{"id":281266,"date":"2024-11-25T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T12:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=281266"},"modified":"2024-11-25T06:17:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T06:17:47","slug":"the-bodhisattva-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/11\/the-bodhisattva-poem\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bodhisattva Poem"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><em>Eighth Century A.D. <sup>[1]<\/sup><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>By the virtue amassed by all that I have done,<br \/>\nMay the pain of every being be completely healed.<br \/>\nMay I be doctor and medicine, and may I be nurse,<br \/>\nFor all sick beings in the world, till all are well.<br \/>\nMay food and drink rain down to stop all thirst and hunger,<br \/>\nAnd during times of famine,<br \/>\nMay I turn myself into food and drink.<\/p>\n<p>May I be an endless treasure for the poor and destitute;<br \/>\nMay I turn into all things they could ever need,<br \/>\nAnd may these then be placed close beside them.<br \/>\nWith no sense of loss,<br \/>\nMay I give up my possessions, even my body,<br \/>\nAnd all past, present, and future virtues, to help all beings&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>May I be savior of those without one, a guide for all the lost,<br \/>\nA bridge, a ferry, and a ship for all who cross the water.<br \/>\nMay I be an island for those who seek one,<br \/>\nAnd a lamp for those desiring light.<br \/>\nMay I be a bed for all who wish to rest,<br \/>\nAnd a slave for all who want a slave.<br \/>\nMay I be a wishing jewel, magic vase, powerful mantras, and great medicine,<br \/>\nMay I become a wish-fulfilling tree, and cow of plenty for the world&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Till they pass from pain,<br \/>\nMay I also be the source of life<br \/>\nFor all realms of beings to the end of space.<br \/>\nJust as all former Lords of Bliss conceived this enlightened spirit<br \/>\nAnd progressively performed the Bodhisattva deeds,<br \/>\nSo for the sake of all beings, I, too conceive this enlightened spirit,<br \/>\nAnd so will I, too, progressively perform these deeds.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NOTE:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><sup>[1<\/sup><sup>]<\/sup> Quoted in Thurman, R. (1998).\u00a0\u00a0<em>Inner revolution: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of real happiness<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0New York, NY: Riverhead Books, pp. 158-159.\u00a0Thurman writes:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>\u201cThis is the messianic drive of the Bodhisattva; the spirit of love and compassion called the enlightening soul.\u00a0\u00a0It is not merely the wish that all be well with all beings \u2013 it is the determination that you yourself will assume responsibility for others.<\/em> (Pg. 159)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By the virtue amassed by all that I have done,<br \/>\nMay the pain of every being be completely healed.<br \/>\nMay I be doctor and medicine, and may I be nurse,<br \/>\nFor all sick beings in the world, till all are well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":115836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[1198,868,805],"class_list":["post-281266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format","tag-buddhism","tag-poetry","tag-spirituality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281267,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281266\/revisions\/281267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}