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84 - Bodhisattvas
In this episode of Learn Buddhism, Alan Pido delves into the concept of Bodhisattvas, enlightened beings central to both Teravada and Mahayana Buddhism. The discussion highlights the differences in in...
84 - Bodhisattvas
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Welcome to another episode of Learn Buddhism. I'm Alan Pido. In this episode we're going to talk about Bodhisattvas.
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Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings and can be found in both Teravada and Mahayana, although you find they take a greater importance and greater role in the Mahayana branch of Buddhism.
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So let's dig into more about what are Bodhisattvas and what did he mean to us as laypersons.
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Let me start off with a quote by a Venomaster Shingyun. He goes,
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a Bodhisattva is a great practitioner who is walking on the path toward Buddhahood by benefiting all sentient beings as well as themselves.
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And I think that's a great quote and great explanation of a Bodhisattva just to get as grounded in this episode.
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So what is a Bodhisattva? That's actually two words, Bodhi Enlightenment or Awakening and Satva as a being.
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So it's an enlightened or awakened being. And that's where you're going to find both Teravada and Mahayana agree on what a Bodhisattva is,
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this is an awakened being. But this is where it gets more nuanced and that's where I want to go with this episode.
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Both Mahayana and Teravada both agree that the Buddha, Shakyamuni Kautama Buddha, was a Bodhisattva in many previous lifetimes and what does that mean?
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Well, when you find the agreement between both branches of Buddhism, they're saying that in reference to the Buddha and to Buddhas in general.
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So for example, prior Buddhas, even before our current Buddha of our era and even in future Buddhas, they all have taken a vow in front of a living Buddha that they want to be a Buddha in the future.
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So they're on this Bodhisattva path and it's basically a very rare thing. So it's just not like anyone is just making a vow or a saying is in front of a living Buddha.
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These are ones who are essentially destined to become a Buddha in a future life and they are set forth on this Bodhisattva path.
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So both branches absolutely agree on that right? Yes. Shakyamuni Kautama Buddha, he was destined to become the future Buddha and so he was on that path as a Bodhisattva agreed.
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And that's where Teravata Larjui says, that's how Bodhisattvas are.
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These are for exceptional beings who are going to become a Buddha of an era of a world in a future existence and so they're on this Bodhisattva path.
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Now, when we look at Shakyamuni Kautama Buddha, he went through countless lifetimes as different entities, different beings, different people.
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But he wasn't in what we might call an enlightened being in each of those existences.
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Right? He was going through different situations and different experiences and stuff but he was still a Bodhisattva in so far as the mindset and how he was going through that.
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Now, it wasn't said hard to got to in these prior lifetimes. We're talking about each one was an independent, connected existence but they were all Bodhisattvas in so far as what they were doing.
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And we look at this and before I even go any further, we look at this in the Buddha's tradition and the Buddha's religion that this is sacred stories.
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The prior lifetales of the Buddha are really teaching moments for all of us whether you're in Tervata or Mahayana, seeing how the prior lives of the Buddha and the experiences and the situations and how it was handled and the learning experiences are really rich.
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This is something that young and old look at inside Buddhism. So if you're a Buddhist and you haven't even looked at the lifetales of the Buddha yet, there's plenty of resources out there to experience that.
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Some are even illustrated, highly recommended and it's to give you and understand even how right now in this life as a Buddhist practitioner, how can you practice?
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How can you be a Buddhist, right? But let's go back to Bodhisattvas. So Bodhisattvas, as I mentioned inside Tervata, largely those on a Bodhisattva path are those who are going to become destined to become a future Buddha.
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Because when we look at inside Tervata, what is their highest goal in that tradition of Buddhism? It's Nirvana. That's a complete enlightenment. That's the experience there.
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We are ending the cycle of birth and death. We are on that our hot path, if you will, as a Buddhist practitioner. The goal is to become an our hot.
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It's something where it's not looked at well, you have to become a Buddha and the fourth cycle of rebirth inside Tervata is Arhatsha.
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Can lay persons do that to lay practitioners? Yes, it's more rare. It's mostly you want to become a monastic and that allows you to become an our hot. You're on that path.
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Now, that's where it diverges when we look at Mahayana. Mahayana is where they're looking at that going, yeah, but they look at it where Nirvana is something that yes, you want to achieve, but that's really impossible for an our hot to truly achieve with their individual enlightenment. It's not really possible.
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It looks like that's happening, but it's not really happening. If you're an our hot, that is a high stage. Absolutely. You see Mahayana, our hots are revered as well. Even though the Buddhist disciples became our hots, they are revered. You see them there, but they don't look at them as that's it for them.
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They look at them as that's one stage on the Bodhisattva path. They're destined to become Buddhist. They just can't end in that particular existence. And this is all where you see in Mahayana Sutras, for example, these are explained, but this is where you see that divergence that as an individual practitioner, individual enlightenment. That is not possible.
