Difference Between Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

Master Chin Kung tells us that in his early years of learning Buddhism, he asked Zhangjia Living Buddha about the difference between Buddhas and bodhisattvas. They were in Zhangjia Living Buddha’s living-room where there was a clock hanging on the wall.

In those days, clocks required winding for them to work. The part that required winding was a spring, a piece of flexible metal that was wound very tightly. The gradual unwinding of the spring made the clock tick. Even when the spring was unwound completely, it still curved and did not straighten out completely.

Zhangjia Living Buddha used this spring as a metaphor. Bodhisattvas are like that spring, which does not straighten out completely even when unwound. In the case of Buddhas, however, the spring has completely straightened out when unwound. Zhangjia Living Buddha meant that bodhisattvas have not turned their sentience to wisdom 100 percent.

Take Equal-enlightenment Bodhisattvas for example. They have turned 99 percent of their sentience to wisdom, but there is still 1 percent of sentience left, unlike Buddhas who have turned their sentience to wisdom 100 percent. Therefore, sentience and wisdom are one, not two. When we are awakened, it is called wisdom. When we are deluded, it is called sentience. Equal-enlightenment Bodhisattvas still have one last part of ignorance: the ignorance of Mark of Arising. This ignorance is sentience. If that part of ignorance is eradicated, their wisdom will be ultimate and perfect.

~ Based on Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra