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In the autumn 1992, as part of the celebrations to inaugurate the newly completed Drikung Kagyu Jangchub Choeling Institute, at Dehra Dun, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was invited to teach. After his explanation of Gampopa’s Supreme Path called a Precious Garland (Lam mchok rin chen phreng ba), on 20th November 1992 he gave the following account of how to generate the mind of enlightenment.

We value ourselves highly, as all sentient beings do. I value myself highly, not because I am grateful to myself, or kind to myself, but because we have a natural and spontaneous regard for our own worth. Because all sen­tient beings regard themselves as precious, everybody is entitled to dispel their suffering and work for their own future happiness. Everyone has an equal right to avoid suffering and work for happiness, because we live inter- dependently with each other.

Leave aside the question of attaining Buddhahood, even in the ordinary insignificant events in our lives our happiness is dependent on others. For example, the facilities we have here and our coming together to teach and listen to teachings are dependent on those who first bought the land, levelled it and put up the buildings. The completion of these facilities is the fruit of all those people’s work.

In my own case, for instance, I am now in my late fifties and over the years I have been able to live due to the kindness of others, not through my own qualities alone or because I am self-sufficient. I have depended on others for my food, for my drink, for my clothes and shelter. All these provisions come about due to the kindness of other sentient beings; none of them come about through any superhuman self-sufficient qualities I may possess. If I had any such self-sustaining qualities, I could have lived in an unpopulated, isolated empty valley. But, actually I could not survive in such a place at all. I have to live where there are other people.

This shows that human beings have to live in dependence on their fellow human beings. And it is misguided to show ill-will towards those on whom you must depend. We behave in this way due to our ignorance. It is a stupid mistake to conduct yourself in that way. In our lives we rely on the support of all the kind sentient beings. This is why religious knowledge is a necessary part of our out­look. Similarly, cultivation of spiritual qualities like com­passion- and love, which are the root of religion are possible only with reference to an object. From this point of view we can see how sentient beings are kind to each of us by providing an easy opportunity to generate love and compassion.

If you have not already generated compassion, then you can generate it. If you have generated it, you can increase it. In the end, the way to attain the state of an omniscient conqueror is derived from this practice of love and compassion. But if there were no sentient beings we would not be able to generate love and compassion. If there were no sentient beings we would not have the courage and determination to generate this mind.

If we think carefully, from a wider perspective we owe our entire present and future collection of good qualities to the kindness of sentient beings. When you are strongly motivated to work for others, you can lead a meaningful life. When you have a strong inclination to benefit others, you will find that you are always happy.

Just as it is a reality that all your temporary and ultimate happiness is dependent upon kind sentient beings, so internally too the more you concern yourself with others’ welfare, the happier you will be. It is only natural that when you have such an altruistic attitude you will find personal happiness.

The stronger your inclination to neglect others’ wel­fare and think only of yourself, the unhappier you will be. When you have the will to help others, you will be happy in the present and it will bring you benefit in the future. On the other hand, if you are self-centered and inclined to neglect others, eventually it will bring misfortune upon you. In short, a self-centered attitude will bring destruction upon yourself and others. The mind which is concerned with others brings happiness to yourself and others. Therefore, concern for others is the root of the entire collection of good qualities. Disregarding others out of self-centeredness is the root of all downfalls like the one sided solitary peace of Nirvana and the suffering in the cycle of existence. It is like a chronic disease.

So, today, when you are able to listen to a Mahayana teaching, the Buddha’s teaching on love, compassion and mind of enlightenment, even if you cannot put them all into practice, you can at least appreciate them. At such a time we should generate a good motivation, say prayers, and try to generate the mind of enlightenment. If we were to investigate how the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas that we take refuge in today became enlightened, we would find that they generated love, compassion and the mind of enlightenment. So, in our case too, in order to protect ourselves from our present and ultimate fears, we should put love, compassion and the mind of enlightenment into practice.

