Bodhisattvacharayvatara: Chapter VI, Patience – verses 81-83; reflectionary

Bodhisattvacharayvatara by Acharya Śāntideva

Chapter VI– verses 81-83

Transglomeration: [81] Certainly, I wish and Vow that all sentient beings attain Buddhahood, venerated and honoured throughout the entire three-world system; so, why am I burnt up inside with resentment and jealousy when I see them graced with just a little fleeting and ordinary respect and honour?   [82] If there is someone for whom I provide food (like giving a chicken) and for whom I otherwise hold responsibility, manages, either by themselves or through someone else, to find their own provisions or to make their own living, isn’t this a big favour to you, doesn’t his relieve your responsibility?   And yet, am I delighted with this, or is it that, yet again, I become annoyed and upset?   Why am I not happy with this if I am concerned for others’ welfare?   [83] What that is good is not wished for others, one who wishes for their Enlightenment?   How could I begrudge anything for them?   How could I wish for them to attain Awakening?   Where is the Bodhichitta in them who feel perturbed and angry when others find any good fortune?

~~~ “BCA” ~~~

V. 80 therefore reminder of the Vow of Bodhichitta taken for the sake of all sentient beings:
↑ Stitch ↓
V. 81-83 [81] if I wish all beings Enlightened and venerated, why begrudge a little honour
[82] if I have care of all beings, why resent their self-reliance
[83] if I am angry about even this, where is my Bodhichitta?

Switches: [81] if I want beings to be venerated (because I have brought them to achieve Enlightenment), why don’t I want them to have a little veneration now; the mismatch between what we say we wish for others in our prayers, and what we actually feel now; how can my purview be so miserly towards others’ gain (if I want to hold Bodhichitta); [82] I have the responsibility for the welfare of others, but am resentful when they find it themselves – I wasn’t really concerned for their welfare, but my esteem as their provider; if I am perturbed that others have found gain/happiness independent of me, then I am wanting to be the Great Benefactor, and am not really concerned with others’ gain; [83] just how much do I really have the mind which wishes others happiness and gain

Embroidery: this is the conclusion of the sub-section, starting with verse 76, which explores the resentment-anger that comes from jealousy and is, in the end, an ongoing day-by-day betrayal of the Vow of Bodhichitta; when the Vow has been entered into (… for the sake of all mother sentient beings), there is a sense that the ‘sake’ comes much later, when they become Enlightened, and anyway I’ve got to sort myself out first before I can be of any use in their Enlightenment; no, it starts, the benefit to others starts, the moment the Vow is taken and is involved in how I interact with all beings, both face-to-face and as various wholes; this is not some far-off event which I needn’t worry about yet, but something immediate which I have to see to if I am not to be the embarrassment of someone claiming the Vow but acting otherwise;

Reflection: I am finding this to be a wake-up call – I have just been told off by Śāntideva to stop pussyfooting around; these are not inspiring, mind-opening verses that take me off somewhere else, yet again, but verses that talk to me right under my own skin … don’t pretend to be the Bodhisattva, that is no use to anyone …

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Bodhisattvacharayvatara: Chapter VI, Patience – verse 80; reflectionary

Bodhisattvacharayvatara by Acharya Śāntideva

Chapter VI– verse 80

Transglomeration: And you, [O mind], having generated a Mind of Bodhichitta which wishes the happiness and Awakening of all sentient beings, then how, yet again, do you become resentful and angry with these same beings, now, when they have happened upon some happiness [praising others] by themselves?

~~~ “BCA” ~~~

V. 79 my rejoicing in good qualities is (currently) entirely self-centered – I’m not really concerned about others’ happiness
↑ Stitch ↓
V. 80 therefore reminder of the Vow of Bodhichitta taken for the sake of all sentient beings

