rnam pa gnyis su shes bya ste/_/ byang chub smon pa'i sems dang ni/_/

byang chub 'jug pa nyid yin no/_/

As corresponding to the wish to go And then to setting out, The wise should understand respectively The difference that divides these two.

Verse 1.16

[ src citation ]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Page(s) 33
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.

[ toggle Tib. ]

[ tib / wyl ]

འགྲོ་བར་འདོད་དང་འགྲོ་བ་ཡི། །

བྱེ་བྲག་ཇི་ལྟར་ཤེས་པ་ལྟར། ། དེ་བཞིན་མཁས་པས་འདི་གཉིས་ཀྱི། །

བྱེ་བྲག་རིམ་བཞིན་ཤེས་པར་བྱ། །

gro bar 'dod dang 'gro ba yi/_/

bye brag ji ltar shes pa ltar/_/ de bzhin mkhas pas 'di gnyis kyi/_/

bye brag rim bzhin shes par bya/_/

One must first have the thought to take all sentient beings to the state of the Buddha just as one must first have the thought to go to Bodh Gaya before one starts the journey. Having generated the strong motivation to take all sentient beings to buddhahood, one must then engage in the actual paths and practices which lead them to the goal. The bodhisattva road consists of a long and arduous practice of the six perfections: giving, discipline, patience, effort, meditation and wisdom. These six topics cover the entire range of practices a person must take up as a bodhisattva to reach buddhahood. They also include the practice of both relative bodhicitta, or the moral mental resolve to take all sentient beings to the state of full awakening, and ultimate bodhicitta, which is the deep understanding and experience of the ultimate nature of all things.

 

Bodhicitta in Practice

Cultivating bodhicitta involves reflection, meditation, ethical conduct, and guidance from qualified teachers, and is formalized through the bodhisattva vow.

read more

Generating Bodhicitta - The Mind of Awakening

Generating bodhicitta—the awakening mind—forms the foundation of the bodhisattva path. This transformative practice begins with recognizing the precious rarity of human existence and cultivating unwavering faith in enlightenment's possibility. Through developing immeasurable compassion for all suffering beings and finding guidance from an authentic spiritual teacher, practitioners prepare to undertake the profound bodhisattva vow. The formal ceremony involves purification through the seven-limb prayer, mind training through the four immeasurables, and the actual taking of vows to dedicate one's life to liberating all sentient beings from suffering.

Start the Journey

• Generating Bodhicitta: The Bodhisattva Vow
  • Physical Support
  • Mental Support
  • Preceptorial Support
  • The Procedure for Taking the Vow
    • The Seven-Limb Prayer
    • Mind Training
    • The Actual Taking of the Bodhisattva Vow
    • Concluding Procedures

Protecting Bodhicitta - Training on the Path

Once bodhicitta is generated and the practitioner takes the bodhisattva vow, this mind of awakening must be vigilantly protected through precise moral discipline. This commitment entails three interconnected practices: avoiding harmful actions that corrupt the awakened mind, actively cultivating virtue through the six perfections, and dedicating oneself completely to benefiting all beings. The bodhisattva navigates specific precepts—from fundamental prohibitions against deception and abandoning beings to detailed guidelines governing speech, conduct, and intention. When transgressions occur, immediate confession and remediation through powerful purification practices restore the practitioner's spiritual integrity, ensuring the precious bodhicitta remains luminous and effective in its compassionate mission.

Safeguard Your Awakened Heart

Protecting Bodhicitta: The Bodhisattva Precepts

The Discipline of Abstaining from Misdeeds

Precepts for Aspiring Bodhicitta

Precepts for Engaged Bodhicitta

Precepts for Both Aspiring and Engaged Bodhicitta

Minor Downfalls

Making Amends

The Discipline of Gathering Virtue

The Discipline of Benefitting Sentient Beings

Gift Giving

Sweet Words

Purposeful Practice

Consistent Engagement

The Four Bodhisattva Actions

Enhancing Bodhicitta - Progressing on the Path

Enhancing bodhicitta represents the crucial next phase in bodhisattva practice—transforming initial compassionate intention into unwavering spiritual power. This enhancement involves intensive practices that dissolve the artificial boundary between self and others. Through profound meditation techniques like tonglen (giving and taking), contemplating all beings as one's mother across countless lifetimes, and cultivating the four immeasurable thoughts of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, practitioners systematically dismantle self-centered thinking. The goal is radical: completely exchanging self-cherishing for other-cherishing, recognizing that genuine happiness emerges only through dedicating oneself entirely to alleviating universal suffering and nurturing the enlightenment of all sentient beings.

