9) The tracks left by all Buddhas, past, present and future
Quintessence of the 84,000 Teachings
Are the instructions on altruistic Bodhicitta;
Don’t forget them, practice them! That is my heart advice.
This verse teaches that the essence of Dharma is Bodhicitta. When the thousand and two Buddhas come to our world and their Teachings still exist, this gives rise to happiness for sentient beings; and when the Teachings disappear from the world this causes suffering. While the happiness and suffering of beings is, in general, caused by their own individual positive or negative karma, still, the flourishing or disappearance of Buddha’s Teachings in the world makes a big difference in whether sentient beings are happy or not.
Out of the thousand and two Buddhas who will come to our world, the first was Krakucchanda Buddha, the second was Kanakamuni Buddha, and the third was Kashyapa Buddha. Our current Buddha Shakyamuni was the fourth. It has been over 2500 years since he passed into paranirvana. Those three past Buddhas, our current Buddha Shakyamuni, and all of the future nine hundred and ninety-eight Buddhas, cross the great sea of suffering of samsara, attain the Dharmakaya, the Truth Body, accomplishing their own welfare; and they attain the Rupakayas, Form Bodies, to accomplish the welfare of others. Although the paths they have taken, the methods they have used, are many, briefly it comes down to having found that a selfish, self-cherishing attitude is full of faults and creates problems, while a loving attitude cherishing others has many good qualities and advantages; and that it is only in dependence upon Bodhicitta, an altruistic wish for Buddhahood, that enlightenment is attained. Buddha taught 84,000 collections of Teachings as the antidote to 84,000 different types of delusions in the minds of sentient beings. Bodhicitta is the very quintessence of those Teachings, including the profound points of them all.
Excerpt from ” A Door of Entrance to the Heart Advice Called A Ship Sailing to Liberation. A Commentary to the Heartfelt Advice of Dharma Nectar” Written by Khenpo Karten Rinpoche, originally published in January of 2019. Text is available in Tibetan and English on the Teachings page.