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So as a Bodhisattva path, which is Mahayana, Mahayana path, if you will, is really the Bodhisattva path is the path of the Bodhisattva. So all practitioners in Mahayana are for lack of a better term, unenlightened or unawaken Bodhisattvas.
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So that's going to be a really key distinction. I'm going to really talk about Bodhisattvas in three ways inside this episode. Bodhisattvas, as we see like, in the Teravata Mahayana, you got a destined to be future Buddha, right? They're all in that Bodhisattva path.
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We see Bodhisattvas, awakened Bodhisattvas, like beings like Guanyin, and I'll talk more about that. And then we have these unawakened, unenlightened Bodhisattvas, like you and me, if we are on the inside Mahayana tradition.
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So we have really these three types of Bodhisattvas, or Bodhisattva ideals, if you want to look at it that way, inside Buddhism.
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This idea, or being a Bodhisattva, they have a different mindset, if you will. It's really maybe a pre Buddha, if you want to think about it that way.
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They have this idea that I can't just be liberated for myself. That's impossible. I just can't do that.
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There really has to be this awakening to the truth for all sentient beings. And before I go further on that, you might be going, how is that even possible, right?
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And that is a key distinction, of course, where could a Bodhisattva truly, you know, wait for their, you know, final Nirvana by ensuring that all sentient beings are fully awakened in light.
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Yeah, it's probably not possible, right? But it's the mindset. The Bodhisattva doesn't care about, if you will, that hard fact, right? Because it doesn't matter.
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It's the mindset of the Bodhisattva is, I want all sentient beings to be liberated. I want it to be awakened. And it's so strong inside them that that is where they're coming from.
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It's that mind that allows them, that drives the allows them to really be a Bodhisattva. And probably not doing it justice by explaining it that way.
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But it's almost like where you see a Buddha, a Buddha of an era, just like we have in Tera Vada and Mahayana. They bring deliberating teachings to the law and they teach other sentient beings how to become awakened.
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That's what we're seeing with a Bodhisattva because the Buddha, a Buddha, is there to bring again, you know, the truth, the teachings that have often been lost in a world, in an era, what that is.
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And then you see, with a Bodhisattva, they are not a Buddha yet, but they are there going, I have that same desire, you know, to teach others, to be able to help others.
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And it really is that reinforcement. Now, we're going to get into like the different types of Bodhisattvas, but that's where you, I think you kind of see it.
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So whether you are an actual Bodhisattva, like, you know, those exceptional beings, or maybe you are just, you know, unawakened, unenlightened Bodhisattva, like you and me, we have the desire to do that.
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That's why you see a Mahayana that is often the Bodhisattva vows and ceremonies that are taken by practitioners in Mahayana who are ready to take that next step.
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They realize they are not awakened, they realize, you know, I can't, you know, make everyone awakened right now in my current existence.
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I got a job in everything else, but they have that desire, like, this is going to take a while, but I want to be on this path.
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And that's where you often see the Bodhisattva. I just mentioned where, you know, they're like, I want to be on that path, right?
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Well, that path means that you're saying in samsara, the cycle of birth and death, it's forced, right?
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But they're going, I want to be inside it, not because they want to be inside it, because they have this desire, this bodhicitta, this awakened mind, this is their desire to help all sentient beings.
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And it's something where, you know, obviously, maybe they're not a Buddha yet, but there's ways that they can help.
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There's ways that may be specific to their capabilities and who they are that are allowing them to help.
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Even you as a lay practitioner, maybe there's ways that you can help. That's a bodhisattva as well.
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And maybe it's something where you've done a lot to help with the development and printing of bodhisattvas, for example, bodhisattva, you're helping others.
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So there's different ways that we can do this. But the key differences here, that inside Teravada, that where they believe those on a bodhisattva path are those who have been destined to become a future Buddha or very exceptional beings, like very revered teachers who've gone to a certain level, they are looking at Nirvana, Nibhana, inside Teravada as that final step.
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You know, that's the goal right there. Whereas inside Mahayana, it is not. They're saying that Nirvana, while yes, we would love to get there. Of course, that is not the end goal.
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And that's because in the Mahayana and the bodhisattva view, there is attainment beyond it. There's attainment beyond this Nirvana that an Arhat would achieve.
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What is that? Buddhahood becoming a Buddha. So a bodhisattva is on the path towards becoming a Buddha. And that's the key difference. So inside Teravada, they're not looking like all human asks, all your literature shivers, you have to become Buddhas.
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That's the only way to truly be free and liberate or going, no, it's becoming an Arhat and attaining Nirvana, you're done. That's what the Buddha said. Whereas in Mahayana, it's not. You have to actually break that. You have to go to the next level.
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So even to our Hots, they're still on a bodhisattva path. The God to get to become a Buddha. That's the only true, complete way to become free, if you will.
