tot it's a good info:
Relative and Absolute
Bodhicitta
...The Bodhisattva vow is like a
staircase. In a many-storied house, you cannot reach any higher
levels without a staircase. The Bodhisattva vow has two aspects:
relative Bodhicitta and absolute Bodhicitta. Relative Bodhicitta is
like the root of a plant, and absolute Bodhicitta its main stem.
You need to take the Bodhisattva vow. It will enable you to develop
the special quality of Bodhicitta towards all sentient beings, an
attitude of loving kindness and compassion towards all.
Absolute Bodhicitta is the wisdom of Bodhicitta mind, and is
therefore non-dualistic. When the attitude of loving kindness and
compassion is dualistic in nature, then it is relative Bodhicitta.
This is connected to the emotional states of mind and does not
carry much quality. Nevertheless, it is the base of absolute
Bodhicitta or wisdom. In other words, you have to develop the
absolute Bodhicitta mind from the ground of relative
Bodhicitta.
Relative Bodhicitta is compassion and loving-kindness mind. Lacking
the wisdom of absolute Bodhicitta, you will attach to things, and
you will grasp. The effect is that a lot of emotions will be
stirred up making your Bodhicitta not pure.
Bodhi means enlightenment. Bodhicitta means the heart of
enlightenment. Bodhi Path means the path to enlightenment. While on
the Bodhi Path, the heart should be detached from the emotions. So,
the view of absolute Bodhicitta is called for on the Bodhi
Path.
relative and ultimate truths
In order to develop absolute Bodhicitta, a few steps have to come
first. The first step is to hear the precise instructions about the
nature of phenomena. The teachings of the Buddha explain precisely
how phenomena are just illusions of your mind. On a relative level,
everything is there as you see it. However, the absolute or
ultimate nature of any phenomenon is that it does not truly
exist.
Take the beams of this house, for example. They are supported by
the pillars, and the pillars in turn stand on the ground. So we say
that the beams depend on the pillars, which depend on the ground.
And the roof of the house depends on the beams. Put all these
interdependent parts together, and you have a house. This is the
relative truth of the house a collection of the many
interdependent parts.
But, if you were to look for the absolute truth of the house
itself, you would not find it in any of its parts. The ground is
not the house. The pillars are not it and neither is it the roof
nor the beams. In absolute/ultimate truth, the house does not
exist. Ultimate, in this sense, means that which cannot be removed
or altered.
Relatively, everything exists in an interdependent way. You are in
a relative existence in samsara. If you wish to liberate yourself
from samsara, then you will have to depend on the Dharma, as well
as both relative and absolute Bodhicitta. They are all the parts
that you need in order to build up your (house of) enlightenment.
In other words, to reach the ultimate truth of enlightenment, you
rely on the path of Dharma, which is the relative
truth....
--K u n z i g . S h a m a r . R i n p o c h e
Teachings related to the Mahamudra Curriculum
for Bodhi Path Centers
http://www.shamarpa.org/teachings/maha-curric03.php
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