Bodhi – your anchor, your core

grinding wheel

Last article I tried to describe what a beautiful and tranquil mind Bodhi mind is. If you aspire for Bodhi to arise by having the sincere intention to bring all sentient beings to the other shore of Nirvana, to polish your Buddha nature until it is brilliant, then no matter what problems or stress you have, the tranquil mind is always available to you. Your guru, your spiritual guide or master, is indispensable in connecting you to the Dharma current which goes back directly to the Buddha Shyakyamuni, who did just that.

In my case, I have had many masters, and I recognize that all my partners throughout my life, have been excellent teachers too. They were excellent exactly because there was conflict and misunderstanding mixed in with pleasure and a feeling of being comfortable, during our time together. In this way, your partner or close friends/colleagues can act as a grinding wheel to remove the hard covering of dirt which temporarily covers the diamond in your heart. No matter what happened between you, the Bodhisattva way is to have immense gratitude to them for the opportunity they provided to develop and elevate your spirituality.

So, another aspect of the Bodhi mind is having the humility to be regretful if something goes wrong in your relationships, to be able to let go of a grudge and openly admit the problem was caused by your pride or impatience, or just sheer tiredness, stress, etc. If we hold a grudge or sulk, this creates poison, and of course bad karma which will ripen sometime in the future. The important thing is to repent and admit that some strange karma might have arisen to cause you to act in an unskillful way. We always desire the great happiness of others if we are truly on the path.

If we can shake ourselves loose from the grip of this temporary state of anger or aggression or negative emotion of some kind, then we can sink back into the soft bed of Bodhi tranquility and take time to recover. The Bodhi mind in this respect is a refuge from the storms of Samsara. It is always available to you because your are unconditionally embraced by the Buddha, and therefore your guru, an emanation of the Buddha, and indeed potentially by all beings.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top