|
The true intent of the
Mahayana Bodhisattva
The Tathagata declared his supreme goal and that of his followers to
be the attainment of the deathless (i.e. Pali: amata,
Sanskrit: amrti), alternately described as nirvana
(Pali: nibbana, to wit, the extinction = ending of conditioned or
caused (therefore inconstant and un-original) formation, specifically of the
(s)khandas = dharmas). The Tathagata equated death (i.e. Pali: mata, later personified as mara = The Evil One) with (everyday) life. ***
That’s because (caused) birth ends in, therefore causes death.
Everyday life (more specifically, the person formed by the interaction of the
(s)khandas, namely of the body, perceptions, feelings, ideation and
consciousness) is anatta (i.e.
not-atta or anatma = not own = not original or essential) and transitory
(Pali: anicca), hence resulting (only) in dukkha, i.e. in
unpleasantness, pain, suffering and so on. The Tathagata proclaimed
the supreme goal of the noble (i.e. of the social drop-out become itinerant
beggar’s) path to be the extinction of dukkha (dukkha now generally
translated as suffering). The extinction of dukkha is achieved: 1. by shutting down the drivers of life, namely lust, ill-will and
ignorance; or by blowing out the asavas; or by cutting off the fetters (Pali:
klesa); or by developing of the perfections; or by transferring merit;
or by doing godd rather than evil (so the coffee table version of the Buddha
Dharma, the Dhammapada), and so on 2. by preventing rebirth, i.e. the reactiviation of the drivers of life of
which the person (i.e. as actual self-experience) happens as emerged (hence false,
so the Gautama Tathagata, but not late Mahayana sepculation) phenomenon. In short, the (early = hinayana) Tathagata proposed
that the supreme goal of the noble life,
exemplified by his actions and ruled by his dhamma, is the extinction
of the person. In contrast, a Mahayana Bodhisattva is someone who has
decided to postpone the extinction of her or his person (therefore life) and
reversion to the deathless (to wit, to the unborn (as identifiable person),
the uncreated, nibbana, hence to a state (?) not relativised and expressive
of the khandas), in order ‘to free all beings’ from samsara’, i.e. from the
cycle of death, rebirth and suffering. In plain English, it’s the Mahayana Bodhisattva’s job
to eliminate all forms of life (read: conditioned formations, i.e. all
emerged phenomena) from the universe. Taking the Bodhisattva vow means dedicating one’s life to helping all
life forms terminate themselves (i.e.
as false = defiled, because prone to suffering, ‘selves’). Obviously, the true goal of the (Mahayana) Bodhisattva
vow = function are glossed over (i.e. disguised with buzz, indeed fuzz
notions, such as attaining ‘universal peace’, ‘the joy of nibbana’, ‘raising
spiritual consciousness’ and so on) by Buddhist priests (now mainly Tibetan
dharma merchants). Obviously, explaining to
ill-informed beginners, mostly Western, that the ultimate goal of their
striving is extinction of their personas (i.e. of their actually
experienced conscious selves (to wit, the ‘sorry’ bird in the hand) and
promising the virtually ‘sure’ - but actually speculative - attainment of the super joyful deathless nirvana, i.e. to wit, the tasty
flock of fat wild geese, imagined to exited in a different plane of existence) is not
good for business. *** The 8 Characteristics Sutta The
meanings of the appellation Tathagata Topics Index
|