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RE: The Ten Stages of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Path
i think life as a bodhisattva is tough. According to Mahayana tradition, a bodhisattva needs to be able to give up absolutely anything for the sake of other beings, including his own life over and over again. If the bodhisattva is not yet generous enough to do this, he/she still has a way to go. The bodhisattva also needs infinite reserves of patience, because it will take a countless number of lifetimes to reach his/her goal
By the time the Bodhisattva gives up everything he/she has realized things, all things are empty of any thing that brings lasting happiness. It is easy for them to walk the path of enlightenment so they can help others find relief from the suffering of grasping at things as me or mine..
You know things, even our body is made up of bits and pieces of other things, and these things are made up of other things. All beings and worlds are made up of tiny bits of this and that... There is no self in the flux of things, they are constantly shifting and changing...but there is what is not a thing and that is the aim of the teaching to stop grasping at things and see without our eyes what is not a thing ...hahaha
So what does it mean to give ones life for the sake of other beings? Give me an example.
Can you clarify your question within the context of the Bhumis @baah, I don't understand...
As in becoming a renunciate? Or giving up householder life to teach the Dharma like the Buddha did...he gave up his kingdom and family but in the end saved them from war and death
Or you could be like Vimalakirti and be a rich merchant and give up everything he held dear and still continue on as a rich layperson...the sutra makes me laugh because it makes fun of bodhisattvas and arahants...hehehe
http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln260/Vimalakirti.htm
I was actually asking moon-girl what she means by "giving ones life", it seemed to imply a trade in some extraordinary circumstance of one's life for another, not necessarily devoting ones life to helping beings escape samsara.
In the Jatakas there are stories of giving ones life but not in the sutras I’ve read @moon-girl what sutra are you referring too? Extremes of hurting oneself for the sake of salvation are not what Buddha taught and Buddha can’t save other beings, he teaches others how to save themselves.
Reading the Vimalakirti story, thank you for sharing.