WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

So, I hope you will all make generation of renunciation and bodhicitta your aim and strictly refrain yourselves from undertaking any Vajrayana practice until your aim has been achieved.

This is because the attainment of Buddhahood is the ultimate way of freeing all sentient beings from suffering.

The minimum goal we should set for ourselves of this life is to enter the bodhisattva’s path of accumulation, which is the first step, a must, to start the journey of dharma practice.

Genuine bodhicitta of a bodhisattva refers to the aspiration to give others whatever is needed unselfishly and unconditionally, which in hard times is a particularly difficult thing to do.

Therefore, we must strive to succeed in generating bodhicitta, no matter how difficult it is. The challenge is with our own self, with that selfish mind. It is a constant battle we must face with endurance.

If we try to practice the advanced teachings like the Great Perfection or Mahamudra without first completing the preliminary practices, no results will be achieved owing to inadequately prepared faculty. Thus, the foundational practices should be made the top priority for all who intend to bring their practice to fruition.

In summary, the first requisite of generating bodhicitta is the aspiration to deliver sentient beings from samsara; the second, the determination to attain Buddhahood in order to free sentient beings from the suffering of samsara.

To be a Theravada practitioner, the first requisite is having unshakable renunciation—complete distaste for worldly fulfillments and whole-hearted pursuit of liberation from samsara.

In addition, all practitioners need to do a self-check on goal setting. An incorrect goal would be tantamount to one’s biggest inadequacy. If that happens to be the case, then one may not even be a qualified beginner of Buddhist studies at this point. If unwilling to work hard, one will forever remain a non-Buddhist. Actually, everyone has the capacity to arouse uncontrived bodhicitta if real effort can be put into the practice. Bodhicitta, as taught by Shakyamuni Buddha, is a practice exactly meant for people, perhaps like us, who are not yet beginners and have no bodhicitta.