Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon c24.s5.4

c24.s5.4

Hence we find a curious medley of aspects presented in the Mahāyāna. The doctrine of the act is asserted in full force, and refined: the injuries suffered by a Bodhisattva are no longer penalties of past crime; they are opportunities earned for him by his merits to display his perfections of virtue² and goodness. But the matter may be carried farther; we owe it to the law itself that we are able to attain salvation, for even if it is our own past action which has won for us our voyage in the ship of humanity across the ocean of misery, under the rule of the law, still without the law this fate could not be ours. To the law, therefore, to the Buddha who taught the law, and to the order in which it is visibly embodied, we owe respect and devotion, and in paying homage to the three jewels and to the relics and shrines of the Buddha we strengthen our intention of following in the footsteps of the master, just as we strengthen our meditations by every exercise of our powers.³