The Dalai Lama on Practicing Love

The following is an excerpt from chapter 11 of Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions by the Dalai Lama and Thubten Chodron. The authors introduce this chapter with the following overview: “The four immeasurables or ‘boundless states’—love, compassion, joy, and equanimity—are widely taught and practiced in both the Pāli and Sanskrit traditions. They are called ‘immeasurable’ because they are directed toward immeasurable sentient beings with a mind free from partiality and because they are states of jhāna that are not limited by the five hindrances of the desire-realm mind. They are also called the brahmavihāras after the brahmā worlds of the first jhāna, where beings’ minds are gentle. Brahma also implies ‘pure,’ for these four are free from attachment, anger, and apathy. They are called vihāras, or ‘abodes,’ because they are peaceful resting places for our mind.” Below is the section on love.

Since hostility is the opposite of love and prevents its development, we begin by reflecting on the disadvantages of hostility and the benefits of fortitude. Hostility crushes trust and tears apart valued relationships; it destroys our merit and compels us to act in ways we later regret. Fortitude, or patience, is like a soothing balm. It attracts others to us and protects our virtue.

At the beginning, it is important to cultivate love toward specific people in a definite order. Do not begin the cultivation of any of the four immeasurables toward someone to whom you are or could be sexually attracted. The people should be alive because we don’t know what form the deceased are in now.

When cultivating love, begin by using yourself as an example. Contemplate repeatedly, “May I be happy and free from suffering. May I be free from hostility, affliction, and anxiety and live happily.” Generating love toward ourselves isn’t selfish because the goal is to generate love toward all beings, which includes ourselves. We, too, are worthy of love and kindness. This meditation counteracts self-hatred, freeing us to develop our potential.

Then contemplate, “Just as I want to be happy, so too do other beings.” Cultivate love for someone you respect and hold in high regard, such as your spiritual mentor or another teacher. If we begin by cultivating love for a dear one, attachment may easily arise under the guise of love; however, this will not happen toward someone you respect. Recalling the help you have received from this person, contemplate, “May he be happy and free from suffering. May he be free from hostility, affliction, and anxiety and live happily.”

Then extend your love more broadly, first to a dear friend, thinking in the same way as above. When the mind is malleable, generate love for a neutral person, seeing her as a very dear friend. When you can do this, cultivate love for an enemy, seeing her as neutral. “Enemy” means someone you are hostile or critical toward. The person does not have to be one who reciprocates those disturbing emotions.

This step can be difficult because anger or the wish for revenge may arise toward those who have harmed you. If you cannot get past these disturbing emotions, return to meditating on love toward one of the previous persons, and when the mind is drenched in that feeling, again generate love for the enemy.

If hostility persists, apply an antidote, such as the ones offered below. If one doesn’t release the anger, try another. Begin by remembering the disadvantages of hostility. The Buddha details seven disadvantages of anger (AN 7:64): While an enemy may wish us to be ugly, experience pain, lack prosperity, wealth, a good reputation, harmonious relationships, and have an unfortunate rebirth, we bring all these upon ourselves through our own anger. Letting our mind dwell in animosity destroys our virtue and inhibits our spiritual progress.

Hearing others’ disturbing speech often triggers anger in the mind. Here the Buddha counsels us (MN 21:11):

…you should train thus: “Our minds will remain unaffected, and we shall utter no evil words; we shall abide compassionate for their welfare, with a mind of love, without inner hate. We shall abide pervading that person with a mind imbued with love, and starting with him, we shall abide pervading the all encompassing world with a mind imbued with love, abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility and without malice.”

This is love in the state of jhāna (Vism 9:44). Such love will carry over when we leave the jhāna state and return to an everyday state of mind. Even if we have not attained jhāna, training our mind to approach all beings with a loving attitude will overwhelm our discomfort, suspicion, and malice and imbue us with ease and affection for all.

Reflecting on the person’s good qualities when he is in a congenial situation enables us to dispel our critical attitude. We can then recall this when he creates trouble. If it is difficult to see any good qualities in the person, generate compassion for him, thinking of the destructive kamma he is creating and the suffering he will experience as a result. There is no use wishing harm to someone who is bringing harm upon himself. It is better to generate compassion for him.

Thinking of the Buddha’s responses to aggression in his previous lives as a bodhisatta can inspire us to forgive others for their faults. The Jātaka collection tells many stories of the bodhisatta’s previous lives in which he responded to aggressors with compassion.

Reflecting that all sentient beings have been our mother, father, siblings, and children, we see that they have all benefited us in the past and that it is therefore unfitting to harbor enmity for them. Our affection and gratitude for others then overpowers any resentment.

