What is a Bodhisattva?

Maybe you!
The word bodhisattva means "enlightenment being."
Very simply, bodhisattvas are beings who work for the enlightenment
of all beings, not just themselves.
They vow not to enter Nirvana until all beings enter Nirvana together.

The bodhisattva is the ideal of all Mahayana Buddhists.
The bodhisattva's path is for all of us,
not just the beings in the statues and pictures.
Mahayana Buddhists take Bodhisattva Vows to save all beings.


On September 26, 2009, in Long Beach, California, His Holiness the
Dalai Lama gave the Amitabha Initiation,
the Medicine Buddha Initiation
and allowed those of us who chose, to take the Bodhisattva vows.
I was deeply honored to receive all three initiations.

Here are the Bodhisattva Vows

The First Vow
Living beings are numberless, I vow to help them all to cross over the sea of suffering, the sea of birth and death
.
According to the Principle of Impermanence, the existence of living beings is everchanging. Some are born, some die.
The absolute number at any given moment cannot be identified, therefore it is regarded as being numberless.

The Second Vow
Though afflictions are endless, afflictions such as difficult moods, aversion, greed, confusion...
though these afflictions seem inexhaustible and endless, I vow to penetrate and to cut through them all.

The Third Vow
Dharma doors are measureless, I vow to cultivate them all.
Why did the Buddha make this vow?
One of the incredible qualities of Buddha is he was able to respond to different people's needs.
If we, in our present individual cultivation, think we have to do all the countless meditative practices, we would feel
overwhelmed. Through the third Great Vow the Buddha cultivated skill in countless approaches to the Path.
The Buddha mastered all the Dharma Doors, all the skillful means to enable beings each with their unique tendencies
to give rise to insight into the true nature of things. This is what we, as Bodhisattvas have pledged to do.
We will come back until we have learned all lessons and helped others learn all lessons.

The Fourth Vow
Though the Buddha Path is unsurpassed I vow to realize it.
The Buddha Path conditions that which gives rise not only to peace but also to full Enlightenment:
the Enlightenment that not only knows how to let go and be peaceful but the Enlightenment that also knows how to
perfectly respond to conditions in a way which is a true blessing for all beings.

Here is a little story to illustrate what Bodhisattvas strive to do.
Three men were walking through the desert. They were lost and about to die from thirst and hunger.
They come to a very high wall and the first one climbs up, shouts for joy and jumps over the wall never to return.
The next man climbs up the wall and he too, exclaims in ecstasy, jumps off the wall and never comes back.
Now the third man climbs up the wall. He gets to the top and sees a sort of Garden of Eden place with water and lots
of fruit trees. He smiles, turns, goes back down the wall, returning to the desert to help others find their way to this
paradise. He chooses to go back into the desert of the world and help others find their way.


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