(upbeat music) This podcast is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for real life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, come and join us at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. Thank you and happy listening. - Oh, salutation to the Buddha. Bowing respectfully to the Buddhas, their sons, to the body of the truth, and to all who are praiseworthy, I will relate briefly, according to the scriptures, how the sons of the Buddhas enter the spiritual life. There is nothing really original here, and I have no skill in literary composition. I have composed this with no other purpose than to perfume my own mind. While doing this, the surge of my inspiration to cultivate what is good increases. However, if another person like myself should see this, may he benefit from it. This favorable moment, so hard to obtain, has arrived, leading to the welfare of mankind. If this moment is not utilized advantageously now, when will the opportunity come again? As lightning is seen brightly for an instant, in the darkness of a clouded night, so sometime by the power of the Buddha, the mind of the world might for a moment turn to the good. So these are the first five verses of what's known as the Bodhi Chariavatara, or the entry into the path of enlightenment. And it was composed, this text, in the eighth century, by the great Buddhist master, Shanti Deva, Indian Buddhist master, Shanti Deva. It's a hugely influential Buddhist text. It's a manual for Bodhisattvas, for those who are dedicated to, who are committed to, treading the path to enlightenment with and for the sake of all beings. And I've started with these opening verses of the Bodhi Chariavatara, because it's through looking at the Bodhi Chariavatara that we'll be inspiring ourselves, I hope, in the course of this weekend. I want to just comment actually on these first five verses, just to give you a little running commentary. So first of all, he bows respectfully to the Buddhas. This is a very traditional way of opening up a Buddhist text. Shanti Deva was a Buddhist monk, he was completely devoted to the Buddhist tradition. So of course, he begins by respectfully bowing to the embodiments of his spiritual ideal, the Buddha, the embodiment of enlightenment, to the Buddha's sons who are the great community of disciples who follow the Buddha, as well as to the truth itself. The Buddha is sort of as representing reality itself. So he bows to all those. And he says his purpose in writing his work, in writing this book is simply to show how those who are inspired by the Buddha just follow the spiritual life. And well, that's what we're going to be trying to do this weekend. We're just going to try to see how we in our own life, in our own way, may follow the spiritual life, following the inspiration of Shanti Deva. And in the second verse, he says, "There's nothing really original here. "There's nothing really original here." This is one of those lovely phrases in Buddhist text. There's nothing really original here. Shanti Deva is not trying to write an original work. He's not interested in coming up with something new for the sake of it. He's just going to follow the tradition. Follow how the tradition has come to him, but in fact, his work is, in fact, rather unique and original in its own way. But he's not trying to be original. And in the same way in this weekend, there won't be anything original. If you're expecting some, those of you who are very familiar with Buddhism, if you're expecting some bright, flashy, new revelation, or something like that, well, it's not going to happen. There's not going to be anything novel or new. We're going to be following the time or the teachings of the Buddha and his disciples. We'll be doing the same meditations, the same pooges. We'll be looking at some of the great themes, which probably you've looked at many times before. We'll be opening up to the dharma, to the truth, to the Buddha's teaching, allowing it to perfume our mind. So that's what we're going to be doing. For some of you, of course, I know some of you are quite new to Pamaloka. This might all seem very strange and new. Well, lucky for you, I say. One of the sort of besetting sins, I think, of human endeavour is over familiarity, and it affects Buddhists like it affects everybody else. We think, "Oh, I've done this before, I know this." So if you are new and you feel a bit off-balance and it's a bit strange and it's a bit weird, oh, you're so lucky. You're so lucky. Really treasure that feeling because you can really make the most of what you're encountering. And express, don't be afraid of sort of expressing your newness and in the discussion group, sometimes been in discussion groups with sort of new people here at Pamaloka. And I say, "Well, I know this is a very obvious question." And they seem apologetic. Of course, the obvious questions are the best questions. They're the questions that actually even Buddhists of many years