..续本文上一页maybe one has succumbed to fear of having to face what is often dreaded to be a demon.

　　It is necessary to not only understand but to face the truth that life entails suffering and pain. It is a fact that having been born means being subject to impermanence, ageing, sickness and death. By acknowledging and accepting any painful and disturbing experiences that life inevitably entails, one can accept whatever happens and more easily recognize that nothing is really bad. If people are not nice, one can call to mind the aspiration prayers once made to help all living beings without exception. One is free to reflect that all living beings, whoever they are, were once one”s kind parents one promised to help. During the practice of chod, one especially remembers most horrific enemies and foes or thinks about the most malevolent spirits and greatest obstacles that can be imagined. This is one of the seven points of lojong practice, namely using obstacles and hindrances as the path, by not getting angry about what is usually considered terrible but by being grateful and making good use of the exceptional chance to generate and increase loving kindness and compassion instead.

　　Lojong teaches that every living being - especially those out to harm one as well as frightful spirits who seem to just show up - was once one”s dear mother. A practitioner of lojong contemplates, “I want to transform them into the state of the Great Mother.” What does this mean

　　 Great Mother is a synonym for prajnaparamita, perfection of highest wisdom-awareness that extraordinary inpiduals, who have reached supreme bodhisattva levels, have realized and one wishes to realize too. How is this supreme goal accomplished

　　 Through the virtue of listening to and contemplating the Dharma, in order to gain certainty, and through the virtue of meditating the instructions, in order to actually realize yeshe (“primordial wisdom”) that all Buddhas have.

　　Prajnaparamita (Sher-phyin-ma, “Perfection of Wisdom”) is called “Great Mother” because she gives birth to four types of aryas (“noble beings”). Buddha-aryas would never have become a buddha (“a fully realized saint and sage”) without first having been born by Prajnaparamita. She also gives birth to bodhisattvas, to pratyekabuddhas and to shravakas, i.e., to all maha-arhats who have reached the goal they diligently worked on to reach. The four accomplishments that the four types of aryas accomplish could never be achieved without prajna. Therefore Prajnaparamita is compared to a mother, a great mother.

　　Having decided to lead all living beings to the same state as Prajnaparamita, one needs to be honest and admit that one is presently not in a position to succeed. Why

　　 Because one is still overwhelmed by delusions and emotions that follow. Everyone has the potential and ability to become free from delusions concerning the way things are and the way things appear. Everyone has the capability to become free of deceptive illusions and, having accomplished the goal, lead others to the same state.

　　We have heard these instructions many times and know that usually the first contemplation and meditation in any sadhana (a vajrayana liturgy for one of many deities that includes chanting, visualization and mantra recitation) is taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and sangha, and that the second practice is giving rise to bodhicitta. We may wonder, “Why is the order of practice different in chod

　　” The reason is that chod is a special practice. Its purpose is to enable practitioners to pacify and overcome emotions, especially the strongest emotions that disturb and harm most painfully (pride, anger that is born from hatred, passion, ignorance and jealousy) as well as those feelings that are not listed as the most harmful emotions but th…

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