What causes the suffering in Samsara? It is the defilements brought by our discursive thoughts, caused by ignorance, which lead to the committing of negative karma by body speech and mind. Away from such defilements, with the attainment of wisdom which dispels the ignorance, we reach the state of Nirvana ("Nir" meaning without or free from, and "Vana" meaning forest), free from the forest of defilements.
Without these defilements we reach a peaceful stage of permanent happiness. This is the stage that can be attained by Arhatship and Pratyeka Buddhas, a state they reach by rejecting Nirvana and seeking for permanent peace. This is what Buddha expounded in the first turning of the wheel of Dharma.
There is however a higher state of Nirvana, where we neither reject nor seek the two extremes of abject suffering and ultimate bliss. That is the middle way, to remain completely non-dualistic. That is the state of Buddha and the state that Bodhisattvas train towards.
Arhats and Pratyeka Buddhas seek the reversal of the 12 interdependent links of origination, from the ending of birth and dying to the ending of ignorance.
Bodhisattvas strive for the understanding that there is no birth and dying to no ignorance and also no ending of birth and dying to no ending of ignorance.
As the ultimate truth, commonly known as "emptiness" in English, is actually inexpressible, we can only attempt to describe it by expressing what it is not. This is what is expounded in the second turning of the wheel of Dharma, for the Mahayana followers who are training as Bodhisattvas.
In brief, there is no real inherent existence in any material objects in this world, there is not even a real inherent existence to our thoughts. There is no birth and no ending to all these, they are not real.
So is everything unreal and non-existent? In the third turning of the wheel of the Dharma, Buddha points out there is but the One thing which is completely pure, permanent and actually existent, that is the Buddha Nature, the Tathagatagarbha.
Once we discover this Buddha Nature, which is inherent in all of us, we become enlightened.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The first turning of the wheel of Dharma: 2nd truth: The truth of the origin of suffering
After the truth of suffering, Buddha went on to expound the truth of origin of suffering, basically, what is the main cause of the suffering. This is to do with the twelve interdependent link of origination. All objects in this world, all phenomena do not actually have a solid permanent and independent existence, they arise dependently on other causes and are therefore impermanent.
1st link: From ignorance, there is mental formation.
2nd link: From mental formation, there is consciousness.
3rd link: From consciousness, there is name and form.
4th link: From name and form, there are six senses.
5th link: From six senses, there is contact.
6th link: From contact, there is feeling.
7th link: From feeling, there is craving.
8th link: From craving, there is grasping.
9th link: From grasping, there is existence.
10th link: From existence, there is birth.
11th link: From birth, there is aging and dying.
12th link: From aging and dying, ignorance again arises.
As you can see, it ends up in a cycle, in the next samsaric rebirth, the whole process restarts.
From ignorance, craving and grasping (three deluded causes), mental formation and existence arises (two deluded actions). From the two deluded actions, there are seven uncontrollable results (consciousness, name and form, six senses, contact, feeling, birth, aging and dying). Again the three deluded causes then arise from the seven uncontrollable results.
The wheel of samsara does not break until ignorance has been overcome.
So for people who think they can end suffering by committing suicide, they are completely wrong, they are just bringing forward even more suffering.
1st link: From ignorance, there is mental formation.
2nd link: From mental formation, there is consciousness.
3rd link: From consciousness, there is name and form.
4th link: From name and form, there are six senses.
5th link: From six senses, there is contact.
6th link: From contact, there is feeling.
7th link: From feeling, there is craving.
8th link: From craving, there is grasping.
9th link: From grasping, there is existence.
10th link: From existence, there is birth.
11th link: From birth, there is aging and dying.
12th link: From aging and dying, ignorance again arises.
As you can see, it ends up in a cycle, in the next samsaric rebirth, the whole process restarts.
From ignorance, craving and grasping (three deluded causes), mental formation and existence arises (two deluded actions). From the two deluded actions, there are seven uncontrollable results (consciousness, name and form, six senses, contact, feeling, birth, aging and dying). Again the three deluded causes then arise from the seven uncontrollable results.
The wheel of samsara does not break until ignorance has been overcome.
So for people who think they can end suffering by committing suicide, they are completely wrong, they are just bringing forward even more suffering.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The first turning of the wheel of Dharma by Buddha Shakyamuni: The Truth of Suffering
After Buddha became enlightened, he went to the deer park at Sarnath to meditate.
