You can divide the various practices of the entire path to buddhahood into wisdom and compassion.
The work of the wisdom wing is the first stages of practice: control your body, control your speech, live in vows, abide by the laws of karma; then you’d start to get concentration, start to identify the various delusions: the attachment and anger and the rest and calm them down; then eventually you’d realize emptiness.
If you’re on the Hinayana path, you’d keep going until you’ve achieved your own nirvana, and then you’re out of here!
All these delusions are all the voices of the root delusion, ego-grasping, the marigpa, the ignorance, the belief in the intrinsic, independent, self-existent, inherent me. It’s highly technical and clear and precise, and you’ve got to have single-pointed concentration to do the job properly. It’s highly sophisticated but doable. That’s the wisdom wing.
Now, without even going into the bodhisattva path, and even if you haven’t fully developed the wisdom wing, if you’re focusing on controlling your body, controlling your speech, and not harming others, and then learning to not be attached and angry and jealous and neurotic, what kind of person would you be?
You’d be a lovely human being! You’d be happy and joyful and fulfilled, and of course people will love you and you’ll be a really nice person to be around. Even if you’re not focusing on the compassion aspect, you will naturally be more empathetic to others. It’s just a natural consequence: every time you don’t follow attachment, the opposite is you’re more related to others; every time you stop being angry, you’re being kind to others. It’s an automatic consequence, a natural consequence.
But on the compassion wing – I’d put it this way – you’re proactively working on enhancing all that: enhancing empathy and kindness and compassion. Do you see my point? The focus is on that.
On the wisdom wing, with the focus on controlling your body, speech, and mind, you’re becoming a happy, wise person, and you’re keeping out of sentient beings’ way and leaving them in peace, Now you’re ready to go to the compassion wing. You could argue like that, you know?
Different types of practice, different approaches – and you don’t have to perfect the wisdom wing before you try the compassion wing: you do them all on the same day. Every time you’re kind, you’re effectively practicing the compassion wing; every time you control your mouth, you’re practicing the wisdom wing; every time you look at emptiness, you’re practicing the wisdom wing; every time you practice bodhichitta, you’re growing the compassion wing.
There are different flavors, different approaches: sometimes you sort of shut your mouth and be quiet – that’s the wisdom component. Sometimes you’ve got to consciously say a positive word – that’s the compassion one. It’s a way of describing the different approaches – they’re different. Do you understand, people?
You do them all in one day, you know, but at different times you choose your tool. Refraining from harming is the first level, the wisdom wing. Actively trying to benefit is the more advanced level, the compassion wing. Very different approaches. Do you understand, people?
Finally, of course, if you want to become fully enlightened, wisdom is not enough – realizing emptiness is not enough – and having bodhichitta is not enough. In fact, you can lose bodhichitta until a certain level of realization – you can lose bodhichitta. You cannot lose emptiness.
Some people have more of a tendency towards compassion and can probably get bodhichitta before they realize emptiness – that’s possible. Some people have a sharper mind and might get emptiness before they have bodhichitta. One or the other, you know, it depends on your style, depends on your personality, depends on the type of person you are in this life, your approach.
So, one step at a time!