All suffering comes from yearning for your own happiness.The second part of the path of a greater individual is the application of that intention by cultivation of the two bodhicittas. This has two parts: the first is the cultivation of relative bodhicitta, and the second is the cultivation of absolute bodhicitta.
The perfect Buddhas are born from the intention to benefit others.
Therefore to truly exchange your own happiness for the suffering of others
Is the practice of a Bodhisattva.
The first of these, the cultivation of relative bodhicitta, has two parts. The first of these is, in even placement (which means in meditation) to exchange oneself for others. The second part is known as taking adverse conditions onto the path in post-meditation. (Post-meditation means whenever we are not meditating.)
The first of these, the even placement or meditation practice of relative bodhicitta, is explained in the next stanza, which is the eleventh of the thirty-seven stanzas of the central section of the text. It says, “All sufferings without exception come from desiring one’s own happiness. Perfect buddhahood comes from altruism. Therefore, it is the practice of bodhisattvas to completely exchange their own happiness for the sufferings of others.”
This means that whatever sufferings there are in samsara, large and small, all without exception come from cherishing and desiring our own happiness at the expense of others. The ultimate bliss of buddhahood, along with whatever goodness there is in the world and beyond this world—in short, all happiness whatsoever—comes from desiring the happiness of others. In other words, happiness comes from altruism. Therefore, cherishing others more than ourselves, being willing to give all of our happiness and virtue to others, letting go of concern with our own welfare, being willing to take on ourselves all of the wrongdoing and sufferings of others, is the practice of bodhisattvas. That is the meditation practice of relative bodhicitta.
---Bardor Tulku Rinpoche, from "Living in Compassion," published by Rinchen, Inc., Kingston, NY. Copyright 2001 Karma Triyana Dharmachakra.
Responding to Theft
Even if someone driven by desire steals all your wealth
Or incites someone else to steal it,
To dedicate to this person your body, possessions,
and all your virtue of the three times
Is the practice of a Bodhisattva.
The next section in the text is the post-meditation practice of relative bodhicitta, which is how to take adverse conditions onto the path. This has four sections. The first is how to take the four undesirables onto the path; the second is how to take the two intolerables onto the path; the third is how to take prosperity and ruin onto the path; and the fourth is how to take attachment and aversion onto the path.
The first of these, how to take the four undesirables onto the path, has four parts. These are: (1) how to take loss onto the path; (2) how to take suffering onto the path; (3) how to take calumny onto the path; and (4) how to take verbal abuse onto the path.
The first of these, loss, means financial loss or loss of possessions. This is explained in the twelfth stanza. It says, “When someone through great desire steals or causes another to steal one’s own possessions or wealth, it is the practice of bodhisattvas to dedicate their bodies, possessions, and virtues of past, present, and future to that person.”
The meaning of this is that when a being out of great desire to possess those things takes your wealth, possessions, and so on, or gets someone else to steal these for them, a bodhisattva does not respond with anger and attempt to seek vengeance. In fact, they become even more concerned with benefiting that being. They become willing to give even their bodies, their possessions, and even all the virtues they have accumulated in the past, are accumulating in the present, and will accumulate in the future. In short, in response to theft, it is the practice of bodhisattvas to dedicate everything they have to that thief. That is how bodhisattvas take the loss of possessions onto the path.
---Bardor Tulku Rinpoche, from "Living in Compassion," published by Rinchen, Inc., Kingston, NY. Copyright 2001 Karma Triyana Dharmachakra.
