Bodhisattvas Never Outside the World of
Suffering
September 19,
2016 Endless Further
Here is a post
from 2012 that has recently gotten a bit of attention.
Perhaps it was re-blogged or posted in a forum – I don’t know but
all the sudden I am getting inquires about it. A few people
want to know where I found Thich Nhat Hanh’s version of the
vows. I wish I could remember. I have no note about it,
nor can I find the source among my files and books. If anyone
knows the source of this interpretation, please let me
know.
A second inquiry
I’v have received is about The Transcendental Bodhicitta Treatise
by Nagarjuna. The title and translation is D.T.
Suzuki’s. The Sanskrit title is Bodhicitta-vivarana, often
rendered in English “A Commentary on the Awakening Mind” and
“Exposition of Bodhicitta”, a work the Dalai Lama has been taught
on many times. Links to English translations at the
bottom.
Many Buddhists are
familiar with the Four Great Bodhisattva Vows. Most of the
Mahayana schools in China, Korea, Tibet and Japan, uphold and
recite the Vows. They are thought to have originated with the
Chinese master Chih-i during the sixth century. I don’t know
whether this is true or not, but apparently there was some form of
Bodhisattva Vows already in place during Chih-i’s time, and it is
recorded that a prince of the Ch’en dynasty, Yang Kuang, received
from Chih-i the “Bodhisattva Vows” for lay practitioners along with
a Buddhist name, Tsung-ch’ih P’u-sa (“Bodhisattva of Absolute
Control”) in 591.*
The Four Great
Bodhisattva Vows (Shi gu sei gan) are as
follows:
Shu jo mu hen sei gan
do
Bon no mu jin sei gan dan
Ho mon mu ryo sei gan gaku
Butsu do mu jo sei gan jo
Sentient beings are numberless; I
vow to save them all.
Desires are inexhaustible; I vow to end them all.
The Dharma Gates are infinite; I vow to enter them
all.
The Buddha Way is unexcelled; I vow to attain it
completely.
In some versions,
the last vow is given as a pledge to attain “complete, perfect
enlightenment (Skt. anuttara samyak sambodhi). It is
said that if a bodhisattva does not accomplish the first vow of
saving all sentient beings, he or she can never complete the fourth
vow of enlightenment. But, how is that possible? How
can one save all living beings? In Taking the
Path of Zen, Robert Aitken wrote, “Nobody fulfills these
‘Great Vows for All,’ but we vow to fulfill them as best we can.
They are our path.” In the long run, it doesn’t matter if we
are unable to fulfill the Vows, what is important is that we
engrave the spirit of the vows upon our hearts and
minds.
We should also be
aware that from the standpoint of the Mahayana doctrine of
emptiness, a bodhisattva does not cling to the idea that there are
beings at all, nor that there is anything such as “complete,
perfect enlightenment.” This is the doctrine found in the
Mahayana Diamond Sutra.
While there are not
quite as many English versions of the Vows as there are sentient
beings or grains of sand in the Ganges River, there are quite a
few. Perhaps the most interesting one is by Thich Nhat
Hanh:
However
innumerable beings are, I vow to meet them with kindness and
interest.
However
inexhaustible the states of suffering are, I vow to touch them with
patience and love.
However
immeasurable the Dharmas are, I vow to explore them
deeply.
However
incomparable the mystery of interbeing, I vow to surrender to it
freely.
The hidden teaching
within Mahayana Buddhism that it is more important to practice the
Way of the Bodhisattva than it is to become a Buddha. In
actuality, the Way of the Bodhisattva is the Way of the
Buddha. However, people often miss this point and think that
enlightenment is the ultimate goal. There is no goal, there
is only the path, and it is a path of compassion, and everything in
Buddhism leads up to this one truth.
A work by Nagarjuna,
The Transcendental Bodhicitta Treatise, reads:
The essential
nature of all Bodhisattvas is a great loving heart, and all living
beings constitute the object of their love . . . They are like the
beautiful lotus-flower, which rises up from the swamp, its blossoms
unsullied by the mud. Their great hearts of compassion, which
constitute the essence of their being, never leave suffering
creatures behind in their journey. Their spiritual knowledge
is in the emptiness of all things, but their work of salvation is
never outside the world of suffering.”
2016 note:
Some people approach Buddha-dharma in what I would term a
casual manner, that is, they practice mindfulness to relieve
stress, or use it a therapy, a psychology. Others may engage
in a more formal practice, chasing after the rapture of meditative
states called jhanas. From the Mahayana perspective, the
focal point of Buddhism is suffering (harking back to the Four
Noble Truths) and the purpose of dharma is to transcend suffering,
which is accomplished by concentrating of the suffering of others
before thinking of one’s own suffering.
The bodhisattva
is like the captain of a ship that ferries beings across the great
sea of suffering. To captain such a ship requires courage,
commitment and strong determination. The four vows are like
the charts used to set the course, but without preparation a
captain cannot command a ship, let alone follow a course, and this
necessary preparation requires the generation of altruistic
intention or bodhicitta. Those who tread the path of the
bodhisattva do not seek enlightenment outside of themselves, and
they realize there is no nirvana or bliss apart from this mundane
world.