If we were to summarize the essence of the instruction of the heap of eighty-four thousand teachings that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have taught, it would consist of the practice of love, compassion and the mind of enlightenment.

Here and now, the external and internal facilities are available to us. We have an opportunity to practise the Dharma. We must resolve to generate an altruistic wish to help others. If you already have such a mind you must enhance it.

In order to generate such a mind, the most important thing is to pay constant attention. In your daily life, train in regard to the various aspects and objects of the mind of enlightenment. Gradually reform your negative mind and finally generate this courageous mind of enlightenment, concerning yourself more with others than yourself.

One factor for generating such a mind is to do so in the presence of Lamas and many virtuous friends. You visualize before you the Buddhas and the children of the Buddha as witness. Due to the presence of many external and internal factors, you should be able to cultivate a fresh noble mind and to awaken or nurture the previous predispositions. If you don’t have such previous imprints, then it will be a great benefit to establish fresh dispositions.

We are going to go through the ritual for generating the mind of enlightenment together. There are two traditions: one derived from Shantideva, as found in his text the Compendium of Trainings, and the tradition passed down from Asanga and Serlingpa. Both of these traditions are to be found in the Jewel Ornament of Liberation by Gampoba.

Some Tibetan scholars classify two modes for generating the mind: the tradition of the Mind Only School and the Madhyamika tradition. Today, we will do it in accordance with the Mind Only School, the tradition coming from Asanga. We will use this text, the Jewel Ornament.

According to Jowo Serlingpa, whose tradition comes from Maitreya, through Asanga, there are two processes; generating the aspirational mind of enlightenment and receiving the vows of engaging activity. The mind that you generate is called the aspirational mind with commitments.

So, what is aspiration with commitment? There is a difference between just generating the aspirational mind and receiving the aspirational mind with commitment. When you generate the aspirational mind alone, it is enough simply to wish ‘may I attain Buddhahood’ or ‘I will practise until I attain Buddhahood for the sake of sentient beings.’ Of course, this is not a fully qualified aspirational mind to enlightenment, but it is one way of cultivating the aspirational mind to enlightenment. However, when you generate the aspirational mind with commitment, not only wishing to attain enlightenment for the sake of sentient beings, you must also have the courage to think, ‘I will never, ever give up this mind that I have generated.’ This is the way to keep the aspirational mind with commitment.

On this occasion, you will be able to generate the aspirational mind with commitment. Still, there are different kinds of person and some people might hesitate to take the aspirational mind with commitment, thinking, ‘I will not be able to practise the trainings’ - you can generate the aspirational mind alone.

This is done by first making the supplication, accumulating merit, taking refuge and performing the special deeds. After that comes the actual generation of the mind.

To do this, the text reads, ‘the teacher gives the disciples instructions about the disadvantages of the cycle of existence, and generating compassion for sentient beings, faith in the Buddha and the Three Jewels, and paying respect to the spiritual master.’ Regarding this the explanation that I gave earlier should suffice. Repeat the following prayers after me:

“O Teacher, kindly pay heed to me. Just as in the past the tathagatas, arhats, the completely and perfectly enlightened Buddhas and the great and spiritually exalted Bodhisattvas have initially generated the mind of unsurpassed, perfect and complete enlightenment. Similarly, 0 Teacher, kindly help me [insert your name] to generate the mind of perfect and complete great enlightenment.”

Next, we have to accumulate merit. In some traditions the practice of accumulating merit is done only by making prostrations and offerings, without making confession. But on this occasion we will do the whole seven branch practice. I do not think there will be any fault in doing more practice. Jigten Gonpo also spoke about “my yoga, the seven branch practice” and “attainments of the seven branch practice”. So I think it would be good to recite here the full length ritual of the seven branch practice. We will do it according to the Arya Samantabhadra Prayer.

