Bodhicitta And Taking Refuge

This teaching was given at a Recovery Dharma all day sitting at the North Carolina Zen Center. The talk deals with two ideas: Bodhicitta, the mind that strives toward empathy and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings; and the Buddhist practice of taking refuge.

Transcript

So I want to mention a couple of teachers who have guided me in preparing my thoughts for this.

One of them is Pema Chodron,

Who is in the Tibetan tradition.

She's a pretty old woman these days.

I think she's getting ready to retire from her position as avis submorpandova Scotia or something.

Another one is Norman Fisher,

Who is a Soto Zen priest in the San Francisco Zen Center tradition.

One or two more whose names escape me,

But they're here and I'll certainly let you know.

So this first idea of Bodhicitta,

Is anybody familiar with this word or this idea?

It's not something that gets talked about a little bit.

It's not something that gets talked about much.

Pema Chodron,

However,

Talks about it a lot because the Tibetan Buddhist used this quite a lot.

She talks about how.

.

.

Give me a button,

That was cold earlier.

Thank you all for running the stove,

By the way.

It made a big difference.

You know,

She talks about how circumstances in our lives can harden us.

They can make us increasingly resentful,

They can make us afraid,

Or that these circumstances in our lives can soften us.

They can make us more kind,

They can make us more open,

And she encourages us to realize that we always have this choice in how we're going to respond to those circumstances.

And in Buddhism,

This choice is powered by this idea,

This quality,

Called Bodhicitta.

So if you take the two words apart,

Or the word apart into two pieces,

Bodhi and Chitta,

You've probably heard the word Bodhi before,

Bodhisattva.

Buddha is from this root word,

Bud,

Which means awake or awakened.

So Bodhi,

Awake or completely open,

And Chitta means mind or heart or attitude.

So Bodhicitta is completely open heart and mind.

Awakened heart and mind.

Or awakening heart and mind.

But awakened to what is the question in terms of Bodhicitta,

And that is a spontaneous wish to attain awakening,

To have the feeling that this is the right path for me,

That to work toward a more awakened state is the right thing for me to do,

And then to work to achieve awakening through having compassion for all beings.

So in our last time we did this,

Which is back in,

I don't remember now,

September or something,

We talked about basic difference between Theravadin Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism.

And Theravadin Buddhism is the Buddhism that's presented in the Refuge Recovery Book and the Dharma Recovery Book.

It's Four Noble Truths and it's a full path and those practices.

Those things are also in Mahayana Buddhism.

In Theravadin Buddhism those practices are designed toward bringing us to a more centered place,

Helping us to let go of the things that repulse us or the things that we cling to.

And those are really valuable practices and they're good for all of us.

The difference in Mahayana Buddhism in terms of enlightenment,

In terms of awakening,

Is that we work to create conditions around us through our own actions that encourage the awakening of others.

And we find our own awakening through the service of the awakening of other people.

This idea of bodhicitta responds to that,

Allowing our compassion,

Our compassionate actions,

To serve the awakening of others and to want to do that,

To take that on as a desire,

To take that on as a goal.

That's the energy of this word bodhicitta.

The thing is,

In our relationships with people as we go through our lives,

This can leave us vulnerable,

As an open wound,

Because some people are not easy to be working with in that way.

But it can also be just as strong as our ability to love and our ability to care.

Bodhicitta is rooted in compassion.

It's in our ability to feel the pain that we share with others.

We look away from this pain a lot,

In ourselves and in others,

Because it can scare us.

But we can learn to increase our ability to love and to care,

And we can create openings in those barriers that we create around ourselves.

And we can learn to use those vulnerable moments to awaken our desire to help others,

To awaken our compassion,

To awaken our bodhicitta.

Feelings of love,

Loneliness,

Embarrassment,

Inadequacy,

How do we learn to approach these things from a compassionate stance toward ourselves and toward others when that's what they're giving us?

Remember this bodhisattva ideal,

The bodhisattva being someone who is working toward awakening,

Someone who is living an honest path for themselves and bringing positive awakening energy to others,

Vowing to save all beings,

Seeking our own enlightenment or awakening through working toward the awakening of others.

