184: Bodhisatta

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Namava Tasabhavato Rahato Sama Sambudasa Namo Tasabhavato Rahato Sama Sambudasa Namo Tasabhato Rahato Sama Sambudasa Tiravara Buddhism series Dhamata number seven The title is Bodhisattva in Pali Bodhisattva in Sanskrit and Thiravara Buddhism a bodhisattva Le O D H I S A T T A Bodhisattva is someone who is on their way to becoming a fully self enlightened Buddha. There are some requirements for it. That person needed to meet a living, a living, self-enlightened Buddha, and then received a prediction that they would become a self-enlightened Buddha in the future. That's a definition of bodhisattva in Tiravara Buddhism. Our last Buddha was Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha is a first name, Gautama is a family name. Buddha is the title based on the quality. Our last Buddha was a hermit named Sumeda. At the living period of the Buddha Dipingara. When Buddha Dipingara was alive in teaching, he was a hermit named Sumeda. The hermit was endowed with eight jhanas. In other words, he has practiced samatai meditation and had reached the highest level. One day he heard that the Buddha was coming to the area where he recited. And everyone was repairing a path. Where the Buddha was going to come for the Buddha and his disciple so that they can walk with ease. Hamitsumita also took a section of the path where it was wet and muddy. He was repairing his own section. Everybody took a little section of their own. He was still repairing the path when Buddha arrived to his section. I was repairing. He could have made the path ready with his psychic power. And he didn't. So that the Buddha and the disciple could walk over him to avoid the mud and the water puddle. Then he wished. May this deed become the cause of becoming a self-enlightened Buddha and be able to guide beings to be free from all form of suffering. As we all know, he was endowed with eight jhanas, so he is fully prepared and ready. Just with a simple Dhamma guidance from the Buddha Dipingara would make him become an Arhatta and escape from Samsara. The Buddha Dibingra just have to give him a little sermon and he would have fully enlightened as a rahata. And that's the end of his life from the realm of samsara. However, his chanda, you still remember the word chanda from last talk. His chanda, a wish or want or desire to become a Buddha and help and guide and teach beings to escape from all form of suffering was so strong, he had forsaken his own instant liberation from suffering and wished for Buddhahood. He knew quite well that he had to suffer eons and eons of one world cycles before he became a Buddha. That Chanda, that wish is the perfect example of predominance wish. Chanda deepity. That wish that desaya that Chanda took over everything. The deepdha assess the hermit parami and advas, how much he had practiced, how wholesome he is, the perfection. And knew that the hermit possessed the qualities to become a self-enlightened Buddha sometime in the future. So the Buddha Deepingra predicted the hermit will become the Buddha Gautama. Even the name is pronounced Buddha Gautama. After he had perfected thirty paramis, thirty perfections for four eons and one hundred thousand war cycles. That's how much he has to practice to perfect all the paramis. One of the rebirth of the bodhisattva. Now the Hamad Sumeda from that moment taily became a Buddha. We call him Bodhisattva. Buddhahood, Buddha to be practicing, to become a Buddha. This one in one of his rebirth he was prince Maha Janagat. That was his name. Was a prince. Maha Janaka. He sailed across the sea to trade and grow his fortune so that he could raise an army to take back the kingdom that his father had lost. As he was sailing one day, a great storm came down and hit the ship and wrecked it. The ship sank and all the sailors were drowned, all eaten by the sea predators, predator fish, shucks, and so on. However, this Mahajanagat he rubbed his body with honey and ghee and climbed to the top of the mosque of the ship and jumped as far away as possible from the ship to escape the nearby predators. Then he swam for seven days and seven nights, even though there was no hope for survival. At that time sea guardian, female Dewa. She herself because she is curious. This person is swimming for seven days. There's no island, there's no land. He will surely die. Wonder why he is doing this. She was curious. She showed herself and asked why he bothered to swim even though it was surely a doomed scenario. His answer was whether he ends up dead or not was not his concern. And putting the best effort to deal with the problem at hand was his concern. That's why he never gave up. He put all his effort seven days and seven nights floating and swimming and floating and swimming without giving up. Because his effort is so great and he knows there's a problem. The problem is he will drown and die. And he works by putting effort to solve that problem. Even though logic dictates that he will die eventually. That was his practice to perfection in terms of effort. That hurriya parmi perfection in terms of effort. That's how he has to practice. When the effort takes over, everything becomes the follower. Is the perfect example of predominance effort? Variya deeper deep. And fall after that. All other things, logic, reason, probability, possibility, nothing is important. Effort to grow, everything falls in line. In all of our lives, one faces ups and downs to a greater or lesser degree. When things are going well, one pats oneself on the back and see how great I was, how determined I was. And