Introduction to Tantra: The Transformation of Desire (8 page)

Then we stuff ourselves with as much junk food as possible, hoping to find some satisfaction in the ice cream, popcorn, Coke, and chocolate we are devouring. We take refuge in these things as a way out of our depression and boredom, only to end up fat and sunburned.

When Buddhism speaks of taking refuge it is emphasizing the importance of breaking out of this desperate, unfulfilling search for satisfaction. Taking true refuge involves a changing of our attitude; it comes from seeing the ultimate worthlessness of the transitory phenomena we are ordinarily attracted to. When we see clearly the unsatisfactory character of the things we have been chasing after, our compulsive striving for them will automatically diminish and the driving force of our grasping will subside. We cease to be tossed this way and that by the changing fortunes of our life and gain the space to begin tapping our inner potential.

Ope ning the He a rt

SELFI SH NESS OR DEDI CATI ON TO OTH ERS?

SO FAR THE SPIRITUAL PATH has been described in terms of our own fulfillment. As we realize that our accustomed way of relating to desirable objects has been keeping us trapped in a circle of perpetual !: dissatisfaction, we become more and more motivated to activate a deeper level of our being.

Our purpose is to experience a type of peace and happiness that is stable and reliable, unruffled by changing circumstances and uninfluenced by the passage of time. But even this higher aspiration to win release from the frustrating cycle of desire and dissatisfaction is still incomplete. Why? Because it is primarily concerned with only our own welfare.

Before, perhaps, our desires were limited to the possession of sensory objects, while now—through the development of some renunciation—they are directed toward the realization of our deepest potential. But the emphasis still remains, “I want this, I don’t want that.”

This narrow concern for our own happiness and our own liberation makes it impossible for us to realize the vast potential of our human mind and heart.

Such self-centered concern values the welfare of just one being—ourself— over the welfare of the countless others who share life’s problems with us. This extremely restricted view inevitably causes our heart to close. Then, even if we do not say so consciously it is as if we feel, “I am the most important person in the world. The problems that others have are of no concern to me; it is only my own happiness that counts!”

As long as we remain so tightly focused upon our own happiness, whether temporal or ultimate, we will never experience the expansiveness of a truly open heart. The only way to achieve the total vision of complete enlightenment is to free ourselves from the restrictions of this narrow, self-cherishing attitude. In the teachings of all the highly evolved men and women of the past it is dearly stated that this narrow, self-cherishing habit of mind brings us nothing but spiritual suffocation. If we truly wish to fulfill our highest potential—or even if we only want to achieve a certain mundane satisfaction in our daily life—then we must overcome this self-cherishing and dedicate ourselves as fully as possible to the welfare of others. This is the only way to achieve a completely opened heart, the only way to experience lasting happiness.

Dedication simply means that, having created a certain atmosphere of positive energy within yourself, you determine to share this happiness with others as much as possible. According to Buddhist psychology, if you do not have a dedicated attitude to some extent, you will never be totally satisfied.

Instead, you will remain bored and lonely. As the First Panchen Lama says in his tantric text
Offering to the Spiritual Master,
“Self-cherishing is the cause of all misery and dissatisfaction, while holding all mother sentient beings dearer than oneself is the foundation of all realizations and knowledge. Therefore, inspire me to change my self-cherishing into concern for all others.” This is not some complex philosophical theory but a very simple statement. To see whether or not our self-cherishing is the cause of all our confusion and frustration all we have to do is look at our own life’s experiences.

The Panchen Lama goes on to suggest that we take a good look at what Shakyamuni Buddha did with his life. He gave up all his self-attachment, dedicated himself completely to the welfare of others and as a result attained the unsurpassed bliss of complete enlightenment. Then look at us. We are obsessed with me, me, me—but the only thing we have gained is unending misery and disappointment. This is a very simple, straightforward comparison and we do not need to rely on the authority of the Panchen Lama or anyone else to see the truth it is pointing to. All the evidence we need is available in our own life and in the lives of others. Check up carefully and it will become clear that narrow selfishness always leads to disappointment and equally clear that open-hearted dedication to others brings about happiness and a sense of well-being.

TH E OP EN-H EARTED BODH I CH I TTA MOTI VATI ON

We have already seen how our habitual attachment to sense objects prevents us from experiencing the happiness and satisfaction we all want. If we are sincerely intent on achieving the highest human pleasure, therefore, we must give our mind space by developing an attitude of renunciation. That is, we must renounce our habitual grasping after pleasure so that we can experience true pleasure. Similarly, as long as we remain obsessively concerned with our own happiness alone, we will never experience the supreme happiness of a fully enlightened mind. In other words, if we wish to reach the highest possible destination we must cultivate the highest possible motivation for following the spiritual path.

In Buddhist terminology this supreme motivation is known as bodhichitta.

It is the impulse to achieve full enlightenment (bodhi, or buddhahood) in order to be of the most benefit to others. Only through dedicating ourselves to working for the happiness of all beings—in other words only by cultivating the open heart of bodhichitta—can we ever experience supreme happiness ourselves.

The dedicated attitude of bodhichitta is the powerful energy capable of transforming our mind completely. This can be shown to be true through our own experience; it is not something we have to believe in with blind faith.

When you have developed bodhichitta in your heart all the good things in life are magnetically attracted to you and effortlessly pour down upon you like rain. At present, because our heart is filled with self-cherishing thoughts, all we seem to attract is misfortune. But with bodhichitta we automatically attract good friends, good food, good everything.

