Firstmerit Business Online

i pay homage to my guru buddha shakyamuni! i pay homage to the wisdom warrior manjushri! i pay homage to all the great lineage loving masters! the unsurpassed profound subtle wonderful dharma is difficult to meet for hundreds and thousands million eons.

Firstmerit Business Online, since i get the chance to see, hear, receive and practice it now, may i understand the ultimate meaning of the thus coming one in order to liberate all sentient beings,
please generate the unsurpassable supreme bodhichitta! we continue our study on the bodhicaryavatara.

now we are still in chapter one
- the benefit of bodhichitta. through this chapter we will be able to know how to learn this text. it was explained in three aspects:
the prthagjana (person in sanskrit) who enters the way, the intention of the person who enters the way
and the methods of entering the way. the first is the person who is entering the way. yesterday, we have covered
two methods of entering the way; they are through the basis of the body
and through the basis of the mind. today, we will cover the intention of those who are entering the way. in other words, how should they generate bodhichitta.

[the attitude of the person who enters the bodhisattva’s
way of life is explained in two parts:] [d1. the benefits of arousing bodhichitta
d2. the methods of adopting and keeping bodhichitta.] this chapter focuses primarily on the merit, and the next chapter the way to adopt and keep it. that is to say, since the bodhichitta is of great benefits, how should we take and keep it in our continuum. the benefits of generating bodhichitta
are explained in three parts. [the benefits of generating bodhichitta are explained
in three parts: e1. the actual benefits] [e2. the rationality of having these benefits
e3. praising persons who have aroused bodhichitta]

the first issue are explained in two parts. [the actual benefits are explained in two parts:] [f1. the common benefits
f2. the unique benefits] the common benefits are explained in five parts. first is [purifying bad karma] arousing bodhichitta is one of the best ways
to eliminate one’s bad karma. why? it is explained in the text: [hence virtue is perpetually feeble,]
[ the great strength of immorality being extremely intense,] [and except for a fully awakening mind]
[ by what other virtue will it be overcome?]

here the verse says that the strength for the ordinary people
committing virtuous karma is very feeble, but the strength of committing nonvirtuous karma
is extremely powerful. besides bodhichitta, are there any other ways in the world
or in what we learned which can be used to eliminate those bad karmas? no! as mentioned yesterday, the time for ordinary people to commit virtuous karma

is as fleeting as the flash of lightning at night. most ordinary people in the world
do not believe in buddhism. even if we believe it, we treat it as a kind of entertainment,
not the most important thing. we believe our business, family and work are the key point and the primary goal of our life. we don’t treat studying dharma
as the most important thing. i think most people in this world act so. we know there are how many people in a city.

nowadays, the world population is greater and greater, but among them how many people are really studying the dharma? among these how many people
are practicing dharma logically and correctly? among these how many people
really spend twenty-four hours every day on practicing with calm and one-pointed mind, and act consistent with the dharma too? through these observations and examination, we can realize how limited the time
that ordinary people commit virtuous karma is. there are maybe not many people who are listening to this teaching,

and among people who are listening to it,
how many are listening in a correct manner? although i am not very highly qualified, the content is basically not altered from the teachings of the historical eminent monks and masters
and lineage gurus in india and tibet. so how many people can really listen to such teaching during the period of listening to the dharma, it will be very helpful to take some notes. generally speaking,
our ordinary memories are very limited. if we only record the dharma on the tapes or discs,

it does not necessarily help our continuum. we should try to put what we heard into our brain; since we cannot memorize everything, we should write it done in a note book. this is counted as a correct manner
for listening to the dharma. however, to my knowledge,
most people are not doing so. they listen to the teaching once casually every day. then they think their task is done. in the aspect of what is taught,

many people barely know?
this is a very strange way to listen to the dharma. genuine listening and reflecting is not like this! after my teaching, the dharma friends in our monastery
will attend tutoring given by the dharma instructors. afterwards, they will attend the tutoring given by the tutors and take tests the next day. only through so many methods, can we really understand the principles of bodhichitta. if we listen to the dharma absent-mindedly, can we infuse mahayana buddhist principles into our heart?

