Bodhicharyavatara Chapter 8, Stanzas 97-100

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 26
Stanzas 97-100

These next verses discuss compassion, how to generate relative bodhichitta. First we try to understand that we are no different from others in our wish to be free from suffering and pain, and to be happy.

When I dismiss the suffering of others because it doesn’t cause me pain, I will not develop compassion. This primary identification with self as the most important is what brings suffering.

If we can compare ourselves to a river, which appears as a single object but is in fact a constant flow of water, we see it is never the same even moment to moment. Our body is like this, a constant renewal of the six elements, an ever-changing cellular structure that is in a permanent state of becoming, wherein no fixed self can be found. Why then do we hold on to hurts and anticipate future suffering?

The instruction here is let those go and care for others, to recognise that their suffering is not separate from my own. This is how bodhichitta arises.

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