Mahayana

Phakchok Rinpoche encourages us to meditate correctly every morning. Don’t meditate like a dead tree! That means that we are approaching the session alone.

On the auspicious Treldha Tsechu, Phakchok Rinpoche shares with us four profound verses from the 5th chapter of introspection of Shantideva’s Bodhisattvacharyavattara to recall the kindness of the Buddha, of Guru Rinpoche and of the lineage masters who have transmitted the sacred Dharma to us.

In this excerpt from “In the Footsteps of Bodhisattvas”, Phakchok Rinpoche discusses discipline, and how it is essential to a strong meditation practice.

Loving-Kindness or Metta is a deep, heart-felt wish that all beings have happiness, and have all the causes of happiness.

“Mindfulness is a mirror of our mind and motivation is a mirror of our dharma practice”. Here we can understand motivation to mean tonglen–the development of bodhicitta. By practicing tonglen, we increase our loving kindness, our compassion and ultimately our bodhicitta.

When we hear that our innate nature is Buddha -nature, are we confident that it is so? How do we develop dignity–a sense of certainty in our innate nature?

In this teaching, Phakchok Rinpoche challenges us to come to understand the correct motivation. “Motivation is a reflection of yourself”, he teaches. This shows how important it is to examine our own minds. We can use the analogy of holding up a mirror–let’s examine ourselves honestly. We need to know if we are self-centered, or if we are transforming to be more aware of others. But we can develop more than just concern for others. Going deeper, we can reflect and think about how we can really help.

Tulku Migmar explains in this video clip how we can begin to work with the profound practice of Tonglen.   Moreover, he advises how we can incorporate this “Beginner Tonglen” within any of our meditation sessions.

As Vajrayāna and Mahāyāna practitioners we can regularly engage in self-reflection to check our progress. We gradually train in understanding these crucial points to give our practice a strong foundation.

This article discusses the importance of our aspirations and motivations to truly benefit other sentient beings.