dharmatalks

The great bodhisattva Ksitigarbha vowed that as long as there was still one suffering soul alive, he would not attain buddhahood. In addition to suffering souls, the bodhisattva also helps living beings in other realms: humans, celestial beings, asuras, hungry ghosts, and animals and insects. He hopes that by teaching all these creatures, he will be able to stop them from committing more crimes, and thus help them to end their constant suffering. While it is technically impossible for one to put off attaining Enlightenment, Tsongkhapa noted that the desires and motivations of such beloved bodhisattvas is still sublime.

I was recently asked to speak about the qualities and attainments of a bodhisattva. A bodhisattva (Tibetan: byang chub sems dpa) is one who, motivated by great compassion, has generated the spontaneous desire to attain Enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. This desire to awaken for the sake of all sentient beings is called bodhicitta.

The Bodhisattva progresses through ten paths, or “bhumis”, which take them from the grounds of insight, into the grounds of meditation, and which culminate in the paths or grounds of “no more learning” (realisation).

While each tradition has certain texts and cultural expresssions that may be used to illustrate the qualities of a Bodhisattva, we can move beyond the sectarian differences to recognise that a Bodhisattva first lives according to and manifests the Six Paramitas (Perfections): generosity, ethics, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom.

To become a Bodhisattva is to be fearless. There is no aversion for those who are hostile and there is no obsessive clinging to those who are closest to us. There is no possessiveness, only love, compassion and discernment into the nature of reality.

In the Buddha Sakyamuni’s ‘Perfection of Wisdom Sutra’ it states: “I will become a saviour to all those beings, I will release them from all their sufferings.” Some of the examples of true bodhisattvas would include such individuals as Rev Yeshua ben Yusef (Jesus the Christed One), Je Tsongkhapa, Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Maximillian Kolbe.

Rather than focus on the qualities, marks or signs of a bodhisattva, I believe it would be more useful to focus on the qualities we should cultivate, so that we might become bodhisattvas ourselves, for the sake of all sentient beings:

Generosity – The generous heart gives without expectation of anything in return. Volunteering your time to a worthwhile charity, taking time to financially support your teachers or spiritual community, looking out for those who are marginalised, hurting, depressed… these are all examples of generosity. A generous heart never gives with anger, resentment or with the expectation of repayment. It simply has the desire to help someone in need.

Ethics – Cultivating the right view – knowing the difference between what is right and what is not right – is imperative to cultivating the Six Paramitas, and becoming a Bodhisattva. One who has cultivated a clear set of ethics lives in accordance with the Five Precepts of Mindfulness, choosing to do no harm to oneself or to others. From the Buddhist perspective, all harmful actions are caused by an imbalanced mind that harbours or creates them, therefore, by learning the foundational techniques of mindfulness and practicing Lojong is an important means of cultivating a stronger ethical quality of mind.

Patience – The lack of patience that marks today’s “on-demand” world is unhealthy. In Candrakirti’s book, Supplement to the Middle Way, impatience is described perfectly: “It makes us ugly, leads to the profane, and robs us of discernment to know right from wrong.” The practice of patience is the antidote to anger and frustrations. It creates calm and allows us to enjoy stillness.

Concentration – When we cultivate concentration, through the proper practice of meditation and contemplation, we develop a keen ability to focus with laser intensity, with a non-waivering mind. This brings about a quality we call “calm abiding”, which intensifies the higher senses, allows us to gain supernatural insight and increases our healing capacity. Je Tsongkhapa teaches, “Concentration is a Sovereign, with dominion over the mind, once placed, immovable, like the Ruler of the Mountains.” Concentration, mindfulness, and insight give rise to the final paramita – Wisdom.

Wisdom – Arising out of the calm abiding mind, wisdom reveals itself to be the root of all the other paramitas. From the Buddhist perspective, we call Wisdom the sum total of the other five perfections. In order to generate true bodhicitta, wisdom merges with compassion, and the pure desire to benefit all sentient beings organically manifests.

An example of a the Bodhisattva vows are found in Santideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, the Bodhisattva vow is taken with the following famous two verses from the end of the Avatamsaka Sutra:

“Just as all the previous Sugatas, the Buddhas/Generated the mind of enlightenment, and accomplished all the stages of the Bodhisattva training, so will I too, for the sake of all beings, generate the mind of enlightenment and accomplish all the stages of the Bodhisattva training.”

Namasté

khenpo gurudas sunyatananda

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“Chenrezig, Treasure of Objectless Compassion;
Manjushri, Lord of Stainless Wisdom;
Vajrapani, Destroyer of all adversarial forces;
O Je Tsong Khapa – Losang Drakpa –
Crown Jewel of the Sages of the Land of Snows,
Humbly at Your Lotus Feet I ask your blessing.”

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Drawing on the essential teachings of the great spiritual teachers, philosophers and freethinkers throughout time, Khenpo Gurudas Śunyatananda (retired Archbishop Francis-Maria Salvato, O.C.) has been regarded as a provocative, revolutionary “voice of reason” within the field of religion and spirituality, since 1983. Having the distinction of being one of the few openly non-theistic, openly-gay and post-denominational thinkers ever to serve as Bishop-Exarch and spiritual leader of the autocephalic Eastern Catholic Franciscans in North America, Gurudas is the author of more than 600 articles, eight books and currently serves as the spiritual advisor for a non-theistic, intentional spiritual community, The Spiritus Project. He can be reached at: http://dharmadudeunplugged.com

Copyright ©2008, His Eminence Dharmacharya Gurudas Sunyatananda (The Most Reverend Dr. F. Francis-Maria G. Salvato, M.Sc., O.C.). All rights reserved. This material may be reproduced, blogged, quoted or distributed, provided the entire copyright including contact information remain intact. It may NOT be altered in any way, without express written permission.