Give Rise to the Buddha's Mind

📖Master’s Reading

Many feel "becoming a buddha" is an unreachable myth. Yet what exactly is bodhicitta? "Bodhi," pronounced in Sanskrit, is Buddha; to give rise to bodhicitta is to give rise to the buddha's mind, the mind of "I will become a buddha." Becoming a buddha was never a myth but the highest direction of the soul's evolution.

If life has no grand vow and goal, we often merely toil to satisfy three meals and the body, finally lost in the eight sufferings of survival. The buddhas and bodhisattvas accomplished their fruition precisely because they made the great vow to benefit beings. Bodhicitta is the willingness to learn from the Buddha, a resolve to become ever more compassionate and ever wiser.

When the heart holds the clear direction of "I will become a buddha," life is no longer lived only for worldly survival but for the soul's awakening and growth. Do not fear making a great vow for yourself; know that only a great vow brings great accomplishment — without great vow-power there is no great accomplishment. When you truly give rise to the buddha's mind, expanding your gaze from narrow self-benefit to vast benefit of others, the heart's capacity abides with the cosmos, and life naturally bursts forth with powerful energy.

🌱Reflection for Daily Life

• Understand that bodhi is giving rise to the mind to become a buddha.
• Becoming a buddha is the highest direction of the soul's evolution.
• Make for yourself the great vow to benefit beings.
• Expand the scope of benefiting others; let the heart abide with the cosmos.
• Only a great vow brings great accomplishment.