The Four Immeasurable Wishes:
1. May all sentient beings have happiness and its cause
2. May all sentient beings be free from suffering and its cause
3. May all sentient beings have bliss free from suffering
4. May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from the two poles of attachment and aversion (which means free from ignorance).
Accordingly, if one really looks into these four immeasurable wishes, one will realize the first three are encompassed by the fourth. In other words, the immeasurable wish is simply “May all sentient beings become fully enlightened Buddhas, who know reality and are never confused; who know the myriad ailments of samsara and its remedies.” Realizing the endless nature of this wish while simultaneously vowing to never cease to benefit sentient beings, but rather to remain indefinitely for their benefit, is the Bodhisattva Vow. In other words, never to stop rowing and to turn around once reaching the far shore, rather than remaining on the paradise island. Of course, the paradise island is really in the heartmind and so once realized never parts from one’s phenomenal continuum or mindstream.
