Loading
The Way of the Bodhisattva
The Way of the Bodhisattva L52
In this session of the Way of the Bodhisattva, Khenpo Sodargye focuses on the specific faults of lacking mindfulness and awareness. After reviewing the general teaching from the previous session, he explains two key specific faults: the loss of wisdom and the loss of discipline. He illustrates how this happens in practice — students who sit attentively in class may immediately begin chatting, gossiping, and letting the mind wander the moment class ends, slowly losing the ground they have gained. Khenpo then reads the sutra verse: "Even if one has faith, learning, and diligence — if one lacks awareness, one will be polluted by downfalls." He applies this to practitioners of all traditions, noting that faith, extensive learning, and energetic practice alone cannot prevent ethical downfall if moment-to-moment awareness is absent. The analogy of afflictions as thieves is then elaborated: without the lock of awareness, the robbers of greed, hatred, and ignorance can walk right through the unlocked door and steal every last bit of virtue from one's mindstream. Khenpo emphasizes that losing mindfulness means losing everything accumulated over many years of practice — in an instant. The session ends with a series of powerful verses: mindfulness must never stray from the gateway of the mind; mindfulness blocks all afflictions; the light of love and purity dispels the darkness of the three poisons. Khenpo concludes that to truly benefit beings, practitioners must keep mindfulness and awareness as their companion for life.