On Thursday, January 03 Mike Brown wrote: >Hi Bill. I don't have much to say about your words regarding sentient beings, Christianity and Enlightenment >because I think our views are in accord. However, I'd just like to add that in discussions about zen and the >bodhisattva ideal there is often some confusion about what this actually means. What do you think about the idea >that a bodhisattva isn't someone who puts off entering Nirvana as some 'solemn duty' (Watts words, I believe) in >order to save us, but that Nirvana is here and now and that an Enlightened person realises there's no difference >between the transcendental and this world. Look forward to reading your thoughts. Mike
It looks like we're in agreement again. What an unfortunate turn of events for the Zen Forum! However, my reasoning is a little different than yours. 'Nirvana' is a mental construct, a teaching tool. Anyone that is truly enlightened has grasped that there is no 'enlightenment', nor 'Nirvana'; so I would think that to a bodhisattva, this saying is meaningless. It much like the Christian concept of The Kingdom of Heaven. This is not somewhere you may go when you die. It is here, now, all around you. (Matthew 10:5 7) It is available to you immediately - just like enlightenment. .Bill!
