To Light a Thousand Lamps - The Theosophical Society

140 / TO LIGHT A THOUSAND LAMPS
Along with the daily cultivation of the pāramitās, the
seedlings of altruism must be watered by the rains of compassion,
notwithstanding the karmic obstructions in the nature
that tend to inertia. Tsong-kha-pa, the sage of Tibet,
held that the reverent practice of compassion is ‘‘the most
excellent cause of Buddhahood, bearing the nature of thoroughly
protecting all vulnerable sentient beings bound in
the prison of cyclic existence.’’* This is amṛita-yāna or the
‘‘deathless path’’ in its pure interpretation. When eventually
a disciple is born into ‘‘the lineage of the Tathāgatas,’’ he
experiences surpassing joy — and yet immeasurable sorrow
because of the obtuseness of so large a portion of mankind.
The present is heavy with the karma of past sowings by
us all, but we should not discount the sowings of creative
goodwill that have been nurtured through many lifetimes.
If the latter seem long in maturing, we recall that Prince
Siddhārtha did not become Buddha all at once: as far in the
past as ‘‘four immensities ago’’ he vowed to become bodhisattva
for the sake of sorrowing mankind. For scores of
consecutive lives thereafter he tended the plant of compassion
until ultimately it came to ‘‘full ripeness’’ in his latest
birth at Kapilavastu, India.
Let us take a leap back into the long, long ago — to the
‘‘moment’’ in eternity when Gautama felt the first stirring
of love for all mankind and visioned what could and ought
to be, not merely for himself but for all living beings. Then
was the seed of bodhisattvahood quickened into life and,
bursting seedpod, it sent down a tiny rootlet into the virgin
*Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism, p. 101.