Lama Zopa Rinpoche - Bodhicitta is the real meaning of life (2/2)

[u/theOmnipotentKiller]

Homage to Manjusri lord of wisdom, may all wrong views be totally severed

The following excerpt is from Lama Zopa Rinpoche's text Bodhicitta. This excerpt establishes why bodhicitta is the door to happiness for us & numberless beings.

THE BODHICHITTA MOTIVATION

Until we renounce the selfish mind, there will be little benefit in anything we do. Even if we work for others in some way, the mind is up and down and there are always problems, misunderstandings, and personal conflicts. We might be in a profession that is very beneficial for others, such as medicine or education, but with a self-centered motivation we are blocked from feeling any sense of fulfillment. On the surface, someone who has taken ordination should be so happy because he or she is of great benefit to others, but unless the motivation is altruistic, this is not so. The problem is not the job but the motivation for doing it. What should cause enormous joy and satisfaction only causes frustration and dissatisfaction because of the ego.

Even if we logically know that working for others is the route to happiness, unless we can overcome the selfish mind, there will be little benefit. It will all just feel like an incredible burden, like a mountain pushing down on our head.

We can be doing all the “right” things, but if we are not doing anything to transform our basic selfishness, we block whatever we do from being beneficial for ourselves or for others. Many people study the Dharma for a long time and then give it up, saying it is flawed or not relevant or something. The reason the Dharma has failed to help them is because, although they might have studied it, they have never really practiced it; they have never brought the Dharma into their lives, and so nothing they have done has become the Dharma — it is not the teachings of the Buddha that are at fault but their way of thinking. That’s why checking our motivation is so important. We must do everything for the right reasons; otherwise, nothing will be of any benefit.

In our life, the habit of selfish concern is so strong and the habit of selflessness is so weak. This is what Shantideva said in A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life:

How incredibly powerful the unceasing negativities are,
whereas virtuous thoughts are so weak.
What other merit besides bodhichitta
can overcome them?

Even when a positive action is done, compared to the negative actions we habitually do, it has very little power. We are so overwhelmed by nonvirtue that it becomes very hard to create any virtue at all. Until we overcome our selfishness through developing bodhichitta, the self-centered attitude will color everything we do. If we want to quickly purify all the negative imprints that are on our mindstream and have been there since beginningless time, the most skillful, wisest method is to cultivate this pure thought that leads all sentient beings to enlightenment.

As I often say, the purpose of our life is not just to obtain happiness for ourselves, not just to solve our own problems; the purpose of our life is to be useful for others, to be beneficial for others, to free numberless other living beings from all their sufferings and to lead them to happiness. This is the purpose of our life.

Therefore, the purpose of our life, the meaning of our own life, is limitless like the sky. We have the responsibility to bring happiness to numberless other living beings. If we have compassion, then, rather than receiving harm from us, the numberless beings receive peace and happiness. Being alive as a human being — for an hour, a minute, or even a second — in order to achieve enlightenment so we can enlighten all sentient beings brings meaning to our life.

Whereas cherishing the I opens the door to all problems, the minute we cherish others we open the door not only to our own happiness and enlightenment but also to the happiness of all other living beings. Why? Because when just one person generates bodhichitta, that attitude will lead to numberless beings being liberated from all their sufferings and to achieving every happiness. Our bodhichitta will cause the numberless hell beings to be free from suffering and achieve all happiness, including enlightenment. Our bodhichitta will cause the numberless hungry ghosts to be free from suffering and achieve all happiness, including enlightenment. Our bodhichitta will cause the numberless animals to be free from suffering and achieve all happiness, including enlightenment. Our bodhichitta will cause the numberless human beings to be free from suffering and achieve all happiness, including enlightenment. Our bodhichitta will cause the numberless gods and demigods to be free from suffering and achieve all happiness, including enlightenment. Our bodhichitta will cause the numberless intermediate-state beings to be free from suffering and achieve all happiness, including enlightenment.

The situation is urgent. It’s unbearable for us to delay generating bodhichitta for a day, for an hour, or for even a minute. It’s unbearable for us not to have this realization. Because other sentient beings are suffering so much, and they need happiness so much, they need us to change our attitude from cherishing the I to cherishing others. This can’t wait. The need for our bodhichitta is a million times more urgent than a heart attack victim’s need for emergency treatment in a hospital. The need for our bodhichitta is a million, billion, trillion times more urgent. We must change our attitude from cherishing the I into cherishing others.

In our life there is nobody to work for except other sentient beings. There is no purpose in living our life except to work for sentient beings. Any work other than for sentient beings is meaningless.

Even if we have achieved the state of an arhat and have been released from samsara by having purified all the gross obscurations, our work is still not finished. We need to purify even the subtle obscurations to knowledge and attain enlightenment in order to do perfect work for sentient beings. Without this perfect power it’s like an armless mother trying to save her child who has been taken by the river. She has the wish and the compassion but not the ability to save that child. We need the perfect power, the perfect understanding, the perfect compassion of a buddha.

All the effort we put into staying alive — everything we buy, all the clothes, all the food, all the medicines, all the items for our body from our hair to our toes — is only worthwhile if our life is to serve others. Trying to have a long and healthy life is only worthwhile because of this. Having a major illness, even dying, should be experienced for the benefit of others. The best way to experience death is on behalf of other living beings, in order to help them have happiness and be free from suffering. With this bodhichitta motivation we are able to keep our mind in a state of peace and tranquility as we die and so die with real happiness.

The purpose of life is not to live long and be healthy, nor is it to have money or power or reputation; it is just to be useful to others. With such an attitude, no matter what happens — good or bad, success or failure — everything is transformed into the path to enlightenment. Then, even a life-threatening illness does not perturb us. Rather than making us drown in self-pity, it makes us generate more compassion, looking for the very best way to benefit the numberless sentient beings. Whatever occurs in our life, we are fulfilling our potential as much as we can and so our goal is being achieved.
Even if we aren’t Buddhist, even if we don’t think about enlightenment, even if we consider ourselves unreligious, we can still see that the purpose of our life is to cause happiness for other living beings, to free them from suffering. To generate the good heart is to give meaning to life.

Therefore, right after we wake up each morning, we should rejoice that we haven’t died during the night and that today we are again in this precious human body with this perfect human rebirth and the opportunity to develop our good heart. Then we should see that our priority, our responsibility, is to serve others, to free them from suffering and lead them to happiness. That’s our job. That’s our duty. Starting each day like this, there is so much peace and happiness for ourselves and for others.

By the merit of sharing this excerpt, may bodhicitta arise where it hasn't arisen & increase where it already has