Summary of the Four Buddha Stages
1. In the Outer Buddha Stage, we open our hearts with devotion in prayer to the Buddha of Loving-Kindness. We see him as an external enlightened presence and feel his boundless power, omniscient wisdom, and especially his unconditional love, and then receive his blessings. This opens our mind to embodying his blessings and qualities in ourselves so that we can relate to the world with respect, appreciation, peace, joy, and especially loving-kindness.
The effectiveness of the Outer Buddha meditations is due both to the power of the Buddha of Loving-Kindness’s blessings and to our own mind. Opening our heart to him with devotion unleashes enormous peace and joy in us. Of course, having devotion toward even an ordinary object or person will bring us peace and joy because it results from our own mind’s positive perception. How much more so when the object of our devotion is a Buddha!
Although the Outer Buddha Stage is preliminary to the subsequent stages, that does not mean it is less important. In fact, it is extraordinary in itself. And without mastering it, we cannot reach the later stages effectively.
2. In the Inner Buddha Stage, we find the Buddha’s love in our heart. Because we become what we see, think, and feel, our previous experience of the Outer Buddha’s loving-kindness now awakens loving-kindness within ourselves. We then gradually expand our own loving-kindness, starting with one loved one until we reach infinite beings.
3. In the Universal Buddha Stage, we experience the whole universe as love. We develop the pure perception of perceiving everything as the images, sounds, and feelings of loving-kindness—the reflections of our own mind.
4. The Ultimate Buddha Stage is the realization of the ultimate state of “loving-kindness free from concepts.” All dualistic concepts, afflicting emotions, and sensory thirsts gradually dissolve through the power of loving-kindness. We remain in the awareness of boundless loving-kindness free from concepts. This final stage is the result of all. If we realize the innate nature of loving-kindness, we realize the absolute nature of all.
A Few Questions
Throughout this book, I have tried my best to offer answers to some frequently asked questions: Why do we meditate on loving-kindness with devotion? Why do we say prayers? Why do we practice visualizations? How do we do them? Once we understand the reasons, benefits, and the formulas for doing these practices, we will naturally feel inspired to do them. Then we will surely be able to gain true meditation experiences and the various stages of beneficial results.
Here I will answer a few questions that may arise at the outset.
Why did you focus your book on loving-kindness instead of on compassion—given that so many Buddhist traditions focus on compassion?
In compassion meditations, people deeply feel the suffering of others and develop a strong wish to free them of it. When done with total openness, this meditation is a powerful way to awaken true inner strength, love, and peace. And if we have true compassion, we will automatically have loving-kindness as well.
However, I thought that, for some beginning meditators, meditating on others’ suffering might be too painful and depressing. I personally know some Westerners who turned away from Buddhism because their initial introduction to it was through compassion meditations. They could not bear to dwell on the pain of their loved ones or the world.
Loving-kindness meditations, on the other hand, can only inspire. Also, once we progress in loving-kindness, we will inherently have compassion, too.
Why do you call Avalokiteshvara “the Buddha of Loving-Kindness” instead of “the Buddha of Compassion”?
The rough translation of the name Avalokiteshvara is “the Lord who watches over.” He watches over all, all the time, with all-knowing wisdom, loving-kindness, and compassion. Many simply translate the name as “the Buddha of Compassion.” But we can also call him, as I do in this book, “the Buddha of Loving-Kindness.”
Why do we use dualistic meditations? Isn’t the goal the nondual state?
Yes, that is the goal; but we need to start our journey from where we are. Because we are conceptual, emotional beings, meditations that are conceptual and emotional are familiar to us. So it is relatively easy for us to use the power of positive concepts and feelings to transform our negative thoughts and feelings into positive ones. From there we can gradually reach perfection, or the nondual state. It is hard to leap from negative to perfection. It is much easier to go from positive to perfection. So, as we think about, feel, and enjoy the Buddha’s loving-kindness, loving-kindness spontaneously awakens in our mindstream. Eventually, we discover that loving-kindness is, in fact, the ever-present nondual true nature of our mind.
What is the difference between loving-kindness and unconditional love?
Loving-kindness, as I use the phrase, is the wish for all to be happy and enlightened. Unconditional love is selfless love, the highest level of loving-kindness. When we first start meditating, we use concepts and emotions to make our loving-kindness less and less conditioned and more and more limitless. Eventually, we experience loving-kindness free from concepts. That is the perfection of unconditional love. It arises as the “wisdom of equality” of Buddhahood.
OPENING VERSE
O Buddha of Unconditional Love,
Your all-knowing wisdom eyes see all;
Your boundless power protects every being
As a mother protects her only child with unconditional love.
