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How much more so the fault of allowing our bodhicitta to decline. By taking hold of bodhicitta, we have made a pledge from the depth of our hearts to bring all sentient beings without exception to at least the temporary state of definite goodness [LINK to glossary] and in the long-term to the fully enlightened state of buddhahood. Śāntideva urges us to imagine what kind of fate must be in store for us if we are to shy away from that vast motivation and fail to act. There would be no chance of finding rebirth in any of the happy states and only the worst states of hell could be our possible destination. | How much more so the fault of allowing our bodhicitta to decline. By taking hold of bodhicitta, we have made a pledge from the depth of our hearts to bring all sentient beings without exception to at least the temporary state of definite goodness [LINK to glossary] and in the long-term to the fully enlightened state of buddhahood. Śāntideva urges us to imagine what kind of fate must be in store for us if we are to shy away from that vast motivation and fail to act. There would be no chance of finding rebirth in any of the happy states and only the worst states of hell could be our possible destination. | ||
Several of the commentaries on the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' draw here on scriptural quotations from both ''The Sūtra of Close Application of Mindfulness'' (Skt. ''Saddharmasmṛityupasthānasūtra'') and also ''The Compendium of Teachings Sūtra'' (Skt. ''Dharmasaṃgītisūtra''). In these sūtras it is said that if we do not give away something that we intended to offer, even something as small as a tiny morsel of food, then we will suffer rebirth in the realm of the hungry ghosts. Furthermore, if we do not give away something we actually made a promise to give, then we will suffer the worst of fates in the realm of the hell beings. Śāntideva continues to explain how grave this downfall of losing our bodhicitta is and how it will throw down the welfare of all beings. | Several of the commentaries on the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' draw here on scriptural quotations from both ''The Sūtra of Close Application of Mindfulness'' (Skt. ''Saddharmasmṛityupasthānasūtra'') and also ''The Compendium of Teachings Sūtra'' (Skt. ''Dharmasaṃgītisūtra''). In these sūtras it is said that if we do not give away something that we intended to offer, even something as small as a tiny morsel of food, then we will suffer rebirth in the realm of the hungry ghosts. Furthermore, if we do not give away something we actually made a promise to give, then we will suffer the worst of fates in the realm of the hell beings. | ||
Śāntideva continues to explain how grave this downfall of losing our bodhicitta is and how it will throw down the welfare of all beings. | |||
{{PullBcaVerses|4.8}} | {{PullBcaVerses|4.8}} | ||
From out of the eighteen root downfalls [LINK to glossary] of the bodhisattva vows [LINK TO main terms], losing bodhicitta is the most serious of all. This is because when this wish to benefit all beings deteriorates, then the basis of our Mahāyāna practice declines, which is very harmful to sentient beings. As it is said in ''The Verses that Summarize the Perfection of Wisdom'' (Skt. ''Prajñāpāramitāsañcayagāthā''): | |||
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|quote-text=If, when coursing for kotis of aeons in the ten paths of wholesome action, | |||
He engenders a longing for Arhatship or Pratyekabuddhahood, | |||
Then he becomes one whose morality is broken, and faulty in his morality. | |||
Weightier than an offence deserving expulsion is such a production of thought.<ref>Edward Conze, trans. ''The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary'' (Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1994), 68.</ref> | |||
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