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So a bodhisattva eventually becomes a Buddha and exists in something that we call non-abiding Nirvana. This is where they're completely free of samsara. But they stay in this essentially less restrictive Nirvana, which is helping them continue their goal, their mission, if you will, of actively, actively helping all sentient beings.
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So this type of Buddha is different than what we may see as a full Buddha, like in Teravada Mahayana, like Shakyamuni Gautama Buddha. So that's where a full Buddha, if you will, a Buddha of an era, they provide a Dharma, the teachings to a world without it.
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And they have achieved awakening without a teacher or teachings, the Dharma to help them. So that's a clear distinction between two. We're all what's going to have essentially a Buddha of an era, our next one, which both Mahayana and Teravada agreed, it's going to be my trayya, Buddha.
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And he's currently a bodhisattva residing in a heavenly realm where bodhisattvas exist, waiting to come down to our world. And that's where Shakyamuni Gautama Buddha was in a prior existence as a bodhisattva. So there's a whole process here where that actually occurs.
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So this is where that distinction is, you know, you don't have to be like this world Buddha or Buddha of an era, but it's really important to see that as a clear distinction.
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And I think one thing, at least for me, that attracted me to Mahayana. So Venture Explored Teravada initially in my life, still listen and follow lots of that elements. I'm always intrigued by it. But what really drew me to Mahayana was the bodhisattva and was the bodhisattva path. And that could be for those looking at it for the first time.
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And it can be a bit overwhelming and scary. And the reason is here that you look at Teravada, it looks very, very clean. You know, I'm going to practice meditation. I'm going to have this insight. You know, I'm going to become enlightened. I'm going to realize Nervata Nabata and break free of the cycle of birth and death. Got it. You know, it's very clean in that way. Right.
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Whereas you look at Mahayana, you're like, where do I even begin? We got many, many schools or traditions inside Mahayana, but they're all essentially on the bodhisattva path. There's just different pathways. So when we look at that, it looks okay. All right. Well, there's different ways of practicing. But then it becomes a little bit overwhelming because compared to Teravada, like if you can achieve, you know, enlightenment in this lifetime, which is possible. You know, what would they say? You can achieve it. Then why would I look at Mahayana?
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Here's why because inside the Mahayana view, you're like, well, I want to bodhisattva path, which could take countless lifetimes. You just look at, at the Buddha, right? That was countless lifetimes. It was an exceedingly long period of time, right? And would you go, I want to do that? No, you would like, I want to get out this door right now.
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It makes perfect sense. We all agree. But when we look at it from the Mahayana view, right? You gain out that door, but it's not really at the door outside. That's the key difference. They're saying that is not truly getting you out of the fire, if you will.
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It looks like it, but it really is a, you have to become a Buddha in order to really get out from that force cycle of birth and death to truly do that. So that means an exceedingly long time, it could be obviously pain, obviously being inside Samasara. So that's where it could be very overwhelming. You're like, wow, so I can't do it right now. You know, as modern Buddhists, if you will, in our world, we're very used to achieving goals right now.
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We must win. We must get this done. We must make money. We must must must get this education. We have to do everything now. We're very success achievement oriented. Not, of course, everyone is to that large degree. But in essence, right?
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I want to get something done. I want to have this instant gratification. And so with the Mahayana Bodhisattva path, that doesn't look like it. It looks like that's going to take me some time. And I think that's something to really understand that no matter what.
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Even if you don't become like this enlightened Bodhisattva, awakened Bodhisattva, or a Buddha, right? You are making progress. You are absolutely making progress.
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The Buddha in his prior existence, his life time, was making progress. And you can see that in those tales as well. So you can see how the existences, you know, they're all different.
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But you can see where it was clearly the growing of a soon to be awakened enlightened being. You could clearly see that in the actions. And so that's what I think is really important to note that just going, OK, I need to achieve something right now.
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Sometimes things take a while, right? Even like education, right? If you look at that, that takes a long time or learning a skill. That takes a long time.
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You know, it's something where I make it the hours wrong here. I think it said, you have to do something like 10,000 hours to truly be skilled in something, right?
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Well, if you just spent, you know, an hour, well, I didn't achieve anything. So what? You know, but that's like almost like our lifetime. It's almost like a second or an hour, if you will.
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We're here just for a short period of time where we have to really develop and build ourselves into Mahayana view over a countless lifetimes. But you are continuously building on this, if you will.
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So this is really important. It's something where it can look very overwhelming. Also like, why do I have to really help all sentient beings? It's that mindset. You know, if we're not truly doing that, then even if you're looking at a terrible point of view, what type of, you know, our hot are you?
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We never see the arhats or Buddha's looking that way. So it's something that's really important.
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So for the Mahayadas who want to take a bodhisattva vow, so you don't have to take the bodhisattva vow right away.
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So even though you're in this branch of Buddhism, that's saying, you know, this is for everyone. Everyone can become on this bodhisattva path. You can become unawaken bodhisattvas right now, work towards becoming a century full bodhisattva.
