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12 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

The bodhichitta of the Mahāyāna is wanting to
The Bodhisattva
achieve buddhahood for the good of others, and this
depends on the altruistic motivation of wanting to
Attitude
benefit them. This in turn depends on compassion—
the wish that others be free of suffering and its
causes—and on love—the desire that others possess By Norman Fisher
happiness and its causes. We could say then that
the main cause of bodhichitta is the altruistic
commitment to benefit others and that compassion
and love are its branches.

There is a difference between what is meant by
altruistic commitment and what is meant by love
and compassion. One sūtra gives the example of a
child who has just learned to walk and falls into a
cesspool. It was so large that one had to be able to
swim in order to reach the child. Of course, everyone Zoketsu Norman Fischer is an American poet, writer,
was horrified by what had happened, but only the and Soto Zen priest, teaching and practicing in the
father knew how to swim and could rescue the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Dharma heir of Sojun
child. All of the people there felt compassion and the Mel Weitsman, from whom he received Dharma
altruistic commitment to help others, but the father transmission in 1988. Fischer served as co-abbot of
just jumped in. the San Francisco Zen Center from 1995–2000, after
which he founded the Everyday Zen Foundation in
To balance the genders here, I will tell a story in 2000, a network of Buddhist practice group and related
which the mother is the heroine. It comes from the projects in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Fischer
Aṅgulimāla Sūtra, about a man who was a serial has published more than twenty-five books of poetry
killer and later an arhant. At the time of this story, he and non-fiction, as well as numerous poems, essays and
had already killed 999 people, so no one wanted to articles in Buddhist magazines and poetry journals.
go near him and he could not find food. His parents His most recent book is The World Could Be Otherwise:
were still alive, however, and his mother asked the Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path.
father to take him food, but he replied, “I don’t dare.
He’ll kill me.” So the mother, knowing she was risking He received a B.A. from Colgate University, where
her life, went to bring him food. The fact that she was he studied religion, philosophy, and literature, an
willing to actually do something rather than just feel M.F.A. in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at
sorry for him, is an example of true altruism. the University of Iowa, and an M.A. in history and
phenomenology of religion at the University of
In either case, the difference between what we California, Berkeley, and the Graduate Theological Union
normally think of as compassion and real altruistic
endeavor is that the latter is more than simply
Traditionally, the practice of the perfection of generosity
wishing or praying, “May it be so,” or “Wouldn’t it be
(dana paramita in Sanskrit) is the gateway to the
great if they were free from suffering.” The real thing
bodhisattva path. Why? Bodhisattva practice is radical.
is the thought, “I will make it happen.” “I will free
It involves a fundamental shift in our approach to life. It
them from suffering.” And in a powerful form, we can
begins with a serious examination of our attitudes, where
even say, “I will make it happen all by myself.” With
they come from, and how they condition the way we see,
this encouragement to engage directly in helping
think, feel, and act.
others, the Karmapa closed his morning talk. EH