In the sūtras, love is primarily understood as loving-kindness that is grounded in the realization of emptiness—the knowledge that there is no solid and enduring self to be found anywhere.
This understanding can help us transcend our personal motivations and instead cultivate a sincere and impartial wish for the happiness and well-being of all beings—friends and enemies alike—without discrimination. It is a boundless and universal love for all beings.
On this Valentine’s Day, we have selected several sūtras that convey the Buddha’s teachings on this type of impartial and unconditional love and compassion. The sūtras show how embracing all beings with this loving perspective can lead ourselves and others to full awakening.
The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva (Toh 56)*
In The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva, the Buddha describes in detail the views and practices that are to be followed by the bodhisatva, the quintessential Mahāyāna practitioner. Through the Buddha’s interactions with human and nonhuman interlocutors, and through stories of various past buddhas, we are led gradually through the topics of renunciation, the mind of awakening, the four immeasurables, and the six perfections.
Chapter 5 of this text offers an extensive passage on how a bodhisattva cares for all beings, including a teaching on the four immeasurables: love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Here, the Buddha explains to Śāriputra how practicing love combined with the six perfections can be the cause of awakening.
“‘What is the path of awakening? To exert oneself in love and in the perfections and to employ methods for bringing people together—that is what is called the path of awakening. What does having love for all sentient beings entail? Young prince, the bodhisatva’s love extends throughout the whole of the realm of sentient beings.’” [5.4]
“‘Young prince, just as the realm of sentient beings is immeasurable, so is the bodhisatva’s cultivation of love immeasurable. [...] Just as space is unlimited, sentient beings are unlimited. Just as sentient beings are unlimited, the bodhisatva’s love is unlimited.’”
Through such boundless love, one becomes a source of benefit for others, and that leads to the highest qualities we can attain—freedom from all fear, freedom from any form of desire, freedom from any form of anger, and freedom from biases and arrogance. At the same time, we learn to rejoice and practice generosity. We learn to shun our own happiness and become concerned with providing happiness for all sentient beings. [5.7]
The Ten Bhūmis is an important Mahāyāna sūtra, which provides a presentation of the ten levels in a bodhisattva’s progress toward buddhahood. The sūtra takes place two weeks after the Buddha’s awakening, as the Buddha is manifesting miraculously in a heavenly realm. With the Buddha’s blessing, the bodhisattva Vajragarbha gives a teaching that describes the ten successive bhūmis of a bodhisattva.
The text describes the first bodhisattva level, called “Perfect Joy,” and explains how the bodhisattva’s unique realization of emptiness gives rise to a unique and previously unknown feeling of love and compassion for all beings who do not possess this understanding of egolessness. At this level, the bodhisattva aspires to the wisdom of buddhahood with a mind of powerful faith and engages in great acts of generosity to benefit others. [1.107]
The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (Toh 153)
This sūtra recounts a lengthy dialogue between the nāga king Sāgara and the Buddha, as they discuss various topics related to relative and ultimate reality, all of which provide insight into the nature of emptiness. Whereas The Ten Bhūmis sūtra unfolds in a heavenly realm, The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara takes place deep in the ocean where the nāgas live.
One passage in this sūtra teaches that developing a loving mind is the finest way to venerate the Thus-Gone One. Veneration with objects that are fashioned from material things, we are told, cannot compare to resting in a loving and compassionate state of mind. [7.73] In this passage, the Buddha recounts four extraordinary ways to venerate the awakened beings, each of which directs the bodhisattva to develop positive personal qualities that then ultimately will be of benefit to others:
“(1) Not contradicting the trainings; (2) actions of a loving body, speech, and mind; (3) the mind set on awakening aimed at ensuring the survival of the lineage of the Three Jewels; and (4) rigorously contemplating whatever Dharma one has heard.” [7.73]
In this way, since the buddhas have already accomplished their own aims, they are best served by arousing love for all beings and engaging in acts that benefit those in need. This is the unique and beautiful way in which the Buddha presents his teachings on love and compassion. The key point is to develop an actual understanding and experience of the profound state of emptiness, and thereby give rise to effortless and unconditional love for all beings.
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*In the translation of Toh 56, The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva, “bodhisattva” is spelled with one “t.” 84000 normally spells this term with two “t’s.” See footnote [n.1]
Story by Carol Tucker, 84000 communications, with contribution from Andreas Doctor, editorial director.