You should visualize the Buddhas and their children in the space before you. As our main object we have the image of Shakyamuni Buddha in this temple. You should imagine that it is not just an image but the real Buddha. In the space before you also visualize the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions. Around you are the protectors of the four directions. Think of them as protect­ing you against external and internal obstacles to your generating the mind of enlightenment. Imagine that you are surrounded by all mother sentient beings, in the form of human beings, who are experiencing the specific suf­ferings of the beings of all six realms. Generate love and compassion for them. Generate faith in the Conquerors ­aspiring faith wishing to gain the qualities of the Bud­dhas, as well as pure trust in them. On the basis of this you should think:

“I must attain the unsurpassed complete enlightenment for the sake of all the innumerable mother sentient beings.”

The foundation for attaining such a state of complete and perfect enlightenment is generation of the precious mind of enlightenment.

Then you should think:

“Today, before the Conquerors. And their offspring I will generate the mind of the supreme complete enlightenment.”

For that purpose, first make prostration, offerings and confess you misdeeds, rejoice in the virtue of yourself and others, request the turning of the Wheel of Dharma, request the Buddhas not to enter into nirvana, and finally recite the dedication.

As you recite these prayers reflect on their meaning within your mind. Since we are to accumulate, purify and develop by means of this ritual of the seven branch practice, right from making prostration to the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas, we should pray with such a motivation.

Then recite the Prayers of Go and Conduct. These practices are concerned with creating merit. They are followed by taking refuge, but as it is not specifically referred to in this text, we can take the words from other texts. Please repeat these lines for taking refuge. The Ornament of Sutras says:

“Thoroughly engaging, accepting, realizing and pre­vailing.”

This refers to the specialty of thoroughly engaging in a practice with all sentient beings as the object, the specialty of accepting Buddhahood as the goal to be attained, the specialty of realizing enlightenment and the specialty of prevailing over the refuge of the Hearers and Solitary Realisers. This line from the Ornament of Sutras refers to the specialty of the uncommon Mahayana way of taking refuge.

In short, the object we take refuge in is the Buddha, the One Gone to Bliss, the Dharma is the Mahayana doctrine, and the friends are the exalted Mahayana community. The purpose of taking refuge is not just a wish for personal liberation from fear, but a wish to liberate all mother sentient beings from sufferings and their causes. Focusing on such a purpose and making the wish: “I must attain the state of an omniscient Conqueror’, is called the uncommon Mahayana way of taking refuge.

Generally when we take refuge, we also include the exalted Solitary Buddhas and Hearers among the object of refuge, but here we principally focus on the exalted Mahayana Bodhisattvas and the supreme Mahayana sangha community. Thinking that the Buddhas and their children actually exist before you and that you are surrounded by all sentient beings, repeat these words, three times, after me.

“O Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions please listen to me.

“O teacher please listen to me.

“I by the name of [insert your name] from now until I attain the essence of the mind of enlightenment, I take refuge in the supreme human being, the Supramundane Victor, the Buddha, the supreme Dharma, the Dharma of peace, the state of having eliminated desire, and the supreme assembly, the never returning Sangha community.’

Now comes the actual practice, the actual way to generate the mind of enlightenment. As I mentioned before there are two ways of generating the mind of enlightenment: to think, ‘May I attain Buddhahood for the sake of sentient beings,’ which is the aspirational method, and the aspirational way of generating the mind of enlightenment with commitment, thinking, ‘I will never give up the mind that I have generated.’ You should do this if you think you can practice and observe the trainings.

What are the trainings associated with the aspirational mind? If I summarize the points explained in this text you will understand the four virtuous practices, which are the four causes assisting us not to allow the mind to degenerate in this life or the next life and the four non-virtuous factors contributing to the degeneration of the mind of enlightenment.

The four factors protecting the mind of enlightenment from degeneration are: (1) Repeatedly recalling the benefits of generating the mind to develop enthusiasm in cultivating it; (2) Generating the mind three times during the day and three times at night to actually promote the mind generation. It is for this purpose that we repeatedly recite the verse:

I go for refuge until enlightenment
To the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Community.

Through the virtue of giving and so forth,
May I attain Buddhahood to benefit all sentient beings.

