Entering the Conduct of the Bodhisattvas
Text Section 283
In the quote from the Samādhi-rāja-sūtra the phrase a loving mind or a mind of kindness [byams pa’i sems] refers to a mind infused with immeasurable kindness [byams pa tshad med] that thinks,
“May all beings have happiness and the causes for happiness.”
The merit of generating such a kind attitude only once surpasses by far the merit gained by offering boundless myriads of offerings to boundless numbers of buddhas every day. The phrase does not match [char mi phod pa] literally means ’does not come close to’ [phyogs su mi nye ba] and connotes ’cannot even compete in the slightest way’ [phyogs su yang ’gran thub gi ma red].
What benefits your mind most is what bears the most merit. When you genuinely develop a mind of loving kindness, your mind will become open and peaceful.
If you present great offerings, the danger still exists that you might develop pride and arrogance, thinking,
“I have offered the supreme offerings. No one gathers merit like I do.”
A practitioner whose mind is absorbed in meditation on kindness is also a supreme object for receiving offerings. If you present offerings to such a yogin, the karmic fruition will ripen for you in this very life. If a mind of kindness is so powerful, there is no need to mention the much greater benefits of bodhicitta of application.
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