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Ultimate and Relative Bodhicitta (lojong)

personperson Don't believe everything you thinkThe liminal space Veteran
in Buddhism Basics

Chogyam Trungpa talks briefly about ultimate and relative bodhicitta before getting into the lojong slogans around them. I've read these few pages a couple times and feel there is so much understanding buried in them that I don't get that I would need to spend quite a lot of time going over them to properly get at it. But I'm kind of impatient to get to the slogans that I just want to intellectually hit a few key points so I can move on. Any feedback or questions would maybe help me learn more in trying to explain.

Ultimate bodhicitta is about cultivating the paramita of generosity. Traditionally there are three types of generosity material support, the gift of fearlessness and the gift of the dharma. He talks about it in terms of a sore spot that his student Pema Chodron talks about quite a bit. That we can be completely armored against the world but we still have an open wound that keeps us sensitive to the world.

Interestingly to me he says that ultimate bodhicitta comes before relative bodhicitta. That we can't really understand love for our grandma or dog until we have that openness of sunyata.
Akin to ultimate bodhicitta being connected with generosity, relative bodhicitta is connected with the paramita of discipline.
He also mentions the importance of passionlessness and nonterritoriality.

There is a lot in these few pages that challenges me in how to develop on the path. I'm very far from doing it any justice.

Comments

  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    You are failing @person?

    Excellent.

    Not understanding the depth and potential of dharma. Impatience, anxiety even, for progress is a helpful tension.

    Not too tight, not too loose. Don't go mad.

    Generosity is giving away progress but giving in to the unravelling. Some of us moonwalk forward ... or waste time ...

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

    Here's a short response my teacher gave to a question about Tonglen recently. I'm not sure how it fits with what Trungpa had said.

    https://buddhawithin.org.uk/2020/07/11/balancing-tonglen/

    Jeroenperson
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    I often find it helps to let a piece of dhamma writing settle for a few days, it’s like it sinks in and your subconscious goes to work on it. I think the passionlessness and nonterritoriality are things that come in advance of bodhicitta, often there are preparatory practices which one goes through. I would then take one of these words with me to meditate over.

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