Originally posted by sinweiy:
tot it's a good info:
Relative and Absolute Bodhicitta...The Bodhisattva vow is like a staircase. In a many-storied house, you cannot reach any higher levels without a staircase. The Bodhisattva vow has two aspects: relative Bodhicitta and absolute Bodhicitta. Relative Bodhicitta is like the root of a plant, and absolute Bodhicitta its main stem. You need to take the Bodhisattva vow. It will enable you to develop the special quality of Bodhicitta towards all sentient beings, an attitude of loving kindness and compassion towards all.
Absolute Bodhicitta is the wisdom of Bodhicitta mind, and is therefore non-dualistic. When the attitude of loving kindness and compassion is dualistic in nature, then it is relative Bodhicitta. This is connected to the emotional states of mind and does not carry much quality. Nevertheless, it is the base of absolute Bodhicitta or wisdom. In other words, you have to develop the absolute Bodhicitta mind from the ground of relative Bodhicitta.
Relative Bodhicitta is compassion and loving-kindness mind. Lacking the wisdom of absolute Bodhicitta, you will attach to things, and you will grasp. The effect is that a lot of emotions will be stirred up making your Bodhicitta not pure.
Bodhi means enlightenment. Bodhicitta means the heart of enlightenment. Bodhi Path means the path to enlightenment. While on the Bodhi Path, the heart should be detached from the emotions. So, the view of absolute Bodhicitta is called for on the Bodhi Path.
relative and ultimate truths
In order to develop absolute Bodhicitta, a few steps have to come first. The first step is to hear the precise instructions about the nature of phenomena. The teachings of the Buddha explain precisely how phenomena are just illusions of your mind. On a relative level, everything is there as you see it. However, the absolute or ultimate nature of any phenomenon is that it does not truly exist.
Take the beams of this house, for example. They are supported by the pillars, and the pillars in turn stand on the ground. So we say that the beams depend on the pillars, which depend on the ground. And the roof of the house depends on the beams. Put all these interdependent parts together, and you have a house. This is the relative truth of the house –a collection of the many interdependent parts.
But, if you were to look for the absolute truth of the house itself, you would not find it in any of its parts. The ground is not the house. The pillars are not it and neither is it the roof nor the beams. In absolute/ultimate truth, the house does not exist. Ultimate, in this sense, means that which cannot be removed or altered.
Relatively, everything exists in an interdependent way. You are in a relative existence in samsara. If you wish to liberate yourself from samsara, then you will have to depend on the Dharma, as well as both relative and absolute Bodhicitta. They are all the parts that you need in order to build up your (house of) enlightenment. In other words, to reach the ultimate truth of enlightenment, you rely on the path of Dharma, which is the relative truth....--K u n z i g . S h a m a r . R i n p o c h e
Teachings related to the Mahamudra Curriculum
for Bodhi Path Centers
http://www.shamarpa.org/teachings/maha-curric03.php/\
Homage to the His Excellency Sharmapa
May he continue to bring dharma to the countless sentient beings