i believe it will be very difficult. obviously, i understand that
many people are currently very busy. sometimes they wish to study more than they can really do, but the key point is that they do not give
enough emphasis on listening to the dharma, and have inadequate knowledge of the way
to listen to the dharma. only when you treat it as a very important thing, can your continuum obtain accomplishments; otherwise, it is hard to say
if it is meaningful to only receive a transmission. however, during the process of practicing
the virtuous dharma by the ordinary people,

it lasts a very short time
and the strength is very weak. a lot of obstacles often come. for example, when you are listening to the dharma,
you doze off, some conceptual thoughts arise, you are not in a good condition or a good mood,
people in the family hinder, and some other afflictions also come. even during such a short class,
your virtuous action may be hindered by lots of obstacles. there are many such phenomena. on the other hand,
the strength of immorality is very powerful

and it lasts a long time. some commentaries compare it to the darkness of a cloudy night, it is very powerful and it lasts a very long time. when they commit bad karma, modern ordinary people never care about the time, but when being asked to listen to the dharma for one class, they think, “what, one entire hour?! how exhausting!” however, when they listen to some crazy pop music, they never feel it last long enough;

if they talk something about dharma, spending one hour on it is too much. however, how much time they spend on senseless idle talk? but they never feel tired over it. most of the worldly people nowadays like
staying up in the dancing party hall, gambling, playing mah-jongg in distracting places
such as a tea room, watching tv and movie or
reading some unhealthy information online… they enjoy these kinds of things and never feel tired. i think if everyone really want to study dharma,

these behaviors such as watching tv or
surfing internet cannot benefit people at all, whether ordained people or not. your continuum cannot get benefit. since our mind is already very discursive, and the lure of the outside objects is so powerful and the mind’s strength is so weak, if agitated by the outside complex world, the practice will be destroyed completely from its root. so i think it is your own choice of being a buddhist or not.

from the aspect of the worldly rules, it does not matter to believe in buddhism or not. there is no force on it at all. however, if you really believe in buddhism,
and want to study the dharma, it is best to abandon all those meaningless things. however, as sentient beings in the desire realm, we do not reject eating, clothing
and other basic survival necessities. the meaning of the above verse is that the strength of our virtuous mind is very feeble,

while the power of committing bad karma is very intense. since we have accumulated so many
powerful bad karmas from beginningless time, we are overwhelmed by various sufferings
in the cyclic existence and the time for experiencing these sufferings
is extremely long. and we haven’t accumulated many virtuous karma. can we destroy or control the great strength
of immorality by our own strength? it is very difficult. then what virtue should we use to destroy it? except the bodhichitta of
the thus coming’s correct peerless enlightenment

with perfect compassion and wisdom of emptiness, no virtues can overcome it. it means that we have accumulated
horrible bad karma from beginningless time, except the perfect bodhichitta, some people may think: there must be some other virtue
which is capable of destroying it, such as practicing the great perfection, mahamudra, meditation,
or chanting buddha’s name. all of these are supreme practices,

so why do they not destroy immorality? apparently, it is said in the sutras that
these virtues can also destroy immoralities. however, if you meditate without bodhichitta, can you benefit from doing it? it can benefit you,
but it can not destroy all the immoralities. not long ago when we were studying
some oral teachings of dza patrul rinpoche it was said that, “without bodhichitta,
even if you practice the great perfection, it will automatically become a hinayana practice or something undistinguishable
(similar as some nonbuddhism practice).”

since the unsurpassed great perfection can not be counted as a mahayana dharma if not imbued with bodhichitta, not to mention other practices. our guru rinpoche has said before, “we should have a wish, which is to practice bodhichitta single-mindedly. we should consider the unique most important thing
in our life is to practice bodhichitta.” admittedly, it is okay to practice
other tantric practices or to chant mantras, but the most basic and fundamental practice
is to practice bodhichitta. otherwise, it is very hard to dispel the immoralities
we have accumulated since beginningless time.

