The importance of motive and dedication

(This transcript is of the guidance talk by His Eminence Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche on The Importance of Motive and Dedication, via webcast on 21 July 2020, as a part of a series of guidance talks, via webcast, in July – August 2020, on spiritual practices requested by others.)

I have been asked to give an introduction on the importance of motive, prior to doing normally a virtuous action, and dedication and prayers at the end. I will endeavour to speak briefly, for the beginners.

We have at present acquired a human rebirth complete with the leisures and the riches, we have met with Buddha’s Teachings, we have met with Friends in Virtues (Teachers) who show us the path, we do have, without lacking, the intellect—the wisdom of discernment—for eschewing non-virtuous actions and adopting the virtuous; such a situation is very karmically fortunate one and difficult to find, that if one were not able to achieve a meaning this time there would be a little hope of acquiring again in the future such a human rebirth. There is no need to mention that, for this human life to become meaningful, it is greatly important to achieve next life’s aims, by accumulating virtuous actions through ‘amassing every dre-kilogram, amassing every phul-quarter’ (‘bre gsog phul gsog’), every addition and every little addition.

Even when glanced at roughly, the present human population—the number of those that have acquired a human rebirth—on this earth is said to be about seven billion. Of them those who know about spirituality, especially those who have met with Buddhist Teachings and know and practise the methods for achieving the ultimate goal are so few. We have not only acquired a human rebirth, we have as well met with the Teachings and Teachers, and have the thoughts of doing eschewing of negativities and adopting of virtuous—so we are of so great merits.

(Motive)

Normally, the occasions that we do virtuous actions are so few; many are the occasions we do non-virtuous actions. The few virtuous actions—prostrations and presenting of offerings, saying of prayers, and so forth—we do are incomplete with their motive, the actual action and the end dedication, that they are done in a not-powerful way, thereby their merits do not increase; thus the virtuous actions become weak, while the non-virtuous ones become powerful. As such, it is greatly important that even if one is able to do just one or two virtuous actions, one strives to ensure that they are powerful, beneficial ultimately and [their merits] increase continuously. For example, in The Seven-point Thought Training there is the advice, “Two actions at the beginning and at the end”; accordingly, the means by which a virtuous action can be made powerful and of continuously increasing [in its merits] without decline are, first, the motive needs to be set well.

Motive is the thought which compels one to engage in a virtuous action, it is like the persuader or the initiator. There has to be a motive in the thought. In general, whatever activity we do, we do so with a motive preceding it, that even with us ordinary persons the actions done without a motive preceding are very few. Be it talking, be it walking, there would be each a motive preceding, thinking, “I’ll do this”. In doing a virtuous action, therefore, say, when making an offering, or when doing prostrations, or when doing a generosity, there would be a motive, thinking, “By this action there will be merits, and by the merits the ultimate goal would be achieved”, “I’ll engage in the virtuous action, there would be benefits in doing so”. Yet, if the motive is not a qualified one, it would be difficult that the merits from that motive would be a qualified one.

For example, if four persons sit together and recite [the compassion mantra] oṁ maṇi padme hūṁ, or A Praise to Twenty-one Taras, it may appear to someone looking at them that they are uniformly engaged at a virtuous action, but if each of the four persons has a varying motive in the thought, then although the virtuous action being done by the four persons is the same reciting of A Praise to Twenty-one Taras there would be big differences in the merits—of great or small power, and the multiplicity of the merits—because of the power of the motive.

For instance, one person does the recitation of A Praise to Twenty-one Taras for oneself to recover from an illness, or for success with business, aiming at this life’s interests, where it would be a virtuous action, but it has not become inclusive to Dharma (spiritual practice); there is nothing certain about all virtuous actions becoming inclusive to spiritual practice. Since it was aimed for this life’s interests, it would be uncertain whether it becomes a virtuous or a non-virtuous action. Sure, there would be benefits from that recitation, that it would be possible for the aims—longevity and business success—to become fulfilled, but that reciting of A Praise to Twenty-one Taras has become an activity of this life, not a pure spiritual practice.

If the second person has recited the Praise aimed at not having to be reborn in the bad wanderings (lower rebirths) in the next life, it has become a small capable person’s practice, the least powerful of merits, and the lowest of the stages of the path of the three capable persons. Since it was done for next life it has become Dharma (spiritual practice) in nature but of the lowest level of Dharma, the smallest of meanings. If it was aimed for rebirth as a celestial or a human in the next life, then when the results, the merits, of that action ripen as such, they are finished at that. Also, there is no increasing of that merit, for the motive was for merely the next life’s interests.

Now, with the third person, if the person has recited the Praise by having seen all samsara as in the nature of suffering, and aiming for attaining merely liberation [from samsara], sorrow transcendence nirvana, then it has become a spiritual practice of the intermediate capable person. It has become a Dharma practice to be a cause for attaining liberation. It has become better than that of small capable person’s. Yet the result of that would be merely to attain liberation for oneself, and, it has become one that would have the danger of the merits becoming destroyed before attaining liberation. Also, there is no continuous multiplicity [of the merits with that].

