Aksyamati Practices

From 📜45 - Aksyamati Sutra (Chang trans.)

Developing the Bodhisattva Vow

The Great Vow

From the 📜Vajra Sutra / Vajra Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (LUSB Standaradized Ed.) :

“Furthermore, Subhuti! Bodhisattvas should not abide in any ☸️dharma when practicing giving. This is what is called practicing giving without abiding in forms; giving without abiding in sounds, scents, flavors, feelings or thoughts. Subhuti! Bodhisattvas should give like this, without abiding in characteristics. Why? If bodhisattvas give without abiding in characteristics, the rewards are inconceivable.”

The Bodhisattva takes a vow, to reach enlightenment and to mature all beings toward enlightenment.

How does the Bodhisattva reach enlightenment? Through giving.

What does the Bodhisattva give and to whom? The Bodhisattva gives Dharma for all to mature towards enlightenment.

It is only in their practice of giving that a Bodhisattva will reach enlightenment. In seeking one’s own enlightenment the Bodhisattva returns to giving to others. In order for others to mature toward enlightenment the Bodhisattva must mature themselves.

This recursive nature of the vow, directing from self to other and back again, wears out the minds tendency to differentiate self and other.

Since there is no difference between one’s own enlightenment and the enlightenment of others, the Bodhisattva does not need to differentiate self and other in their practice of giving.

The vow is endless, it can be practiced for countless eons throughout endless time. Resolve that is directed at an object of desire is limited to an object, to a self, to a life span. Resolve that is so boundless it can encompass all beings and worlds throughout time and space, so boundless that it cannot be held by the mind as an object, is infinite, limitless, inexhaustible.

“We realize that ideas and actions which result in stability and happiness for ourselves contribute also to the harmony of the world around us.” Kum Nye, page 5.

This infinite aspiration, this inner momentum towards enlightenment, this is ☸️bodhicitta (mind of enlightenment).

By practicing the paramitas, the great perfections, a Bodhisattva establishes “grounds” of consciousness. Each ground being the support by which a Bodhisattva practices the proceeding paramita. In the same way the eight fold path teaches that one cannot establish right thought until they establish right view, and must establish right thought before they may practice right speech.

When paramitas are practiced without attachment a Bodhisattva generates bodhicitta. When attached to objects, even the objects of practice and perfection, bodhicitta will not arise.

One must take care not to let the elements of practice become objects of desire. The result will be a return to conditioned states of being and suffering therein.

When falling in to conditioned states of being seek refuge in the three jewels (Dharma teachers, teachings and communities) and return to the vow.

4.5 million years ago gas and dust formed together into what we call Earth. This formation is the basis for life as we know it, the realm in which we now exist was established and all formations of matter and what we call living beings.

A bodhisattva’s great vow is the initial formation of bodhicitta.

Bodhicitta is the boundless realm of enlightenment.

Adam and Eve, the first humans born in God’s image, live in a realm of perfect bliss. But upon eating from the tree of knowledge they learn to differentiate good from evil and fall are cast out of this realm of perfection.

This is the story of Original Sin, “original” because every human being is afflicted with this sin without cause.

In The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana we learn that we are of one mind with two natures. The first is our Buddha Nature (“in God’s image”) and obscuring our Buddha Nature is our other nature toward ignorance (“original sin”). [TODO: replace with quote]

When we differentiate objects from each other, fork or spoon, cup or bowl, this or that, we seek to understand by how things are different from each other. Thinking in this way, we establish a mind that is clouded by ignorance, a mind utterly limited by what it can differentiate, a mind incapable of understanding what is infinite and cannot be held by the mind by means of differentiation.

We abide in this ignorant mind believing that the imperceptible limitations of this mind are an objective material reality.

By letting go of this view and engaging the great vow a Bodhisattva develops bodhicitta.

In Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Baháʼí they call it “Holy Spirit.”

By surrendering to ones vow a Bodhisattva’s conditions the mind to understand things as how they are the same rather than different. In seeking wisdom by means of non-differentiation the Bodhisattva generate’s bodhicitta without limit.

