Ep. 179 – Relative and Ultimate Bodhicitta Part I

Joseph Goldstein discusses enlightenment through the lens of the aspirational mental quality of bodhicitta – the awakened heart.

This dharma talk from June 8, 2015, was recorded at the Insight Meditation Society and originally published on Dharma Seed

In this lecture, Joseph:

• Teaches us that there are two understandings of bodhicitta: relative bodhicitta, which is compassion, and ultimate bodhicitta, which is selflessness
• Highlights the spiritual importance of cultivating both compassion and selflessness
• Ruminates on the challenges of living in our conventional, ordinarily understood reality
• Reminds us that the ungovernability of life is the nexus between dukkha and freedom
• Describes the union of emptiness and clarity
• Recognizes the need for a gradual cultivation of awareness

“The mind’s nature is vivid as a flawless piece of crystal. Intrinsically empty, naturally radiant and ceaselessly responsive.”

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