Bodhi Mind

    What is Bodhi mind? In Tea Words Volume II, Master Sheng Yen explores bodhi mind in the context of what is often referred to as "beginner's mind". Master Sheng Yen defines beginner's mind as "the mind of an ordinary sentient being that has taken the first steps in turning his or her mind toward illumination". He then remarks how "this step is sometimes called, “the first arising of bodhi-mind.” But what is bodhi? In Sanskrit, “bodhi”means awakening, or enlightenment" (p.12).
  I have often heard of the term beginner's mind, such as in situations where a person is just relaxing into doing something with wholehearted attention. For Master Sheng Yen, this entails something more specific, which means going beyond the self to embrace other beings. Hence, "To develop bodhi-mind, you begin to engage in activities that are not centered on yourself, dealing with all problems in an objective way. Ironically, this can be the way that you will resolve your own problems" (ibid).
   It's only when one is of service to others that one can get out of a mind that dwells on past pain or memories. The more that I think about it, the more this seems to me to distinguish Chan from Western therapies, particularly early forms of psychoanalysis. A lot of the underlying ideas behind psychoanalysis is that it't one's thinking and underlying ideas that cause one's present behavior. But what if, as Chan practice suggests, the real work is to engage in activities that go beyond the self, and thus deal with problems more "objectively" from the perspective of others? This is admittedly a very different view, and it challenges the belief that we are determined by our thoughts. In fact, as meditation practice suggests, we are not the same as our thoughts. We can create spaces around our thinking and ideas that allow us to see ourselves as more than our thoughts. In fact, we are even more than the sum of our own thinking.
   I am not sure how this translates into my life, because I don't feel that I have yet awakened true bodhi mind. What I do feel is that when a person makes a space for their heart's wish to connect, they can lay aside past sorrows and feelings of rejection (as well as thoughts of not being worthy of love from others or loving others). It is then that the thoughts are revealed as only the traces of what has long since been gone, at which point a person can truly start all over again in their relations to others. This "starting over again" is truly the heart of Bodhi mind.

Sheng Yen (2013). Tea Words Volume II. Elmhurst NY: Dharma Drum Publications.