Why Can the Celestial Beings and Bodhisattvas Not Save All Sentient Beings?

Have you ever wondered why some people who practice the Dharma find their wishes fulfilled, while others pray earnestly yet continue to suffer? Thầy Thích Chân Quang opens his dharma talk on "The Celestial Beings and Bodhisattvas" with a very ordinary image: standing by a fish pond, watching people feed the fish. He says that in the heavenly realms, the celestial beings and bodhisattvas look upon sentient beings just as we look upon a school of fish. We can offer them a morsel of food, but we cannot free the fish from its karma.

The celestial beings and bodhisattvas are not omnipotent

Thầy makes it clear that even the Buddha himself had three things he could not do. One of these was that he could not save sentient beings whose fixed karma had ripened. And the number of sentient beings in the entire dharma realm is something even the Buddha could not fully know.

The Buddha spoke of the three impossibilities, among them that sentient beings bound by fixed karma could not be saved by him, and that the number of sentient beings in this dharma realm was beyond his complete knowing.

We often imagine that the celestial beings and bodhisattvas are present everywhere, bestowing grace in every place. But in reality, with more than seven billion people in the world, no being can watch over and care for each person individually. Thầy offers the analogy that just as we can feed the fish, we cannot force them to swim in a different pond.

In this world of more than seven billion people, the celestial beings truly cannot manage everyone. They cannot follow each individual person in order to guide and care for them all.

Most sentient beings are left to themselves, but not by accident

This may sound pessimistic, but Thầy explains that the main reason is simply that the number of sentient beings is so vast. They are more numerous than the sands of the Ganges River, something that even modern science finds astonishing. It was the Buddha himself who taught, thousands of years ago, about the vastness of the universe.

And so there is a paradox: the celestial beings give priority only to those who have a heart set on practice. Everyone else drifts along with their karma, according to the law of cause and effect (karmic law). But whoever teaches the law of cause and effect (karmic law) to others accumulates merit beyond measure, because they save the multitudes whom the celestial beings cannot.

Whoever spreads the law of cause and effect (karmic law), so that the great mass of sentient beings comes to know it and begins to do good and avoid evil on their own, thereby receiving wholesome fruits of their actions—that person's blessings from merit are tremendous indeed.

King Sakka of the heavens and Bodhisattva Maitreya

Among the celestial beings, there are those who have attained saintly realization and are bodhisattvas. A foremost example is King Sakka, lord of the heavens. He is a saint, but he is not the omnipotent deity that other religions conceive of. He must arrange all things according to cause and effect (karmic law), while simultaneously handling countless affairs in the world. It was Sakka himself who once told the Buddha how busy he was.

Many times I wished to come and attend upon the World-Honored One, but I was far too busy.

As for Bodhisattva Maitreya, he manifests in the Tushita heaven, where he devotes himself to teaching the celestial beings of the highest capacities. His assemblies are vast, drawing many saints. One fascinating point is that time in the heavenly realms flows very differently. Thầy recounts a dharma talk he once gave that lasted an hour and a half, yet he and the entire assembly felt as though only a few words had been spoken. He came to understand that a single hour in the heavenly realms may equal many years in the human realm. This is precisely why many beings who ascend to the heavens to hear the Dharma forget about the sentient beings here below.

The subtle manifestations of the bodhisattvas

The celestial beings and bodhisattvas do not reincarnate, but from time to time they appear in a particular setting in order to teach. Sometimes they appear as an old woman selling cakes, sometimes as a young boy. In the story of the meditation master Đức Sơn, an old woman asked him: "The past mind cannot be grasped, the present mind cannot be grasped, the future mind cannot be grasped—which mind, then, are you seeking to refresh?" and he was struck speechless. Another meditation master was shown his error in the monastic precepts by a young boy, who then vanished, leaving him deep in shame.

The past mind is not real. The present mind is not real. The future mind is not real. Which mind are you seeking to refresh?

Let yourself be taken care of

Thầy emphasizes: when we practice, the celestial beings do not abandon us. They are like companions on the journey, gently reminding us each morning. But if we do not practice, we fall under the care of "demons"—that is, currents of dark energy.

Those who practice are cared for, are taken care of, by the celestial beings and bodhisattvas. But those who do not practice are taken care of, are looked after, by the demons.

So do not wait for a miracle. Walk the path of the Dharma yourself. Rise each morning, sit in meditation, recite the Buddha's name, do good and refrain from evil. That is how the celestial beings will see that you are someone exceptional, worthy of their protection.