Last Sunday Geshe Jinpa Sonam continued offering commentary on the meditation chapter in The Way of the Bodhisattva, especially focusing on the verses regarding the faults of self cherishing, and the methods to counteract and distance oneself from it. In his commentary he cautioned that as self-cherishing is a “root cause of all our afflictions and suffering”, one should constantly be watchful of this is the mind, and employ methods to counteract and guard against developing this attitude. Geshela pointed out that verse 130 in this same chapter (yet to come), and a particular verse from the Guru Puja, are especially valuable here as they bring it down the very heart of the matter. Here is my translation of that verse. With sincere best wishes, Dianne Cherishing myself is the doorway to all downfalls; Cherishing others is the foundation of every good quality; Grant your blessings that I may practice that which is essential – The yoga of exchanging self and others. ~ Supplication from Lama Chöpa~
རང་ཉིད་གཅེས་འཛིན་རྒུད་པ་ཀུན་གྱི་སྒོ། མ་རྣམས་གཅེས་འཛིན་ཡོན་ཏན་ཀུན་གྱི་གཞི།
དེ་ཕྱིར་བདག་གཞན་བརྗེ་བའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་ལ། ཉམས་ལེན་སྙིང་པོར་བྱེད་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས།