Bodhicitta is the Main Ingredient What is true spirituality and who owns it? Nobody owns it. As long as there is the principle of Bodhicitta mind, then there is true spirituality. The moment there is no longer Bodhicitta mind, it is no longer the path to enlightenment. We always have to reexamine our heart and mind to see whether Bodhicitta is the main ingredient. In the Dharma practice recipe, Bodhicitta is the main ingredient. All other practices are just spice on top of that. Bodhicitta mind is the main ingredient. We must have that or the recipe is not going to be very delicious or satisfying. We prove it thus: when we do Dharma practice and forget to take Bodhicitta as the core essence, no matter how much we put ourselves into retreat, we always go back to the same samsara, the same hope, fear, and insecurity, because Bodhicitta has been lacking in our Dharma recipe. By practicing Dharma without connecting to our own hearts, our practice lacks the genuine flavor of a pure mind. So we have to always take refuge and generate Bodhicitta as the essence of our recipe. We need to examine whether there is the Bodhicitta ingredient or not. We need to examine our own motivation. I’ve found the most helpful practice in Mahayana is to examine my own motivation. The essential message of the Mahayana teaching is to put Bodhicitta into practice by continuously examining one’s motivation. Examining motivation is not about being harsh or judgmental to ourselves by being spiritually or religiously restrictive. We do not have to give commentary to ourselves about whether we are a good or bad spiritual practitioner. But it is good to reexamine our mind without judgment. Examination is completely different. When we examine our minds and the underlying motivation of our Dharma practice, we may sense that there is a lack of love and compassion. That’s fine. We only have to be aware of this and then we can cultivate the desire to generate genuine Bodhicitta mind. If we do have the Bodhicitta mind then we should be very joyous. From the beginning, when we practice Bodhicitta mind, the most important point is to acknowledge the suffering of all sentient beings, including ourselves. We acknowledge by asking ourselves, “What is the nature of the suffering we experience?” The nature of suffering is just the experience of our minds. It does not exist in physical circumstances. Suffering is a state of mind; the state of our minds when they have been completely obscured by the delusions of hope and fear. Suffering is only a state of mind. Our experience of suffering is like experiencing mental hallucinations. By understanding the nature of reality through the realization that all suffering is a fabrication of the mind, we come to understand the suffering of all sentient beings. We develop this understanding by deeply contemplating the sufferings of ourselves and all sentient beings.