Reflection: this is bringing it home for the aspiring Bodhisattva: there’s no room for pretence and just ‘playing nice’ here; this Vow to seek Enlightenment for the sake of all mother sentient beings is serious, not half-hearted, not ‘oh I’ll do what I can, but I’m that good at it, and sometimes I just can’t help it’, this is “if you’re really being honest with yourself you’ll see that what you are resisting is infested within you – it’s there, running rampant in you and you are barely aware of it – and to begin working on it at all means being scrupulously honest about it”; in fact I am so infested with it (so unaware that I am riddled with it) that it is very difficult for me to be honest about it without keeping something back (i.e. justifications, provisos, excuses … appeals to common sense), I can’t see outside of myself enough to see the problem, so that I need someone like Śāntideva to point it out to me (reminder of what Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche says, that the role of the Spiritual Teacher is to insult you, to undermine you, to point out to you what you are incapable of appreciating because you are so mired in it); this is not about addressing the world with a milky smile on your face, this is about getting uncomfortably invasive about where your ‘edge’ is and probing into it … another instance of the ‘courage’ and bravery (chapter 5 and later in chapter 7) that the spiritual aspirant needs in order to progress rather than play act; another instance of Pema Chodron’s ‘leaning into’ that which is most difficult to you in order to make the gain

Practice: reminding oneself that Bodhichitta has been generated for the sake of the happiness of all sentient beings; just remember it, so many times, all of the time, and specifically, here, when you get resentful (let alone angry) with others’ praise and success

Stitch: de la Vallee Poussin brings out that this happiness is the happiness that other sentient beings have found in praising the virtues of others; I hadn’t consciously realised this, I thought it was just any old happiness they’d found …

Embroidery: … these verses (starting with verse 76) are turning into quite a reflection on the mechanism of the anger (and the patience) which cultures around envy of others’ praise

Bodhisattvacharayvatara: Chapter VI, Patience – verse 79; reflectionary

Bodhisattvacharayvatara by Acharya Śāntideva

Chapter VI– verse 79

Transglomeration: When my good qualities and worth are praised, or even just mentioned, I want everyone to know about it, to rejoice, to celebrate the discovery as well; but then, when the good qualities and worth of others are praised and lauded, you, O mind, don’t want anyone to have any knowledge or happiness about it, let alone feeling any happiness yourself.

~~~ “BCA” ~~~

V. 78 making oneself insular from others’ happiness adversely affects my happiness

↑ Stitch ↓

V. 79 my rejoicing in good qualities is (currently) entirely self-centered – I’m not really concerned about others’ happiness

Stitch: the discussion about ‘happiness of others’ was (implicitly) raised in verse 78, verse 79 is just pointing out that ‘O, mind’ (yes, you) is not really all that concerned about others’ happiness much as that might be a glamorous thing for a supposed-Bodhisattva to claim, but just its own, all along, anyway … – this ‘mind’ of mine, this me, me, me, really needs some kicking to even realise that there is something fundamentally wrong with the basis from which it perpetually acts … there is some dripping irony in Śāntideva’s use of the Sanskrit overly formal ‘manas tvam’ connoting, literally, ‘O, thou mind’ (in verse 76), this is the mind that not only pursues its own gains and worth, but puffs itself up with self-importance like the emperor and his new clothes … in day-to-day living!

Reflection: happy when it’s all about ‘me, me, me’, Padmakara has, ‘but when the compliment is paid to others, your joy is oh so slow and grudging’ – and let’s dig in there, shall we: others are praised, and I may have a stiff-lipped smile about it (I can’t be openly unhappy about it, can I), but inside I am feeling (seething, in turmoil, panicking) ‘but why haven’t they noticed me, I deserve it more, they must be mistaken, they’re being so uncritical, they’re accepting any old crap, they’re being influenced by others, they’re being ‘political’, they’re not thinking for themselves, standards have really gone down, they (being praised) must have something on the praisers, they were in the right place at the right time, what did they have to promise/do to get this, am I next’; so, mind, you are not that balanced and kind-hearted, are you: you are a whining, snivelling little self-obsesser which causes you more trouble than you’re worth, it’s obvious, isn’t it; it’s embarassing

Reflection: this verse refers to ‘at the time’ (of the praise), but the praising doesn’t have to be ‘in public’, in the ‘market place’, (done over loud-speakers in front of a huge crowd), it can be in reputation, it can be once the person being praised has already died, the praise can be written, recorded, reported, you personally could be there when the praise takes place, or not, it could be the way others defer to the praisee, or act, or do things for the praisee etc; anything which nurtures my resentment of others receiving praise; ‘at the time’ is, potentially, any time that praising of others is going on, and praising of others is always going on … somewhere, whether I am aware of it or not (and if I really wanted to make myself miserable and paranoid, I could become aware of it through social media and live in a constant state of resentment)

Switch: the perverse notion of happiness, the exposure of what we consider to be happiness, to be nothing more than further self-obsession: you delight in their happiness when you are praised (‘it is a good thing’), but you don’t share this same happiness when others are praised (oh, not such a good thing, now?); the mechanism? – self-cherishing/obsessing makes you very unbalanced and partial to me, me, me; (this is laying ground work for the later development of equalising and exchanging self for others in chapter 8), but here we are really exploring how self and other are not equal

Practice: to wise up (about myself, about my happiness, about my fake concern for others’ happiness), to be honest (although not judgemental) about where I am (‘it was the kleshas wot did it’); and, instead, to have joy in, and openness towards, others (thereby lessening propensity to anger)

Bodhisattvacharayvatara: Chapter VI, Patience – verse 78; reflectionary

Bodhisattvacharayvatara by Acharya Śāntideva

Chapter VI – verse 78

Transglomeration: [“It’s not that I am jealous of the merit of the person being praised, but it’s their happiness, not mine; their happiness has nothing to do with me.”] But again, in this way, if you, [O insular mind], allow yourself to be unconcerned or unhappy with others’ experience of happiness, then, logically, you had better give up paying wages or your bills, or giving any reward or benefit since it makes others happy. However, you should realise that this will amount to loss and adversity for you, both seen, in this life, and unseen, in future lives.

