|
Aspiring and Engaging Bodhicitta:
There are two levels in the development of bodhicitta
- the mind (or heart) dedicated to attaining enlightenment for the
benefit of all sentient beings. These are the aspiring and engaging
bodhicitta. Whereas a person with the aspiring dedicated heart wants
to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings,
he/she is not yet prepared to engage in all of the practices and
activities necessary to do so. On the other hand, a person who has
generated the engaging dedicated heart joyfully undertakes the bodhisattva's
practices of the six far-reaching attitudes (six perfections) by
taking the bodhisattva vows. The difference between aspiring and
engaging bodhicitta is similar to the difference between wanting
to go to Dharamsala, and actually getting onto the transport and
travelling there.
The bodhisattva vows are taken on the basis
of having taken refuge in the Three Jewels and some or all of the
five lay precepts. Buddha prescribed the precepts and vows in order
to protect one from doing actions which bring unhappy results and
to help oneself attain enlightenment quickly and easily. Therefore,
precepts and vows are not burdens to bear but are ornaments to be
worn joyfully.
The Eight Precepts of Aspiring Bodhicitta
After generating aspiring bodhicitta in the
presence of a spiritual master and the Three Jewels, one should
observe eight precepts in order to protect one's dedicated heart
from degenerating in this and future lives.
How to protect one's dedicated heart from degenerating
in this life:
- Remember the advantages of bodhicitta again
and again.
- To strengthen one's bodhicitta, generate
the thought to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient
beings three times in the morning and three times in the evening.
Recitation and contemplation of the prayer for taking refuge and
generating bodhicitta is a good way to fulfil this.
- Do not give up working for sentient beings
even when they are harmful.
- To enhance one's bodhicitta, accumulate both
positive potential (merit) and wisdom continuously.
How to protect oneself from being separated
from bodhicitta in future lives:
The four remaining precepts are explained in
two complementary sets of four. These are:
Abandon four harmful actions:
- Deceiving the Guru, abbot or other holy beings
with lies.
- Causing others to regret virtuous actions
that they have done.
- Abusing or criticizing bodhisattvas or the
Mahayana.
- Not acting with a pure selfless wish but
with pretension and deceit.
Practice four constructive actions:
- Abandon deliberately deceiving and lying
to Gurus, abbots and so forth.
- Be straightforward, without pretension or
deceit.
- Generate the recognition of bodhisattvas
as one's teacher and praise them.
- Assume the responsibility oneself to lead
all sentient beings to enlightenment.
[Click
here for teachings on the 8 precepts of aspiring bodhicitta (also
called the commitments of the aspiring bodhisattva vows)]
Back to Top
The Bodhisattva Vows
The eighteen root bodhisattva vows
When a vow has more than one aspect, doing just
one aspect constitutes a transgression of the vow.
- a) Praising oneself or
b) belittling others because of attachment to receiving material
offerings, praise and respect.
- a) Not giving material aid or
b) not teaching the Dharma to those who are suffering and without
a protector, because of miserliness.
- a) Not listening although another declares
his/her offence or
b) with anger blaming him/her and retaliating.
- a) Abandoning the Mahayana by saying that
Mahayana texts are not the words of Buddha or
b) teaching what appears to be the Dharma but is not.
- Taking things belonging to a) Buddha, b)
Dharma or c) Sangha.
- Abandoning the holy Dharma by saying that
texts which teach the three vehicles are not the Buddha's word.
- With anger
a) depriving ordained ones of their robes, beating and imprisoning
them, or
b) causing them to lose their ordination even if they have impure
morality, for example, by saying that being ordained is useless.
- Committing any of the five extremely negative
actions:
a) killing one's mother,
b) killing one's father,
c) killing an arhat,
d) intentionally drawing blood from a Buddha or
e) causing schism in the Sangha community by supporting and spreading
sectarian views.
- Holding distorted views (which are contrary
to the teachings of Buddha, such as denying the existence of the
Three Jewels or the law of cause and effect, etc.)
- Destroying a a) town, b) village, c) city
or d) large area by means such as fire, bombs, pollution or black
magic.
- Teaching emptiness to those whose minds are
unprepared.
- Causing those who have entered the Mahayana
to turn away from working for the full enlightenment of Buddhahood
and encouraging them to work merely for their own liberation from
suffering.
- Causing others to abandon completely their
vows of self-liberation and embrace the Mahayana.
- Holding and causing others to hold the view
that the learners' vehicle* does not abandon attachment and other
disturbing attitudes.
- Falsely saying that oneself has realized
profound emptiness and that if others meditate as one has, they
will realize emptiness and become as great and as highly realized
as oneself.
- Taking gifts from others who were encouraged
to give you things originally intended as offerings to the Three
Jewels. Not giving things to the Three Jewels that others have
given you to give to them, or accepting property stolen from the
Three Jewels.
- a) Causing those engaged in meditation on
meditative quiescence to give it up by giving their belongings
to those who are merely reciting texts or
b) making bad disciplinary rules which cause a spiritual community
not to be harmonious.
- Abandoning the two bodhicittas (aspiring
and engaging).
