In todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte and#8220;The Compassionate Hearer,and#8221; Padmavajra puts us in touch with Bodhichitta as song. Here he shares with us the Shurangama Sutra on OM MANI PADME HUM, the mantra of Avalokitesvara, the one who hears the cries of the world.
From the richly rewarding talk and#8220;The Sound of Realityand#8221; given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2004.
[music] Dharma Bites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio – the Dharma for your life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donate. Thank you, and happy listening. So this brings us to the third aspect of the hearer, the compassionate hearer. As you begin to deepen your practice, as you deepen your practice, you begin to hear the sound not just of things, but the sound of living beings, of animals, of human beings. I don't mean by this simply the words that they speak, although of course you do hear those words, and you pay attention to those words, to the meaning of those words and to the sound and nuance of those words. But what I'm really referring to is that you hear the deep sound in all beings. We heard just now that according to the Shuranga Masutra, one who listens to the sound of water without using his discriminating mind for 30 years attains Avalokiteshvara's all-pervading wisdom. Avalokiteshvara is of course the bodhisattva of great compassion. He's the image, the symbol, the embodiment of enlightened compassion that all Buddhists aspire to embody in themselves. An Avalokiteshvara is known as the "regarder of the cries of the world" or the "regarder of the sounds of the world". Compassion listens to hears, takes in the cries of the world, hears the pain in the world, the suffering in the world, all kinds of pain, including and perhaps especially the pain of those unable to express their deepest human nature and potential. He hears Avalokiteshvara the deepest of pains. Avalokiteshvara hears all this. Compassion hears all this. One of the most frequently used terms for compassion in Buddhist literature is Anukhampa, which literally means to tremble with or even to vibrate with. Hearing the deep sound of the world's sorrows, you vibrate with those sorrows and you respond with love, friendliness, kindness and compassion. This is something that you can also do in meditation. After many years of practice of mindfulness of breathing, of metabharthana, of puja, of living the Dharma, you can begin to open up to the pain and frustration around you. You can begin to hear it, begin to hear that deep potential in others that's kind of held down and which causes therefore immense pain. And you respond, you sing back, you call back, you respond exactly appropriately, you use words, gesture, sound, song, even. You yourself sing the Dharma for others in whatever form gets to them, works for them, moves them. Avalokiteshva is not actually one person. As it were, Avalokiteshva is in fact the embodiment of what we call the bodhicitta, the awakened heart of compassion. And the bodhicitta is more like a sort of stream of energy, a stream of wisdom and compassion manifesting in the world for the benefit of all. And this bodhicitta, this enlightened aspiration to wisdom and compassion, this manifestation of wisdom and compassion, embodies actually all the three aspects that we've looked at, spiritual aspiration, wisdom and compassion. And in our practice, after a while we begin to feel that we're all part of this bodhicitta, we're all part of this activity of aspiration, wisdom and compassion. All of us are playing our part in listening to, hearing the sound of the world's sorrows, and we're all playing our part in responding to that sound, making our whole life a song of response to that sound, a song of healing, of love, of joy, of beauty, of truth, for everyone that we meet. This is what we're evoking when we make the sound of Avalokiteshva's great mantra, om manipadmihung. Actually it's the sound we're making when we make the sound of any mantra. But in the sound of om manipadmihung, in the sound of this great mantra, there is the sound of our deepest spiritual aspiration, and longing, the jewel in the lotus. In this mantra, there is the sound of great wisdom that comes through hearing, the primordial sound of the way things are. And in this great mantra, there is the sound of great compassion, the sound of the sufferings of all beings, and the sound of the loving response to that suffering. It's all embodied in that great mantra, om manipadmihung. And the shirangam the sutra describes what this sound is like, very beautifully, and I'll close with this quotation. How sweetly mysterious is the transcendental sound of Avalokiteshva. It is the primordial sound of the cosmos. It is the subdued murmur of the sea tide, setting inwards. Its mysterious sound brings liberation and peace to all beings, who in their direct distress are calling for aid. It brings strength to those who are truly seeking Nirvana's peace. [applause] We hope you enjoyed today's Dharma Bite. Please help us keep this free. Make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donate. And thank you. [music fades out] [music fades out]
