Page:Dudjom Rinpoche A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom.pdf/210

And as already quoted, the master Ashvagosha says: All these sources of good that I have accomplished I dedicate as the cause of the state beyond the world, Without thoughts related to cyclic existence, or hopes Of any resulting fame, praise, or happiness, celestial or human. The “state beyond the world” comprises the three levels of nirvana. Of them, the Listeners’ and Solitary Realizers’ nirvanas are inferior with respect to the Great Vehicle’s nirvana, so we should not dedicate to these, for as the Buddha advises in the Middle Sutra of Transcendent Wisdom, Subhuti, you should dedicate this source of good only to the level of Buddhahood. Do not dedicate it to the levels of Listeners or Solitary Realizers, or to other levels. Dedicate, therefore, only to the level of Omniscient Buddhahood, as in the Prayer of Good Action: All of it I dedicate to enlightenment. And in the Sutra of Complete Dedication: These sources of good I dedicate to Buddhahood. By dedicating to that end, we will incidentally reap all kinds of happiness in the meanwhile (a long life, good health, and happy circumstances—good family, wealth, and so forth), like the bran one gets as a by-product with the grain from a good harvest. (iii) For whose sake one dedicates If we dedicate our merit to ourselves alone, or to a few people like our relatives and friends, even if it is an enormously positive action, its benefit will be diminished and it will be wasted, as the Middle Sutra of Transcendent Wisdom points out: Dedicate it for the sake of all sentient beings and not simply to your own gain, for you would then fall to the level of the Listeners and Solitary Realizers. For this reason, we should dedicate it so that all beings, as numerous as space is vast, attain unsurpassable enlightenment, feeling for them an immense love and compassion, for in the countless times they have been our parents, they have shown us nothing but kindness. The Way of the Bodhisattva says: My body, thus, and all my goods besides, And all my merits gained and to be gained, I give them all and do not count the cost, To bring about the benefit of every being.