Qualities of the Bodhisattva | There Is No Suffering

One on the bodhisattva path possesses and continuously cultivates bodhi-mind. Is this an impossible quest? You may think, “How can I think of beings a bodhisattva if I can’ t even help myself? It seems useless to start on the bodhisattva path.” While these are normal thoughts to have, one should not lose heart and abandon the Buddhadharma. In the beginning, intention is important in cultivating bodhi-mind. If your intent is active, persistent, and strengthened with vows, eventually, helping others becomes effortless and natural.
Most people think they can help others only after they have resolved their own problems. If you are starving, you may feel you must first feed yourself in order to help feed others. But this is not necessarily what is meant by the ‘beneficent practice of bodhisattvas.’ Helping others need not be myopically limited to help of the material kind. More importantly, bodhisattvas are inclined to help sentient beings spiritually and psychologically, because all hardships and calamities ultimately originate from our views of self, others, and the world. Therefore, one aspect of the bodhisattva way is to help to instill right understanding in others.
To illustrate, someone I knew who was dying from cancer spoke to a friend, who had cancer in its early stages. The dying person said to her friend, “I want to tell you something that will help you live longer with cancer. Don’ t wait for death and don’ t be afraid of death. Accept this and you will live longer.” The dying person had learned from her own experience, and armed with that truth, she was able to help someone else; and she did not have to cure herself of cancer to do it.
In helping others, a bodhisattva’ s practice is deepened. And the ultimate benefit of practice is full liberation. Most people mistakenly think that only after attaining liberation can one truly help others. The four great vows state clearly the bodhisattva way. The first vow is to help deliver innumerable sentient beings, and the last, to attain complete liberation.
When I was in my twenties, a monk of similar age told me, “I have to practice diligently to attain liberation so I can help sentient beings. If try to help before then, others will likely influence me. So I plan on practicing very hard and praying to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas for their blessings. Hopefully, I will attain liberation and be able to help sentient beings.”
Recently, I met this monk again and I asked him. “How are you doing? Have you attained liberation yet?” He said, “Not yet, and probably not in this lifetime. I’ ll have to continue practicing hard next time around.” Then he said, “I heard at one point you were practicing in the mountains. That’ s good, but since then you’ ve gone further and further away. What went wrong? Have you attained liberation? Have you attained success in your practice?” “No,” I said, “I haven’ t attained liberation, or even much
success. But, because of my efforts, a lot of people have gotten benefit from Buddhadharma.”
The monk said, “If you’ re not liberated, how can you help others benefit from the Dharma?” I answered, “I’ m not concerned with liberation. I just want people to benefit from the Buddha’ s teachings.” “If you are not liberated yourself, isn’ t it likely their suffering and behavior will influence you?” I replied, “It’ s important that I make vows to strengthen my intent to help others. However, I should not expect anything in return.” Liberation is a state where one is not affected by other beings or situations. That is why it is important to put down ideas of personal gain or loss.
Recently, my institute purchased a large property outside Taipei in Taiwan to build a monastery. Someone approached me and offered a parcel of their land adjacent to ours. I asked why he wanted to do this, and he said, “No reason at all. It’ s unconditional. Just take the land.” I declined the offer, so he said, “Well, first, I wish to make a monetary donation.” It amounted to $40, 000 U. S. dollars. I said, “If you want to make that kind of donation, fine.”
Afterwards, one of my disciples said, “Now you’ re in trouble. He’ s going to want something in return.” Sure enough, the man came back and again offered the piece of land. It turned out that he owned a large, expensive cemetery, part of which would have been included in the land donation. He hoped that in exchange for this donation, we would take care of the cemetery, and that sangha members would pray and chant for the deceased. This, he felt, would attract more burials and increase his reputation and income. I said, “I don’ t care to have your land
and you can have your money back if you want it. But if you allow us to keep the donation, realize it is not mine personally. It belongs to a non-profit organization.” In the end, he did not take back his donation.
One of the directors of the institute was confused. He said, “I don’ t understand. As part of their practice, monks and nuns would have naturally chanted and prayed at the cemetery anyway. We could have had more land.” I answered, “Yes, we need money and land, but we do not want anything with strings attached. Otherwise it’ s a double-edged sword that causes suffering on both sides. Asking for things in a covetous way will cause vexation; and accepting things from people with ulterior motives will also cause affliction. That is not the path to liberation.”
As a practitioner, you should avoid carrying a tail that you must drag around and will encumber you. You will be forever catching it in doors. When receiving a gift, accept it with thanks and gratitude; that is enough. If you feel a need to pay something back, do it by helping others and expect nothing in return. I pay back my benefactors by trying to help all sentient beings. This is not having a tail. Not leaving traces behind is one of the aspects of liberation and is a special quality of bodhisattvas.
Many people contribute to our Chan Meditation Center. In fact, because of our fund-raising projects we were able to purchase a retreat center in the countryside of upstate New York. In return, we are helping our donors by using our new retreat center to help people who want to practice. If I felt that I personally owed each of these donors, I would have to spend all my time trying to pay them back. That would amount to a very long tail.
If you truly want to walk the bodhisattva path, do not concern yourself with personal gain or loss. As long as something can benefit others, there are things to be done. And as long as you are not preoccupied by what’ s in it for you, then you will also benefit from your actions. On the other hand the attitude of “I don’ t care about gain or loss, so I may as well do nothing,” is also incorrect. You may think that the more you do the more afflictions you have, the less you do the fewer the afflictions, and therefore doing nothing will create no afflictions at all. That is not a correct view; that is selfishness and laziness.
Use common sense. Sometimes, refusing tokens of appreciation from others can cause them to suffer. They will always feel indebted to you. That would be a burden for them. If they truly want to do something for you out of gratitude, receiving their offerings is fine. It is not the action, but the motivation behind the action, that is important. Learning to gracefully receive and sincerely accept blessings, gratitude, gifts, and compliments from others is an important part of compassion practice.
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