Verse 26: Discipline
Verse 26 of Gyalse Tokme Zangpo’s 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, from the section “The six paramitas.” Below: the verse in three translations and what seven teachers say about it.
Open in the study browser →If, lacking discipline, you cannot accomplish even your own purpose, wishing to achieve the purpose of others is truly absurd. Therefore, protect your own discipline without regard for worldly existence. This is the way of a bodhisattva.
The practice of all the bodhisattvas is to observe ethical restraint, Without the slightest intention of continuing in saṃsāric existence. For lacking discipline one will never secure even one's own well-being, And so any thought of bringing benefit to others would be absurd.
If you can't tend to your needs because you have no moral discipline, Then intending to take care of the needs of others is simply a joke. Observe ethical behavior without concern For conventional existence — this is the practice of a bodhisattva.
Discipline spans monastic and lay precepts, national law (a lawbreaker in jail can help no one), Dharma rules, and household non-harm. Extended relationship ethics: examine a partner's mind (honesty, belief in cause and effect), vow fidelity. Rules exist "to protect our minds from wavering" — not to measure others. The three bodhisattva moralities, with the reminder to think 100 times daily of benefiting beings.
Discipline is the main cause of fortunate rebirth — "it is humorous to think of helping others without moral conduct." But morality aimed merely at good rebirth is Dharma without being bodhisattva practice; the correct chain runs: to help beings → buddhahood → practices → precious human body → therefore sila, "without a samsaric aim."
Ethical self-discipline restrains destructive behavior and builds constructive strength — distinct from worldly disciplines (athletic training, dieting to look good). "Without worldly intents" excludes practicing to impress teachers or gain status. Togme Zangpo's argument: if discipline is indispensable for your own goals, claiming to serve everyone without it is absurd.
The three disciplines (refraining, gathering virtue, benefiting beings); "if, without discipline you cannot benefit even yourself... how will you accomplish Buddhahood for all other beings?" Even ethics kept to gain divine or human rebirth is subtle samsaric attachment.
Discipline supports all three vehicles "the way oceans and mountains are supported by the underlying mass of the earth"; the three tiers of vows transmute upward "like iron into gold." Anti-pride warning from the Great Jewel Heap Sutra: one who prides himself on pure precepts is the worst breaker. Lay application: vegetarianism must come from inner conviction, not custom or pressure — discipline kept "with joy and intelligence." Quote: "Inferior practitioners break precepts; middling practitioners attach to precepts; superior practitioners do not attach to precepts" (Nagarjuna).
Winter Retreat vv25–28 talk.
Talk 10 — includes his treatment of the bodhisattva vow vs. individual precepts and how vows are violated at the levels of intention and will. Tricycle v26 (video/subscriber).
the verse's own joke ("simply a joke" / "absurd") is every teacher's anchor — competence before altruism. Nagarjuna's three-practitioners line (via KS) gives the group the full arc: keep the rule, don't worship the rule. ---
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche — The Heart of Compassion (Shambhala). A purchased book — no text is reproduced here.