He did not actually want to give any teachings as he did not think that there were people who could understand them.
The gods, Brahma and Indra, however requested for him to turn the wheel of Dharma for the benefit of all sentient beings, presenting him with a golden wheel and a conch shell respectively.
Buddha through his wisdom saw that there were sentient beings of different calibre and there were still those who could receive his teachings, understand and practice them and gain enlightenment.
So he consented to teach.
His first disciples were ones who undertook the practice of hardship with him earlier. The five of them have had karmic connection with Buddha in previous lives. In one of Buddha's past lives, he was a prince who encountered a tigress with 5 starving cubs. Out of great compassion, he fed his own flesh to them and died. He made the aspiration that when he gained enlightenment, they would benefit from his teachings and be liberated. These first five disciples were the reincarnations of the 5 cubs.
The first turning of the wheel of Dharma was on the Four Noble Truths. The teaching was mainly given to benefit the Theravadan practitioners and was on concepts that were easier to grasp.
The first truth: Truth of Suffering
The second truth: Truth of the Cause of Suffering
The third truth: Truth of the Cessation of Suffering
The fourth truth: Truth of the Path towards Cessation of Suffering
The first truth: Truth of Suffering
There are three types of suffering, the suffering of suffering (pain, anguish etc.), the suffering of change (what makes us happy is impermanent and due to the change, we experience sadness. All loved ones and friends will part from us eventually, we will grow old, we will lose the objects we like etc.) and the suffering of compositional phenomena.
The latter means that due to the fact that all in the universe exists from a composition of elements of suffering which will only cause us more suffering. Only the noble beings like Arhats and Bodhisattvas can feel the suffering of compositional phenomena acutely, ordinary sentient beings like us are suffering too much from the first two types to feel this subtle type of suffering. There is an example given that this last type of suffering is like an eyelash in the eye for the noble beings, but like an eyelash in the palm for the ordinary sentient beings.
All sentient beings who are born in Samsara suffer. Once we are born, we are bound to experience suffering. Before we are liberated, we will be reborn again and again within the six realms and suffer again and again. Samsara is made up of six realms: Hell, hungry ghost (preta), animal, human, demi-gods, gods.
Beings in the first three realms, hell, hungry ghosts and animal realms have fully ripened karma and are experiencing the fruits of it. They will not be reborn in higher realms until they have exhausted all their fully ripened bad karma.
There are eighteen hell realms altogether, 8 hot hells, 8 cold hells, neighbouring hells and occasional hells. Beings in the 8 hot hells suffer extreme bodily pain such as being continuously boiled in coals and pierced with sharp objects, crushed or slashed and are reborn again and again to experience the same suffering after dying from the pain. Beings in the 8 cold hells experience extreme bodily pain from the cold which cracks open their frosted skin. Beings in the neighbouring hells experience great bodily sufferings as well, they are born in environments like a ditch of flaming embers, plain of sharp weapons, trees with razor sharp edges etc. Beings in the occasional hells experience suffering based on the specific karma they have, like a butcher who vowed to only kill during the day get devoured alive by dogs in the day enjoys the company of goddesses at night.
Life in the hell realms last for millions of years.
The hungry ghosts have large stomachs but only needle-sized throats. They have great difficulty in finding food or drink and when they do, it is difficult for them to swallow the food or drink. Some of them can only find disgusting food like pus and excrement. For some, the food transforms into burning coal or sharp blades when they eat and they suffer greatly.
Animals experience persecution by other animals and by humans, they are exploited and suffer greatly. This is common knowledge in our world today.
The very common and apparent suffering shared by all animals and human beings is that of birth, old age, sickness and death. Human beings also suffer from unfulfilled desires and the suffering of change as mentioned previously.
Demi-gods suffer due to their great jealousy of the gods. There is a beautiful wish-fulfilling tree that has its roots in their realm but its fruits are available only in the gods' realms. For the fruits, they constantly wage war on the gods but are consistently defeated and never get what they desire.
