Dilgo Khyentse

Homage to Chenrezigi’the Great, the Compassionate!

Perfect in the threefold training
And accomplished in the twofold Bodhichitta,
You spread the teachings of the Buddha everywhere;
Crowning glory of the holders of the Doctrine,
Incomparable Master, to you I bow!

The only path of Buddhas, past, present and to come,
The treasure ground of every good and joy,
Following the words of my own master,
This doctrine I will now explam,
Requested frequently by fortunate disciples.

All who wish to attain supreme and unsurpassable en1ightenment should strive to practise both relative and absolute Bodhichitta.
The many teachings of the Kadampa masters have been set forth in elaborate, medium and condensed form, yet the essence of them all is to be found in this text, the Seven Points for Training the Mind, written by the glorious Bodhisattva, Ngulchu Thogme Zangpo.(2)
In the past, in the days when the Dharma still flourished in India, the communities of the Shravakayana and the Mahayana practised separately; the Mahayana doctrine was not taught to Shravakayana assemblies. This was not because the teachers had anything against the followers of the Shravakayana; it was just that if the Mahayana had been taught in such a setting, it would have had no effect on the minds of the listeners, who would have taken it wrongly. The Mahayana was therefore kept secret and it was only later, through the power of Guru Rinpoche’s3 blessings, that it became possible for the entire Dharma of the Sutrayana and Mantrayana to be spread openly in Tibet, the Land of Snow. It is therefore entirely due to Guru Rinpoche’s kindness that, having entered the Buddhadharma, embraced the vows of refuge, and conceived the wish that all beings might be protected by the Triple Jewel, we now find ourselves today upon the Mahayana path.
The Mahayana has two aspects, the profound and the vast. The profound is explained in the Abhisamayalankara and the vast in the Uttaratantra, two texts which correspond to the second and third turnings of the wheel of the Dharma. Both however are condensed in the Sutraaiankarashastra, which sets forth the vast and ocean-like activities of the Bodhisattvas. A very lengthy exposition of all this could be given by learned masters, but in brief, we may regard the profound and vast aspects of the Mahayana as contained within the practice of the two kinds of Bodhichitta, the relative and the absolute.
Relative Bodhichitta is practised on the basis of the ordinary, conceptual mind and is perfectly possible to accomplish, even for a beginner, provided he looks within himself and practises properly. When this relative Bodhichitta has been perfected, moreover, absolute Bodhichitta, the wisdom of Vipashyana, the realization of no-self, arises by itself. This is what the Kagyupas call Mahamudra and the Nyingmapas call Dzogchen— practices which, for the moment, lie beyond our scope. For if little babies, still being fed on milk, were to be given solid food such as fruit, rice or meat, they would be unable to digest it; likewise absolute Bodhichitta is not sowething that we can engage in from the very first. For this reason, we must begin with the practice of relative Bodhichitta.
It was once said by Nagarjuna:4

If we, ourselves and ail the world,
Should wish for unsurpassable enlightenment,
Its basis is a Bodhichitta
Stable as the lord of mountains:
Compassion reaching out to all directions,
And Wisdom that transcends duality.

We can think of relative Bodhichitta as having two aspects: that of emptiness and that of compassion. If we are grounded in the practice of compassion, we will not stray into the paths of the Shravakas and Pratyekabuddhas; and if we rely upon the view of emptiness, we will not wander in the three realms of samsara. Perfect enlightenment, in fact, is free from both samsara and nirvana. To possess both compassion and an understanding of emptiness, is like having wheels on one’s car. If all four are present, the car is roadworthy; but if a wheel is missing, it is impossible to go anywhere. Meditation on emptiness without compassion is not the Mahayana path; meditation on compassion where the aspect of emptiness is lacking is not the path either. We need both emptiness and compassion together.
The instructions of the Seven Point Mind Training originated with the three great teachers of Lord Atisha:5 Guru Maitriyogin, who could really take upon himself the sufferings of others; Guru Dharmarakshita, who realized the nature of emptiness by meditating on love and compassion even to the point of giving away his own flesh; and Guru Dharmakirti, who lived in Serling, the Isle of Gold (nowadays part of Indonesia), and who devoted his whole life to the practice of Bodhichitta.
There is a story that one day, when Maitriyogin was teaching, a dog barked at someone, who, losing his temper, threw a stone at it. The dog was hit in the ribs and yelped. Feeling great sorrow for the animal, the teacher cried out and fell down from the throne. ‘This is taking things a bit too far,’ thought his disciples. Knowing what was in their minds, Maitriyogin said, look here, at my ribs.’ And on his body, exactly where the stone had hit the dog, he had a bruise. He had taken the suffering of the animal upon himself.
On another occasion, when Dharmarakshita was at the university of Nalanda, there was a man who was very sick, his strength completely gone. The doctors had told him that there was nothing they could do to cure him; the only possible remedy was to find the flesh of a living person. The patient was very depressed, wondering how on earth he might come by such a thing. When he heard about this, Dharmarakshita said to the man, ‘If it will cure your disease, you can have my flesh.’ Thereupon, he cut a piece of flesh from his thigh and gave it to the sick man, who ate it and was completely cured. Now at that time, Dharmarakshita had not yet realized the nature of emptiness and so the wound was extremely painful, especially that night in the monastery when he lay down to sleep. Nevertheless, despite the pain, the thought never crossed his mind that he had done something excessive, and he experienced not the slightest regret. As dawn approached, he fell into a light sleep and dreamed that there appeared to him a youth, shining white and very handsome.
The boy said: ‘This is the kind of Bodhisattva activity we should perform for the sake of living beings. How painful is your wound?’
When Dharmarakshita replied, the boy, who was in fact Chenrezig, passed his hand over the wound and blew gently on it. Dharmarakshita thus received his blessing. When he awoke, the cut was completely healed and free from pain, and he had realized the nature of emptiness.
Dharmakirti lived dose to the sea and was also known as Guru Serlingpa, the Guru of the Golden Isle. Atisha stayed with him for twelve years practising his instructions, with the result that Bodhichitta took firm root in him. Ever after, although he had many teachers and had the habit of joining his hands at his heart whenever their names were mentioned, on hearing the name of Serlingpa, he would join his hands at the crown of his lead and weep. He would celebrate the anniversary of all his other teachers every year, but the passing away of Serlingpa he would commemorate every month. His disciples used to ask him, ‘You seem to express your respect so differently towards your other teachers. Is that because there was a difference in their wisdom?’
‘All my teachers without exception, Atisla answered, ‘attained the supreme state. Not one of them was an ordinary being, there was no difference in their qualities. Yet it is thanks to Serlingpa that Bodhichitta has taken root in me. And so there is a difference in my gratitude.’
The tradition of Serlingpa encompasses also the teaching of Maitriyogin and Dlarmarakshita. There are many ways of explaining it, but following the practice of the Kadampa master Chekawa Yesle Dorje,6 it is set forth in verse as The Seven Point Mind Training.

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