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The ceremony for generating the altruistic mind wishing enlightenment is a simple one. Its purpose is to reaffirm and stabilize our aspiration to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. This reaffirmation is essential for enhancing the practice of compassion.

We begin the ceremony by visualizing an image of the Buddha. Once this visualization is sharp, we try to imagine that the Buddha Shakyamuni is actually present in person before us. We imagine that he is surrounded by the great Indian masters of the past. Nagarjuna, who established the Middle Way school of Buddhist philosophy and its most subtle interpretation of emptiness, and Asanga, the main lineage master of the vast “method” aspect of our practice, are among them.

We also imagine the Buddha surrounded by masters of the four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism: the Sakya, Gelug, Nyingma, and Kagyu. We then imagine ourselves surrounded by all sentient beings. The stage is now set for generating the altruistic mind wishing enlightenment. Practitioners of other faiths may participate in the ceremony simply by cultivating a warm-hearted, altruistic attitude toward all sentient beings.

SEVEN LIMBS OF PRACTICE

The ceremony begins with a ritual in which merit is accumulated and negativities are removed. We engage in this ritual by reflecting upon the essential points of the Seven Limbs of Practice.

THE FIRST LIMB: HOMAGE

In the first of the seven limbs we pay homage to the Buddha by reflecting on the enlightened qualities of his body, speech, and mind. We can demonstrate our faith and devotion by physically bowing or prostrating before our inner vision of the Buddha. By paying respect from the heart, we also pay homage to the Buddha-like qualities within ourselves.

THE SECOND LIMB: OFFERING

The second limb is an offering. We can make physical offerings or simply imagine that we are offering precious objects to the holy assembly we have visualized before us. Our most profound and meaningful offering is that of our own diligent spiritual practice. All of the good qualities we have accumulated are the result of having engaged in virtuous acts. Acts of compassion, acts of caring, even smiling at someone or showing concern for someone in pain, are all virtuous acts.

We offer these and any instances of virtuous speech. Examples might include compliments we have made to others, reassurances, words of comfort or solace - all positive acts committed through speech.

We also offer our mental acts of virtue. The cultivation of altruism, our sense of caring, our compassion, and our profound faith in and devotion to the Buddhist doctrine are among these offerings. These are all mental acts of virtue. We can imagine them in the form of various beautiful and precious objects that we offer to the Buddha and his enlightened entourage visualized before us. We can mentally offer the entire universe, the cosmos, our environment with its forests, hills, prairies, and fields of flowers. Regardless of whether these belong to us, we can offer them mentally.

THE THIRD LIMB: CONFESSION

The third limb is that of confession. The key element of confession is acknowledging our negative actions, the wrongdoings that we have engaged in. We should cultivate a deep sense of regret and then form a strong resolution not to indulge in such unvirtuous behavior in the future.

THE FOURTH LIMB: REJOICING

The fourth limb is the practice of rejoicing. By focusing on our past virtuous actions, we develop great joy in our accomplishments. We should ensure that we never regret any positive actions that we have committed but rather that we derive a joyful sense of fulfillment from them. Even more important, we should rejoice in the positive actions of others, be they sentient beings who are inferior to us, weaker than us, superior to us, or more powerful than us, or equal to us. It is important to ensure that our attitude toward the virtues of others not be tarnished by a sense of competition or envy; we should feel pure admiration and joy for their qualities and accomplishments.

THE FIFTH AND SIXTH LIMBS: REQUEST AND BESEECH

In the next two limbs we request that the Buddhas teach or turn the wheel of Dharma for the benefit of all, then beseech that they not seek the peace of nirvana for themselves alone.

THE SEVENTH LIMB: DEDICATION

The seventh and final practice is the limb of dedication. All the merit and positive potential we have created from all the preceding limbs of practice and other virtuous deeds are dedicated to our ultimate spiritual goal: the attainment of Buddhahood.

***

Having undertaken the preliminary practice of the Seven Limbs, we are ready to begin the actual generation of the altruistic mind wishing enlightenment. The first verse of the ceremony begins with the presentation of the appropriate motivation:

With the wish to free all beings.

The second and third lines identify the objects of refuge: the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. The time period of this commitment to seeking refuge is also established in these lines:

I shall always go for refuge
To the Buddha, the Dharma, and Sangha.

The second verse is the actual generation of the altruistic mind wishing enlightenment.

Enthused by wisdom and compassion,
Today in the Buddha’s presence
I generate the Mind Wishing Full Awakening
For the benefit of all sentient beings.

This verse emphasizes the importance of uniting wisdom and compassion. Enlightenment is not compassion devoid of wisdom or wisdom divorced from compassion. It is particularly the wisdom of realizing emptiness that is referred to here. To have a direct realization of emptiness, or even a conceptual or intellectual understanding of it, suggests the possibility of an end to our unenlightened existence. When such wisdom complements our compassion, the ensuing quality of compassion is ever so much more powerful.

The word “enthused” in this verse suggests a very active or engaged compassion, not just a state of mind. The next line,

Today, in the Buddha’s presence

suggests that we are aspiring to attain the actual state of a Buddha. It may also be read to mean that we are calling the attention of all the Buddhas to bear witness to this event, as we state,

I generate the mind wishing full awakening
For the sake of all sentient beings.

The final verse, from the eighth-century Indian master Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, reads:

As long as space remains,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain,
And dispel the miseries of the world.

These lines express a powerful sentiment. A bodhisattva should view himself or herself as the possession of other sentient beings. Just as phenomena in the natural world are there to be enjoyed and utilized by others, so must our own entire being and existence be available to them. It is only once we start thinking in such terms that we can develop the powerful thought that “I will dedicate my entire being for the benefit of others. I exist solely to be of service to them.”

Such powerful sentiments express themselves outwardly in acts that benefit sentient beings, and in the process our own needs are fulfilled. In contrast, if we live our entire lives motivated by selfishness, we ultimately cannot achieve even our own self-centered aspirations, much less the well-being of others.

Were the Buddha Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha whom we revere, to have remained self-centered like us, we would now be treating him just the way we do one another, saying, “You keep quiet. You shut up.” But this is not the case. Because Shakyamuni Buddha chose to shed his selfish ways and to cherish others, we regard him as an object of reverence.

Shakyamuni Buddha, the illustrious Indian masters Nagarjuna and Asanga, and the outstanding Tibetan masters of the past all attained their enlightened state as a result of a fundamental reversal in attitude toward themselves and others. They sought refuge. They embraced the well-being of other sentient beings. They came to see self-cherishing and grasping at self as twin enemies and twin sources of nonvirtue. They fought with these two forces, and they eliminated them. As a result of their practice these great beings have now become objects of our admiration and emulation. We must follow their example and work at seeing self-cherishing and grasping at self as enemies to be discarded.

So, while bringing these thoughts to mind and reflecting upon them, we read the following three verses three times:

With a wish to free all beings
I shall always go for refuge
To the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha
Until I reach full enlightenment.

Enthused by wisdom and compassion,
Today in the Buddha’s presence
I generate the Mind Wishing Full Awakening
For the benefit of all sentient beings.

As long as space remains,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain,
And dispel the miseries of the world.

This constitutes the ceremony for generating the altruistic mind wishing enlightenment. We should try to reflect upon the meaning of these verses daily, or whenever we find the time. I do this and find it very important to my practice.

Thank you.

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