The chapter we'll be exploring is Awareness, what Pema Chodron calls Using Our Intelligence. It has also been translated as Carefulness. The theme is how we can use wise attention to prevent us from getting caught in afflictive emotions (kilesas or kleshas). Even when we know better we may still find ourselves going down a road of action we will later regret. This chapter is how as bodhisattvas we deepen our commitment to refrain from unskillful action.
Part 3 of Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Commitment. Just what are we committing to when we decide to become bodhisattvas.
One stanza from this chapter is as follows:
“For all those ailing in the world,
Until every sickness has been healed,
May I myself become for them
The doctor nurse, the medicine itself.”
We are not practicing for ourselves alone. Everyone benefits from the fruits of our practice. This talk explores how to actively and skillfully express our compassion, held with equanimity, in the world.
The Bodhisattva is a being whose life is dedicated to awakening for the sake of all beings. How can we embody this ideal, vow and vision? Can we become bodhisattvas?
