陀羅尼雜集 3.56

3.56

Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva further wished to explain: "A bodhisattva has four things by which he benefits sentient beings with a tireless mind. What are the four? First, the bodhisattva mahāsattva renounces his own joy to bestow it upon sentient beings, seeing others suffer pain as no different from his own, his compassionate mind aching to the very marrow of his bones. Second, the bodhisattva mahāsattva constructs a great bridge and boat where beings are drowning, carrying sentient beings across without weariness. Third, when sentient beings are capsizing in the ocean of birth and death, the bodhisattva mahāsattva grasps them firmly with his own hands, causing them to reach the other shore. Fourth, he knows that all sentient beings from antiquity to the present are like illusory transformations; yet although he understands this truth, he never tires of delivering people. These are the four things of a bodhisattva that benefit and rescue all beings."