[…] when a bodhisattva generate bodhicitta, it is kindness and compassion which are taken as foremost. The bodhisattva’s kindness is boundless and immeasurable. Therefore, this generation of bodhicitta is itself free of any boundaries and is equal in its vastness to the expansiveness of all the realms inhabited by beings. This is comparable to empty space, for there is nothing which is not universally embraced by it. […] It is incalculably vast, boundless, and endless. - Vasubandu’s Treatise on the Bodhisattva Vow

Here’s another way to think about it.

Nirvana is limitless, timeless. Ultimately, it’s infinite.

You can’t understand the infinite by means of differentiation. To differentiate one object, one idea, from another you must separate it from the infinite connections it has to an infinite universe.

The infinite is ungraspable. You can’t differentiate it, it encompasses all. Any border you can draw around an object would by definition not be infinite.

Such is the true nature of emptiness, for when something is empty of all meaning it can no longer be differentiated from the infinite. In this way, emptiness and infinite when understood non-dualistically are undifferentiated from suchness.

Suchness, when understood, is undifferentiated from bodhicitta.

The Joyful Ground

It is through the perfection of ☸️dāna (giving) that a Bodhisattva establishes the first ground of great joy.

The essence, all-inclusive, Difficult to carry out, directed everywhere, Connected with the qualities of a true spiritual person, Likewise, all of its forms, Relating to what is wanted by those in distress, What brings happiness here and in the next world, And, likewise, that which is pure- This, in brief, is the generosity of bodhisattvas. - Summary verses regarding Dana (Giving) - Bodhisattvabhumi, Arya Asanga (fourth century C.E.),

There are nine aspects to the perfection of giving.

  • the essence of giving
    • Giving as a way of being
  • all-inclusive giving
  • giving that is difficult to carry out
  • giving that is directed everywhere
  • the giving of a true spiritual being
  • giving in all of its forms
  • giving that relates to what is wanted by those who are in distress
  • giving that brings happiness here and in the next world
  • giving that is pure

a Bodhisattva who practices the pāramitā of giving regards ten dharmas as foremost:

We begin with giving. Always.

Bodhisattvas should give like this, without abiding in characteristics.

This is giving without attachment to giver or gift.

This is giving as a way of life.

This is giving as a way of being.

This is how a Bodhisattva practices giving.

Smile 😁 there’s great joy in giving

The paramita of giving is how a Bodhisattva establishes, or develops, the first Bodhisattva ground of Great Joy.

Grasping at bodhichitta or being attached to objects such as giver, gift, self and other turn the mind away from enlightenment causes bodhichitta to cease to arise.

Opening the heart, letting bodhichitta in, never grasping, develops the ground of great joy. A consciousness supported by equianimous compassion.

1️⃣ the root of faith

A common metaphor you see used in sutra’s is the metaphor of planting seeds that mature into roots.

Buddhist practice is the planting of good seeds that mature towards enlightenment and the removal of obstructions to englightenment at their root which you often find by coming to understand their seeds.

The “root of faith” can be seen as an early but strongly matured faith in the Dharma.

The Buddha instructed to trust in one’s own experience and to seek understanding and wisdom through direct experience. This makes a concept like “faith” function much differently in Buddhism.

The seed of faith in Dharma is planted in early practice. Through this direct experience a Bodhisattva developers a trust in the teachings.

In continued surrender to this trust one matures the root of faith.

This develops a disposition towards Dharma rather than one’s current conditioned state of being.

A well developed “root of faith” is powerful, it brings certainty which is an antidote to self-doubt.

Human beings are “hard wired” to seek pleasure and avoid pain, millions of years of evolutionary biology programmed us this, but it no longer serves us and rather than avoiding suffering it leads us to it.

Our natural tendencies, whatever they may be, are often imperceptible.

We try mayo, we decide we hate mayo, we don’t eat mayo anymore. This is conditioning.

We now live in a state of consciousness where mayo is gross and is generally avoided. Do we experience this as an objective opinion about mayo? Do we experience our avoidance of mayo as a choice? Sometimes we do, but most of the time we believe we are experiencing an objective reality in which mayo is objectively gross and to be avoided.

We often put our trust in this “reality” when we are forced to question it.

We go to the dentist. We have a bad experience.

When it’s time to go to the dentist again feelings of anxiety or fear arise. We avoid our regular checkups, we develop dental issues that grow until the pain in our mouth overcomes our feelings about the dentist. This is conditioning.

