WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

To liberate lives is a common practice frequently performed by many Buddhists. When conducted properly, the resulting merit is boundless. Otherwise, the merit will be greatly diminished. It is therefore very important for us to know the proper way of liberating living beings.

All the activities of a bodhisattva can be put into six different categories, that is, the six paramitas or the six perfections. In other words, the bodhisattva’s view, conduct, practice and activities of benefiting and delivering sentient beings are vast like the ocean, but all can be summed up in the six paramitas.

If we can perform properly every time, liberating lives can also be fully endowed with the remarkable quality of the six paramitas, even to liberate just a single life. Now let us see how this can be done.

~ Depicted from Liberating Living Beings

However, in the context of wisdom and compassion, wisdom can simply be put as realization of emptiness, which encompasses many meanings: realization of no-self, of emptiness pertaining to Madhyamaka of the exoteric school, and realization of Great Emptiness and Clear Light. From the point of view of the esoteric Buddhism, which also includes the view of the Great Perfection, emptiness and clear light are one and the same.

The term “Great Emptiness” has never appeared in the history of man’s thought and literature. And even if it did, it was only to mean the void as a result of matter being decomposed to decreasing size of particles until it could decompose no more. Some people now still do not dare to affirm even this void, insisting rather that energy should remain at the end. (Energy is matter too.) If energy also ends in a state of emptiness, it will be as if all matter were born from nothing. This, to many, is an unacceptable conclusion. So what these people are able to comprehend is even less than that of the exoteric school.

Wholesome motivation is the most superior of the three motivations. It can be further divided into the motivation of an inferior, an average and a superior disciple.

The motivation of an inferior disciple is the lowest of the three. Those who cultivate virtue with this kind of motivation do not think about liberation from samsara. They are only concerned with not being reborn into the hell, the ghost, or the animal realm but the realm of god or human; and as human, better be born as someone with good health, long life, high position and wealth. Their actions, albeit virtuous, would not bring them any closer to enlightenment. Hence, this type of motivation is relegated to the bottom level.

Some people may wonder why, as mentioned above, a motivation to pursue health and long life is considered unwholesome, but here it turns up in the section of wholesome motivation. The previous one is unwholesome in the sense that it only aims to take care of things for this life; whatever of the next life is not its concern. The inferior disciples, on the other hand, do not seek enlightenment nor rewards for this life. Their goal is to obtain temporal blessings for the next life, which makes it a wholesome motivation.

However, for those seeking enlightenment, this should not be the motivation for virtuous actions. Nowadays many lay practitioners make it a habit to chant Buddha’s name, burn incense, do prostrations and so forth every day. But please ask yourselves honestly why you do all these. Is it to gain health and longevity for this or next life, and to make sure not going to the hell realm? If so, nothing that you do will ever free you from samsara, not if you practice for one hundred, one thousand, or even ten thousand years. Good karma resulted from this kind of motivation cannot be made the cause of liberation. Neither can it yield the fruit of liberation when matured. To practice with such intentions will not result in much virtuous karma other than some temporal benefits like health and long life, or avoiding rebirth in the hell realm.

With regard to the mental aspect of human life, we can only rely on the teachings of the Buddha because only he knows the truth completely. How do we know this? The fact that many practitioners have gained extraordinary accomplishment by following the Buddha’s instructions validates the teachings being the right view and the right path.

So what should we do now? Our very first task should be to destroy ignorance. Before that is done, doing prostrations, reciting sutras and performing virtuous deeds can at best allow us to enjoy certain worldly benefits. But ignorance cannot be destroyed this way as these good actions are not its antidote. If we do not want to continue roaming about in samsara, we need to find a tool that can exert a sharp and counteracting force on ignorance so as to be able to eradicate it. That tool is the realization of emptiness. This is a very important point to note.

~ Depicted from The Twelve Nidanas1—the sequence of cyclic

What is cause and effect? If a person commits theft, for example, in terms of the person’s body, speech, or mind, which one is the cause? The word “karma”, which is now in common usage, has the same meaning as “cause” here. A thief uses his hands to grab something and puts it in a bag. Is this action the cause? When someone thinks, “I’m going to steal this,” is this thought the cause? In the case of stealing, should the action of the hands be construed as the cause, or the thought?

However, in the context of wisdom and compassion, wisdom can simply be put as realization of emptiness, which encompasses many meanings: realization of no-self, of emptiness pertaining to Madhyamaka of the exoteric school, and realization of Great Emptiness and Clear Light. From the point of view of the esoteric Buddhism, which also includes the view of the Great Perfection, emptiness and clear light are one and the same.

The term “Great Emptiness” has never appeared in the history of man’s thought and literature. And even if it did, it was only to mean the void as a result of matter being decomposed to decreasing size of particles until it could decompose no more. Some people now still do not dare to affirm even this void, insisting rather that energy should remain at the end. (Energy is matter too.) If energy also ends in a state of emptiness, it will be as if all matter were born from nothing. This, to many, is an unacceptable conclusion. So what these people are able to comprehend is even less than that of the exoteric school.

~ Depicted from Buddhism - The Definition

The Buddha knew very well the relationship between material wealth and man’s desires—how people’s minds change with the rise and fall of their fortune. This is why the Buddha had specifically instructed this mode of life for the Buddhists.

Other worldly disciplines such as philosophy have so far failed to answer this question fully. The general view is that nothing remains after death, so the meaning of life is to enjoy life to the fullest while it lasts even at the cost of squandering the precious lifetime, depleting massive amount of resources and destroying the natural environment. Still, happiness is beyond reach. It shows that to pursue happiness this way only leads to disappointment.

The Great Perfection itself is deemed supramundane, but our motivation for practicing it or listening to its teachings could turn it into a mundane phenomenon instead. If our motivation were to gain benefits in this or next life, the teaching of the Great Perfection would cease to be supramundane upon entering our mindstream; it would not even be a Mahayana practice. What would it be then? It would just be a mundane phenomenon, or, a practice of mundane Great Perfection.

~ Depicted from The RIGHT VIEW - The Three Differences

For those who place sole emphasis on the cultivation of bodhicitta in their lifetimes, the pertinent advice for them when approaching death is to rely on the five powers to navigate their passage to the next life.

1. The power of sowing virtue

This is to sow the seeds of virtue before the moment of death. To be specific, one must first cut attachment to all possessions and then offer them to the Three Jewels. In doing so, one can also choose to give more to certain virtuous deeds which one considers capable of gathering the most merit. For instance, if one believes liberating living beings to be the most excellent act of virtue, one may offer one-third or a quarter of all properties to the Three Jewels and the rest to freeing lives; or, if one believes offering to the Sangha to be the most meritorious, one can offer most of one’s assets to the Sangha, leaving a small portion for other purposes. As exact allocations of assets are not provided in the sutras, the examples here are for reference only.