Through the recitation of such verses we should generate the mind of enlightenment again and again and remind ourselves constantly of the mind we had cultivated earlier.

(3) Most important of all, we should not abandon sentient beings for whose sake we have generated the mind of enlightenment. When we think about doing something for all sentient beings, we include them all, no one is left out.

After having generated a mind that takes everyone into account, it is possible that one day, in the face of sudden unfortunate circumstances, you might think, ‘I cannot do anything for this person, may something bad happen to them.’ Then your wish to help all sentient beings will be shattered. Your mind of enlightenment in relation to all sentient beings will decline. If you abandon one sentient being, your aspiration to help all sentient beings is broken, because you did not keep your promise to all sentient beings. Thus, it is very important not to abandon even one sentient being, for whose sake you have generated the mind of enlightenment.

Sometimes you may get angry get into a fight, but you cannot maintain a malicious thought deep within you, thinking, ‘Just wait, I’ll get you one day.’ Such motivation is absolutely improper. If you cling to such a thought, the mind of enlightenment you have generated will decline. You can practise in this way. You should not abandon your compassion deep down, even in relation to your sworn enemy, and you should not relinquish your love for him or her.

Temporarily you can take action against other people’s wrong doings, as is permitted in the trainings of a Bodhi­sattva. We find in the 44 faults of a Bodhisattva’s practice, that if you do not take appropriate measures to contain the wrong doing it is an infraction or fault.

So, not to give up the sentient beings for whom you have generated the mind, from the depth of the heart, is the third virtuous practice.

(4) The next is accumulating the two collections.

These are the four causes helping us not to let the mind of enlightenment decline in this life.

In order not to let the mind decline in future lives, we should understand the four unwholesome practices contributing to the degeneration of the mind of enlightenment and the four virtuous practices contributing to its development. I will not explain the four misdeeds like deceiving lamas and abbots by telling lies, in detail here. In short, if you practise the four virtuous qualities you will not be affected by the four non-virtues. To summarize, the four virtuous practices are:

1) Not to tell lies even at the cost of your life. Of course sometimes there are situations when you may have to tell lies for the sake of the Dharma or sentient beings in connection with some important issue. But you have to give up telling lies that are without purpose or harmful.

2) Not to be deceitful, to be honest and impartial, with a strong sense of responsibility.

3) To praise the mind of enlightenment by remember­ing its qualities and never to speak badly of it. If you practise according to the saying, “Generally you have to think of the kindness of all embodied ones. In particular train in maintaining a pure attitude towards all practitio­ners,” this fault will not occur.

4) Helping others hold on to the practice of complete enlightenment. Making others regret the good actions they have done is called black Dharma. The antidote to this is to bring others closer to attaining complete enlightenment, whenever you can. This means anyone, not only those who are near and dear to you.

These are called the four white Dharmas. When you practise the four white Dharmas you will avoid the stains of the four black Dharmas. And if you think that you can observe these instructions, you should think that not only will you generate the mind of enlightenment, but by focusing on this mind you will never abandon it. If you cannot maintain this mind, first think, ‘may I attain un­surpassable complete enlightenment for the sake of sen­tient beings; and I will attain it.’ That will be enough.

Those who want to generate the mind of enlighten­ment please kneel on your right knee, except for those of you whose legs are stiff or who are unwell. As I said before, with strong faith visualize the Buddha in front of you and with compassion visualize all sentient beings around you. With a strong determination to attain unsurpassable, complete enlightenment for all sentient beings, repeat the words for generating the mind of enlightenment after me.

“O Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions please listen to me,

“O teacher please listen to me.

“I by the name... [insert your name] have in this and other lives planted seeds of virtue through my own practice of generosity, ethics, keeping the vows and other virtues. Likewise, by asking others to do practice and rejoicing at their practice. May these root virtues become a cause to cultivate the mind of enlightenment just as in the past the Sugatas, the Arhats, the perfectly, fully enlightened Buddhas, the great Bodhisattvas seated on the highest ground have generated the mind of enlightenment.