With the fourth person, if the person recites A Praise to Twenty-one Taras, thinking, “For the welfare of all sentient beings I must attain Buddhahood, and for attaining that I’ll recite A Praise to Twenty-one Taras”, thus with the presence at least of enlightenment mind (bodhicitta), the merits gained from reciting the Praise would be equal to the number of sentient beings. Since the recitation was done aimed at all countless sentient beings of the three realms, in terms of the amount—‘great or small waves’—of the merits, they would be equal to the number of all sentient beings. That is the reason it is said the merits (‘roots of virtues’) of bodhicitta cannot be measured. Since the number of sentient beings cannot be measured, so the merits from that cannot be measured, it becomes a merit of so great waves.

As such, whatever major or minor virtuous action one does, the motivating thought for that is to be not to aim for self-interests, or the next life’s interests, or for mere state of liberation. One should rather think, “For the welfare of all sentient beings, I must attain Buddhahood, and for attaining Buddhahood, by aiming at accumulating multitude of causes for attaining Buddhahood, I’ll recite A Praise to Twenty-one Taras”. If one recites in such a way, the merits from that would be immeasurable, continuously increasing and those merits would not become finished, would not to be lost, until attaining enlightenment.

The motive, therefore, has to be with the presence of enlightenment mind, bodhicitta. At the least, there should be the interest in the next life. Slightly better than that would be to have the interest in liberation. And then, really that we can do and that we should be doing are of the great vehicle [motive and practices], since we have met with the great vehicle teachings. For example, A Praise to Twenty-one Taras is a Mantra (Tantric) text, so it is not only a great vehicle text, it is of the Mantra path within the great vehicle. When reciting such a text, it should be done so with a motive of enlightenment mind, as Kadampa teachers have said, “It is not enough for the teaching to be of the great vehicle, the person must have become inclusive to the great vehicle”. If the motive is without the presence of enlightenment mind, and if the practice has become that of small and intermediate capable persons’—even though the teaching is of the great vehicle—then it would be a great loss.

One needs to, thus, examine one’s motive prior to doing any virtuous action, and set the motive. If not able to do so with each action, at least in the morning, when one has just got up if one were able to set one’s motive, thinking, “Whatever actions I’ll do in a day, today, I’ll do for attaining Buddhahood for sentient beings’ welfare”. If one were able to set the motive thus, although it is the same virtuous action, the time taken is the same, the hardship involved is the same, yet the results would be of great waves beyond measure. As such, it is greatly important to set the motive. Regularly, whatever virtuous action one engages in one examines one’s motive, and sets it with the presence of enlightenment mind, thinking, “I’ll do for the welfare of all sentient beings”.

(Dedication)

Thereafter, straight away after having done a virtuous action—be it reciting of daily prayers, or praise to Tara—to do dedication of the merits arising from that virtuous action is important. As regards dedication, there are various ways of doing dedication. The main thing about dedication is to dedicate towards attaining Buddhahood, and to seal by ‘the three cycles non-observable’, to seal by the view of emptiness, that all three cycles, referents—the virtuous action, the doer of the virtuous action, and the object of the virtuous action—do not inherently exist. If one were able to seal thus with the view of non-observability of inherent existence, that becomes a complete dedication.

Generally, with any dedication, one has to indispensably dedicate the merits as the causes for attaining enlightenment, Buddhahood. To dedicate as the causes for attaining Buddhahood is the ultimate dedication. Along with the ultimate dedication there are many purposes of the temporary kind to aim for and to dedicate for. For example, if it is for one’s kind Main Teacher (Root Guru) to live long, then one dedicates for longevity of Teacher’s lifespan. If it is for flourishing fourth of Buddha’s teachings, that in this specific country and area may Buddha’s teachings flourish forth, and, if it is especially for a person to recover from an illness, one dedicates for the recovery; and, if it is for recovery of sentient beings in general from the problems of a pandemic, a conflict, or a famine, one dedicates for recovery from them, thinking that the merits are for those purposes. For the teachings to flourish forth, for wandering beings (sentient beings) to have happiness, for Dharma practices to flourish forth—there are many such virtuous aims to dedicate for.