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And then eventually a Buddha, we're saying that you will take this vow when you are ready. And that's perfectly fine. Right.
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And when we're doing this, you are saying, I vow to develop and express bodichitta, which is bodimisalaitana and chitta means mind. So you want to develop it.
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It doesn't mean you have it at this point. It may have a little bit parts of it. It may be working on it. But it doesn't mean that you have that, right.
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So you say, I want to do this. You know, this is the path I want to be on. It's going to do it. So this is something you want to do because you want to become enlightened, not just for yourself, but for the sake of all sentient beings.
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Key difference. So we have four bodhisattva vows. They are one, sentient beings are limitless. I vow to liberate them.
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Two, afflictions are endless. I vow to eradicate them. Three, teachings are infinite. I vow to learn them. And four, Buddhahood is supreme. I vow to attain it.
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That is just building upon each other, right. And you see the ultimate there, Buddhahood is supreme. They're recognizing I need to become a Buddha.
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If I truly care about helping all sentient beings, I need to do that. For those on that path, they're trying to develop what's known as the mind of bodhisattva.
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And there's three parts to that mind of a bodhisattva because we talked about that, right. bodhisattva. Like what is the mind of a bodhisattva? There's three parts.
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One is aspiration for awakening. I want to develop this mind that will help me attain Buddhahood. That's my goal. I want to become awakened to become a Buddha.
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Two, great compassion. This is a quality of the mind that wishes to liberate sentient beings. Obviously a key part of being a bodhisattva and a Buddha.
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And then skillful means, this applies to four means of embracing, which are giving, kind words, altruism and empathy, so that sentient beings can be happy, can be free.
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And skillful means plays a huge role with both bodhisattvas and bodhisattvas as well because it means that you are able to explain things, help sentient beings in all different ways based upon how they are, not how you are.
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Bodhisattvas like guanyin, you see that they are able to really help sentient beings in all different types of ways. There's even like that thousand-armed guanyin that is able to very visually there, help sentient beings in all different ways based upon where they are at, how they think, how they live, how they work, all of these conditions.
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And it really goes to show you all these bodhisattvas, even you as an unawakened bodhisattva, have different ways you can help people.
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But we always see that, with that first part of the mind of bodhisattva, aspiration for awakening is truly important because we see that in the flower adorned with sutra, it states, when one loses the aspiration for awakening, even if he cultivates good conduct, it is unwholesome.
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That really makes you think, even if you are doing good things, if you don't have the aspiration for awakening, they are saying it is unwholesome. Why?
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Well, you can be doing good things but for a bodhisattva, if we want to look at that way or in the past towards a bodhisattva, if you don't want to come awakened, then you are not trying to get to the point where you are truly helping other sentient beings.
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You are doing good things, that is good, but you are not doing it in so far as becoming a bodhisattva, because that is where you are really going to make the biggest difference, you are going to make this big difference especially when you come to Buddha.
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Because if you don't have a cause, like there is no cause here for you, if you don't have this aspiration for awakening, then no roots are going to form as Maser Taiju said.
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This is because if you don't have this foundation, these roots are just like a tree or whatever, how easy will it be for you to be blown over with a great wind?
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You need to have that strong, strong strength and foundation. So that is why we have to have the aspiration for awakening.
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The path of the bodhisattva, it is not quick, this is in a quick path, and that makes a lot of sense to me as well, if you don't have those roots, it is very easy to give up.
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Even like it is saying there, well you are doing good things, but what can push you to not doing good things? Well the aspiration for awakening, when you have that, you are on that path, you have this great desire to be on that path, because you want to be awakened, you want to become a bodhisattva.
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So you can eventually become a Buddha. And why? Because I care deeply, fundamentally, for all sentient beings to be liberated as well. This is something that goes to your core.
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And don't worry about it if you are a lay practitioner right now, you are like, well there are some people that I really don't like, and there are some people that really hurt me, right?
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This is building towards that. We are obviously sentient beings, we are obviously lay persons, they are all different conditions, we are obviously not enlightened, right?
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So there is going to be that, but we have this aspiration, and that is truly important, that is what we are going to keep watering, keep watering those seeds.
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So how can we do that as lay persons? Well we have the bodhisattva precepts, so you may be familiar already with the five precepts that we have inside Buddhism.
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Known between both branches of Buddhism, we have all heard it, we have all seen it, but we have what is called the bodhisattva precepts.
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So they are ten of them, ten major precepts that you can see very commonly followed and learned and studied and practiced by Buddhists, but there are actually forty-eight minor precepts.
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So there are forty-eight minor precepts and there are ten major precepts, however we are mostly following those ten major precepts.
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So there is something where if we are a lay person and we are all in this path, if we can follow these ten major precepts, that is an amazing thing, that is a great thing.
