PadmaVonSamba wrote:
Just curious...what is your motivation for doing dharma practice? What I mean is, why do you do it?
also, What is the result that you are looking for, and why do you want that result?
The reason why I asked this is because sometimes one's motivation is the problem.
It isn't the person, and it isn't the practice, and the problem
isn't that they don't fit together.
If you engage in any type of dharma activity, whether it is some form of meditation, or ngondro, studying texts, or doing visualizations or chanting or
whatever and your motivation is impure, then the results will not be forthcoming.
I want to clarify this. Actually, I hate the word "impure" but that is the terminology I have become accustomed to. It doesn't mean that you have a dirty mind or some sinister ulterior motive, or that everybody else but you is somehow 'pure'. It doesn't mean that at all. It isn't about you.
Pure motivation means that the sole purpose in practicing the Dharma is to benefit all sentient beings without exception.
So, if someone asks,
"what is your motivation for doing dharma practice?" your immediate answer should be something along those lines.
There are three benefits in developing this motivation, this
bodhicitta. First of all, because you are practicing out of compassion for the suffering of others and not out of your own personal concern, the immediate benfit is that you stop focusing on "me", on the permanent self, and the moment you begin to do that, you start to experience liberation (a little tiny bit).
The second benefit is that in order to do this you develop confidence that the teachings are valid. So there is the buddhist version of 'faith' which is not the same as blind faith in a god, or a doctrine, but it is a kind of invincible confidence that removes all doubt. The moment when you overcome this doubt, liberation is hastened.
The third benefit is that when you have this pure motivation, practice becomes effortless. It is no longer tedious nor is it especially exciting, meaning that it isn't something you have to crank the volume way up on. It is just natural and spontaneous. And it is joyful. When your practice becomes truly effortless, your intentions are realized easily in all kinds of situations and liberation occurs in all kinds of situations. Everything becomes your buddha realm.
That's why I asked about your motivation. Dharma practice gets to be a drag when it's "all about me" and "my expectations" and so forth. By developing the altruistic motivation that the reason i practice is to benefit others, "Me" is gradually taken out of the equation, and when that happens there is no laziness, no business, no irritation whatsoever.
.
.
.
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.