From the Master Shantideva: For when with irreversible intent the mind embraces Bodhicitta with a willingness to set free the endless multitudes of beings, at that instant and from that moment onward, a great and unremitting stream, a strength of wholesome merit, even during sleep and inattention, rises equal to the vastness of the sky. For like the supreme substance of the alchemists, it takes the the impure form of human flesh and makes of it the priceless body of a Buddha. Such is Bodhicitta; we must firmly embrace it!
Acting only in their own self-interest, the shravakas and pratyekabuddhas exert themselves as though extinguishing fires in their own own heads. How much more then should the Bodhisattva undertake to practice diligence, the source of all qualities that serve to benefit others. This is the way of bodhisattva practice.
Dear blog editor,
There has been a mistake of attribution. Those are verses from the Padmakara Translation Group’s translation of “The Way of the Bodhisattva” by Shantideva (Shambhala Publications).
“The 37 Practices of the Bodhisattvas” is an altogether different text by Gyalsé Ngulchu Tokmé (lived 1297-1371).
Thank you very much for bringing this to our attention. We’ll make a note of it.