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So this is something that we want to do, we find this and it is drawn from the Brahman that is Sutra, if you want to research this a little bit more.
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So I like to correlate these two, the rules of the road. So the whole thing with bodhisattvas, if you want to think about this way, and I am going to use United States as an example.
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Let's say you are in New York City and your goal is I want you to get to Los Angeles in California on the other side of the coast.
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That is a long journey, right? So you are going to get in your car and go there.
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All right, how do you do that? Well, you are going to need a good car and then how do you get there? Do you know the way? Do you have a map?
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You know, imagine there is no GPS, all right? Where is your map? You know, you are going to need to understand how to get there.
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And this is something where you may be never have even traveled that far before you have to supplies.
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You have, remember the aspiration, you have the aspiration to go the whole way because like, what if you have a flat tire?
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You know, run out of gas here, like, what if something happens? What if you just get bored? You want to turn back?
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You know, like, well, I kind of miss my TV show, right? You know, we have to look at it very much as driving this path.
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So the precepts are really what I like to call, as I mentioned, the rules of the road.
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This is how you should observe when driving that car all the way to Los Angeles.
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And I'll even throw in something here to totally twist this around for you.
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When you're driving all the way to Los Angeles from New York City, you are actually doing this with no lights.
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It's like complete darkness, right? You know, the sun's out out, you are just driving.
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Just imagine, of course, you know, it's not coming up, you're just driving in complete darkness.
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All you have, no street lights, it's just your lights on your car in front of you.
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Imagine that. So you can't even see, you know, that far up the road, you can only see just in front of you.
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But you got the map, you know, you got like the sutras, you got the guidance, you got the aspiration, you got the supplies, you got all this stuff in front of you.
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You got the rules of the road, the bodhisattva precepts. These are all helping you get down that path.
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Now, when you get down that path into this lifetime, maybe not, right?
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But you're on that road, you took that vow that we were going to make it to Los Angeles, right?
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So here are the 10 bodhisattva precepts.
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One, do not kill or encourage others to kill.
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Two, do not steal or encourage others to steal.
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Three, do not engage in latissia's acts or encourage others to do so.
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Now, as a note here, monks, monastics are expected to abstain from sexual conduct entirely.
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Four, do not use false words and speech or encourage others to do so.
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Five, do not trade or sell alcoholic beverages or encourage others to do so.
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Six, do not broadcast, and misdeeds or false of the Buddhist assembly nor encourage others to do so.
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Seven, do not praise oneself and speak ill of others or encourage others to do so.
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Eight, do not be stingy or encourage others to do so.
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Nine, do not harbor anger or encourage others to be angry.
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And ten, do not speak ill of the Buddha, the Dharma, or the Sangha, which we call the Triple Jam, or encourage others to do so.
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Now, did you key in on something here?
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We saw the first five are very similar, of course, to what we've seen in the five precepts.
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But on all of these, did you notice where it says, or encourage others to maybe not do that, right?
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So we're saying, like, number one, do not kill or encourage others to kill.
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It's basically saying, please don't do this, right? Do not do this.
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But also encourage others not to do this as well.
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So as a Bodhisattva, your goal is just not about yourself,
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but also to ensure others are not creating these unholsomkarmic actions that are hindering their path towards awakening.
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We want to ensure that they don't create these bad karmic unholsomkarmic actions and conditions.
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So I think that's a really key part about the Bodhisattva precepts.
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You know, if we look at the five precepts, it's all about, you know, don't do this, don't do this, right?
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Whereas here we're saying, don't do this, but also ensure helping others don't do it as well.
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Okay, so I gave you an example that it's like we're driving from New York City to Los Angeles and California.
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What does that look like? Well, we do have these steps, if you will, these parts of that path that drive you're taking.
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We call them the five path inside Buddhism.
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And as we are going through, they're sort of like, if you will, categories or these ten stages of realization that we call the ten behind these.
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And these are going to be like, lands, levels of ground, however you want to translate it.
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And it's a Bodhisattva. You must pass through these ten lands.
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So almost look at them as like, you know, United States is very large, very large nation.
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And as you're going through, you know, from New York City to Los Angeles, you're passing through lots of lands, right?
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So look at that, what you're passing through, all of these lands.
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And this is important because they are essentially these, the ten Buhi Nis is extensions of the Aful Pass.
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This is where it helps turn this concern for yourself into concern for others.
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So going through these five paths, how long does it take?
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I don't want to discourage you, but we have something called Kappas inside Buddhism.
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These are an extremely long length of time.
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Some say it's like 16 million years long, some say 16 billion years long, some three or 20 billion years long, some even say 1.28 trillion years long.
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And you're going, okay, well, that does seem like a long time, right?
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This is something where, you know, just seeing that drive from New York City to Los Angeles doesn't seem that bad now, right?
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But this is something where it could take a very long period of time.
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But remember, you're on a different path than you're on now.
