Sunday, January 24, 2021

What does a Bodhisattva look like and how does he/she act?

 What does a Bodhisattva look like and how does he/she act?

The opening paragraphs of the chapter ‘The Bodhisattva Perspective’ in the book ‘The Tantric Distinction’ by Jeffrey Hopkins gives a very good answer to this question. I couldn't help reproducing the following excerpt for more people to see. 

“The Dalai Lama mentioned in a lecture in  India during 1972 that all beings are always kind. Shortly after hearing this teaching, I visited the elder of the Dalai Lama's two tutors, a man who seemed to me the very incarnation of love.

I asked him how it could be said that sentient beings are always only kind.  He answered that all beings are kind because they are our field of merit, those in relation to whom we can practice helpful attitudes that empower our minds.

To my sight, he was a person who truly viewed beings this way. My impression that he possessed profound recognition of all sentient beings as extraordinarily valuable was so strong that it was almost painful to be in his presence. His magnanimity offended the part of my mind that wanted him to value me specially. I wanted him to think,  "This is an intelligent person," or,  "lt is so nice to see this person." He did in fact appear to  take strong pleasure in seeing me;  his attitude was neither neutral nor passive. Yet, I knew from his presence that his sense of joy would be equally great on seeing any other sentient being. He would recognize any particular positive or negative qualities, but he would not  value people differently because of them. His valuation was based on something deeper than those qualities, and it was a marvellous teaching just to enter his presence because it required me to  forsake a few baser qualities while I was there.”



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