The Immeasurable Path

The path of the Bodhisattva is known as the immeasurable path. Immeasurable means that on that journey everything is immeasurable. The number of sentient beings is immeasurable. So is the love and compassion of the Bodhisattva and the altruistic activity, and so is the freedom and liberation of the Bodhisattva. So how are we going to experience this? There is no doubt that there are immeasurable sentient beings. How can we have immeasurable love, compassion, and altruistic enlightened activities when we are so troubled by our own habitual tendencies of hope and fear? How can we generate ocean-like activities when we have a difficult time helping just one person?

If we understand that there is intrinsic Bodhicitta in ourselves, then we do not need to try to develop love and compassion. We only need to awaken to this natural state of our minds, the very depth of our minds. When we open and unfold, that is immeasurable love. It is bigger than us, bigger than our individual abilities, bigger than our own ego.

On the ordinary level, we perceive ourselves as finite and fragile, as very limited individuals, subject to doubt, fear, insecurity, death, and impermanence. We see ourselves as very fragile because we have not discovered our vastness; because we have identified with this false identity of ego. We perceive ourselves as being separate from everything, so we perceive ourselves as dominated by fear. Fear is inherent in the dualistic view of the world.

However, when we go beyond that ego, ego’s fragile identity, and we open to our true character, then we are quite amazing beings. We are then capable of manifesting immeasurable enlightened qualities. We are Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. When we realize this, then there is this ever-accessible, unfathomable divinity that lies within. But to realize and actualize this often hidden potential, we sometimes have to practice prayer and meditation.

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Faith and Devotion

Maybe when we encounter a very challenging situation, it may provoke us to contact that immeasurable love within ourselves. Do not run away from the suffering of other people. If people need us, we have to be the witness of their suffering. We can talk to people who are sick, lonely, and insecure. We can have direct connection with people who are hungry and thirsty, tormented by the causes and conditions of their lives.

Just by being the loving eyewitness to others, it opens our immeasurable intrinsic wisdom and compassion. Or we can recite prayers to the Buddhas or spiritual teachers or whatever is the object of our faith. Sometimes when we recite a prayer it can serve as a very powerful catalyst to bring up that intrinsic love and compassion.

In Mahayana Buddhism, we visualize a deity during post-meditation, because it is easy to lose our grip on meditation after our meditation. So after meditation we always visualize Avalokiteshvara, because it is the archetype or logo of compassion and love. We visualize Avalokiteshvara on our shoulder when we walk. When we sit, we visualize him on our head. When we go to bed, we visualize him in our heart. When we eat food, we visualize him in our throat. This is complete, simple yoga. Dream yoga, sleeping yoga, working yoga, walking yoga, sitting yoga. Totally complete. It makes sense, actually.

For me, the most powerful visualization was to visualize some of my teachers, like Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok. When I visualize him, it is impossible to do something really bad, or to get really angry, because I have such positive association with him. I would never steal or lie with him in my mind, it’s impossible. When I am going through emotional upheaval, I think about him or my teacher and liberation is right there. There are many methods we can use, and we have to choose which one is best for us. Recitation of mantra can be very powerful, too. Or the notion of dedicating every single activity to the liberation of all sentient beings is very powerful as well.

Immeasurable compassion is in each of us, but it is just dormant at the moment. We have so much doubt in our mind. We have so much doubt about our own life, whether we can help ourselves and survive or not. But now in Mahayana Buddhism we are talking about whether we can save all beings, not just help ourselves. So we have to develop this immeasurable love and compassion.

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