Whether you are giving or receiving teachings, you must act in accordance with the conduct of the six transcendent perfections. When the path of the heirs of the Victorious One, the bodhisattvas, is being taught, the teaching concerns the vast intention of bodhicitta. All such paths without exception are included within the aspects of the bodhicitta of aspiration and the bodhicitta of application. Any practice that incorporates these two is the path of the Mahayana, the path of the bodhisattvas. When you are receiving teachings, the meaning of the bodhicitta of aspiration is present. Here, in talking about the six perfections, they are taught in accordance with the bodhicitta of application, and must be adopted when receiving or teaching the Dharma. Patrul Rinpoche explains with the following quote from the “Tantra of Thorough Comprehension of the Instructions on all Dharma Practices,” which contains the secret instructions on the conduct aspect of Dharma:
Make offerings of flowers, cushions, and the like,
Put in order the place of Dharma instruction and control your conduct, Avoid harming any living being,
Be fully devoted to the guru,
Listen attentively to his or her instructions, Ask questions to clarify any doubts.
Listeners should possess these six aspects of the perfections.
should possess. This section is explaining how disciples should listen to the teaching in accordance with the six perfections. Before the teaching, the Dharma throne must be set up. This displays the greatness of the Dharma. In the past, before he taught, our teacher Buddha Shakyamuni would arrange the throne with his own hands – those hands “accomplished through the hundred merits”.60 Therefore, we should erect the throne, arrange cushions
and so on. We should also offer a mandala for receiving the teachings, and offer flowers. Carrying out these activities diligently fulfils the meaning of the perfection of generosity.
We must clean and sweep the area where the teaching will take place, and sprinkle it with sweet scent, making certain to keep it spotless. When actually receiving the teachings, the student should display the behavior of devotion to the Dharma and the lama. Disrespectful behavior must be abandoned. Cleaning the site of the teachings and avoiding disrespectful behavior of body and speech perfects the perfection of morality.
Not to harm even the smallest of beings reminds us that the Buddha’s doctrine, if condensed, teaches disciples to avoid causing any harm at all. Especially when receiving the teachings, we must not hurt small living creatures like flies, lice and nits. Carefully abandon such actions when listening to the Dharma since the fault is greater than at other times. Even if a sentient being is harming you, to avoid anger and remain patient in the face of the suffering that beings cause is patience that endures the harm arising from beings’ negative feelings. The suffering of heat and cold can also occur during a teaching. Enduring this can qualify as the patience of enduring difficulty for the sake of the Dharma.
Tolerating whatever difficulties are encountered when listening to teachings helps accumulate the patience of bearing suffering for the Dharma. If no suffering is involved in receiving the teachings, the need to practice patience will not arise. Without practicing patience, you do not gather the merit of the perfection of patience. If no beings are disturbing you and you thus have no reason for anger, you cannot claim to be practicing patience. Only when beings are causing problems is anger likely to arise. When such difficulties do occur, successfully practicing patience and absorbing the harm brought by others leads to accumulating the vast merit of practicing patience. Facing problems when you are listening to the Dharma is an excellent situation for practicing patience. Without developing a disinterested mind, think as follows: “May these difficulties that I am suffering, such as heat
and cold, free beings from sickness and suffering.” The immense virtue of practicing patience is accumulated by such aspirations. The same result comes from bearing similar hardship when actually practicing the Dharma.
Listening attentively to the guru’s instructions means avoiding feeling any negativity toward the lama and the teachings, and cheerfully paying attention to the Dharma with genuine faith. Through the faith you generate in the lama, you must – from the depths of the heart – generate interest in his or her teachings. Developing deep faith and interest in the lama and the teaching is the essence of the perfection of perseverance. When such great faith is generated, wrong views are discarded. Faith cannot arise in a mindstream that harbors wrong views, and wrong views will not arise when devotion is generated. Wrong views are automatically abandoned when faith and devotion toward the lama and the teaching are developed. Listening to the Dharma with pure devotion and interest is diligence.
Not letting the mind wander from the teaching and focusing single- pointedly on the guru’s instructions is stable meditation. If you let your mind and eyes become distracted, then although your body is attending the teaching, your mind could be wandering around the world. A student who is distracted by various materialistic concerns will be unable to understand anything of the teaching. Thus, abandon all distractions when listening to teachings and focus single-pointed attention on the explanations. Listening with single-pointed and undistracted attention to the lama’s oral instructions is the single-pointed samadhi, or the perfection of concentration. Developing this perfection helps accumulate vast merit.
The instruction to ask questions to clarify unclear points is given since a student should question the lama to have any doubts cleared up. Generating confident knowledge in our mindstream through simply hearing a teaching is difficult; when doubts arise they must be clarified. We must cut through doubt to develop certainty; therefore we must ask our lama questions. Conviction is born in our minds though our questions. Sometimes you can cut through doubts and develop absolute confidence by single-pointedly focusing on the meaning and words of the teaching. Confidence develops after Dharma teachings are received, and developing certainty constitutes the perfection of wisdom. Disciples must cut through doubt and develop certainty by listening to the Dharma. This is how to attend to the teaching while engaging in the six perfections.
As explained before, all the practices of the bodhisattvas can be condensed into these six perfections. Try to abide by these six at all times.
Following these instructions while receiving teachings is how to practice the path of bodhisattvas, the heirs of the victorious ones. It is as well the pristine, pure way of listening to the Dharma. Hearing the Dharma in accordance with the conduct of the six perfections gathers the vast merit of receiving the teachings and also brings forth the benefits taught in the sutras.