As the Dalai Lama has said, if you are going to be selfish, at least be wisely selfish. What he means by this peculiar-sounding advice is that in a way bodhichitta is like a huge selfish attitude: when you dedicate yourself to others with loving-kindness, you get back far more happiness than you could ever experience otherwise. Ordinarily, we get so little happiness, and it is easily lost.

So if we want to be as happy as possible, the only thing to do is to dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly to the welfare of others.

LI BERATI ON FROM SELF-CH ERI SH I NG

We should not think that bodhichitta is a “religious” attitude, something that we have to believe in and accept on faith alone. This supremely compassionate outlook is a direct result of clear insight into our own essential reality and the reality of others. Whenever we are concerned just with ourselves, our problems seem insurmountable. Preoccupied with thoughts of me, our mind is filled with worry and anxiety—“Maybe I’m not good-looking enough,” “Maybe others won’t like me,” “I wonder if I will succeed”—and so on. Everything related to this “I” becomes a problem, a worry, a threat to our well-being and security.

The only way to break free from this neurotic obsession with ourselves is by opening our hearts to others. When we are truly concerned with the welfare of someone else we automatically cease to be so concerned with our own problems, at least for a while. And as compassion for others replaces pity for ourselves, we discover hidden treasures of strength and wisdom within us. It can be said that merely possessing this compassionate bodhichitta is a type of enlightened experience. As we create this open space in our consciousness, we take on a much more universal character. Instead of being confined in our own petty reality, we move into the larger sphere of universal concern. This automatically liberates us from most of our problems.

So often we make such a fuss of insignificant events in our life that we turn minor difficulties into major problems. As we develop the universal view of bodhichitta, however, these small concerns become unimportant and no longer bother us. As this burden of self-concern drops from our shoulders, we experience a small taste of the complete freedom that comes with full spiritual fulfillment. Experiences like this are encouraging because they demonstrate so convincingly the practical, day-to-day value of training and transforming our mind.

MI SCONCEP TI ONS ABOUT BODH I CH I TTA

When some people first hear about bodhichitta they confuse it with a sentimental, highly emotional state of mind: “Oh, how I want people to be happy! I cannot stand to think of their suffering.” They feel so overwhelmed by the needs of others that their mind becomes depressed. But true bodhichitta is not at all like this; it has nothing to do with such an upset and paralyzed state of mind. Instead, it is clear and easy going, possessing a calm wisdom as well as a deeply felt compassion. It is an attitude of opening our heart completely and leaving it open as much as we can.

There is another mistaken idea that many people have when they first hear teachings on bodhichitta. Because it is necessary to develop our own inner potential to the full in order to benefit others in the deepest, most complete way, they believe that they cannot do anything to help others until they finally become a buddha. “First I must study hard for many years,” they think, “and then I can begin the practice of mental training. After a long time I might develop renunciation and bodhichitta and then, some time in the distant future when I become enlightened, I can begin to benefit others.”

Such an attitude is completely mistaken; we are only burdening ourselves with a rigid conception of how our spiritual life can develop. It is just another restraint, another fantasy. If we believe strongly in such a fixed program for our life, before we know it our death will come and we won’t even have started!

The fact is, while we are cultivating love, compassion, wisdom, and all the other insights that lead to enlightenment, we can be helping others continuously. First of all, merely by living a simple life with a heart dedicated to overcoming self-cherishing, we automatically benefit others. And secondly, each stage of spiritual development, from the first to the last, has its own power and ability; depending on which level we have reached, we can help others to that extent. To be realistic, we should help others to the limit of our present capacity. The thought that we cannot do anything until we are enlightened is in fact egotistic and ignorant and reflects a basic misunderstanding of what spiritual training is all about.

This misunderstanding is related to an attitude we have had throughout our lives. At school, for instance, we thought, “I must study these boring subjects now so that eventually I can pass my exams, receive my degree, get a good job, make a lot of money, and then I will be happy.” All this emphasis on the future—“When I have enough money,” “When I own my own home,”

“When I retire”—is easily transferred to our spiritual practice: “When I have finished practicing,” “When I am enlightened.” But to think in this way is quite deluded. This dream-fantasy of an unreal future makes our present actions unrealistic as well.

It is important to understand that true practice is something we do from moment to moment, from day to day. We do whatever we can, with whatever wisdom we have, and dedicate it all to the benefit of others. We just live our life simply, to the best of our ability. This in itself will be of enormous benefit to others; we don’t need to wait until we are buddhas before we can begin to act.

DEVELOP I NG EQUANI MI TY: TH E FOUNDATI ON FOR

UNI VERSAL COMP ASSI ON

If you have a clear and simple understanding of the philosophy and psychology of bodhichitta and try to act accordingly in everyday life, experimenting with this open-hearted dedication to others in all your actions, that is a sufficient spiritual practice. That is good enough. Of course, the development of the actual bodhichitta—the state of mind in which we are automatically more concerned for others than we are for ourselves—is a profound realization, and we have a long way to go before we achieve it. We do not develop a completely opened heart merely by wishing for it; there is a long and gradual training to be engaged in.

In my mind, one of the beauties of Buddhism is that it offers us a practical training for our mind. It does not say, “Bodhichitta is fantastic because Buddha said so!” Instead, it gives us the methods for developing such an attitude and we can then see for ourselves whether it works or not, whether it is fantastic or not.