A Bodhisattva Vow Ceremony: Your Mind Is Becoming Buddha

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as i said before later today
we are intending to have a ceremony a bodhisattva vows ceremony
and you're welcome to attend

in case i don't discuss the activity of
making bows which to remind me to do so

welcome to attend it if you intend to participate
yes if you intend to participate you're welcome to participate
did you know about the ceremony cindy
he didn't get
where where shall i begin in the turning of the dharma wheel
yeah the dharma wheel is beginning this so wordy began

i begin by finishing this tea
thank you

i think one of the vows that we might be
expressing later today is the vow
to realize unsurpassed complete perfect enlightenment

i thought about that earlier today and i thought how amazing that people would be interested in
think the unsurpassable enlightenment

my human mind sometimes
starts moving in the direction of why would they can then i let it go i don't know why i just think it's amazing that people would wish for a great enlightenment
what i might save for what reason
and also part of the
wow that will be expressed his i aspire to great enlightenment for the welfare of all beings
the some sense in certain among certain bees
that the highest enlightenment is the best thing for the welfare of beings that the highest enlightenment is
is that which promotes the happiness and freedom from suffering of our bags and therefore some people who want all beings to be free of suffering and to be at peace
with each other might wish for unsurpassed enlightenment

might wish for buddha who had to be realized in this world
of living bags buddhahood which buddhahood which is buddhahood was shares
the liberation of all beings buddhahood is the liberation of all beings
buddhahood is the enlightenment and liberation of our beings
and some beings wish for that
so there's this
wish this this body sought the wish for great enlightenment for the welfare of our bigs
and then there is
where's john don't walk
they are
have
there's this wish and then as possible to make a vow you can have wishes
and wishes can be
elevated
into vows
and so
ah some people here may wish for peace and harmony among all beings and for all beings they had that wish and we're doing the ceremony this afternoon to try to enhance the wish
into becoming a vow
and with this vow
this bodhisattva vow than the theory is that this vow than can be cultivated
and the cultivation can support the realization of perfect wisdom
and the perfect wisdom is the mother is the womb
a buddhahood
i mentioned that korea
last month last month was january we had an intensive and green gosh you came to visit right he didn't know
he came before january did you come in december
so we had an intensive engine and and green gulch and
intensive the topic was
have a low-key test far as perfection of wisdom

on this altar here we have
on this altar here we have in the center
the large statue in the center is shocking money buddha
the founder of this tradition in this cycle of world history
in front of him is a female figure representing the perfection of wisdom
a female figure whose name is pricing our parameter
to the boot is left is a statue of a another female form
had a lucky cash bar bodhisattva
who practices perfect wisdom
the boot up is born a perfect wisdom and transmits perfect wisdom
pregnant part me to is
perfect crystal
have a lucky testify our practices perfect wisdom
and to boot is right his body dumb a male form
of of a lucky test for who practice is perfect wisdom
all the beings unaltered practice perfect resume
in in realizing it
that realization gives birth the buddhists
that's the theory of this score
the wow
the maturity as perfect wisdom perfect wisdom comes to maturity as buddha
buddha is deliberation of our bags

but he sought as have this wow
and in order to realize the vow
they wish to practice perfect wisdom

bodhisattvas because of the vow
there are ethical responsibility
is to become buddha all the practices which make buddhas are a bodhisattva as ethical responsibility

