..续本文上一页 direct enlightenment

　　 If I follow the Mahayana path of Bodhisattva, I must liberate others for an incalculable number of kalpas in order to reach the other shore of nirvana . As such, Is it possible for me to attain enlightenment

　　”

　　He went to ask his Guru for this issue. Guru told him, “ You care too much about your own achievement. The only path to liberation is to foster the growth of Bodhichitta, forget your own benefit and pay more attention to the well-being of other people. Self-attachment is the root cause of affliction.”

　　Shortly after this, one day he was circulating around Bodhgaya, the place where Buddha attained enlightenment. He saw two very beautiful women conversing with each other. One asked:, “what is the best practice to attain enlightenment

　　” The other replied, “ The egoless Bodhichitta is the main path to Buddhahood”

　　The following day he went to circulate around the stupa and the bodhi tree next to it. He overheard an old lady beggar speaking to a leper, “Bodhichitta is the best way to transcend the ocean of suffering and attain enlightenment. One must give up selfishness and self-serving thoughts, and be more concerned about others by placing oneself in others” position ”

　　Having heard this, he thought, “Everyone here, from the most graceful to the most lowly, seem to know the best way to enlightenment which is exactly the same as what my Guru told me. I am the only one who is still hanging in the wind.”

　　The third day he moved the mala beads while circulating the temple slowly. He saw a little bird resting on the knee of the statue of Avaloketesvara, the statue opened his mouth and spoke to the bird: “Upholding the Bodhichitta that gives oneself up to treasure others is the best way to attain perfect realization.” All his doubts vanished right at this moment.

　　After understanding the importance of Bodhichitta, he traveled to Indonesia and studied with Guru Suvarnadvipa for 12 years. The only thing he practiced was Bodhichitta and eventually attained enlightenment.

　　Later Buddhism in Tibet was destroyed due to the act of anti-Buddhist King Langdarma. The Tibetan king of that time, Lhalama Yeshe Ö sent representatives to invite Jowo Atisha many times in order to restore Buddhism. Jowo Atisha prayed to Tara and asked for guidance. Tara told him, “If you go to Tibet, you may benefit immeasurable number of beings, but your lifespan will be shortened by 20 years. Originally you should be able to live up to 92, but you will pass into nirvana at 72 if you go to Tibet. ” Jowo Atisha left for Tibet to propagate Buddhism without any hesitation for the sake of sentient beings. He founded the Kadampa school and produced the “ Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment” which, as we all known is the source of “Stages of the Path to Enlightenment”.

　　The practice method of Bodhichitta taught by Jowo Atisha has been perfectly preserved in the Tibetan region even until now. Not only all his lineage teachings and systematic order of studying and practicing can be seen everywhere at monasteries, but they are also very widespread elsewhere in the world. Personally I am relatively well informed in many Han and Tibetan cultural aspects. In comparison, Tibetan Buddhism indeed has extraordinary advantages in pith instructions for practicing Bodhichitta. Jowo Atisha”s contribution has been very instrumental in this regard.

　　Many domestic and foreign scholars are now very interested in the teachings of Bodhichitta. However, it is far less than sufficient to study only from the theoretical aspect in the process of research. For example, everybody can verbalize on the underlying theory of “all phenomena are impermanent “, but if you have never actually practiced, all lip services become useless when you are at the critical point…

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