So let's just sit quietly for a few minutes to make sure our minds are settled down in the present,
The here and now,
And in a good state,
Having a good motivation for joining this class.
And then after that,
I'll just lead a short guided meditation on the lines of bodhicitta,
The aspiration for enlightenment.
So last week,
We started meditating on one of the main methods for generating bodhicitta,
Which is called equalizing and exchanging self and others.
And the first point in that meditation is equalizing self and others.
And in a simple way,
That involves realizing that we are all the same.
Oneself and all other people,
All other living beings are the same,
And we want to be happy and we don't want to suffer.
It's kind of a fairly simple idea.
And there's a way of meditating on this point of equalizing self and others that involves nine points.
And this comes from Trichong Rinpoche,
The junior tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
And so I thought tonight we'll meditate on the first three of the nine points,
And then we'll gradually work our way through the nine.
So contemplating these nine points is a more expansive way of generating a sense of the equality of ourselves and others.
So the first three points contain reasons that are related to others,
Focusing more on others.
So the first point is basically what we meditated on last time,
And that is to simply think that every single living being,
Every being that has mind,
Mind,
Awareness,
Thoughts,
Feelings,
All of us have the same wish to be happy and to be free from suffering.
So given that,
Is it right for us to discriminate among living beings and wish only some of them to be happy and free from suffering,
But not feel that way towards others?
So just contemplate that and ask yourself if there's any good reason to discriminate and only want some beings to be happy but not others.
And then for the second point,
Imagine that you are working in a food bank or in some kind of famine relief program,
And there are ten people standing in front of you.
All of them are hungry.
All of them are in need of food.
So would it be right for you to give food only to some of those people and not give it to the others?
And then for the third point,
Imagine that you are a doctor and in your waiting room are ten people who are all suffering from flu-like symptoms.
They're all equally suffering from basically the same symptoms.
So in that situation,
Would it be right for you to help only some of those patients and send some of them away saying,
I'm not going to help you,
I'm not going to take care of you?
So when we contemplate in this way,
We probably can see that it doesn't make sense to discriminate.
And yes,
I really should help all people,
All beings equally.
But then we need to check how we act in our daily life when we are among people,
If we are able to have this same kind of attitude that everyone equally deserves our care,
Our concern,
Our help.
So be on the lookout for that in your daily life.
Just check to see how your mind actually does work in relation to other people and other beings.
And if you do notice that there is some discrimination,
There's some bias,
Don't feel bad,
Don't beat yourself up.
It's normal.
And it does take time to integrate these contemplations into our mind and into our life.
And just be glad that you are able to recognize that your attitude towards others isn't completely equal,
So that then you can work on changing that,
Improving that.
