If we try to practice the advanced teachings like the Great Perfection or Mahamudra without first completing the preliminary practices, no results will be achieved owing to inadequately prepared faculty. Thus, the foundational practices should be made the top priority for all who intend to bring their practice to fruition.
For example, when liberating animals, we should recite the Buddha’s names and mantras for these animals. They cannot understand the Dharma teachings, but we believe the recitation of sutras and mantras will sow seeds of liberation in their minds, and that these seeds will soon mature. By then, they will know how to take the path to liberation and will actively seek out its direction as well.
The law of cause and effect works on infallible principles. For example, seeds of rice will yield only rice, not barley. Similarly, if a practice is not what leads to enlightenment, how can it yield the fruit of such? Many people think that if they regularly read scriptures such as the Diamond Sutra, the Thirty-Five Buddhas Repentance Ritual , the Practices and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, the Heart Sutra , etc., they are no doubt Buddhist practitioners. Actually, that may not necessarily be the case. While recitation of sutras is definitely a good thing to do, and the Buddha also praised its merit, motivation still matters greatly. If the motivation is not right, all will be wrong, and vice versa. That is, one can never do wrong with the right kind of motivation.
In addition, all practitioners need to do a self-check on goal setting. An incorrect goal would be tantamount to one’s biggest inadequacy. If that happens to be the case, then one may not even be a qualified beginner of Buddhist studies at this point. If unwilling to work hard, one will forever remain a non-Buddhist. Actually, everyone has the capacity to arouse uncontrived bodhicitta if real effort can be put into the practice. Bodhicitta, as taught by Shakyamuni Buddha, is a practice exactly meant for people, perhaps like us, who are not yet beginners and have no bodhicitta.
It is stated in the scriptures that if our motivation is found to be neutral, we should rather improve than eliminate it. The reason is that the quality of being “neutral” and “wholesome” are relatively closer to each other, whereas being “wholesome” and “unwholesome” are poles apart. So while the former can be improved, the latter must be given up. Ordinarily, before wesit down to practice or meditate, we should first examine the motivation carefully. If it was found to be neutral, we should improve it. Otherwise, none of what we do can lead us to enlightenment. The resulting virtuous karma caused by a neutral motivation may be able to bring some temporal rewards, but only very meager ones.
I met some lay practitioners who still had not completed the very basic practices long after taking refuge. It is terrible and very disappointing. The reason for that is primarily a lack of motivation, which leads to practice at a snail’s pace or sometimes even withdrawal to a complete stop.
When H. H. Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche gave the teaching of the Great Perfection, he requested that all participants must complete the five preliminary practices beforehand or no attendance be allowed. That certainly gave pressure to many who subsequently scrambled to complete in time. Of course, if completion means only meeting the requirement of finishing 100,000 mantra recitations without generating the corresponding aspiration or actions, it will do nothing for the inner self but a show of formality. Hence, it is most important to take a systematic approach to dharma practice and be mindful at all times of pure motivation.
The teachings I have given so far all deal with renunciation and bodhicitta. Sure, I can also teach the Five Treatises or some advanced Vajrayana practices, but they will not be helpful to most of you here, at least not for the time being. It is like a cook should only make as much food as the guests can consume. To make more than the guests can stomach would be pointless. And this is the very reason why I hesitated to give advanced teachings all along.
If our motivation is that of the inferior practitioners, albeit some good karma may ensue, it will not lead to enlightenment. If we come to realize this might be a problem, something can still be done to transform our good karma into means for attaining enlightenment. The most effective way is to generate bodhicitta. Why? From the perspective of all things being incessantly arising and ceasing every instance, it is true that what we did before no longer exists, but the continuum of awareness of the karmic seeds has already been planted in our alaya consciousness. Once we have generated renunciation and bodhicitta, the continuum in the alaya consciousness will be transformed immediately.
As stated in the sutras, “Existence in the human realm is rare, and all is impermanent.” Most of you here are already in your 30s and 40s. The remaining days, a few more decades at the most, are really not that long and will soon pass by before you know it. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee the opportunity to practice will present itself again in the next life if you fail to seize it this time. So the point is to lay the necessary foundation now as the stepping-stones leading to a better start for the next life.