a bodhisattva ethical responsibility is to practice perfect wisdom
if you wish to be a bodhisattva
if somebody wanted to be a bodhisattva again i don't know why people would want to be a body sought but but if you wish to be a bodhisattva and you wish to walk the path of a bodhisattva than the diamond sutra says the first thing to do is to make
a great wow
is the first thing to do on the path of bodhisattva is to think i wished to lead i wish to carry all forms of life to the realm of peace and happiness i wish to carry all beings i wish to lead our being
is to perfect peace and freedom
if you wanna do the bodhisattva path the buddhist says as the first thing to do is to think about that and i guess think it until you mean it
you know he he he might be able to fit right here in the middle
helen's
jim offer you have seen maybe give fair next to trace it you know tracy
tracy own her name's helen
welcome ellen
so helen if you wish to walk the path of a bodhisattva first thing to do is to think i wish to lead or beings to perfect nirvana
and yet even the buddha had buddha's teaching and he forced to think this do
and yet even though i lead even though i lead innumerable beings to nirvana no beings have been led to nirvana
why is that so because
if i would think that beings were if i would think of action that beings to nirvana i wouldn't be a bodhisattva and i wanna be a body sought for so i just vow to take them there
and also i vow to remember that no beings are taken there
because as a bodhisattva i do not hold onto the idea of beings
i voted i didn't
i didn't vow to hold onto the ideas of beings i vowed to liberate all bags
the bodies the buddha told me if you want to be a bodhisattva well then vowed to liberate our bags but didn't say if you wanna be a boys sat on hold onto the idea of beings
think about liberating them all and then think about that there are no beings at all liberated
and give up all your ideas of some of the self give up your ideas if you want to benefit all beings in the most complete way than give up all your ideas and beings give up all your ideas and boys surface going to be a bodhisattva give up your idea of being a
wadi suffer
if you want to benefit our beings
say you do
and then after you say you do and think to do
then give up the idea of liberating them of bodhisattva and a beings this is training and perfect wisdom but the training and perfect wisdom follows from the bow first you vowed to give your life to all beings in the most liberating way then
you
practice perfect wisdom
which brings your wish
the fruit
the totally radical bodhisattva totally wants to help all beings without exception and the most radical way and also is most radical about herself and all beings
so radical that she doesn't even have she doesn't even attain herself she's so much herself that she has no self
she doesn't have a self that she has
the heart sutra says and the transaction we do usually in heart searcher is with nothing to attain a bodhisattva relies on perfect wisdom but i saw no translation which is very to me
illuminating it's knowledge translation is
without anything to attain
a bodhisattva
without anything to attain colin bodhisattva
with nothing to attain a bodysuit with nothing to attain
boys are not with nothing to attain you have a bodhisattva nothing went to attain you don't have a boy sought for therefore bodhisattva nobody said but that's a suffer
but he sought that nobody suffer

