Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism

Nāgārjuna – 124
possibility. He must be prepared to give up for the sake of others not
only his worldly possession but his personal salvation hereafter. He
must not shrink from appropriating to himself the sins and sorrows
of other creatures in hell. The Bodhisattva must say:
“I take upon myself the sorrows of all beings. I have resolved to
undertake them, I bear them, I do not turn away from them, I do not
fly from them, I do not tremble, I do not quake, I fear not, I retrace
not my steps backwards, I do not despair. And why so! It is
imperative that I assume [103] the burden of all beings. I have no
inclination for pleasures for I have made a vow to save all creatures.
Liberate I must all creatures from the primæval forest of birth, from
the primæval forest of old age, from the primæval forest of sickness,
from the forest of heresy, from the forest of all good deeds, from the
primæval forest born of ignorance. I have not thought merely of my
own emancipation, for I must save all creatures by means of the
ferry, of the resolve for omniscience from the flood of Saṁsāra. I
have made up my mind to abide for interminable myriads of æons on
the spots of torture. And why so? Because it is better that I alone
should suffer than that all these creatures should sink into the state
of torment. I deliver myself up as a pledge.”
Other virtues
The above is an extract from the Vajradhvajasūtra (La Vallée-
Poussin, Bouddhisme, 322 f. 337 f.). Next after compassion rank all
other perfections (pāramitās) necessary to the pure conduct of a
Bodhisattva, – meditation standing at the head of the list. It leads to
supreme sagacity which is an insight into the “Void” or Śūnyata, to
the understanding of the Nil and the faith which has its expression in
the adoration of the Buddha in the building of stūpas and the like.
And yet all this, notwithstanding, his mind must ever be directed to