Search

(17) He, like Mount Sumeru, unmoved by worldly fame or slander, shows mercy equally to the good and the wicked; his mind, like the sky, shows no partiality. Who reveres not this jewel among men ?

(42) O ye Compassionate Ones, let not the force of your compassion be weak; but aid him. Let him not go into misery [or the miserable states of existence]. Forget not your ancient vows; and let not the force of your compassion be weak.

(3) Eager to escape sorrow, men rush into sorrow; from desire of happiness they blindly slay their own happiness, enemies to themselves; they hunger for happiness and suffer manifold pains; whence shall come one so kind as he who can satisfy them with all manner of happiness, allay all their pains, and shatter their delusion — whence such a friend, and whence such a holy deed? He who repays good deed with good deed is praised; what shall be said of the Son of Enlightenment, who does kindness unsought? He who sets a banquet before a few is called a " doer of righteousness," and is honoured by the world, because in his pride he entertains men for half a day with a brief largesse of mere food; but what of him who bestows on a measureless number of creatures a satisfaction of all desires unbounded in time and perishing not when the world of heaven perishes? Such is the Master of the Banquet, the Son of the Conqueror; whosoever sins in his heart against him, saith the Lord, shall abide in hell as many ages as the moments of his sin. But he whose spirit is at peace with them shall thence get abundant fruit; and truly, wrong to the Sons of the Conqueror can be done only by great effort, but kindness towards them is easy. I do homage to the bodies of them in whom has arisen the choice jewel of the Thought, and even the ill-treatment of whom leads to happiness; in these mines of bliss I seek my refuge.

(42) O ye Compassionate Ones, ye possess the wisdom of understanding, the love of compassion, the power of [doing] divine deeds and of protecting, in incomprehensible measure. Ye Compassionate Ones, (such-and-such a person) is passing from this world to the world beyond. He is leaving this world. He is taking a great leap. No friends [hath he]. Misery is great. [He is without] defenders, without protectors, without forces and kinsmen. The light of this world hath set. He goeth to another place. He entereth thick darkness. He falleth down a steep precipice. He entereth into a jungle solitude. He is pursued by Karmic Forces. He goeth into the Vast Silence. He is borne away by the Great Ocean. He is wafted on the Wind of Karma. He goeth in the direction where stability existeth not. He is caught by the Great Conflict. He is obsessed by the Great Afflicting Spirit. He is awed and terrified by the Messengers of the Lord of Death. Existing Karma putteth him into repeated existence. No strength hath he. He hath come upon a time when he hath to go alone.

(12) He who hates no single being, who is friendly and compassionate to all, who is free from attachment and egoism, to whom pain and pleasure are equal, who is enduring, ever content and balanced in mind, self-controlled, and possessed of firm conviction, whose thought and reason are directed to Me, he who is (thus) devoted to Me is dear to Me.

(11) Adoration to him whose eyes are pure, wide, and long as the leaves of the blue lotus, whose mind is pure and ever wrapped in fullness of meditation, whose meritorious deeds infinite in number were accumulated by him for ages, and who leads all beings with the ways of perfect peace.

(9) What is compassion ? ” Vimalakirti replied: “When a Bodhisattva shares with all beings whatever merits he has acquired by his doings—this is called compassion. [Manjusri again asked :] “

(5) For this Heart of mine is the Heart of the god of mighty names, of the great god whose words are in his members, and who giveth free course to his Heart which is within him

(6) He is esteemed, who is of the same mind to the good-hearted, friends, foes, the indifferent, the neutral, the hateful, relatives, the righteous, and the unrighteous.

(42) O ye Compassionate Ones, defend (so-and-so) who is defenseless. Protect him who is unprotected. Be his forces and his kinsmen. Protect [him] from the great gloom of the Bardo. Turn him from the red [or storm] wind of Karma. Turn him from the great awe and terror of the Lords of Death. Save him from the long narrow passage-way of the Bardo.

(17) “To those who are timorous he manifests himself before them and gives them comfort: he first bestows fearlessness on them and then lets them awaken the thought of supreme enlightenment “Showing himself as a hermit, free from sensuality and in possession of the five supernatural powers, he leads all beings to realise discipline, patience, and mercy. “ If there is any who requires attendants, he will be manifested to him as a servant; first he satisfies him in his needs, and then persuades him to cherish the thought of supreme enlightenment. “Whatever beings desire he bestows upon them; he induces them to the way of Buddha, and by the power of the good necessary means he provides them with everything they are need of. “Thus infinite are the ways of Bodhisattvas and measureless his deeds; and innumerable are beings he thus delivers; limitless is his wisdom.