standing need to be asking themselves. So if you're new, really celebrate that and don't apologise for it. It's a great thing. It's a wonderful thing. And in verse three, he says he's in composing the work. He's doing it so that the surge of inspiration to cultivate what is good may increase in him. That's why he's doing it. So we're here, I love that phrase, the surge of inspiration. While doing this, the surge of my inspiration to cultivate what is good increases. So that's another theme of the weekend. We're here to derive inspiration, to cultivate the good, to cultivate the skillful, to cultivate the spiritually creative. I hope that in the course of the weekend you will feel that surge of inspiration to follow the spiritual life. I hope so. Then he says in verse four, this lovely expression. This favourable moment so hard to obtain has arrived leading to the welfare of mankind. If this moment is not utilised, advantageously now, when will the opportunity come again? This right now is a favourable moment. Actually, every moment is a favourable moment, according to Buddhist tradition. Every moment is a favourable moment. We might not feel that it's a favourable moment, but in reality, every moment is a favourable moment. It's a unique moment. Shanti Deva himself means many things by this phrase, this favourable moment, so hard to obtain. He means, first of all, being born as a human being. Being born as a human being is regarded in Buddhist tradition as something really special, really very very special indeed. There's lots and lots of reflections on will. You could have been born in all sorts of conditions, but the fact is you've been born a human being and that's a really wonderful thing. It's a really good thing to be a human being. We don't often remember this, we often forget this, we often even sort of trash our own humanity, but it really is a remarkable thing to be a human being. With senses, able to think and feel and reason, able to imagine, able to communicate, able to dream. That's an amazing thing, that's a really wonderful thing, a very precious thing indeed. So he's saying, well, let's not waste our humanity, let's not waste our life in trivial pursuits. And this moment right now is very special. As I speak, this moment right now is very special, a unique moment. Maybe you don't feel that right now, maybe you're a bit jaded and tired after traveling so far, after a hard week, maybe a hard month, maybe a hard year. And you know, you're just waiting to go to bed. But in fact, yes, this moment is a unique, a special moment. It's a moment unlike any other moment. In fact, if we were able to wake up right now, we would see how fresh, how alive, how special, this moment, this time really is. The great Zen Master Dogan, the great Soto Zen Master, has a lovely saying, very simple saying, that says so much, you are only alive right now. You are only alive right now, tremendous insight in that phrase. So often we spend our time wondering, reflecting about, worrying about the future, brooding over the past. And we're only alive right now. The past has gone, the future hasn't come, speculating about it, brooding about it is a waste of time, it's gone. We are only alive right now. The past has vanished like the water rushing past, and the future has not arrived. So we don't need to think about those things. There's just this time, this place, this moment, this moment so rich, so grimming with life and possibility. It's this time, and this place, and this moment that is our opportunity, our precious opportunity. So this weekend is a precious opportunity. It's like, as he says in the next verse, like a flash of lightning that brightens the darkness of a clouded night, just for a moment, that brightens the darkness through the inspiration of the Buddha. So we've come here to this time and this place, and this moment through the inspiration of the Buddha. We've come together because in some way or other, we're moved by the Buddha, or intrigued by the Buddha. To some degree, we're intrigued or moved by the example of the teaching of the Buddha. Somehow, somewhere, we feel the preciousness of human existence. We feel that we have a unique opportunity to work out life's meaning. Life isn't simply about earning money, about eating and sleeping, and making love, and being busy and all the rest of it. There's something else that we've been called to, some deeper work, some deeper task to perform some greater work, the great work. I've called this weekend the alchemy of happiness. And here at Palmaloka, we plan our program, ages in advance, a year in advance. I don't like doing it, quite nicely. I wish we could live in a world of complete spontaneity. I must admit, I think I'd function much better in a world like that, where you didn't have to decide what you're gonna do years in advance. I'd love to be able to say, to just ring up a Buddhist center and say, "How would you like a talk?" Tomorrow, on this subject, because