11. THE ASPIRATION OF BODHICITTA
Let us advance now with a clearer focus on the Aspiration of bodhichitta:
This is the sincere and complete wish to overcome our own visceral, emotional and mental impediments to realise our full potential to bring all fellow beings to the Awakened state.
What are these visceral, emotional and mental impediments?
The visceral impediments are rooted in Identity interference in the natural operation of Sensation. Sensation if all is without impediment has a really simple task of comparing everything that enters the system, every irritation, with prior received stimuli to see if it has been received before. If it has, of course that is valuable information. If it has not, then the system continues to pay attention to the irritation to see if there is peril or advantage in its presence.
Clearly a new stimulus may not be identical to one in memory, but it may be similar. The natural system then has a range of acceptable differences posted and anything within that range is considered sufficiently well-matched to be considered as experienced before. You can see that that is a marvelous process. It is called in psychology "Recognition."
But what happens when Identity gets in on the act? Identity narrows the range of acceptance to benefit its own desires. You can see therefore that few stimuli will be accepted as “safe.” The consequence is for the human so inflicted constant external attention and resultant mental agitation which we call “anxiety.”
A person dominated by this type of affliction is called Confused. He is an infernal Demon of Confusion and Doubts. You can see that a mind agitated with constant anxiety and confusion will not be a perfect generator of the correct Intentions and accompanying Compassion.
What about the Emotional impediments? They are rooted in Discrimination. The natural task of Discrimination is to generate a physiological affect or joining with the irritation or a retreat from contact. There can, of course, also be a neutrality. These three are naturally in the best interest of the human creature.
But when Identity once more enters its ugly head the “affect” is converted into “likes or desires”; the “retreat” is converted in “dislike or hatred” and the neutral state in an “intellectual indifference.” You can see there is little room there for any of the natural processes that generate experiences of gladness, compassion or benevolent affect. A person dominted by Identity of this type is called Greedy and, in more descriptive words, a “Hungry Ghost.”
It is the Mind, of course, which transforms these two Identity impediments, within Volition, into thousands of potential impediments with subtle behavioural differences.
We said that the Aspiration arises in two stages.
The first is the initial sincere impulse to become a Bodhisattva, awakening all that is natural, to benefit all sentient beings.
Now why would one do that?
The second is the natural development of a sincere spoken or unspoken pledge never to abandon this aim until it is achieved.
Now why would one do that?
Here we have your two questions for this lesson. There may be many reasons. Evaluate them all and see which appears to you to be the most effective and give your reasons why others are not.
We said that the Aspiration arises in two stages.
The first is the initial sincere impulse to become a Bodhisattva, awakening all that is natural, to benefit all sentient beings.
Now why would one do that?
The key in the question is the word “sincere.”
It is to be in conformity with what one believes. If one believes in error that a thing is correct then acts upon that impulse then the action is sincere.
As a result of social brainwashing over thousands of years, spiritual groups have installed the idea of virtue which includes the idea of Compassion, Benevolent Love and Benevolence in action. As a consequence, the normally encountered responses in Buddhism in terms of these are based upon this social idea and the reigning force is the Super Ego.
The idea of being a Bodhisattva appeals to this sense of the ideal, but the Super Ego, no matter how noble the “should” impulse is, is in opposition to Ego and Id.
From the point of Buddha Dharma that is alright. The way in which the battle is resolved is by reining in the opposition. “RESTRAIN EGO and ID,” that is the battle cry of elementary Bodhicitta. If this is achieved well, then the natural voice of the Life Force is heard.
This Life Force urges the development of INTENTIONS that are consistent with the development and nurture of the tribe, if it is not inconsistent with the development of one’s own potential development and nurture.
The second question, as we said before, is the natural development of a sincere spoken or unspoken pledge never to abandon this aim until it is achieved.
Now why would one do that?
Once again the key word is sincere. In this case it is applied to the idea of never abandoning the path. That does not mean that one cannot fall away. It means that if one falls, one will return once more to the correct path.
Now this is a pledge, not a promise or a resolution and that means a FULL COMMITMENT. That is not easy to do. It cannot ever be made by the mind and that is the trouble here, for a Commitment cannot ever be made without a full understanding of what is entailed. It cannot be made with romantic ideas. It can only be made with clear comprehension of the sacrifices involved. There have to be no second-order resolutions, it must be given with the idea that any sacrifice, except doing harm to one’s own mind and body, will be made. That is why it is said that it must be a natural DEVELOPMENT.