There are four
binding factors which must all be
present to transgress completely sixteen of the root vows. The transgression
of two vows, numbers 9 and 18, requires only the act itself. These
four are:
- Not regarding one's action as negative, or
not caring that it is even though one recognizes that the action
is transgressing a vow.
- Not abandoning the thought to do the action
again.
- Being happy and rejoicing in the action.
- Not having shame or consideration about what
one has done.
To prevent oneself from experiencing the results
of transgressing the vows, one can purify by means of the four opponent
powers. Prostration to the thirty-five Buddhas and the Vajrasattva
meditation and recitation are excellent methods to purify transgressions.
If one's bodhisattva ordination has been damaged by completely breaking
a root vow, one should purify and then retake the vows before a
spiritual master or before the objects of refuge - the Buddhas and
bodhisattvas - that one has visualized.
Back to
Top
The
forty-six auxiliary bodhisattva vows
To eliminate obstacles to the far-reaching
attitude of generosity and obstacles to the moral discipline of
gathering virtuous actions, abandon:
- Not making offerings to the Three Jewels
everyday with one's body, speech and mind.
- Acting out selfish thoughts of desire to
gain material possessions or reputation.
- Not respecting one's elders (those who have
taken the bodhisattva vows before oneself or who have more experience
than oneself).
- Not answering sincerely asked questions that
one is capable of answering.
- Not accepting invitations from others out
of anger, pride or other negative thoughts.
- Not accepting gifts of money, gold or other
precious substances that others offer to oneself.
- Not giving the Dharma to those who desire
it.
To eliminate obstacles to the far-reaching
attitude of moral discipline, abandon:
- Forsaking those who have broken their moral
discipline: not giving them advice or not relieving their guilt.
- Not acting according to one's vowed trainings
as it would generate or sustain faith in others.
- Doing only limited actions to benefit sentient
beings, such as strictly keeping the Vinaya rules in situations
when not doing so would be of greater benefit to others.
- Not doing non-virtuous actions of body and
speech with loving-compassion when circumstances deem it necessary
in order to benefit others.
- Willingly accepting things that either oneself
or others have obtained by any of the wrong livelihoods of hypocrisy,
hinting, flattery, coercion or bribery.
- Being distracted by and having a strong attachment
to amusement, or without any beneficial purpose leading others
to join in distracting activities.
- Believing and saying that followers of the
Mahayana should remain in cyclic existence and not try to attain
liberation from delusions.
- Not abandoning negative actions which cause
one to have a bad reputation.
- Not correcting one's own deluded actions
or not helping others to correct theirs.
To eliminate obstacles to the far-reaching
attitude of patience, abandon:
- Returning insults, anger, beating or criticism
with insults and the like.
- Neglecting those who are angry with oneself
by not trying to pacify their anger.
- Refusing to accept the apologies of others.
- Acting out thoughts of anger.
To eliminate obstacles to the far-reaching
attitude of joyous effort, abandon:
- Gathering a circle of friends or disciples
because of one's desire for respect or profit.
- Not dispelling the three types of laziness
(sloth, attraction to negative actions, and self-pity and discouragement).
- With attachment, spending time idly talking
and joking.
To eliminate obstacles to the far-reaching
attitude of meditative stabilization, abandon:
- Not seeking the means to develop concentration,
such as proper instructions and the right conditions necessary
to do so. Not practicing the instructions once one has received
them.
- Not abandoning the five obscurations which
hinder meditative stabilization: excitement and regret, harmful
thought, sleep and dullness, desire, and doubt.
- Seeing the good qualities of the taste of
meditative stabilization and becoming attached to it.
To eliminate obstacles to the far-reaching
attitude of wisdom, abandon:
- Abandoning the Pali scriptures or practices
described in them as unnecessary for one following the Mahayana.
- Exerting effort principally in another system
of practice while neglecting the one one already has, the Mahayana.
- Without a good reason, exerting effort to
learn or practice the treatises of non-Buddhists which are not
proper objects of one's endeavor.
- Beginning to favor and take delight in the
treatises of non-Buddhists although studying them for a good reason.
- Abandoning any part of the Mahayana by thinking
it is uninteresting or unpleasant.
- Praising oneself or belittling others because
of pride, anger and so on.
- Not going to Dharma gatherings or teachings.
- Despising the spiritual master or the meaning
of the teachings and relying instead on their mere words; that
is, if a teacher does not express him/herself well, not trying
to understand the meaning of what he/she says, but criticizing.
To eliminate obstacles to the morality of
benefiting others, abandon:
- Not helping those who are in need.
- Avoiding taking care of the sick.
- Not alleviating the sufferings of others.
- Not explaining what is proper conduct to
those who are reckless.
- Not benefiting in return those who have benefited
oneself.
- Not relieving the sorrow of others.
- Not giving material possessions to those
in need.
- Not working for the welfare of one's circle
of friends, disciples, servants, etc.
- Not acting in accordance with the wishes
of others if doing so does not bring harm to oneself or others.
- Not praising those with good qualities.
- Not acting with whatever means are necessary
according to the circumstances to stop someone who is doing harmful
actions.
- Not using miraculous powers if one possesses
this ability, in order to stop others from doing unwholesome actions.
[Click
here for teachings on the bodhisattva vows]
|