We can also ask ourselves, “Who am I angry at? Among the five aggregates in dependence on which this person is called so-and-so, what aggregate am I angry with?” Searching for the real person who is the source of our anger becomes like painting in space.

Another suggestion is to give the person a gift. Others’ hostility toward us and ours toward them subsides when a gift is given and received earnestly.

Once the anger and resentment have dissipated, cultivate love toward the enemy just as you did toward the others.

Reciting the formula “May you be happy and free from suffering! May you be free from hostility, affliction, and anxiety and live happily!” is a tool to help us generate the mental state those words indicate. If the recitation becomes mechanical, express the meaning in your own words. Alternatively, think in more detail about the types of happiness you wish someone to have and imagine her having them. Make the meditation more personal. Slowly your love will arise and gain momentum. After a while the meditation will carry on by itself without need to use the formula.

The next step is to “break down the barriers” by seeing the five individuals—yourself, the respected person, the friend, the neutral person, and the enemy—as equal and generate love for them equally. When the barriers between the five people have been broken down and you are able to extend love equally to all five, simultaneously the counterpart sign appears and access concentration is attained. Repeatedly practicing the counterpart sign, you will attain the full concentration of the first jhāna. With this, the five hindrances have been suppressed, the five absorption factors are present, and the liberation of mind by love (mettācetovimutti) is attained. It is so called because in that absorption the mind is liberated from anger and hostility. This is also called “love as a divine abode.”

Only upon gaining the first jhāna, a meditator (MN 43:31):

…abides pervading one quarter with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth; so above, below, around, and everywhere, and to all as to himself, he abides pervading the entire world with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility and without malice.

To gain this further development of love, extend love to one direction—the east—so that it pervades all sentient beings there. When doing this, begin small, thinking of one dwelling and extending love to everyone there. Then expand love to two dwellings and, gradually, to the town, state, and so forth in one direction. When that meditation is firm, gradually add the beings in the other three cardinal directions, the four intermediate directions, and up and down—radiating love in each place, one by one.

Then extend love everywhere without specifying a particular direction, realm of existence, social status, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and so on. Unmarred by negative feelings, grief, or suffering, this immeasurable love is pure, impartial, and unconditional.

Together with extending the range of your love, intensify it by remembering that in our beginningless rebirths we have all been each other’s mothers. This helps to break down feelings of separateness and open our hearts to love all beings as if they were our children. The Mettā Sutta says, “As a mother would, with all her life, protect her only child, so one should develop a boundless heart toward all beings.”

Practicing love as a divine abode entails practicing it at all times when you are awake and in all postures—sitting, standing, lying down, and walking. As meditation continues, the second and third jhānas in the fourfold schema will be gained.

In the early stages of cultivating love, thought and imagination are necessary. But once love is aroused and becomes strong and stable, these are unnecessary. The mind becomes absorbed in the experience of love, and radiating love takes on a momentum of its own.

The liberation of mind by love is practiced with universal pervasion by extending it to all beings, then all breathing things, all creatures, all persons, and all those with a personality. While these five terms are synonymous, meditating on them individually gives us different perspectives on the object of our love. The liberation of mind by love is practiced with specific pervasion by extending love to groups of women, men, ariyas, ordinary beings, devas, human beings, and those born in unfortunate realms.

The liberation of mind by love is cultivated to pervade the ten directions in ten ways, by thinking as above toward all beings in the ten directions and then thinking of the twelve types of beings—the five unspecific and the seven specific—in each of the directions. In addition, each of the phrases in the formula—“be free from hostility,” “be free from affliction,” “be free from anxiety,” and “live happily”—is one meditative absorption, so when combined there are quite a number.

The Buddha said that practitioners of the liberation of mind through love will experience eleven benefits (AN 11:15):

You sleep well; you awaken happily; you do not have bad dreams; you are pleasing to human beings; you are pleasing to spirits; deities protect you; fire, poison, and weapons do not injure you; your mind quickly becomes concentrated; your facial complexion is serene; you die unconfused; and if you do not penetrate further, you fare on to the brahmā world.

Using the liberation of mind by love as the basis for developing insight, you can attain arahantship. This is done by meditating in a jhāna, then leaving that state and analyzing its components. Through doing this, you see that even this blissful state of concentration is impermanent, unsatisfactory, and selfless. Such insight into the three characteristics will lead to the realization of nibbāna and the eradication of all fetters.

original link: http://www.wisdompubs.org/blog/201507/dalai-lama-practicing-love

Long-Life Offering to His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Thekchen Chöling, McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, HP, India, 20 July 2015 - To begin with this morning, His Holiness the Dalai Lama took his seat below the Tsuglagkhang to observe debates performed by monks and nuns from Nepal. They came from Kopan Monastery, Shelkar Chöde, Chuwar Gaden Dropen Ling, Shri Chusang Gompa, Samtenling Drubgön, Thukje Chöling, Serkong Gaden Jamgonling, and Gosok Phuntsok Chöling, as well as two nunneries, Kyirong Thukje Chöling and Kopan Khechö Gakyil Ling.