Now, whatever these specific dedications be, it is important to dedicate ultimately towards enlightenment, for oneself and other sentient beings to attain Buddhahood. For example, when prayer services are done [for a family or a person], there can be occasions they are done for removal of illnesses in this life, and to have a long life, yet during such times the motive must not aim solely for this life’s interests, rather to think, This human life complete with the leisures and the riches is so greatly meaningful; it would be an immense loss if it is lost to an untimely death, and if I were to live for a long lifespan I would be able to put efforts into practising Buddha’s teachings for that long. Thus to think, My aim is to practise the path for attaining Buddhahood, and as the physical basis for practising the path this human life is needed, and for that a long life (longevity) is necessary; and likewise, to be able to do powerfully the virtuous actions when practising on the path I would need a healthy body, and thus for removing the sickness [I aim and dedicate accordingly]. It is not unworthy to dedicate for achieving of the temporary aims. With the motive, say, if one were to do a virtuous action [of a prayer service] for this life’s interests, the ultimate aim would be enlightenment, and for attaining of enlightenment this life is important. Similarly, if one practises a wealth deity, for material riches, or a longevity deity, for a long life, one may think, If I get good riches I can make offerings to the Jewels, I can do generosity to beggars, I can do social-welfare activities, and through them achieve Buddhahood. In this way, when at the motive stage the ultimate aim is for attaining of Buddhahood. And also at the dedication stage, the ultimate aim is for attaining Buddhahood.

As such, during any motive and dedication, it is not impermissible to think of the temporary needs, yet one must not limit just to the temporary needs; for example, if one practises Dharma for oneself to have no sickness, and aims just for oneself to have a healthy body, then, as mentioned earlier, the practice has not become a Dharma practice, it has not become a truly spiritual practice. By being without sickness one would be able to practise well Dharma, and thereby would be able to attain Buddhahood—if one has such a thinking, then there is nothing not-right about aiming as well for not to have sickness and to have things going successfully. That is how one needs to do.

If merits are not sealed by a good dedication at the end they would get destroyed by the power of anger. Even if one has strong merits, if one gets angry at other beings, especially at sublime beings, such as, bodhisattvas and emanations of Buddhas, then, a moment’s anger would destroy merits accumulated over an aeon—such has been said in Sūtras, the scriptures. Dedication can make merits not destroyable by anger. Likewise, if the merits are left without letting them increase, it would be akin to keeping with oneself a capital, instead of investing it for gaining interests on it—it would be considered better if the capital is invested for interests; similarly, if the merits were to increase continuously, that would be better. As such, the merits dedicated, aimed at enlightenment, would remain unlost (not finished) until attaining Buddhahood, as Sūtra Requested by Sāgarmati (Sāgarmatiparipṛccha-sūtra) says:

Just as a water drop fallen in a great ocean remains
Until the ocean ends, likewise also the virtues
Dedicated towards enlightenment would not end
Until enlightenment is attained.

Not only it does not end, since one aims at enlightenment, to benefit all sentient beings, that merit (root of virtue) increases continuously at all times.

Thereafter, for those who do not have an understanding of emptiness, it would be little difficult to seal merits with the view of the three cycles non-observable. If one does not know about doing dedication in a very detailed way—that it is for such specific aim and so on—the convenient way to do dedication, for a beginner, is what appears in The Noble Practising One’s Prayers—The King of Prayers (Āryabhadracaryāpraṇidhānarājā):

jām pel pa woe ji tar khyen pa dāng
kun tu sāng po dhey yāng dhey zhin tae
dhey dāk kūn gyi jey su dāk lop chir
gae wa dhi dāk thām chae rāb tu ngo

Whatever heroic Manjushri knows of,
Likewise is Samantabhadra as well;
To train after them all I dedicate
Supremely all these virtues.

The meaning is, I don’t know of doing well dedication in specific ways, I’ll train after the bodisattvas, the great beings, Manjushri and Ārya Samantabhadra and in the manner how they dedicate merits (virtues) I’ll dedicate accordingly.

dhue sūm shaek pai gyal wa thām chae kyi
ngo wa gāng la chok tu ngāk pa dhae
dhāk gi gae wai tsa wa dhi kūn kyāng
zāng po choe chir rāb tu ngo wār gyi

The dedication admired as the supreme
By all Victorious Ones Thus Gone of the three times,
I dedicate all my these merits
As that practised by Samantbhadra

The dedication admired as the best by all Buddhas of the three times—the Buddhas of the past, those appearing at present, and those to appear in the future—is the dedication I do with all these roots of virtues (merits) I have accumulated now, I dedicate in the same way as Samantabhadra dedicates.

If one recites those two verses, there would be no other dedications not inclusive to them. In such a way, for even a small merit to be a qualified one, to be powerful, to be not destroyed by anger, and to be increasing continuously, it depends on the initial motive and the end dedication. If one is able to do such a qualified dedication, then even the merits of reciting oṁ maṇi padme hūṁ for one session would benefit all sentient beings; not only that, those merits would continuously keep increasing until one attains Buddhahood, they would not be destroyed by anger, and their results would ripen when Buddhahood is attained. As such, it is greatly important to be attentive and certain as regards the motive and dedication when doing any virtuous action.

(The video recording, in Tibetan, of this guidance talk can be viewed at this link:)

https://www.facebook.com/Samdhongrinpoche%20/videos/2585065881806593