The Heart of Unconditional Love
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The Buddha taught that there is nothing in this mundane world but suffering. Life is full of pain. Nothing can be relied upon, because everything is temporary. That is the First Noble Truth of Suffering. We must recognize this as it is, and determine to be liberated from this ocean of misery.
The cause of our suffering, the Buddha explained, is our negative deeds, whether physical, vocal, or mental. These deeds leave habitual traces in our mind. These traces, in turn, produce commensurate experiences for us in the future. This chain of cause and effect is called karma. At the root of karma is the duality of deluded mind. As long as we remain in the never-ending cycle of lives created by negative causes and effects, and as long as our minds are ignorant of the truth, we keep wandering endlessly and aimlessly around samsara—cyclic existence. This is the Second Noble Truth. We must recognize it and stop engaging in deeds that will cause us future pain.
The Buddha then taught that there is a state where all suffering ends. That state is enlightenment or Buddhahood. This is the state where we realize the true nature of our mind and the universe, as it is—nondual and free from all trace of concepts or emotions. This is the Third Noble Truth. We must attain it.
Then the Buddha taught something radical: there is a path that leads to enlightenment. Buddhists call it the Eightfold Noble Path. It gives us the tools—right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration— to purify our heart and attain Buddhahood. If we pursue the path of positive thoughts and deeds, we will improve the quality of our existence. And if we realize perfect wisdom, we will attain freedom from suffering and Buddhahood, the cessation of cyclic existence. This is the Fourth Noble Truth. We must apply it to our hearts.
Uprooting Ignorance and Awakening Wisdom
Shakyamuni Buddha said that he attained enlightenment by, among other things, meditating on how we enter cyclic existence and on reversing that process. He said that we enter cyclic existence through the “twelve links of interdependent arising.” This cycle is rooted in ignorance. It matures into an endless chain of turbulent life cycles immersed in suffering and fed by grasping, craving, and clinging. The Buddha said:
What are the twelve links of interdependent arising?
Because of ignorance, formation [karma] arises.
Because of formation, consciousness arises.
Because of consciousness, the mental components and body arise.
Because of the mental components and body, the six sense bases arise.
Because of the six sense-bases, contact [between them] arises.
Because of contact, feeling arises.
Because of feeling, craving arises.
Because of craving, clinging arises.
Because of clinging, becoming arises.
Because of becoming, birth takes place.
Because of birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentations, suffering, sadness, and conflicts take place.14
The Buddha meditated on the reversal that brings the chain of these twelve links to an end. He said:
The cessation of ignorance causes the cessation of formation. . . . The cessation of birth causes the cessation of old age, death, sorrow . . . and the whole great heap of suffering.15
Through this meditation, the Buddha realized that there is no “self” as a truly existing reality, but just the emptiness or openness nature, where all arises and ceases through mere dependence on causes and conditions—like a mirage. The Buddha said:
Those bodhisattvas who have attained the wisdom of realizing
The [union of] interdependent arising and the unborn and unceasing [nature of emptiness],
Like rays of the unclouded sun dispelling darkness,
Destroy ignorance and attain naturally present [Buddhahood].16
Having attained enlightenment, the Buddha proclaimed:
Profound and peaceful luminosity that is uncompounded and free from concepts,
A nectar-like attainment—I have realized!17
Loving-Kindness Meditations Accomplish the Path That the Buddha Set Forth
If we meditate on loving-kindness toward all beings from the bottom of our heart with devotion toward the Buddha, we will spontaneously be training in and perfecting the Eightfold Noble Path and the reversal of the twelve links of interdependent arising.
By training in the first three Buddha Stages of loving-kindness meditations in this book, we generate positive causation through positive thoughts and deeds, and bring true peace and love into our mindstream. By training in the meditations in the Fourth Buddha Stage, we can eventually awaken the nature of our mind, loving-kindness free from concepts. Then, by realizing the union of wisdom and loving-kindness, we can attain liberation from ignorance. The cycle of the twelve links of interdependent arising, with all its sensory thirst, attachment, and suffering, will end for us. We will attain the fully enlightened state, Buddhahood, with its three bodies and five wisdoms.
So let us exert ourselves to awaken our heart of loving-kindness and turn all thoughts, senses, feelings, and deeds into the boundless energies of loving-kindness, joy, devotion, trust, and service for all. Then every step of our life will be a source of openness, peace, and joy for ourselves and others and will lead toward the realization of enlightenment. As Konchog Dronme18 advises:
You must develop great compassion by thinking of all the beings who are suffering in the chain of the twelve links of interdependent arising from beginningless time.19
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ESSENTIAL TOOLS FOR MEDITATION
JUST AS WE NEED TOOLS to build a house, so, too, do we need tools to meditate on loving-kindness. The four essential tools for meditation are positive images, positive words or thoughts, positive feelings and experiences, and trust. All meditations use these four tools (with the exception of contemplative meditations free from concepts).
