Four Dharmas of Gampopa, Session 3

Rinpoche teaches the second dharma, dharma becoming a path, in an afternoon session. He ranks motivations: seeking temporary protection, seeking temporary benefit, the lesser vehicle’s aim of personal liberation, and bodhichitta, which he defines as compassion joined with discernment. He separates the causal from the immediate motivation and relative from absolute bodhichitta.

He then teaches taking and sending with the breath, answers the worry that it might bring harm, and says its purpose is to reduce self-cherishing. The session covers the bodhisattva vow, taken repeatedly, the uncommon preliminaries, and taking and sending at the time of death.