Bodhisattvas Never Outside the World of Suffering
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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 joSentient 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.
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The first vow is external desires (others) are inexhaustible, be tranquil and peace when encounters (cleansed bad karma very fast). The second vow is your inner desires ought to be eradicated through realization of bodhicitta from dharma. The last vow is automatic
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Transcendental bodhicitta according to Flower Adornment Sutra has 52 levels, the first 10 is not actualised but realized state. Level 11 is truly transcendental bodhicitta, an example is 6th patriarch Hui Neng master
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These four vows are not only referring to sentient beings, it also referring to the 51 levels of bodhisavattship
For instance, the 51 level of equal enlightenment bodhisavattship, have extremely subtle desire for supreme enlightenment 
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Neither am I realized nor actualised. But my understanding hopefully can provide abit of assistance on the path of our inherent buddhahood or world honour one or thusness
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Transcendental Bodhicitta means this world you live in is a pureland, not even subtle innner or outer suffering or external joys
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How are you going to save sentient beings when they are one of your dish to satisfy your tongue desire or as vitamins and minerals for your defiled body
Even if you died from lack of sentient beings' vitamins and minerals, you attained bodhisavatt or buddha, by worldly accounting, you made no loss but only gaining -
You must first have that consistent acceptance that any sentience right before you even space is not other but yourself, but you also cannot have any attachment on it. As when you attached upon it, it transformed instantaneously into permanent existence. Thus, this is easily said than done, generally it needs realization from dharma sharing or tutorials before actualisation could achieve. This is relying on self-power, not from Buddha-vow
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心地觀經七曰：「一切è�©è–©å¾©æœ‰å››é¡˜æˆ�就有情ä½�æŒ�三寶，大海劫終ä¸�退轉。云何為四：一者誓度一切眾生，二者誓斷一切煩惱，三者誓å¸ä¸€åˆ‡æ³•é–€ï¼Œå››è€…誓è‰ä¸€åˆ‡ä½›æžœã€‚ã€�
My dharma sharing is completely free of charge and unconditional
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To penetrate into your buddha nature or supreme enlightenment, it is not difficult. For most who have yet to explore sutra, free your mind or put your mind as broad as cosmos or stay as nihilism or in another saying is meet them with an open mind when encountering all negativity, knowingly or unknowingly. And reside yourself on all positivity but do not attaching it. When undergoing this pragmatic stance, also explore this book The Shurangama Sutra. This sutra reveals all the consciousness minds of all realms, its storage, when it started, where it comes and goes, what are the subtleties result of its causes and effects, how to eradicate it, how is your enlightenment looks like, and various methods to recover back, what types of demons will likely arise from mind while you are about to achieve breakthrough and how to deal with these demons for a successful attainment