Universal Compassion Flashcards
- Root Text: “Is transmitted from Serlingpa”
Tell the story of the lineage of these instructions, including the story of Geshe Checkawa.
The instructions were originally given by Buddha Shakyamuni and then transmitted to Manjushri, Shantideva, and other teachers including Serlingpa, Atisha, Geshe Sharawa and finally Geshe Chekhawa who composed the root text.
Geshe Chekhawa studied under Geshe Chagshinpa and one day in his room found these two lines, “May I take defeat upon myself and offer them the victory.” He learned this was written by Geshe Langri Tangpa. He tried to study under this Geshe but learned he had died so he set out to find Geshe Sharawa, one of Geshe Langri Tangpa’s main disciples. When he found him, Sharawa was giving a teaching but made no mention of this line. After the teaching was over, Geshe Chekhawa approached Geshe Sharawa and asked how important this line was. Geshe Sharawa replied, “If you want to attain enlightenment, this practice is essential.” Geshe Chekhawa then stayed with Geshe Sharawa for many years to become skilled at training in this practice.
When Geshe Chekhawa had become skilled and abandoned his self-cherishing, he eventually taught the practice of taking and giving to lepers and they were healed. Eventually Geshe Chekhawa taught these instructions to his brother, a non-dharma practitioner, and was convinced everyone could benefit from it. Because of this, he composed the root text, Training The Mind In Seven Points, to benefit all living beings.
Je Tsongkhapa eventually gave teachings on TTMISP.
- Root Text: “The development of the five impurities will be transformed into the path to enlightenment.”
-Please describe each of the five impurities.
TLVDL
Too long, very didn’t listen
The five impurities are the impurity of time, the impurity of living beings, the impurity of view, the impurity of delusions and the impurity of life span.
Time: The lack of spiritual practice at this time.
Living Beings: Living beings experience little peace and happiness and much danger, adversity and suffering.
View: Strong tendency of people to have views that deny past and future lives, the existence of enlightened beings, the functioning of karma and the effectiveness of Dharma.
Delusions: Anger, attachment and ignorance are much stronger and more harmful than the delusions experienced by people of earlier times.
Life Span: People used to live much longer but now their lives are very short and diminishing further.
- Meditating on Equalizing Self and Others (Training in Conventional Bodhichitta)
-What is the meditation on equalizing self and others, why is it important, and how do we
engage in this meditation?
- Making our love for ourself and our love for others equal, cherishing self and others equally.
- It is one of the best methods for developing affectionate love, the heart of the practice of training the mind. If we fail to do it we will experience problems in this and future lives.
- First practice meditating on equalizing self and others with friends and family. Then expand the practice to include all other living beings. Recognize that their wish to be happy and free of suffering is the same as yours and thus their welfare is just as important as your own.
- Explain the meaning of the line, “Gather All Blame Into One.”
All sufferings and difficulties can be traced back to the self-cherishing mind. Because we want good things for ourselves, we engage in selfish actions, planting seeds of negative karma and creating a never-ending cycle of samsaric rebirths. With this realization we can grow a desire to abandon self-cherishing and instead cherish others.
- Explain the meaning of the section, “Meditating on Exchanging Self with Others.”
Exchanging self with others is exchanging the object of our cherishing so we cherish others more than ourselves. The Buddhas, who constantly work for others, have attained enlightenment and are totally free from suffering.
We can do this by reciting the following prayer from ‘Offering to the Spiritual Guide’
Since cherishing myself is the door to all faults
And cherishing mother beings is the foundation of all good qualities
I seek your blessings to take as my essential practice
The yoga of exchanging self with others
- Explain the Meaning of the section “Taking by Means of Compassion”. (Not all the various specific meditations on taking.)
We should meditate on taking on the sufferings of others out of a motivation of compassion.
The way to attain enlightenment is to fully develop a mind of compassion.
Develop a mind that cherishes all living beings, then contemplate their suffering and a mind of compassion will arise.
- Explain the meaning of the section, “Giving by Means of Love”
There are 3 kinds of love:
Affectionate love - Our happiness to be with others.
Cherishing love - Our desire to take care of others
Wishing love - Our wish for the happiness and good fortune of others.
Wishing love is our motivation for engaging in the practice of giving.
We can meditate:
‘May my virtuous karma ripen upon all living beings, and thus may they attain both temporary and ultimate happiness.’
By meditating on giving happiness to others we accumulate merit and increase our mind of love.
8.. Explain the section “Meditating on Bodhichitta”
By engaging in the practices of taking and giving we will develop a wish to free all living beings from their suffering. Through this practice we will develop a desire to act on this wish. But we will realize that only Buddhas have the ability to protect all living beings. Thus, we will make the decision, “I must attain enlightenment for the sake of all living beings,” the mind of Bodhichitta.