some people may think:
chanting the mantra of vajrasattva or abiding in the state of emptiness
should also be able to dispel immoralities. however, the premise is
what kind of motivation you have when you chant the mantra of vajrasattva
or meditate on emptiness? without bodhichitta, meditating on emptiness can
also be a cause of taking rebirth in samsara, and is chanting the mantra of vajrasattva also
able to dispel the bad karma of oneself and others? very hard!
we should really understand the connotations of this verse. the bad karmas we accumulate in the past,
present and future are considerably heavy.

even in this life, we have already committed a lot, which will increase in the future. if we want to uproot all the bad karmas, we must practice bodhichitta. otherwise, all the other virtues
can not destroy the continuum of bad karma. the bodhisattva thogme has said in the text, [the basis of human body and intention
is hard to obtain but lasts a very short time,] as mentioned earlier, the human body is very difficult to obtain for ordinary people;

the intention of practice the virtuous dharma lasts and occurs as quickly and rarely as a flash of lightning at dark night. [therefore, the antidote of virtue appears very feeble.] [in other words, the antidote of virtue] [exists in a very feeble and light manner all the time.] as ordinary people, we have very limited time for practice. during this short period of time,
only you yourself know very clearly how the effect is. sometimes dozing off, sometimes getting distracted. i heard some of you already cannot
get up at six o’clock in the morning.

if you give up now,
how do you practice real bodhichitta? six o’clock is not early at all! from this we can see, some people can not have a half-hour for practice, let alone twenty-four hours or more every day. sometimes they may spend half hour, but most of the time they wonder something else
or stop in the middle. therefore, we ordinary people are indeed very miserable! [on the contrary,]
when creating bad karma,

[the causes and conditions of all the nonvirtuous karmas
can come together so readily.] for example, when hatred arises toward others, the object of it, one’s intention,
and the mental state at that time, all the factors for completing this karma
come up so quickly. however, when we practice virtuous dharma, it is very difficult to have all the merit factors meet. [which make the strength of immoralities extremely powerful,] [overwhelming, unimaginable, and perpetual.] after careful examination,
we will find that everyday,

we have so many nonvirtuous thoughts, but very few virtuous thoughts such as
bodhichitta, faith and great compassion, which last such a short time, so are in our dream. we may only dream of listening to the dharma in front of our root guru or guru
once a month or even a year, but we have a lot of crazy dreams at one night. that is why we are so ecstatic
when we occasionally have a virtuous dream. therefore, we ordinary people are in the dream of

attachment, hatred and ignorance
all the time without awakening. since we are so habitual with this situation,
we think it is normal. yesterday i had a bad dream. so was the day before yesterday. and stay in a state of confusion no matter whether we are doing things
during day time or dreaming at night. [as we can see that, we should possess
the virtuous dharma which is immorality destroyer.] [regarding the bad karma, except bodhichitta
with the nature of perfect wisdom and compassion,] [what virtue can dispel them away?
there are absolutely no other ways to dispel them.] bodhichitta is the only thing which ca dispel them away.

our guru rinpoche had said, “all the virtuous actions we commit, such as prostration, chanting mantras or paying homage, can not compare to cultivating bodhichitta. even if you chant the mantras for
ten thousands or one hundred millions times, the merit is not great. or if you practice the preliminary practice multiple times, achieve very high realization during meditation, all these merits are actually not great.

they may only become the cause of
a fortunate rebirth in the human or god realms.” since the difference between doing virtuous action
with and without bodhichitta is so significant, the merit of bodhichitta is the greatest, and its power to purify the bad karma
is also the most powerful in this world. [therefore, we should all generate bodhichitta.] [as said in the avatamsaka sutra,
“the eyes of a cat can frighten all the mice, ] when mice see cat’s eyes, they are frightened. so cat’s eyes are able to overcome all the mice [and make them intolerant.]

cat’s eyes make them intolerant
and flee away or freeze. [similarly, the bright eyes of the omniscient mind
(here refers to bodhichitta)] [can conquer all the mice of karma and affliction
and make them intolerant.”] in the same way, once the unsurpassed bodhichitta arises, when cat eyes of bodhichitta appears, all the afflictions such as attachment,
hatred and ignorance in our continuum and the bad karma in our alaya-consciousness
can be dispelled immediately; just like mice not being able
stay in front of a cat for a moment, none of the bad karma can remain
with the presence of bodhichitta.

