Here we’re exploring into deep topics—the heart of Bodhicitta and the whole logic of “why bother being good” in a world that can feel chaotic and harsh.
- All phenomena are spiritual in nature: When we look closely, nothing is solid, separate, or truly independent. This earth, our bodies, our thoughts—everything is dependently arisen, empty of inherent self, and yet vividly appearing. Because of that, how we relate to phenomena becomes the whole path.
- Bodhicitta as the key: The awakening mind—Bodhicitta—is what transforms samsara into the path. It’s not just a nice feeling; it’s the intention to awaken for the benefit of all beings, and that intention itself begins to liberate the mind from suffering. It reorients everything away from self-clinging.
- Living in harmony with natural law: When we live in line with how things actually are—impermanent, interdependent, selfless—we naturally move toward loving-kindness, compassion, and the six paramitas.
The Six Paramitas are as follows:
- Generosity
- Ethical discipline
- Patience
- Joyful effort
- Concentration
- Wisdom These aren’t moral decorations; they are methods for purifying the mind of confusion and self-grasping.
- Seeing through self-grasping: Under misapprehension, we follow the pattern of “me, mine, I”—and suffer. With deeper reflection, we see that all phenomena are selfless. The “solid me” we defend doesn’t exist the way we think it does. So there’s no real need to keep repeating the same old pattern of self-centeredness., which just continues to perpetuate the same mistakenness (delusion).
- Sameness wisdom and one taste: “Dissolve mistaken concept in the light of sameness wisdom” is beautiful. Samsara and nirvana are of one taste—not two different universes, but two ways of relating to the same reality.
- When mind clings and reifies, that’s samsara.
- When mind recognises its own nature—aware of awareness, free of fixation—that’s nirvana. The appearances don’t have to change; recognising that there is no need to grasp does.
In order to do this the mind must be trained and use an inner method of practice consistently, to liberate mind from attachment to its own self-clinging.
- Don’t leave this life empty-handed: “Do not leave the island without the jewels” is such a powerful image. This life is the island; the jewels are the seeds of recognition, the habits of Bodhicitta, the glimpses of awareness knowing itself. If we plant those seeds now, they ripen as freedom from compulsive self-clinging.
- Science of mind, not blind belief: Here what is being pointed to is investigation, not dogma: really look into the mind, its movements, its habits, its nature. See how self-clinging creates suffering. See how compassion and wisdom loosen it. That’s like doing inner science—testing the teachings in direct experience.
- Conquering the “dark side”: Not by hating it (that is merely attachment to concept and projection, a kind of hallucination), but by bringing awareness and love to it. Self-love here isn’t narcissism; it’s including yourself in compassion, so you’re not at war with your own mind. From there, helping others and dedicating merit becomes natural—because you recognise they’re wandering in the same confusion you know from the inside.
Closing Notes:
Since reality is selfless, interdependent, and luminous, then it actually makes sense—logically and spiritually—to strive to get along, to be kind, to awaken. Anything else is just continuing a pattern that causes suffering and never really works. (Nothing really works in samsara).
❤️
🌙 The Island of Jewels
(A Dharma Poem)
A wanderer walked through a world made of light,
Yet mistook every shadow for solid and tight.
He clung to each echo as “me” and “my own,”
And wondered why sorrow had carved him to bone.
One night by a river of shimmering mind,
He met an old sage who was wise, gentle and kind. “
Child,” said the sage, “all you fear, all you see,
Is empty of self—yet awake, yet free.”
“But why,” asked the wanderer, “do hearts break and bend?
Why do beings grow weary with no guiding friend?”
The sage smiled softly, “Not knowing or forgetting whilst walking this earth
The jewel in their pocket they’ve carried since birth.”
So the sage told a tale of the Island of Life,
Where beings arrive with confusion and strife.
They search for a treasure outside in the storm,
Not knowing the jewel in their heart keeps them warm.
“Bodhicitta,” he whispered, “the mind that awakes,
The courage to love for all other hearts’ sakes.
It cuts through the darkness of self-clinging’s snare,
And shows you the truth that was always right there.”
The wanderer listened; the river ran clear.
The sage’s words softened the edges of fear.
“Practice kindness,” he said, “and compassion as well,
For these are the keys that unlock every spell.
The six paramitas will steady your way,
Like lanterns that glow through the night and the day.
And when you grow weary, remember this too:
Samsara and nirvana share one single view.
The mind that is grasping creates its own cage;
The mind that is spacious steps out of the stage.
Awareness of awareness—the root and the door—
Reveals you were free every moment before.”
The wanderer bowed, and the river bowed back,
The moon lit a path through the world’s shifting lack.
He walked on with clarity, gentle and bright,
Carrying the jewel that dissolves every night.
And he vowed as he travelled through valleys and plains
To help other wanderers loosen their chains.
For all beings are drifting through mind’s restless sea,
Helpless and searching for what they can’t see.
So he shared what he’d learned, and he lived what he knew:
That the heart becomes boundless when self becomes few.
And he whispered to all, “Do not leave this life’s shore
Without finding the jewel and seeking no more.”
❤️