New Heart of Wisdom - part 2(C)

Question 1

What’s the meaning of a person of great scope?

Answer 1

Someone who has a great capacity for developing spiritual understanding and realizations.

Question 2

How do we become a son or daughter of the lineage (of the conqueror buddhas)?

Answer 2

By developing the mind of bodhichitta, thereby becoming a Bodhisattva.

Question 3

What are the five stages of training in bodhichitta?

Answer 3

training in…

1. affectionate love
2. cherishing love
3. wishing love
4. universal compassion
5. actual bodhichitta

Question 4

What is affectionate love

Answer 4

In training in this we develop a warm heart and a feeling of being close to all living beings.

It makes our mind pure and balanced.

Question 5

In what sense is our mind normally unbalanced? (Lacking in affectionate love)

Answer 5

We feel either too close to someone out of attachment, or too distant from others out of anger.

This unbalanced mind is the source of all our daily problems. It is impossible to develop the good heart of bodhichitta this way.

Question 6

What’s a mental exercise for developing affectionate love?

Answer 6

Realize that all other living beings are our mothers from past lives. As such, they have all been very kind to us.

Or, realize how many things we make use of with little effort, e.g. roads, cars, trains, houses, restaurants, hotels, libraries, hospitals, shops, money. Many people have worked hard to provide these things.

And, our Dharma realizations are dependent on the kindness of others.

Question 7

What are the two stages of training in cherishing love?

Answer 7

1. Equalizing self and others

2. Exchanging self with others

Question 8

What are the three stages of exchanging self with others (within the training on cherishing love)?

Answer 8

1. Contemplating the disadvantages of self cherishing
2. Contemplating the advantages of cherishing others
3. The actual training in exchanging self with others

Question 9

Shantideva says in “Guide to Bodhisattav’s Way of Life”…

All the suffering there is in the world arises from what?

Answer 9

From wishing ourself to be happy.

Question 10

Shantideva says in “Guide to Bodhisattva’s Way of Life”…

All the happiness there is in the world arises from what?

Answer 10

From wishing others to be happy.

Question 11

What is wishing love?

Answer 11

Based on the belief that the happiness of others is more important than my own, we generate wishing love for all living beings thinking how wonderful it would be if all living beings attained enlightenment.

We meditate on this for as long as possible.

Question 12

What does universal compassion mean?

Answer 12

It is a mind that sincerely wishes to liberate all living beings from suffering permanently.

We look at their cycle of samsara and we deeply empathize when we see they are creating the causes of their own suffering.

Question 13

What are the three stages of training in the path of bodhichitta?

Answer 13

1. Training in the six perfections
2. Training in taking in conjunction with the practice of the six perfections
3. Training in giving in conjunction with the practice of the six perfections

Question 14

What are the six perfections?

Answer 14

The practices of giving, moral discipline, patience, effort, concentration, and wisdom, motivated by bodhichitta.

Question 15

There is no greater evil than ________.

There is no greater virtue than ________.

Answer 15

anger / patience.

Anger destroys our merit, or good fortune, so that we will continually experience many obstacles… and it will be difficult to fulfill our wishes, especially our spiritual aims.

With practice of patience we can accomplish any spiritual aim.

Question 16

What’s the meaning of “taking” in conjunction with the practice of the six perfections?

Answer 16

Taking others’ sufferings upon ourself through meditation.

Question 17

What’s the meaning of “giving” in conjunction with the practice of the six perfections?

Answer 17

Giving protection to others (as a result of taking others suffering upon ourself, and meditating motivated by compassion for them and desire to liberate them from their suffering).

Also means giving our own happiness to others through meditation. In the sense, I will give my own future happiness of enlightenment to each and every living being.