Lama Zopa Rinpoche The Joy of Compassion

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became enlightened by depending on sentient beings. How did they
become enlightened? By depending on sentient beings. Similarly,
Vajrasattva came about because of sentient beings, through the exis-
tence of suffering sentient beings.
So far I ve been talking about just one negative karma, but by practic-
ing Vajrasattva or the Thirty-five Buddhas, by reciting their names and
doing prostrations, we can purify all the countless negative karmas cre-
ated today, this week, this month, this year, this life; with Vajrasattva or
the Thirty-five Buddhas we can purify all our past lives negative karmas.
To get an appreciation for this, first we should understand how terri-
fying all the results of just one negative karma are. How much suffering
it brings from life to life, and how unbelievable it is to be able to purify
all that with Vajrasattva or the Thirty-five Buddhas; how much unbeliev-
able peace and happiness it brings. We should also understand what an
emergency it is that we purify all this; that we should purify it without
even a second s delay. Whether the negative karma be gossiping or ill
will or sexual misconduct or telling lies or whatever, it is urgent to purify
it without delaying even a moment. That s just one, but through these
46 . . . . . .
the joy of compassion
practices we can purify all the negative karma we have created not only
in this life but in all previous lives as well.
That we have the opportunity to do all this purification with Vajra-
sattva or the Thirty-five Buddhas is due to the kindness of all sentient
beings those around us now, at home or wherever we are, and all the rest
of the sentient beings. Vajrasattva and the Thirty-five Buddhas became
enlightened through the kindness of each sentient being. That s one thing.
That s how each of us has received this opportunity to purify ourselves.
Lama Atisha explained that the Thirty-five Buddhas names are so
powerful because in the past, when they were bodhisattvas, they made
many dedication prayers to be able to benefit sentient beings by purify-
ing their negative karma. One of them made specific dedications to be
able to purify this kind of negative karma, another made specific dedi-
cations to be able to purify that kind of negative karma, and so forth. As
bodhisattvas, they made many prayers to be able to benefit sentient
beings, including us, who are reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas names
right now. They made prayers that when they became buddhas, sen-
tient beings would be able to purify those various specific negative kar-
mas by reciting their names.
A buddha has many good qualities, such as the ten powers, one of
which is the power of prayer. So because a buddha has achieved the
power of prayer, whatever prayers were made in the past are actualized.
Therefore, when we recite the Thirty-five Buddhas names, they have
the power to purify all those negative karmas. How does it happen that
these Buddhas names have all that power, that by reciting their names
we can purify so much negative karma? Because originally they made
many prayers with bodhicitta and generated the great intention to
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getting the best from your life
benefit sentient beings in this way. That will, that intention, has power.
Then, when they became buddhas, they achieved the quality of possess-
ing the ten powers, one of which is the power of prayer, and that s what
gives power to their names. Now, when we recite their names, it affects
our minds. That s how it works. The reason their names have so much
power is because it came from their bodhicitta.
However, their bodhicitta was generated in dependence upon sen-
tient beings each and every sentient being. Therefore, by reciting each
buddha s name, we can purify all these different negative karmas that
we always engage in; the negative karma that we create in this life and
have created in our previous lives. That we can purify as much as we
want, that we have the opportunity to do this, is basically due to sentient
beings, the kindness of each sentient being. So like that, the evolution
goes down to the root, sentient beings. It comes from there.
As I ve mentioned before, if you generate compassion for one sen-
tient being, whether it s an insect or a human, you achieve enlighten-
ment from that sentient being. The stronger the compassion for that
sentient being you can generate, the quicker you reach enlightenment.
No matter how much Highest Yoga Tantra you practice, how much you
meditate on the generation stage, the completion stage, if you don t have
compassion, if you don t generate compassion for that sentient being,
that insect or that human, you cannot attain enlightenment. And the
stronger your compassion, the quicker you get enlightened. That s why
sentient beings are so precious because you can derive so much from
them. Each sentient being is extremely precious to your life.
All the good qualities of Sangha those of the bodhisattvas, such as
the six paramitas, bodhicitta; those of the arhats, their psychic powers;
48 . . . . . .
the joy of compassion
the realizations of the dakas and dakinis, the wisdom of non-dual bliss
and voidness; the qualities of the Dharma protectors, their ability to
accomplish the four actions and so forth all this is a result of the kind- [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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