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An analogy • ‘ You and your entire family are at home when suddenly you smell smoke. The smoke quickly thickens, and you realise that your large two storey house is on fire. You pass a staircase leading up, but realising that the fire will soon engulf the upper floors as well, you search for another escape route. Groping your way through the heavy smoke, you finally make it to the front door. Breaking free, you reach the yard outside. There, finally, out of danger, you lie down to catch your breath’
The question • The question is, “ How do you feel now that you’ve reached safety? Are you content? Have you done everything you could have done?” Despite the fact that you are safe, the answer has to be no. • Why? • Because your family may still be inside. As long as your loved ones are in danger, how could you possibly be content with just your own escape?
The obvious bit?! • The analogy clearly demonstrates how incomplete focusing exclusively on your own liberation from suffering ultimately feels. • What about the welfare of others? • If we are all interconnected and interdependent, then we all need saving. • This, then is the vow of the Bodhisattva.
Remember! • Mahayanists probably didn’t invent the term ‘Bodhisattva’ but they did broaden its meaning. • Prior to the rise of Mahayana, most Buddhists believed that just one enlightenment – bound being, or bodhisattva existed in each era. This unique figure was destined to become the Buddha who would reveal the dharma for that particular age. • In the Jataka Tales (the stories the Buddha told of his previous lives), for example, the bodhisattva may appear one time as an animal and another time as a human, but each life brought him closer to his achievement of full enlightenment as Shakyamuni Buddha.
Remember more! • According to the Mahayana, anyone compassionate and dedicated enough to place the welfare of others before his or her own attainment of nirvana can achieve the same enlightenment as Shakyamuni. • Instead of working towards becoming an arhat and achieving liberation just for yourself, the compassionate bodhisattvas aim for Buddhahood to bring infinite benefit to all others.
