A Steady Heart in Unsteady Times: Bodhicitta and the Bodhisattva Path Today
There is a particular moment in every practitioner’s life when the teachings stop being theoretical and begin to feel urgently necessary. For many of us, that moment is now. We live in a time marked by deep fractures: political, cultural, environmental, and interpersonal. Many of us look at the news or into our communities and feel something between heartbreak and overwhelm.
Yet the bodhisattva path was made for moments like these.
The bodhisattva path is not about retreating from the world, nor about armoring ourselves against it. It is the way of opening with discernment, with steadiness, and with courage to the suffering that is already here and responding from the deepest truth of our shared humanity. The heart of this path is bodhicitta, the wish that all beings without exception be free from suffering and fully awaken to their inherent goodness. In difficult times, bodhicitta is not a luxury. It is a lifeline.
The Challenge of Our Moment
We are witnessing an intensification of forces that are painfully familiar across human history:
the dehumanization of groups of people
violence, displacement, and war
widening economic and social inequities
contempt replacing dialogue
truth being overshadowed by manipulation
the corrosion of trust
greed and the thirst for power in many forms
These conditions affect every one of us, not only materially, but spiritually. They shape how we think, how we feel, and how we see one another.
The bodhisattva path invites us into a more expansive inquiry:
What would it mean to meet this moment with a heart undivided?
What would it mean to respond not from fear or exhaustion, but from clarity and compassion?
This is not about moral posturing. It is about remembering who we truly are beneath our conditioning, our reactivity, and our grief. It is about recognizing that each being, both those who suffer and those who cause suffering, are shaped by causes we often cannot see. And it is about choosing, again and again, not to collapse into despair.
The Bodhi Program:
A Three-Year Journey Into the Heart of the Mahayana
For those who feel called to deepen their practice, the Bodhi Program offers a rare and powerful container for cultivating the bodhisattva path from the inside out. Over three years, participants engage in a carefully structured progression of study, reflection, and meditation rooted in the heart of the Mahayana tradition.
The program includes:
a step-by-step immersion in foundational and advanced Mahayana teachings
a supportive community of practitioners dedicated to awakening for the benefit of all
ongoing guidance and mentorship from a qualified lama
regular integration of study, meditation, and daily-life practice
a developmental arc that strengthens both wisdom and compassion
Rather than simply learning about bodhicitta, students learn to embody it—to let bodhicitta inform their speech, choices, relationships, and presence in the world. Many find that the Bodhi Program becomes a source of steadiness, purpose, and renewal, especially in times when the world feels unstable or disheartening.
Recognizing Our Shared Humanity
One of the most radical teachings of the bodhisattva path is also one of the simplest: we are not separate.
The suffering of others is not fundamentally different from our own. The fears that drive harmful actions are not foreign to us. The confusion that clouds another’s mind has clouded ours before.
Practitioners across generations have reflected on this truth:
I have been the one who suffers.
I have been the one who harms.
I have been the one who turns away.
I have been all of them.
This recognition is not meant to be self-critical or shaming. It is a doorway into equanimity, the understanding that all beings are shaped by conditions: family histories, social forces, trauma, fear, confusion, longing, and pain. These conditions may differ in detail, but they are universal in kind.
This recognition doesn’t excuse harmful actions. Instead, it invites us into a wiser and more spacious understanding of why harm arises at all. When we look at another person and see only their actions, especially their most destructive ones, we see only a small portion of their story. When we look with a bodhisattva’s heart, we see the complex weave of causes and conditions that give rise to suffering, confusion, and the capacity to harm.
Seeing in this way does not weaken our discernment; it clarifies it which allows us to engage more effectively to be a benefit. It frees us from collapsing into hatred or moral superiority, the very energies that fuel further division. It softens the rigid boundaries that separate “good” people from “bad” people, “victims” from “perpetrators,” and “us” from “them.” These categories may feel protective, but they ultimately limit our understanding and narrow our hearts.
Recognizing our shared humanity lifts us out of a narrow framework and into a wider, more accurate view of human experience; one that acknowledges suffering without demonizing the person who suffers, and one that recognizes harm without reducing a person to their worst moment.
And it is from this view that bodhicitta naturally arises, not as sentimentality, not as passivity, but as courage.
