Chapter 2. Lojong is to Cherish Even an Enemy

Chapter 2. Cherish Even One Sentient Being

Usually, even if just one person abuses you, gets angry at you, or doesn’t love you, you get so depressed and it looks to you like everybody dislikes you. If one day your friend gives you up, you get so upset, your life goes down, and you get so depressed that it looks to you like everybody is your enemy. Even though it is only one person, your life goes down as if the whole world, even those who don’t know you, becomes black or dark to you. But even if they turn into your enemy, from your side what should you do? You should cherish them as more dear and more precious than yourself.    (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Kopan Monastery abbot Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi at Root Institute, 2017 (photo by Ven. Losang Sherab)

POINTS FOR REFLECTION

As you read this chapter of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings and watch the video excerpts keep the following points in mind and reflect on them:

1. Why do you need to ask blessings to destroy the self-cherishing thought?
2. What qualities come from cherishing others?
3. What should you do when someone turns into your enemy?
4. Why should you cherish even ONE sentient being?
5. Why does Lama Zopa Rinpoche tell the story of Nagpo Chopa and Getsul Tsembulwa?
6. What are the examples Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives of groups of shortcomings that come from cherishing oneself?

Once you have finished reading each chapter, do the related meditations and mindfulness practices found at the end of the chapter. 

Colophon for the Points for Reflection

The points for reflection were compiled by Ven. Joan Nicell, FPMT Education Services, August 2017. 

The Shortcomings of Cherishing I

It is mentioned in Lama Chöpa, or Guru Puja, (v. 91) by Panchen Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen:

Contemplating the Faults of Self-Cherishing

RANG NYI CHE PAR DZIN PÄI CHONG NÄ DI
   This chronic disease of cherishing myself
MI DÖ DUG NGÄL KYE PÄI GYUR THONG NÄ
   Is the cause giving rise to my unsought suffering.
LE LÄN DÄ LA KHÖN DU ZUNG JÄ TE
   Perceiving this, I seek your blessings to blame, begrudge,
DAG DZIN DÖN CHHEN JOM PAR JIN GYI LOB
   And destroy the monstrous demon of selfishness.

“Seeing the chronic disease of cherishing I is the cause for the arising of undesirable suffering…” The chronic disease is the selfish mind, which has existed from beginningless rebirths, not just in this life. Seeing this chronic disease [of cherishing I] as the cause of the arising of all undesirable suffering, whenever any undesirable thing, problem, or misery arises, put the blame on it immediately, without the delay of a second. Otherwise, if you delay, you will blame something outside yourself. So without the delay of a second put the blame on that, and also “harbor it” [or begrudge it]. “Please grant me blessings to destroy the self-cherishing thought.”

Instead of cherishing even one sentient being, a person or an insect, such as a mosquito or an ant, you cherish your I. Instead of cherishing someone who abuses you, who doesn’t like you, who doesn’t love you, who underestimates you, you cherish I. You renounce that other person and generate self-cherishing thought, the cause of all the sufferings of samsara and the obstacles to achieving enlightenment. The thought cherishing I is an obstacle to achieving enlightenment for the numberless sentient beings. Of course, cherishing the I is an obstacle to achieving liberation from samsara even for yourself and it is also an obstacle to all your happiness of future lives. That selfish mind is even an obstacle to achieving success in all your works for this life. In short, cherishing I is the cause of all sufferings and all obstacles to practicing Dharma.

For example, regarding the shortcomings of cherishing I, in the meditation on the eight shortcomings of making a mistake in correctly following the guru, those eight shortcomings are also dependent on self-cherishing thought and are therefore shortcomings of self-cherishing thought. That is one way to meditate.

Then the complete ten nonvirtues have four suffering results. There is the ripened aspect result, which is rebirth in the lower realms. Then, in the human realm, there is the possessed result, which is to do with the place, such as being in a place where there is a lot of suffering or a lot of danger to your life.

