Way of Bodhi

In  Kakacupama Sutta and Maha-Rahulovada Sutta, the Buddha teaches how to maintain the attitude of boundless lovingkindness (maitri/ metta) and compassion (karuna) to all beings, as the unshaken basis for one’s relationship with the world. The Tathagata shows  how pervading the world with this deep sense of kindness and compassion lead us to experience profound peace, patience and openness.

These words are from the Dohakosha of the great Indian Mahasiddha Tilopa. Tilopa’s sahajīya poetry – his dohas, are composed in Apabhramsha, a dialect spoken those days in the North Indian plains.

A bird in flight is a commonly used simile in the teachings of the Buddha in various contexts. At different contexts this simile indicates tracelessness, groundlessness, unobstructedness and effortlessness.

The qualities of awakening – profound peace, luminosity, compassion, etc. – are naturally present as the true nature of mind – the Buddha nature. Here, we shall see how the natural state remains obscured and can be rediscovered.

There was wide-spread presence of Buddhism in Kerala from the 3rd Century BCE to at least the 12th Century CE. Some world-renowned scholars and yogis in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition like Bhavaviveka, Vajrabodhi, Ayyappa and Paramabuddha were from Kerala. The practices of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and Bodhisattva Tara originated and spread from Potalaka (Agastyakoodam / Potikai) in the Malaya mountains to the rest of the world. There were also some world-renowned Mahayana Viharas in Kerala, such as Sreemoolavasam.

A drop of kindness within turns into an effluence of joy, when a helping hand extends to others.