We can train ourselves in this.

And in the Tibetan tradition,

They do training meditations and this sort of thing in arousing bodhicitta and in increasing it.

So,

Quick definition after all that,

Just because I like to put it straight,

Bodhicitta,

The spontaneous wish to attain enlightenment,

It's an energy that's motivated by our compassion for all beings and it's accompanied by a falling away of that delusion that each of us somehow has a separate existence from everything else.

Even though it feels that way,

I'm here and Paul's way over there.

We come to understand that everything exists in an interdependent web.

No thing is separate unto itself,

But all things create the conditions that are needed for the existence of each everything.

Last time we were here,

We talked about this idea of dependent co-arising,

That things come into being because conditions are there to allow it to come into being.

And the example I give when I'm talking with these ideas about younger people is this idea of dependent co-arising is that this exists because these exist.

This can't be without these.

Everything is in a network together,

Each thing creating conditions that allows for the arising and the existence of other things.

So we're in this relationship with everything around us.

And these kinds of considerations,

Thinking about that,

Really thinking about that relationship and starting to feel that openness and connection,

These are the signs of an awakening mind.

And I use that term pretty specifically,

Awakening,

Because whether or not I will ever be enlightened or awakened,

Well,

I'm just going to have to wait and see about that.

But I can hope that I'm on a path toward awakening.

And in some ways and in some teachings,

These are actually really seen as the same thing in a way.

But if you're genuinely and honestly on that path,

That in itself,

The desire to be awakened,

Working toward that,

That in itself is a form of awakening.

So don't ever do the joke that I just made.

I'll see if I ever really get there because in some ways I already am.

And so are you.

So Bodhicitta,

The attention to awaken to this reality of life in order to help others awaken to that same idea,

It's not simply a feeling or an emotion or a sentiment even.

It's more than that.

Bodhicitta is a realization that runs counter,

You know,

To our social conditioning of separateness.

Our society really encourages us to feel like we are the most important thing.

And everything around us lately seems designed to sort of pull us apart.

Remember that Bodhicitta embraces a seeing into this interwoven nature of experience itself.

It's a spirit within us.

It's a desire to take on a selfless,

Strong practice.

Hard as that can be.

You could say that Bodhicitta and Pima Chödrön says this,

That Bodhicitta is the energy of our Buddha nature.

That's a phrase that we've used before as well.

The idea within Buddhism is that everybody has a Buddha nature.

Remember Buddha was just this guy.

Now again,

Whether he was from some sort of wealthy family or within a royal family,

Something like that,

Nobody's exactly sure,

But he was in fact an historical figure.

And he was not a god,

He was a person who saw that there was this discomfort in life.

There was old age,

Sickness,

Death,

Suffering,

Dis-ease,

And figured there's got to be a way to deal with these things.

Buddha always taught,

Here's what I've achieved.

You can achieve it too.

Let me tell you about it.

Let me show you how I did it,

How I've done it.

Buddha's idea was that you don't have to become Buddha.

You don't have to become a Buddha.

You already are a Buddha.

You just have to realize that inside of us,

We each have this inherent Buddha nature that can be within this web of connection.

So when we strip ourselves of the attachments and the aversions that can rule us,

Rule our spirits,

We see that interdependence with all things.

When we realize that inherent connection between us all,

Then bodhicitta,

This desire to heal the suffering of others,

It builds within us,

It becomes available to us as a strength that we can use.

Now there are two levels of it,

Relative bodhicitta and unconditional bodhicitta,

And both are fine.

Relative bodhicitta,

It's sort of like a building of gladness and hope within yourself.

When you can hear ideas like these and we can work to keep our hearts and minds open to the suffering of others without becoming overwhelmed,

Without shutting down,

Without thinking,

I'm just not going to do this anymore,

Then that's a good and valuable practice to teach ourselves how to do,

To sit in the midst of suffering and be able to feel it and to care for it.

That can be a choice.

