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Why I’m not keen on the bodhisattva vow
Jeroen
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matterNetherlands Veteran
I was reading Jack Kornfield’s The Wise Heart, and in the final chapters he talks about the bodhisattva vow, and it reminded me of why I’m not too keen on it. The vow goes something like this: I vow not to accept enlightenment until I’ve helped all other sentient beings into nirvana.
It strikes me that it is a never-ending commitment. There will always be more human beings born, and to help them all into enlightenment is a fool’s errand. It means you would be avoiding your own destiny forever, and you’d likely in the long run either break your vow or stop being a bodhisattva.
A commitment to help others is a good thing, but the way this vow is stated seems to me unreasonable, and undermines the whole reason of a search for enlightenment.
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From the view of one zafu
Try thinking of how you, as an abbot of a monastery, would try to get long-term practitioners, to move along beyond the comforts & complacency that can arise after their grosser forms of attachments have been relatively addressed. One of the most basic aids to point out the way & dissuade one from lounging on one's spiritual laurels (from material attachments to spiritual attachments and then beyond both) is the bodhisattva vows.
Those vows really just say that there was, is and never will be a separate self that could experience enlightenment. Ultimately, this is not an act of accumulation so much as it is about renunciation.
The Bodhisattva vows are an underlying teaching to remind one of this truth
and while those actively softening their own egos can experience the Boddhisatva vows as a potentially transformative teaching aid, to the identity bound they will literally seem like an impossibility and a personal failing. Try considering the Bodhisattva vows as signposts pointing to the most direct route towards suffering's cessation.
Don't worry about it. Adopt it, if you're inclined, as a compass heading on a spiritual journey. Whenever you feel like you've strayed off course, check where its pointing and there at least will be an alternative direction you can decide to head towards, or not.
What do you think is a "self"? How could Enlightenment or Nirvana be anything more than an oxymoron for such an imaginary construct. How do you stop practitioners from simply substituting one attachment for another, like prisoners continually trying to do a make over of their own jail cell, and just show them the cell door that has always been open?
Interesting, @how… certainly for one who thinks there is no self, the whole vow makes no sense. I’ve not yet found a self, and looking inwards so far shows me only things that are devoid of self, yet there is a presence that I would tentatively call ‘I am’. However, if I can observe it, it cannot be the self. So perhaps I am the observer? But what about action, say making a limb move? An observer who can instigate actions, that finally result in the limb moving? That’s as far as my mind has gotten.
Various people say there is much more to be understood, that we and the universe are one. And I can grasp this, that without all the rest of the universe I would not be here, and that without me being here all the rest also would not be. We are one. But the expansion of consciousness I have yet to experience, I have been told it is possible.
I came across this…
Source: https://www.levenindemaalstroom.be/nl/gelofte-van-de-bodhisattva
Which kind of makes more sense and resolves most of my question. What I originally read was part of my course in Gelug Tibetan buddhism.
In my learning of Tibetan Buddhism, there were said to be three types of bodhisattvas. Jack Kornfield's is just one.
The shepherd like, that puts the rest of sentient beings enlightenment before their own. Embodied by Avaolkiteshvara.
The oarsman, one that brings others with them at the same time. Not sure of a bodhisattva example.
And Kind like, they obtain enlightenment first in order to bring others to enlightenment. Buddha Amitaba is a good example.
… then we have those who choose to beg
https://tricycle.org/magazine/zen-and-art-begging/
… And even more heroic those who work to keep the king bodhisattvas humbled …
https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/humbling-reminders-to-live-heavily-meditated
some Buddhas are so hidden, we only see their samsara form …
I come from a tradition which does not deny or delay attaining Buddha in being a Bodhisattva. Rather the Bodhisattva practice is aiding others in their progress even as we strive to achieve Buddha. Also, upon attaining Buddha, we do not renounce Buddha as we continue to aid others in their striving for Buddha.
Picture a large plateau atop a steep hill. The hill is difficult o climb Upon reaching and standing upon the plateau is to achieve Buddha. The Bodhisattva is giving others a hand in their climb as he/she ascends. The Buddha is atop the plateau reaching down to give all a hand in their ascent to the plateau. The difference in the actions of a Buddha and the actions of a Bodhisattva are virtually indiscernible.
Everyone climbing the hill and assisting others is himself/herself performing the actions of a Bodhisattva as they proceed up the hill.
Everyone has the potential of Buddha.
