©2025 The Ringu Tulku Archive
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Session 41
Chapter 6: Patience
Stanzas 114-118
Verses 114 – 118 examine why it is important to be grateful to sentient beings and make offerings to them as if they were buddhas. Normally we make offerings to the buddhas with a reverence and gratitude for what we receive from them, for their wisdom, kindness, compassion, the fact that they show us the path. However, we need to think about the reasons these buddhas were able to bring themselves to the awakened state; this is due very much to sentient beings who afforded the buddhas and bodhisattvas the opportunity to practice. Through the practise of patience, with a generous attitude and recognising the seed of Buddhahood in sentient beings despite adversity, the buddhas reached enlightenment. Therefore sentient beings are the cause of enlightenment in the buddhas and we should honour them and make offerings to them as we would a buddha.
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Dear Rinpoche, during the time of lockdown I have tried to make myself available to friends who are isolated and may be lonely and also volunteering to do this for people in the community. I quickly realised that it isn’t helpful to be too sympathetic, assuming that these people need my support,but better just to be friendly and available. Is this in accord with these teachings? Thank you, Lynda