Practice
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:
- A virtuous state with positive thoughts and emotions, such as thirst for knowledge, devotion, compassion, love, etc.
- A nonvirtuous state with negative thoughts and emotions, such as arrogance, hatred, jealousy, etc.
- A neutral state with neither positive nor negative states of mind.
Furthermore, the virtuous mind can be of three types:
- An inferior mind wishing happiness and well-being in this mundane world.
- A middling mind wishing a higher state of lasting happiness, fulfillment, and freedom beyond the ordinary world.
- 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)[1]
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)[2]
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.[3]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
- ↑ brtsam na byang chub sems las brtsam// bsam na byang chub sems nyid bsam// dpyad na byang chub sems su dpyad// brtag na byang chub sems la brtag//. Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen, Byang chub sems kyi bstod pa rin chen sgron ma (Dharamsala: Dga' ldan pho brang, 2018), 29, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW8LS66303.
- ↑ yod na sangs rgyas sgrub la des chog cing/ /med na sangs rgyas sgrub la thabs chags pa/ /sangs rgyas 'grub pa'i sa bon ma nor ba/ /rnam dag byang chub sems mchog bskyed par shog. See Patrul Rinpoche, Bskal mang gong nas sogs, in Gsung 'bum o rgyan 'jigs med chos kyi dbang po (Chengdu: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003), 8: 356, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW24829_B101CB.
- ↑ Jigme Lingpa, Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod kyi rgya cher 'grel pa bden gnyis shing rta rgyu mtshan nyid kyi theg pa'i skor, in Gsung 'bum 'jigs med gling pa (Gangtok, Sikkim: Sonam T. Kazi, 1970–75), 1: 246b, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW1KG10193_E90C9C.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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