Fwd: Quote of the Week | The Power of Enlightened Aspiration

1 view

Skip to first unread message

seow khee Lai

unread,

Feb 10, 2014, 11:22:02 PM2/10/14

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dharma Quotes <sham...@email.shambhala.com>
Date: 10 February 2014 21:49
Subject: Quote of the Week | The Power of Enlightened Aspiration
To: lai...@gmail.com

Having trouble viewing this email? View the online version. | Forward to a friend.

February 10, 2014

THE POWER OF ENLIGHTENED ASPIRATION

According to the sutras, numerous eons ago, when the Buddha was an ordinary being, he took rebirth in a hell realm. He suffered gravely there as a result of his past negative karma.

He and a companion were forced to pull a wheel of fire on which a wrathful hell-guard was sitting, holding a burning club with which to beat them. His companion was so weak that he couldn’t pull the wheel anymore. The hell-guard stabbed his companion with a burning trident. His companion kept crying loudly and bleeding profusely. At that moment, with strong love and compassion, the Buddha developed enlightened aspiration, a vow to take responsibility for helping his companion and all the suffering beings from the depth of his heart, and he became a bodhisattva for the first time.

The bodhisattva begged the hell-guard, “Please have a little mercy on my suffering companion.” At that, in a rage the hellguard hit him with a burning trident. Because of the power of his strong compassion, the bodhisattva died and was liberated from the hell-realm. His evil deeds of many eons were purified instantly by the power of such enlightened aspiration. Thereafter, he started his journey toward the fully enlightened state of buddhahood.

New Tibetan Buddhist eBooks

Dakini’s Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism by Judith Simmer-Brown

The Third Karmapa’s Mahamudra Prayer by XII Khentin Tai Situpa Rinpoche

EXCERPTED FROM

Incarnation: The History and Mysticism of the Tulku Tradition of Tibet by Tulku Thondup, pages 24–25

Save 30% when you use code DQ21014 at checkout. Offer expires 2/24/14.

Teachings excerpted from works published by Shambhala Publications.

Share this message with your friends