with not with nothing to attain body bodyshop
and this is how we rely on prajna per meter
this is bodies bodhisattva for ethics at the beginning of this
ceremonies afternoon i think it maybe i'm going to ask you
do you want to receive
the bodhisattva ethics and at the end i will say you have received the bodhisattva ethics
and you and i say you will uphold the body sought for ethics
i will make that outrageous statement
i will put i will affirm that you will receive the body sought for ethics correctly and you will uphold them i will predict you to that practice
i will affirm that you will do that practice
i will do that because that's the ceremony were going to do
and i say i will do it but really
i do not attain anything
that says that
the buddha's the buddha said and boot all buddhists say i say this to all buddhists say
what is all buddhists say avoid evil avoid all evil do all good
clarify the mind this is the teaching of all booed all buddhists say that
but now they're teaching for bodhisattvas is
the bodhisattva precepts
the precepts of the bodhisattva school or not about avoiding evil and and stopping wrong is not about that the precepts the ethics and bodhisattvas are
reality
these
ah reality reality is
reality is
reality is deliberating all beings
there's another there's another reality which is
liberated
another another truth as many people are not liberated
the reality of the buddha is the liberation of our bags the bodhisattva precepts are buddha
the boys have a precepts are reality
and the reality says reality says avoid evil do good but that doesn't mean avoiding evil and stopping evil it means
realize buddhahood it means realized buddha's teaching avoid evil means realize buddha it means void evil means liberate all beings it means bring all beings to freedom it means bring all beings to feed him and
nothing to attain
and the people the beings who teach the path of liberating all beings they say avoid evil
do all good
clarify the mind same all beings they say that
they say this is the tall buddha's teach this and now we also clarify that what they mean by that is
there are no beings to save and realizing that saves all bags
one story which you've heard me say some of you've heard me say cindy hasn't heard me say this probably because you haven't heard much from have know why often tell a story about
some people who live in china
in the tang dynasty
so there was this
buddhist monk who we caught her in his name was
ah
we call him ja schon one money
or yeah in japanese pronunciation yeah cuisine egan so he again or one he
was a buddhist monk and he'd practiced the buddhist precepts
but the precepts he was practicing
are they should say that way he was practiced in the precepts was he was trying to avoid evil and stop all wrong
any worked wholeheartedly in that practice
but he was just feeling not very alive he was feeling
discouraged in his practice of
working with the precepts
and i would just it doesn't say that in the story but i would say he was working with the precept without realizing that he was working with buddha
he was working with the presets without realizing that he was working with
no beings are led to nirvana
and when we work with the precepts in that way of thinking that way as something to get
or to think that a bodhisattva attained something like attains the precepts attains the precepts he was trying to attain the precepts and he worked hard at attaining the precepts and i don't know if he did attain them but if he did attain them than guess what you know what right he wouldn't be a bodhisattva
some people do may be attained the precepts i don't know if you've seen anybody who attains them
maybe they do i'm not an expert on people obtaining
the precepts
the precinct who attain the precept
but the buddhist teach the buddha's teach avoid evil do good clarify your mind those are precepts
right and some people attain maybe
what he thought this however did not attain those precepts
they teach them
on behalf for the for the sake of buddha's the boys have to teach avoid evoke do good and clarify your mood avoiding will do good and deliberate all beings body such as teach that but they don't have them they don't attain better retain anything include
in the best things these precepts to see these are the precepts needs three precepts
and they'll be they'll be mentioned later
why do you know the goods save our beings as the precept and bodhisattvas don't attain them they teach them they demonstrate them
and without having
they demonstrate compassion without having it
they don't they demonstrate every truth without possessing any truth said make perfect sense
so this yet how ja schon one he hit his name was actually one ie cashion was his name after he became a man a master of
a mountain called
ja schon which means medicine mountain he became the master of medicine mountain
he became medicine mountain
but when he was a young monk he studied the precepts but i'm guessing and suggestion to you that the way he was practicing was he got em
he received them years and then he got him and he got
discouraged because he was getting them because he was attaining the precepts
and he attained the precepts and he attained the precept and he said this is not what i came here for ah
i want some mills i want
the liberation of all beings and this a it
i told you some stories also by me attaining something in my history of practice a few times i attained something
i worked really hard and i actually kind of like thought i attained something
and when i attended i thought hmm discerning what i came for
and i gave up my attainments
they weren't much by the way most of you would pass up on a willing to give up meager attainments which i thought i attained but i can feel it wasn't it was too tight it wasn't like
the body sought for hard to attain anything not to mention is the pipsqueak said i attained
so back the to money he attained something he was really diligent he wasn't
he wasn't like some people call me i'm lazy bum
and he heard about the zen bodhisattvas
the body such as a design school who like actually like show you buddha
andrew give you buddha transmit buddha to you
which means they transmit to you the nature of your mind the reality of your mind the the zamboni sought as transmit the reality of your mind the reality of your mind is buddha
the reality of your mind is the liberation of all banks that's the precepts
that were transmitting by the bodhisattva vow the nature of your mind
is becoming buddha
the nature of your mind is becoming buddha the sea
that that sense it goes to way is right like i told you the nature of your mind is becoming buddha but i'm also telling you that the right now the nature of your mind is becoming buddha don't get left behind
don't miss the vehicle the nature of your mind is becoming buddha
so he wanted to get on the snake this nature mind becoming buddha at thing but he thought he needed some help he needed some like a ceremony like he needed a ceremony
where somebody gets confirm that the nature of his mind is becoming buddha
not the nature of his mind was becoming buddha
although that the nature of your mind was becoming buddha
the mine you used to have its nature was becoming buddha the nature of your mind is becoming buddha he wanted a teacher to transmit that term and it just say i just i'm just amazed that this person just happened to meet one of the greatest teachers of all time
there's a strange coincidence between
great teachers and meeting great teachers so the asha i became a great teacher because he just happen to have the occasion to meet a great teacher and mere fact he got a chance to meet to great teachers and fact he got chance to meet the two greatest teachers of his time
somehow and all china somebody ran into them so he ran into this teacher name shirt tall which means on top of the rock
because sure to does a nickname actually because your toes sat on top of a flat rock he sat there
and didn't attain anything
they're sat the bodhisattva without any attainment transmitting perfect wisdom
and he and and this young monk who had been trying to practice the precepts
by getting them
found him and he said you know i have learned something about the buddhist precepts
but i really need some helping with your great compassion would you please help me understand the buddha dharma
so here he's meeting somebody
who i'm telling you that hinders in the book doesn't say this if you read the story and books don't say he's meeting a great bodhisattva
but i'm telling you maybe he was meeting a great bodhisattva and i said please help me
and great bodhisattva sitting on top of the rock said
being like this won't do
being not like this won't do either
being like this and not being like this won't do it all how about you
this was the bodhisattva on top of the rocks teaching to show one a
the buddha
to transmit having nothing to the body set to the baby body surfer but the babies voice i couldn't feel i couldn't realized the receiving of that precept
hey just confused he was just confused he was confused because
he had been trying to get ahold of the bodhisattva precepts
and
it wasn't working for him now he's been given
a bodhisattva precepts that he can't get ahold of
and but he keeps trying to get a hold of it but now he seems that is not going to be able to get a hold of this one
so he's just
confused
and then the good bodhisattva says to him
ah it's not going to work for you here today
i suggest you go see master mar
so
he goes and sees mastermind he tells mr months same story and master moss said sometimes i make them raises eyebrows and blink
sometimes i don't make him raises eyebrows and blink
sometimes raising the eyebrows and blinking works
sometimes it doesn't how about you
this time
one ie
did not try to obtain anything
and by not trying to obtain anything he received the bodhisattva precepts of having nothing
and receiving the body that precept of having nothing means receiving the precept of reality and all beings were liberated including him
and he bowed to master law
and master moss said what have you seen that you bow like this
and one he said now i see that when i was with on top of the rock chateaux i was like a mosquito
trying to
mount an iron bowl
sometimes translate that is try to bite him iron iron bowl
but the characters she just means moved i think about mounting cat a mosquito get on top of iron bowl
maybe so that there isn't a difficult for mosquito they can get on top of a real ball like you to get on top of an iron bowl but character from mount doesn't actually just mean mount it means penetrate
monk and penetrate
he was trying to penetrate he was like a mosquito trying to penetrate and iron bowl he was like a mosquito trying to get an iron bowl
that's what he was like and that's what it's like if you try to get the bodhisattva precepts
now they weren't you'll be like somebody who was trying to get
having nothing
so that's enlightenment in this story and
so these bodies of the precepts
are not something to get their precepts about
having nothing and therefore being a bodhisattva thereby being a bodhisattva who has nothing therefore the bodhisattva liberate all beings by this perfect wisdom
so this is a part of the large sutra and perfect wisdom
and

