Selected verses from The Bodhicharyavatara Chapter 1: The Excellence of Bodhichitta by Shantideva
Just as on a dark night black with clouds,
The sudden lightning glares and all is clearly shown,
Likewise rarely, through the Buddha's power,
Virtuous thoughts rise, brief and transient, in the world.
Virtue, thus, is weak; and always
Evil is of great and overwhelming strength.
Except for perfect bodhichitta,
What other virtue is there that can lay it low?
For many aeons deeply pondering,
The mighty sages saw its benefits,
Whereby unnumbered multitudes
Are brought with ease to supreme joy.
Those who wish to crush the many sorrows of existence,
Who wish to quell the pain of living beings,
Who wish to have experience of a myriad joys
Should never turn away from bodhichitta.
Should bodhichitta come to birth
In those who suffer, chained in prisons of samsara,
In that instant they are called the Children of the Blissful One,
Revered by all the world, by gods and humankind.
For like the supreme substance of the alchemists,
It takes our impure flesh and makes of it
The body of a Buddha, jewel beyond all price.
Such is bodhichitta. Let us grasp it firmly!
Bodhichitta, the awakened mind,
Is known in brief to have two aspects:
First, aspiring, bodhichitta in intention;
Then active bodhichitta, practical engagement.
From bodhichitta in intention
Great results arise for those still turning in the wheel of life;
Yet merit does not rise from it in ceaseless streams
As is the case with active bodhichitta.
For when, with irreversible intent,
The mind embraces bodhichitta,
Wishing to set free the endless multitudes of beings,
In that instant, from that moment on,
A great and unremitting stream,
A strength of wholesome merit,
Even during sleep and inattention,
Rises equal to the vastness of the sky.
If with kindly generosity
One merely has the wish to soothe
The aching heads of other beings,
Such merit knows no bounds.
No need to speak, then, of the wish
To drive away the endless pain
Of each and every living being,
Bringing them unbounded excellence.
If the simple thought to be of help to others
Exceeds in worth the worship of the Buddhas,
What need is there to speak of actual deeds
That brind about the weal and benefit of beings?
To them in whom this precious jewel of mind
Is born - to them I bow!
I go for refuge to those springs of happiness
Who bring their very enemies to perfect bliss.