Everyone is capable of the actions of a Bodhisattva.
Peace to all
… is it similar to a shelf/plateau/mountain top … somewhere we sit and label?
There I was turning mountains upside down (it is a faith based bodhi thing) when I realised the trapped demons underneath the mountain (so to speak) were now on top …
I am reminded of the Russian Dolls, another onion peeling, some prison break in or other mind clamp …
… wait it is not a game … it is real … Thank Buddha for the reminder …
This is a very difficult matter, because different Buddhist traditions interpret what exactly it is to be a "bodhisattva" quite differently. The "shepherd-like oath" is a specific framing of the bodhisattva path that comes from specific currents in Mahāyāna. It is not universal to Mahāyāna, and it is taught generally in a Tibetan/Vajrayāna context.
Even the matter of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara being the "model" for the shepherd-like oath is not universal. Outside of Tibet, in the wider generally East Asian tradition of Buddhism, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara has the powers and status of a Fully-Enlightened Buddha precisely because he is a Fully-Enlightened Buddha. In the distant past, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara was known as Saddharmapradīpa Tathāgata. Due to the powers of his Buddhic oaths, instead of entering into Parinirvāṇa, when his life-faculty became exhausted, he spontaneously produced the body of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara as a vessel for his oath and took birth within it.
As a Bodhisattva, it were better if you were a Buddha. A Buddha is in a far better position to be of service to those bound in saṃsāra. In many forms of Mahāyāna, there is no "shepherd-like oath," and this is just one reason.
The entire metaphysic that underlies the shepherd-like oath presumes that, once a Buddha attains Parinirvāṇa, his body and mind disappear, him being dead, and he cannot aid living beings. This is the reason why, in these kinds of Mahāyāna, the Bodhisattva actually attaining Bodhi, actually becoming a Buddha, is a disaster. So much work still left to be done, and the worker has abandoned the job site, an abandonment in the form of Parinirvāṇa.
Other kinds of Mahāyāna Buddhism explain that Parinirvāṇa is not extinction, and thus there is no need to avoid attaining Buddhahood in these traditions. The Buddhas can continue to aid living beings after Parinirvāṇa.
In the Lotus Sūtra, Old Prabhūtaratna lifts his throne into the heavens, and Śākyamuni lifts the Mahāsaṃgha up with it. Enthroned above, Śākyamuni expounds the Dharma:
Thanks for that @Vimalajāti … so this probably went back to the original courses I did in Tibetan Buddhism, where these things were first explained to me.
I don't think a Bodhisattva really chooses not to awaken or be enlightened (Right Understanding?). I think they just have a different goal than Buddhists that have enlightenment as the final goal because a Bodhisattva doesn't believe in a final goal.
While many are trying to get to the top of the mountain, the Bodhisattva is winding their way back down.
I think of it as a sort of reconciliation of the Two Truths by invoking a kind of paradox. There are many versions of the vows so just as an example;
The stream of sentient beings may be infinite and I vow to liberate them all.
I know that the earthly body here will not be around to liberate all beings so this is a seemingly impossible task but there is no true separation between beings except by way of individuality. By recognizing our indivisibility, I know that when somebody else takes the vow, I am taking it with them even if this body has decomposed.
I formally took the Bodhisattva vow yesterday at an Avolekitesvara Empowerment ceremony. The way I see it, and the way our teacher explained it is that we are planting the seed now and it may take place this lifetime or in future lifetimes. But for me personally, I will strive to be a better human and Buddhist starting yesterday. I will carry the awareness at the foremost of my being to the best of my ability. Will I screw up? Sure. But I will keep striving.
That's just my take on it anyway.
Bravo @SuraShine
You have a plan of active engagement.
Om mani padme hum
@lobster
The imagery of a mountain, a hill or a plateau is for the touchstone of the mind. in the physical reality, a Buddha may be standing or sitting next to you as may be a Bodhisattva, a good friend or a bad friend. When one "rises to a higher level", has he or she physically elevated? Of course not. You may perceive the signs of such mental elevation or not. When you are upon the trail and emerge from the fog, you are still upon the trail. You are just now able to see clearly what was vague or hidden by the fog. Perhaps it is better to see enlightenment (Buddha) as emerging from the fog.
Peace to all
well said @Lionduck
Does the fog have Buddha Nature?
You can bet the moon on it … or at least points its Way …
Not that gambling is skilful. Samsara is Nirvana as they say when the bets are off …