Eva Natanya, 14 Apr 2020
Eva (Yangchen) begins todays session by inviting us to call on our root Guru to accompany us through the teachings on bodhicitta.
Yangchen goes back to where we left off last time, the four analogies to the four immeasurables. She comments on the special emphasis that is given here, focusing on us as all sentient beings’ mothers instead of the other way around, which would be the most common way. Yangchen then talks about the meaning of a commitment to practice for eons, and how this can make sense within the swift path. Eva suggests that it is the preliminaries, and specially the Guru Yoga, which turn the path into a swift one. Guru Yoga might allow us to make the bodhisattva vow without feeling frustrated about what we set out to do, moreover it might be the doorway to realizing bodhicitta in a more comprehensive way, than by merely engaging in the cultivation of bodhicitta step by step. Can we imagine a mind that is able to love and hold all sentient beings perfectly? This is what we aspire to develop, not simply to worship, but to become. Can we surrender completely to the heart of this divine Guru? If so, our path is instantly accelerated.
After the analogies, Yangchen moves to the second part of the bodhicitta training, that is, generating supreme bodhicitta. In this context she comments on the way to balance the benefit of self and others, and how is it that our meditation based on our admiration to the embodiment of bodhicitta of great beings might be a way to let the blessings of those beings transform our mind. At the end, it is bodhicitta that will enable us to go through all the upheavals of the path. Yangchen reads the final instructions of this practice, and points out that it is set as a full bodhisattva vows ceremony.
Meditation starts at 41:15.
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