What Are the Bodhisattva's Wrathful Gaze and Thunderous Means?

Question: What is meant by a bodhisattva's vajra glare and thunderous means?

Answer: For example, suppose a person with a cleanliness obsession is penned up with pigs, and sees the pigs defecating and urinating in their straw nest. Unable to bear it, the person gives a pig a kick—that is thunderous means. Likewise, when a bodhisattva whose mind is already pure comes to this evil world of the five turbidities and dwells among sentient beings mired in greed, hatred, and delusion, seeing how deeply ignorant they are—committing foolish karma without realizing it, and refusing to accept instruction—the bodhisattva cannot help but loudly rebuke them. That is the vajra glare.

Question: But wouldn't that lead people to say the bodhisattva lacks compassion?

Answer: Whether one is compassionate or not has never been for sentient beings to define. A bodhisattva pours out heart and lungs for sentient beings, yet sentient beings are heartless and lungless, and do not even recognize a heart or lungs. Being scolded is unavoidable; for a bodhisattva not to be scolded by sentient beings in this evil world of the five turbidities would be quite abnormal. Otherwise, how would there be all those bodhisattvas who regress?