WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

To make a simple dedication, one can recite the two stanzas of the Practices and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra . Or, one can choose other longer dedication prayers for a more extensive dedication.

For example, the last chapter of Bodhisattvacharyavatara: Engaging in the Conduct of the Bodhisattvas is on dedication. Its contents are all about dedications of the bodhisattvas. Certainly a fine choice for the occasion, that is.

One thing should be noted is that whether or not an aspiration prayer or dedication prayer is empowered to bestow blessing depends a great deal on who the author is. Can ordinary people like us write dedication prayers? If our motivation is pure, this purity of mind may lend certain ability, but no power to confer blessing to the prayers we write. It would not result in any benefit whatsoever to recite this kind of prayer one thousand or ten thousand times. Therefore, the author of a dedication prayer should best be a bodhisattva who has arrived at the first or higher ground, or at least a practitioner of the path of preparation who has attained a high level of realization. Only their words hold the power of blessing. Likewise, only the prayers of dedication and aspiration from them should be employed in our practice.

Buddhism has never meant to conquer anything or anyone. The Buddha also said that he cared not in the least the victory of fighting with another man, but most emphatically the victory from the battle with one’s own mind.

- Quote from The Right View, "Buddhism—the Definition"

We can be as virtuous as we would like in this life, retribution may still await us if we cannot purify all our negative karma of the past. Once this type of karma matures, there is no escape but to bear its effect albeit temporarily.

As a matter of fact, after having aroused bodhicitta, it is acceptable for a bodhisattva to use all available means to benefit sentient beings, except the ones that only bring temporary benefit but leave endless troubles afterward. This is what the Buddha advised, which also points out the difference between the Mahayana and Theravada precepts.

In the Theravada precepts, a line is clearly drawn between what one is permitted and forbidden to do, with no exception allowed. But a bodhisattva can do whatever is necessary to benefit sentient beings as long as there is no selfish intent or any ill consequence thereof. It was with exactly this kind of foresight and open-mindedness that the vows of the bodhisattva were laid down.

Renunciation and bodhicitta should be practiced separately in proper order and followed by the practice of emptiness. As such, renunciation and bodhicitta that were practiced beforehand will also turn into the wisdom of emptiness.

Here, emptiness is not like the Theravada view of no-self. Rather, it contains the element of great compassion. And within great compassion, there is realization of emptiness. These views and practices of the union of wisdom and compassion encompass all the implicit significance of the Dharma. However, they are much easily said than done.

- Quote from The Right View, "Buddhism—the Definition"

Neutral means neither good nor bad. For example, someone invites a friend along to liberate animals, but the friend does not understand the merit and the benefit related to this activity, just goes along having no particular purpose. After the activity has ended, the friend’s participation would have resulted in a kind of neutral karma. Maybe someone will question, “Didn’t the friend also save some lives? Why was this karma neutral?” It is because the friend did exactly the same thing as everybody else but with no idea as to why it was done. That makes it neutral.

The Buddha himself once said that there were quite a few inconsistencies in his teachings in order to suit the taste of different audience, but the one that would never change is the teaching on emptiness.  For example, from the point of view of relative truth, impermanence and suffering being the nature of all phenomena are deemed absolute truth, but not from the point of view of the ultimate truth. In the Three Dharma Seals, only no-self is deemed the absolute truth.

- Quote from The Right View, "Buddhism—the Definition"

The mind has two aspects: one is discriminating mind, or “discriminating thought”; the other is non-discriminating mind, or “non-discriminating thought.”

The eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body have feeling, but they do not reflect or contemplate; so these feelings are called nondiscriminating thought. When we are sick, regardless of what we are thinking, our body experiences a great deal of suffering; this is non-discriminating thought.

When we see and hear something, the sixth consciousness reflects and distinguishes between the good and the bad; this is called “discriminating thought.” The suffering experienced by the sixth consciousness is called the suffering of discriminating thought.

- Quote from Are You Ready For Happiness? Don't Let the Paper Tiger Scare You Off, "How to Face Suffering"

Second, according to the sutras, when we dedicate, no matter how great or insignificant virtuous karma may be, we should never make the vows of the celestial being and human realm or that of a shravaka: “May I, through this root of virtue, attain the state of Chakravarti (a universal monarch), or have health, long life and so forth.” Rather, the vow should be: “May I, with this root of virtue, become the refuge of all sentient beings, the one who delivers all from samsara.” To dedicate as such with resolution is dedication of a bodhisattva.