Entering the Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva

Author:Shantideva [Shantideva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2021-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

The Request and Supplication

The next two branches, requesting the buddhas to turn the wheel of dharma and supplicating them to remain without passing to nirvana, both involve making prayers to all the buddhas in all the worlds of any universe. According to the Mahayana, buddhas have clairvoyant powers and there is no near or far for them. It is said that buddhas can see all sentient beings as clearly as if they were in the palm of their hand and can hear their prayers, no matter where they are.

Until they achieve buddhahood, bodhisattvas still need to receive dharma teachings. But the buddhas do not automatically teach the dharma. They wait for someone to make a request first, in order to emphasize how rare the dharma is. When the Buddha Shakyamuni awoke to enlightenment, for example, he spent seven weeks without teaching, and only turned the wheel of dharma (that is, taught) when the gods Brahma and Indra came to earth and made the request. When Shantideva asks the buddhas to light the lamp of dharma (verse 5), it is in part so that he may receive teachings, but it is also for the benefit of all the beings in the realms where buddhas have awakened but have not yet begun to teach.

Next, Shantideva asks the buddhas not to pass into nirvana (verse 6). Through their realization, buddhas are said to be able to live indefinitely, but unless they are asked to remain, they will pass into parinirvana to teach their disciples impermanence. Near the end of the Buddha Shakyamuni’s life, his attendant, Ananda, had three opportunities to ask him not to pass away but failed to do so each time. When the Buddha took ill and was nearing death, he told Ananda that had Ananda requested it, he would have stayed in the world, but since Ananda did not, he would pass into parinirvana, leaving this world. When a buddha passes into nirvana, it is as if “the eye of the world has been closed,”2 and wandering beings (another term for sentient beings, who wander from realm to realm in samsara) are left in the blindness of ignorance.

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