(22) Vimalakirti said; “It is even as you say that the Bodhisattvas of this world are firm in their great compassion towards all beings; and the happiness which is bestowed on all beings by them throughout their lives, is of greater worth than all the deeds wrought in your land during hundreds of thousands of Kalpas. And why ? In the Saha world there are ten kinds of goodness which are never found in other lands of purity. What are they ? (1) To treat the poor with charity, (2) to treat the trespassers with pure discipline, (3) to treat the angry with patience, (4) to treat the indolent with diligence, (5) to treat the distracted with meditation, (6) to treat the ignorant with wisdom, (7) to save those who are in the eight difficulties by the law which removes them, (8) to save those who find pleasure in the Hīnayāna by the law of the Mahayana, (9) to save those who are destitute of virtue by a stock of merit, and (10) ever to perfect all beings with the Fourfold Acceptance,—these are ten kinds of [goodness].”

(6) The Perfections, Charity, and the rest, are of an ascending order of excellence; he will not forsake a more excellent for another, save in respect of the dyke of virtue. Thus minded, he will be always active for the welfare of others; even a forbidden deed is permitted to him in his kindliness, if he foresees a good result. He will give of his alms to the fallen, the masterless, and the religious, and eat himself but a moderate portion; he will surrender everything but his three robes. He will not for slight purpose afflict his body, which is in the service of the Good Law; for thus it will speedily fulfil the desires of living beings. And therefore he will not cast away his life for one whose spirit of mercy is impure, but only for one whose spirit is like his own; and thus naught is lost....

(376) Let him live in charity, let him be perfect in his duties; then in the fulness of delight he will make an end of suffering.

(6) He never cherishes resentment or harbours a grudge against any one, though deserving of hatred for his conduct. For he worships the Maker, and loves him, who shares life, pitying and praying for him on account of his ignorance. He indeed partakes of the affections of the body, to which, susceptible as it is of suffering by nature, he is bound. But in sensation he is not the primary subject of it.

(5) To accomplish the welfare of his fellow-creatures he has an Army, the troops of which are Love of Right, Constancy, Joy, and Abandonment. The Love of Right he will frame from the fear of suffering and from pondering upon merits. When he has uprooted his foes, he will strive for increase of vigour by means of his armies, which are the love of right, pride, joy, abandonment, devoted heed, and self -submission. Countless are the faults in myself and my fellows that I shall have to destroy, and hundreds of thousands of seons must pass ere even one of these fade away. But I find not in myself the least morsel of vigour to set myself to undo these faults; I am doomed to boundless anguish, and why does my bosom not burst? Many are the virtues in myself and my fellows that must be gained, and hundreds of thousands of aeons will scarce be enough for the practice of even one of them. But I have never practised the least morsel of virtue; to no purpose has been spent the birth so hardly and marvellously won. The joy of the great festivals in worship of the Lord has not been mine; I have done no honour to the Law, nor fulfilled the desire of the poor; I have not given security to them that are in fear, nor happiness to the afflicted; I have been only a vexation of my mother's womb, to work sorrow. Because of old I departed from the love of right, I am now in this evil plight; who would forsake the love of right? This love the Saint has proclaimed to be the root of all righteous works; and its root is the constant meditation upon the fruit that grows from deeds. Manifold are the pains, the sorrows, the terrors, and the disappointments that arise to sinners. Whithersoever the desire of the righteous turns, it is greeted with happy issue, because of their merits; and whithersoever turns the sinner's yearning for pleasure, it is smitten with swords of pain, because of his sins. They that are godly of works enter the wombs of broad, sweet-smelling, cool lotus-blossoms; their lustrous forms grow nurtured by the Conqueror's sweet melody; then they issue in comely beauty from the lotus-flowers awakened by the sunbeams of the Holy One, and are born as Sons of the Blessed in the presence of the Blessed. As to them that are ungodly of works, shrieking in anguish, they are flayed of their whole skin by the Death-god's henchmen, their bodies bathed with copper molten in the fire, their flesh cut off in gobbets by hundreds of blows from flaming swords and pikes, and they fall again and again upon beds of red-hot iron. Then let the love of righteousness be with you, and be heedful thus to foster it.

(300) The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their mind day and night always delights in compassion.

(27) Moreover, such individuals are "universal" in their sympathies, and can feel with any form of life with which they come in contact. And as a consequence of the latter, they tend to inspire in other persons and living creatures a "liking," fellowship, and understanding. Many of the great illumined souls of the race, having this consciousness in at least some degree, find themselves "at home" with all manners and conditions of mankind, and in many cases with the lower life forms as well. Sympathy has been defined as "a fellow feeling," and it may be seen at once that when one has a feeling of fellowship with all Life (and such individuals have this to some degree), then there are created certain bonds and links of sympathy and unity which serve to unite the individual more or less strongly to all living things. In the case of the great teachers of the race, such as the founders of the great religions and similar souls, we find that universal sympathy with and understanding of all life which sets such individuals apart as marked and distinguished men, and imparts to them a universality which makes them citizens of all countries and dwellers in all time.

(406) Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who is tolerant with the intolerant, mild with fault-finders, and free from passion among the passionate.

(42) O ye Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, let not the might of the method of your compassion be weak towards this one. Catch hold of him with [the hook of] your grace. Let not the sentient being fall under the power of evil karma.