OVERSEAS TEACHING AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

Way of the Bodhisattva occupies a vital place in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition; there are over one hundred commentaries by different Tibetan masters on this root text alone, as well as around twenty commentaries by Indian masters and scholars. Of those hundred or so commentaries on Way of the Bodhisattva by Tibetan masters, one of the most famous and well-regarded was composed by Thogme Rinpoche. It is not a particularly complicated or difficult text, but it is regarded as a superb commentary. Thogme Rinpoche was a master with great bodhicitta himself. As a true bodhisattva, his text has tremendous blessing power. This commentary by Thogme Rinpoche has already been translated into Chinese by Khenpo Sodargye, and is available online, as is an easily accessible English version. It is essential that we study this text. There are also videos available with Khenpo Sodargye and Khenpo Yeshe Puntsok giving their commentaries on Way of the Bodhisattva. Still other commentaries by Tibetan lamas are available in English translation, too.

Depicted from "Guide to the Four Preliminary Practices 3 - Part 5" April, 2015, Vancouver, Canada

It is important that we remind ourselves of the significance of bodhicitta when we are engaging in any kind of positive act, whether that be making offerings, reading sutras, prostrating and so on.

Depicted from "Guide to the Four Preliminary Practices 3 - Part 2" April, 2015, Vancouver, Canada

The fourth of the Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind is the reflection on karma and its consequences, through which we generate an unwavering belief in the natural law that positive actions produce positive results and negative actions produce negative results. To generate a strong and unfaltering belief that this is true, we need to learn more about karma and its operations.

Depicted from "Guide to the Four Preliminary Practices 2 - Part 47" April, 2015, Vancouver, Canada

I very much hope that everybody goes on to study and learn more about bodhicitta, in particular how to go about cultivating and practicing it. In terms of the theoretical aspects of bodhicitta and the concrete details of bodhicitta practice there really is no better text than Shantideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva. This text contains a great deal of description of the virtue and merit of bodhicitta as well as precisely how to go about cultivating it.

Depicted from "Guide to the Four Preliminary Practices 3 - Part 4" April, 2015, Vancouver, Canada

Let us begin this teaching by making the aspiration of bodhicitta our basic motivation. In doing this we aspire to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all living beings. We recognise, however, that at the present time it is not possible for us to benefit others in the most effective way so it is necessary for us to attain Buddhahood. In order to do that, while studying this teaching, we form the intention to put into practice what we have learned and eventually attain Buddhahood. In this way we are following the example of the Buddha and we will be able to benefit other beings effectively.

Depicted from "Guide to the Four Preliminary Practices 3 - Part 1" April, 2015, Vancouver, Canada

Thus far we have discussed in a conceptual way about the suffering of samsara and its shortcomings. For more detailed instructions on contemplating this, we should turn to books such as the introduction to the Dzogchen preliminaries, The Words of My Perfect Teacher, and to Tsongkhapa’s Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Both of these texts contain very clear, detailed instructions on how we go about this practice, particularly The Words of My Perfect Teacher. There is also an abundance of commentaries and other material available online.

Depicted from "Guide to the Four Preliminary Practices 2 - Part 46" April, 2015, Vancouver, Canada

The merit and virtue of genuine bodhicitta are inconceivable but even relative bodhicitta, which is more contrived in nature, produces very significant merit. The Mahayana sutras say that even if one does not have sincere bodhicitta, just the pretence of having bodhicitta—putting on an act of having it—even that generates its own merit. That affected bodhicitta would have merit seems on the surface very difficult to understand but the reason that the merit of bodhicitta is so immense is that even if we are only pretending to have it then it is still possible to be sowing a positive dharmic seed in our consciousness. Even if we spend our entire lives just cultivating bodhicitta, this time is still worth it. Bodhicitta serves as a truly excellent foundation for everything else that comes after. Once we have bodhicitta, many other things take care of themselves.

Depicted from "Guide to the Four Preliminary Practices 3 - Part 3" April, 2015, Vancouver, Canada

The Four Thoughts, when contemplated as a whole, work towards engendering in us a powerful mind of renunciation. They help us to realise that the periods of happiness that we may experience in this life are short-lived, fleeting, and relative, and that in order to obtain a happiness that is more ultimate, more lasting, it is absolutely necessary that we make our goal that of liberation and thereby transcend samsara. We must cultivate a mind of renunciation that is irreversible; otherwise, our attachment to samsara is so great that it will be difficult for us to generate the desire to leave it.

Depicted from "Guide to the Four Preliminary Practices 2 - Part 48" April, 2015, Vancouver, Canada

It is only through having the opportunity to learn the dharma that we are able to approach cyclic existence from a distance that enables us to regard it with clarity and perspective, and to penetrate its veil. The majority of people are really blinded by cyclic existence. They are captivated by it. They feel that cyclic existence contains the means to bring them all kinds of happiness but they are living in a very confused and muddled state where they are not even sure what the meaning of human existence is. What should be a perfectly clear and simple issue for us to comprehend—what is the meaning of existence and what makes for a happy existence—has in our contemporary age somehow become a very mysterious and obtuse question for many people. Whereas a person who is a bit less well off than others is not necessarily going to come down with depression, the reality these days is that excessively affluent people quite often turn towards all kinds of negative behaviours because they do not have any idea what else they should be doing, and they often are afflicted by depression as well. So a question that should really be very simple for us to understand and answer has, due to us not being able to see clearly through samsara, become a very difficult one to comprehend.

Depicted from "Guide to the Four Preliminary Practices 2 - Part 45" April, 2015, Vancouver, Canada