2. Taking Buddhahood as the Object of Aspiration
Besides taking all sentient beings as its object, bodhicitta has another indispensable element: it must take Buddhahood as its object of aspiration—that is, one aspires for oneself and all sentient beings to attain complete Buddhahood.
To take Buddhahood as one's object means that bodhicitta cannot merely be a kind or compassionate intention. In generating bodhicitta, one must also orient the mind toward wisdom . Whether we seek our own Buddhahood or the Buddhahood of all sentient beings, wisdom is indispensable. This is an extremely important point.
Compassion or aspiration without wisdom can sometimes lead to serious mistakes. For example, in Taiwan, many disciples of the True Enlightenment Buddhist Association generated the intention to protect the Buddhadharma. However, lacking wisdom, they mistakenly regarded Xiao Ping Shi as the sole guardian of the Dharma in this degenerate age, believing that protecting him was equivalent to protecting the Buddhadharma. As a result, they have nearly ruined the Dharma itself. Was this bodhicitta? No. It lacked wisdom and was not directed toward true Buddhahood.
We may worry that, because we ourselves lack wisdom, we could fall into similar errors. Yet from the standpoint of Buddhist doctrine alone, if you genuinely possess an impartial aspiration for all sentient beings to attain Buddhahood, this may still be regarded as a very preliminary form of bodhicitta. However, because it is not yet directed toward authentic Buddhahood, it cannot be considered complete or genuine bodhicitta.
Years ago, I debated this issue with several Dharma friends on an online forum. We ultimately concluded that bodhicitta must be directed toward an accurate understanding of Buddhahood. This also underscores the importance of right view and authentic lineage. If one's view is mistaken, the consequences can be quite serious. As Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche once remarked: "Ninety-nine percent of bodhicitta is wisdom; only one percent is what we ordinarily think of as a kind heart." Here, "wisdom" refers precisely to prajñā.
Yet we often misunderstand bodhicitta as nothing more than kindness, a moral ideal, or something emotionally moving that brings us to tears. Certainly, Buddhadharma can produce such effects, but its profound wisdom is its true essence and foundation.
When Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö recently gave teachings in Shenzhen, he also emphasized that doing good deeds alone should not be mistaken for Buddhism. Of course Buddhism encourages virtuous deeds, and we likewise advocate practices such as releasing captive animals. But if our understanding remains at that level alone, we cannot even compare with some secular charitable organizations—in some respects, even Christian charities may do better than we do.
To take Buddhahood as one's object is, in essence, to take prajñā as one's object. This is the very foundation of Buddhism. Therefore, bodhicitta must contain a substantial measure of wisdom. Otherwise, not only does it lose the distinctive character of Buddhism, it may even result in good intentions producing harmful consequences. One may sincerely wish to spread and uphold the Dharma, yet end up damaging it instead, or depriving many sentient beings of the opportunity to encounter the authentic teachings. Thus, bodhicitta that is not directed toward Buddhahood may be fine at the stage of aspiration, but errors can easily arise when it is put into practice.
As for impartially embracing all sentient beings, we may be able to accomplish this conceptually, but certainly not behaviorally. We almost always favor those closest to us. When someone else's family member dies, we may casually say, "Amitābha Buddha. May he be reborn in Sukhāvatī." But if it is our own loved one, even a minor illness can leave us sleepless with anxiety.
Someone may ask, "If the suffering of every sentient being left me unable to eat or sleep, how could I possibly live? Wouldn't I soon collapse?” If that's the case, wouldn't even bodhisattvas become depressed? No. This problem does not arise because of emptiness . This is precisely why the cultivation of bodhicitta must be grounded in wisdom and prajñā.
A bodhisattva is capable of perceiving all suffering. Some sutras state that so long as even a single sentient being remains undelivered, a bodhisattva will continue to weep. Indeed, this is the very meaning behind the name Sadāprarudita Bodhisattva ("the Ever-Weeping Bodhisattva"). Yet because the bodhisattva realizes emptiness, he knows that such suffering is both temporary and ultimately illusory.
When sentient beings struggle pointlessly within these illusory sufferings, the bodhisattva feels deep compassion. Precisely because of this compassion, he labors ceaselessly for their benefit, striving to liberate them. Yet, sustained by the wisdom of emptiness, he is never crushed by sorrow itself. By contrast, an ordinary person who believes suffering to be inherently real, and who believes life consists of only a single lifetime, would be unable to bear such a burden.
This is why we often describe materialism as a profoundly tragic philosophy—and in many respects, it truly is. It teaches that after death there is nothing at all. On the surface, this seems to encourage people to enjoy themselves while alive. In reality, however, it implies that every effort made during life is ultimately rendered meaningless by death itself. That is a deeply sorrowful conclusion. If so, the only thing worth pursuing becomes immediate pleasure. Consequently, people easily fall into the same pattern as non-Buddhist, acting however they please so long as it brings them temporary comfort.
—Excerpted and compiled from Genuine Bodhicitta and Conceptual Bodhicitta
This article is a preliminary translation draft and has not yet been reviewed or proofread by the speaker.
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