2nd Condition to Arise Bodhi Mind
Being mindful of our parents’ deep kindness
Master Xing’an (1686–1734), the 11th Patriarch of the Chinese Pure Land School, has composed “An Inspiration to Give Rise to the Bodhi Mind” when he experienced sudden enlightenment and generated the great vows of enlightenment for all sentient beings.
Master Xing’an emphasized the importance of generating the true Bodhi mind and making a vow in cultivation, urging that our goal is to be reborn in the Western Pure Land and then we will return to this world to liberate other sentient beings.
An Inspiration to Give Rise to the Bodhi Mind
Second criterion: Being mindful of our parents’ deep kindness
Why should we be mindful of our parents’ deep kindness?
Our compassionate parents have indeed suffered to labor hard for our care, carrying us to term for ten lunar months and through three years of nursing, and endless diaper changes to bring us up. They swallow the bitter and give us sweetness. They hope that we will continue the family lineage and revere our ancestors.
Renouncing the household life, we are now the so-called sons of Sakya, and monastics. We can provide for our parents no more, nor can we revere our ancestors properly. We can neither support them, nor can we liberate them.
From a worldly view, we have caused great loss. From the view of the supra-mundane, we have little to contribute. As a failure both ways, our heavy wrongdoings are not easy to get rid of.
Consider this: The only possible repayment is to consistently practice the Buddha Way, through hundreds of kalpas and in thousands of lives, to liberate sentient beings of the ten directions in the three time periods. Then all beings are liberated, not just our parents of this life, but our parents of all lifetimes.
Thus, not only our parents are liberated but also the parents of all people. This is the second cause and condition of the initiation of the Bodhi mind.
Continued …
Third criterion: Being mindful of our teachers’ deep kindness
Ten Causes and Conditions that Help Initiate the Bodhi Mind
The Bodhi mind is the king of all wholesomeness, yet there must be some causes and conditions that lead one to set one’s mind on Bodhi. Here are ten causes and conditions that help one to initiate the Bodhi mind.
- Being mindful of the Buddha’s deep kindness.
- Being mindful of our parents’ deep kindness.
- Being mindful of our teachers’ deep kindness.
- Being mindful of our benefactors’ deep kindness.
- Being mindful of all sentient beings’ deep kindness.
- Being mindful of the suffering of life and death.
- Having respect for our own spiritual being.
- Being repentant of karmic hindrances.
- Aspiring toward rebirth in the Pure Land.
- Being mindful of the importance of preserving the right Dharma for a long time.
The above is excerpted from the masterpiece “An Inspiration to Give Rise to the Bodhi Mind” (勸發菩提心文) authored by Master Xing’an 省庵大師 (1686–1734), originally composed in Chinese and was translated into English. Translation credits to Fo Guang Shan International Translation Center.