Unconditional bodhicitta is more like a transformation.

The more you put your mind in this state,

The more you put your heart into this state.

Our life experience begins to become free of concepts and opinions and judgments.

It's a state where the reality of the connections of that dependent co-arising,

We just don't understand them intellectually,

We start to experience those things directly.

And they become the reality in which we live.

So it's about practice.

Those who really train themselves in this,

In awakening and building bodhicitta,

They start to see more clearly the suffering of others,

We learn how to enter into challenging situations to relieve suffering as we can and we do that with a willingness to dismantle our own reactivity.

For me,

That's really key.

I work with a lot of different kinds of people,

I work with young people in a variety of ages.

Like you,

I have co-workers who I like and get along with,

And I have co-workers who I don't necessarily like and I don't necessarily get along with.

If I really am going to be thinking about their well-being,

I have to see my own reactivity to these situations.

I have to manage that.

I have to see what my own self-deceptions are,

My delusions of separateness.

I can just push this person aside.

But can I really?

And with that realization that we can't just walk away.

Because really,

If we really are talking about this dependent co-arising,

We really are talking about an integrated network,

Then where is it we think we're really going to walk away to anyway?

So we train ourselves,

We think about it,

We work hard to awaken that sense of courage,

You know,

That this can take,

To reach out in as many ways as we can and as often as we can to use the phrase,

To save the many beings.

Now there are different methods that you can use to help cultivate this kind of bravery,

If you will,

Because it is easier just to back away.

One of which is meditation.

Obviously,

We can use our experiences in meditation to experience the sense of the unity that we're talking about.

But another,

And that you're familiar with,

Are the four brahma bharas,

The immeasurable minds.

These things like loving kindness,

Practicing loving kindness,

Compassion,

Sharing the joy of others,

Equanimity,

A sense of fairness as we move through,

And equality as we move through our day with everyone.

These are the tools of bodhicitta,

If that makes sense.

Now,

We all know that you can practice loving kindness,

You can practice compassion,

You can practice joy.

We can train ourselves in recognizing and arousing this energy of bodhicitta.

It doesn't mean that everything's going to have a happy ending.

That's the reality.

But it's not that we avoid,

And we don't avoid uncertainty and fears,

Not that these things don't happen,

But rather it's a question of how we relate to them,

How we practice with difficulty,

How we practice with our own emotions and the unpredictable situations that we find ourselves in every day.

But we do have one assurance,

And you may have heard these lines before,

Hatred never ceases by hatred,

But by love alone is it healed.

This is an ancient and eternal law.

So bodhicitta is that spirit which can transform any activity,

Any word,

Any thought into a vehicle for the awakening of our compassion.

We see the call for this in Zen Buddhism in what are called the Four Bodhisattva Vows,

And they're big.

They're called the Great Vows.

First is,

The many beings are numberless.

I vow to save them.

Greed,

Hatred,

Delusion rise endlessly.

I vow to abandon them.

Dharma gates,

Which is a phrase,

Understanding the teachings,

Seeing how the teachings can apply in our lives and in our interactions,

Dharma gates are boundless.

I vow to enter them.

And the great way of Buddha is beyond measure.

I vow to embody it fully.

Now when I was first hearing these things,

It always felt like there was an inherent contradiction here.

The many beings are numberless,

And I vow to save them.

I'm going to save all these many beings?

No,

But I'm going to try.

Greed,

Hatred,

And delusion rise endlessly.

I vow to abandon them.

Am I really?

Am I not going to get irritated with somebody?

Yeah,

I am,

But you know what?

I'm going to try.

It's about intention.

It's about intention.

The great way of Buddha,

Beyond measure.

And yet I vow to embody it fully,

To the best of my ability,

With the understanding that sometimes I'm going to be the most amazing thing ever,

And sometimes I'm going to fall flat on my face,

And I'm going to fail.

So we need some structure for this.

How do we really do this?

How do we abandon the heat of greed?

How do we save the many beings?

How do we move and act as Buddha?

If we have Buddha nature inside ourselves,

How do we find that?