The courage to keep our hearts open in a world that gives us many reasons to close.
The courage to respond to suffering with clarity rather than confusion.
The courage to see the humanity of all beings and to let that recognition shape the way we move through the world.
What Does Bodhisattva Engagement Look Like in Everyday Life?
When bodhicitta becomes the guiding force of our lives, compassion begins to show its full range.
Compassion is not limited to softness or warmth. Compassion can be peaceful or fierce. It may comfort or challenge. It may listen quietly, or it may act decisively to interrupt harm.
When wisdom sees clearly with unbiased discernment, compassion naturally arises in exactly the form that is needed. It is this union of clarity and care that makes bodhisattva activity so dynamic and responsive. Bodhicitta is not passive; it is deeply engaged with the reality of the moment.
Practical Expressions of Bodhisattva Activity
In uncertain times, we might ask. “But what do I actually do?”
The bodhisattva path is vast, but its expression need not be dramatic. Small, consistent shifts in how we relate to the world can change everything.
When compassion is guided by wisdom, it does not move blindly or impulsively. It moves with discernment, attuning itself to what is truly needed. These practices are not dramatic or heroic; they are steady ways of aligning our life with the bodhisattva path, moment by moment.
1.Begin with presence before action.
When something painful arises — in the news, in a conversation, or in your own heart — pause long enough to feel what is happening. This moment of presence allows discernment, revealing whether peaceful or fierce compassion is needed.
2.Let discernment guide your compassion.
Ask quietly: What would reduce suffering here? Sometimes this means listening more deeply. Sometimes it means speaking up, even when your voice shakes. Compassion guided by wisdom naturally takes the form that most alleviates harm.
3. Hold firm boundaries without closing your heart.
Compassion is not permissiveness. It protects what is vulnerable, interrupts harmful patterns, and refuses to collude with confusion. A boundary set with clarity and steadiness is an expression of love, not rejection.
4. Speak truth in a way that others can receive.
Let your words illuminate rather than inflame. Before responding, consider: Will these words create clarity? Will they escalate harm? Will they help anyone suffer less?
5. Resist dehumanization in all its forms.
It is easy to harden our hearts against those whose actions disturb or frighten us. But the bodhisattva view reminds us that every being is shaped by conditions, many of them unseen. When someone acts harmfully, they are also creating the causes for future suffering. Recognizing this does not weaken accountability; it strengthens compassion. It protects us from replicating the very harm we oppose and allows us to respond with clarity rather than hatred.
6. Serve in the ways that are natural to you.
Not everyone engages in the same way. Some organize, some write, some offer quiet support. Bodhisattva activity is not measured by scale, but by sincerity and intention.
7. Practice bearing witness without collapsing.
Let yourself remain in contact with the world’s suffering without being consumed by it. Bodhicitta gives us the capacity to feel deeply while remaining grounded. We develop the capacity to hold sorrow and clarity at the same time.
8. Cultivate joy as an act of resilience.
Joy is not a betrayal of the world’s suffering; it is nourishment for meeting that suffering with stamina and care. A heart that remembers its own basic goodness becomes a wellspring for others.
9. Stay rooted in community.
The bodhisattva path is supported by companionship. We remind one another of what is possible, especially when we begin to lose heart. In community, compassion becomes self-sustaining.
The Ripple Effect of Small Actions
No single act will solve the world’s suffering. But each act, grounded in wisdom and compassion, strengthens the qualities that can: a clear mind, a courageous heart, and a steady commitment to lessen harm. These are the small movements through which the bodhisattva path reshapes our world—one moment, one interaction, one intention at a time.
Why This Path Matters Now
Photo Credit: Suzanne Christine
When external conditions grow dark, the bodhisattva path becomes a beacon. Not because it promises quick solutions, but because it trains us to meet life with:
clarity rather than confusion
love rather than numbness
courage rather than collapse
commitment rather than apathy
This is how collective shifts begin: heart by heart, choice by choice.
And whether or not one enters a formal training program, the invitation of bodhicitta remains open to all:
Meet this world with a heart that refuses to give up on anyone.
Meet this moment with tenderness, grounded presence, and courageous clarity.
Let your life become the ground from which relief, healing, and awakening can arise.
This is the calling of our time.
This is the work of a bodhisattva.
