The Great Chariot

by Longchenpa | 268,580 words

A Commentary on Great Perfection: The Nature of Mind, Easer of Weariness In Sanskrit the title is ‘Mahāsandhi-cittā-visranta-vṛtti-mahāratha-nāma’. In Tibetan ‘rDzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso’i shing rta chen po shes bya ba ’...

Part 3 - The motivating power of compassion

The motivating power of compassion directed towards those who are well-urged but do not listen

Now though these words have been said, for beings who do not think about them in their hearts, in order to protect these beings, we aspire to peace for ourselves,[1] and we always are motivated by the power of compassion

Kye ma! As if they had been chained to solid rock,
Thinking mostly of this world, their sorrow grows.
Not realizing what was taught; not understanding the teachings,
Even though their day of death may be tomorrow,
They fixate our lives as being long and permanent.

Not grieving at cyclic existence, with no speck of renunciation,
They are consciously proud and knowingly confused.
While they are distracted, the rain of kleshas falls.
Let us always be of use to sentient beings.

Kye ma! Sentient beings have been told how things are, but with a fool's understanding, they cannot comprehend the details of the symbols and the means of practice properly. Really having very little freedom to follow them, they will never realize them. They do not understand the explanations.

Some, even while they are being urged to get rid of the appearances of this world in the future, are actually attached to keeping them instead, responsive only to the actions of this life. Some have karmas and kleshas blazing like a fire, and they are far from happiness.

Others with the fire of anger burning within them are jealous of others. They abuse them in many ways, finding fault, spreading bad rumors, and trying to belittle them.

Some, no matter how many sufferings torment and oppress them, are not saddened by cyclic existence and never experience the least particle of renunciation. Some, who have heard and know just a little, dispute and condemn others because of pride and arrogance, emanating a thousand tongues of flames of kleshas in the ten directions. Rejecting the natural goodness of their being, they burn up anything pure. As they break vows and samayas day and night, there falls a rain of evil.

When we see this, sometimes the thought arises that we should give up and just try to practice profound concentration alone in peaceful forests, with the intent of personal enlightenment. But for the most part, the powerful force of compassion produces the joyful thought, "May I alone always establish them in liberation" The following are incidental verses on the aspiration to take up this highest of tasks.

Those who live in the ten directions of the world,
As many sentient beings as may be in existence,
By my merit may all of them gain happiness,
And may they all be free from any suffering.

May those afflicted by sickness, whose lives will be cut short,
Have long life and good fortune, without attacks of sickness.
May those condemned to being poor and hungry beggars
Possess abundant food and drink, and ample wealth.

May all in fear of bandits, savages and kings,
Or water, fire, great precipices and the like
And those who are endangered by any other terrors,
Attain the happiness that is free from all such fears.

Whatever they may wish for, just as they desire,
May the wishes in their minds all be established.
Because of always acting well and properly,
May they attain liberation in enlightenment.

By a good earth-guarding[2] king may the whole earth be protected.
May his gentle kingdom widely spread and flourish.
May his ministers' Dharmic wishes be fulfilled.
May his servants always live in happiness.

May those who have the sufferings of the lower realms,
Be freed, attaining the happiness of the higher realms.
May those who have the sufferings of the higher realms,
Be in peace[3] and establish what is happy and auspicious.

May sentient beings who dwell in the three realms of the world
All be happy in their minds and every thought.
Let no thoughts of evil flash within their minds.
Day and night may they transcend them through the Dharma.

May there be good harvests in all these lands of beings.
May they be free from every sickness and affliction.
Among them may there be no strife and quarreling.
May they be happy, like gods within the heavenly realms.

In establishing their goals may they be completely successful.
May those who want wealth and retinue, servants, and attendants,
Have them in abundance, just as they desire.
May the greatness of their fortunes be enriched.

May the people’s temporal dominion grow.
May the Dharma increase for its renunciates.
For those who want virtue, may virtuous states of mind develop.
May life and auspicious goodness flourish and increase.

For those who meditate, may concentration and insight,
Higher perceptions and miracle, prosper and expand.
May the path and fruition of Dharma be established.
May they come in contact with liberating wisdom.

Those who are tormented with pain and suffering,
May their minds be soothed, expanding with great joy.
May those who abide in discouragement and depression
With industrious effort establish enlightenment.

May they be well-ornamented with the wealth of merit
And be possessors of meditation and discipline.
Also may all of those who have fear and anxiety
Never be separated from goodness and happiness.