with ease. He has great lives, good lives. And with ease, for this case, he is enjoying, not enduring. And he endures some lives which are quite difficult. He has to endure them. He endure them. He goes through. Because his objective is to become a Buddha. And here this is my take. Once a person becomes a confirmed bodhisattva by a living, self-enlightened Buddha. The feeling of wanting to become a Buddha or something or somewhat like that remains in the multitudes of life. That little nudge or little cursor of wanting to be Buddhahood is always there. And whether this bodhisattva, whether it is a great seductive and pleasurable lives, or down and out lives, or animals or birds' lives. That was his determination. He's determined to become a Buddha. He never deviates, he never surrender regardless how great or how bad the lives were. That is the perfect example of predominant consciousness. Bodhisattva always made the right and wholesome choices throughout many of his lives. We can read in many Jataka tales to other animals or birds or humans and how he faced his life and what kind of choices he made. He even sacrificed his life for the sake of others because that's a right thing to do. Those are the acts towards the perfection of wisdom. Just doesn't happen overnight, lives after lives after lives, faces problems after problems after problems, and make the right choice for the solution, which means to help, to safeguard others without hurting, harming, and in a wholesome way. In the Jataka, there was a ten great birds of the Buddha. Earlier parts, he was not very well known or person or animals or birds, and slowly and slowly become mature and nature when closer to the Buddhahood, become a human, but very specific. In other words, each human birth, each story epitomized the one kind of parami, one kind of perfection. And these ten great birds, one we already know, Mahajataka, Mahajataka, Mahajanaka. Mahajanaka. The prince with the Shipwreck. That was his perfection and effort. And there's another life called Mahasada. Mahorsada, that was the name. So in that jataka or in that tale, the bodhisattva show his skill of intelligence. Fair, just and wholesome way. He was a genius, intelligent, very bright and smart. He made his decision fairly, justly, wholesomely in both spiritual and temporal matters. He was a great architect. He redesigned, redesigned the whole city because he was the advisor, a counselor to the king. He redraw, reshaped, rebuilt the walls, canals, water storage, food storage, city design. He was a great architect and there too. He's multi-talented. Planning, managing, looking after the welfare of the people. And also he consults many matters. The kings are very frickle, but he knows how to manage and direct to the right direction. And at that time too, in that continent there was another genius. Another genius. But he is not moral, he's wicked self-interest there. So what that genius did was he organized and put together a hundred and one kings under his instruction. And they fight and they conquer, they fight and they conquer. Eventually, that a hundred and one kings become the empire. Under the instruction of that, let's call it wicked genius. And finally, they march on. This is the last kingdom he has to take. They march. That is where Moho Sada lived. They siege the city, cut out all their food. But Maho Sada is already prepared. Instead of being starving and worrying, he even threw the food from the city to the ammon enemies so that they can eat. The siege army cut out the water supply. But he already has a lot of artesium well and canals. He even put a line of water for those people to drink. Those are the details, of course. In those days, firewood, but he has plenty. But to make the long story short, he won the war without anybody dying. Nobody is dead. With his intelligence, he won over the wicked genius. The wicked genius tricked him and he counted tricked. So his genius level is he can even defeat an 101 king's army without throwing a single shot of arrows, without anybody dying. To that level his intelligence was great. And that is the human tales, human story of how much he has perfected his wisdom and intelligence, both temporal and spiritual. These are near Buddhahood. And of course his last his last life. So we use the bodhisattva who or what is bodhisattva and his life. At the same time choose how he has perfected his paramis and how he is the possessor of all the full predominance chanta depa deep warya depa deep Chaita Depa Deep and We Mansa Depa Deep. That is the perfect example. One may wish for Buddhahood at any time. Every one of us can wish for a Buddhahood at any time. But that doesn't make us a bodhisattva. Wishing to become a body Buddha doesn't make us a bodhisattva. Wishing and practicing to become a Buddha doesn't make us a bodhisattva. From Tiravata point of view, only when a person mats a self enlightened Buddha. Buddha and received a prediction that one day we'll become a self-enlightened Buddha. Only then that person is known or called as Bodhisattva. Now let's talk about the yogis ourselves, the practice practitioners. If we truly want to rid ourselves of all mental defilements and suffering for good, we must have one of the full predominance. We must have one of the full predominance. You have to assess and see which one you are the strongest and follow that one and make it into the predominant condition. Only then one will become an arhatta and attain nibbana. May all of you be able to able to become a possessor of one of the full predominance and attain nippana as soon as possible. Thank you very much.