Bodhicitta (Fusatsu Talk)
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Bodhicitta—the awakened heart-mind and the wish for the liberation of all beings—is not just a lofty ideal but a force powerful enough to meet and surpass even the most compelling of our harmful emotions.
In this talk, given during an OMS fusatsu (renewal of vows ceremony), Zuisei unpacks the meaning and practice of bodhicitta in its absolute and relative forms. She urges us to invoke it daily, making the case that cultivating the aspiration to live generously is at the very heart of Buddhism, and is a practice that can change our lives.
This fusatsu talk, Bodhicitta, was given by Zuisei Goddard. Scroll below for video, audio, and transcript.
Transcript
This transcript is based on Zuisei's talk notes and may differ from the final talk.
Bodhicitta
Fusatusu Talk
This liturgy that we’re doing tonight—atoning for our harmful karma, renewing our bodhisattva vows, calling on all the Buddhas for support, refuge, and inspiration—has one purpose at heart, and that is the actualization of bodhicitta. Bodhi is awakening, that state that is free of delusion, the misperception of what things are and how they work. Citta is mind or consciousness (shin in Japanese), which is indistinguishable from heart, at least in Buddhism. Bodhicitta is the awakened mindheart, and the wish for the awakening, the liberation for all beings. Sometimes it’s translated as the thought of awakening.
A bodhisattva is a bodhisattva (a Buddha in training) because they give rise to the wish for enlightenment, and not just their own but everyone’s. What does that translate to, very practically? The peace and happiness of all beings, not some beings, not just the ones who deserve it, but all beings. Where does bodhicitta come from? From the arising of compassion. We look around and we see that life is tough, very tough for some, and that makes us wish that beings not suffer as they move through life. Compassion and wisdom, wisdom and compassion, arise simultaneously.
Relative and Absolute Bodhicitta:
Aspiration and Action
In the teachings, bodhicitta is divided into absolute and relative bodhicitta, saṃvṛtibodhicitta (sam-vri-tee-boh-dhi-chit-ta) and paramārthabodhicitta (pa-ra-mar-tha-boh-dhi-chit-ta). Absolute bodhicitta is nondual wisdom, the realization that all beings and all things are empty of self nature (sunyata). There is no fixed, solid self. The boundary between you and me is much more porous. You is not so you, me is not so me. It’s more… interesting than that—that’s what we vow to see. Relative bodhicitta is the wish for the liberation of all beings. Some teachers call it “the heart of compassion.”
It’s not enough to say that things are empty. It’s crucial to also point out that they still need our care. It’s not that things don’t exist and therefore don’t matter—that’s clearly not the case. It’s that they exist interdependently, and therefore matter greatly. Touch a single strand of Indra’s net and the whole web vibrates. (If anyone’s hearing this reference for the first time, the net of Indra is an image that appears in the Avatamsaka or Flower Garland Sutra—though it actually appears earlier in one of the Vedas—and it describes one huge net stretched over the entire cosmos, and at the node of each strand is a many-faceted jewel that reflects the light of every other jewel.) It’s a metaphor for interdependence.
There is no fixed, solid self. The boundary between you and me is much more porous.
Relative bodhicitta is further subdivided into aspiring bodhicitta and active bodhicitta (or aspiration and application). It’s setting your intent and following through. Why do we need both? Because aspiring is easy; it’s following through that takes effort and time. Aspiring bodhicitta is me standing before my altar each morning and vowing to awaken for the sake of all beings. For the sake of a world that works, a world in which people are peaceful and content. Active bodhicitta is taking steps throughout the day to make real that wish. How? By acting with wisdom and compassion. By choosing actions that align with liberation, instead of obstructing it.
It’s like Khandro Rinpoche says, you could be sitting in first class, sipping champagne and benignly wishing, May all beings be happy and free. That doesn’t mean you’re actually living that wish. Nothing wrong with sitting in first class, by the way. If you do, enjoy it. The point is not to be removed from the actual living of our vows. Vowing is not enough; we have to put that vow into action. That’s what active bodhicitta is about.
For those of you who are studying Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva, in one way we could say that the first three chapters are about aspiring bodhicitta. The middle chapters on the paramitas or perfections are all on active bodhicitta—how to cause it to arise and how to maintain it once it’s arisen. They describe how we should act in order to bring awakening to life. Daido Roshi, my first teacher, would often end his talks with the phrase, “Please, give life to the Buddha!” And I’d think to myself, “Hell yeah! I’m gonna do that!”
We can also think of absolute and relative bodhicitta in terms of the Madhyamaka teaching on ultimate and conventional truth. Remember that you can’t have one without the other, just as you can’t have stillness without movement, right without wrong, samsara without nirvana. Without suffering, there’d be no point in trying to alleviate it. That’d be nice—a world with no suffering, but since that’s not what we have…
We can’t escape samsara, as my friend Yeshe says. We don’t have to capitulate to it either. The clearer we see, the less we get caught. We’re working to see clearly and to act clearly—it’s not complicated, when you look at it from this perspective. You don’t have to know a ton of dharma or know this from that philosophical theory. Just know who you are and how to act to be of benefit. That’s it.
The Power of Bodhicitta
Why is bodhicitta so important, so central to the buddhadharma? In sum, because of its power to drive not just our actions, but our whole lives. Shantideva says there’s nothing that’s able to withstand the power of harmful actions other than bodhicitta. That’s quite a statement. Think about it—think about how compelling anger is. How addictive is righteousness or jealousy or blame? We need something that can meet the power of these strong emotions and surpass it. Remember that Nagarjuna invocation we do each morning? Wherever precious bodhicitta has not arisen, may it bloom. Where it has arisen, may it not fade, but continually flourish. Saying the verse is aspiring bodhichitta. Acting in such a way that it’s true is active bodhicitta.
The power of bodhicitta is such that it’s like alchemy, Shantideva says. It can transform even the basest substance into gold. It’s a priceless jewel, a wish-fulfilling tree, capable of granting all we might need in our search for goodness and happiness. It’s like a hero who saves even those in the deepest pits of hell, and like the end-of-kalpa fire. This is a Buddhist teaching that says that at the end of this kalpa, a great fire will destroy everything. Bodhicitta is like this fire because it consumes all evil, all harm. The sixth analogy, Pema Chodron says, is a kind of etcetera—a reference to a sutra in which Maitreya, the future buddha, gives 230 other analogies for bodhicitta. That’s how highly these teachers want us to regard it.
At the beginning of your day, invoke that most powerful of minds, the mind of awakening, and let it guide you…
H.H. the Dalai Lama said:
Because of our past karma, it is very rare and very difficult to have a positive mind, while it is all too easy too easy to have negative thoughts, since this is what we have been used to. So we should nurture positive thoughts, such as devotion to the buddhas and compassion for beings. It is through this that we develop bodhicitta
If you don’t already have a morning liturgy in which you turn your mind toward awakening, I strongly encourage you to consider it. At the beginning of your day, invoke that most powerful of minds, the mind of awakening, and let it guide your actions, your speech, and your thoughts. It doesn’t have to be all religious, if that’s not your thing. Just promise yourself to be clear, to be kind, and to let that kindness extend to others. Decide what it is you’re willing to do, then stick to it.
Don’t leave it to chance—this is much too important for that.
Explore further
01 : Loving-kindness As Our Ground with Zuisei Goddard
02 : Syzygy: Indra's Diamond Net by Zuisei Goddard
03 : Being Nowhere with Zuisei Goddard
Bodhicitta, a fusatsu talk by Zen Buddhist teacher Zuisei Goddard. Video, audio, and transcript available.