Corresponding to the individual
aspirations and inclinations of his students the perfect buddha,
Buddha Shakyamuni, gave an immense variety of dharma teachings. Yet
all of these serve the purpose to gather the two accumulations and
to purify the two types of obscuration.
The foremost among these methods
enabling a practitioner to gather the two accumulations is
bodhicitta based on great compassion and the virtue accrued
thereby. On this basis, the fruition of the enlightened state with
its two buddha-kayas is attained and the unsurpassable method to
accelerate this attainment is the practise of dedication and
aspirations (mon-lam).
A spiritual path comprising the
practises of dedication and aspirations is not found in any other
religion. It is thus an extraordinary feature of Buddhism: virtue
is dedicated towards all beings’ complete enlightenment and
aspirations form the link to this unsurpassable fruit.
Ascertaining this practice to be specific to the Mahayana, the
noble Nagarjuna once said: “The bodhisattvas’ aspirations, their
vast conduct and their dedication were not taught in the
shravaka-path”.
As to the difference between
dedication and aspirations: dedication requires roots of virtue to
be dedicated whereas mere aspirations don’t. The original Sanskrit
term for (the Tibetan word) “sngo ba” (which in English translates
to “dedication”) is “parinamana”. It literally means “complete
change”. The original Sanskrit term for (the Tibetan word) “smon
lam” (which in English translates to “aspirations”) is
“pranidhana”. It literally means “fully settled”, “one-pointed”,
“accumulated”, “accumulate” and “aspiring this for that
purpose”.
The practise of dedication and
aspirations is extremely important in that they change even a tiny
amount of virtue into something extremely vast and inexhaustible.
The Buddha taught this for example in the Arya Akshayamati Nirdesha
Sutra: “Venerable Shariputra, if, for example, one drop of water
falls into a large ocean it will not vanish, but become
inexhaustible, never-ending until the all-consuming fire at the end
of an aeon. Likewise the roots of virtue fully dedicated to
enlightenment will not vanish, but become inexhaustible,
never-ending until one’s achievement of the heart of
enlightenment”.
In general, whatever type of virtue
one practises on the Mahayana path, one sets out with generating
great compassion and bodhicitta. One then does the actual practise
based on wisdom which does not conceptualize in a perceiver,
perceived and perceiving, and finally, one has to seal the virtue
by means of dedication and aspirations.
Furthermore, the Buddha taught in the
vinaya-sutras that whatever minor or major virtue is practised
during the various days commemorating great dharma-occasions such
as the Month of Miracles, the Month of Vesakh, the Descent from
Heaven etc. at sites associated with the Buddha’s activities such
as Bodhgaya, Lumbini etc. is – due to the power of the place and
time – multiplied a hundredfold, a thousandfold etc. Therefore, to
practice the accumulation of virtue such as making offerings to the
Three Jewels with a large monastic sangha-community is said to be
especially powerful. In the same sutra it is taught that the
monastic sangha symbolizes the Three Jewels, that they are
authentic recipients of offerings and the main reference for the
accumulation of merit.
Thus it is extremely important to make
offerings at special places to the monastic sangha, to seal the
accumulations of merit deriving from teaching, debating,
meditating, gathering and reciting by means of practising the
dedication and the aspirations, and to do so carefully and
sincerely.
It is just as Milarepa, the foremost
of siddhas, said: “The great meditator who practises in a cave and
the benefactor who provides for his living will – due to dependant
occurances – attain buddhahood together, and the heart of dependant
occurances is dedication.”
Likewise, regarding the practise of aspirations: Shantideva taught
in his Shiksasamuccaya that the ten types of countless aspirations
of bodhisattvas as taught in the sutras are subsumed in the
“Aspirations for Excellent Conduct”. Then there are further great
aspiration prayers such as the “Aspirations from Maitreyanatha’s
Hagiology” directed towards the attainment of enlightenment once
the ten paramitas are fully perfected. Furthermore there are the
“Mahamudra-Aspirations” associated with the Vajrayana etc. They all
consitute the skillfull path enabling oneself and others to attain
enlightenment swiftly. Thus they are held in high esteem by the
buddhas and the bodhisattvas.
On April 10th, 2007, I, Trinley
Thaye Dorje, who is blessed by carrying the name of the 17th
Karmapa, have made these aspirations and wrote this at my residence
in Kalimpong so that all participants who are fortunate to take
part in the great Kagyü Mönlam at the supreme place Bodhgaya (in
India) will generate a pure state of mind.