Here is a reminder from the
Upasaka Precepts Sutra (Rulu's translation) concerning the pitiable state of beings and thus their need for bodhisattva guidance.
Invoking Compassion
“World-Honored One, how does one invoke compassion?”
“Good man, a wise man sees deeply that sentient beings are sinking in the ocean of suffering, the immense ocean of repeated birth and death. He invokes compassion because he wishes to rescue them; or because he sees that sentient beings lack [the Eighteen Exclusive Dharmas]—the Ten Powers, the Four Fearlessnesses, the Great Compassion, and the Threefold Mindfulness of Equality—and he wishes to enable them to have these abilities.
“[He invokes compassion] because he regards as his kin sentient beings bearing grudges and malice; because he sees that sentient beings have lost the right path and guidance; because he sees that sentient beings, trapped in the mud of the five desires, abandon self-restraint; because he sees that sentient beings are unable to break the bondage of their spouses and assets; because he sees that sentient beings are proud of their bodies and lives; or because he regards sentient beings as his kin, though they are bewitched by evil friends, such as the six non-Buddhist masters.
“[He invokes compassion] because he sees that sentient beings are attached to their rebirths in the Three Realms of Existence, undergoing suffering; because he sees that sentient beings are attached to the painful requitals for their evil karmas done with body, voice, and mind; or because he sees that sentient beings thirst for the five desires, like drinking salt water to quench thirst.
“[He invokes compassion] because he sees that sentient beings seek happiness but do not produce the causes of happiness, that they fear suffering but delight in producing the causes of suffering, and that they seek to be reborn as gods, to enjoy celestial pleasures, but do not observe the precepts; because he sees that sentient beings believe that they have a self and its belongings, though these are nonexistent; because he sees that sentient beings, without a definite nature, transmigrate through the five life-paths; because he sees that sentient beings fear birth, old age, and death, but do karmas that make them repeat birth, old age, and death; or because he sees that sentient beings suffer in body and mind but do more karmas [that cause suffering].
“[He invokes compassion] because he sees that sentient beings suffer the pain of love and parting but do not cease loving; because he sees that sentient beings remain in the dark of ignorance, not knowing the glowing radiance of the wisdom lamp; because he sees that sentient beings burn in the fire of afflictions but do not seek the water of samādhi; because he sees that sentient beings do immeasurable evils for the pleasures of the five desires; because he sees that sentient beings know the pains of the five desires but endlessly seek them, like the hungry feeding on poisoned food; or because he sees that sentient beings suffer under a cruel ruler in an evil world but still abandon self-restraint.
“[He invokes compassion] because he sees that sentient beings in the eight kinds of suffering do not know how to end the causes of their suffering; because he sees that sentient beings cannot help undergoing hunger, thirst, cold, and heat; because he sees that sentient beings violate the precepts and will be reborn as hell-dwellers, hungry ghosts, or animals; because he sees that sentient beings have no command of their body, strength, lifespan, peace of mind, or eloquence; because he sees sentient beings with incomplete faculties; because he sees that sentient beings are born in fringe countries [where the Dharma is unavailable] and fail to do good dharmas; because he sees that, in times of famine, emaciated sentient beings rob one another; or because he sees that, in times of war, sentient beings, out of malice, harm one another and will receive immeasurable painful requitals.
“[He invokes compassion] because he sees that sentient beings, having encountered a Buddha in the world, are unable to accept and uphold the pure Dharma, which is like sweet dew; because he sees that sentient beings choose to believe in evil friends and refuse to follow the teachings of beneficent learned friends; because he sees that wealthy sentient beings refuse to give alms; because he sees that sentient beings suffer in making a living by farming or merchandising; or because he sees that sentient beings, including parents, siblings, spouses, servants, and relatives, do not love one another.
“All sentient beings undergo such suffering. Good man, a wise man invokes compassion because he sees that even the bliss of samādhi in Neither with Nor without Perception Heaven is like the pain in hell.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.