Bodhisattva Vows

[Nicholas]

This article gives traditional Mahayana motives & practices that are foundational to making many lifetime altruistic vows:

http://theosophynexus.com/profiles/blogs/vow-to-benefit-mankind?xg_source=activity

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

I wouldn't automatically trust a theosophy site when learning about Buddhism. They oftentimes get things wrong. They attempt to understand Buddhism, and Hinduism, through the lens of the western occult traditions, instead of on their own merits. There's nothing wrong with that, but it shouldn't be passed off as authentic Buddhism.

 

[Nicholas]

I wouldn't automatically trust a theosophy site when learning about Buddhism. They oftentimes get things wrong. They attempt to understand Buddhism, and Hinduism, through the lens of the western occult traditions, instead of on their own merits. There's nothing wrong with that, but it shouldn't be passed off as authentic Buddhism.

Did you read the article? 'Don't judge a book by its cover.'

All the sources on bodhicitta are from Bodhisattvas such as Vasubandhu & Nagarjuna.

 

[Storm]

I thought Bodhisattvas were liberated from the cycle of rebirth.... so wouldn't a person automatically be NOT a bodhisattva?

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

Actually, bodhisattvas hold off on attaining buddha-hood in order to return, to save as many people as possible.

 

[Storm]

Actually, bodhisattvas hold off on attaining buddha-hood in order to return, to save as many people as possible.

I knew that, I just thought they did it... differently.

No worries, though.

Except for, how does one know a bodhisattva in the flesh?

 

[Nicholas]

I thought Bodhisattvas were liberated from the cycle of rebirth.... so wouldn't a person automatically be NOT a bodhisattva?

Yes, bodhisattvas are free from the personal karma that keeps the rest of us going around and around in cyclic existence. But their motive & vows are to voluntarily be reborn in order to help the rest of us mired in muck.

That is the unique feature of bodhisattvas - they do not have to come back, but because of their great compassion & wisdom for all beings - they do.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

I knew that, I just thought they did it... differently.

No worries, though.

Except for, how does one know a bodhisattva in the flesh?

Often-times you don't. There's always stories, though, coming out of China, Japan, or somwhere about Kwan-yin giving her help.

 

[Storm]

Fair enough, thanks.

 

[Nicholas]

The sources for the OP article are from Kalavinka Press, translations by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. This series of translations gives an excellent foundation for Mahayana study & practice:

Kalavinka Press

 

[Nicholas]

These ten bodhisattva vows are a model for many aspiring bodhisattvas. Here is that part of the Avatamsaka Sutra where they are given.

Mahavaipulya Sutra of Buddha Adornment: The Universally Worthy Action Vow to Enter the Inconceivable Liberation State

 

[Nicholas]

Near the end of the Avatamsaka Sutra are some Mahayana aspirations or prayers that are widely practiced.

Here is one translation:

King of Prayers

 

[nobodyisnothingisreal]

bodhisattva, what can be known in the flesh? bodhisattva knows bodhisattva, nothing is nothing, there is no reason to go and not go beyond, nowhere. beyond and within existence and nonexistence to nothing is nothing for bodhisattva, equivalent to the fire of hell and the bliss of heaven. Bodhisattva sits in the middle, on nothing, for no time. bodhisattvas may be called Buddhas when the dance has decided to end. bodhisattva does not care what is happening, the dance does what it does. To speak even more inaccurately, in ideas and emotions, bodhisattva has immeasurable love and compassion, equal to original source of all and nothing, so bodhisattva sits equally patient, lasting, without care for what is, dancing until still. All, none, are and are not, will, and have been Bodhisattvas. excuse my words, ignorance. bless you, i am an idiot.

 

[Nicholas]

This translation, titled Bodhisattva Precepts, gives major precepts that bodhisattvas follow in their work for others:

Bodhisattva Precepts, Rulu - AbeBooks

 

[Nicholas]

The sources for the OP article are from Kalavinka Press, translations by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. This series of translations gives an excellent foundation for Mahayana study & practice:

Kalavinka Press

Here is how Ven, Dharmamitra's Introduction to On Generating the Resolve To Become a Buddha begins:

I present in this volume translations of three classic authoritative
works (one by a well-known Indian Buddhist patriarch, and two
by famous Chinese Buddhist authors) on the bodhisattva’s altruistically-
motivated resolve to realize the utmost, right, and perfect
enlightenment of a buddha. These three texts are intended as a complement
to my translation of Vasubandhu’s Treatise on Resolving to
Become a Buddha which I am publishing under separate cover. These
four works, in aggregate, are essential foundational components in
a series of works I have translated by Arya Nāgārjuna and other
Mahāyāna eminences on the doctrinal underpinnings and precise
practice terrains of the Bodhisattva Path.

