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THE GREAT DELIGHT those who worship Siva. Also, it is by virtue of the compassion of the Bodhisattva that the Buddhas come into the world-which belicf represents an important shift and transformation of Buddhist emphasis. "In the excellent Akaniştha heaven, which is beyond the Suddhāvāsa heaven," we read in Sāntarakṣita's Tattrasangraha, "the Bodhisattva attains omniscience, and (under his influence) a Buddha is born in this world.” 08
Within the hearts of all creatures compassion is present as the sign of their potential Bodhisattvahood; for all things are śūnyatā, the void-and the pure reflex of this void (which is their essential being) is compassion. Compassion (karııā), indeed is the force that holds things in manifestation-just as it withholds the Bodhisattva from nirvāņa. The whole universe, therefore, is karuņā, compassion, which is also known as sūnyatā, the void.
To a certain extent, this world-supporting condescension of the Bodhisattva is comparable to that of Krsna, as represented in the Bhagavad Gitā,98a and of the Lord of Creation, as revealed in the Vedāntasära.98b It is an act of voluntary ignorance; a loving descent or "spiritual sacrifice" (ātma-yajño), such as in the Christian tradition is celebrated in the mystery of the Incarnation. However, in spirit and practice it takes us one step further, since it calls for an unqualified affirmation of “ignorance" (avidyā) as in essence identical with "enlightenment” (bodhi)-which renders archaic the ancient Sānkhya-Vedānta-Hinayāna modes of monkish rejection or acceptance that we have been discussing through hundreds of pages. "Ignorance" (avidyā) is still what the Buddha declared it to be, namely the cause of suffering, the cause of the bondage of all beings within the vortex of birth,
98 Santaraksita, Tattvasangraha, as cited by Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, An Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism, Oxford, 1982, p. 99.
982 Supra, pp. 389-892. 986 Supra, pp. 424-429.
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