The Bodhisattva path is a spiritual path leading towards the state of full enlightenment. It's not just any path; it's specifically the path of a person with "great scope," meaning someone who has a significant capacity for developing spiritual understanding and realizations. The ultimate goal is to attain enlightenment to benefit each and every living being directly. Who is a Bodhisattva then? A Bodhisattva is a person who spontaneously wishes to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings. Think of them as spiritual heroes dedicated to freeing everyone from suffering, not just themselves. The very moment someone develops this specific spontaneous wish, they become a Bodhisattva and are even called a Son or Daughter of the Conqueror Buddhas. Isn't that a powerful thought? How does someone even start on this extraordinary path? The gateway to the Bodhisattva path is something called bodhichitta. 'Bodhi' means enlightenment, and 'chitta' means mind, so bodhichitta is a mind that spontaneously wishes to attain enlightenment specifically to benefit each and every living being directly. This is a supreme good heart. Developing this precious mind of bodhichitta isn't something that happens automatically; it requires training. The sources outline five stages of training: 1. Training in affectionate love. 2. Training in cherishing love. 3. Training in wishing love. 4. Training in universal compassion. 5. Training in actual bodhichitta. Let's explore these a bit. Training in affectionate love involves developing and maintaining a warm heart and a feeling of closeness towards all living beings without exception. Normally, our minds can be quite unbalanced – we might feel too close to some people due to attachment or too distant from others due to anger. This unbalanced state is actually the source of many of our daily problems. Affectionate love helps purify and balance the mind, preparing the ground for cherishing love. The sources suggest thinking about how kind others have been to us. Consider all the facilities we use daily, like roads, cars, houses, and hospitals – many people worked hard to provide these things, even if we contributed little ourselves. Even our education and spiritual training depend on the kindness of others. Our very opportunity to attain enlightenment depends on relying upon all living beings as the objects of our compassion, showing their supreme kindness and preciousness. By understanding and thinking about this, we can generate a warm heart and feel equally close to everyone. Following affectionate love is training in cherishing love. This training has two stages: equalizing self and others, and exchanging self with others. Equalizing self and others means learning to truly believe that the happiness and freedom of ourselves and all other living beings are equally important. Cherishing others is presented as the best solution to our daily problems and the source of all our future happiness and good fortune. There's a more profound level of cherishing others as we cherish ourselves, which leads to universal compassion and is a quick path to enlightenment. To equalize self and others, we contemplate a few powerful ideas. First, recognizing that all beings have shown us great kindness in this and previous lives. Second, understanding that just as _we_ wish to be free from suffering and only experience happiness, so do _all_ other beings – in this fundamental wish, we are all equal. Third, considering that we are just one person, while others are countless. How can we be concerned only for ourselves and neglect the happiness of countless others? Our own happiness and suffering seem insignificant when compared to the vast suffering and potential happiness of all living beings. The next stage in cherishing love is exchanging self with others. This involves contemplating the disadvantages of self-cherishing and the advantages of cherishing others. What is self-cherishing? It's that mind thinking "I am important" while neglecting others. It’s based on perceiving an inherently existent "I" and believing its happiness and freedom are most important. The sources clarify that caring for ourselves is necessary to maintain our life for spiritual practice and is not the same as self-cherishing. Shantideva is quoted as saying that "all the suffering there is in this world arises from wishing ourself to be happy". This means our sufferings aren't punishments; they come from our self-cherishing mind that prioritizes our own happiness while neglecting others. This self-cherishing mind is seen as the creator and basis of all our suffering and problems. Our present suffering is a result of past non-virtuous actions motivated by this selfish intention. Understanding this, we should determine to recognize, reduce, and abandon this ignorance of self-grasping completely. Conversely, all the happiness in the world arises from wishing others to be happy. Our present and future happiness depends on cherishing others – on wanting others to be happy. Past virtuous actions, motivated by cherishing others, result in our current precious human life with its opportunities for happiness and spiritual practice. If we cherish all beings as ourselves, their suffering becomes hard to bear, leading to universal compassion, which quickly guides us to enlightenment. Just like past Buddhas, we can become enlightened from the "mother," universal compassion. Contemplating these benefits should lead