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Subject: Re: is a bodhisattva possible?
Date: 19 Jul 1996 13:59:57 -0700
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darylk@async.orgg (Daryl):

|...suppose that a being, completely free of a need for preferences and 
|deluded views (eg. that there is anything to prefer), exists.  Now 
|suppose such a being also discovers, once the blinkers of craving have 
|been lifted, that compassion is all that remains by way of absolute 
|preference.  Would that being have any choice in her/his next action, 
|or would a compassionate act be the only option?  

choice implies 'free will', which, given an being empty of separate self,
 could not occur.  the perception is a delusory fluctuation of hope and
 desire manifested in parallel to the dharma by virtue of attachment

|If there is no choice to be made in this regard, is such an action 
|altruistic or merely inevitable?  

neither.  it is not altruistic because it is a normal response to the
 situation from the standpoint of nirvana.  it is not inevitable because
 'compassion' is ambiguous and includes a variety of possible behaviors

|If the latter is the case, then is a bodhisattva a "virtuous" being, 
|or not?

'virtue' is only meaningful from outside the 'bodhisattva paradigm'.
 within it, it is simply the dharma within which the flowing happens.  
 this is why the bodhisattva accumulates no 'merit' or 'karma'