Four Essential Tools
1. Positive images. If we keep gazing at a positive image, such as a flower or a picture of a good friend, and if we recognize its positive qualities and stay with that positive view, that will start to turn the chain of our thoughts, and eventually our whole life, into a cycle of peace and joy. Getting into the habit of visualizing or imagining positive objects and recognizing and enjoying their positive qualities will be enormously helpful to us, because it works directly on the mind, which generates, maintains, and enjoys the training. Once our mind is trained in imagining (or visualizing) positive sources of blessing, we can conjure them up any time, any place. We could turn all our free time into the cycle of this training, wherever we may be. And once we taste the benefits of this practice, we will want very much to spend our free time in this way.
The most powerful positive images are ones with spiritual meaning and power, such as images of the Buddha of Loving-Kindness and his Pure Land—the paradise of peace and joy that he created to liberate beings. Seeing them as a source of loving-kindness and an object of devotion will become highly meaningful and effective.
One thing we should watch out for is grasping, getting attached to or becoming aggressive about a positive object. Instead, we should approach these objects with a sense of openness, appreciation, peace, joy, confidence, and love.
2. Positive words or thoughts. Positive words or thoughts that describe or convey the positive images that we are seeing help us to define, generate, focus, illuminate, and amplify their positive qualities and effects. If we could turn all words and labels into positive ones, we could turn our whole life into a cycle of positive energy and waves: expressions of the qualities of positive phenomena, from our heart and from the core of the cells of our body. Prayers to the Buddha of Loving-Kindness, which have spiritual significance, are the most profound positive words and sounds.
3. Positive feelings and experiences. Feeling respect and appreciation for the positive qualities of the images, thoughts, and words that we enjoy makes an especially deep impact on our life, turning it into a wheel of the energy of joy and peace, a
nd maximizing their beneficial effects. When we use feelings, we don’t just see a positive image externally or think about it with our intellect: we actually experience, enjoy, and unite with its healthy qualities, such as peace and joy. Feeling loving-kindness (that is, wishing joy for all beings) and feeling devotion (that is, opening our heart with joyful energy and trust in the wisdom, love, and power of the Buddha) are the most powerful and effective trainings to realize and perfect high spiritual attainments.
4. Trusting in positive objects and qualities. Trusting here means having confidence in the presence and power of positive images, thoughts, and feelings. Trust accomplishes and seals their positive power firmly and perfects their positive results fully. If we want to transform our ordinary intellectual and emotional life into a life of spiritual attainment and Buddha qualities, it is important that we trust in the sources of blessings: the Buddha of Loving-Kindness and his qualities; the meditation of loving-kindness; the power of Buddha’s blessings; the effects of meritorious deeds; and the power of one’s own mind of loving-kindness. Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava)20 explained the importance of trust:
O my followers who are wishing to leave samsara behind:
Continuously pray to me with trust and devotion.
One-pointedly pray with the melody of
Moving waves, poignantly like an infant calling its parents
In a voice as sweet as if it were the sound of a flute.
Pray six times—every day and night. . . .
Trust will develop when you see the benefits.
You will receive the blessings if you have the “thou knowest” trust.
Your wishes will be accomplished if you have no doubts.21
Once we enjoy spiritual attainments, such as unconditional love, with confidence and trust, our mind will have secured and perfected the four positive tools.
We will use all these tools in the meditations on loving-kindness. In the Outer Buddha Stage, for instance, we see, think about, and feel the Buddha’s enlightened qualities from the heart. We hear and sing his Six-Syllable Prayer (see below). We develop trust in him from the depth of our heart, believing that he is not just an image we conjured up, but the true living presence of the Buddha of Loving-Kindness before us. We also trust in the spiritual capacity of our mind as well.
Three Key Qualities: Wisdom, Love, and Power
A Tibetan proverb says, “All activity is imitation. Whoever best imitates an activity will be the best at that activity.” So whatever qualities of the Buddha we choose to focus on, we will inherit.
The Buddha has countless qualities. For the purposes of our meditations, however, we will be concerned with three key qualities declared in these words of the Uttara Tantra: “Buddha embodies wisdom, love, and power.”22 In our meditations we will be seeing, thinking about, feeling, and trusting the Buddha’s omniscient wisdom, unconditional love, and boundless power.