“I by the name ... from now until the attainment of the essence of Buddhahood, in order to liberate those sentient beings who are not liberated, deliver those who are not delivered, give breath to the breathless, and those who have not fully gone beyond suffering will cultivate the aspiration to attain the unsurpassable, perfect and complete enlightenment.”

This is the first recitation.

At the second recitation, as before you must think that at this place where we are developing the mind of enlightenment the Buddhas and their children of the ten directions, the six ornaments and the two supremes of India, the eight great adepts and the seven lineage holders of the Buddha are actually present. Likewise, from the Land of Snow, visualize the presence here of the twenty-five disciples of Guru Rinpoche, the eight knowledge holders among the early Nyingma masters; the five patriarchs of the Sakya, the Lamas of the Path and Fruit tradition; the three founders of the Kagyu, Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa; the three Khampa brothers and Kyobpa Jigten Gonpo among the Kagyu lamas; and Jowo Je, Ngok and Drom of the early Kadam; likewise the great lama Tsongkhapa, the father and his sons, and the lamas of the new Kadampa.

Think that the lamas and Bodhisattvas of all four traditions of Tibet who have cultivated the mind of enlightenment, practised the Dharma and bequeathed us their wonderful works are present. These great beings should be visualized before you bearing witness to your taking the precepts for generating the mind of enlightenment.

We are surrounded by all mother sentient beings, who have been kind over beginningless time. They desire happiness but are deprived of it, they do not want suffering, but they are immersed in it. All of them like yourself desire happiness and do not want suffering, in this way we are all the same. We are also equal in having the right to have happiness and remove suffering. We are also the same in possessing the Buddha essence within our minds. So, you should think that you have found something very rare when you attained this precious human life and met with the doctrine of the Buddha. In particular, both doctrines of sutra and tantra are present and you have met with masters of the Mahayana. Therefore, think, ‘I must seize this opportunity and before long attain the state of an omniscient conqueror for the benefit of all countless sentient beings.’ By generating such a courageous resolve you should think “I will cultivate this mind” and repeat as before.

At the third recitation, you should reflect that self­centeredness is like a poisonous root, while consideration for others is like a medicinal root and the source of the collection of virtue.

Right now, we have attained life as a human being and are able to distinguish between good and bad, right and wrong. We have met with spiritual friends and had the chance to study the Buddha’s teachings and we have had the opportunity to study the excellent works of the scholars and adepts of India and Tibet. From these we have learned the difference between right and wrong, therefore we must be able to distinguish between right and wrong.

How do we distinguish between right and wrong? We all want not to meet with suffering. The root of suffering is self-centeredness, so we must give it up. We all cherish happiness and the root of happiness is having concern for others. So, we must generate a considerate attitude towards others and increase whatever consideration we have already generated. What is more we have to keep on doing this right up to the very end.

If you ask, what is that perfect courage possessing firm resolution that shows concern for others’ welfare? It is the thought that cherishes others, the altruistic mind of enlightenment. If you also ask how the precious Buddhas and their offspring, who we presently visualize as our objects of refuge, did great service to sentient beings and the Buddha dharma. It is not that they have huge strong bodies. Jetsun Mila, for example, was physically weak. It is not because of their bodies, nor because of their troops, nor because of their wealth, it is only because of their wisdom. The difference is the pure thought which benefits others.

The Buddha is faultless, possesses all qualities, and is adorned by the 32 major and 80 minor marks, because he had generated compassion. Dharmakirti’s Commentary to the Compendium of the Valid Cognition (Pramanavartika) says:

“The main causal factor leading to enlightenment is the repeated practice of compassion.”

Likewise, in the first verse of homage in the Compendium of Valid Cognition, Dignaga mentions that the Buddha became a valid person because he possessed the mind wishing to benefit others. Practice of compassion leads to the practice of wisdom realizing emptiness, which finally leads to the attainment of Buddhahood.

