Bodhisattvacharyavatara

by Andreas Kretschmar | 246,740 words

The English translation of the Bodhisattvacharyavatara (“entering the conduct of the bodhisattvas”), a Sanskrit text with Tibetan commentary. This book explains the bodhisattva concept and gives guidance to the Buddhist practitioner following the Mahāyāna path towards the attainment of enlightenment. The text was written in Sanskrit by Shantideva ...

Text Sections 191-192

Some people who are overly timid may think,

“I cannot do this. It’s all too difficult for me. I simply don’t have the confidence necessary to practice like that.”

Such a timid attitude will prevent you from practicing the dharma, and, therefore, virtuous qualities will never arise. An overly timid mind is a real obstacle for practicing the dharma. Dharma students must develop an uplifted [gzengs bstod pa] and joyous state of mind [sems spro ba], a mind that is enthusiastic and inspired. When two countries are on the brink of war, the generals like to fire up their soldiers with speeches, music and marches. Through that the soldiers develop courage [dpa’ bskyed]. That is what is meant by ’uplifting one’s mind’ [gzengs bstod pa].

The Pitāputra-samāgamana-sūtra[1] recounts the story of how the Buddha established his father, King Śuddhodana [zas gtsang ma], in the dharma.[2]

Khenpo Chöga recounted this story in the following way: Because Śuddhodana was a king and also the Buddha’s father, he was a very proud person.

He thought,

“Gautama is my son. I will not prostrate to him.”

As he was so swollen with pride, he could never receive teachings from the Buddha.

One day, while the Buddha was teaching at a certain place, King Śuddhodana went to see what was going on. As he approached, he saw the ’four great guardian kings’ [rgyal chen sde bzhi] protecting the area.

The four great guardian kings told King Śuddhodana,

“Today, the Buddha will teach the dharma to the ’thirty-three gods’ [lha sum cu rtsa gsum] as well as to us four great guardian kings. Human beings are not allowed to join the teachings.”

King Śuddhodana thought,

“I, the king, pay respect to the ‘the thirty-three gods’. Now the gods are receiving teachings from my son, the Buddha.”

He began to see how very arrogant his attitude had been. Humbled in this way, he finally was able to prostrate to the Buddha, and so the Buddha established him in the dharma.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

yab sras mjal ba’i mdo.

[2]:

See also rtogs brjod rtsa ’grel, story 23, yab dang sras mjal ba’i rtogs pa brjod pa, pages 119126 and pages 499-503.

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