(From a teaching on buddha nature by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche, Tampa (FL) 2009. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso, transcribed by Ann G. Shaffer, edited by Basia Coulter. Copyright Bardor Tulku Rinpoche and Peter O’Hearn. All right reserved.)

We are afflicted by a serious illness called samsara [ed: cyclic existense]. Like any serious illness, it requires a strong and effective remedy. The most effective remedy for the illness of samsara is bodhichitta [ed: mind of awakening].

We can say that the illness of samsara is serious because throughout beginningless time, in spite of the innumerable lifetimes we have undergone, we have up to now failed to achieve any state of true freedom.

We are like horses tethered to a stake driven into the ground. No matter how strong the horse may be, if a horse is tethered to a stake, the horse can go anywhere within the circumference determined by the length of the tether, but it cannot ever go outside that area. On the other hand, if the tether is cut, then the horse can escape and go anywhere it wants. We are just like that.

In our case, the stake that determines the center of the area we can go is our fixation on a self. The tether, which binds us to that stake are our kleshas [ed: afflicted emotions]. So we can move about quite a bit within that limited area. We can do good things and therefore achieve a higher rebirth as humans or devas, and we can do bad things and achieve a lower rebirth as a hell being, a preta [ed: hungry ghost], or an animal. But we cannot do anymore than that as long as we are tethered to the stake of our own self-fixation.

Whatever type of rebirth we undergo, it is still samsara. The revelation of buddha nature, the full discovery of one’s own buddha nature, is like cutting that tether. And through cutting that tether one can really escape samsara and reach non-abiding nirvana. That nirvana is the perfect accomplishment of one’s own good as one has abandoned everything that is to be abandoned and realized everything there is to be realized. But it is also the perfect accomplishment of the potential good for others because one becomes able to show the path to others and to show them that which is overcome on the path.

Through the full recognition of buddha nature, we can become the same as the Buddha; we can have all the compassion, all the wisdom, and all the power to benefit others that he demonstrated. The cause of all of these qualities—wisdom, compassion, and power—is completely present within us already and it is our fundamental nature.

What we need to do is to create the conditions for it to be revealed. For example, the cause of a plant is a seed. But the seed alone, while necessary, is insufficient for the growth of the plant. In addition to the seed you need several conditions; you need the right type of soil, the right amount of water, the right amount of sunlight and shade, the right temperature, and so on. The seed alone is not enough.

Because of ignorance, we misapprehend buddha nature as a self. And because of that self-fixation, we have kleshas. We therefore need a remedy that is more powerful that ignorance that is the fundamental cause of samara, and the only remedy that is more powerful than this is bodhichitta.

Once one generates bodhichitta, as long as that intention remains, even when you are asleep, even when you are not thinking about bodhichitta, you still continue to accrue merit. Therefore whenever you listen to dharma, receive an empowerment, or engage in practice, always begin by clearly generating the motivation of bodhichitta. And this is why at the beginning of teaching and practice sessions we always chant the refuge and bodhichitta stanza.

Bodhichitta is the most powerful medicine to overcome the illness of samsara and to enable one’s innate buddha nature to be revealed.