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|sub-theme=Cultivating Concentration | |sub-theme=Cultivating Concentration | ||
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|jumbo-text=In the eighth chapter of the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' Śāntideva presents a series of contemplative practices intended to counteract our rigid fixation with self-centered pursuits associated with the notions of ''I'' and ''mine''. However, in order to engage with those practices one must first free themselves from the deeply ingrained tendencies toward distraction by cultivating its antithesis, concentration. While this section of the text is often referred to as the Meditation Chapter, much of Śāntideva's discussion revolves around the need to distance ourselves from the sources of distraction. | |jumbo-text=In the eighth chapter of the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' Śāntideva presents a series of contemplative practices intended to counteract our rigid fixation with self-centered pursuits associated with the notions of ''I'' and ''mine''. However, in order to engage with those practices one must first free themselves from the deeply ingrained tendencies toward distraction by cultivating its antithesis, concentration. While this section of the text is often referred to as the Meditation Chapter, much of Śāntideva's discussion revolves around the need to distance ourselves from the sources of distraction. | ||
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==Equalizing and Exchanging Oneself and Others== | |||
In latter half of the eighth chapter of the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' Śāntideva presents a set of contemplative practices that utilize our deep seated sense of self as a means to actually uproot our fixation with the notions of ''I'' and ''mine'' in order to further develop bodhicitta. These practices involve contemplating the equality of self and other and then enacting the imaginary exchange of self and other. These particular instructions would have a profound influence on the Tibetan Kadam school and their propagation of the teachings introduced by Atiśa that came to be known collectively under the banner of mind training (''blo sbyong''), and especially ''tonglen'', the practice of ''giving'' happiness and ''taking'' suffering (''gtong len''). | |||
Śāntideva's instructions on meditative concentration revolve around two sets of contemplations, the equality of self and other and the exchange of self and other. The former is essentially an acknowledgement that all beings are equal in their desire for happiness and their aversion to suffering. By habituating oneself to this understanding, Śāntideva reasons that on should think about others with equal consideration as they would for themselves. | |||
{{PullBcaVerses|8.90|122}} | |||
{{PullBcaVerses|8.110|125}} | |||
In the latter practice, the exchange of self and other, this sense of equality is taken a step further with the practitioner imagining that they actually exchange places or identities with other individuals of lower, equal, or higher status in order to view their own self from the perspective of others. The main exercise is then to critically assess oneself through the lens of envy, rivalry, or prideful contempt, depending on the status of the subject of the exchange. | |||
{{PullBcaVerses|8.120|126}} | |||
{{PullBcaVerses|8.140|129}} | |||
==Tonglen== | |||
Śāntideva's teachings on exchanging self and other have come to be linked with the Kadam mind training, or ''lojong'', instructions introduced by Atiśa. Many have pointed out the similarity of certain verses in the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' with the instructions of ''tonglen''. For instance, | |||
{{PullBcaVerses|8.131|128}} | |||
As Thupten Jinpa, referring to the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' as the ''Guide'', explains, | |||
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|quote-text=On the surface, the relationship between the ''Guide'' and Tibetan mind training appears fairly straightforward. First and foremost, there seems to be a direct link, if not an equivalence, between the exchanging of self and others as outlined in chapter 8 of the ''Guide'' and <i>lojong</i>'s "giving and taking" (''tonglen'') meditation, which involves imaginatively taking on others' suffering, misfortune, and negative karma and giving to others one's happiness, good fortune, and positive karma. Second, the ''Guide'' is listed as one of the "six treatises of Kadam," which also include Śāntideva's ''Compendium of Training''. Third, most ''lojong'' texts, especially since the appearance of Chekawa's "Seven-Point Mind Training" in the twelfth century, seem to contain disproportionately high numbers of citations from the ''Guide''. Fourth, Atiśa's explicit acknowledgment of Serlingpa (literally, "the one from the Island of Sumatra") as the principal source for his instruction on generating ''bodhicitta'', combined with the fact that Serlingpa's approach is thought to emphasize the exchanging of self and others, suggest the ''Guide'' to be the direct source of ''lojong'''s approach to cultivating ''bodhicitta''. Finally, it cannot be a matter of pure coincidence that most Tibetan masters who have been ''Guide'' enthusiasts were also great advocates of ''lojong''. This is true from the earliest Tibetan ''lojong'' teachers, especially Langri Thangpa (1054-1123) and Chekawa (1101-75), to Ngulchu Thokmé Sangpo (1297-1371) and Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), and from Yongzin Yeshé Gyaltsen in the eighteenth century to Dza Paltrül in the nineteenth century. | |||
|source-wiki-page=Bodhicaryāvatāra and Tibetan Mind Training (Lojong) | |||
|page-number=147 | |||
}} | |||
|featured-books=The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech;The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006);Following in the Buddha's Footsteps;Readings of Śāntideva's Guide to Bodhisattva Practice;Altruism and Reality (1998);Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way Of Life: An Oral Explanation of Chapter 8; | |featured-books=The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech;The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006);Following in the Buddha's Footsteps;Readings of Śāntideva's Guide to Bodhisattva Practice;Altruism and Reality (1998);Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way Of Life: An Oral Explanation of Chapter 8; | ||
|featured-articles=The Role of Solitude (viveka) in the Eighth Chapter (Dhyānapāramitā) of the Bodhicaryāvatāra;Taming Śāntideva: Tsongkhapa's Use of the Bodhicaryāvatāra;Bodies and Embodiment in the Bodhicaryāvatāra; | |featured-articles=The Role of Solitude (viveka) in the Eighth Chapter (Dhyānapāramitā) of the Bodhicaryāvatāra;Taming Śāntideva: Tsongkhapa's Use of the Bodhicaryāvatāra;Bodies and Embodiment in the Bodhicaryāvatāra; | ||
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