Becoming Bodhisattvas
Page 28
Because of our attachment to our bodies,
We’re terrified by even little things.
This body, then, this source of so much fear—
Who would not revile it as the worst of enemies?
Sometimes Shantideva refers to the body as a precious vehicle for attaining enlightenment, and sometimes he points out its drawbacks. Here he says that our bodily obsessions create tremendous fear.
8.122
Wishing to relieve our bodies’ ills,
Our hungry mouths, the dryness of our throats,
We lie in wait along the road
And steal the lives of fishes, birds, and deer.
8.123
And for the body’s service and advantage,
Some there are who even kill their parents,
Or steal what has been offered to the Triple Gem,
Because of which, they’ll burn in deepest hell.
8.124
Where then is the prudent man
Who wants to pamper and protect his body?
Who will not ignore and treat with scorn
What is for him a dangerous enemy?
People can be so afraid of coming to harm, they’re willing to kill and steal to protect themselves. These self-protective tendencies can be dangerous—as dangerous as treating ourselves with scorn. Either way, I hope Shantideva’s message about the harm caused by self-centeredness is clear.
The mahayana teachings say the reason we don’t harm others is that we care about them. We don’t kill because we cherish the lives of others; we don’t steal because we respect their possessions. We don’t just refrain from negative actions, we also practice loving-kindness.
8.125
“If I give this, what will be left for me?”
Thinking of oneself—the way of evil ghosts.
“If I keep this, what will be left to give?”
Concern for others is the way of heaven.
Our actions lead to happiness or grief, but our usual understanding of how this works is misguided. We think, for instance, that saving our money will make us wealthy and giving too generously will make us poor. In this and the following verses, Shantideva turns this everyday logic upside down. He begins in verse 125 by pointing out that richness is a state of mind. Giving freely is the way of heaven; holding back increases neediness and fear.
Verses 126 through 128 describe three pairs of contrasting destinies reflecting different relationships between self and other.
8.126
If to serve myself I harm another,
I’ll suffer later in the realms of hell.
If for others’ sake I harm myself,
Every excellence will be my heritage.
8.127
Wanting what is best for me—
Stupidity and lower realms result!
Let this be changed, applied to others—
Honors and the realms of bliss will come!
8.128
Enslaving others, forcing them to serve me,
I will come to know the state of servitude.
But if I labor for the good of others,
Mastery and leadership will come to me.
When Shantideva says for others’ sake I harm myself, it simply means he’s willing to undergo hardships to help someone out. The result of this is happiness. Wanting only what is best for me and using others for our own profit result in our own suffering. This sentiment is summarized below in a verse often quoted by the Dalai Lama.
8.129
All the joy the world contains
Has come through wishing happiness for others.
All the misery the world contains
Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.
I think Shantideva would have appreciated the film Groundhog Day, because it illustrates verse 129 so perfectly. An angry man lives one day over and over again, until he gets it right. He tries every possible selfish strategy for happiness, which only increases his frustration and discontent.
Finally, he begins spending his day helping people. Why? Not to be seen as the good guy, but because it’s the only thing that brings him pleasure. Every day he catches the same little boy falling out of a tree, and every day the little boy runs off without saying thank you! Every morning he tries to save the life of a homeless man he’s come to love, and every day he doesn’t succeed. But as this day is relived again and again, he becomes more flexible and warmhearted. And people understandably come to love him.
As Shantideva says, the more we benefit others, the more happiness comes our way.
8.130
Is there need for lengthy explanation?
Childish beings look out for themselves,
While Buddhas labor for the good of others:
See the difference that divides them!
Childish beings like ourselves are ignorant about the causes of happiness. Optimistically, both Shantideva and Groundhog Day suggest that we can wise up and get it right.
8.131
If I do not give away
My happiness for others’ pain,
Enlightenment will never be attained,
And even in samsara, joy will fly from me.
8.132
Leaving future lives outside the reckoning,
Even this life’s needs are not fulfilled—
When servants do not do their work,
And masters do not pay the wages earned.
Forget about enlightenment; even worldly joy will elude us if we don’t care for one another. In this life, if servants, or employees, don’t do their work and masters, or employers, have no concern for them, then the values of society begin to break down.
