Lesson 3 from A Comprehensive Commentary on the Words of My Perfect Teacher opens the teaching on how to listen to Dharma, beginning with the correct motivation. The lesson explains that bodhicitta has two indivisible aspects: great compassion for all beings — who have each been our parents — and the wisdom aspiration to lead them to Buddhahood.
To illustrate the first aspect, the teacher recounts the Buddha prostrating to a pile of roadside bones, and Atisha crying out for a struggling horse as his "old mother." The lesson then introduces the Three Supreme Methods — arousing bodhicitta before any virtuous action, maintaining non-distracted awareness during it, and sealing it with dedication — and insists these apply equally to a single mantra recitation or building a multi-storey temple. Extended warnings follow against practice motivated by fame, titles, or worldly gain, illustrated with the monk who meditates only when observed.
The lesson closes with a reminder that without bodhicitta, even the most impressive outer practice remains mere semblance, citing the story of the poor woman whose lamp, offered with pure bodhicitta, could not be extinguished even by an arhat.