For he who sees the compassionate eyes of the Buddha of Loving-Kindness,
His own heart wakes up with the force of boundless devotion in the Buddha;
His own face blossoms with unconditional love for every mother-being.
I, a mere distant spectator, am imbued with awe-inspiring wonder.
Devotion to the Outer Buddha opens our heart as the heart of loving-kindness,
Transforming it into unconditional love for all, the Inner Buddha,
Awakening every image, sound, and feeling as the Universal Buddha, and
Uniting all as loving-kindness free from concepts, the Ultimate Buddha.
Sage of Great Accomplishments1—true image of loving-kindness—
Knowledge-holders,2 Seekers of Enlightenment,3 and
Angels of Wisdom4—
I beseech you all from my heart-core with undying trust. Please grant us your blessings to unite us indivisibly with you.
Infinite beings are caught in the wheel of endless cyclic existence,
Trapped in the eye of conceptual and emotional hurricanes,
Plunged in the midst of the turbulent waves of conflicting sensations,
Whirring around the world like bees—with no end to this nightmare in sight.
I have been wandering in many unknown lands for nearly sixty years.
But by the ever-present kindness of the Sage of Great Accomplishments,
And by the reminiscences of the Blazing Glorious Seat of Accomplishments,5
I haven’t drifted too far from the light of the Dharma.
However great the sweetness of samsara is,
It cannot be compared with the joy of Dharma, by even a sixteenth.
However vehement the flame of evil deeds and the pain of samsara are,
There is none that the rain of Dharma cannot quench!
The brilliance of the sun-like Buddha’s love illuminates the sky.
The radiance of our mighty ocean-like devotion embraces it.
The glow of earth and sky unite into a single world of boundless joy.
This is the true meditation on devotion to the Buddha of Loving-Kindness.
Avalokiteshvara, noble lord of omniscient wisdom,
Is always looking at us with eyes of loving-kindness.
Whenever we see him with devotion, the unconditional love of his heart
Awakens in us, miraculously. This is what I adore to articulate in this book.
Exceedingly destitute in both learning and realization, I fear that
My attempt to write about loving-kind
ness will be a cause of laughter—even to my own tongue.
Nevertheless, to not let some drops trickle forth from the miraculous ocean of loving-kindness is harder for me to bear.
O learned readers, please forgive me for my pitiable flops.
PART ONE
VIEW
What Is Loving-Kindness and How to Develop It
1
THE IMPORTANCE OF TRAINING OUR MIND
THE WORLD WITH EVERYTHING in it that appears to us is created and perceived as such by our own conceptual mind, and shared by all beings with whom we have mental habits in common. That is why, in this book, we are going to be training our mind to develop loving-kindness. If we can improve our mental qualities by developing loving-kindness, then the world will reflect back to us as a world of love and peace.
The True Nature of Mind
To understand how the world can be a creation of the mind, it is useful to recognize that our mind has two aspects: ordinary mind and enlightened mind. Ordinary mind, also known in Mahayana teachings as deluded mind, is conceptual, dualistic, and emotional. Enlightened mind—also known as the awakened state or Buddha-nature—is the true and pure nature of the mind. For most of us, the dualistic concepts, unhealthy emotions, and obsessive sensations (particularly strong clinging and craving) of our ordinary mind cover the enlightened aspect of our mind. These thoughts are like coverings that obstruct us from realizing and manifesting our true nature—like clouds covering the sun.
Consider the difference between how an awakened person and an ordinary person view a flower. When an awakened person sees a flower, they see it through their enlightened wisdom-eyes that are free from the shrouds of duality, emotions and sensations, and that dwell instead in the nature of boundless openness, also known as “emptiness” nature. By contrast, when an ordinary person sees a flower, they see it through the eyes of their deluded mind, which is characterized by duality. Duality leads to attachment and aversion, which, as they become increasingly tight and obsessive, result in the familiar cycle of fireworks and misery.
With realized persons, the subject, the object, and experience arise fully as the awareness wisdom of ultimate peace and openness. That is the view of “absolute truth,” the true nature.
With ordinary persons, the person (subject), the flower (object), and the experience of seeing (action) all remain separate, conceptual, and dualistic. That is the perspective of “relative truth.” Thus, to the ordinary person, everything that exists, everything that happens, is seen through conceptual lenses. The person’s perception is false because it is merely a projection, a reflection, an illusion, and a fabrication of their conceptual mind. That is why the Buddha said:
Due to the waves of conceptual habits,
Mind arises in various forms and
Mental objects appear as external phenomena.
The whole of samsara is just mind.
External appearances do not exist.
They are the mind appearing in various forms.