Gods suffer as well. Even though they enjoy great pleasures in their lives due to good merits accumulated in previous lives, when they are close to death, their body grows dim, their throne does not please them and they feel uncomfortable, they start to perspire, their flower garlands wither and their clothes grow old and dirty. Through this signs, the god knows his death is approaching is extremely tormented by this knowledge. From his divine eye, he can see where he will be reborn in Samsara and the sufferings he will encounter, but cannot do anything about it. His companions do not come near him and only throw flowers at him from far and wish him well. Utterly alone, the mental agony of his fall grows more and more intense as his death approaches. He spends seven god days (seven hundred human years) lamenting. In comparison to the great pleasure he has experienced as a god, the suffering that he suffers from knowing about his fall is extreme, even more than the suffering of the hell beings.
For more details, please see excerpt from Words of My Perfect Teacher:
http://books.google.com/books?id=40i38mGQ6aAC&pg=PA71&lpg=PA71&dq=neighbouring+hells&source=web&ots=a4TXEnPkqK&sig=EIpor1IU_OBqnb27d7dnA89NAPo&hl=en&ei=p5uOSdeqNdKukAXu6o3RDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA94,M1
You can also read "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation" by Lord Gampopa and "The Torch of Certainty" by Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche.
Samsara is also categorized as three realms, the desire realm, the form realm and the formless realm. Beings of the desire realm have cravings and desires. These are all the beings of the six realms except those who have achieved high states of meditative concentration and are beyond desires.
The gods of the form realm have reached high levels of meditative concentration focussed on clarity and non-conceptual awareness but they focus on a form for their concentration. They do not experience extremes of pain or pleasure and do not have desires. There is no sexual distinction. They however will also fall back into cyclic existence eventually, as they are still affected by karmic cause and effect.
The gods in the formless realm have reached high levels of meditative concentration with focus on any forms. They are totally absorbed in the bliss of samadhi and do not have any form. But these gods will eventually fall back into cyclic existence too.
The Buddha taught the truth of suffering to generate the feeling of renunciation. Only by knowing the reality of suffering would one strive to make the fullest use of our precious human existence to gain enlightenment. The number of beings who are born in hell, hungry ghost and animal realms are uncountable, but the number of beings born in the human realm is in comparison like the number of sands on a finger nail. This is how rare it is to be born in the human realm.
The beings in the three lower realms are in too much suffering and do not have the leisure to do Dharma practice. The beings in the god realms enjoy too much pleasure and do not care to practice the Dharma. Only the beings in the human realm have the leisure to do practice but also encounter suffering which propels them to practice. So it is best to be born in the human realm.
He did not actually want to give any teachings as he did not think that there were people who could understand them.
The gods, Brahma and Indra, however requested for him to turn the wheel of Dharma for the benefit of all sentient beings, presenting him with a golden wheel and a conch shell respectively.
Buddha through his wisdom saw that there were sentient beings of different calibre and there were still those who could receive his teachings, understand and practice them and gain enlightenment.
So he consented to teach.
His first disciples were ones who undertook the practice of hardship with him earlier. The five of them have had karmic connection with Buddha in previous lives. In one of Buddha's past lives, he was a prince who encountered a tigress with 5 starving cubs. Out of great compassion, he fed his own flesh to them and died. He made the aspiration that when he gained enlightenment, they would benefit from his teachings and be liberated. These first five disciples were the reincarnations of the 5 cubs.
The first turning of the wheel of Dharma was on the Four Noble Truths. The teaching was mainly given to benefit the Theravadan practitioners and was on concepts that were easier to grasp.
The first truth: Truth of Suffering
The second truth: Truth of the Cause of Suffering
The third truth: Truth of the Cessation of Suffering
The fourth truth: Truth of the Path towards Cessation of Suffering
The first truth: Truth of Suffering
There are three types of suffering, the suffering of suffering (pain, anguish etc.), the suffering of change (what makes us happy is impermanent and due to the change, we experience sadness. All loved ones and friends will part from us eventually, we will grow old, we will lose the objects we like etc.) and the suffering of compositional phenomena.
The latter means that due to the fact that all in the universe exists from a composition of elements of suffering which will only cause us more suffering. Only the noble beings like Arhats and Bodhisattvas can feel the suffering of compositional phenomena acutely, ordinary sentient beings like us are suffering too much from the first two types to feel this subtle type of suffering. There is an example given that this last type of suffering is like an eyelash in the eye for the noble beings, but like an eyelash in the palm for the ordinary sentient beings.
