Instrucciones Espontáneas en la Cueva Profetizada del Gran Bosque de Lapchi

We must separate the inner mind from external conduct.

The inner mind realizes that all phenomena of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa lack inherent existence.

The external universe and internal sentient beings lack inherent existence; they are compounds. We understand this through examples and the scriptures.

Understanding this, we know that if we grasp at the truth of whatever arises within the mind—pleasure, suffering, thoughts, and afflictive emotions—we will accumulate karma.

In particular, when afflictive emotions and unwholesome thoughts arise, your mindful awareness recognizing them is the buddha.

All buddhas abide within the mind streams of sentient beings. If mindful awareness recognizes this, and awareness holds its own, this wisdom awareness is the buddha.

Thoughts are delusions and lack inherent existence. Knowing this, when awareness holds its own, afflictive emotions, pleasure, and suffering will all disappear. Then the mind will be clear.

If you grasp at the truth of thoughts, your mind will be obscured. Obscurations come from grasping at the truth of thoughts.

Thus, do not grasp at their reality. Although the mind sees that things lack inherent existence and are like a dream, in your activities accomplish the benefit of others entirely and abandon harm toward others entirely.

Be in harmony with everyone, accomplish the causes of benefit and happiness for all sentient beings; try to make them joyful and happy.

We request refuge from the three jewels. When we first receive the refuge vow, we learn that in their ground, buddhas and sentient beings are the same.

All the buddhas are like a vast ocean. All the buddhas of the three times have the same wisdom mind; it is the union of emptiness and compassion.

All sentient beings have become like many ice-blocks due to self-grasping.

After having received the refuge vow, one’s mindful awareness is like the warmth that melts the ice-block. In order to melt an ice-block, one needs warmth. If one has mindful awareness and compassion, self-grasping will collapse.

Having received the refuge vow, we learn that our mindful awareness is the buddha, compassion is the dharma. If you have wisdom awareness and compassion in your mind stream, then you are a saṅgha.

The three jewels are contained within one’s own mind. Understanding these inner three jewels, at all times remain inseparable from mindful awareness and compassion.

If we take refuge in the three jewels, temporary and ultimate benefit and happiness will arise. What is the temporary benefit?

If a person has great wisdom awareness, great compassion, loving kindness, and compassion, he will make friends with everyone, even in this lifetime.

If everyone becomes one’s friend, then thoughts of attachment and aversion will not arise. Due to wisdom awareness and compassion, from lifetime to lifetime, one will have generosity, ethical discipline, and patience. These three are the natural light of loving kindness and compassion.

Depending on these three, the qualities of the higher realms will be obtained:

Due to generosity, one will obtain resources.

Due to ethical discipline, one will obtain a precious human incarnation.

Due to patience, one will obtain good friends, a long life, and a beautiful appearance.

The qualities of the higher realms are obtained through these.

Ultimately, due to wisdom awareness, one will attain the state of buddhahood.

If through compassion the afflictive emotions disappear, meditative concentration and wisdom awareness will naturally arise. This is the temporary benefit and ultimate happiness.

In brief, there are many dharma teachings. There are 84,000 heaps of dharma teachings: each one of them has another 84,000 divisions. There are myriad teachings.

However, the root of the 84,000 heaps of dharma teachings is contained within bodhicitta. They are contained in the twofold bodhicitta only. What is the twofold bodhicitta?

Relative bodhicitta is loving kindness and compassion. If relative bodhicitta arises within our mind stream, self-grasping will collapse, and you will see ultimate bodhicitta naturally.

When the ice-block melts, the nature of water will be understood naturally. Thus it is called “ultimate emptiness.”

In brief, ultimate bodhicitta also is contained in loving kindness and compassion.

When saying “this ice-block is water,” only someone with wisdom awareness will understand. An ignorant person will perceive the ice-block like a stone.

In any case, it is all contained within relative bodhicitta, loving kindness, and compassion. The mind should remain inseparable from emptiness and compassion.

How does compassion arise? Now our compassion arises in dependence on seeing someone who suffers.

For example, when we see a poor country where beings suffer, this is conceptual compassion.

What then is actual compassion? When seeing the nature of mind, pleasure and suffering both must be understood to be emptiness. Realizing this is called great bliss.

If you realize pleasure to be empty, there is no suffering at all, as suffering arises due to pleasure.

Milarepa taught, “Between happiness and sorrow, there is no difference. This is the most perfect instruction.”

If one has seen that pleasure and suffering are thoughts, this person will not at all suffer in the mind, knowing that this is just the characteristic of this saṃsāric world.

Once one has taken on a body, one will experience all sorts of pleasure and pain. But realizing that inside the mind, the clinging to pleasure and dislike of suffering are just thoughts, this person will find great bliss. Having seen the nature of mind, one experiences great bliss.

All beings who have not realized this in this world, whether they are powerful, splendorous, rich, or poor, they all have the nature of suffering. Not a single one of them is free from suffering.

But when one realizes the nature of mind, there is no suffering at all. Whoever has not realized the nature of mind has the nature of suffering.

Whenever you realize this, great compassion will arise. This kind of compassion benefits all sentient beings. This is called non-objectified compassion.

If one knows the vastness—“infinite sentient beings suffer infinitely”—great unimaginable compassion arises like a strong sensation of sorrow.

In brief, however many sentient beings there may be, there is only one root, self-grasping. One’s own self-grasping and the self-grasping of all sentient beings has the same essence.

If you understand this, you will know that once self-grasping is destroyed, there is not a single sentient being.

It is said, “there is no real object of compassion to be benefited.”

“They have to meditate; this would help them.”

Thus, Milarepa was only meditating. Understanding just this, if you only know how to recite the maṇi mantra, that is enough.

As for the benefits of bodhicitta, if you give rise to bodhicitta, there is no self and if there is no self, the mind pervades both buddhas and sentient beings.

The offerings made to all buddhas arise from this. The self-grasping of all sentient beings is destroyed by this.

If there is no self-cherishing mind and you have bodhicitta, if you only offer a spoonful of food, compared to a selfish person offering a land full of gold, the benefit of offering a spoonful of food with bodhicitta is more beneficial.

By the power of mind, buddhas and sentient beings are pervaded and the offerings to the buddhas are made naturally.

The buddhas only think of sentient beings. This destroys the self-grasping of sentient beings and the offerings to the buddhas in the pure lands are naturally created by bodhicitta. One becomes like the rising sun.

These are the benefits of bodhicitta. In the beginning, relative bodhicitta is precious.