The bodhisattva Guan Yin/Avalokitishvara
One matter I didn’t raise with the Divine Mother during the July 10, 2014 Hour with an Angel because I worried that the use of a special vocabulary on the show might disturb some listeners.
So I waited until after the show and asked Linda to ask the Divine Mother whether the Pillar’s vow to remain until everyone else has entered the Fifth Dimension was the same as the bodhisattva’s vow. It was the term “bodhisattva” that I did not want to use on the air.
In Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained prajna, or Enlightenment, but who compassionately postpones entering Nirvana in order to help other suffering beings to attain Enlightenment
There are actually several vows a bodhisattva takes, but I’m sure the Divine Mother knows which specific vow I was thinking of. Here are two versions of it as found on the Internet.
Version 1.
The vow of the Bodhisattva is that she will not go into Nirvana until every single suffering being has entered Nirvana. One has to understand what this means. Our awakening is not a personal triumph. We do not have to win a spiritual sprint. We are one mind. Awakening is to penetrate more and more deeply into this truth.
The world is alive. And as long as there is suffering then this living whole is shattered. Whether it is my suffering or the suffering of another, when seen from the perspective of the Bodhisattva makes no difference, because, seen from this perspective there is no ‘me’ or ‘another.’ In the Diamond Sutra, “Although the Bodhisattva saves all sentient beings, there are no sentient beings to save.” (1)
Version 2.
For the benefit of all sentient beings.
As long as space remains,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain
And dispel the miseries of the world. (2)
Linda said that the Divine Mother smiled and said “yes” in answer to my question. Given that the Mother said she wanted to come again and continue the discussion, I may ask her to confirm on air that the Pillars have taken a vow similar to the bodhisattvas.
Do I mean that the Pillars sat on a special seat and pronounced a vow with all due ceremony, etc.? No. I mean that the Pillar’s vow is of the same genre as the bodhisattva’s vow. I’m not trying to take the matter too far. But anyone who knows that their mission is as a Pillar or to stay to the last will know what I’m talking about.
Here’s a story that illustrates the bodhisattva vow.
“Three men were walking through the desert. They were lost and about to die from thirst and hunger. They come to a very high wall and the first one climbs up, shouts for joy and jumps over the wall never to return.
“The next man climbs up the wall and he too, exclaims in ecstasy, jumps off the wall and never comes back.
“Now the third man climbs up the wall. He gets to the top and sees a sort of Garden of Eden place with water and lots of fruit trees. He smiles, turns, goes back down the wall, returning to the desert to help others find their way to this paradise. He chooses to go back into the desert of the world and help others find their way.” (3)
Shantideva describes the work of the bodhisattva this way.
May I be a protector to those without protection,
A leader for those who journey,
And a boat, a bridge, a passage
For those desiring the further shore.
May the pain of every living creature
Be completely cleared away.
May I be the doctor and the medicine
And may I be the nurse
For all sick beings in the world
Until everyone is healed. (4)
This is an interesting assignment and, like all assignments, depends on how much we wish to unroll it, to unpack it.
I’ll post the transcript of the Mother’s talk when it returns from Ellen. It’ll give her description of the work of the Pillars.
I’ll post a discussion of the bodhisattva by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche separately, for interested Pillars.
The Pillar agrees to remain to the end, helping the hesitant and turning out the lights. The Gatekeeper agrees to go first and come back and tell us about it. Among lightworkers, they are the first and the last to permanently enter the Fifth Dimension.
Footnotes
(1) Albert Low Zen Quotes at https://www.myspiritualquotes.com/albert-low-zen-buddhism/.
(2) https://www.katinkahesselink.net/tibet/bodhisatva.htm.
(3) https://sped2work.tripod.com/fourvows.html.
(4) Shantideva in https://buddhism.about.com/od/mahayanabuddhism/a/bodhisattva-vows.htm.