understanding the Bodhicaryavatara - chap 2

Chapter Two - Confession

In order to absorb this Bodhicitta, we do certain actions, i.e. offering, prostration, taking refuge and confession. These start with the offering of one's own body, speech and mind to the Buddha. It also includes whatever good things we have, such as the mandala offering, and whatever things we feel good, in order to get rid of attachment.

In order to absorb the qualities of the Buddha, we do prostrations and take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Buddhahood is the final destination we have to reach. We have to realize Buddhahood; therefore we take refuge in the Buddha. We have to rely on the Buddha.

Taking refuge in the Dharma, the teachings of Buddha is the Path to enable us to achieve our final destination. So, we also rely on the teachings of the Buddha.

The Sangha is the guidance. To follow the path securely, we need spiritual guidance from spiritual friends, that is, taking refuge in the Sangha.

The final part of this chapter is on confession. Whenever we examine our actions and ourselves in the past and present, we find a lot of actions, which are not favourable and are not according to the Dharma, or they are bad actions. If we don't recognise them as bad, we cannot abandon them. If we recognise, we can heal. We should think, "I should not do this. Wrong actions will lead to sufferings." So, recognise our wrong actions and feel regret, and think, "I should stop doing this in future, since I know this is not good". We also rely on Buddha for forgiveness.

Simplified: understanding the Bodhicaryavatara

Coco Rosario shared this teaching with me:

Introduction to Bodhicaryavatara

by Venerable Shangpa Rinpoche

Santideva, a very great master of India, composed many texts and commentaries, among which "Bodhicaryavatara is die most profound. Santideva composed these teachings without any pride or ego. He wrote them just for the benefit of all beings.

Therefore, this text is most effective for everybody. If a person writes with pride of intelligence, his explanations will not be suitable for every level of people.

Brief history of Santideva's life

To begin with the teaching, it is good to understand a little background of Santideva's life story. Santideva was a prince born in Bengal. He renounced his position and sought many masters. He studied, practised and completed all his education at the Nalanda Buddhist College, the most famous Buddhist College during Ins time. He attained perfect realisation.

He was usually very humble and lived as simply as possible. Therefore, people usually did not see him as a very special and realised person. No one thought that he was a great Siddha. Most of those at Nalanda felt that he was wasting the Sangha's food. They could not see him as what the other masters do. What they saw was that he just ate and slept, without doing anything.

At that time the whole Sangha had a meeting. They thought: "The sangha's food and facilities were to be used for good purposes but this monk does nothing but eat and sleep. As such, he has been accumulating bad karma and misleading others. They wanted to expel him.

Each month they had a ceremony to restore broken vows. During that ceremony, each master took turns to read the Sutras. They did not know Santideva's understanding and realisation from his outlook. So they thought, "If we invite him to read the Sutra, he would go off by himself if he doesn't know how to read".

Wanting to embarrass Santideva further, they put up a very high throne and invited him to sit on it and read the sutra. Santideva accepted the invitation.

He touched the throne by his hand and the throne went down. He sat on the throne and asked, "Do you want to hear the existing Sutras or something new?" The monks were very curious but did not know that he had the knowledge, so they asked him to explain his own commentary.

That was how the teaching of Bodhicaryavatara started. When the teaching reached the Wisdom chapter, he floated in the air, went higher and higher then became invisible. Later, all the sanghas regretted treating him in such a manner. They tried to find him but 

failed.

At last, at a mountain retreat, some people saw him. They observed that each day, a deer would go into his cave but they never came out. Everybody thought, "This master has been taking deer meat for such a long time." They carried weapons and went into his cave to beat him up; not knowing that he had already became a yogi, whose actions are not fixed like ordinary people. When they reached die cave, all the deer came out first; he came out last. To their surprise, the deer were very well dressed.

Actually, he was giving dharma talk to the deer. All the people regretted and confessed to him. All the sanghas also regretted what they had done and went to confess to him.

All the masters and great Arhants noted down all his teachings without leaving out anything. His teachings explained entirely the development of Bodhicitta. Even though it is now very famous throughout the Buddhist world, it was never heard of by anybody at that time. However, his teachings were not new.

It was still part of Buddha's teachings, although it was his commentary based on his own knowledge and practices.

Coco Rosario 

inspiration

Gill Eardley

Allspirit Inspiration

Each man has only one genuine vocation ~
to find the way to himself.
His task is to discover his own destiny ~ not an arbitrary one ~
and live it out wholly and resolutely within himself.
Everything else is only a would-be existence,
an attempt at evasion,
a flight back to the ideals of the masses, conformity;
and fear of one's inwardness.
~ Hermann Hesse

The Other Syntax

"I'm an Indian and we Indians have always been humble and have
done nothing else but lower our heads. I thought humbleness was not
in the warrior's way. I was wrong! I know now that the humbleness
of a warrior is not the humbleness of a beggar.

"The warrior lowers his head to no one, but at the same time, he
doesn't permit anyone to lower his head to him. The beggar, on the
other hand, falls to his knees at the drop of a hat and scrapes the
floor for anyone he deems to be higher; but at the same time, he
demands that someone lower than him scrape the floor for him.
"You like the humbleness of a beggar," he said softly. "You bow
your head to reason."

~An Appointment with Knowledge
TALES OF POWER
Carlos Castaneda

Judith Jamison photo by jack mitchell

Daily Dharma

”Those who recite many scriptures but fail to practice their teachings are like cowherds counting another’s cows. The do not share in the joys of the spiritual life. But those who know few scriptures yet practice their teachings, overcoming all lust, hatred, and delusion, live with a pure mind in the highest wisdom. The stand without external supports and share in the joys of the spiritual life.”~~ The Dhammapada

From the book, "The Dhammapada,” translated by Eknath Easwaran, and published by Nilgiri Press