Selected verses from the Bodhisattvacharyavattara, a Buddhist text from the 8th century.
Reading from the Bodhisattvacharyavattara
There should be no doubt that I feel deeply when it comes to animals. A great part of that stems from my cynicism about people, a trait often reinforced when I look at the horrible anguish we levy against nature. How many species have we driven to extinction? How many animals do we put to death every year simply because people don’t care, don’t truly love their pets, and don’t act responsibly? How much beauty and life have we destroyed in the name of progress? How much have we endangered our own existence by assuming everything on this planet is here to serve us, a belief we act on with reckless abandon? How often do we turn our backs on the pain and suffering of others, even going so far as to declare those experiences to be the justice inflicted by some god who supposedly loves everyone yet seems to enjoy pushing horrific anguish on those with whom we disagree?
‘There is no evil like hatred’
Are you comfortable with hatred?
‘To dispel the misery of the world’
What drives you to keep going?
‘For this enemy has no other function’
Of what use is hatred?
‘For all the realms of varied beings’
How do you want to be remembered?
‘By what other virtue will it be overcome?’
Without self-knowledge, can anyone ever be truly good?
‘May I become an inexhaustible treasure’
Will you be part of the problem or part of the solution?
‘This will satisfy them with joy’
What is an Awakening Mind (enlightenment)?
