________________
THE WAY OF THE BODHISATTVA act, to the passionate forces of the life-instinct that clings only to itself; but the candidate for the Wisdom of the Other Shore behaves consistently as though he had already left behind the delusion of the world display. In every act of his daily living he makes a decision in favor of the self-transcending alternative, until at last, as a consequence of infinitely numerous deedexperiences of this kind, he does actually transcend the delusions of his phenomenal psychology: thenceforward he behaves instinctively as though his ego, with its false impressions, did not exist. This transmutation is the very sense and essence of the Wisdom of the Other Shore.
Actual acts, meanwhile, are the only things that can set us free. Virtuous, egoless acts release the mind, in the end, from the bondage of its ingrained, normal human attitudes and propensities, which are based on not knowing better. But such egoless, apparently dangerous acts require a faith in the as yet unknown, a humble courage, and a generous willingness to take a blind jump into the dark. Then, as a reward, they open to us a new outlook. A magical change of scenery is produced-a new order of values emerges. Because it is a fact: one is transformed by one's deeds, either for better or for worse: ignorance and knowledge are but the intellectual aspects of the changes wrought upon us by our manner of life.
The manner of life of the Bodhisattva is well summarized in the formula: "A guard I would be to them who have no protection, a guide to the voyager, a ship, a well, a spring, a bridge for the seeker of the Other Shore." 4
To see the potential Buddhahood in all, the criminal and the animal as well as the virtuous and the human, is the most just approach possible to the beings of the world. All beings, all men, whether virtuous or wicked, as well as inferior creatures even down to the ants, are to be regarded, respected, and treated
94 Cf. Louis de la Vallée Poussin, Bouddhisme, grd edition, Paris, 1925, P. 309, and Keith, op. cit., p. 290.
545
