Property:SanskritTranslation
From Bodhicitta
This is a property of type Text.
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At first the Leader only asks us to give small things, such as a leaf of lettuce. Once this has been done, one should thereafter gradually give more until one gives of one’s own flesh. +
When one can think of one’s own flesh as a lettuce leaf, then what would be difficult to do for this person who has relinquished flesh and bones? +
Since he has given up sin he does not suffer any physical pains; because he is wise, he is not distressed in mind: for suffering arises in the mind due to false conceptualizations, and in the body on account of sin. +
With merit the body finds ease, with wisdom the mind finds happiness. What could torment the compassionate one who remains in the cycle of migrations only for the sake of others? +
As he annihilates his past sins and absorbs oceans of merit, by the sheer force of the thought of awakening the bodhisattva travels more swiftly than those who are mere disciples. +
Indolence develops when, out of inertia, or due to a taste for pleasure, or due to mental torpor, or because one craves for the comforts of a soft pillow, one is not sensitive to the sufferings of transmigration. +
How could he be discouraged, this sage who moves in this way from bliss to bliss? I have obtained this chariot of the thought of awakening, which leaves behind all weariness and fatigue. +
To benefit all sentient beings one needs an army consisting of zeal, pride, joy, and renunciation. Zeal arises from fear of suffering, and by meditation on the benefits of virtue. +
Having uprooted in this manner the forces contrary to effort, one should endeavor to increase one’s fortitude by using the armies of effort— zeal, pride, joy, renunciation—and by means of single-mindedness and selfmastery. +
The faults that I must conquer in myself and others are countless. The destruction of a single fault could take oceans of cosmic ages. +
Yet, I do not see in myself even a fraction of the fortitude required to destroy these faults. +
I must master many virtues for my own sake and the benefit of others. For the practice of a single virtue, oceans of cosmic ages would not suffice. +
I have never practiced even the most insignificant virtue; I have lived in vain this rare birth as a human being, which I obtained with so much difficulty. +
I have not had the joy of festivals dedicated to the blessed ones: I have not paid my respects to the teaching; I have not realized the hopes of the poor; +
I have not offered a secure place to those who are in danger;<span class="smw-highlighter pagebreaks" data-type="8" data-state="inline" data-title="Page number from:" title="422" tabindex="0"><span class="smwtticon pagebreak note text-80">[p.422]</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> I have not given happiness to those who suffer. Like a thorn, I came into my mother’s womb only to bring suffering. +
I lacked in past lives the will to practice dharma, therefore now I have been born into such a miserable birth. Seeing this, who would abandon his determination to practice dharma? +
You have been captured by these hunters, the afflictions, and you are now trapped in the net of rebirth. Are you still unaware that you are in the jaws of death? +
The Sage has said that zeal is the root of all virtue; and the root of this zeal is the constant contemplation of the eventual fruit of the ripening of our actions: +
Wrongdoers will suffer pain, anguish, and fear of all kinds, and the frustration of all their desires. +
Wherever may go the desires of those who practice what is good, there their own merit will honor them with the prize of its fruit. +