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You're on the path of the Buhi Sautfa.
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So I would say it's different in that sense, long period of time.
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But there is a clear path that you're on that's different than that of just a regular sentient being.
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Now you're trying to go towards this Buhi Sautfa path, right?
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Become the Buhi Sautfa in Buddha.
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Okay, so what are the five paths?
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We have one which is accumulation.
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You possess a strong desire to overcome suffering and to renounce the worldly life.
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Two, preparation or what we might call application.
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You start practicing meditation and have analytical knowledge of emptiness.
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Three, scene.
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You practice profal meditative concentration on the nature of reality and realize the emptiness of reality.
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Four, meditation.
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You purify yourself and accumulate wisdom.
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Five, no more learning.
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This is much like we might find inside Teravada.
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But for us, it's going to be the final path.
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It is where a person has completely purified themselves.
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I would say if you're a lay person and you're just beginning to Buhi Sautfa path,
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it's something where even getting to stage one on this path is going to be a big, big thing.
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This is where maybe we have those who are, we see as monastics inside Mahayana.
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I would see them as number one right there.
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They have the strong desire to overcome suffering and renounce the worldly life to become monastics.
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Are you and me going to do that?
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Probably not.
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But that's okay.
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We're on this Buhi Sautfa path.
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We made the vow.
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Even if I can't do it right now, I got this desire.
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I made the vow.
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I'm going to practice as a cancer lay person.
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I love to get to these stages, whether in this left time or in another lifetime.
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Even if it's at the first stage.
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And while you're on this path, we're going to encounter a lot of people.
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We're driving from New York City to Los Angeles.
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You know, my analogy.
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You're going to encounter a lot of people, a lot of things.
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How should you be?
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How should you be on this long journey?
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Like, what do you have on the radio station or on your playlist?
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What are you going to do?
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So we have the sixth perfections inside Mahayana.
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And these are important teachings for those on a Buhi Sautfa path.
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Let me tell you what they are.
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And they are number one, the perfection of giving.
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Two, the perfection of morality.
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Three, the perfection of patience.
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Four, the perfection of diligence.
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Five, the perfection of meditative concentration.
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And six, the perfection of Prasnina wind wisdom.
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And Prasnina wisdom is this great wisdom beyond what we call the duality of emptiness and existence.
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This is where a Buhi Sautfa's skillfully used in order to help all sentient beings.
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Gaintain our level.
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We're being able to have that perfection right there.
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Truly, truly impressive.
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So, obviously, this was just a quick overview in this episode of Buhi Sautfa's and Buhi Sautfa path.
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I think it would go much longer if I wanted to go into a lot more detail about Buhi Sautfa's.
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But hopefully, they intrigued you a lot.
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I'm going to end this episode talking to you about some of the Buhi Sautfa's.
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But one thing I would say is I think this would probably inspire a lot of people like becoming a Buhi Sautfa.
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To me, was something that really drew me into Mahayana.
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And that's what I love about Mahayana.
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It says, the Buhi Sautfa's not so much like, oh yeah, we have all these different Buhi Sautfa's, which I'm going to tell you about.
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That's great.
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And we love that inside Mahayana.
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But it's the Mahayana path, which is the Buhi Sautfa path.
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And the whole purpose of Mahayana is anyone can be on the Buhi Sautfa path.
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That's a key difference that you're going to find.
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And that we can practice and we can learn.
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And we can make a vow.
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It's something that on the surface could be very scary or very overwhelming.
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Like, as I mentioned, it could take a long time.
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But as more you develop, the more you practice, the less that really concerns you.
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Because now you're going, it's okay.
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I understand.
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You know, I understand this will take a long time.
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I understand this is the right way to be.
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It's okay.
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It's all right that I don't become an enlightened being in this lifetime.
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You know, I saw that the Buddha in his prior lifetimes, he didn't become a lightning back then.
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It was this long process.
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It was this long journey that journey from New York to Los Angeles.
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But he was determined to do that and look at what happened.
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We're talking right now.
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You're listening to this podcast because of that long journey.
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Right?
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If he didn't do that, you know, we might still be waiting for the next Buddha of our era.
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We might still be waiting for the next one, which I'm going to talk about, is that we wouldn't have anybody in our world right now.
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And there wouldn't be Buddhism.
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We wouldn't have these teachings none of us, right?
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And even in the year I'm talking in right now, as you're listening to this episode,
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we're talking about 25, 2600 years, right, that we've had Buddhism in our world.
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And it's developed, it's rich, culturally, and into religion.
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And you're benefiting a lot from that.
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But what if no one want to take that path?
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This is something where we can all make our mark on the Bodhisattva path.
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And it's something where I'm not so worried about that I have to become enlightened in this lifetime.
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Or, you know, awakened or realized Nirvana or escaped the cycle of birth and death.
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I realize it's, yeah, samsara, it's not fun.