All sentient beings who are born in Samsara suffer. Once we are born, we are bound to experience suffering. Before we are liberated, we will be reborn again and again within the six realms and suffer again and again. Samsara is made up of six realms: Hell, hungry ghost (preta), animal, human, demi-gods, gods.
Beings in the first three realms, hell, hungry ghosts and animal realms have fully ripened karma and are experiencing the fruits of it. They will not be reborn in higher realms until they have exhausted all their fully ripened bad karma.
There are eighteen hell realms altogether, 8 hot hells, 8 cold hells, neighbouring hells and occasional hells. Beings in the 8 hot hells suffer extreme bodily pain such as being continuously boiled in coals and pierced with sharp objects, crushed or slashed and are reborn again and again to experience the same suffering after dying from the pain. Beings in the 8 cold hells experience extreme bodily pain from the cold which cracks open their frosted skin. Beings in the neighbouring hells experience great bodily sufferings as well, they are born in environments like a ditch of flaming embers, plain of sharp weapons, trees with razor sharp edges etc. Beings in the occasional hells experience suffering based on the specific karma they have, like a butcher who vowed to only kill during the day get devoured alive by dogs in the day enjoys the company of goddesses at night.
Life in the hell realms last for millions of years.
The hungry ghosts have large stomachs but only needle-sized throats. They have great difficulty in finding food or drink and when they do, it is difficult for them to swallow the food or drink. Some of them can only find disgusting food like pus and excrement. For some, the food transforms into burning coal or sharp blades when they eat and they suffer greatly.
Animals experience persecution by other animals and by humans, they are exploited and suffer greatly. This is common knowledge in our world today.
The very common and apparent suffering shared by all animals and human beings is that of birth, old age, sickness and death. Human beings also suffer from unfulfilled desires and the suffering of change as mentioned previously.
Demi-gods suffer due to their great jealousy of the gods. There is a beautiful wish-fulfilling tree that has its roots in their realm but its fruits are available only in the gods' realms. For the fruits, they constantly wage war on the gods but are consistently defeated and never get what they desire.
Gods suffer as well. Even though they enjoy great pleasures in their lives due to good merits accumulated in previous lives, when they are close to death, their body grows dim, their throne does not please them and they feel uncomfortable, they start to perspire, their flower garlands wither and their clothes grow old and dirty. Through this signs, the god knows his death is approaching is extremely tormented by this knowledge. From his divine eye, he can see where he will be reborn in Samsara and the sufferings he will encounter, but cannot do anything about it. His companions do not come near him and only throw flowers at him from far and wish him well. Utterly alone, the mental agony of his fall grows more and more intense as his death approaches. He spends seven god days (seven hundred human years) lamenting. In comparison to the great pleasure he has experienced as a god, the suffering that he suffers from knowing about his fall is extreme, even more than the suffering of the hell beings.
For more details, please see excerpt from Words of My Perfect Teacher:
http://books.google.com/books?id=40i38mGQ6aAC&pg=PA71&lpg=PA71&dq=neighbouring+hells&source=web&ots=a4TXEnPkqK&sig=EIpor1IU_OBqnb27d7dnA89NAPo&hl=en&ei=p5uOSdeqNdKukAXu6o3RDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA94,M1
You can also read "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation" by Lord Gampopa and "The Torch of Certainty" by Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche.
Samsara is also categorized as three realms, the desire realm, the form realm and the formless realm. Beings of the desire realm have cravings and desires. These are all the beings of the six realms except those who have achieved high states of meditative concentration and are beyond desires.
The gods of the form realm have reached high levels of meditative concentration focussed on clarity and non-conceptual awareness but they focus on a form for their concentration. They do not experience extremes of pain or pleasure and do not have desires. There is no sexual distinction. They however will also fall back into cyclic existence eventually, as they are still affected by karmic cause and effect.
The gods in the formless realm have reached high levels of meditative concentration with focus on any forms. They are totally absorbed in the bliss of samadhi and do not have any form. But these gods will eventually fall back into cyclic existence too.
The Buddha taught the truth of suffering to generate the feeling of renunciation. Only by knowing the reality of suffering would one strive to make the fullest use of our precious human existence to gain enlightenment. The number of beings who are born in hell, hungry ghost and animal realms are uncountable, but the number of beings born in the human realm is in comparison like the number of sands on a finger nail. This is how rare it is to be born in the human realm.
