To develop the enlightened attitude, or bodhichitta, you must vow or be determined to lead all mother-beings, without exception, to the Blissful Pure Land without any selfishness, and you must put that aspiration into practice through meditation and beneficial deeds.
Developing the enlightened attitude will help you to ensure your rebirth in the pure land and will also make you be more effective once you are born there.
Dodrupchen states that making a promise or determination is more powerful than making an aspiration. He writes: “In order to accomplish any aspiration, it is important to develop a strong intention or pledge, such as thinking, ‘In all my successive lives, I will train in the essence of compassion and emptiness, the path of Buddhism.’ As you know, the thought ‘I will wake up in the early morning’ has a greater impact on your waking up on time than the thought ‘May I wake up in the early morning.’”
Source: Adapted from Tulku Thondup. Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook. Edited by Harold Talbott. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, 2005.
To develop the enlightened attitude, or bodhichitta, you must vow or be determined to lead all beings, without exception, to the Blissful Pure Land without any selfishness, and you must put that aspiration into practice through meditation and beneficial deeds.
(Adapted from Tulku Thondup, Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth)