In ‘X-Factor: Many Lives of Madrox’ by Peter David, Jamie Madrox or the Multiple Man (MM), who has the ability to create instant clones of himself recalls how he sent his dupes all over the place on his ‘great odyssey of learning’. However he loses track of them and has to find them one by one when they seem to run the show instead of him. As he put it, ‘I mean, how can I be in charge of anyone else if I’m not on charge of myself?‘ (He’s the leader of X-Factor Investigators.) Dr. Samson warns him that it might be tricky as his dupes can be unpredictable.
MM’s ability to multiply reminds me of how Bodhisattvas are able to do the same, to manifest many forms to guide beings to liberation at the same time, albeit with greater compassion and wisdom. They don’t lose the ‘remote control’ of their manifestations too! Because Bodhisattvas have self-mastery, they have mastery over their manifestations too. MM is one of the more underrated X-Men, because his power is truly amazing and more so if he uses it with greater skilfulness. In a way, we too are also like MM, because we have ‘manifested’ in many ‘unpredictable’ past lives. We too, are often unable to properly ‘re-absorb’ all we have learnt in the great odyssey of Samsara into the present life. If we didn’t lose track of our multiple past ‘selves’, we should be great Bodhisattvas now!