May the Conqueror’s children who act to benefit beings
Have life and buddha activity that are beyond all measure.
May their benefits for others be abundant.
May the time they remain on earth be very long.

If there are any beings who depend on me,
May the happiness and prosperity of all those beings increase.
As possessors of natures that are tamed and contented,
May they be possessors of the seven noble riches[4]

Whether they have praise for me or condemnation,
So that what they have to say is disparaging,
May all who see or hear, remember or contact me
Because of that cross over the ocean of cyclic existence.

May those who even hear my name, in consequence,
Be expelled from cyclic existence in that very life.
Attaining bliss and liberated from suffering,
May they be established as unsurpassable buddhas.

As for me, from this day onward at all times,
May I, like the great elements, earth and all the rest,
Be a sustaining ground for the sake of sentient beings.
May they all be established in goodness and benefit.

May those who are poor and suffer mistreatment in samsara,
All who are needlessly struck by its tongues of lightning,
Become a happy throng, completely liberated.
May I always try to benefit other beings.

May the sufferings that sentient beings may have
All serve as means of ripening them for me.
By any virtuous mental power I may have,
May beings attain to bliss and purification of suffering.

May suffering be unseen, even in their dreams.
May they attain an ocean of bliss and happiness.
Pervading the space of the sky in all the ten directions
As many buddhas and sentient beings as there may be,
By me may all of them be brought together
With all the various requisites of happiness.[5]

Throughout all the ten directions of the world,
May my name be famous and illustrious,
May there fall a rain of all that is desired.
Making offerings to buddhas and other sentient beings.

May sentient beings of the six realms and ten directions
No more be liberated by any victorious ones.
May I completely liberate every one of those beings.
May the endless ocean of cyclic existence be empty.

Sukhavati,[6] totally beautified by ornaments of light, the precious all-containing source, Is a vast realm filling the whole of space, established from clouds of pure happiness. By grasping this single white yak tail scepter or jeweled umbrella, all the obscuring torment of the three levels is cooled. Within its untroubled waters, may the gradual blossoming of the great lotuses of the victorious buddhas be well established.

Here are the pleasant and delightful daughters of the gods, with heads adorned with fragrant utpala lotus garlands, As they play in the shallows of ponds with the water birds and those blossoms of display, by their loving care they[7] possess the glory of the freedoms.

Human hearts that by these are greatly exalted, are buoyed up in the lake of the waters of explanation, which are an emanation coming from that pure land. Free from the harm of the kleshas, completely fulfilled with meditative absorption, may those who are excellent help all sentient beings in crossing over.

The undefiled young[8] sun, with an eye that is characterized by an excellent red light, is wreathed in the beauty of the stars of lunar motion.[9] May the eyes of those who have become amrita for beings shine with an excellence brighter than even the brilliantly blazing light of Bhrama. Shown by these radiant master bodhisattvas, adorned with the mandala of the major and minor marks, Vast enlightened appearance fills the whole of space, and there may all beings effortlessly arrive.

The wealth of the three buddha bodies, supreme and not lowly, is peace without an atom of dust, the cloudless path of the sun and moon. Without the duality of one and many, this is pristinely unconditioned existence, unfathomable to thought, In this field of Samantabhadra, the spontaneous presence of peace, may the purified minds of all beings be healed of their weariness. May they reach the basic space beyond wide and narrow or high and low, beyond all partial bias, conception and thought.

There may they remain without sadness and weariness, with the highest intentions regarding others, exerting themselves to benefit themselves and others among the rocky mountains.

While we are urged on by such intentions of benefit, while the Dharma of impermanence is taught, and we see the truth of it for ourselves, as for our not being even a little sad and never turning back the mind back from grasping, it is as if these teachings were being told to a lump of stone or taught to an animal. The Discourse on Impermanence says:

“Like me, you too will die.”
This instruction on impermanence
Is not doubtful at all.
Kye 'ud! I am like an animal. [10]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Because having gained enlightenment ourselves, we can help others.

[2]:

Sa skyong.

[3]:

Ie. get enlightened.

[4]:

'phags pa'i nor bdun.

[5]:

Except for this part the verses naturally fall into four line stanzas.

[6]:

A passage in very long verses. Sukhāvatī: The western buddha field or pure land of “great Bliss.”

[7]:

They: The blossoms who metaphorically are beings blossoming into buddhahood.

[8]:

Ie. rising.

[9]:

Rgyu skar. These have a relation to the moon’s course like that the constellations of the zodiac have to the sun’s.

[10]:

Because of doubting it nevertheless.

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