A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, The 37 Practices of A Bodhisattva and Nagarjuna's The Fundamental Wisdom; 15-August-2006 (Day 2 of 5; Afternoon) - Dalai Lama Audio Teachings on Tibetan Buddhism Podcast

Summary: The Bodhisattva abandons the entanglements of homeland and seeks solitude. He or she seeks to uproot the four distorted views that see the unclean as clean, the fleeting as permanent, the miserable as happy and the selfless as intrinsically existent. Viewing the self as solid, lasting etc is the root affliction from which all disturbing emotions arise. Close as we are to our friends and possessions, at death we have to leave them. Therefore, it is the practice of a Bodhisattva to let go of this life. The true spiritual friend is one under whose influence your spiritual practice improves. Returning to Chapter 9 of the Guide there is debate between different views of reality; between the yogis who engage with the actual mode of being, and the common people who accept things as they appear; between proponents of the Middle Way and Realists. Followers of the Middle Way offer the challenge that their opponents fail to understand the purpose of emptiness, which is to undermine the afflictions and disturbing emotions. It is to uproot the four distorted views. His Holiness agrees with a listener that this is tough, exclaiming that he has spent many years grappling with the idea of emptiness. He says he doesn’t claim to have realised it, but has got a whiff of it, just as you may catch the smell of a good meal without eating it.