The Sequential Stages of Bodhisattvas

Buddhist practitioners today can be divided, by their own self-perception, into two types. The first type are widely learned and knowledgeable, full of confidence in their practice and study, with a touch of arrogance and conceit. Whenever they meet someone, they proclaim that they are not only bodhisattvas but extraordinary bodhisattvas. When fellow practitioners greet each other, they begin with "So-and-so Bodhisattva," praising one another and feeling deeply satisfied inside. The second type lack broad learning and extensive hearing; their knowledge and insight are insufficient. They do not understand the meaning of "bodhisattva," and their minds are somewhat self-abasing, not daring to claim the name of bodhisattva. When they hear someone call themselves a bodhisattva, they think it is no small sin. Both types have gone too far; both are forms of pride in the mind—conceit and inferiority-pride—and both belong to foolishness.

For those of the second type, let us explain what is meant by "bodhisattva." Take, for example, the title "student": a person who is attending school and studying is called a student, including those studying all kinds of content; the scope is very broad, not even restricted by age—an eighty-year-old can also be called a student, as long as they are studying. Moreover, someone with a student ID is even more certainly a student, for an ID is a form of proof. By the same token, a person who is walking the bodhisattva path and cultivating bodhisattva conduct is called a bodhisattva; a person who has generated the bodhisattva mind to liberate themselves and has vowed to liberate others is called a bodhisattva; a person who is studying the Buddhadharma and the bodhisattva-dharma is called a bodhisattva; a person who has faith in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha is called a bodhisattva; a person who has taken refuge in the Three Jewels is called a bodhisattva; a person who cultivates the bodhisattva's six perfections is called a bodhisattva; and especially one who has received the bodhisattva precepts and holds a bodhisattva certificate, who has made bodhisattva vows witnessed by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions, and who possesses the bodhisattva precept substance—that person is even more certainly a bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas include ghosts and spirits, animals, non-human beings, devas, and all other sentient beings. But they do not include fixed-lineage śrāvakas—arhats and pratyekabuddhas who do not turn their minds toward the Great Vehicle—because they have no aspiration to become Buddhas or bodhisattvas, no intention to benefit sentient beings, and only wish for the purity of nirvāṇa.

Bodhisattvas include ordinary-being bodhisattvas and noble bodhisattvas, and their stages and sequence are as follows:

1. Faith-stage bodhisattvas: from the first faith stage to the tenth faith stage, all ten stages are faith-stage bodhisattvas, all of them ordinary-being bodhisattvas. They have not yet resolved to cultivate the bodhisattva's six perfections and do not yet have the qualification or capacity to cultivate them; they are cultivating faith in the Buddhadharma.

2. Abiding-stage bodhisattvas: from the first abiding stage to the sixth abiding stage, they begin to generate the great bodhi mind, resolving to advance toward the Buddha-way and cultivating the bodhisattva's six perfections. At the first abiding stage, they resolve to cultivate the perfection of generosity (dāna); when that cultivation is complete, the first abiding stage ends and they enter the second abiding stage. Abiding-stage bodhisattvas then resolve to cultivate the perfection of precepts; when complete, they enter the third abiding stage. Third-abiding-stage bodhisattvas resolve to cultivate the perfection of patience; when complete, they enter the fourth abiding stage. Fourth-abiding-stage bodhisattvas resolve to cultivate the perfection of diligence; when complete, they enter the fifth abiding stage. Fifth-abiding-stage bodhisattvas resolve to cultivate meditative concentration (dhyāna); when that cultivation is complete, they enter the sixth abiding stage. Sixth-abiding-stage bodhisattvas resolve to cultivate the perfection of prajñā; when complete, they awaken and see their true mind, entering the seventh abiding stage. The seventh abiding stage is the stage where the bodhisattva never regresses; such bodhisattvas are called bodhisattvas of true meaning—genuine bodhisattvas worthy of the name, possessing not only the name of bodhisattva but also the real virtue of a bodhisattva.

3. Conduct-stage bodhisattvas: when the ten stages of the abiding stage are cultivated to completion, one enters the conduct stage and becomes a conduct-stage bodhisattva. There are ten stages of cultivation; when cultivation is complete, one enters the dedication stage.

4. Dedication-stage bodhisattvas: there are ten stages; when cultivation is complete, one enters the first bhūmi.

5. Bhūmi-stage bodhisattvas: first-bhūmi bodhisattvas realize the path in terms of the characteristics of Consciousness-Only, transform consciousness into wisdom, possess the seed-wisdom of Consciousness-Only, enter the Tathāgata's family, and become the Buddha's true sons. Cultivating all the way to the tenth bhūmi, when cultivation is complete they become equal-enlightenment bodhisattvas. After the equal-enlightenment stage, like Maitreya Bodhisattva, they become a Buddha-in-waiting, that is, a wondrous-enlightenment bodhisattva.

The ranks of bodhisattvas—from ordinary-being bodhisattvas at the faith stage, to virtuous-stage bodhisattvas at the abiding, conduct, and dedication stages, and on to noble-stage bodhisattvas at the ten bhūmis, equal enlightenment, and wondrous enlightenment—altogether comprise fifty-two stages and levels.

Everyone should take their own seat accordingly: whether you are a bodhisattva, a bodhisattva of which stage, what dharma you should cultivate, what dharma you are currently cultivating, whether you have the bodhisattva's resolve, whether you have the bodhisattva's precept substance, and how you should cultivate from now on. If you feel that you are not even an ordinary-being bodhisattva at the faith stage—that you are practically a blank slate—then you are purely wasting your time here. If you do not even have the resolve of a first-abiding-stage bodhisattva, do not wish to cultivate the bodhisattva's six perfections, and do not wish to practice the conduct of generosity, then you have no qualification whatsoever to seek the bodhisattva's realization, and you are also wasting your time here.