37 Practices of a Bodhisattva Part 6

(19)
Though famous and prominent, someone to whom others bow,
Though you amass the riches of the god of wealth.
To see that worldy splendor is without essence and thus to be without arrogance
Is the practice of a bodhisattva.

(20)
If you have not tamed the enemy of your own anger
Combating outer opponents will only make them multiply.
Therefore, with an army of loving kindness and compassion,
To tame your own mind is the practice of a bodhisattva.

(21)
Sense pleasures are like salt water;
The more you partake of them, the more your craving will increase.
Therefore, when something arouses attachment,
To abandon it immediately is the practice of a bodhisattva.

(22)
All appearances are your own mind, and
Mind itself primordially transcends all mental fabrications.
Knowing this is the precise nature of reality,
To remain free from dualistic conceptions is the practice of a bodhisattva


In practice 18, we learned that even when we're down and out, we should compassionately try to help others. Now, in practice 19, we address the opposite case, when we are rich and famous. Seeing that fame has no true nature, that it is transitory, we give up attachment to it. That way we no longer fear losing it. Similarly, we give up attachment to money. (This is a hard one for me.) I am much better than I used to be as far as being attached to my money and my status, but the attachment is still there. I recall one time standing in line at the Taco Bell (!), and comparing myself to everyone in line, thinking, "I make more money than him." At one point, I had built myself up internally to being one of the wealthiest people in the city. This is absurd, by the way. I was building up an illusory image of myself. and that can only result in suffering when reality doesn't accord with that illusion. Today I find myself good friends with a whole host of people in all stations of life, and that should help me to lose my attachment to money, since all types of people can be content, as I have directly observed.

As far as practice 20 goes, Lama Karma Chötso gave an excellent example. By going into Iraq, rather than defeating "the enemy," we've only made them multiply. Acting out with anger as a motivation will not solve any problem. Therefore, we need to first tame our own anger before addressing a situation. In general, our own motivation matters immensely. I recall one time I was at a meeting and some guy was talking on and on, and saying absurd things, generally frustrating everyone in the room. I got quite angry internally, and under the guise of saying something wise to preserve the integrity of the meeting, I said something which really has anger as a motivation. Well, before you know it, I got into an argument with another member of the group, and we had some bad blood between us. It turns out that he completely misunderstood me, and that's why he got in an argument with me, but now that i think about it, I'm not so sure he misunderstood my true intention. This looks like a case of ripening karma to me.

Okay, on to practice 21. I have a lot of trouble with this one too. For example, I just ate way too much for dinner, and, as usual, it didn't make me happy. There were perhaps a few moments of extra happiness as I stuffed more food down my throat, although these were not exactly sublime, but I felt unwell afterwards. Needless to say, the same is true for an alcoholic drink. The more I drink, the more I want to drink, and the worse I feel. I need to try to maintain more awareness of what I am doing so that I can avoid stuffing my face! I need to listen more carefully to the voice in my head that counsels moderation. Luckily, in the case of alcohol, I have a whole program at my disposal aimed at helping me not take the first drink. (By the way, everything in my life today depends on me not taking the first drink. Once I do, roll the dice. I could end up dead, in jail or I might end up running someone over. Even if these things don't happen, my misery will return in full force!)

Practice 22 is one of the deep aspects of Buddhism. As far as I understand this verse, it is describing emptiness. Geshe Drakpa Gelek mentioned that all of what we experience is created by the mind. We start out in a pristine state of the fundamental mind of clear light, which surrounds itself with various whistles and bells that coalesce into our perception of self. In an obvious sense, everything experienced is a product of our mind, since we can only perceive through the gates of our senses. On the other hand, I think that Geshe-la is saying something even more, which is that our minds create what we experience in a more direct sense. Perhaps one way to think of it is that actions of our mind before we are born cause us to be born in a certain place, and in a certain body, surrounded by certain circumstances. If we are not awake enough, the force of karma does most of the picking for us, but we can help choose our rebirth if we have a certain level of awareness. Also, according to a commentary I'm reading, "dualistic conceptions" refers to conceptions of perceiver and perceived.

Emptiness can also refer to the fact that pur conceptions of things are not accurate. Our idea that a table has solidity is incorrect. Further analysis reveals that it is made up of strange little particles, and is mostly empty space. Similar reasoning will show that any concept is wrong. :) Emptiness can further refer to the idea that no thing has inherent existence. No thing exists in and of itself with no dependence on outside phenomena.

Once we understand emptiness and make it part of our being, we can more easily deal with reality, because we understand it better. I can more easily stop myself from eating too much food, because I can recognize that the idea that eating a lot will make me happy is not an accurate representation of reality.

In the end, I still have a lot to learn about emptiness. I understand that one should meditate on it until one directly experiences it, and I suspect that it is hard to put it into words once it is experienced. I've possibly caught glimpses, but I'm just a newbie, so to speak.