So the transference of consciousness is something that we’ll give you an introduction to, and also to the visualizations that are related to it. By relying on that, what you basically try to cultivate is the ability to consciously move your consciousness from your body at the time of death, and take a rebirth in a pure land such as the pure land of Amitabha, the land of happiness.

Motivation

When you start receiving any teachings it’s always important to review your motivation and purify or correct it. So try to think not only of yourself and your own needs, but also try to have the intention to benefit beings. Sentient beings are as vast as space and as great as an ocean, so work to change your motivation from being selfish to something like, "For the benefit of all sentient beings I am going to participate in this particular teaching, which is called the transference of consciousness." It’s important to be very conscious of your motivation because your motivation establishes how things develop. For example, suppose that someone has a very pure heart. From that, actions of their body and their speech will be in harmony with that, and they will create basically good karma, positive actions, and of course that will bring about proportionate good results. Whereas if someone has a bad mind, a negative motivation, even though their body and their speech may behave in a manner which appears to be virtuous, this doesn’t actually accrue any positive quality whatsoever because the nature of the mind is negative in its motivation. Therefore it’s important to be more conscious of your motivation and to correct it in a positive, constructive manner.

By having a virtuous and positive attitude and approach to life, your own life will be much more a source of happiness for yourself. The way you approach situations will be happier, the actions of the body and speech will be happier, your relationships with others will be more positive and other people will recognize that. They will recognize you as a nice person and will therefore like your company. Whereas in contrast if someone has a negative mindset, of course we become distrustful of the person because they lie, they’re deceptive and they also commit negative actions. So we can easily see that a negative mind and a negative approach to life creates complications and sufferings not only for that individual, but also for others around that person. Therefore it’s very important to put some emphasis on, "Who am I?" and, "Where am I coming from?" Try to make your mind positive and virtuous, and in that way many good qualities will accrue.

Certainly the whole intention of Buddha Shakyamuni was for us to realize our mind and gain a deep realization of ourselves. With regards to that the Buddha said, "Irrespective of what the actions of your body and speech are, your mind is the most important thing. It is what creates how you experience things and creates your actions." Therefore the Buddha said to be very conscious of yourself and your attitude or approach to life, because if that is in a virtuous direction then it will be more beneficial for you. Also, if you have a virtuous, positive mind and approach to life, then of course what you are doing is working constructively to remove the negative traits that you might have. So you are developing a purification of negativity, and this accrues a great deal of positive energy. And by doing that then you are accomplishing what is necessary in the process of becoming an enlightened person. So please be much more conscious of your motivation.

Refuge and Bodhichitta

Having corrected your motivation and established in yourself in a more positive approach, the next thing that you need to do is to take Refuge and generate the altruistic attitude towards others. Now, why take Refuge? You do this because Refuge puts you on the path to enlightenment. What Refuge means is that you decide what is important for yourself and how you are going to work with yourself. So you take Refuge and develop the altruistic mind of bodhicitta, or the altruistic mind of working for the benefit of other sentient beings. That insures that you will obtain the path towards enlightenment. If you want to practice any style of practice you have to first be able to appreciate what taking Refuge means and then also generate an altruistic mind. You may have heard of the teachings called the Great Completion. The Great Completion is a very special and profound practice. If you practice and rely upon it properly you can attain enlightenment in one lifetime. But to be able to do that you have to first take Refuge and generate the altruistic attitude of wishing to benefit sentient beings. If you don’t, even though you try to practice something so profound as the Great Completion it will not have any benefit. This applies actually to any style of spiritual practice you may undertake. You have to put it in the context of first taking Refuge, trying to gain understandings to bring about your own enlightenment, and then secondly generating the altruistic attitude to benefit all sentient beings. By doing that, all your practices will be successful and will bring about all the positive results that you desire. If you don’t take Refuge they won’t. So this is the bottom line, the basic point. It’s what Buddha Shakyamuni (the historical Buddha of our time) meant when he said, "The purpose of my Dharma is to make you realize your mind and then to develop that." Therefore be conscious of your attitude, and bring yourself into the style of practice with the Refuge and the altruistic motivation.

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