My motivation in translating these works devoted to the bodhisattva’s
vow, the bodhisattva’s practice, and the bodhisattva’s
multi-lifetime path has been to make at least some small contribution
to the development of an enhanced understanding of
Buddhism on the part of those many people in the West who selfidentify
as “Buddhist,” but who may not possess a clear idea of
what Shākyamuni Buddha intended by the path to the cessation
of suffering, whether that path is aimed at individual liberation (as
in modern Theravada practice) or whether it aspires to universal
liberation (as with the Mahāyāna).

 

[Nicholas]

Nagarjuna suggests these twenty vows; here are the first five:

Twenty Verses to Generate the Causes and Result of Buddhahood

077 / (65)

For the sake of generating these causes as well as their effects,
In the direct presence of a caitya dedicated to the Buddhas,
Three times each day and three times each night,
I pray that one will recite these following twenty verses:

078 / (66)

Before the Buddhas, the Dharma, and the Sangha,
And also before all Bodhisattvas,
I bow down in reverence and take refuge in them,
Expressing reverence as well to all others worthy of veneration.

079 / (67)
I hereby abandon every form of evil
And gather in and assimilate every form of goodness.
All of the goodness practiced by beings—
I rejoice in it all, while according with it in my own actions.

080 / (68)

I bow down my head in reverence to the Buddhas,
And, palms together, urge and beseech them to abide among us.
I pray that they shall set in motion the wheel of Dharma,
Even to the very end of all births and deaths throughout the future.

081 / (69)

Whatsoever merit accrues to me from these practices,
Including that already created as well as that not yet created—
Through the power of this, I pray that beings
Shall all generate the mind resolved on realizing bodhi.

From Kalavinka Press edition of A Strand of Dharma Jewels

 

[Nicholas]

Next five vows of twenty:

082 / (70)
May they overstep the difficulties arising from any obstructions,
Entirely perfect the undefiled faculties,
And accord completely with pure livelihood.
I pray they shall enjoy sovereign independence in their endeavors.

083 / (71)
May they be able to obtain all things without limit,
Just as if they held in their hands a wish-fulfilling jewel.
May this continue endlessly, even to the exhaustion of future time.
I pray that beings will enjoy just such circumstances as these.

084 / (72)
I pray that all women
Will be able to achieve rebirth as the most supreme men
And will constantly forever after
Be able to gain perfect fulfillment in the clarities and bases.

085 / (73)
May beings gain superior stature, countenance, stateliness,
And fine physical features others find pleasing to behold.
Free of sickness, strong, able to carry out endeavors,
And enjoying long lives—I pray their circumstances may be just so.

086 / (74)
May they become liberated from all forms of suffering and fear,
At all points along the way take the Refuges in the Three Jewels,
And find the expedients and fine skillful means
Within the Buddha’s Dharma to be for them great wealth.

 

[Peter Vredevold]

"I will attain excellent benefits from this, for these living beings are my field of blessings. They are my good friends - without my asking them, they have come to me and taught me how to enter into enlightenment. I should cultivate and train like this without denying the wishes of a single living being."

These are the thoughts that Bodhisattva's mind when other living beings asked them for their helps.

"I pray that all the good spiritual roots that I have made, am making now, and will make in the future will result in me receiving a enormous body that pervades all the worlds and will be among all the living beings of the future. With this body of flesh I will be able to fulfill the hunger of all living beings.

"Further, I pray that I will not abandon this life if there is even a tiny single living being that is not yet fulfilled and that the flesh that is cut off my body will be inexhaustible.

 

[Nicholas]

These are the thoughts that Bodhisattva's mind when other living beings asked them for their helps.

Sounds good Peter, what was your source - Shantideva?

 

[Nicholas]

The link to my old article in the OP is not good anymore - this one should work:

Vow to Benefit Mankind