therefore, the merit of generating bodhichitta is great; bodhichitta is the premise for purification
or any other virtuous actions. why? from beginningless time, we have committed
lots of bad karmas due to our selfishness. now, what is the antidote of these bad karmas?
it is the altruistic mind. we ordinary people have almost no altruistic mind in the past. however, after we met mahayana teachers and the dharma, we will not create lots of bad karmas in the future if the mind of benefiting others arises in our continuum. why? because it is completely for ourselves
that we create bad karma.

you can reflect on it. among all the bad karmas we created before,
which one was done for others? almost none, all are done for ourselves or our relatives and friends. if the genuine bodhichitta arises, the continuum of creating bad karma will be stopped. as said in the ornament of mahayana sutras, “if the wise have bodhichitta arise, the nonvirtuous action of enormous immorality
will be blocked.”

this is its meaning. therefore, bodhichitta can only arise in the wise; the dull do not like to hear it,
not to mention to develop it. however, if one has genuine bodicitta,
enormous bad karmas will not exist any more. the jakata stories
(the stories of buddha shakyamuni’s previous lives) said, “if bodhichitta is generated, one treats all sentient beings as dear as their family. then all nonvirtuous actions will be blocked,
not to mention creating bad karmas.” this is what the jakata stories said.

we should examine
whether we can generate bodhichitta. if yes, all the bad karma we have created
through body, speech and mind in the continuum will disappear gradually. all the bad karma of breaking
pratimoksha (precept for individual liberation), bodhisattva vows, and tantric vows
will be eradicated gradually; great bad karmas can be oppressed, and small bad karmas can be eliminated completely. this is the first merit and power of bodhichitta.

the second merit: accomplishing benefits and happiness [all the buddhas who have contemplated for many eons]
[ have seen it to be beneficial;] [for by it the limitless masses of beings]
[ will quickly attain the supreme state of bliss.] all the buddhas with great loving-kindness and compassion have contemplated and observed for many eons and found, what did they find? they found that only bodhichitta is
the most beneficial and helpful to all sentient beings. relying on it, countless and boundless sentient beings can easily obtain the peerless perfect correct enlightenment.

this is the main meaning of this verse. if we analyze, as we all know, the buddha is very compassionate to all sentient beings. no matter whether at his causal stage or fruition stage, what he thought all the time? it is to benefit sentient beings. this was well known to us when we were studying the comprehensive biography of
the buddha shakyamuni last year. in every story,

no matter offering his body or doing other things, his only aim is to bring benefits to sentient beings. this is his ultimate goal, his ultimate aspiration. for eons and eons, it means three great asankyeyakalpa, or it can be called three great countless eons. according to the abhidharma, eighty medium eons are counted as one great eon. for countless eons,

in order to benefit sentient beings, he was contemplating: what is the best way to benefit sentient beings? finally he found out, what did he find? he found out that bodhichitta
has great benefits to sentient beings. no other virtue has such great benefits except bodhichitta. in terms of time, buddha contemplated again and again in three great asankyeyakalpa. from the conventional level, who is the contemplator? the buddha who has perfectly realized the true nature of the world

and who never tells lies,
not an ordinary person of whom we think, “he is very nice, very reliable; so what he said must be right.”
it is not the case. because no matter how nice and marvelous ordinary people are, they still tell lies sometimes. however, the buddha never tells lies,
as said in the pramanavarttika, the buddha is the only master
who understands the world as it is. how long has he contemplated? eons and eons, not one or two days,
one lifetime or two lifetimes.

some scientists feel themselves are very marvelous because they have spent several years
or decades on some research; they say,aha! he spends so many years
on inventing such a product or finding this theory. while buddhas are not only using several years
or decades or several centuries or millennia, but eons and eons to contemplate. what have they found?
what is really beneficial to sentient beings? finally, he found that it is bodhichitta. due to ignorance, sentient beings are trapped
miserably in the cyclic existence;36300:26:47,633 --> 00:

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