Daily Archive

The purpose of this meditation is to try on what it feels like to actually be a Buddha and then to generate the wish to attain this state in this life. Finally we meditate on this in light of the disadvantages of self-cherishing.

I began with some breathing meditation, breathing out my distracting thoughts and breathing in pure inspiring light. When my mind was quite calm, I moved onto the next stage.

I mentally reviewed where I had ‘come from’ in my meditations. I thought about how my kind mothers have so much suffering, and I ‘took’ their suffering from them. I then thought about how they cannot find happiness, and I gave them pure happiness. I mounted these on the breath for a while, and focused on taking and giving.

I have been to London today, and London is a great place to practice taking and giving. It is packed with people, all looking miserable! Roads, tubes, train stations: they are all filled with people to focus on and practise with. I visualised the people I had been practising on today, and practised taking and giving once more in meditation.

After this, I told myself that in order to actually do this for others, I need to become an enlightened being myself. I told myself that now is the time to become an enlightened being, while I have the opportunity. I wondered what it would be like to be a Buddha. I thought that I would abide in the perfection of wisdom, perceiving everything as empty and permeated with complete bliss. I focused on this for a while, and then developed the following thought: ‘I must use my opportunity NOW to become a Buddha’. I kept repeating these words, and I generated a very strong wish that this happen. I focused on this wish for a while.

I then thought about what this means in the light of the disadvantages of self-cherishing. This wish opposes self-cherishing, which is the view that my own happiness and freedom are more important than anyone else’s.  The wish to become a Buddha in order to free all living beings from their suffering, and to devote our whole life to their benefit until the last sentient being is released from suffering directly opposes self-cherishing. There is no room for self-cherishing in our mind if we have Bodhichitta! With this in mind, I returned to my meditation on the wish to become a Buddha for the benefit of all.

Dedication

May all living beings find the opportunity to practise the path that leads to liberation and enlightenment, for the benefit of all.

Practice in the Meditation Break

I will try to keep a mind of Bodhichitta throughout the day and night.