Path of the Bodhisattva

I participated in Summit University in London http://www.suintheuk.org/
The Path of the Bodhisattva | Part 1. Develop The Compassionate Heart.
I have participated couple of times before in Summit University and it has always been an uplifting experience and a bit transformative. It’s like getting a new boost forward in the spiritual path deepening the understanding of potential, promise and challenges in the mystical pursuit of life.
This time the topic was very much in the subject of buddhist teaching and especially in the path of the bodhisattva.
What I learned: One of the most important aspects of the path of bodhisattva is compassion and there the key is forgiveness. I have struggled with the idea of forgiveness as complete forgetting and as something that should be done immediately. I have thought like most do – I presume – that, even if I “forgive” I should not forget because if I forget I could possibly abandon my responsibility to remind that someone, that someone who  did this or that especially if that someone did not quite even comprehend what was done from the other persons point of view. But the bodhisattva ideal sets as an example a principle where there should be no judgement, there should just be immediate forgiveness for all wrongs real or imagined.

This is quite challenge and on the other hand it is liberating. I can trust the law. I can trust the law of karma but not in the sense that I should hope for it to perform “eye, for eye” retributions, but in the sense that if adjustment is needed for the good of growing, it is not in any means my responsibility or my position to take much if any role in that process. My responsibility is to forgive, forget and pray for additional forgiveness and mercy for anyone who might seem to miss the mark of treating others with charity and consideration. You have to love this idea! Because it is liberating. And rather than holding grudges or cultivating uncomfortable memories, I should thank all and everyone that might have caused me some distress if I was not immediately appreciative of how I was treated, I should thank them for the opportunity to exercise forgiveness, exercise of forgetting! “Thank you for that thing that I have already forgotten that I could practice forgetting it!”

It is all well and good in theory this kind of forgiveness with immediate forgetfulness. In practice it is another thing. It really requires some effort and attentiveness to steer attention away from unpleasant memories.

We learned about bodhisattva Kuan Yin, master of compassion and Goddess of Mercy as our teacher, as an ascended Lady Master. We learned about bodhisattva vows and initiations, about our psychology and the challenges there. I guess I got a glimpse that there is so much more to learn and this is just a scratch in the surface.  

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