When i said Japhy Ryder was a bodhisatva, I was refering to a character in the Kerouac book “The Dharma Bums.” The character of Japhy Ryder was based on the beat poet/Buddhist monk Gary Snyder. It is a great read if you like books about Buddhism, mountain climbing, partying, hitch-hiking, and living life to it fulliest.
peace,
JB
Technically the Dalai Lama is considered to be a manifestation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
With all this reference I overlooked your appeal:
Good luck!
I don’t know that there is a ‘place’ where one would ‘hang out’. There might be one behind the counter at the gas station, or in the local garage, or at the soup kitchen.
Another take is that you are the Bodhisattva and just don’t know it yet, so your search is over…
Right Now!
=)
If the question is genuinely where does one find holy individuals, I can mention that I have met at least two people I would consider saints or Bodhisattvas (depending on whether I’m thinking from a Christian or Buddhist perspective–I do both, though I tend more to Christian thinking). These are people who radiate compassion. Merely to be in their presence makes one feel loved. One of them was a licenced clinical social worker in Little Rock, Arkansas. The other was the abbot of a Christian monastary in Taize, France. Two I haven’t met are the Dalai Lama and Fred (“Mister”) Rogers. Reading their words and seeing them speak on television is enough to convey at least some of the power each one has in his character. I’ve met numerous other people who lead exceptionally spiritual and sacred lives. True Bodhisattvas may be rare, but they’re out there. Maybe you just aren’t looking in the right places.
This is a nice explaination, and I had to laugh at the juxtapositon of the ads with the subject matter!
I’ve learned from many Tibetan Buddhist teachers, and definitely consider them to be bodhisattvas. Their patience in explaining simple concepts over and over to clods like me and teaching effective means to alleviate suffering to anyone who wants to know is evidence of that. I’m always knocked out by Tibetan teachers; they’ve lost their country and culture in the worst of ways, yet I’ve never heard them speak ill of the people who did that to them. It’s viewed as an act of ignorance, and their response is to combat it by teaching others how to overcome that ignorance, one clod at a time.
A coincidental bit of bodhisattva-ness for me tonight: I was on the late shift at the wildlife sanctuary I work at. Things have slowed with the season, and I was looking forward to actually getting finished at a reasonable hour. In ten minutes, I had several incoming wounded: a duck attacked by a dog, a baby squirrel with a broken back, and a red-cockaded woodpecker,an endangered species, with a missing foot. In trying to stabilize them (the night shift is solitary), I was pecked and bit a lot, but somehow found a rare compassionate space and took time to make sure that each individual was cared for to the best of my ability. The baby squirrel was so frightened and in pain that my heart broke. He couldn’t nurse well, but I tried to at least moisten his mouth and give him a warm place. Of course, trying to aid wild creatures, who don’t understand that us huge humans who try with compassion to help are on their side, has it’s own for-who’s sake’s issues. In slowing down and paying attention to each individual as someone who needed all the best care possible, it occured to me that that might be akin to what a bodhisattva’s purpose is ; someone who has the knowledge and means to help, but we don’t see the larger scope of their knowledge.
I’m in no way saying that I’m a bodhisattva, but in trying to help some very needy others under duress tonight, I had a wee glimpse of that privilege. When I next meet one, I’ll smile gladly for the bit of shared understanding.
Well, my understanding is that the Dalai Lama is the human incarnation of Chenrezig. As a human he can obtain enlightenment and not reincarnate, but has choosen to return in a human incarnation to lead all sentinent beings to enlightenment. Again, that would make the current 14th incarnation of the Dalai Lama a bodhisatva. (I could be mistaken)
I took a class from Gary Snyder at UC Davis in 1985. Good class. Gary was quite disappointed with Japanese buddhism when he first went to Japan in the 50’s. He does not claim to be a bodhisatva but he is a righteous dude.
Let me give my view. The ideal state is created when the ego is destroyed…or infinitely integrated…and teh student no longer sense a separation from the world. This is a state of pure bliss when understanding without thinking is acieved. The mind understands all, but is blank…or infinite.
The person who can reach this state has broken out of suffering. In order to stay and help others, he must reincorporate something of the ego, and therefore make a supreme sacrifice out of compassion.
OF course I am the bodhisattva! THey are all me!
Well, hell, Mr. Z, why’d ya ask the question in the first place, then? 
A nice succinct interpretation though. To add, when the mind understands all, or achieves a state called Clear Light, the distinction between self and others falls away. It wouldn’t be viewed so much as a sacrifice, but as a completely compassionate transmutation.
I thought, yeah, right. But then I found Steven Seagal Named Buddhist Holy Man.