17-11-2020
One of the most noble concepts that Buddhism has explicitly introduced is that of the Bodhisattva.
The Buddha was a revolutionary, just as the Christ was. The concept of the Bodhisattva constitutes an essential element of that revolutionary consciousness, which was later fully developed in Mahāyāna Buddhism, and which has continually evolved with time as humanity has evolved in consciousness and society in complexity.
The Bodhisattva is the spiritually awakened individual who is actively engaged in the work of giving form to a vision. The Bodhisattva is the spiritual visionary who is in action to transform humanity and to elevate human consciousness.
The vision differs in detail from one Bodhisattva to another, and yet it is fundamentally the same: the spiritual transformation of humanity and the evolution of human consciousness; while the form that each Bodhisattva gives to his or her vision is uniquely individual.
The Tibetan (Vajrayāna) Buddhists translated the term ‘bodhisattva’ into ‘byang-chub sems-dpa’ (while the Chinese and Japanese Buddhists only transliterated it – 菩提薩埵).
Byang-chub (bodhi) connotes “the ultimate depletion of all impurities and the resultant transparency of Being, concomitant with the irrefutable understanding and comprehension of Reality”, while sems-dpa (sattva) connotes “an individual with commitment, courage, daring”.
Byang-chub sems-dpa (Bodhisattva) is an individual (real or imaginal) who dares to direct his/her mind and consciousness to the Source to attain the whole being’s self-refinement and consummate perspicacity with which to engage in the transformation of humanity and world with commitment and compassion.
The Bodhisattva’s initial aim is to “the ultimate depletion of all impurities and the resultant transparency of Being, concomitant with the irrefutable understanding and comprehension of Reality”, while his/her primary commitment is to the transformation of humanity and the evolution of human consciousness.
The Bodhisattva is not of the world nor is he/she in the world. For the Bodhisattva, the world is in and of him/her. For the Bodhisattva, world-transformation is the natural extension of self-transformation, and the evolution of human consciousness is the further regeneration of self-evolution of consciousness.
The 21st century calls for new generations and new breeds of Bodhisattvas—spiritually awakened, intellectually enlightened, and emotionally intelligent visionaries whose intelligence is illumined with love and whose action is charged with compassion.