Modern-Day Bodhisattvas

PEMA CHÖDRÖN: There’s an ideal in the Buddhist teachings called the bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas are people whose purpose in life is to alleviate suffering. The main thing they want to do is soothe the sorrows of the world. I’m sure that Father Gregory does not like to be called a bodhisattva or anything like that, but as far as I’m concerned that’s what he is.

I came to know of Father Gregory’s work and Homeboy Industries from his wonderful, touching book Tattoos on the Heart. Sometimes it makes you cry because the stories are so deeply moving, and sometimes you laugh out loud because Father Gregory has a very good sense of humor. Now, I was raised Catholic, so I have trouble calling him anything but Father Gregory, but he has asked me to call him Greg, so I’m going to try.

When someone like Greg is willing to put themselves out there and dedicates their whole life to benefiting other people, that’s a modern-day bodhisattva. The compassion ate bodhisattvas alleviate suffering at different levels. At the outer level, that means helping people who suffer from hunger, thirst, violence, and neglect, who have no place to live or are not able to get a job. Bodhisattvas want to alleviate these outer circumstances that cause people to suffer greatly. The main way Homeboy Industries does that is by providing jobs. A couple of its mottos are “Jobs, not