100 CHAPTER FIVEAlthough the literature reveals a number of lay preachers, it mentions no
organized noncelibate communal life and no householder clergy. House-
holder-bodhisattvas were welcome to study meditation and philosophy, and
probably were allowed to spend protracted periods of retreat in the monaster-
ies. They could teach the doctrine and were encouraged to propagate it. But
so far as we know, the Mahayana Sutras were composed by monks, and there
is not a single important treatise attributed to any Indian Buddhist lay person.
The bodhisattva Path begins with instruction from a Buddha, a bod-
hisattva, or some other spiritual friend. This instruction plants seeds of virtue
in the mind of the hearers, inducing them to perform good deeds, through
which they acquire more and more roots of goodness. After many lives, thanks
to the infused grace of the various teacher-saviors and the merit earned by re-
sponding to them, a person becomes able to put forth the bodhicitta. Initially
there are two motives for this aspiration-the desire for one's own Awakening
and compassion for all living beings who suffer in saJ:!lsara (Strong EB, sees.
4.4.1, 4.4.2)-but along the Path one realizes the sameness of self and others,
and transcends the duality of purpose. Arousing the bodhicitta is an extremely
meritorious deed. It cancels past bad karma, increases merit, wards off bad re-
births, and ensures good ones. In keeping with developing Mahayana views of
the cosmos-which came more and more to resemble modern holographic
theory, in that each part of the cosmos contained the whole-the first arous-
ing of the bodhicitta was said to contain the whole of the Awakened mind-
state, albeit in an unstable form.
New bodhisattvas proceed to consolidate their bodhicitta and advance on
the Path by cultivating good qualities working for the welfare of living beings,
based on a set of vows or prm;zidhana (earnest resolutions). Some vows are quite
general, stating, "When we have crossed the stream, may we ferry others
across. When we are liberated, may we liberate others." Others-such as those
ofDharmakara, who later became the Buddha Amitabha-are more specific.
Dharmakara made three or four dozen vows in the form, "May I not attain
supreme, perfect Awakening until [such-and-such a benefit) is assured beings
who are born in my Buddha-land" (where he [Amitabha) would live and teach
the Dharma to his devotees). Bodhisattva vows are usually binding until the
end of the bodhisattva career, a matter of aeons. Even when the great bod-
hisattvas have passed beyond dualistic cognitions and intentions, they are mo-
tivated, as if on automatic pilot, by the force of their original vows.
Bodhisattvas are supposed to declare their vows in the presence of a Bud-
dha, which means that they must wait until a Buddha appears in the world.
The Tathagata then gives the bodhisattva a prediction that after a certain num-
ber of ages he/she will become a Buddha of such-and-such a name, reigning
in such-and-such a Buddha-land, which will have such-and-such excellences.
Ordinary bodhisattvas who have not yet had the good fortune to be born in
the same generation as a Buddha make their vows in the presence of other
human bodhisattvas or even with the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the 10 di-
rections as their witnesses.