- Explain the meaning of the Root Text: “The three objects, three poisons and three virtuous
roots are the brief instruction for the subsequent attainment
The three objects are attractive, unattractive and neutral objects.
The three poisons are desirous attachment, hatred and ignorance.
The three virtuous roots are non-attachment, non-hatred and non-ignorance.
Subsequent attainment means our practice during the meditation break.
When any of the three objects appears to the mind of an ordinary being, it usually causes one or more of the three poisons to develop.
Those with special interest in training the mind should develop the three virtuous minds instead.
Attractive object > develop non-attachment
Unattractive object > develop non-hatred
Neutral object > recognize their lack of inherent existence / emptiness
- Explain the meaning of the Root Text “Think that all phenomena are like dreams.”
In this meditation we recognize that objects lack inherent existence and are dream-like in nature. They are merely appearances to our mind.
Shantideva explains, we are not individual pieces of our body, thus we cannot be our full body. By meditating on this we will gain this same realization for other objects. Through this we will cease to develop desirous attachment for these ‘dream-like forms.’
- Explain the meaning of the section, “Meditation on the Emptiness of the I’.
Through meditation we will realize that we ourself lack inherent existence.
If we look for the “I” among the aggregates of our body and mind, we cannot find it. Because we perceive our aggregates (“my” body, “my” mind) we grasp at an independent “I.” The non-findability of the “I” indicates that the “I” or self is a mere appearance to the mind, thus the “I” does not exist from its own side.
12.. Explain the meaning of the section, “Training in Emptiness During the Meditation Break”.
In our every-day lives, all phenomena will appear to us to exist inherently. But we should remember that they are by nature empty. The depth of our experience of emptiness during the meditation break will depend upon our experience during the meditation session.
- Please describe the main points from the section Transforming Adverse Conditions by
Means of Method.
NRC
Negative Karma
Renunciation
Compassion
- Adverse conditions are the result of our negative karma which we should seek to purify, thus preventing future suffering.
- Adverse conditions create virtuous minds such as renunciation and a wish for us to escape samsara.
- Adverse conditions increase our compassion for others who are experiences the same suffering we are, thus developing in us a mind of bodhichitta.
~~~
When we are met with adverse conditions, we should remember that they are a result of our negative karma and should seek to purify this karma. This way, instead of causing suffering, adverse conditions become the means of preventing future suffering.
Adverse conditions should also create a wish for us to escape from samsara.
With Dharma wisdom, hardships become causes of renunciation and other virtuous minds. If we did not experience adverse conditions it is unlikely that we would develop a genuine wish for freedom.
Adverse conditions can also be used to increase our compassion for others. Generating the compassionate wish to accept the suffering of others purifies the negative karma that causes our own sickness.
Suffering has many good qualities, developing in us patience, love and bodhichitta.
- Please describe the main points from the section Transforming Adverse Conditions by
Means of Wisdom.
Faced with any situation of suffering, we remember the three spheres – we, who are experiencing the suffering, the experience of suffering itself, and the object or condition causing our suffering – are empty of inherent existence.
Adverse conditions are simply labeled by our minds as ‘adverse,’ they do not exist inherently.
For example, a sickness could be viewed as a terrible situation, or as a means to develop spiritually.
- Please be able to explain each of the Four Preparations.
MPGM
Merit
Purifying Negatives
Giving Food to Obstructing Spirits
Making Offerings to Dharma Protectors
The Preparation of Accumulating Merit:
Whenever we experience misfortune or sickness, we should recognize that this is the result of our negative actions or lack of merit.
Thus we should strive to accumulate merit by taking actions to please our spiritual guide, make offerings to the Buddhas, care for our parents, save lives, give to the poor, paint pictures of Deities, make statues of Buddhas, listening to Dharma teachings, giving Dharma advice, developing compassion and bodhichitta, practicing taking and giving, making prostrations with faith, serving others, trying to control our anger, making others happy, and rejoicing in other’s virtue.
The Preparation of Purifying Negatives:
Suffering should remind us of its cause, our own negative actions. When we realize this we will refrain from committing non-virtuous actions and purify the negative karma that we have already accumulated.
The strength of our purification will depend upon how strongly and regularly we apply the four opponent powers.
1. The power of regret
2. The power of reliance
3. The power of opponent force
4. The power of promise
The Preparation of Giving Food to Obstructing Spirits:
Realize that the harmful actions of spirits are helping you to commit to your Dharma practice. Bless the food offered to them with OM AH HUM and place it outside in a high, clean place.
The Preparation of Making Offerings to Dharma Protectors:
Spiritual guides will assume the form of different Dharma Protectors who remove obstacles and bestow good conditions. We should make offerings to Dharma protectors and request that they help to transform adverse conditions into the spiritual path.
