May your true nature grow and flourish.
In the Mahayana Buddhist traditions there is a common dedication prayer that we say at the end of most practices and teachings known as the Prayer for Bodhicitta:
May bodhicitta, precious and sublime,
Arise in those in whom it has not arisen,
Where it has arisen may it never fail,
But grow and flourish ever more!
Bodhicitta is Sanskrit for the awakened mind and represents the mind of enlightenment that seeks to secure for all beings immediate benefit and the ultimate supreme joy of perfect awakening.
In the Mahayana sutra tradition there are many ways to understand bodhicitta, but in brief we should understand it as bodhicitta in intention and bodhicitta in practice. As Shantideva writes in his Bodhicaryavatara:
Bodhicitta, the awakened mind,
Is known in brief to have two aspects:
First, aspiring, bodhicitta in intention;
Then active bodhicitta, practical engagement.
Bodhicitta in intention is the aspiration to attain enlightenment. It is a wish or intention that focuses on the result. Active bodhicitta is the practical engagement in the activities of a bodhisattva.
In Dzogchen, bodhicitta refers to our true nature, the ever-present primordial state of being. This primordial state of awareness has three aspects: essence, nature, and energy. The essence is originally pure emptiness, its nature unceasing luminosity, and the energetic expression is unconditional compassion.
This bodhicitta, the primordial state of our own mind, is the spontaneous, natural state that is ever-present and timeless.
If we think about the Prayer for Bodhicitta from the perspective of Dzogchen, what it is saying is:
May bodhicitta, our natural, uncontrived state,
Be recognized for those who have not recognize it,
Where it has been recognized may it never waver,
But deepen and flourish ever more!
As a Dzogchen practitioner, your work is to recognize your true nature and let it flourish. Your work as a practitioner is to honor your potential and to allow your creative potential to ripen and flourish.