us to determine to always cherish all living beings without exception. This practice should be done continually until we spontaneously believe that the happiness and freedom of every other being is far more important than our own – this belief is the realization of exchanging self with others. Building on this cherishing love, we train in wishing love. This is generating the wish for all living beings to attain the pure and everlasting happiness of enlightenment. We think, "How wonderful it would be if all living beings attained... enlightenment! May they attain this happiness. I myself will work for this aim". This is practiced single-pointedly until it becomes a spontaneous wish. Wishing love is also called 'immeasurable love' because meditating on it brings immeasurable benefits in this and future lives. These benefits include accumulating great merit, receiving kindness and protection from others, mental happiness, physical health, protection from harm, obtaining necessary conditions easily, and being reborn in a Buddha Land. Think about that – just meditating on wishing love can bring such vast benefits! The training continues with universal compassion. Based on cherishing all beings, universal compassion is a mind that sincerely wishes to liberate all living beings from suffering permanently. We contemplate their endless cycle of physical and mental suffering, their lack of freedom, and how they create future suffering through negative actions. We aim to empathize and feel their pain keenly, recognizing that everyone, without exception, is a suitable object of compassion. We contemplate their suffering in future lives, just as we contemplated our own suffering in future lives to develop renunciation. This leads to the powerful thought: "I cannot bear the suffering of these countless mother beings... I must permanently liberate all these living beings from their suffering". This determination is universal compassion. Finally, the training culminates in actual bodhichitta. The moment this precious mind of bodhichitta is developed, one becomes a Bodhisattva on the path of accumulation. By following the path with the "vehicle" of bodhichitta, one progresses through various stages to actual enlightenment. Enlightenment is described as the inner light of wisdom, free from mistaken appearance, whose function is to bestow mental peace on all beings daily. An enlightened Buddha can benefit all beings directly through blessings and emanations. With bodhichitta, the spontaneous thought arises: "How wonderful it would be if I and all living beings attained real happiness, the pure and everlasting happiness of enlightenment! May we attain this happiness. I myself will work for this aim". This precious mind is the inner Spiritual Guide and the real wishfulfilling jewel that helps fulfill one's own and others' wishes. Now, what is the actual path or training that a Bodhisattva engages in? This is primarily the practice of the six perfections. The six perfections are the actual path to enlightenment, the path of bodhichitta, and the Bodhisattva's path. To commit to this training, one takes the Bodhisattva's vow, often in front of a Spiritual Guide or Buddha image. The vow involves promising to engage in the Bodhisattva's training. The sources give the ritual prayer: "Just as all the previous Sugatas, the Buddhas, Generated the mind of enlightenment, bodhichitta, And accomplished all the stages Of the Bodhisattva’s training, So will I too, for the sake of all beings, Generate the mind of enlightenment And accomplish all the stages Of the Bodhisattva’s training". Taking this vow is committing to the practice of the six perfections. The six perfections are: 1. Giving. 2. Moral discipline. 3. Patience. 4. Effort. 5. Concentration. 6. Wisdom. These are practiced motivated by bodhichitta. Let's briefly touch on each: - **Giving:** This includes giving material help, practical help (like to the sick), protection (saving lives, even insects'), love (cherishing others), and Dharma (spiritual teachings or advice). - **Moral discipline:** Abandoning inappropriate actions, especially those causing others suffering, and keeping the Bodhisattva's vows. This purifies actions and is the foundation for progress. - **Patience:** Never becoming angry or discouraged, accepting difficulties or harm from others. Patience is described as supreme inner armour protecting from suffering and problems, and is the greatest virtue, while anger is the greatest evil. - **Effort:** Relying on irreversible effort to accumulate merit and wisdom, which are causes for attaining a Buddha's bodies. Effort is crucial for accomplishing any spiritual aim. - **Concentration:** At this stage, emphasizing the concentration of tranquil abiding focused on emptiness. This helps develop "superior seeing," a special wisdom realizing emptiness clearly. - **Wisdom:** Increasing the power of wisdom, especially the wisdom realizing emptiness, motivated by bodhichitta. This wisdom leads to direct realization of emptiness, transforming into the path of seeing. The Bodhisattva path progresses through stages based on these practices and realizations. Starting from the path of accumulation (initial training), moving to the path of preparation (preparing for direct realization), the path of seeing (initial direct realization of emptiness), the path of meditation (continually meditating on emptiness), and finally the Path of No More Learning, which is actual enlightenment. Within the practice of the six perfections, the sources highlight specific meditations called "taking" and "giving". These are presented in conjunction with the practice of the six perfections. They are powerful methods to purify negative potential, accumulate merit, ripen the potential to benefit all beings, and purify the mind. A story is shared about a practitioner cured of leprosy through diligently practicing taking and giving with strong compassion. 