Living A Life of Compassion: Thoughts on Bodhicitta

To live without defenses is an impossibility. But still, we must try. All of us are so defended constantly protecting ourselves from pain and fear. It is the way of things. Buddhism, specifically Mahayana Buddhism, seeks to counteract our natural inclination to defend ourselves. The ultimate endpoint of Mahayana Buddhism is the Bodhisattva path, which is best illustrated in the Bodhisattva vows: