Property:SanskritTranslation
From Bodhicitta
This is a property of type Text.
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A human being does not become angry by freely deciding, “I will become angry," and anger itself does not come into existence by willing, “I will arise.” +
All the manifold transgressions and sins are due to the force of causes and conditions, they do not exist as independent acts or entities. +
And the conjunction of conditions does not have the will to think, "I will bring about this effect,” and the product also does not have the will to think, “I will be produced." +
The primordial substance proposed by some, or the self conceived by others, indeed could not be born by deciding, “I will be.” +
For, as long as the primordial substance has not arisen, it exists not. Who would be there to want to come into existence then? Moreover, once it came into existence it would not be able to cease from its active involvement with the objects of the senses. +
Indeed, if the self is eternal, unconscious, then, like the sky, it is evidently inactive. Even if it could come into contact with other conditions, what sort of activity could the unchanging have? +
As long as the barb of hatred is in your heart, your mind will find no rest, no joy or happiness, it will have no rest or steadfastness. +
Anything that at the time of an effect being produced remains the same as it was before the effect was produced, what part of the act of production did it perform? In the relation between this thing and the effect, which one of the two is the actual locus of change? +
Thus, everything depends on something else, and that on which it depends is also dependent. Under these circumstances, among entities that, like magical creations, lack self-activity, what should be the object of our anger? +
An Objector Interjects: (32ab) Then, it is also absurd to practice self-control, for who could restrain what?
The Author Replies: (32cd) It is reasonable to practice self-control, because there is causality. We thus accept that there is an end to suffering. +
Therefore, when one sees that a friend or a foe has done wrong, one must remain at peace, reflecting, “Such and such conditions are the cause for his actions.” +
But if only by one’s own wish one could attain the object of his desire, there would be no sorrow among all living beings, for no one desires sorrow. +
As a result of their own thoughtlessness some human beings will torture themselves with thorns, hunger, and other tribulations, due to their anger, and their desire for women or other things that are not theirs to have. +
Others will kill themselves by hanging or jumping from a cliff, by taking poison or eating excessively, and through demeritorious conduct. +
If, enslaved by the perturbations, they thus destroy their own selves, so dear to them, then how could they be expected to refrain from bringing down these same torments upon the bodies of others? +
Maddened by the afflictions, they act for their own destruction, they inspire only pity; how could there arise any anger for them? +
If harming others is intrinsically natural to the foolish, it makes no more sense to feel anger toward them than it would be to be angry with fire<span class="smw-highlighter pagebreaks" data-type="8" data-state="inline" data-title="Page number from:" title="415" tabindex="0"><span class="smwtticon pagebreak note text-80">[p.415]</span><span class="smwttcontent"><big>[[How to Be a Bodhisattva: Introduction to the Practice of the Bodhisattva Path (The Bodhicaryāvatāra)]]</big> <br> <span class="muted">Gómez, Luis O., trans. "How to Be a Bodhisattva: Introduction to the Practice of the Bodhisattva Path (''The Bodhicaryāvatāra'')." In ''Norton Anthology of World Religions: Buddhism'', edited by Donald S. Lopez Jr., 395–441. New York: Norton, 2017.</span></span></span> because it is in its nature to burn. +
The same who have been honored with his gifts and attentions, the same whom he has sheltered under his own roof, wish to bring death to the landlord who is cursed with an angry character. +
On the other hand, if this defect is accidental, and living beings are by nature kind, still it would be as absurd to feel anger toward them as it would be to be angry with air when it carries fetid smoke. +
If one forgets the stick, which is the nearest cause of pain, and feels anger toward the one who moved the stick, then it would be better to hate hatred, since it is hatred that moves the one who brandishes the stick. +