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You know, this is where we have duke, right?
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It's not this great existence because that's what Buddha said.
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We're around this and we don't truly understand things.
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I don't truly understand things.
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I'm a late person.
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And so, me not fully understanding things because I'm not a Bodhisattva, a full Bodhisattva.
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I'm not a full Buddha.
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I'm not going to fully, deeply, fundamentally understand these things.
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And that's a key difference.
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I'm going to suffer.
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I'm going to have unsatisfactoriness in this life.
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And the future existence is that come after me.
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They're probably going to have that too, right?
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But we can set us on the right path to get to that destination and that's a key thing.
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And so, before I go into all of these different, I'll give you an example of a couple of Bodhisattvas we have inside Mahayana.
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There's one thing I would would mention.
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So, do we have a sort of shortcut in Mahayana?
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Yes.
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We have a few different things in Mahayana where you could achieve a light-minded life time or make it more easier.
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And I won't go into all of them.
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But one of them is actually going to be Pure Land Buddhism, which is the most popular form of Buddhism that you're going to find inside Mahayana.
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And inside that one, this is where we have Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha of the Western Pure Land.
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And here's a Buddha field, a Buddha land that one can go to after they leave this world.
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And they can practice and eventually become a full Buddha.
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And for some, you know, on the surface looks like, oh, okay, well, it's just like a heaven or something and go there for eternity.
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This is almost like going to college.
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You are not staying there for the whole time.
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You're going there to practice and learn under a living Buddha, which is the most conducive way to learn Buddhism become enlightened.
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And then you also have Buddhist officer that are a tentance, that help as well.
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And the whole purpose is so that you can become a Buddha, that's the whole purpose of it.
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And sometimes we think, well, that means you're an earth, you got to be a Buddha?
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Not necessarily, you know, there's countless worlds, you know, in our universe.
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And so we're not limited here.
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Now we also talk about Shakyamuni, got to Mahabuddha, because he is the Buddha of our world and our era.
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And rightfully so, but there's many other out there we are not limited to here.
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And so that's a very popular form of Buddha Buddhism where you can go there.
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Now that being said, don't go, okay, just go there instantly and become a Buddha.
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It can take a while.
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And it's not something where it's just like, oh, I just relax.
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I mean, you're there to learn and to train, right?
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And it's also where you make a practice here.
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So you see even pure lambuddhas, they're learning, they're practicing because
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just going there and starting off like, let's just imagine you're going to college, right?
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Going to university.
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Would you want to take some prep courses before you go there?
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Maybe we see a lot of, you know, kids nowadays, they're taking a lot of college classes
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while they're still inside high school.
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And they're maybe leaving, at least in the United States, like what's in associates, you know, before they even leave high school.
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And so when she wants to get a little bit further along, absolutely, you can absolutely do that in pure lambuddhas as well.
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Our goals, we need to become a Buddha.
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There's a goal here, right?
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All right.
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So this is what I mentioned out to, there is other practices that we have inside Mahayana Buddhism.
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So the big one that's going to top the list and so far is Bodhisattvas is my tray of Buddha.
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You're going to find him in both Teravada and in Mahayana Buddhism, both branches.
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And so he is going to be the next Buddha of our era.
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You know, I'll probably have to do an entire podcast episode about him, but I do have a whole article on my website as well.
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This is where he's actually residing in the heavenly realm where all the bodhisattvas reside before he become Buddhists.
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And so that's where Shakyamuni-Katama Buddha was before he, you know, we saw it for there before, you know, he became so hard to go to him, that's pretty reside.
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So we don't see my tray of Buddha right now because we still have Shakyamuni-Katama Buddha's teachings here.
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It's not lost.
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We still got the practices.
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So it's not going to be until I will say a distant future where you're going to see all of those teachings lost.
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And there's a whole series of events that have to actually occur.
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And that's where he's going to come into our world.
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And that's going to be a lot of Buddhists that are looking forward to that.
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Obviously, we're not going to see that.
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But that's something where it's going to be really, if you will, golden age in Buddhism again.
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So unfortunately, we will lose Shakyamuni-Katama Buddha's teachings that won't stay here forever.
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This is the cycle that we see inside Buddhism.
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There were countless Buddhas, you know, before Shakyamuni-Katama Buddha.
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And there will be Buddhas ahead.
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And our next one is my tray of Buddha.
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He's currently a Bodhisattva.
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The next one is super popular.
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Avalokisivara.
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This is commonly called Guanyin.
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For example, inside Chinese Buddhism and also in Vietnam.
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And you see it in Japan and Korea.
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This is where I would say if you're talking about the most popular Bodhisattva ever,
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you know, top of the charts, VIP, Guanyin.
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You even find Avalokisivara inside Teravata.
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Because back in ancient India, when we had all these schools of Buddhism,
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Mahayana was very, very popular and it was spreading.
