Nicholas Weeks
Bodhicitta
Theravada also supports a bodhisatta path, though little taught. Here is a Burmese Sage on the subject:
https://www.bps.lk/olib/bp/bp420s_Ledi_Manual-of-the-Escellent-Man.pdf
What is meant by “the Noblest Aspiration”? It is the verbal and mental undertaking that the bodhisatta had made at some point of time aeons before taking up the perfections. It was made in these terms:
“As a man who knows his own strength, what use is there to get to ‘the yonder shore’ (nibbána) alone? I will attain to Supreme Knowledge and then convey men and devas to the yonder shore.”
That was the pledge that sent the ten thousand universes reeling and echoing in applause. That was the bodhisatta’s earnest wish. For he intensely aspired to Supreme Self-Enlightenment thus:
“Knowing the Truth, I will let others know it. Freeing myself from the world, I will free others. Having crossed over, I will enable others to cross.”
This fervent and most daring aspiration is called “the Noblest Aspiration.”
https://www.bps.lk/olib/bp/bp420s_Ledi_Manual-of-the-Escellent-Man.pdf
What is meant by “the Noblest Aspiration”? It is the verbal and mental undertaking that the bodhisatta had made at some point of time aeons before taking up the perfections. It was made in these terms:
“As a man who knows his own strength, what use is there to get to ‘the yonder shore’ (nibbána) alone? I will attain to Supreme Knowledge and then convey men and devas to the yonder shore.”
That was the pledge that sent the ten thousand universes reeling and echoing in applause. That was the bodhisatta’s earnest wish. For he intensely aspired to Supreme Self-Enlightenment thus:
“Knowing the Truth, I will let others know it. Freeing myself from the world, I will free others. Having crossed over, I will enable others to cross.”
This fervent and most daring aspiration is called “the Noblest Aspiration.”