A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, The 37 Practices of A Bodhisattva and Nagarjuna's The Fundamental Wisdom; 16-August-2006 (Day 3 of 5; Morning) - Dalai Lama Audio Teachings on Tibetan Buddhism Podcast

We have the precious opportunity of having found this life as a free and fortunate human being at a time when the Buddha’s teaching still exists. Nevertheless, we will die and when that happens the only help will be the imprint of the Dharma on our minds. The entry to the Dharma is taking refuge. Of the three sources of refuge, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the actual refuge is the Dharma, defined as cessation or freedom from afflictive emotions and the state of realisation that brings that about. In the context of the law of causality a Bodhisattva’s practice never to commit an unwholesome deed. The aspiration for a better rebirth is something common among Buddhism and other faiths and is a means of overcoming the suffering of suffering and the suffering of change. However, seeking liberation from cyclic existence, characterised as it is by all pervasive suffering, is a Buddhist aspiration and a Bodhisattva’s practice. It is supported by the three transcendental trainings in ethics, meditative stabilisation and wisdom. Bodhisattvas generate the awakening mind that aspires to liberate all beings. They employ the seven point cause and effect instruction, or the means of exchanging self and others or the combined eleven-point meditation on generating the awakening mind.