Since the thought of benefiting others is the source of the entire collection of virtue, we should take the Buddhas and their children as our examples and learn from their mode of behaviour. And how do they behave? They never maintain harmful intent towards anyone. They maintain a wish to benefit others and display the conduct of benefiting others. If you have such will and conduct yourself in such a way, you have become a follower of the Buddha. On this occasion, when you have the wisdom to join the line of followers of the Buddha and the wisdom to distinguish between right and wrong, there is someone to guide you. You must be careful never knowingly to leap from the cliff.

Today you are at a crossroads. You can either go up or down. You can either head towards permanent happiness or permanent destruction. At present the option is still in your hands. We should aspire to follow the examples of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas. In short, from the bottom of your heart generate a genuine aspiration to attain the unsurpassable state of complete enlightenment. If you think you can practise the trainings, you have to resolve never to abandon this mind.

Repeat after me the words for generating the mind of enlightenment for the third time.

With this we have finished generating the mind of enlightenment. Next, we are told to rejoice. We are very fortunate to have generated such a good mind, when the external and internal circumstances have come together. Never let this good mind decline. When you try to put it into practice, you may find that it is difficult to do something for all sentient beings. But mentally we must have courage to work for the benefit of all sentient beings without holding ill will towards any of them. You will accomplish this, if you try to increase your courage. There is no need to give any additional explanation of the teachings I have already given.

It is exactly twelve o’clock now. The place is distinguished. In our country, the Land of Snow, our Kagyu Tradition has four major and eight minor divisions, of which the Drikung Kagyu tradition has recently constructed a new institute. After the inauguration, we have created a religious connection with each other over the last couple of days and this has been successfully concluded. We should all keep this well in mind. There is no need for me to tell those who are accustomed to the practice. If some of you are not very attentive to your practice, you should change your colour from now on.

When a family becomes more prosperous, they improve their clothes and eat better food. Today, we have had this opportunity to learn a little about the Dharma and have had some introduction to the meaning of the Dharma. To show that you have become richer in the Dharma wealth, your conduct should improve. You should not speak roughly and those who are usually quarrelsome and aggressive should be gentler. Those of you who are normally miserly should open your hands. There are some people, who, the moment they speak to you, you think ‘he is lying’. So, try to keep your lies to a minimum and behave honestly. This is very important.

In short, even if you cannot benefit others, at least do not harm them. Keep this in mind. The most important advice I can give you is to keep a kind heart, which is the very life of the teaching. On the basis of a good kind heart you should study, say your daily prayers, follow your vocation or training and do the work by which you earn your livelihood. If you can do this, in future from life to life, there is hope that things will get better and better.

Finally, we should pray and dedicate all our virtuous practice for the flourishing of the Buddhadharma in general and in particular that the truth may prevail in Tibet. May the teachings of sutra and tantra flourish once again in Tibet as purely as before. And may that contribute directly and indirectly to the temporary and ultimate happiness of all mother sentient beings.

On this particular occasion we have gathered at this place - and I want to thank those who worked hard to organise it. So let us pray that the establishment of Shedra and Drubdra will be accomplished according to our hopes and plans without hindrance.

Sakya Dagtri Rinpochey, the two Drikung Kyabgons, Abbots and other Dharma holders are here. I am sure that you will all take responsibility and maintain your good intentions. I request you to continue to do so coura­geously in this difficult time. Take care of your health and work hard. That’s all - tashi delek!

In short,
The protector, Avalokiteshvara,
Made vast prayers before Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
To thoroughly take care of the Land of Snow;

May the good result quickly ripen today.
May we cultivate the supreme precious mind of en­lightenment
That has not been cultivated
And may that which has been cultivated not decline
But flourish higher and higher.

Translated by Ven. Lhakdor, Dorje Tseten and Jeremy Russell.

From CHÖ YANG, The Voice of Tibetan Religion & Culture No.6

Editors: Pedron Yeshi & Jeremy Russell.

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