Bodhisattvas Can Never Be Apart from Sentient Beings

Bodhisattvas are divided into different levels. First, a bodhisattva who has not yet eliminated the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) cannot leave sentient beings even if he wishes to. Due to the binding of the three fetters, he cannot avoid the three evil destinies, and thus cannot separate from the beings of the three evil destinies; when he returns among humans and devas, he again cannot separate from human and deva beings. For bodhisattvas from the elimination of self-view and the three fetters up to the pre-bhūmi stage, wherever they go they are together with sentient beings and cannot be apart from them. Post-bhūmi bodhisattvas, having made the Ten Endless Vows, are constrained by the power of those vows and cannot enter nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa); therefore they must also remain together with sentient beings.

The key point is which kinds of sentient beings a bodhisattva at each level should be together with—this question must be grasped well. When a bodhisattva makes vows, he must think clearly about what kind of vow suits himself, so as to avoid regret in the future.

Every bodhisattva's first and foremost task is to eliminate the three fetters—and to eliminate them truly, without leaving any residual fetters. Only then can one speak of delivering sentient beings, relatively and in accordance with conditions selecting those sentient beings who correspond to oneself.

One may vow to deliver sentient beings in the Sahā world, to deliver sentient beings on Earth, never leaving the Earth nor the Sahā world; yet if one's three fetters have not been eliminated, at the end of life one follows those fetters to the three evil destinies. Clearly one made a vow to deliver sentient beings, yet one could not even deliver oneself and still needs other bodhisattvas to deliver one—how can one speak of delivering sentient beings?

Whether it is studying Buddhism, doing good deeds, making vows, and so on, everything one does requires considerable wisdom. One must not act on a surge of hot-blooded impulse, doing whatever one suddenly feels like doing; it will not do to ignore the consequences.