Expand Your Awakened Heart

Enhancing Bodhicitta: The Bodhisattva Practices

Enhancing Aspiring Bodhicitta

The Equality between Self and Others

The Exchange between Self and Others

Tonglen: The Practice of Exchange

Seven-Point Instructions of Cause and Effect

Four Immeasurable Thoughts

Compassion

Enhancing Engaged Bodhicitta

The Practice of the Six Perfections

Living Traditions of Practice
Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen

In modern times, few people have been more influential in the spread of Buddhism and the teaching of bodhicitta than His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And it was Khunu Lama who The Dalai Lama himself points to when he speaks of bodhicitta and The Way of the Bodhisattva. Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen ཁུ་ནུ་བླ་མ་བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (1894/1895 - 1977) stands as one of the most influential yet humble Buddhist masters of the modern era, whose profound teachings on bodhicitta—the compassionate aspiration for enlightenment—shaped an entire generation of practitioners. The Dalai Lama called him the "Shantideva of our time," recognizing his extraordinary embodiment of compassion and wisdom. A teacher of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, especially for the Bodhicaryāvatāra, for which he held Patrul Rinpoche's lineage, Khunu Lama's teachings were particularly sought after by the young Dalai Lama for clarifying complex philosophical concepts. Revered by many as the very embodiment of altruism, his masterwork The Jewel Lamp: A Praise of Bodhicitta continues to inspire practitioners worldwide, cementing his legacy as a bridge between traditional wisdom and contemporary understanding.

Learn More about Khunu Lama Rinpoche

More Resources

Delve deeper here with more resources for your practice.

 

Recitation Guide for The Way of the Bodhisattva

A Method for Reciting the Text Engaging in Bodhisattva Conducts: A Stream of Blessings, by Dam tshig rdo rje (Mkhan po chos rje)

Guide

 

The Way of the Bodhisattva Illuminated: Stories The Way of the Bodhisattva

Stories for young and old from the tradition Buddhist texts.

Guide

 

The Practices of the Bodhisattva

Explore the practices of the bodhisattva expounded by Śāntideva.

Click to expand

Generating Bodhicitta

Preliminary Practices

The Bodhisattva Vow

Protecting Bodhicitta

Cultivating Discipline

Cultivating Patience

Perfecting Bodhicitta

Cultivating Diligence

Cultivating Concentration

Cultivating Wisdom

Dedication of Merit

Dedication of Merit

 

The Training of the Bodhisattva

Explore the training of the Bodhisattva path as laid out by Śāntideva in the Śikṣāsamuccaya.

Click to expand

Śāntideva's Approach to the Bodhisattva Training

Training: Giving

Training: Protecting

Training: Purifying

Training: Increasing

Śāntideva

Person

The Way of the Bodhisattva

Book

Bodhicaryâvatâra: La marche vers l'éveil (1992)

Book

The Other Doorways

Discover

Begin here. Discover the basics of bodhicitta, its meaning and purpose, and learn about the main concepts of the Mahayana path. Get to know the people and texts on this website, and find key resources for beginners.

step through

Explore

The understanding and practice of bodhicitta depends on the knowledge of the stories, key concepts, texts, and people associated with it. Explore bodhicitta, the desire to seek the ultimate happiness for all sentient beings.

step through

Study

Delve deeper into the study of bodhicitta and its associated theory, practice, and traditions by reading the core texts, the most popular of which is The Way of the Bodhisattva by Śāntideva.

step through

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'

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Mahāyāna'

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 'thought of awakening'

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 'thought of awakening'

Bīja - A seed, commonly used figuratively in the sense of something which has the potential to develop or grow, and likewise as the basic cause for this development or growth. Skt बीज  Tib ས་བོན་  Ch 無漏種  

Go to the page with the definition of 'seed'

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'

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'

Śāntideva (ཞི་བ་ལྷ་). Bodhicaryāvatāra [बोधिचर्यावतार]. byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa [བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ།]. [The Way of the Bodhisattva]. Tengyur, RKTST 3216 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3216&typ=2.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhicaryāvatāra'

Gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt गोत्र  Tib རིགས་  Ch 鍾姓,種性  

Go to the page with the definition of 'rigs'

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 'awakening mind'

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 'awakening mind'

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 'mind of awakening'

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 'mind of awakening'

Prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt प्रभास्वर  Tib འོད་གསལ་  Ch 光明  

Go to the page with the definition of 'luminous'

Śāntideva (ཞི་བ་ལྷ་). Śikṣāsamuccaya [शिक्षासमुच्चय]. bslab pa kun las btus pa [བསླབ་པ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ།]. [The Compendium of Training]. Tengyur, RKTST 3281 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3281&typ=2.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Śikṣāsamuccaya'