Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and Their Modern Expression - An Introduction to Mahayana Buddhism

371 Pages·2012·3.8 MB·English

Praise for Faces of Compassion
“I appreciate Taigen Dan Leighton’s elucidation of the bodhisattvas as
archetypes embodying awakened spiritual human qualities and his examples of
individuals who personify these aspects. In naming, describing, and illustrating
the individual bodhisattvas, his book is an informative and valuable resource.”
—Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., author of Goddesses in Everywoman
and Gods in Everyman
“Vigorous and inspiring, Faces of Compassion guides the reader into the clear
flavors of the awakening life within both Buddhist tradition and our broad
contemporary world. This is an informative, useful, and exhilarating work of
deeply grounded scholarship and insight.”
—Jane Hirshfield, editor of Women in Praise of the Sacred
“Such a useful book. Mr. Leighton clarifies and explains aspects of Buddhism
which are often mysterious to the uninformed. The concept of the bodhisattva—
one who postpones personal salvation to serve others—is the perfect antidote to
today’s spiritual materialism where ‘enlightened selfishness’ has been enshrined
as dogma for the greedy. This book is as useful as a fine axe.”
—Peter Coyote, actor and author of Sleeping Where I Fall
“In Faces of Compassion, Taigen Leighton provides us with a clear-as-a-bell
introduction to Buddhist thought, as well as a short course in Far Eastern
iconography and lore that I intend to use as a desk reference. What astonishes
me, however, is that along the way he also manages, with surprising plausibility,
to portray figures as diverse as Gertrude Stein, Bob Dylan, and Albert Einstein,
among many likely and unlikely others, as equivalent Western expressions of the
bodhisattva archetype. His discussion provides the sort of informed daring we
need to make Buddhism our own.”
—Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Senior Dharma Teacher of San
Francisco Zen Center and author of Taking Our Places
“Like boys flying kites, spiritual writers tend to let their teachings jounce high in
the clouds somewhere. Not so Taigen Dan Leighton. He resolutely reels them
down. In Faces of Compassion he presents Buddhist ideas and ideals embodied
in flesh-and-blood people, examples whom we can love, admire, emulate: a
stroke of genius. The result: a sparkler among contemporary Buddhist writings.”
—Brother David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B., author of Gratefulness, the
Heart of Prayer
FACES OF COMPASSION
Faces of Compassion
Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and
Their Modern Expression
An Introduction to Mahayana Buddhsim
REVISED EDITION
Formerly published as Bodhisattva Archetypes:
Classic Buddhist Guides to Awakening
and Their Modern Expression
Taigen Dan Leighton
Foreword by Joan Halifax
Wisdom Publications 199 Elm Street
Somerville, MA 02144 USA
www.wisdompubs.org
© 2012 Taigen Dan Leighton
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photography, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system or technologies now known or
later developed, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leighton, Taigen Daniel.
Faces of compassion : classic Bodhisattva archetypes and their modern expression—an introduction to
Mahayana Buddhism / Taigen Dan Leighton ; foreword by Joan Halifax. — Revised edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-61429-014-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Bodhisattvas. 2. Bodhisattva (The concept) 3. Bodhisattvas in
art. 4. Religious life—Buddhism. 5. Mahayana Buddhism—Doctrines. I. Title.
BQ4695.L46 2012
294.3’4213—dc23
2012003645
ISBN 9781614290148
eBook ISBN 9781614290230
16 15 14 13 12
5 4 3 2 1
Grateful acknowledgement is made for permission to reprint the following copyrighted works: Poem by
Daigu Ryōkan, translated by Taigen Dan Leighton and Kazuaki Tanahashi, from Essential Zen, edited by
Kazuaki Tanahashi and Tensho David Schneider. Copyright © 1994 by HarperCollins Publishers. By
permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Three selections from Temple Dusk: Zen Haiku (1992) by Mitsu Suzuki with permission of Parallax Press,
Berkeley, California, www.parallax.org.
Excerpt from “Maitreya Poem” from Ring of Bone by Lew Welch. Copyright © 1979 by permission of Grey
Fox Press.
Excerpt from One Generation After by Elie Wiesel. Copyright © 1965, 1967, 1970 by Elie Wiesel.
Reprinted by permission of George Borchardt, Inc., for the author.
Designed and typeset in Monotype Garamond by Gopa & Ted2. Author’s photo by Tim Szymanski. Cover
illustration by Richard Wehrman.
Wisdom Publications’ books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Production Guidelines for Book Longevity set by the Council on Library Resources.
Printed in the United States of America.
This book was produced with environmental mindfulness. We have elected to print this title on 30%
PCW recycled paper. As a result, we have saved the following resources: 16 trees, 8 million BTUs of
energy, 1,583 lbs. of greenhouse gases, 7,135 gallons of water, and 452 lbs. of solid waste. For more
information, please visit our website, www.wisdompubs.org. This paper is also FSC certified. For more
information, please visit www.fscus.org.
This book is dedicated
to my parents, Joseph and Rosalind,
who were teaching me about bodhisattvas
before they ever heard the word.
Publisher’s Acknowledgment
The Publisher gratefully acknowledges the kind generosity of the Hershey
Family Foundation in sponsoring the publication of this book.
May all awakening beings extend with true compassion
their luminous mirror wisdom.
May the merit and virtue
of these considerations of the bodhisattvas,
both of the words herein and in the readers’ hearts,
be extended to all beings,
that all may find their unique, sparkling place
in the way of awakening;
and may the practice of awakening go on endlessly.
—Adapted from a traditional Sōtō Zen dedication chant