In the next verses Rinpoche goes into detail how we let life slip by with distractions, even pointing to what we give most importance to, family, friends, livelihoods as a way of distracting ourselves from living life well in terms of dharma practise, and he emphasises again the problem of taking it easy when times are good, relaxing the training, and letting ourselves slide down a slippery slope, or worse, fall off a cliff into the ocean of suffering––which perpetuates samsaric existence. Life is, he says, always up and down, and until our awareness is fully cognisant of interdependence and emptiness, it will continue to be so. This personal transformation may be at odds with our usual habits, and requires diligence in our practise.
A genuine teacher, someone who is not overtly interested in his or her own self image is crucial, as is an understanding of using the dharma path itself, in the development of wisdom and compassion. According to the text, the genuine compassion of a bodhisattva recognises at a very deep level that happiness comes from understanding the true nature of emptiness and interdependence, and a being thus motivated will dedicate their life to help as many beings as possible to reach that understanding.
You can can also view the teaching on the Chapter 9 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–9 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
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Wonderful, how fortunate we are: Bodhicharyavatara is a masterpiece to save us from samsara and Rinpoche is playing it -like an excellent pianist or dirigent:)- so beautiful, explaining the way to enlightenment. we the orchestra should now also follow these…and keep playing the violins, flutes and drums until we are able to bring suffering sentient beings, including ourselves, to the other shore:) Tuk je che, marlou ps need to keep listening to these, read again and again and overcome…