Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon c24.s7.32

c24.s7.32

The true gift of the Bodhisattva is not his flesh, but the gift of the law, and the Mahāyāna⁴ recognizes the missionary activity of such beings while history records their influence on Chinese, Scythians, Turks, Tibetans, and many other races. Other works of the Bodhisattvas are study of the law, the composition of treatises upon it, the copying of manuscripts, a busy intellectual activity which is not suggestive of renunciation or unhappiness. For the layman who is a Bodhisattva there is always the duty of aiding the monks, of providing for their needs and building them monasteries. The Mahāyāna in fact provides for monks and laity alike a vista of helpful and cheerful activity, imbued with the desire to aid others as the only possible means indirectly of aiding oneself.