Then, there is experiencing the result similar to the cause (nyongwa gyu thün gyi dräbu^[1]). That means that however you treated other sentient beings in a past life, you killed them, told lies to them, committed sexual misconduct, or stole from them, whatever you did to them, that is how you are treated by others in this life. The sentient being who you treated like that before now treats you like that in this life. That is the result of your bad karma from a past life that is experienced in a human life.

Then, there is creating the result similar to the cause (jepa gyu thün gyi dräbu^[2]). Whatever you did before, killing others, telling lies, cheating others, stealing from others, or sexual misconduct, you do it again in this life when you are born as a human being because this is the result of habituation with past negative karma.

Like that, there are also four complete virtuous karmas, which have four happy results. However, here you meditate on the details of the four suffering results of a complete negative karma as the shortcoming of self-cherishing thought.

Then, those people who have less education or those who have less wealth or no wealth, while you have more education or more wealth, you put them down. Then toward those who have the same as you, you feel competition, wanting to be better than them. Then toward those who are higher than you, you feel jealous. In this way, the self-cherishing thought doesn’t give any peace to your mind.

Like this, there are many ways to meditate on the shortcomings of self-cherishing thought. I’ve just given you some examples of how to meditate on the shortcomings using these different groups.^[3]

The Advantages of Cherishing Even One Sentient Being

The next verse (Lama Chopa, v. 92) says:

Contemplating the Advantages of Cherishing Others

MA NAM CHE ZUNG DE LA GÖ PÄI LO
   The mind that cherishes mothers and places them in bliss
THA YÄ YÖN TÄN JUNG WÄI GOR THONG NÄ
   Is the gateway leading to infinite qualities.
DRO WA DI DAG DAG GI DRAR LANG KYANG
   Seeing this, I seek your blessings to cherish these transmigratory beings
SOG LÄ CHE PAR DZIN PAR JIN GYI LOB
   More than my life, even should they rise up as my enemies.

It’s very important to write down in your diary^[1] these two verses mentioned by Panchen Losang Chogyen that were also explained by the Buddha.

“Seeing that the thought cherishing mother sentient beings and wanting to lead them to happiness is the door to receiving limitless qualities…” “Limitless qualities” means the infinite qualities of a buddha’s holy body, holy speech, and holy mind, all the qualities of arya bodhisattvas, even before they achieve enlightenment, all the qualities of ordinary bodhisattvas, all the qualities of arhats, and all happiness, including the happiness of this life. All these come from cherishing others, from cherishing mother sentient beings. Seeing that that thought is the cause of receiving all the limitless qualities, “even if these transmigratory beings,” the numberless sentient beings of the desire realm, numberless sentient beings of form realm, and numberless sentient beings of the formless realm, “turn into my enemy,” by being angry or complaining, from my side, “please grant me blessings to be able to cherish them” as more precious and more dear “than my life.” That is the prayer!

Video 2: Cherish Even Those who Turn into an Enemy

(duration: 6 minutes)

(You can read the transcript of the video below. Alternatively, you can read the same transcript alongside the video by clicking here to download it or view it in a separate window.)

By knowing that cherishing I is the source of all suffering, obstacles, and misfortune, and that cherishing others, wow, is the source of limitless qualities and all happiness, even if they all [turn into your enemy, you should cherish them]. However, usually, even if just one person abuses you, gets angry at you, or doesn’t love you, you get so depressed and it looks to you like everybody dislikes you. If one day your friend gives you up, you get so upset, your life goes down, and you get so depressed that it looks to you like everybody is your enemy. Even though it is only one person, your life goes down as if the whole world, even those who don’t know you, becomes black or dark to you. When one person, maybe your friend has bad thoughts about you or doesn’t love you, watch how your mind changes.

But even if they turn into your enemy, from your side what should you do? You should cherish them as more dear and more precious than yourself. So you ask blessings to be able to do that. This is the real practice. When you have a problem, you need to know how to deal with the problem.

The mind cherishing even one person, your enemy, someone who doesn’t love you, who complains about you, or who abuses you, or cherishing one insect, one mosquito or one ant, becomes the cause of receiving limitless qualities, including the infinite qualities of a buddha’s holy body, holy speech, and holy mind, every single quality of a buddha, and all the rest of the qualities that come before these, such as those of higher bodhisattvas.

