If you have already made mistakes, what should you do? Fortunately, we have Vajrasattva. The Guru and the Three Jewels have already prepared a remedy for every situation we may encounter. Knowing that we would make mistakes, they gave us the practice of Vajrasattva. Knowing that we would be selfish, they taught us bodhicitta. Knowing that we would be so often foolish, they left us countless sūtras and treatises on wisdom of emptiness (prajñā).
No matter how many books you have read or how many meditation sessions you have completed, you must constantly observe yourself and examine whether you are deceiving yourself. This is extremely important. Human beings are masters of self-deception; our capacity to deceive ourselves is almost as great as our capacity for self-awareness. We must be careful not to be fooled by ourselves, otherwise we will act very foolishly.
Seeking only one's own benefit is not clever at all; it is, in fact, quite foolish. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have clearly taught that benefiting others enables both oneself and others to attain liberation and happiness. Why, then, would I refuse to follow their advice? Instead, we insist on harming others, imagining that it will benefit me, only to end up harming ourselves as well. Harming others without even benefiting us—what could be more foolish than that? Cultivating genuine bodhicitta not only benefits oneself but also benefits others. That is true wisdom.
Of course, from the perspective of ordinary worldly people, a bodhisattva who would give away an eye when asked for an eye, or a nose when asked for a nose, appears to be a fool. From the standpoint of selfishness, we are all fools because we have at least generated conceptual bodhicitta. But are ordinary worldly people really correct? That is something worth reflecting upon.
If you wish to know whether the bodhicitta you have generated is genuine, there is no other way but to examine your motivation deeply. Whenever you act—or even whenever a thought first arises—continually ask yourself: "Is this truly for the benefit of sentient beings?" Is benefiting sentient beings merely a surface-level intention, while deep down the real motivation is still self-interest?
For example, when serving within a Dharma community, everyone naturally believes that they are acting for the benefit of sentient beings. Yet when your suggestions you put forward are opposed by others, do you immediately become furious, accusing others of failing to respect their opinions, or even blaming them for lacking bodhicitta? If you observe yourself regularly and honestly, you will find that this is usually the case.
When a person's bodhicitta becomes truly genuine, it naturally manifests in certain ways. Such a person becomes gentle and soft-hearted, and comes to understand that all the mistakes of others are worthy of forgiveness.
—Excerpted and complied from Genuine Bodhicitta and Conceptual Bodhicitta.
This article is a preliminary translation draft and has not yet been reviewed or proofread by the speaker.
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