The beings in the three lower realms are in too much suffering and do not have the leisure to do Dharma practice. The beings in the god realms enjoy too much pleasure and do not care to practice the Dharma. Only the beings in the human realm have the leisure to do practice but also encounter suffering which propels them to practice. So it is best to be born in the human realm.
Friday, February 6, 2009
People of three types of capacities
There are people with three types of capacities (Purusha in Sanskrit). The person of lowest capacity, the one of middling capacity and the one with the highest capacity. According to these capacities, Buddha gave different teachings suited to each, so as best to help them.
The person of the lowest capacity is one who only looks towards the benefit of this life or to seek a better rebirth in the next. For this purpose, the person does good deeds.
The person of the middling capacity is one who sees that Samsaric existence is suffering, and looks to liberate oneself from Samsara.
The person of the highest capacity is one who sees that Samsaric existence is suffering, sees that others are suffering as much as them and think that they should help to liberate all sentient beings besides liberating themselves.
As the person of the lowest capacity does everything for his/ her selfish purpose, any merits gained is quite little. But we should not look down on the person of the lowest capacity as they are still focussed on doing good deeds and eventually, with the merits they have accumulated, they might become more learned in Dharma in their subsequent lives and embark on the Theravada or Mahayana paths, eventually reaching enlightenment.
The person of the middling capacity belongs to the first two yanas, the Sravaka-yana and Pratyeka Buddha yana. They seek self-liberation. Sravaka refers to hearers, the disciples who gain liberation from listening to the Buddha's teachings. Pratyeka Buddhas are those who gained liberation through their own meditation practice. We commonly know the practitioners of these two yanas as Theravada practitioners. Theravada means "first step". The liberation that Theravada practitioners attain is Nirvana, the opposite of Samsara. It is however not the ultimate Nirvana (non-duality between Nirvana and Samsara) that will cause one to become a Buddha. The liberated Theravadan practitioner is called "Arhat" (foe-destroyer, they have destroyed all the gross negative defilements which are our enemies). Arhats however still have subtle defilements.
Arhats will eventually be able to become Buddhas, however it will take a rather long time.
There is an example of a ship lost at sea with various sailors on board. They are not able to find their real destination. To comfort the sailors, the captain brings them to an island for a while so that they can rest and energize themselves again before going out again to seek their real destination. Arhats are similarly at rest in Nirvana before the Buddha reminds them again that they still have a journey ahead towards ultimate enlightenment.
The practitioners of the highest capacity are the Mahayana practitioners. They are able to understand the profound teachings of the Buddha regarding the direct path towards enlightenment. There is a common misconception that Vajrayana is another yana separate from Mahayana, that is not true. Vajrayana is a subset of Mahayana which has the quickest path towards enlightenment as it stresses on exceptional skillful means.
Mahayana practitioners develop relative and ultimate Bodhicitta in their practice. Relative Bodhicitta is a requirement before one can gain enlightenment, which is the perfection of the five paramitas (generosity, patience, morality, diligence, meditative concentration). Ultimate Bodhicitta is the perfection of the sixth paramita (primordial wisdom).
Arhats also practise the six paramitas to a high standard, but there is something lacking, and that is the lack of understanding of the emptiness of phenomena. They only realize the emptiness of self but have fear of the emptiness of phenomena. So they have not completely perfected these six paramitas.
As becoming an Arhat is already something very great and difficult for normal people to attain, we should not look down on the Theravadan tradition or think little of it. Arhats also can become Buddhas eventually.
The person of the lowest capacity is one who only looks towards the benefit of this life or to seek a better rebirth in the next. For this purpose, the person does good deeds.
The person of the middling capacity is one who sees that Samsaric existence is suffering, and looks to liberate oneself from Samsara.
The person of the highest capacity is one who sees that Samsaric existence is suffering, sees that others are suffering as much as them and think that they should help to liberate all sentient beings besides liberating themselves.
As the person of the lowest capacity does everything for his/ her selfish purpose, any merits gained is quite little. But we should not look down on the person of the lowest capacity as they are still focussed on doing good deeds and eventually, with the merits they have accumulated, they might become more learned in Dharma in their subsequent lives and embark on the Theravada or Mahayana paths, eventually reaching enlightenment.
