What kind of sentient beings can be liberated by a Bodhisattva

A bodhisattva is an awakened sentient being—himself a sentient being who has awakened. Then he goes on to awaken other sentient beings, not only benefiting himself but also benefiting others. A bodhisattva is also a being of great mind, seeking no personal ease and comfort, but vowing that sentient beings be freed from suffering, with a heart that is magnanimous and all-embracing. Like Maitreya Bodhisattva, whose great belly can contain what the world finds intolerable. In the eyes of a true bodhisattva, there are no conflicts or disputes, no opposition; his mind is unobstructed, and he makes no enemies of any person, thing, or affair. To a bodhisattva, everything is himself—all are images of his own mind, with nothing outside the mind. In the eyes of a bodhisattva there are no wicked people, only sentient beings whose conditions are not yet ripe and who cannot yet be taught and transformed.

When a bodhisattva observes sentient beings, he does not look at superficial good and evil, but focuses on the substance—looking at their good roots, their potential, their merit, their conditions, their wisdom. Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva often manifests in various forms to deliver sentient beings. But the beings he delivers are not necessarily superficially good people; rather, they are those whose conditions have ripened. For one whose conditions have ripened, even if outwardly evil, his good roots are incomparably deep. Once delivered, the force of his good deeds can be hundreds of thousands, millions of times, even immeasurably times stronger than that of a person of small goodness. In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, a licentious woman was delivered by the World-Honored One and became an arhat (the fourth fruit), while those good people remained ordinary beings; the bhikṣu Yongshi committed grave precepts violations, yet was delivered by the World-Honored One into an enlightened great bodhisattva, while those precept-holding bhikṣus remained ordinary beings. In the Tang dynasty there was a hunter who often killed deer. When his conditions for leaving home ripened, he met a Chan master; after just a few exchanges of words, the master delivered him to become a bhikṣu practicing the path, and before long he awakened to his true mind and realized the Way.

Therefore, matters of good and evil are hard to determine, and the spiritual faculties of sentient beings are also hard to determine. Very often, those regarded as wicked people, because of their deep good roots and high wisdom, progress extremely rapidly when they encounter conditions for cultivation; while small-good people whose minds are unobstructed chase after them from behind, yet can never catch up. The Buddha spoke of liberation through wisdom and attaining buddhahood through wisdom; an unobstructed mind that embraces everything is wisdom.

Look at our tathāgatagarbha: it never opposes any dharma; it has always embraced all people, things, and affairs—regardless of whether they are wholesome or unwholesome, true or false, good or bad (kuśala-akuśala, satya-mithyā, śubha-aśubha). Whatever sentient beings do is fine with it; it accords with everything. When sentient beings ascend to heaven, it accords with ascending to heaven; when sentient beings descend into the earth, it accords with descending into the earth. In this way, it perfectly accomplishes all dharmas. Any dharma whatsoever, it can manifest, without the slightest obstruction. When it meets the straight, it is straight; when it meets the crooked, it is crooked; when it meets the square, it is square; when it meets the round, it is round. Though its nature is upright and firm, it does not mind bending along with the bends. In this way, it is never subject to sudden violence, can never be crushed, and is never subject to arising and ceasing. When the mind is unobstructed, there is immeasurable merit and wisdom and virtuous capability.