So I tell you, everything is just mind!6
We can get an inkling of how our mind affects our perception even in our everyday lives. For instance, when we struggle with difficulties, if our attitude is positive, we find that our pain is less and we are more at ease. And we can see that happy people are happy not because of material or external circumstances, but because of the peace and strength of their own mind. The Third Dodrupchen7 writes:
Wise people realize that all happiness and suffering depend upon the mind, and [so they] seek happiness from the mind itself. They do not rely on external sources, as they understand that the causes of happiness are complete within themselves. If we realize this, then whether we face problems caused by other beings or material things, they won’t be able to hurt us much at all.8
In fact, our mind can radically improve our world because the enlightened nature is inherent in our mind at this very moment, even if we can’t see it because it is covered by the deluded aspect of our mind. Every being has this potential, regardless of whether we are a human being or an animal, let alone whether we are a Buddhist. Maitreya-natha9 writes:
The [ultimate] body of the Buddha pervades [all].
The ultimate nature is [in all] without distinction.
All beings have the lineage [of becoming Buddha].
Beings always possess Buddha-nature.10
However, we need to train our ordinary mind to dispel its illusory concepts and unveil our enlightened mind. In this effort, our mind is our principal tool, the main player, both the aspirant and beneficiary. After all, what covers our enlightened nature? Who attains enlightenment? Our mind. The Buddha became enlightened through his own meditation, for meditation directly, instantly, and fully affects the mind—since the mind is the one meditating. So the mind is what we use to follow the path out of delusion and attain the goal, Buddhahood. At the same time, the path and goal lie in the mind itself.
Although with the right meditation we can transform our mind into infinite virtues, our body, in contrast, no matter how much we train it, will always be bounded by more rigidly set physical parameters—unless we transform it into a “wisdom-light body” through unique esoteric mind training. However, such training is not my subject here, and not my cup of tea anyway.
When Our Mind Becomes Loving, Everything Else Does Too
If we train our mind to become peaceful and loving, then whatever we say and do will be peaceful and loving, and will inspire peace and joy in those around us. For example, if we see or think about a positive image, sound, or feeling and perceive it as beneficial, the effects of that perception will be a helpful influence for our mind, as it is being transformed into a mind of positive thoughts and feelings with the support of that beneficial object. Say we are in a garden, appreciating its peace and beauty; our mind will naturally become relaxed and joyful. The more peaceful our mind becomes, the more it will be filled with joy. Then our vocal and physical expressions will also spontaneously become caring and soothing for others. All our actions will become sources of true service for everyone we engage with.
How true this is, especially when what we are seeing and appreciating is the amazing presence of the Buddha of Loving-Kindness with his extraordinary qualities! Then, by his blessing power, by the positive power of our mind with its positive perception, and by the power of our meditation and prayer, our mind will become peaceful, joyful, and healthy. All our mental, vocal, and physical acts will turn into sources of truly helpful blessings for ourselves and others. Buddha Shakyamuni said:
Mind leads phenomena.
Mind is the main factor and forerunner of all.
If one speaks or acts with a pure mind,
One enjoys happiness, just as a shadow follows its object. . . .
By preserving mindfulness,
If you tame and discipline your mind, you experience joy.
People who safeguard their minds
Will certainly attain cessation of suffering.11
We don’t need laboratory experiments, fancy machines, or scholarly investigations to verify this. It is plain, understandable, and natural. However, scientific studies of the benefits of compassion and loving-kindness meditation have been conducted. (See, for example, the research reported by Daniel Goleman in the book Destructive Emotions.)
So let us train our minds in meditation to free ourselves from the struggles of relative truth and attain absolute truth. If we do so, then our deeds, behaviors, and their consequences will follow our mind’s lead. As the Buddha said:
All deeds depend on the mind.
Their effects depend on the mind.
Similarly, the mind appears in various characteristics,
As do its effects.
The three existents [three worlds] follow the mind.
All are drawings of the mind.
There is nothing that is not controlled by the mind.
Mind is the basis and cause of
Both bondage and liberation.
Virtuous deed
s liberate beings.
Unvirtuous deeds bind them.
Thus beings wander in the three existents,
Driven by the force of their minds.12
The Buddha’s First Teachings: The Four Noble Truths
The Buddha set forth the importance of training the mind more than twenty-five centuries ago, when he gave his first teaching to his first five disciples at Deer Park, now known as Sarnath, about eight miles from the ancient city of Varanasi in North India. The teaching was on the Four Noble Truths, which became the foundation and essence of Buddhism. The Buddha taught that if we train our minds in the right way, our confusion and suffering will cease, and happiness and eventually full enlightenment, freedom from suffering, will result. The Buddha said:
O Monks, there are Four Noble Truths. They are the Noble Truths of Suffering, the Cause of Suffering, the Freedom from Suffering, and the Path to the Freedom from Suffering.13
The Heart of Unconditional Love Page 2