The person of the middling capacity belongs to the first two yanas, the Sravaka-yana and Pratyeka Buddha yana. They seek self-liberation. Sravaka refers to hearers, the disciples who gain liberation from listening to the Buddha's teachings. Pratyeka Buddhas are those who gained liberation through their own meditation practice. We commonly know the practitioners of these two yanas as Theravada practitioners. Theravada means "first step". The liberation that Theravada practitioners attain is Nirvana, the opposite of Samsara. It is however not the ultimate Nirvana (non-duality between Nirvana and Samsara) that will cause one to become a Buddha. The liberated Theravadan practitioner is called "Arhat" (foe-destroyer, they have destroyed all the gross negative defilements which are our enemies). Arhats however still have subtle defilements.
Arhats will eventually be able to become Buddhas, however it will take a rather long time.
There is an example of a ship lost at sea with various sailors on board. They are not able to find their real destination. To comfort the sailors, the captain brings them to an island for a while so that they can rest and energize themselves again before going out again to seek their real destination. Arhats are similarly at rest in Nirvana before the Buddha reminds them again that they still have a journey ahead towards ultimate enlightenment.
The practitioners of the highest capacity are the Mahayana practitioners. They are able to understand the profound teachings of the Buddha regarding the direct path towards enlightenment. There is a common misconception that Vajrayana is another yana separate from Mahayana, that is not true. Vajrayana is a subset of Mahayana which has the quickest path towards enlightenment as it stresses on exceptional skillful means.
Mahayana practitioners develop relative and ultimate Bodhicitta in their practice. Relative Bodhicitta is a requirement before one can gain enlightenment, which is the perfection of the five paramitas (generosity, patience, morality, diligence, meditative concentration). Ultimate Bodhicitta is the perfection of the sixth paramita (primordial wisdom).
Arhats also practise the six paramitas to a high standard, but there is something lacking, and that is the lack of understanding of the emptiness of phenomena. They only realize the emptiness of self but have fear of the emptiness of phenomena. So they have not completely perfected these six paramitas.
As becoming an Arhat is already something very great and difficult for normal people to attain, we should not look down on the Theravadan tradition or think little of it. Arhats also can become Buddhas eventually.
Attitude when listening to Dharma - what to avoid and what to adopt
To start off, I would like to share on what a person receiving a Dharma teaching should not be like. This is using the analogy of a container:
1. Upside down container:
Like water pouring on an upside down container, the Dharma does not penetrate into your mind.
2. Contaminated container:
Like water pouring into a contaminated container cannot be drunk, the Dharma teaching you have listened to does not bring benefit because you have contaminated your
understanding of it due to pride, anger, envy and your desires.
3. Container with a hole in the bottom:
Like water pouring into a container with a hole cannot be retained, so the Dharma teachings you have listened to is completely forgotten and not retained in your mind.
You can refer to this link for details: http://www.paldensakya.org/propermotivation.html
In addition, a person receiving Dharma teaching should have the right motivation at the beginning, undivided attention during the teaching and dedicate merits at the end.
According to your tradition, either Theravada or Mahayana, you generate the proper motivation. For Theravada practitioners, you should have the motivation to attain enlightenment in order to be liberated from suffering. For Mahayana practitioners, you should have the motivation to gain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, that they be liberated from suffering.
Merits dedication should be for the liberation of all sentient beings.
1. Upside down container:
Like water pouring on an upside down container, the Dharma does not penetrate into your mind.
2. Contaminated container:
Like water pouring into a contaminated container cannot be drunk, the Dharma teaching you have listened to does not bring benefit because you have contaminated your
understanding of it due to pride, anger, envy and your desires.
3. Container with a hole in the bottom:
Like water pouring into a container with a hole cannot be retained, so the Dharma teachings you have listened to is completely forgotten and not retained in your mind.
You can refer to this link for details: http://www.paldensakya.org/propermotivation.html
In addition, a person receiving Dharma teaching should have the right motivation at the beginning, undivided attention during the teaching and dedicate merits at the end.
According to your tradition, either Theravada or Mahayana, you generate the proper motivation. For Theravada practitioners, you should have the motivation to attain enlightenment in order to be liberated from suffering. For Mahayana practitioners, you should have the motivation to gain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, that they be liberated from suffering.
Merits dedication should be for the liberation of all sentient beings.
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