Just as there are two basic levels of being a Bodhisattva, there are two levels of bodhicitta:
(1) The of aspiration level
(2) The engaged level
The Engagement of Bodhichitta:
This means that after taking or internalizing this natural Bodhisattva pledge the person engages in the practices and behaviour that bring about refined and excellent Bodhicitta and restrains from all attitudes, intentions and actions detrimental to it.
The Daily Reinforcement of Bodhicitta
1) Each day and evening recall and understand the advantages of bodhicitta motivation.
Question:
What is it that you actually recall and understand?
2) Reaffirm and intensify this motivation by re-dedicating (three times day and evening) the pure mind to your own Awakening and that of others.
Question:
Explain this re-dedicating
3) Each day strive to build up positive mental states and a deep awareness and develop the subtle wisdom and meditation that leads to Awakening.
Questions:
What is this deep awareness and subtle wisdom?
What meditation leads to awareness?
4) Each day benefit and help others using all the skills and means at our disposal, as effectively as you can, and do so with as much deep awareness of reality as is possible, understanding that one is not helping an individual, but helping in each action every sentient creature. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.
Question
What is this deep awareness of reality?
5) Maintain the constant wish to do so, no matter how difficult the task is and refrain from judging the person who is to be helped. It is essential to understand that the root Buddha Nature of one is the nature of all.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
*1) Each day and evening recall and understand the advantages of bodhicitta motivation.*
*Question*
*What is it that you actually recall and understand?*
1. Recall that Joy, Compassion, Benevolent Affect (including resultant benevolent Actions ) and Equanimity are natural phenomena which are part of the human creature's correct and natural Attitudes, Intentions and Actions. Correct Motivation helps one on the road to the elimination of the false compasion which is social, the benevolent love which is conditioned and dangerous, intellectual indifference and the false happiness which is one of the roots of the human creature's problems. The advantages then are obvious... Your return to the state of a true human creature, not a caricature of a civilization gone mad.
*2) Reaffirm and intensify this motivation by re-dedicating (three times day and evening) the pure mind to your own Awakening and that of others.*
*Question*
*Explain this re-dedicating*
2. This means continually dedicate your striving for this end not to your Identity which wishes to be a whole human creature, but to all those that you are going to help quite naturally without mental decisions or effort once you yourself are free.
*3) Each day strive to build up positive mental states and a deep awareness and develop the subtle wisdom and meditation that leads to Awakening.
*Questions*
*What is this deep awareness and subtle wisdom?*
3a. It is a deep awareness that there exists a natural program within ourselves beyond consciousness that is without self that through the Life Force works for the benefit of each individual and the species. This is an awareness of the Buddha Nature. The wisdom is the contents of that Buddha Nature which allow us to put those natural processes in operation and defend us against the error of a dual mind which generates Identity and the three poisons of greed, confusion and aversion.
*What meditation leads to awareness?*
3b. That there is a complete interdependence of all apparent phenomena and that our destructive egocentric minds destroy that balance... Like the old hippie poster said, "Identity is not good for children or other creatures." Actually, the poster said WAR, but it is the same thing. Identity is at war with humanity.
*4) Each day benefit and help others using all the skills and means at our disposal, as effectively as you can, and do so with as much deep awareness of reality as is possible, understanding that one is not helping an individual, but helping in each action every sentient creature.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.*
*Question*
*What is this deep awareness of reality?*
4. The deep awareness of reality is like a grain of sand in which without the air and the water would not exist. An infinite relationship in which all things relate, be it a stone or a person on the street, without one there is no other. This was a complete and correct answer.
*5) Maintain the constant wish to do so, no matter how difficult the task is and refrain from judging the person who is to be helped. It is essential to understand that the root Buddha Nature of one is the nature of all.*
*Question *
*What does this mean?*
5. This means that one must maintain Equanimty always with one's Bodhicitta... For the consequences are not important... what is important is that the Attitudes, Intentions and prospective Actions are natural and correct.
*6) See that there is potential Bodhichitta in every single intention no matter how small it may be. *
*Question*
*Explain to me the Bodhicitta in using the toilet.*
6. Everything that one does, no matter how small, is a part of life and the human life has a Life Force which is dedicated to the survival of self and tribe, which includes all life. Therefore a sigle act like crapping is in the service of all sentient creatures and likewise any thing that one does or thinks that is contrary to the interests of the appaerent individual and all creatures is alien to Bodhicitta.
Now clearly it is important to understand this, but it is even more important to put it into practice.