at the beginning of chapter three
one of this buddha students search to the buddha how should a bodhisattva a great being course
in perfect wisdom
have any ideas
course travel stride
i see the bodhisattva stride and perfect wisdom
and the blessing one says here
here like here here is boy sought for coursing and perfect wisdom land
here her body sought for a great being coursing and the perfection of wisdom truly a bodhisattva does not review
our body suffer
nor the word body sad fuck
nor the course of a bodhisattva
nor the course of perfect wisdom nor the word perfect wisdom she does not review that she courses nor that she does not course
this is a instruction to bodhisattvas a bot out of course in perfect wisdom
this is a theory of body soccer practice this is the theory of how
two
realize the vow to save our bags
the practice like that
what high noon
so my be good time for me to say to you
good afternoon
and for me to look into this empty cup
and see your future
you will you will uphold the bodhisattva precepts

receiving questions i do not take what does not given as you have a question do you have a question to give me i mean i should say i vow not to take what is not given
i vowed not to take your questions that are not given
give a question to give me
are you giving questions
yes ms apple itself
there is great
that's right he supposed to remind me about that they are no to liberate anyway
that's the wisdom part
there another park called very liberating images of black
well there's also that but doesn't not mentioned that this point that's in the lotus sutra so the perfect resume sutra says
if you want to understand when boot is understand
then bow to save all beings and also by the way
understand that there's no beings to save and there's nobody saving them
and their arms that's the that's the perfect institution which i told you the lotus sutra says
in reality the already saved but because they want to have something
they don't see it if you want to have all being saved our even one
by the way if you're going to have something is better to have all being saved and to have one be saved because some people have one being saved and they think well i did say one being me
but if you try to if you want to have all being saved that's gonna be more difficult to think you've got all beings are say but you can't have it that's so that the other time sarcosuchus as call beings fully possessed the wisdom
virtues of the buddha's how wonderful but because of misconceptions and attachments they don't see it they don't realize it
the way is basically perfect in all pervading
why should why do we have to practice because unless we practice we don't realize that the way is perfect in all pervading what's the way the liberation of all beings is the way the way of freedom and peace is all pervading
but if you try to have anything including that he will not you will exile yourself from this freedom
that's the lotus sutra and arboretum's like a search of say that
that sounds
wow
wacky
i tell my friends were
oh
it sure makes it sound
my wife was
so embarrassing
it's embarrassing to say that vow and then if you tell him that that there's no beings that are saved and it's wacky so it's embarrassing and wacky
well it if you want your phone to think your wacky you know what to tell him

