The Very Venerable Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

The Seven Points Of Mind Training

Birmingham Karma Ling, December 2002

III. How To Carry the Practice Onto The Path

A. The General Practice

1. When the world is filled with evil transfer all mishaps into the path of Bodhi.

All of the negative circumstances and unfortunate events that occur in the world, such as disasters and, for example, for us the sentient beings, we can experience so many forms of sufferings and unpleasant circumstances and harm from others. All of these one has to transform into friends or helpers on the path.

There are three methods of training:

Based on the Relative Bodhicitta
Based on the Ultimate Bodhicitta
A particular training.

The Relative Bodhicitta

2. Drive all blames into oneself.

The first is drive all blames into oneself, this is based on the Relative Bodhicitta. For example all of one's illness and suffering caused by others, if someone says to you oh you didn’t accomplish this, you are a bad person or people saying bad things to you. At that time when people are saying this to you what do you do? Most people at that moment will think I am fine it is that person who is wrong, they are at fault, I am ok. Along with that can arise great anger, many unpleasant feelings in the mind and fear. You can't accept people telling you these things about yourself. If another person has some kind of difference about you or says something wrong even if it is a very small thing then one has great suffering.

The main point one has to remember at this moment is that one is experiencing the result of one's previous karma. You need to think the suffering I have got and the problems I have are due to my ego grasping, I am grasping to myself, because of this and due to my previous karma I am experiencing these difficulties. What I am experiencing now is the fruition of my previous actions based on pride, anger, and jealousy. I created the negative causes and I am experiencing the results or the fruit of my actions.

You also have not understood the meaning of emptiness. You cling to the self and the solidity of your body, thinking that you are flesh and blood and bone. If you understood and realised emptiness then you would be like an illusory body, you would not have this flesh and blood body and so then you could not be burnt by fire or harmed by any of the elements or enemies.

3. Contemplate the great kindness of everyone.

When we want to practise patience we need someone who makes us angry, if we don’t have someone who makes us angry then how can we practise patience? If we lock ourselves up in a nice house and eat nice food and sit in a nice room and think I am meditating on patience your not really are you.

There was a great lama in Tibet called Patrul Rinpoche and he had a student who thought that he had perfected patience. He thought I have got a very profound and very good realisation of patience and I am very accomplished with this. Nothing can make me angry I am completely relaxed

This disciple went to a place called Katok and in this place was a big white Stupa and with his Zen over his head he meditated on great patience. Then his teacher, the great Patrul Rinpoche, came in disguise looking quite different wearing different clothes and walked round and round this student who was rocking backwards and forwards thinking about patience. The student was wrapped up in his Zen and not thinking about this strange person walking round and round him, he was just meditating on patience.

Patrul Rinpoche leant towards the student and said can I ask you what you are meditating and practising on? The student said oh I am meditating on compassion and patience then Patrul Rinpoche walked around the student and when he had walked around he asked a second time can you tell me what you are practising and meditating on? The student said I am meditating on loving kindness and compassion. Then Patrul Rinpoche walked around another time and again asked please tell me what it is you are practising. Then the student very loudly said I am practising loving kindness and compassion! And the student got very angry and annoyed with this old man asking him so many times. Patrul Rinpoche was quite surprised, and when the student really looked at this old man he realised that this was Patrul Rinpoche his own teacher. The teacher said to the student oh your compassion is like that is it? Then the student was full of regret and thought yes, I have to think about this now and then gradually later on he really did achieve a good understanding of loving kindness, compassion and patience.

In relation to practise, generally we say that the kindness of the Buddha and sentient beings is the same. The sentient beings are what we base our practice of Bodhicitta on. If there were no sentient beings then we would not be able to practice Bodhicitta.

Generally all one's practise is based on giving benefit to sentient beings and helping sentient beings, bringing them to enlightenment. If there are no sentient beings we have nothing to base our practise on. If we have them and they cause us to give rise to anger then we can practise loving kindness and compassion and practise the patience with them. Without them we can't hope to practise the loving kindness and compassion.

Based on that the people who cause us harm and want to cause us unhappiness are very kind to us and are very beneficial for us. For example, if you have a perfect environment in a house, a beautiful room and nice food and you meditate there for a month on patience, loving kindness and compassion. Then one day you go out into the street and meets someone who is angry and aggressive towards you, in that moment if you practice compassion and loving kindness that is much more beneficial than the month in retreat. The sentient beings that cause harm to us and make us angry they are very kind to us, as kind as the Buddha.

The Ultimate Bodhicitta

4. Regarding confusion as the four kayas is unsurpassable shunyata protection.

As I have previously explained all phenomena is emptiness. Now, for example, a person is angry with us and causes us harm, or we have a lot of fear or suffering, that kind of thing. At that moment if we understand emptiness, we think that the anger that this person is showing to us is emptiness and the person who is experiencing the emotion of fear, myself is also emptiness. Also the fear itself is emptiness, so the three, the person who is causing harm, the person who experiences the fear, and the fear itself are all emptiness.

So who is giving whom the suffering? Who does one have to be afraid of? You don’t need it, everything is emptiness, it is like an illusion or dream, and it's not real.

The enemy in our dream who hits us or causes us harm, it doesn’t hurt us really does it? It's not real. This is the same. Then also with fear, a person who has fear, the person trying to scare you or the fear itself all these three are emptiness too, so one doesn’t have to have fear.

Then you think all of these are emptiness so I will relax. So for a short moment the anger, the jealousy, the fear, they are all pacified. Then again they come up! Then again one realises that the object, the enemy, oneself and the anger are emptiness and again one pacifies these emotions for a short time, maybe half a minute. Then again they arise so one does it again and again, this process of realising the emptiness then pacifying, then, the emotion arising again. Then after some time the strength of the anger becomes less and less. Eventually what happens is that as the anger arises at that moment realisation of the emptiness naturally arises with it. Then the anger itself is beneficial for realising emptiness. Then the suffering is of benefit to realising the emptiness, the fear in ones mind is also beneficial for the realisation of the emptiness. Then everything is like a friend, so nothing can harm you.

Sickness can also be beneficial. When you are sick or ill you think may all of the illness of the sentient beings dissolve into my illness. I take onto myself on behalf of all of the sentient beings their sickness and illness, may they be free of illness. At that moment it is the cause of generating great virtue and will be very beneficial for you.

What are the four kayas? All phenomena are emptiness this is what we call the Dharmakaya. All the appearances have the nature of clarity, we can perceive them, and this is called the Samboghakaya. The appearances such as the watch or table that we see this is called the Nirmanakaya. So, appearing but being emptiness and being emptiness but appearing, the union of these two that is called the Sambhogakaya. But all of these are the same; they have the same essence. The three kayas having identical nature we call the Essence kaya so these are the four kayas. All of the Buddhas are contained in these four kayas. There is not a Buddha who does not relate to these four kayas.

Then all phenomena are the four kayas. If we understand this then it is called the realisation of all phenomena or existence as the Dharmakaya. When we talk about all phenomena is like the Dharmakaya we are not saying that all phenomena is like a rainbow or light we are not saying that. But if we understand the essence, it is emptiness. If everything is the nature of Dharmakaya there is no reason for one being to be angry towards another being; it's not necessary.

That is the training of the ultimate Bodhicitta. What comes now is the special methods.