I feel in a mood to give it well, it could never happen. They'd say, "Well, we've got a course going on then." This is the tyranny of the temporal world, which I was talking with Simon earlier today, kind of a capitalist tyranny we both feel. But anyway, enough of that, I'm going off on one. But nonetheless, I came out with this phrase, the alchemy of happiness, and I think it's a great title. Actually, it's a title of an Islamic text by Al Ghazali, but again, that's an aside. Alchemy is sometimes called the great work, or just the work, in the alchemical tradition, which is found in traditions all over the world. The great work is the work of transformation. It's the work of transforming, certainly in the Indian tradition, copper, an ordinary metal into gold. That's the great work, or discovering, and kind of cooking up out of ordinary elements, the elixir of immortality. It's a very rich symbolism, the whole world and realm of alchemy. But the fundamental idea is that of transformation, of transforming the elements of ordinary experience into something extraordinary. In Indian alchemy, Quicksilver, Mercury, is the agent of transformation. It's applied to copper, and when it's applied to copper, and when it undergoes all kinds of work, which is applied by the alchemist Yogi, it produces endless amounts of gold. This is the tradition. And Shanti Deva was obviously well aware of this alchemical tradition, because in the first chapter of the Bodhi Charivatara, we find this verse, which comes just a few verses after the ones I've already quoted and commented upon. It goes like this, this is verse 10. Having taken this impure form, the Bodhi Chita transforms it into the priceless form of the Buddha. So, hold fast to this precious, gold-making Quicksilver, elixir, known as the Bodhi Chita. Which must be thoroughly worked. So, hold fast to this Quicksilver, elixir, known as the Bodhi Chita, which must be thoroughly worked. For Shanti Deva, the agent of transformation, the Quicksilver, the Mercury that works the change, the elixir that reveals not only meaning, but everything good and valuable in the world, is called Bodhi Chita. This is a Sanskrit word. Chita means heart and mind, that sort of thing. Bodhi means enlightenment or awakening. Bodhi stands for the Buddha's enlightenment, the Buddha's awakening. So, it can be translated, Bodhi Chita, as the awakening mind or the awakening heart. It's the mind, the heart, that is intent on seeing things as they are, seeing reality as it is perfectly conjoined with love and compassion. This is what Bodhi Chita is. It's the heart, the mind, that is trying to see the truth, trying to gain enlightenment, but trying to gain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. It's, in other words, a mind of both wisdom and loving-kindness, perfectly conjoined. When this mind, this heart is generated, we embark on the great work of transformation, of transforming this ordinary human form into the form of a Buddha. And we start exactly where we are with ourselves. This is the beautiful thing about this point. We start wherever we are. We need to relate to whatever is going on. This is the beautiful thing about alchemy. You work with ordinary experience. You work with the ordinary elements. We start where we are. So, working the Bodhi Chita, working the Bodhi Chita into our consciousness, into our lives, means, first of all, something very simple, very simple indeed. We can boil down this wisdom and compassion to very simple things. It means bringing awareness, awareness to everything we do, first of all, awareness, knowing what's going on, how we're feeling, how we're thinking, how we're moving, awareness of other people, how they are. Very, very simple. Not just awareness, but we can join that, again, with something very simple, friendliness, warmth. We've been friendliness and warmth to whatever's going on, and aware friendliness. We bring that to our actual experience. Whatever that experience is, we bring it to our actual concerns, to our concerns about life, death, love, meaning, loss, thumb, play, pain, joy, to whatever's going on. That, our experience, whatever it is, that is our alembic. That is where the cooking goes on. That's where the great work goes on. We are where the great work goes on. So this weekend, I want inspired by Chantideva and the Buddhist tradition. I want to look, I want to explore this realm of transformation, how we actually transform our experience, how we transform our ordinary experience into that of a Buddha. That's what we're looking at this weekend. I want to see how the Bodhi Chitta, this mind, this heart of wisdom and love can affect that transformation. So that's what I want to do this weekend, not just me. I hope you'll all join me in that. We hope you enjoyed the talk. Please come and help us keep this free at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. And thank you. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]