In so doing, we will be receiving the Buddha’s blessings through and as these three qualities. The more alive and vivid we can make them, the more our mind will awaken. Shakyamuni Buddha said that if we keep thinking about the Buddha’s qualities, we will attain them. A sutra says:
As long as you remain in this world, you must hear the names, prayers, and virtues of the Buddhas, such as the Buddha of Infinite Life. And you must recall them in your mind, again and again. As the result, you will be able to see the Buddhas, such as the Buddha of Infinite Life, and be able to make your entreaties. By the power of thinking of the Buddha, you generate the forces of virtuous deeds, develop meditative absorptions, and gain the opportunity to see him.23
When we see the loving presence of the Buddha and enjoy his loving-kindness, an uncontrived and unconditional thought of loving-kindness—a strong wish for all beings to have peace, joy, and full enlightenment—will clearly take birth in our mind. The Third Dodrupchen writes:
By just seeing the face of [the Buddha],
Beings develop virtuous deeds.
By just seeing the sun[-like Buddha],
Beings’ lotus-like eyes of joy blossom.24
When we contemplate the Buddha’s qualities of body, speech, and mind, we should not perceive them as objects to grasp at, ideas to conceptualize, or sensory experiences to get attached to. Instead, we should see and appreciate them with fully open senses and our mind’s boundlessly blossoming energies of devotion. This way of perceiving and enjoying awakens and imprints these enlightened qualities in us. Every physical, vocal, and wisdom quality of the Buddha that we enjoy reflects our own true physical, vocal, and wisdom qualities.
Blessed Words, Sacred Sounds: The Six-Syllable Prayer
We will also use blessed words and sacred sounds in the meditations. Although it is perfectly fine to use our own words to give expression to the earnest feelings of our devotional hearts, we will be saying a traditional mantra, the Six-Syllable Prayer, to the Buddha of Loving-Kindness: OM MA-NI PAD-ME HUNG.25 With devotional energy, we will repeatedly chant or sing it in the sweetest voice and melody from the depth of our fully blossoming mind, heart, and body. We pray with the waves of our voice unlocked by the flood of our devotional energy, without any hesitation or cessation, like the never-ceasing flow of a calm river.
We can also simply pray by saying the Buddha’s name: “O Avalokiteshvara.”26 His name has great significance and blessing power to ease suffering. Shantideva27 writes:
The Lord Avalokiteshvara
With great loving-kindness
Has blessed even his name
To dispel the fears of samsara.28
Avalokiteshvara’s name in Tibetan is Chenrezi. Explaining the meaning of his name, the Third Dodrupchen writes:
There are two ways to interpret it: [He] who always sees [the whole universe as] naturally pure with his all-knowing wisdom eyes. Or [he] who spontaneously sees the whole universe with the eyes of great loving-kindness.29
Patrul Rinpoche30 teaches how to say the mantra of the Six-Syllable Prayer:
The root of the Mahayana path is bodhichitta.
This sublime thought is the sole path taken by the Buddhas.
Never departing from the excellent path of bodhichitta
And compassion to all beings—recite the Six Syllables. . . .
The one deity in which all the Buddhas are embodied is Avalokiteshvara.
The one mantra in which the essences of all esoteric practices are condensed is the Six Syllables.
The one meditation in which both the development and perfection stages are condensed is bodhichitta.
Through the state of knowing the One that liberates all—recite the Six Syllables. . . .
The true state of all phenomenal existents is Dharmakaya, pure from the beginning.
If you see the true face of Dharmakaya, that is Avalokiteshvara.
Avalokiteshvara is not somewhere else.
Through the state of realizing all as pure, recite the Six Syllables. . . .
When concepts of dual obscurations are pacified, then the experiences and realizations will be developed.
When you gain control over your mind, then all foes and forces will be tamed.
Avalokiteshvara is the one who grants these common and uncommon attainments in this very lifetime.
In the state of spontaneous accomplishment of the four actions31—recite the Six Syllables. . . .
Mind is the gathering of the eight consciousnesses.
If you realize the nature of the mind as the Dharmakaya, that is Avalokiteshvara.
The ocean of the noble Buddhas is not somewhere else.
In the state of realizing your mind as the Buddha— recite the Six Syllables.32
So sing the Six-Syllable Prayer as a way of calling the Buddha for his kind attention, care, protection, and blessings.
Sing the prayer to celebrate the dawn of loving-kindness of the Buddha in your heart and in all.
Sing the prayer to unite with and remain inseparable from the ultimate nature of the loving-kindness of the Buddha.
Receiving Blessing Lights
We will be receiving and experiencing the Buddha’s wisdom and love in the form of “blessing lights” to purify and transform ourselves mentally and physically. The blessings can be seen as light or nectar of light. (See chapter 14 for a visualization of nectar of light.) As the Third Dodrupchen writes:
While [one is] receiving empowerments, the rays of light in white, red, blue, and so on, should be seen as the appearances of blissful nectar in the form of light.33
These lights emanate from the Buddha’s body and from the syllables of the mantra. Likening the syllables of the mantra to the beads of the rosary, or mala, Patrul Rinpoche writes: