While it is of course true that our Guru’s mind (the synthesis of all Buddha’s minds) is constantly bestowing blessings on the minds of all living beings every day just as the sun is always shining above the clouds, from our side there is much we can and indeed have to do to be able to actually RECEIVE blessings. The fact that Buddha’s blessings are always available and s/he is always BESTOWING blessings does not mean we are RECEIVING them. We have to create openings in our mind for that light to enter. We have to open the blinds for the light to come in.

It is true all living beings might receive blessings every day, but receiving those blessings has a cause that we ourselves engaged in – perhaps not at that moment, perhaps not even in this life, but at some point in our infinite past lives. The laws of karma are quite clear: if the cause is not created, the effect cannot be experienced. We can consider the story of Angulimala (I think it was him). It was said that you needed some degree of virtue in your mind to ordain and Buddha’s seers couldn’t find any in his dark mind. But Buddha saw he was a fly on dung in the rain circumambuling a stupa. That created a tiny aperture for the light of the blessings to come in, and from that the rest could follow.

In any event, it is clear that there are things we can do – and should do – to receive blessings even more. Our refuge commitment is to MAKE EFFORT to RECEIVE blessings. There are things WE need to do from our side to train in this refuge commitment to be able to receive even more light into our mind. It is not an on/off switch, but a volume knob. The more we do these things, the more we create the causes to actually receive blessings, and the more blessings we receive.

First, our pride blocks blessings from flowing in just as surely as blinds block the sunlight. The degree of our pride determines how closed the blinds are.

Likewise, the greater our faith, the more we melt the snows on the snow mountain of our guru’s mind. More faith = more blessings.

Additionally, we can improve our motivation to align it with the motivation of our guru and our reasons for WANTING (also not a passive thing) to receive blessings. Buddha may bestow blessings equally on all living beings, but surely we RECEIVE more blessings if our motivation is bodhichitta versus some selfish motivation for wanting blessings. If we align the sails of our mind with the pure winds of our guru’s blessings (that always blow in the direction of the city of enlightenment) then the more blessings flow into our mind.

We can also increase how much we receive blessings by considering how our guru, the blessings, and our mind are all equally empty, like the space between three different bottles subsequently broken. When we think Buddhas exist independently of our mind, we create this obstruction as if their mind is there and our mind is here and there is no way for the blessings to flow in. When we realize the emptiness of the three spheres of receiving blessings, we break down these obstructions.

Further, the degree of our concentration when we are engaging in the mental action of receiving blessings will determine how much blessings are able to flow in. We have all engaged in group pujas with the recording and been distracted when the part of the sadhana for receiving blessings occurs. Did we RECEIVE as many blessings as we would have if we weren’t distracted?

So from my perspective, it seems very clear there are many things we need to do from our side to fulfill our refuge commitment to Buddha – reduce our pride, increase our faith, align our motivation with his, remember emptiness, concentrate single-pointedly, etc. It doesn’t just happen automatically or passively. If it seems like it does, this is actually just us burning up our merit from our past actions of doing the things we need to do to receive blessings. There are no effects without a cause.

To go further, I would say there are many disadvantages to thinking receiving blessings is a passive thing. First, we then think there is nothing we need to do to accomplish our refuge commitment to MAKE EFFORT to RECEIVE blessings, so we fail to create those causes. Second, we can fall into despair and discouragement thinking there is nothing we can do about the fact that we are not feelin’ it anymore, like we are a passive experiencer of our fate. Third, we can get into the weird narratives of our guru is upset at us and withholding his blessings, what did I do wrong, is he punishing me or does he no longer love me? There are many other disadvantages of the view that receiving blessings is a passive thing I’m sure we can consider.

All this leads me to think perhaps there are also things we need to do to MAKE EFFORT to RECEIVE Sangha’s help. This too is not a passive thing, even if Sangha from their side do want to help all the time. There are conditions we need to create in our mind – indeed the same conditions as for receiving blessings – for us to actually receive Sangha’s help. The more we create those causes, the more help we might be able to receive.

This is a deep practice, actually. For me, I often try be their spiritual Rambo doing it all on my own, and the more I’m experiencing extreme difficulty in my life, the more I close up and isolate myself to work it all out on my own. This is sometimes appropriate to do, but it can also many times be a big mistake. I think I do this because I have been betrayed in my life many times by the people I have counted on. I put my faith in them, then when it is my time of need, they fail to show up or worse they betray that trust and drive the knife in deeper. Of course I created the causes for them to do that to me, but still it has left me often not making effort to receive Sangha’s help. I’m hurt enough at such times, I couldn’t take finding out that I can’t count on Sangha too. I have to push myself to ask for their help.

There are also all sorts of pride reasons and strange notions about how I can’t show I’m deluded for fear of people losing faith in me or whatever (a very common neurosis amongst so-called “senior practitioners” or “Dharma teachers” – not that I consdier myself either of these things).

In short, like all of our Dharma practices, receiving Buddha’s blessings and receiving Sangha’s help are things we need to do. We need to make effort to do these things. If we fail to do so, we actually haven’t entered Buddhism and the rest of our practice lacks a foundation at best or is a sham at worst – we are practicing performative Buddhism, not Kadampa Buddhism.

But perhaps I am wrong about all this. If so, please explain why. Me asking is me making effort to receive Sangha’s help. 😉