Question asked by Jason
Hi, this might have been already answered before but why do we pray to the various boddhisatvas and ask them for help on our spiritual journey when we can just directly pray to the fully enlightened Buddhas themselves? Is the Buddha less capable of helping us in samsara than the various boddhisatvas?
Dear Jason,
Thank you very much for your interesting question. There are two levels to this. The first is that the Bodhisattvas that we actually pray to usually are actually emanations of Buddhas. Good examples of this are both Manjushri and Chenrezig. They both achieved enlightenment many aeons ago, but manifested as the Bodhisattva disciples of Buddha Shakyamuni in order to facilitate Buddha teaching the Dharma. Many of the scriptures state that the Buddha taught various teachings, because he was requested to give the teachings by Manjushri, Chenrezig or other Bodhisattvas. So actually, when we pray to these types of Bodhisattvas, we are actually praying to the Buddhas.
But even here there is a deeper level, and that is the Mahayana path of practice. The very core of Mahayana practice (and therefore Tantric practice also), is Bodhicitta. Once you have achieved a form of Bodhicitta in your mindstream, you are a Bodhisattva, of which there are 10 levels of progress. Bodhisattva’s like Manjushri and Chenrezig, are 10th level Bodhisattva’s meaning, they are enlightened.
The reason is not that Bodhisattvas are more capable of helping us compared to the Buddhas, it is because they are closer to us in terms of karmic affinity, because their forms are within Samsara, hence they are able to help us faster.
All of these is explained in the Mahayana scriptures that teach about the Bodhisattva path. It is also explained in the Lamrim teachings in depth, such the Stages on the Path to Enlightenment by Lama Tsongkhapa or Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand by Pabongka Rinpoche. You can read more about this in those texts.
I hope this helps.