“The only way to know the whole of a subject is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinion, and studying all modes in which it can be looked at by every character of mind.”
~ John Stuart Mill
“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” – Wayne Gretzky
“It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.” – Joseph Joubert
They don’t impress me at all. Instead, tell me about your works. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go read James 2:14-26.
“Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.”
- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
“The juice goes out of Christianity when it becomes too based on faith rather than on living like Jesus did or seeing the world as Jesus saw it.” — Steve Jobs
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.”
~ Ambrose Redmoon
In Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is sort of like a Western saint, a spiritually-evolved person of some stature. The comparison breaks down, however, because while it is generally agreed that saints are in “heaven,” it is a bit more difficult to pin down a Bodhisattva’s whereabouts. No heaven, y’know, and all that.
Jizo Bodhisattva: Guardian of Children, Travelers, and Other Voyagers (Japan)
Saints are supposed to keep an eye on things Earthly, interceding with God and facilitating the odd miracle — celestial ombudsmen, sort of. Bodhisattvas, on the other hand, are supposed to have deferred Nirvana in order to remain and help other beings to attain enlightenment. Since it has been taking a while to get the job done, reincarnation becomes an issue.
If you don’t believe in reincarnation, saints, intercessions and so forth, things get a bit dicey in the areas of both saints and Bodhisattvas. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, for example, is reputed to be the 9th incarnation of the 5th Dalai Lama, and has had ample time to get some work done. But what if (like me) you believe he’s just a Tibetan kid named Lhamo Thondup, who happens to have had greatness thrust upon him?
Don’t get the idea that I’m putting His Holiness down. You’ll note, I hope, how I refer to him — and it’s not tongue in cheek. He is an exceptional man by anyone’s standards, and if anyone alive deserves the title more, I don’t know who that might be. The jury, to my mind, is no longer out regarding the Rev. Ratzinger, and I didn’t hold his predecessor in very high regard, either. Each talks(ed) a good game, but continued(s) the repression that has characterized that particular sect for the past 1800 years.
But I digress.
Let’s call folks like me, who consider the Four Noble Truths and the Precepts to be ends in themselves (as opposed to leading to anything beyond a life well-lived), “secular Buddhists.” Are there, then, secular Bodhisattvas and, if so, who are they?
In order to decide that, we need to ask if there is such a thing as secular enlightenment. Obviously there can be, in the sense of Buddhist teachings, and also in the sense of helping others to see more clearly the rights and wrongs of ordinary living — helping them to find a system of ethics, in other words.
HHDL, to continue the example, has taken few formal students in his life. Nonetheless, his unique combination of mystique, visibility, charisma and — above all — approachability, have created a worldwide appreciation for Buddhism and Buddhist teachings that would have been nearly impossible under other circumstances. Just as importantly, he has opened the world’s eyes to political and human rights issues that their governments would have much preferred to ignore in favor of more practical matters.
People like the Dali Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Nadine Gordimer, Wangari Maathai and their like are indeed Bodhisattvas — for what more can a Bodhisattva do than help people awaken? What is enlightenment, in any useful sense, beyond seeing clearly and, through empathy and compassion, developing the determination to make improvements for the betterment of all?
Who? You? A Bodhisattva?
Maybe.