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So you actually saw where the older school, the original school, if you will,
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of Teravata, not the modern one right now, you saw that it was becoming more Mahayana.
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It wasn't the Teravata you, you know, we associate with today.
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There was quite the movement to go, yeah, we kind of liked this.
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And that was, there's a whole historical series of events there.
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I won't cover.
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But the point is that you see that even today, this Bodhisattva,
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you can find statues of the images of them inside Teravata, especially with laypersons.
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So very much revered even inside Teravata.
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What I like about this Bodhisattva, I think of them almost like a jack of all trays.
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They're able to help sentient beings in any way that that's needed.
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They have this deep compassion that they are able to help these sentient beings.
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And I think it's one of the more beautiful Bodhisattvas in that way,
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because they have such a deep connection with laypersons and monastics alike,
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where you can find images of Guanyan everywhere.
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I mean, it's just amazing.
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When laypersons, monastics are kind of difficult, these challenges, Guanyan.
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Guanyan in two ways.
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Yes, it's a figure of meditation, if you will, in some way.
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It's also where it's considered an actual Bodhisattva that can help you.
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These are like cosmic Bodhisattvas, if you will, that they are able to assist you in different ways.
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Now, their ultimate goal is to Bodhisattva is to help you on the path of Buddhism,
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to become a Buddha as well.
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But they are there to help you to leave it your suffering as much as they can.
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So don't think of them as gods or something like that.
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They are here because they have deep compassion for us.
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And an interesting fact about this Bodhisattva, or I will say two facts,
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from what I understand, they were actually a Buddha before.
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And they want, you know what? I want to be a Bodhisattva,
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because I feel I can do a little bit more.
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And I almost look at that in one way, just in my head, I'm like,
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well, it's almost like a, you know, a general, you know, in a military,
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or a CEO, or something like that, right?
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Yeah, I'm at this high level, I have this big impact,
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but I want to be more impactful.
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So I'm going to go back down into ranks and get into the thick of things, right?
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And I found that really amazing.
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And you also find that this Bodhisattva is either in a masculine or feminine form.
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So, you know, very historically, you see it very much in the masculine form,
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and then you see more recently in the modern world, you see an feminine form,
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very popular, originally out of China, you see that also inside Japan,
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and also inside Vietnam, for example.
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You see that the feminine form is the most popular version of this Bodhisattva now.
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And it goes to show you that it's not so much like a human being like you and me might correlate to.
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This is a Bodhisattva in more of the cosmic sense, that they are able to be whatever is neat to be,
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to help sentient beings.
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So, those are just two Bodhisattvas I'd like to introduce you to.
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And as I end this episode, I want to just relate to you something by a very famous author,
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Veneral, Dr. Malopa Rahula, and I hope I am pronouncing that correctly.
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You know, I read one of his books, originally, got me interested in Buddhism.
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I have done on my website as well to a wonderful book, but I like this quote from him,
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or articulation from him, because I talked a lot about in beginning between Teravata and Mahayana, right?
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And I talk about, you know, Teravata is looking towards the Arhat as the ideal Mahayana is looking towards the Bodhisattva.
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And eventually becoming a Buddha, right?
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So, I want to throw this in here, because if you are still inside a Teravata camp, guess what?
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You can still be on the Bodhisattva path according to him.
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He goes, there is a widespread belief, particularly in the West, that the idea of the Teravata,
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which they conveniently identify with, Hennayana, is to become an Arhat, while that of the Mahayana is to become a Bodhisattva,
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and finally to attain the state of a Buddha.
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It must be categorically stated that this is incorrect.
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This idea was spread by some early orientalists at a time when Buddhist studies were beginning in the West,
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and the others who followed them, accepted without taking the trouble to go into the problem by examining the texts
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and living traditions in Buddhist countries.
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But the fact is that both the Teravata and the Mahayana, you know, as we accept the Bodhisattva ideal as the highest.
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And I love that, because he is going, we got to look at this, like, there is no real division here.
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Bodhisattvas, both branches, as I mentioned in the beginning here, both look at that in a very good way,
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because if you look at Teravata, they are looking at the Buddha, right, or any Buddha for that matter, they were Bodhisattvas.
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So, becoming a Bodhisattva, that is a huge, huge deal.
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So, that is a big deal. It is something where you see to become a Buddha, you have to be on this Bodhisattva path.
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You have to be a Bodhisattva. But for Mahayana, this is something where it is going a little bit further, where it is going down.
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You know what? This is where that Mahayana wants, like, all sentient beings, all practitioners, to be able to be on this Bodhisattva path without having to be destined to become a future Buddha type thing.
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So, I think that would be kind of the differentiation there, but I like that. I think it is important to know, we don't see any sort of, you know, infighting or any type of like, disagreement, we both highly, highly respect Bodhisattvas, because Bodhisattvas become Buddhas.
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And that is what I like to leave you with. Thank you so much, and I will talk with you in our next episode.