How do we actualize that?

How do we be Buddha among our peers,

In our lives?

So I want you to think about this idea,

This act of generating and using this spirit of bodhicitta.

There's so much faith in the possibility of goodness we can have,

So much hope in aiding the enlightenment of others.

But we need a structure,

And in Buddhism,

The most basic structure of it all is taking refuge.

I take refuge in Buddha.

I take refuge in Dharma.

I take refuge in Sangha.

Have you all heard these phrases before?

Yeah.

But it's a funny thing,

That word refuge in there.

And what does that really mean?

Because usually we think about the idea of seeking refuge when we're faced with danger,

We're in need of protection,

We're trying to find a safe place.

And that's not exactly what it is,

Because it leaves this feeling,

It can leave,

Assuming,

Is the Buddha somehow larger than me,

Bigger than me,

Going to save me?

Is the Buddha able to save me?

Well,

That's not really what it is.

Because again,

The teaching is,

Buddha's got nothing on us,

Buddha's got something to share with us,

Buddha was just a guy.

We can be Buddha.

We already are.

We have to figure that out,

We have to see it.

So what's really happening?

Taking refuge is not about finding a safe place,

It's more about taking a moment to discover qualities within oneself that are attuned to this spiritual path that we've either chosen or we're investigating and are perhaps living into.

The act of taking refuge is not an act of reverence.

It's not an act of,

Or a position of weakness.

That's not what it's about.

If I had to put a name to it like that,

I'd probably choose to say that it's an act of respect.

But it's more than that,

Too.

Taking refuge can help us find that nature that's inside of us,

That's within each of us,

Which when we really come to understand it,

We can use it to better deal with the circumstances in our lives.

So in that sense,

Taking refuge is more a position of strength,

If that makes sense.

It's a way of helping ourselves by putting ourselves into a spiritual structure of sorts.

I take refuge in Buddha.

We take refuge in our own Buddha nature.

We have a seed of understanding that we can bring along,

That we can help to grow.

It's an understanding of interdependence,

Non-attachment,

The idea that we are separate from everyone else,

Separate from all things,

That we have a spirit which stands with the example of Buddha,

A spirit that can find a deeper understanding and embrace a sense of hope.

I take refuge in Dharma.

So the Dharma is a path,

Not simply a collection of teachings.

It's a philosophy of life where understanding of it deeper and deeper helps us to see our awakening as the task of creating around us conditions for the awakening of others.

This is really what it gets down to when you really start exploring the teachings of Dharma.

And I take refuge in Sangha.

The Sangha is a base of friendship,

Trust,

And strength,

And support.

We're all here together.

We're Sangha today.

But not this friendship and trust and strength and support just for ourselves,

But also for the opportunity to bring these things to one another,

The growth that we can achieve by being of service to one another.

And I was thinking about,

You know,

So that's all good,

But really why the need,

Why do I feel compelled to recite these refuges?

I come in here a lot when this room is empty.

I go to the bowing mat here and I'll make three prostrations,

Which we're going to talk about later this afternoon,

And I repeat these refuges.

Why do I feel compelled to do that?

I was thinking about that yesterday.

And I think to me the answer really is the reality of the four noble truths that are inescapable,

The truth of dis-ease in our lives.

You know,

The traditional word is dukkha,

And the meaning of that word,

In whatever that language is,

Pali,

I guess,

The meaning of that word was surprising to me.

The meaning of the word is a wheel that is not fitting correctly on the axle,

And therefore it's just kind of wobbly,

It's not a smooth ride.

Now the word dukkha has become,

It's often translated as suffering,

Which is this kind of heavy word,

And open to interpretation.

But I don't think any of us could disagree that as we go through our lives there's often this sense of dis-ease,

That things can just feel off balance,

And we're just not comfortable,

And we're just not sure how to proceed,

And that can weigh on us.

That second truth that is attachments and diversions that can cause that dis-ease in our lives,

I really want that,

I really don't want that,

And we just get caught in that cycle all the time.

The third truth that there can be,

Another way to approach all of this.