Since cherishing even one person, who doesn’t like you, or one mosquito is the cause of receiving limitless qualities and all happiness, this one person who doesn’t love you or who abuses you is so precious and this mosquito is so precious for you. They are so precious for you; by cherishing even one you receive infinite qualities. You have to understand that.

When you relate this quotation to cherishing even just one sentient being, every single sentient being in your life becomes so precious. Therefore, even if all the samsaric sentient beings of the desire realm, form realm, and formless realm turn into your enemy, they don’t love you or they get angry with you, from your side you should cherish them as more dear and more precious than yourself. Through doing that you are able to change your mind and you can achieve enlightenment from that. Otherwise, enlightenment isn’t possible and so you can’t liberate the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and you can’t lead them to enlightenment.

Therefore, you need to understand that every single sentient being is so precious. Every single human being here and everyone in your family is most precious for you.

(End of Video 2: Cherish Even Those who Turn into an Enemy)

I will mention this story as a support for what I just said. For example, among the Vajrayogini lineage lamas, there is Nagpo Chopawa, a great yogi, who was not a monk and was known to fly in the sky with five hundred dakinis while playing a damaru and bell. One day Nagpo Chopa was going to a place called Oddi to do his last practice of tantra, the tantric conduct, before achieving enlightenment. Waiting by a very large river, maybe something like the Ganga, was a lady, who was totally black with leprosy and oozing pus and blood. She looked unbelievably pitiful but also unbelievably terrifying. She asked Nagpo Chopa, “Please carry me on your back to the other side of the river,” but the yogi didn’t pay any attention to her and went straight on.

After a while Nagpo Chopa’s disciple came along. He was a getsul living in thirty-six vows, not a gelong (a fully-ordained monk or bhikshu),^[2] called Getsul Tsembulwa. The lady asked him the same thing, “Please carry me on your back to the other side of the river.” As soon as he saw her, filthy and oozing pus and blood due to leprosy disease, Getsul Tsembulwa felt unbearable compassion, his mind was totally overwhelmed by great compassion, and completely without any thought that as a monk he shouldn’t touch a woman and also that if he touched her he might get leprosy disease, immediately he put her on his back.

She was just one living being, okay? Because I said that if you cherish one sentient being it becomes the cause of receiving infinite qualities, as I mentioned even the limitless qualities of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, now as a support for that, I’m telling you this story. Getsul Tsembulwa cherished one living being, as in his view she was one sentient being, and immediately put her on his back and carried her across the river. However, he didn’t even have to cross the whole river as when he reached the middle of the river suddenly that lady become the deity Dorje Phagmo, who is the same as Vajrayogini. It was not that before she was a sentient being and later became Dorje Phagmo. No! She was Dorje Phagmo from the beginning but he could not see her as Dorje Phagmo. All he could see was just an ordinary sentient being. He couldn’t see a buddha. He couldn’t see Dorje Phagmo even though she was Dorje Phagmo from the beginning. You understand? But because he carried her on his back with unbelievable compassion, it purified all his defilements and negative karma that projected Dorje Phagmo, an enlightened being, as an ordinary being. That karma was purified by carrying her half way across the river with unbelievable compassion. When the karmic obscuration was purified, he could see Dorje Phagmo in her pure aspect. He no longer saw her as ordinary because the negative karma that projected that ordinary view was gone. Now with a pure mind he could see pure Dorje Phagmo.

Dorje Phagmo took him to the pure land of Vajrayogini, Dagpa Khacho, even without crossing the whole river. Once someone is brought there, they become enlightened there. That is definite. It is the most secure way to become enlightened. Therefore, it is possible for a disciple to become enlightened before their guru.

The main reason I am telling you this story is to support the benefit that you get even by cherishing just one sentient being. Getsul Tsembulwa was able to go to the pure land, Dagpa Khacho, without dying, with his own body, and become enlightened there. The lady for whom he felt great compassion was one living being. In his view, she was one sentient being. You have to know that even if you cherish one sentient being, even if you give rise to much compassion for just one sentient being, the benefit you receive, wow, is that you purify your defilements and quickly achieve enlightenment. You have to understand that. You have to keep this in your mind.