~~~ “BCA” ~~~

V. 76-77 overcoming envy/jealousy as a cause of anger: rejoicing in others’ happiness
↑ Stitch ↓
V. 78 but others’ happiness is none of my business; making oneself insular from others’ happiness adversely affects me

Stitch: this is still addressing ‘oh, my mind’ (oneself, some translators use ‘spirit’, whatever, this is a harrowing dressing down, up close and personal) from verse 77, still pointing out to the sulky, recalcitrant, self-obsessed mind what carrying on like this will result in, a consequentialist analysis: if you do this, then this will happen, with implacable cause and effect (karma) reasoning; and the way Śāntideva often achieves this consequentialist analysis is through the use of a …

Switch: not giving to others their due (whether wages, reward, recognition) leads to not being provided for oneself (support, livelihood, care) in the see-able future (i.e. immediately, and over days, months, years) and the unforeseeable future (i.e. future existences, situations which you just didn’t see coming).   What is done out of self-grasping and self-cherishing within saṃsāra is mirrored back to you magnified and distorted within that same saṃsāra that you perpetuate (with all your self-grasping and self-cherishing).   Yes, the opposite is also true, that if you provide for others (their due), then you will be provided for now and hereafter, but that is not the chief point being made in this verse: here is being illustrated one of the ways in which anger is the most destructive of un-virtues (ref. verses 1-2)

Stitch: it’s not clear whether to read the (albeit unstated, but implicit) objection as being un/happy about the person being praised or being un/happy about the person doing the praise, rejoicing.   The previous verse (77) certainly finished up with extolling the virtues of rejoicing, but both the last verse and this verse could be read equally as:

• the rejoicer creating great virtue because of praising another (making the other happy and gathering people together in that celebration)
• the rejoicer rejoicing because of the great virtue that the other person has developed in order to have the quality or fortune that is being rejoiced in in the first place

I suppose it’s not an either/or, it’s two aspects of the same activity; what is being emphasised in this verse, however, is that if you (a third party to the rejoicer and the rejoicee) don’t want the happiness of either the rejoicer or the rejoicee, then you experience the adverse results of that not-wanting … and that just doesn’t make sense for anyone …

