Questions..

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Tsongkhapafan
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Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 9:36 am

Re: Questions..

Post by Tsongkhapafan »

Whatever practice you decide to do, generate bodhichitta and just enjoy it. It's easy to make things too complicated.
Lukeinaz
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Joined: Thu Feb 20, 2014 9:34 pm

Re: Questions..

Post by Lukeinaz »

Tsongkhapafan wrote:Whatever practice you decide to do, generate bodhichitta and just enjoy it. It's easy to make things too complicated.
So more questions arise...Maybe I should have started this thread in a different forum. Anyhow, several obstacles I have met specifically towards generating bodhichitta.

-I feel a bit guilty for how good I feel after generating bodhichitta. I work as a Paramedic and have lots of first hand experience dealing with incredible suffering. I often use specific patients for my practice. The visualizations are amazing and I feel wonderful, however I will sometimes feel I am only benefiting myself by using other peoples suffering. Is this a normal response? This brings me to my second question.

-If I am to truly benefit others and give my body and life for them to use however makes them happy am I just contributing to there suffering? It seems if I give my body for them to use however they want they will choose the second type of suffering. Thanks!
ngodrup
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Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:58 pm

Re: Questions..

Post by ngodrup »

Lukeinaz wrote:
Tsongkhapafan wrote:Whatever practice you decide to do, generate bodhichitta and just enjoy it. It's easy to make things too complicated.
So more questions arise...Maybe I should have started this thread in a different forum. Anyhow, several obstacles I have met specifically towards generating bodhichitta.

-I feel a bit guilty for how good I feel after generating bodhichitta. I work as a Paramedic and have lots of first hand experience dealing with incredible suffering. I often use specific patients for my practice. The visualizations are amazing and I feel wonderful, however I will sometimes feel I am only benefiting myself by using other peoples suffering. Is this a normal response? This brings me to my second question.

-If I am to truly benefit others and give my body and life for them to use however makes them happy am I just contributing to there suffering? It seems if I give my body for them to use however they want they will choose the second type of suffering. Thanks!
Any time you can generate any beneficial thought, it always benefits you.
To some extent, there's long term connection with others (however small)
if they are a cause for your kindness-intent. When you dedicate the merit
you accumulate, where do you think it goes? It is still in your memory--
you cannot escape your good deeds! If you realize that the thoughts, words
and actions are all empty, what's the point in guilt or any other reaction.
Just keep on doing what you know is skillful. It absolutely always benefits you.
Your prayers, your offerings, your prostrations...
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Palzang Jangchub
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Re: Questions..

Post by Palzang Jangchub »

Lukeinaz wrote:I feel a bit guilty for how good I feel after generating bodhichitta. I work as a Paramedic and have lots of first hand experience dealing with incredible suffering. I often use specific patients for my practice. The visualizations are amazing and I feel wonderful, however I will sometimes feel I am only benefiting myself by using other peoples suffering. Is this a normal response?
If you're truly generating bodhicitta, then you'll eventually become a Buddha and benefit all sentient beings, which is the greatest gift you can give. If you think about it that way, bodhicitta is one of the least selfish things you can do, hands down.

I suggest you read Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara, especially the Padmakara translation The Way of the Bodhisattva. There's a whole chapter on "the excellence of bodhicitta." Here's Ringu Tulku's study guide on it:

http://bodhicharya.org/wp-content/uploa ... pter-1.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Image

"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

དྲིན་ཆེན་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མ་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་མགར་ཆེན་ཁྲི་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཁྱེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ།།
རྗེ་བཙུན་བླ་མ་མཁས་གྲུབ་ཀརྨ་ཆགས་མེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ། ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོཿ
Lukeinaz
Posts: 428
Joined: Thu Feb 20, 2014 9:34 pm

Re: Questions..

Post by Lukeinaz »

Thank you all for taking the time to answer my many questions! I have really been enjoying the practices.

I have heard different ways of visualizing and was hoping for some clarification. I read on Berzin's wonderful site that the dietys should be visualized as tiny where as other resources recommend full size. Also I find it much easier to visualize myself seperated from my actual body. It is more difficult to imagine that the merit field is all around me as opposed to seeing myself in it. Does that even make sense and do these details matter?

When purifying with the opponent powers the regret feels so much stronger and real if I have actually done something negative recently, even if such a small mistake. How do I cultivate that same feeling for all my past negativities I cant actually feel?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer such remedial questions.
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Konchog1
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Re: Questions..

Post by Konchog1 »

Lukeinaz wrote:Thank you all for taking the time to answer my many questions! I have really been enjoying the practices.

I have heard different ways of visualizing and was hoping for some clarification. I read on Berzin's wonderful site that the dietys should be visualized as tiny where as other resources recommend full size. Also I find it much easier to visualize myself seperated from my actual body. It is more difficult to imagine that the merit field is all around me as opposed to seeing myself in it. Does that even make sense and do these details matter?

When purifying with the opponent powers the regret feels so much stronger and real if I have actually done something negative recently, even if such a small mistake. How do I cultivate that same feeling for all my past negativities I cant actually feel?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer such remedial questions.
Deities can be visualized at whatever size you like best.

Reflect on how your past negativities are causes for suffering and how their fruits don't benefit you, for example say in a past life you stole a necklace. In this life you don't have the necklace, or the money from its sell or anything. All you have is the negative karma from the theft.
Equanimity is the ground. Love is the moisture. Compassion is the seed. Bodhicitta is the result.

-Paraphrase of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsephel citing the Guhyasamaja Tantra

"All memories and thoughts are the union of emptiness and knowing, the Mind.
Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.
Through the qualities of meditating in that way,
Mental obscurations are purified and the dharmakaya is attained."

-Ra Lotsawa, All-pervading Melodious Drumbeats
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