In the “Larger Pure Land Sutra,” the story of Dharmakara’s attainment of Buddhahood offers an eloquent testimony to the depth of compassion which Mahayana Buddhists perceived in the Buddha reality and which they felt impelled to express in the constant refrain of the Bodhisattva: unless and until all other beings can achieve the
same goal, he would refuse enlightenment. The focus of this Sutra on the central characteristic of the Buddha being compassion is intensified also in the first of the four Bodhisattva Vows (shiguzeigan):
“However innumerable sentient beings are, I vow to save them …”
Or, as another version states:
“I will save those who are yet to be saved; I will make those who are frightened feel secure; I will help enlighten those who are yet to attainenlightenment; I will cause those who are not in nirvana to be in nirvana.” [1]
In this spirit of the ideal of compassion, there developed an emphasis on dana, or “giving,” the first of the six perfections to be practiced by Bodhisattvas: dana, giving; sila, morality; ksanti, endurance; virya, energy; dhyana, meditation; and prajna, wisdom. In his “Outline of the Triple Sutra of Shin Buddhism,” Prof. Fujimoto eloquently translates the application of these six perfections of the compassionate idea expressed in the Pure Land sutras:
“Each of the Bodhisattvas manages to become a friend of swarming sentient beings though not asked; takes upon his shoulders the people’s heavy burden; by preserving the inexhaustible stock of the Tathagata’s profoundest Dharma, protects and develops their seed of Buddhahood so it will not be destroyed; commiserates with them out of his ever-rising compassion; shuts the door of the three evil worlds, unlocking that of goodness; preaches the Dharma to the swarming people before being asked, just as a pious son loves and pays respect to his parents; takes care of sentient beings as well as he does of himself, thus carrying them to the Other Shore by means of the supreme root of goodness