And then that fourth is the Noble Truth,

The Eightfold Path,

Which is a basic Theravada teaching,

And you know,

The Refuge Recovery Book is all about it,

Dharma Recovery Book is all about it.

These things,

These truths,

For me,

They urge me into the idea of taking refuge,

Because I need some sort of structure here,

I need a place where I can find myself,

Where I can see my motivations,

I can have an opportunity to kindle hope and find a pathway.

So think about doing the refuges as a support for this idea of bodhicitta,

Toward working toward the betterment of others.

It's sort of like,

Even as you know,

When you go into a building,

When you go into a house,

You have to step through a doorway,

And in Buddhism,

Taking refuge is the threshold of Buddhist practice.

Taking refuge really is the entryway into Buddhist practice.

Back in the day,

2600 years ago,

When the Buddha was in Northern Indiana,

Northern Indiana,

Sorry,

That's where I'm from,

Northern India,

All you really had to do,

Indiana is a happening place,

I gotta tell you.

That's really all you had to do to join that original Sangha.

The actual process was simply to recite the refuges.

I take refuge in Buddha,

I take refuge in Dharma,

I take refuge in Sangha.

Bodhicitta is a sort of requisite strength and motivation for taking refuge.

It's sort of its very essence,

If you will.

Faith in your own awakening,

Faith in the path you've chosen,

Faith in the community of practitioners that you have.

So taking refuge comes from the depth of your heart.

It's gotta come from the marrow of your bones.

Here's what,

I've got a quote here from a sutra.

It talks about the World Honored One,

Which is just something that is a way of referring to the Buddha.

The World Honored One said,

When ordinary people become apprehensive over something that seems foreboding,

They often seek refuge in such places as mountains,

Or park lands,

Or in some monastery up some tree,

Or in some mausoleum.

These refuges are not particularly of the highest quality,

He said,

Nor are they the most valuable.

People cannot free themselves from human suffering by relying on refuges such as these.

When people take refuge in Buddha,

As well as in the Dharma and the Sangha,

Then by means of their wise discernment they continually observe everything from within the Four Noble Truths,

Namely being aware of suffering,

Being aware of how suffering accumulates,

Being aware of how suffering is transcended,

And being aware of the Noble Eightfold Path.

Taking this refuge is to take the most excellent refuge,

Buddha said.

It is the one to be most valued without fail.

It is by means of taking refuge in this way that we can rid ourselves of suffering.

So as I said a minute ago,

Taking refuge is really an expression of our desire to find a better nature.

It's a reflection of our desire.

It's a method toward fulfilling our desire to find a better nature within ourselves,

Whereby we can deal with what's happening in life.

Raising the Bodhi mind,

That may be an expression you've heard,

Is to know again that there's a life that's more inclusive than the one that we're living,

And we have to trust our intuition that there's something more,

Even if we can't see it just yet.

Which can lead us to some pretty profound questions.

You know,

Who am I?

What is this life?

How do I make this happen?

We consider these questions and in time,

With practice,

We can become more diligent in our investigation,

Unafraid of what we might discover.

Why do we consider these questions?

Because it's hard sometimes to take on that sense of self-honesty.

We do it to let the Buddha way be realized within ourselves.

Buddhism is a process of reflection and transformation.

And if we really want to realize that Buddha nature within ourselves,

We have to do a lot of thinking about it.

We have to do a lot of thinking and practice.

Our vow is to realize our true nature in which we are one with all things,

To know that we exist in a harmony which we can find,

And then to allow our liberated self to manifest itself freely.

That's our work.

Reviews

This is a great explaination! This is a bit of an elongated description of the act of Budhist practices and is very much in the same way that I guide myself and my son through our recconnections; for whatever reason(s) that we may have overwelming experiences... and need just that. This seminar is very much one that I will share with others, as it breaks down a bit of what I practice daily, in a way that is easy for many to understand. This is what I enjoy about this. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for your insights on Bodhichitta.

Excellent talk!

Excellent in every way! Thank you 🙏🏼❤️