Verse 132 is the story behind all revolutions. I think of South Africa when I read it. For years, cruel masters didn’t pay the wages earned. Apartheid, or separateness, was legalized and deeply ingrained. Yet many people worked with the same principles Shantideva is proclaiming and eventually something shifted for the better.
As a result of years of oppression, however, the former “servants” now attack the former “masters.” This is a familiar story: the roles of the oppressor and the oppressed switch back and forth. Lasting happiness, Shantideva says, depends on a true shift in the human heart, one that begins with wanting what’s best for others because we see their joys and sorrows as our own.
8.133
Casting far away abundant joys
That may be gained in this or future lives,
Because of bringing harm to other beings,
I ignorantly bring myself intolerable pain.
Shantideva reiterates this pivotal teaching: by harming others we’re setting ourselves up for future pain.
8.134
All the harm with which this world is rife,
All fear and suffering that there is,
Clinging to the “I” has caused it!
What am I to do with this great demon?
8.135
If this “I” is not relinquished wholly,
Sorrow likewise cannot be avoided.
For if he does not keep away from fire,
A man cannot escape from being burned.
When we play with fire, we cannot escape from being burned. This describes life in the cocoon: the more self-absorbed we are, the more we suffer. But we can’t just snap our fingers and say, “This ‘I’ is just a label; I’m not going to think that way anymore.” Our ego trips are deeply ingrained. They are, in fact, the very means that keep the six realms well oiled and running.
So, how do we get out of this? As Shantideva has said again and again, seeing the sameness of ourselves and others is the key.
8.136
To free myself from harm
And others from their sufferings,
Let me give myself away,
And cherish others as I love myself.
Loving ourselves provides the foundation for cherishing others. If we feed our low self-esteem, we won’t have anything to build on. Reflecting on this will keep us from getting off track.
8.137
“For I am now beneath the rule of others,”
Of this you must be certain, O my mind.
And now no longer shall you have a thought
That does not wish the benefit of beings.
8.138
My sight and other senses, now the property of others—
To use them for myself would be illicit.
How much more so is it disallowed to use
My faculties against their rightful owners?
To be beneath the rule of others means to be at their service. Shantideva’s greatest joy is helping others. If his sight and other senses could benefit someone, this would make him happy. To use them for harm is not an option. He knows that self-absorption blinds us to the preciousness and fragility of other beings.
8.139
Thus others will be now my chief concern.
And everything I see my body has
Will all be seized and given
For the use and service of all other beings.
Like a houseguest who enjoys a friend’s possessions without forgetting they belong to someone else, you could just as easily appreciate your body but have no problem letting it be used to benefit all other beings.
From verse 140 until the end of the chapter, Shantideva teaches a practice that is only found in The Way of the Bodhisattva: his unique version of “exchanging self for other.”
8.140
Take others—lower, higher, equal—as yourself;
Identify yourself as “other.”
Then, without another thought,
Experience envy, pride, and rivalry.
Shantideva begins with an overview of the practice. He asks us to exchange places with others—lower, higher, equal—and without another thought, experience their kleshas. He encourages us to intensify these emotions and experience their energy directly, using them as our vehicle for awakening insight and compassion.
In verse 141, we begin by identifying with someone we might consider “lower,” such as a homeless person. As a mind-training practice, he asks us to imagine ourselves in this person’s place.
This serves two purposes. First, you intentionally experience an emotion we all normally avoid: the envy that someone with nothing could easily feel. Imagine a well-off person passing by and condescendingly handing you down a few coins. See this fortunate person, clean and well-clothed, maybe chatting with friends and going into a restaurant or movie…and don’t hold back. Get in touch with your envy. Exaggerate it with your thoughts and allow it to escalate, just as Shantideva does. Feel its intensity, seductiveness, obsessiveness, and pain. That’s the first purpose of this practice.
The second purpose is to experience being on the receiving end of such intense emotion. This is a radical thing to do. Normally we see things exclusively from our own perspectives. Reflecting on the other person’s experience is a far more expansive and compassionate stance and a straightforward, practical way to awaken bodhichitta.
In the next few verses, Shantideva sets up dialogues between people—lower, higher, equal—and has some fun playing all the parts. It may seem, in these verses, that he’s interacting with others, but he’s just describing himself from various vantage points.
8.141
He’s the center of attention; I am nothing,
And unlike him, I’m poor without possessions.