They also submitted a report of their studies and activities. His Holiness commended them, noting that 40 years ago he had advised that even monasteries engaged mostly in performing rituals and nunneries should introduce programs of study. He told them that they not only need to study, reflect and meditate, they also need to integrate what they know in practice.

From the throne in the Tsuglagkhang, His Holiness announced that eleven different organizations had submitted requests to make a Ten-shug or Long-Life Offering. They included the Gelug Association of Nepal, the Tibetan Youth Congress, people of U-Tsang province, Shang Gaden Chökhor Ling, the Taglung Kagyu Tradition, the Tibetan Women’s Association, the Guchusum Movement, the Ngari Chithun Association, the Lodrik Association of Pokhara, Nepal, the Middle Way People’s Association and the Himalayan Buddhist Cultural Society. Since there was insufficient time for each of them to make a separate offering, they had all been brought together today.

“Today, the fourth of the sixth Tibetan month, is when we celebrate the Buddha’s first teaching,” His Holiness told the packed crowd. “He manifested as an emanation body, which can be seen by ordinary people, and lived the life of a prince. Once he’d seen the four signs - birth, aging, sickness and death - he renounced the royal life and undertook austerities for six years. Meditating on selflessness he attained enlightenment and then sharing what he’d experienced with others, he revealed the path.

“There were three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma. In the first the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths, in the second the Perfection of Wisdom and in the third the nature of the mind and Buddha nature. While the first Turning of the Wheel took place in public, the second was revealed only to a select group of disciples.

“Today, commemorating the First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma is an auspicious day. I’ll give a long-life empowerment related to the White Tara Wish-fulfilling Wheel, and along with that we’ll conduct a ceremony for generating the awakening mind. After that you can perform the long-life offering.”

His Holiness spoke about the Tibetan Buddhist tradition having its origins in the Nalanda tradition, which was characterized by a sceptical analysis of the teachings. This was in accord with the Buddha’s own advice to his followers not to accept his teaching out of reverence for him, but only once they had convinced themselves of its integrity through analysis. He said that while the Tibetan word ‘chö’ has a connotation of transformation, the Sanskrit term ‘Dharma’ has a sense of restraint, withholding and protection.

He pointed out that all 7 billion human beings alive today want happiness and don’t want suffering. And yet today’s education systems seem to be dedicated only to material development, which is inadequate. What we need in addition, he said, is a sense of inner peace, mental peace. To achieve that we need to counter our disturbing emotions which are among the factors that destroy it. His Holiness suggested that although circumambulation and prayer have value, they won’t help us overcome ignorance. Only wisdom and intelligence can do that. Although love and compassion are common to all religious paths, only Buddhism teaches a wisdom that overcomes the ignorance that involves a misconception of reality.

“In their report downstairs just now the monks and nuns from Nepal referred to an ongoing dialogue between Buddhism and science. I prefer to talk about a conversation involving Buddhist science and modern science. Where quantum physics says things lack any objective existence, for example, the Mind Only school says nothing has any external existence. What I wonder is whether such an understanding in a quantum physicist’s mind has any effect on his or her disturbing emotions?

“Tibetan Buddhism is vast and profound, but we should cultivate it on the basis of understanding, not on the excuse that it is what our parents believed. When Mao Zedong told me that religion is poison, I think he was referring to following religion with blind faith.

“For forty years or so, I’ve urged monasteries where there was no tradition of study to introduce it. These days I urge lay people to study too and increasingly many are doing so. The Nalanda tradition placed emphasis on logic and epistemology, which deals with the nature, sources and limits of knowledge. We Tibetans have kept it up. This is our treasure; it can be a treasure for the world too.”

His Holiness expressed gratitude for the kindness Tibetans have received from the Himalayan peoples. The many monks who have joined the re-established Tibetan monasteries have derived benefit themselves, but have also been helpful to the tradition. He mentioned Gyumey Lama Umzey, Gyen Lobsang, Shartse Abbot Jangchub Chöden, Chosphel Zotpa and Ganden Tri Rinpoche, Rizong Rinpoche as examples. He also recalled a story from the late Bakula Rinpoche’s childhood at Drepung Monastery in Tibet. When Rinpoche’s teacher scolded him for something Rinpoche apologised and asked to be excused because he came from a borderland. These days, His Holiness remarked, Ladakh is more like a central land.

