Bodhicitta and the Bodhisattva Vows, Questions

Rinpoche answers five questions from the audience, with a translator. He says a short tonglen session need not include absolute bodhichitta, and that he taught that practice within the seven points of mind training on another occasion. On benefiting others and oneself, he advises acting for others only where one can succeed and will not regret it.

He replies that accumulating merit strengthens faith and so bodhichitta, balances service with practice so that motivation stays pure, and explains why a beginner builds bodhichitta from the ordinary sense of self and other before emptiness.