Everyone looks up to him, despising me;
All goes well for him, for me there’s only bitterness!
Here he’s the homeless person watching the well-off Shantideva walk by. And as the homeless person, he intentionally indulges in his envy and aversion.
8.142
All I have is sweat and drudgery,
While he’s there, sitting at his ease.
He’s great, respected in the world,
While I’m the underdog, a well-known nobody.
8.143
What! A nobody without distinction?
Not true! I do have some good qualities.
He’s not the best, he’s lower down than some;
While, when compared with some, I do excel!
Building ourselves up is part of the envy syndrome. When we’re not feeling victimized, our haughtiness steps in.
8.144
My discipline, my understanding have declined,
But I am helpless, ruled by my defilements.
As much as he is able, he should cure me,
And I should be submissive even to his punishments.
8.145
The fact is he does nothing of the sort!
By what right, then, does he despise me?
What use, then, are his qualities to me,
Those qualities of which he’s so possessed?
8.146
Indifferent to the plight of living beings,
Who tread the brink of evil destinies,
He makes an outward show of virtues,
Even sets himself among the perfect!
When a beggar looks at someone like me, someone who’s taken the bodhisattva vow and should not be so unfeeling, he must wonder why I have no empathy. Why don’t I do something to help his predicament?
It must be like that when you live on the streets: middle-class people, with all their ideas about helping others, scoot by without even noticing you’re there. Imagining yourself in this position changes the way you see those less fortunate: “just like me,” this person would appreciate some understanding and kindness.
This ends the section on getting in touch with the pain of poverty mind, as well as the pain our dislike and envy causes other people.
Some commentaries refer to these and the following verses as dialogues between ego and wisdom. But, for the most part, I won’t teach it that way. For me, the value of working with this practice is not philosophical; the value comes from making the effort to put myself in someone else’s place.
Then I can, first, connect vividly with the klesha energy shared by all sentient beings. And secondly, I can experience the unpleasantness of being on the receiving end of negativity, and therefore stop myself before I denigrate another human being.
8.147
That I might excel, outstripping him,
Him, regarded as my peer and equal!
In contests I will certainly secure
My fame and fortune, public renown.
8.148
By every means I’ll advertise
My gifts to all the world,
Ensuring that his qualities
Remain unknown, ignored by everyone.
8.149
My faults I will conceal, dissimulate.
For I, not he, will be the object of devotion;
I, not he, will gain possessions and renown;
I will be the center of attention.
8.150
I will take such satisfaction
In his shame and degradation.
I will render him despicable,
The butt and laughingstock of everyone.
In these verses Shantideva exchanges places with a rival. Looking over at his former self, this is what he has to say: Now I will be the center of attention, not he. I will render Shantideva the butt and laughingstock of everyone. The point is to feel the discomfort of the competitive
frame of mind, as well as what it’s like to have that bitterness directed at you.
8.151
People say this pitiful nonentity
Is trying to compete with me!
But how can he resemble me, they ask,
In learning, beauty, wealth, or pedigree?
8.152
Just to hear them talk about my qualities,
My reputation on the lips of all,
The thrill of it sends shivers down my spine,
The pleasure that I bask and revel in!
8.153
Granted, even if he does have something,
I’m the one he’s working for!
He can keep enough just to survive,
But with my strength I’ll steal away the rest.
8.154
I will wear his happiness away;
I will always hurt and injure him.
He’s the one who in samsara
Did me mischiefs by the hundreds!
In verses 151 through 154, Shantideva changes places with someone who looks down on him, someone who finds him unworthy of attention. He allows himself to experience full-blown arrogance as well as being on the receiving end of that degree of scorn and condescension.
In this practice, you get to play all the roles and use your own words to make the situation personal and real. Let’s say I’m a homeless person, and there’s Pema walking by with all her good fortune. What if she treated me as a human being, instead of just giving me money? What if she asked how I was doing or where I was going to sleep that night? In a relationship between two equal human beings, both the unfortunate person’s resentment and Pema’s indifference have a chance to melt away.
With the last two lines in verse 154—He’s the one who in samsara / Did me mischiefs by the hundreds!—Shantideva begins a dialogue with the fearful, uptight mind of self-absorption.
8.155
O my mind, what countless ages