The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech: A Detailed Commentary on Shantideva's <i>Way of the Bodhisattva</i>

Author:Pelden, Kunzang [Pelden, Kunzang]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Published: 2011-09-06T03:00:00+00:00

If seeing pictures, carved or painted, of infernal realms;

If thinking, hearing, reading of them frightens you,

What need is there to speak of when you’ll feel

Their pain unbearable in fully ripened fruit.

[verse 12] How can we lie back, so lazily and in careless ease, when we have perpetrated the evil deeds that have created the Hell of Great Heat where our bodies, tender and sensitive as a baby’s flesh, will be burned beyond all endurance in boiling molten bronze? It is certainly not reasonable to do so!

[verse 13] There is no need to speak here of the kind of diligence that leaves time neither for relaxation during the day nor even for sleep at night. We have no diligence at all, whether in study (even for the space of a year or a month) or in the approach and accomplishment phases of practice in retreat. How can we possibly hope for great results: for the qualities of erudition and accomplishment in this life or for rebirth in a pure field in the next? As the saying goes, “Less tolerant than new and tender flesh, more angry than an evil wraith.” Because we are so sensitive and short tempered, unable to tolerate even the slightest discomfort, we will come to many harms both in this life and in our lives to come.

Whatever is born in the samsaric state must die; therefore it is certain that we are in the power of the Lord of Death. And yet, just like the gods transported by their pleasures, we do not give death a moment’s thought. Delighting in distraction as if the hour of death will never come, we indulge in nonvirtue. Alas! How we will lament when we are beaten down by the dreadful agonies of death in this and future existences. How pathetic we are! The only sensible thing is to remember that we must die, and thus, strive diligently in positive action.

[verse 14] Now that we are in possession of this physical support, this human body endowed with freedoms and advantages, which is so difficult to find and is like an excellent ship, we must strive in virtue, thereby freeing ourselves from the great river of suffering in the three worlds of samsara. If we do not persevere in diligence now, it will be incredibly difficult to find such an excellent vessel again. What a fool he is, Shantideva tells himself. He is all confused about what should be done and what should not be done. The time at hand is not for sleep; it is for diligently cultivating positive action and avoiding negativities!

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