Friday 26th December, 2008
His Holiness Karmapa graciously accepted an invitation from the Root Institute, the F.P.M.T. Dharma centre in Bodh Gaya, and addressed the staff and a general audience which included a group who were about to undertake a short retreat course on the Bodhisattva Vow. His Holiness was accompanied by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.
His Holiness emphasized the preciousness of bodhichitta – the altruistic intention. Quoting, he explained that if bodhichitta were to take physical form the universe would be too small to contain it, the reality of bodhichitta was sometimes misunderstood. It was far more than kind thoughts towards others or common acts of kindness. Bodhichitta arose from a deep understanding of the suffering of all sentient beings, tremendous compassion, the resolve to achieve Buddhahood for one’s self and the determination to work unceasingly for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Gyalwang Karmapa reminded everyone:
All happiness comes from cherishing others;
All suffering comes from cherishing one’s self.
He commented that we were living in an age when we were faced with not just the mental and emotional stability of our own minds, but also drastic changes and imbalance in the world. The degree of self-interest and self-cherishing in the world and the dreadful consequences of these were becoming self-evident. We all needed to recognize the harmfulness of self-cherishing and the benefits of truly cherishing others, not just as an elusive idea, but as a living experience applied to our own lives, translated into practice in our interactions with others and the environment.