“Although we are refugees,” His Holiness said, “we have preserved our traditions and shared them with the world.”

When he began to give the White Tara long-life empowerment, including a ceremonial generation of the awakening mind of bodhichitta, he remarked that if we are to put the vast and profound teachings of the Buddha into practice we need to have a long life. He advised that if we can it is important to maintain a clear mind from childhood.

“If you don’t die in the next couple of months, you may be able to create the causes for good rebirth. If you don’t die for the next couple of years, you might be able to create the causes of lasting happiness, “ he said.

The moment the White Tara empowerment was complete, the assembly began to perform the long-life offering. During the customary procession to present symbolic and actual offerings, about 1300 people from the 11 participating organizations passed through the temple, many of them looking eagerly towards the throne in hope of catching His Holiness’s eye. In the course of this happy occasion His Holiness remarked that while many regard their 81st year as unfavourable, for him it has been most auspicious. Long after he had returned to his residence, and despite the rain, people who had taken part in the ceremonies continued to sing and dance in the temple yard.

Original link with photos http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/1302-eleven-organizations-make-a-long-life-offering-to-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama

Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Teachings of Dalai Lama

The teachings of Dalai Lama can guide entrepreneurs in their ventures and help them draw some vital, effective, practical and profound lessons. This is an abridged list.

Responsible business aims at helping people expand their abilities. We usually live for the promise of a good future by selling history. Keeping the basic precepts listed below can aid on the path to reaching the promise of the future while dealing with the most certain uncertainties on the way.

Love what you do, and do it the whole way

This will bring out the best in a venture. To attain the best it is worth the risk to base your work on love and passion. Every venture has different things it will need at different points in its journey. Loving the crucial elements during a particular phase is most important. Even if you do not love them, pretending to love them for a bigger vision will make it easier. Passion and love have a way to get through.

Sacrifice is nobility at its best

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get what you want. What this literally translates into is this; organic growth is better than shortcuts. Delayed gratification and sacrifice often lead to better and more meaningful results. In an entrepreneurs world, after the venture is afloat, if something is worth anything, it will be worth nothing less with time. Overtime, even the most volatile stocks and assets appreciate in value. Remember, that the best relationships are ones in which the core values behind a relationship exceeds individual needs for each other. Sacrifice is indeed nobility at its best.

When you lose, don’t lose the lesson

Adapt, evolve, pivot, scale. Learn the lessons. And don’t repeat the same mistake over and over again. One often repeats the same mistakes if ones emotional life is confined to the space between ones ears. Get over the ego trip and learn. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. Not getting what one wants is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. Learn the lessons, get the experience, wise-up and move on.

Learn the rules so you know how to most effectively use them

This applies to all aspects of a venture. Build your capabilities from ground up and gain a level of competence and effectiveness before moving to something new. Hire the best from among those who gel with your vision for the venture.

Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship

The grand illusion of one’s self and immortality often does more harm than good. Nothing is worth more than keeping good friends, team members, advisors and customers. Time changes constantly. No point in holding on to the past. Learn to see over and beyond little squabbles and benefits. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life. Love your loved ones. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past. Nurture relationships and build bridges. Become an enabler.

Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values

One way for an entrepreneur to recognize her value systems is to explore uninhibited by failure and fallouts. Read tons. Seek guidance from folks whose accomplishments and values you admire. Follow inspirational people and events. Create a theme of leadership in your head and water it constantly with reading and leadership reinforcements.  Live a good, honorable life. So that when you look back to your life from the future, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time. Build your life and venture around some core values and beliefs. Let your work and life stand for something bigger and more meaningful.

Follow the three Rs:

Respect yourself: the values and the ideals that drive you. These will reflect on the venture.

Respect others: The golden principle is “Do unto others as you would have them do to you”. Entrepreneurs need to keep this precept very close to their hearts.

Be responsible for all your actions in all aspects of your venture at all stages of the venture.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer

Entrepreneurship is fueled by an expression of your passion. The venture is a vehicle that helps entrepreneurs express. But expression in work and attitude is more important than expression in words. Create a small place in your life where you meet and question yourself often. Then as the next step, connect with the larger life by being silent atleast for five minutes a day. Meditate to bring down the neural activity and calm the frequency distribution of your brain. Spend some time alone every day. Silence is the most elegant form of expression. Give your nervous system, neurons and physiological system a break. As often as possible, go someplace you’ve never been before. Serendipity often comes knocking when least expected and in unfamiliar places.

Share your knowledge

Happy venturing!!

By Bhringu Pankaj Prashar
Forbes magazine, http://www.forbes.com/sites/bhrigupankajprashar/2012/07/05/lessons-entrepreneurs-can-learn-from-teachings-of-dalai-lama/