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BUDDHISM
void. And in the same spirit of trust in the transcendent, the way of the Bodhisattva was developed as an ethical application of the principle of unwavering faith in the metaphysically grounded Doctrine of the Buddha. In diametric contrast to the way of the Jaina “Crossing-Maker," whose spiritual passage to the Yonder Shore was achieved by an extreme technique of immobilization, the Bodhisattva, inspired by the innmanence on this shore of the transcendency of that, established himself and his world in nondual understanding by the way of truth-revealing acts. The doctrine of the nondual void was applied courageously to the void of life. All things, Buddhas and arhats as well as “momentary particles” (dharmas), are void, even unto “nothingness” (abhāvadhātu).
The Great Delight
IN THE MATURE Mahāyāna the mystery of creation is interpreted in terms of the Bodhisattva idea. When Avalokitesvara refused nirvāṇa, so that he should remain the savior of all created things, he was filled with the quality known as karunā: "compassion." This pure compassion is of the essence of the Bodhisattva and is identical with his right perception of the void; or, as one might say, it is the primary reflex of the void. Because of compassion (karunā) the Bodhisattva assumes the various forms in which he appears for the salvation of beings in the phenomenal realm. He assumes, for example, the divine forms of Vișnu for those who worship Vişņu and of Śiva for
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