The
Gift of Mahayana
To
me the Bodhisattva Vows are really the dividing line between complete
and incomplete dharma. We all need a firm basis* but there is so much
more** to our minds and what is possible for us. On the level of
words the teachings of the small and great vehicles sound the same
but in energy the difference is vast. It is plain wrong when
theravadins equate the way they see the buddhanature with the way
mahayanis see it. Sometimes even mahayanis say the same thing but
saying so they only reveal their lack of understanding.
*1-6 bhumis, hinayana/theravada terrain
**7-13 bhumis, mahayana and vajrayana terrain
The vow to be voluntarily reborn endlessly and to continue bodhisattvic activities life after life to help beings out of samsara, is not an artificial vow, something artificially imposed or a peculiar metaphysical belief. Not at all. The Bodhisattva Vows are based on how the greater subtle body that connects all life is built.
All beings are connected via the subtle system of countless subtle channels. You can see it if you meditate a lot and take a look. You can actually see countless thin threads made of light that connect all the people you know and have met, as well as animals and places. You have such connections from this life and countless past lives. You alone have millions of connections and each individual has the same. That's how the greater subtle body is built and where vowing to save all beings comes from. But if one's knowledge of the greater subtle body is insufficient and one doesn't see the point of making a commitment to that vow, is to ignore large part what is possible to us.
To focus on one's own liberation, to merely wish well, to pass blessings and to teach people how to practice shamatha and vipashyana of course accumulates good karma and merit but without the willingness to go to hells and awful places to help and liberate beings, to do whatever is needed, it's still basically a self-centered endeavor, a holiday of sorts. The heart and energy of a bodhisattva cannot be replaced with anything else.
There is a reason why masters of the past spoke of two (or three) different vehicles. They didn't do so to make themselves look better or wiser than those of the lesser vehicle but out of compassion because they actually cared. I also speak of this because I care but people don't see it that way. To point out that there is much more to go is a massive favour but people take it the wrong way, missing the fact that mahayana and vajrayana masters speak about the potential of all people, not just the potential they or people of their sect have.
My advice to hinayanis is to test the energy of the Bodhisattva Vows. Sit and calm down, and then recite the four great vows. See what happens in your subtle body, especially in the aura outside your body. That's where the higher bhumis, 7-10 are, that are not accessed at all with hinayana practice.
To mahayanis I suggest the opposite. You're used to opening and stretching the aura open, so do the opposite: just focus on our own liberation and express it through a prayer. "I want to attain liberation". For this experiment, forget your Bodhisattva Vows and just focus on your own freedom. Do it a number of times and feel the energy of that. It feels like being locked inside a cage. It feels like that because the subtle body is split in half and you only feel the insides of the body*.
*bhumis 1-6
What I have said here might be unpleasant for many to hear but I have given instructions for you to test and verify the underlying principles yourself so that your knowledge will be based on direct experience, rather than books, sayings or dictated by your own karma from past lives. If you hate me and say that this guy is a fraud who teaches outrageous nonsense against the true dharma, that's OK with me. By speaking out I have merely delivered the message that the buddha within you wants you to hear. If you wish to fight it, go ahead but sooner or later there will be a time when you become disillusioned by lesser paths and realize the gift of mahayana which is the gift of your own true being. In the end, we both win.
Bodhisattva Vows
I vow to liberate all sentient beings.
I vow to end all self-based confusion.
I vow to exercise the dharma that frees.
I vow to attain the great perfection.
Many
blessings,
-Amrita
Baba, 22 Jan 23
