The Power of a Bodhisattva

An excerpt from a teaching called How to Pray by Being by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

I once asked His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, “What is a bodhisattva? What is a Buddha?” And he said, “It’s like this. Ordinary practitioner can practice their whole life and accomplish something. Perhaps they will accomplish a very auspicious rebirth or the chance to achieve a higher level of realization in their next life. But when bodhisattvas practice, even if they don’t sit down, even if they simply make a wish, (for example “I wish a temple would grow up here. I wish sentient beings would find a way to the path. I wish sentient beings would be happy on the path and revel in the strength of the path. I wish sentient beings would receive the connection of this blessing that absolves and dissipates suffering.”), the world is benefited beyond measure. That thing will be done because there is no separation between the lamas of the lineage and that bodhisattva.”

How can great bodhisattvas command that a thing be done? It comes from being fully mixed with the nectar of the bodhicitta, being fully aware that their nature is the bodhicitta. That is the power of the bodhisattvas and the Buddhas.  That’s why they can do miraculous things. When we think about His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, he just had a few monks but he built his tremendous monastery. He had nothing, and he became the king of the Nyingmapa, the king of Dharma. There is no one that surpassed His Holiness. Think about that.

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