Marcus Shiva

The Sun of Wisdom. Marcus Shiva

No matter what activity we engage in, our motivation is very important. According to the tradition of Mahayana (Great Vehicle) Buddhism, the motivation we must cultivate is boddhichitta - the turning of the mind towards supreme enlightenment. One way to accomplish this is first to consider our parents in this present life and then to extend the love and compassion we feel for them to all sentient beings, including our enemies. For, in fact, all sentient beings, including our enemies, have been our father and mother numerous times, and therefore they have been indescribably kind to us numerous times. The greatest thing we can do to reward their kindness is to lead them all to the complete and perfect state of enlightenment, the state of Buddha, and to do so we must listen, reflect, and meditate on the teachings of the genuine Dharma with all the enthusiasm we can find. Such is the supreme motivation of boddhichitta - please put it into practice every time you read, reflect and meditate on the teachings in this book. The subject of this book is the text known as The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, composed by the noble protector Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna is a special teacher in the history of Buddhism. The Buddha himself prophesied that he would be born four centuries after his passing and that he would give vast and perfect explanations of the Buddha's teachings. Nagarjuna fulfilled this prophecy both as a teacher of many students who have become great masters and as an author of texts that expose and clarify the meaning of the Buddha's words. Buddhists and non-Buddhists have studied such texts from Nagarjuna's time to the present. Good Study.