'Taking' means taking others' sufferings upon oneself through meditation, motivated by compassion. We think, "I must permanently liberate all living beings from their suffering and fears...". Through this, one practices all six perfections simultaneously: protection (giving), abandoning self-cherishing (moral discipline), accepting difficulties (patience), applying effort (effort), concentrating single-pointedly (concentration), and realizing emptiness (wisdom). Isn't that interesting? One practice encompassing all six! The meditation on taking can focus on all beings or particular beings. Focusing on all beings, we contemplate their endless suffering and think, "How wonderful it would be if all these living beings were permanently freed from the suffering and fears... May they achieve this. I myself will work for them to achieve this. I must do this". Then, one imagines the sufferings of all beings gathering as black smoke, dissolving into one's own self-grasping and self-cherishing at the heart, strongly believing that beings are freed and one's own ignorance is destroyed. Continual practice of this meditation purifies the mind and increases compassion. 'Giving' means giving one's own happiness to others through meditation. Recognizing that there's no _real_ happiness in samsara (the cycle of impure life), only temporary relief or changing suffering, we turn to our future happiness of enlightenment. We regard our subtle body as a wishfulfilling jewel, our Buddha nature. We think about how all beings want happiness but don't know how to find it, destroying their potential for it through delusions and non-virtue. We generate the wish, "How wonderful it would be if all these living beings experienced the pure and everlasting happiness of enlightenment! May they experience this happiness. I will now give my own future happiness of enlightenment to each and every living being". Then, we imagine infinite rays of light, our future happiness of enlightenment, emanating from our heart, reaching all beings, and we strongly believe that every being experiences this happiness. This practice increases wishing love, ripens our potential to benefit others, accumulates merit, and causes ordinary appearances to cease. This meditation on giving brings the future result (enlightenment) into the present path and is a quick way to enlightenment. Both taking and giving meditations are very powerful methods, similar in function to Tantric practices, relying on correct belief and imagination. Finally, the Bodhisattva path also emphasizes training in ultimate bodhichitta, which is connected to wisdom, specifically the wisdom realizing emptiness. Conventional bodhichitta is based on compassion, while ultimate bodhichitta is based on wisdom. Emptiness is described as the way things _really_ are, the opposite of how they _appear_ to exist inherently, from their own side, independent of our minds. Our normal perception is seen as deceptive. Understanding emptiness, the lack of inherent existence, is crucial for cutting the root of suffering, self-grasping ignorance. The path of great scope, leading to enlightenment, includes both Sutra and Tantra practices. The source material discusses these in detail, presenting the Lamrim stages (initial, middling, great scope) as a comprehensive path that includes all of Buddha's teachings. The practice of the three higher trainings – higher moral discipline, higher concentration, and higher wisdom – motivated by renunciation, is the actual path to liberation. Higher wisdom involves realizing emptiness. These three trainings are like a body, hands, and a saw, needed together to cut down the poisonous tree of self-grasping ignorance. In essence, the Bodhisattva path, motivated by bodhichitta, is a journey driven by the profound wish to free all beings from suffering and lead them to enlightenment. It involves cultivating love and compassion, training in ethical conduct, developing mental focus, and realizing the ultimate nature of reality – emptiness. It's a path of immense generosity, patience, and effort, undertaken not just for oneself, but for the benefit of everyone. This journey is described as the real meaning of human life. Wasting this precious opportunity is considered a great loss and foolishness, as such an opportunity is incredibly rare. The Lamrim structure, covering the paths of initial, middling, and great scope practitioners, lays out the steps needed to progress from temporary freedom to permanent liberation and enlightenment. Think about the implications of this path. What would it be like to live with a spontaneous wish for the enlightenment of _all_ beings? How would training in cherishing others over ourselves transform our relationships and daily experiences? How does the idea of emptiness challenge our usual way of seeing the world? These are vast and profound questions that the Bodhisattva path invites us to explore, not just intellectually, but through genuine practice and contemplation.