Reflection: this seems to be in response to the stance: “I’m not bothered with others’ happiness; I don’t care” (and this is not to cast it as ‘evil’ but as usual, an attitude generally held in order to get through the obstacles of my own life, let alone have to worry about everyone else); the verse is ‘responding’: if you don’t want to be concenred about others’ happiness, you’d have to stop giving wages, presents (rewards, prizes, recognition, gifts, time etc.), and opt right out of the round of (even day-to-day mild) happiness, right out of your part in society, in your family, in your workplace.   Fine, but having done that you could then expect nothing from that society/family/employer, you would own nothing, you would be nothing – the only thing that makes you what you are and have in the world/society is what you give to it to be (“and in the end – baung beayinng – the love you take, is equal to the love – la la la la laa – you make”).   The practice of ‘looking after number one’ betrays a fundamental lack of understanding of how society works: it doesn’t just work because of the infrastructure and law, it works because of the giving and taking; and yes, this is just day-to-day happiness, this is happiness situated within saṃsāra, granted, but it is not the infrastructure and law that is saṃsāra, it is the self-centeredness that stops it working that is saṃsāra.   What has this got to do with patience – that we are often angry and frustrated because we aren’t getting our due (I’ve spent most of my life there since age eight) and this verse is graciously pointing out that it is our own making that we don’t get our due – if only we pulled back a bit from our self-centeredness to see)?   What is this verse teaching – guard against insularity, practise openness (almost with a Del-boy Trotter gurn, “you know it makes sense”).

Bodhisattvacharayvatara: Chapter VI, Patience – verses 76 – 77; reflectionary

Bodhisattvacharayvatara by Acharya Śāntideva

Chapter VI – verses 76 – 77

Transglomeration: [76] If someone is attuned enough to spiritual things to find delight and joy in recognising the appearance of excellent qualities and worth in another and praising them as a good person, and if this makes them happy and draws people close together, why then, oh (sulky) mind, don’t you join in with the recognition as well; why are you not rejoicing too and taking the same delight too?   [77] (But isn’t feeling joy and delight an attachment, and therefore bad?)   But this pleasure, this delight cultivated through praise of another’s virtue, is an entirely virtuous activity, a spring, a fountain, of joy, which is not prohibited, but, even, a precept, taught by those of Ultimate Quality and Worth, an excellent way to bring people together of which one should take full advantage.

~~~ “BCA” ~~~

Reflection: so, rather than being envious and sitting to one side of events smouldering anger, while people get on doing stuff and supporting each other (and, face it, Mark, people DO make a whole, world-wide society of life which is both the crowning achievement of humanity, as well as its repeated acts of shame) I should be recognising the good of others: their talent, their kindness, their love, their steadfastness, their generosity, their art, their smile.

 

In fact it is a precept, as the Tibetan would have it, something I should be cultivating, something I should be indulging in; in fact, where fountains are concerned, it is something I should rather be getting drunk on.   It is a (the?) means of getting close to others, of including others, of not rejecting others.   This is not, so much, making friends with others (a bit needy for a Bodhisattva), but of gathering people into my circle of care and thought and concern and recognition … and love.   It is not about gathering disciples or acolytes – it’s not about widening my circle, so much, as enriching the circle that was always there if I wasn’t so sulky and insular that I didn’t know it.   In fact it is not something that will be expressed all that much aloud, only to the people I live with and acquaintances (now that I’ve finished working), but it is something that will be, nevertheless, involved, muscular, glue-like to the society in which I sit, quietly, in my quiet house.

 

And what is stopping me doing it?   And why am I sitting here, sulking.   It’s because I didn’t get the praise, so I’m churlish about dishing it out myself.   ‘Praise’ is getting the reputation, it’s getting the recognition.   It means ‘getting the job’, getting the ‘likes’, getting the ‘followers’, winning the prize, … if I don’t get it (or any of it), I’ll fume with ‘it’s not fair/biased/underserved; what about me, me, me’, I’ll not recognise the joy of the ‘winner’, I’ll not recognise the joy of the ‘bestower/granter’, I’ll just be seething ‘what about me!’.   But the unabashed rejoicing, the not-thinking-about-it and just … rejoicing, the just being happy that some people have found a bit of happiness in this world (and, for goodness’ sake, happiness is not just laying around anywhere to be picked up and delight), this frees me from the me, me, me.   And the only thing making a problem with living a more inclusive life with open arms is … me, me, me: everyone else is delighted, except me, me, me.

 

So come on, oh wondrous Bodhisattva, all piously sitting here on your own making all these prayers for the happiness of all: lighten up and do some virtuing!   It’s free, and hardly takes any effort.