Thursday 8 July 2010

The Bodhisattva

Got to a section dealiing with bodhisattva training and the combination of being strong and being fearless together with the act rallying others to action. This context is clearly on e associated with the narrative of the bodhisattva as hero. The Daoxing has already spoken of the bodhisattva girding himself up with the armour of his battle-quest which are the powers derived from the strength of his vows. He has no physical weapon, like the Vajra of Indra, his weapon, his power, is the ability to affect the balance of forces around him. The presence, the darshan, the gaze of the truly divine being is enough to make things change.

If such metanarratives are ignored, in favour of any abstracted, quasi-philosophic interpretation of the text, the most of the core meaning of the text becomes lost. The bodhisattva, as the buddha is the supreme ksatriya. He has not simply set out to subdue to other kings, but to subdue the threat of the greatest kings, Maradevaputra.

No comments:

Post a Comment