In Buddhism, bodhisattva is the Sanskrit term for anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish and a compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.
On Friday, a friend reaches out to me. I know her from the IANDS group. There is a woman who has had three NDEs and is now an intuitive and she wants to speak to me. She gives me messages of comfort from Shayna. She tells me about her trips to heaven, her encounters with Jesus and Mary, and even with God himself. This lady is straight-up Catholic, but she still sees and talks to “dead people”.
During our conversation, she asks me if I have a green Buddha statue. I have several Buddhas in various places around the house including two on my meditation altar. One is the weeping Buddha. The other is actually Jizo, a Japanese Boddhisatva which I mistook for a Buddha statue but bought because it was just so cool. Jizo is the Boddhisatva who protects children who die before their parents and travelers. So, it was pretty cool that I found him having no idea of his legend until I brought him home. My Jizo is multi-colored so this might be the “green Buddha” she is asking about. I snap a picture and send it to her through Facebook Messenger which adds it to my “Day” on Facebook. A couple of people ask me about it including my cousin who reminds me her thoughts on this are “Jesus Christ only”, but accepts that we have differing viewpoints.
Yeah. We do have different viewpoints. Jesus is a boddhisatva for sure. But, Jesus is not the only boddhisatva. MLK was a boddhisatva. Gandhi was a boddhisatva. I don’t take either the Jizo statue or the weeping Buddha on my altar literally. I indeed don’t pray to them. But, they are reminders to me of the human spirit of compassion- which means to feel with those in pain and of living for the benefit of all sentient beings. Jesus is a great example, but there are many others, and any of us can strive to be a boddhisatva.
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