but if you want your friends if you want your friends to be free from suffering you know what the practice which is not necessarily telling them that stuff
it's to wish it to its to be devoted to their welfare
banana sir tell him that you are
yeah you can say something but yeah and you can say that and then you'll be embarrassed i guess you say i myself might say that and not be embarrassed but you can you can be the embarrassed person and i'll be the not embarrassed person
people ask me in on the street they say for what you what do you do
gao you martial artist and i say yeah
and i'm not embarrassed to say that as they watched what school and i says then
they say oh
well ah how is that a lives of say well we're we're trying to practice nonviolence returned to learn nonviolence
and they usually don't say what can i can i attack you know
but if they did i would send might say well what what kind what style of attacked you wish to hear this and some i wouldn't i would enter into i vowed to enter into a non-violent interaction with them
and nonviolence is radical form is i won't obtain nonviolence and i won't attain being and martial artist
and so if if they say are you a girl scout i can say yeah actually said portraiture man going to be a gross guy was recent developments have nylon man into the girl scouts there was a class action suit and can we got in and so on
so you don't have to tell your friends this stuff if you a but if you want to you know maybe they'll find it endearing that year that way but he or that you're embarrassed but you don't have to tell him that you can set you can say i'm i'm doing nonviolence training
maybe they want think that's maybe that maybe it be embarrassed to tell him that
but i'm not saying you should talk in such a way that you will never be embarrassed
if you vow to not why
that might be embarrassing to you if you do that bow
piers then because you might be embarrassed after do that how much can be embarrassed
you know no idea someone could say was that the facility just talk said and you say oh no and you feel embarrassed because you did vow to tell the truth and they asked you if it wasn't you realized it wasn't he
you're embarrassed
people receive the precept of not intoxicating mind and body and then their wife asked him the next day around dinnertime who are how does the new drinking that stuff go with that precept in they're embarrassed
the they don't kind of the they're not they're catchy don't understand how the our they're embarrassed if you receive if you receive and about to practice ethical precepts your you might be embarrassed
but just don't commit to do them even or someone might what you say as your questions and you feel embarrassed
but you don't have to tell people you're doing this precept you can keep a secret and then maybe he'll be less likely to be embarrassed if you don't tell anybody that you're doing the precepts and then when you fail no one will care
but if you tell them you might be embarrassed
so embarrassment is a normal part of an of the path of enlightenment
also been accused of the wacky is a normal part of the path of enlightenment it's a normal being called a lazy bum is a normal part of the path of enlightened being called stupid is a normal path being called a disgrace to the bodhisattva path
is a normal part of the bodhisattva path
being insulted is a normal part of the bodhisattva path
been praised as a normal part of bodhisattva path been called a great bodhisattva is a normal part all these things happen to people who vow to have nothing all these things are
all these things and as are
so one of the
things it came up during the intensive was me sharing with people
a reference to a movie a movie called the pink panther give her that movie cindy
you know it the name of the the main figure in the movie is inspector crew so
right and he has an assist in the house boy named
i guess the english way of the british way of saying his name is keto the asian way of saying his name is coteau
which also means
tangling vines anyway cato's job is to attack his boss
whenever he has a chance to test his body is barbara bosses bodhisattva spirit
so it's a normal thing for bodhisattvas to be attacked
them realize
nonviolence in order to help them realize
non harming in order for them to realize demonstrate
renunciation of any attainment
like i can walk across the room i can do i can walk around my house
but as a body shot for it's okay to walk around my house i should i just have to demonstrate
not a cane in walking around my house when i'm walking around my house so if i want here on my house and i think i've attained it than my house boy comes and test to see if i think i've attended by
knocking me down
and throwing me out the window
and then can i could get knocked down without obtaining knocking down because that i get knocked down he attacks me and my knocking down to get up so it's normal for people to
cut for and also to call yourself it's normal for you to call yourself
how embarrassing how wacky how how long list as normal i'm not telling you this stuff you're coming up with as abnormal i'm just saying these are normal opportunities for you to
have a mind of no abode
so thank you very much for offer these examples of things to renounce examples of things that come up to the body sad first mind so she can be nonviolent with them
so she can be not harm them
if you call me wacky i want to harm that language or you or me i want to be violent if you call me stupid
i want to be nonviolent if you call me a disgrace
i don't want to read not i don't want to hold onto my position as a zen priest
if you say i am a zen priest
i wanna be nonviolent with that i don't want to be angry at you because you said i was a zen priest you're forcing me into being as embrace i'm thrilled to announce me as an present breeze are supposed to renounce beings and priests
are you a hotel manager
hotel managers bodhisattvas as supposed to renounce being a hotel manager
and the people come into the hotel
to help you to challenge your renunciation to see if you can let go of it by saying or you such a great hotel manager or you're such a lousy hotel manager you're doing i'm really bad job of managing this hotel and you didn't say thank you very much what can i do to help you
yeah great
you cannot be violent with them right to not harm them when they're not appreciative and to not be violent to not pen to renounce them when they're praising you to renounce not them but to renounce the praise
so thank you for your question
tracy
he has such a good questioner
but i'm nasty
you know
so we say thank you and renounce or what we're saying thank you for
so now is twelve fifteen and could have launched to have you want john lunch ready for it i you guys ready for lunch okay let's have lunch
may or intention equally
to marry and plays were married
the way
the numberless ah to save them
the inexhaustible
and to and then die
a sign less ah
as to enter them the is unsurpassable ah to become
so i think a title for this talk could be
bodhisattva vows ceremony