Good Morning everyone. On the way here today I was remembering that I was coming back to this particular room, the Buddha Hall, where many years ago I was ordained as a Zen priest. That ordination is sometimes known as a bodhisattva ordination and at its heart is what is known as the bodhisattva vows. This notion of bodhisattva vows–the dedication of a bodhisattva to be of service to the world–is at the heart of my involvement with Zen practice, Zen center ......and Buddhism nowadays. At the end of the talk we're going to chant the bodhisattva vows. There are various translations but the one we use is
Beings are numberless, I vow to save them
Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to end them
Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them
Buddha's way is unsurpassable, I vow to become it.
http://www.intrex.net/chzg/Fronsdal.htm