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The next two chapters, chapters 4 and 5, offer us techniques to sustain our discipline and maintain the mind of enlightenment. They discuss conscientiousness and vigilant introspection, with some mention made also of mindfulness [LINK to main terms]. These tools are direct causes for discipline, and they allow us to accomplish the virtuous intentions that we are motivated by. | The next two chapters, chapters 4 and 5, offer us techniques to sustain our discipline and maintain the mind of enlightenment. They discuss conscientiousness and vigilant introspection, with some mention made also of mindfulness [LINK to main terms]. These tools are direct causes for discipline, and they allow us to accomplish the virtuous intentions that we are motivated by. | ||
Patrul Rinpoche [LINK to text pdf p. 21] explains how to use these three mental factors to maintain discipline. | Patrul Rinpoche, author of ''Words of My Perfect Teacher'' who is perhaps most famous for his continuous teaching of the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'',<ref>Joshua Schapiro, "Patrul Rinpoche," Treasury of Lives, accessed April 03, 2024, http://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Patrul-Orgyen-Jigme-Chokyi-Wangpo/4425.</ref> | ||
[LINK to text pdf p. 21] explains how to use these three mental factors to maintain discipline. | |||
{{QuoteCite | {{QuoteCite | ||
|quote-text=Firstly, through mindfulness, we do not lose sight of what should be adopted or abandoned. Then secondly, because we are checking the status of our body, speech and mind with vigilance, we recognize any occasions when we are tempted to avoid something virtuous or to do something negative. At that time, because of our conscientiousness, we recall the benefits of virtuous actions and undertake them, or remember the faults of negative conduct and unwholesome actions and avoid them. <ref>Adam Pearcy, trans., ''The Brightly Shining Sun'', by Patrul Rinpoche (Lotsawa House, 2019), https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.</ref> | |quote-text=Firstly, through mindfulness, we do not lose sight of what should be adopted or abandoned. Then secondly, because we are checking the status of our body, speech and mind with vigilance, we recognize any occasions when we are tempted to avoid something virtuous or to do something negative. At that time, because of our conscientiousness, we recall the benefits of virtuous actions and undertake them, or remember the faults of negative conduct and unwholesome actions and avoid them. <ref>Adam Pearcy, trans., ''The Brightly Shining Sun'', by Patrul Rinpoche (Lotsawa House, 2019), https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-brightly-shining-sun.</ref> | ||
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In essence, conscientiousness is a tool of awareness regarding what we are doing and how we are doing it. It is a tool to help us reflect on how to engage in positive acts and how to avoid harmful and negative ones. It is the opposite of negligence, intoxication, or lack of awareness.<ref>Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton, trans., ''The Bodhicaryāvatāra: A Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening'', by Śāntideva (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 23.</ref> | In essence, conscientiousness is a tool of awareness regarding what we are doing and how we are doing it. It is a tool to help us reflect on how to engage in positive acts and how to avoid harmful and negative ones. It is the opposite of negligence, intoxication, or lack of awareness.<ref>Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton, trans., ''The Bodhicaryāvatāra: A Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening'', by Śāntideva (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 23.</ref> | ||
Gyalse Tokme Zangpo, the fourteenth-century Kadampa master who studied at Ngulchu Monastery and was a disciple of Buton Rinchen Drub and Rendawa Zhonnu Lodro,<ref>Samten Chhosphel, "Gyelse Tokme Zangpo," | Gyalse Tokme Zangpo, the fourteenth-century Kadampa master who studied at Ngulchu Monastery and was a disciple of Buton Rinchen Drub and Rendawa Zhonnu Lodro,<ref>Samten Chhosphel, "Gyelse Tokme Zangpo," Treasury of Lives, accessed April 03, 2024, http://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Gyelse-Tokme-Zangpo/3153.</ref> divides chapter 4 into three points of focus for conscientiousness: (1) that which is in regard to training in what is to be accomplished, which is bodhicitta, (2) that which is in regard to thinking about the support, which is precious human rebirth, and (3) that which is in regard to what is to be abandoned, which are the afflictions.<ref>Ngul Chu Tokme Zangpo, ''An Ocean of Excellent Explanation'' (Varanasi: Sakya Students Union 2003), 167.</ref> | ||
Padma Karpo, the 4th Drukchen and great monastic scholar who systematized the teaching of the 'Brug pa sect,<ref>E. Gene Smith, ''Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau'', ed. Kurtis R. Schaeffer (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001), 81</ref> explains these same divisions in a slightly different way: (1) advice for undertaking perseverance in the practices to be accomplished, (2) advice on exerting oneself in the conducive side of virtue, now that one is endowed with the support, and (3) advice on overcoming the nonconducive side, the enemy of the afflictions. <ref>Pema Karpo, ''A Lamp for the Middle Way: A Commentary on the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, Spyod 'jug gi 'bru 'grel dbu ma'i lam gyi sgron ma'' (Kathmandu: Shree Gautam Buddha Vihara, 2017), 15 (e-book), https://dharmacloud.tsadra.org/library/?post_types=book,book_author&search-terms=A+Lamp+for+the+Middle+Way:+A+Commentary+on+the+Bodhisattvacharyavatara&subjects=any&view=list/</ref> | Padma Karpo, the 4th Drukchen and great monastic scholar who systematized the teaching of the 'Brug pa sect,<ref>E. Gene Smith, ''Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau'', ed. Kurtis R. Schaeffer (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001), 81</ref> explains these same divisions in a slightly different way: (1) advice for undertaking perseverance in the practices to be accomplished, (2) advice on exerting oneself in the conducive side of virtue, now that one is endowed with the support, and (3) advice on overcoming the nonconducive side, the enemy of the afflictions. <ref>Pema Karpo, ''A Lamp for the Middle Way: A Commentary on the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, Spyod 'jug gi 'bru 'grel dbu ma'i lam gyi sgron ma'' (Kathmandu: Shree Gautam Buddha Vihara, 2017), 15 (e-book), https://dharmacloud.tsadra.org/library/?post_types=book,book_author&search-terms=A+Lamp+for+the+Middle+Way:+A+Commentary+on+the+Bodhisattvacharyavatara&subjects=any&view=list/</ref> | ||
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