We embrace the Dharma.

If we are calm we will notice our feelings arise. When our regular visit with the dentist comes we notice our fear, we turn toward our fear, we investigate the cause of our fear, we remove the cause of suffering.

This experience releases our miss-placed faith and orientation towards our conditioned state of being and maturing our roots of faith in the Dharma.

2️⃣ the power of faith

power of positive thinking. there is great power, great potential, in your mind.

you can decide to enjoy something you hate doing.

the power of a clear and certain mind.

3️⃣ a joyful mind

chinese characters “mind of hapiness”

mano-biramama (a joyful mind)

mano-vijnana -

Developing a happy mind.

We seek happiness in sense pleasure (5 external organs) and we tend to receive our joy from those sensations.

Mano-vijnana is processing that sensory input.

“One does not need external simulation for joy.”

“One receives joy from their own mind.”

super powers.

develop super powers.

the super power to turn dislike into like.

when giving, a Bodhisattva has no need to be concerned with holding on to the object they are giving. possessing a joyful mind they have no need to seek happiness in objects.

4️⃣ ever-increasing joyful mind

an ever increasing joyful mind.

it’s easy not to horde things for oneself and worry for oneself when you can seek peace in your own mind.

5️⃣ maturing sentient beings

genuine and deep concern for the maturation of all beings.

📖 The brahmavihārās

The brahmavihārās (sublime attitudes, lit. "abodes of brahma") are a series of four virtues and the meditation practices made to cultivate them. They are also known as the four immeasurables or four infinite minds

The Brahma-viharas are: 

  1. loving-kindness or benevolence (maitrī/mettā)
  2. compassion (karuṇā)
  3. empathetic joy (muditā)
  4. equanimity (upekṣā/upekkhā)

6️⃣ great kindness (mahāmetta)

Great loving kindness.

Enveloping those around you in kindness. Kindness to all beings without attachment to any object of kindness. Without differentiating self from other.

Selfless kindness. Kindness that is not in exchange for

7️⃣ great compassion (mahākaruṇā)

8️⃣ the practice of the four inducements

9️⃣ love of the Buddha-Dharma

🔟 the quest for all-knowing wisdom

Stainless Ground

  • all phenomena is the result of causes and conditions
    • forget “personal responsibility” nonsense
  • in order for a bodhisattva cause conditions of liberation of others they must first practice the precepts themselves.
  • until mastered they cannot demonstrate the result of the path and cannot explain this to others.
  • since practice directed at oneself is amplified in all directions through a bodhisattva’s great vow to the well being of others it is free of self/other duality. there is no tension between giving to oneself and giving to others.
    • this is how to get out of the fixed minset trap
    • practice: when thoughts are directed at ones own practice, always add the thought “and this will transmit to other through my actions in these ways” so that the completion of the practice is the outward flow of action from self to others.
      • i think this is “dedicating the merit to all sentient beings” is.

☸️ karma and rebirth

  • how do we differentiate a being
  • how do we differentiate birth and death?
  • if these are arbitrary then what is a rebirth?
  • we are born and die in every thought moment.
  • karma is action, neither good nor bad.
  • all of existence is the result of karma
  • we are the result of karma
  • we are the result of evolutionary karma

a Bodhisattva who practices the pāramitā of discipline regards ten dharmas as foremost:

1️⃣ keeping his bodily actions pure and clean

2️⃣ keeping his verbal actions pure and clean

3️⃣ keeping his mental actions pure and clean

4️⃣ not bearing grudges or ill will

5️⃣ purification and abolition of the miserable planes of existence

6️⃣ avoiding the eight adversities

cannot find this anywhere, what is the sanscrit?

7️⃣ transcending the stages of Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas

a Bodhisattva’s practice is for others. to practice moral discipline that transcends the stages of Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas, that becomes inexhaustible, the practice must be dedicated to others.

8️⃣ abiding securely in the Buddha's merits

  • Buddha merit is wisdom, enlightenment
  • “abiding securely”
    • don’t grasp merit. avoid thoughts that turn the result of your action into an object.
    • turn toward bodhicitta, open the heart, calmly abide in the “result” of this moment.

9️⃣ fulfillment of all wishes

  • a bodhisattva is in the business of fulfilling other’s wishes

🔟 fulfillment of his great vows