This story is proof that what the Buddha said and what Panchen Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen said in Lama Chopa is true, that it is true.

The Meditations

When you have finished reading this chapter and watching the videos, do the following meditations by reflecting on the quotes drawn from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings. During the meditation session, you can re-read the related section of the chapter to refresh your memory. Try to make the meditations as personal and meaningful as possible.

To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement, each meditation session should last a minimum of half an hour. Start the session with a short bodhichitta motivation and, if you like, do some preliminary prayers. End the session with some dedication prayers. Spend at least 20 minutes of the session doing the actual meditation.

View or download:

• instructions for meditation posture
• preliminary and dedication prayers

To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement, keep track of the meditations you do using the Personal Log. Then, when you finish the entire module, tick them off in the Checklist for the Certificate of Achievement.

Meditation 3: Destroy Self-Cherishing Thought

RANG NYI CHE PAR DZIN PÄI CHONG NÄ DI
   This chronic disease of cherishing myself
MI DÖ DUG NGÄL KYE PÄI GYUR THONG NÄ
   Is the cause giving rise to my unsought suffering.
LE LÄN DÄ LA KHÖN DU ZUNG JÄ TE
   Perceiving this, I seek your blessings to blame, begrudge,
DAG DZIN DÖN CHHEN JOM PAR JIN GYI LOB
   And destroy the monstrous demon of selfishness.

Instead of cherishing even one sentient being, a person or an insect, such as a mosquito or an ant, you cherish your I. Instead of cherishing someone who abuses you, who doesn’t like you, who doesn’t love you, who underestimates you, you cherish I. You renounce that other person and generate self-cherishing thought, the cause of all the sufferings of samsara and the obstacles to achieving enlightenment. The thought cherishing I is an obstacle to achieving enlightenment for the numberless sentient beings. Of course, cherishing the I is an obstacle to achieving liberation from samsara even for yourself and it is also an obstacle to all your happiness of future lives. That selfish mind is even an obstacle to achieving success in all your works for this life. In short, cherishing I is the cause of all sufferings and all obstacles to practicing Dharma.   (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)

Meditate how cherishing I is the source of all suffering, obstacles, and misfortune and an obstacle to achieving enlightenment, liberation from samsara, the happiness of future lives, and the happiness of this life. Include other shortcomings of cherishing I such as the eight shortcomings of making a mistake in correctly following the virtuous friend, the four suffering results of negative karmas, and the three faults of putting the less fortunate down, competing with peers, and being jealous of the more fortunate. 

(To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement do this meditation at least one time.)

The Mindfulness Practices

Dedicate an entire day to one mindfulness practice. As you go about your normal activities, try to bring that mindfulness practice to mind as often as possible by reflecting on the words of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

To help you remember to do the mindfulness practices, print the Mindfulness Cards, cut them into the form of cards, and put them in places where you will see them easily and often throughout the day. 

To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement, keep track of the mindfulness practices you do using the Personal Log. Then, when you finish the entire module, tick them off in the Checklist for the Certificate of Achievement.

Mindfulness Practice 3: Cherish Even One Sentient Being

You have to know that even if you cherish one sentient being, even if you give rise to much compassion for just one sentient being, the benefit you receive, wow, is that you purify your defilements and quickly achieve enlightenment. You have to understand that. You have to keep this in your mind.   (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)

Practice mindfulness throughout the day as you interact with different people how cherishing even just that one sentient being, especially one who abuses you, who gets angry at you, who complains about you, or who doesn’t love you, enables you to purify your negative karma and obscurations and brings you to enlightenment.

(To qualify for the Certificate of Achievement do this mindfulness practice as much as possible for two full days.)

Colophon for the Mindfulness Practices

The mindfulness practices were compiled by Ven. Joan Nicell, FPMT Education Services, August 2017, for Living in the Path.