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The two stories presented here illustrate contrasting approaches to the bodhisattva path as referenced in chapter 4 of the Bodhicaryāvatāra. In "The Lion's Compassion," a lion king exemplifies perfect commitment to his promises by offering his own life to save two monkey cubs from a vulture, demonstrating the ideal of maintaining bodhisattva vows at any cost. Conversely, "Abandoning Bodhicitta" presents the cautionary tale of King Moonlight who, after an ungrateful demon disrespects his self-sacrificing gift of his own hand, becomes discouraged and abandons his bodhicitta, revealing the dangers of relinquishing the awakening mind. Together, these stories highlight both the supreme virtue of unwavering commitment to compassionate vows and the grave consequences of abandoning the bodhisattva path due to discouragement.
The stories presented here were translated by Gregory Forgues and Khenpo Könchok Tamphel.
The Lion's Compassion
For if I bind myself with promises
But fail to carry out my words in deed,
Then every being will have been betrayed.
What destiny must lie in store for me?[p.54]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
Page(s) 53
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
གལ་ཏེ་དེ་ལྟར་དམ་བཅས་ནས། །
ལས་ཀྱིས་སྒྲུབ་པར་* སྒྲུབ་པ་ in the source text. མ་བྱས་ན། ། སེམས་ཅན་དེ་དག་ཀུན་བསླུས་པས། །
བདག་གི་འགྲོ་བ་ཅི་འདྲར་འགྱུར། །gal te de ltar dam bcas nas/_/
las kyis sgrub par * sgrub pa [ in the source text.] ma byas na/_/ sems can de dag kun bslus pas/_/
bdag gi 'gro ba ci 'drar 'gyur/_/The statement "For if I bind myself with promises . . ." teaches us that a compassionate being will not abandon their vow, even at the cost of their own body and life.
In the distant past, there lived a lion king named Unblemished Limbs who dwelled in a remote mountain cave, sustaining himself on grass and other simple fare. One day, a pair of monkeys—a male and female—entrusted their young cubs to the lion's care while they went to forage.
While the parents were away, the king of vultures, known as Feather Knife, swooped down from the sky and seized the two monkey cubs. The lion witnessed this and immediately called out:
- King of vultures, I implore you!
Release these two monkey cubs of mine,
Who were placed under my protection.
I stand as their guardian against all fears.
They have sought refuge with me—
Do not kill them, please release them!
The vulture responded defiantly:
- King of beasts, if you sacrifice yourself instead,
Then perhaps I'll spare them and set them free.
But after I devour these two,
I'll return to the sky.
What could you possibly do to me, even in your anger?
Without hesitation, the lion offered:
- Take me instead—consume me completely.
But I beg you, release these two monkey cubs.
Having entered the path of awakening, I must keep my vow.
The wise never speak falsehood.
Astonished by such selflessness, the vulture declared:
- Those who sacrifice their bodies for others
Live happily in this world, even as they die.
I shall release these two monkey cubs.
May you live long and practice the Dharma!
With these words, the vulture released the two cubs. Then the lion spoke prophetically to the vulture:
- I, the lion, and you, the vulture,
Will one day become Mahākāśyapa and Kapilabhadrā.
The male and female monkeys will be like Rāhula,
And the monkey cubs will be Ānanda.
Abandoning Bodhicitta
As for those who, losing bodhichitta, Lead others nonetheless to liberation, Karmic law is inconceivable And only understood by the Omniscient.50The celebrated case of this was that of the Buddhaʼs disciple Shāriputra, as recorded in the Saddharmapuṇdarīka-sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra. It is said that Shāriputra was a practitioner of the Mahāyāna who had progressed far along the path. One day a demon appeared to him and, wishing to put him to the test and if possible contrive his downfall, asked him for his right hand. Shāriputra cut it off and gave it to the demon. But the demon was angry and refused to accept it, complaining that Shāriputra had impolitely offered it to him with his left! At this point, it is said that Shāriputra lost hope of ever being able to satisfy the desires of beings, and turned from the Mahāyāna to pursue the path to arhatship.
Page(s) 54
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
མི་གང་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་བཏང་ཡང་། །
དེ་དག་ཐར་བར་མཛད་པ་ནི། །
ལས་[p.25]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990. 
mi gang byang chub sems btang yang /_/
de dag thar bar mdzad pa ni/_/
las [p.25]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
The statement "As for those who, losing bodhichitta . . ." warns that if one discards the vows of the awakening mind, they will certainly be reborn in the lower realms. Even if they avoid this fate, they will still fall into the lesser vehicle, diminishing their spiritual potential.
Long ago, there lived a king named Moonlight who had generated the mind of awakening. In his boundless generosity, he gave sentient beings whatever they desired. One day, a demon disguised as a brahmin approached him and asked for his hand.
Without hesitation, the king took a sharp blade, severed his own right hand, and offered it with his left. Rather than expressing gratitude, the demon grew enraged.
"How dare you!" he exclaimed. "Instead of honoring your offering by placing it respectfully on your head, you present it with your impure left hand!" With these harsh words, he threw the king's severed hand onto the ground.
Witnessing such ingratitude, King Moonlight thought, "I cannot benefit such unruly and ungrateful beings. I will abandon the aspiration to universal awakening." With this thought, he renounced his bodhicitta and reverted to following the path of hearers (śrāvaka).
This king was none other than the venerable Śāriputra in a previous life.
Translation Notes: The demon's dialogue has been expanded to make the offense clearer to modern readers. The original text is quite concise about the action that led to the abandonment of bodhicitta. The doctrinal point about falling into the "lesser vehicle" (Hīnayāna), which is significant in the Mahāyāna Buddhist context, has been maintained.
