Four Vows history and translations?

[Banto]

Mostly just because I'm curious ...
What is the history of the four vows and specifically our Treeleaf translation ?

Domyo Burk's most recent podcast had the four vows as:

Beings are numberless, I vow to free them
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them
Dharma Gates are boundless, I vow to enter them
The Buddha Way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it

Which is close. I'm also interested in her translation of that 3rd vow, about entering Dharma gates?
It's probably the same and I know it's what's in our hearts and intention that matters but I find these things interesting nonetheless

SatToday

[Jakuden]

The version chanted at Zen Mountain Monastery is:

Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them
Desires are inexhaustible; I vow to put an end to them
The dharmas are boundless; I vow to master them
The Buddha Way is unattainable; I vow to attain it

I assumed they were just slightly different translations of the original, but I haven't heard any talks about the origin before.

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday

[Jishin]

IMG_0093.JPG

Hard to say which one is best.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Jundo]

Mostly just because I'm curious ...
What is the history of the four vows and specifically our Treeleaf translation ?

Domyo Burk's most recent podcast had the four vows as:

Beings are numberless, I vow to free them
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them
Dharma Gates are boundless, I vow to enter them
The Buddha Way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it

Which is close. I'm also interested in her translation of that 3rd vow, about entering Dharma gates?
It's probably the same and I know it's what's in our hearts and intention that matters but I find these things interesting nonetheless

SatToday

Hi Banto,

This is actually the topic of the first Chapter of Okumura Roshi's "Living By Vow", which is our next selection in the Treeleaf "Beyond Letters Book Club" ... folks definitely should get in on that ...

Our Next Book Selection: LIVING BY VOW

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?15220-Our-Next-Book-Selection-LIVING-BY-VOW

He says that these "Four Bodhisattva Vows" are associated with one older way that Buddha's Four Noble Truths were written (from p 16 here) ...

https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=ZEU6AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=%22I+vow+to+enable+people+to+be+released+from+the+truth+of+suffering%22&source=bl&ots=G8RtED7xnS&sig=Fu7-b2JqMbzmzRn_583em9HhrOU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjv6fW8g9_TAhWIvbwKHUyKAqYQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=%22I%20vow%20to%20enable%20people%20to%20be%20released%20from%20the%20truth%20of%20suffering%22&f=false

That older version is ...

I vow to enable people to be released from the truth of suffering.
I vow to enable people to understand the truth of the origin of suffering.
I vow to enable people to peacefully settle down in the truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering.
I vow to enable people to enter the cessation of suffering, that is, nirvana.

Later, a Mahayana twist was put on things. It is not only a "Zen" Practice, but most of the other Japanese flavors of Buddhism recite them, as well as Korean and Chinese schools. The present version emphasize that a Bodhisattva vows to do these impossible things but (and this is very important) knowing too that, in Emptiness, there is never any "sentient being" to save from the start, nothing to master or attain. Realizing such fact of "no sentient beings and nothing to realize" and getting the sentient beings also to realize this "nothing to realize" is precisely how one rescues the sentient beings!!!

[Although the roots of our current version may stretch back further, it is found in the oldest known version (9th Century CE ?) of one of Zen's most cherished texts, the "Platform Sutra of the Sixth Zen Ancestor" (from page 143 here) ....

https://terebess.hu/zen/PlatformYampolsky.pdf

"Now that you have already taken refuge in the threefold body of
Buddha, I shall expound to you the four great vows. Good friends, recite
in unison what I say: 'I vow to save all sentient beings everywhere.
I vow to cut off all the passions everywhere. I vow to study all the
Buddhist teachings everywhere. I vow to achieve the unsurpassed Buddha
Way.

Although the chant there does not specifically seem to include the "although numberless/inexhaustable" part of each sentence, it is somewhat implied in the surrounding text, and a later version (13th Century CE?) of the Platform Sutra does contain wording very very close to the modern (page 48 here) ...

http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachings/Translations/PlatformSutra_McRaeTranslation.pdf

“Good friends, now that we have done the repentances, I will express
for you the four great vows. You should all listen closely: the sentient beings
of our own minds are limitless, and we vow to save them all. The afflictions
of our own minds are limitless, and we vow to eradicate them all. The teachings
of our own minds are inexhaustible, and we vow to learn them all. The
enlightenment of buddhahood of our own minds is unsurpassable, and we
vow to achieve it

So, my guess is that, as the Platform Sutra was elaborated in later versions, someone added to the Vows too in order to more clearly reflect the Mahayana/Emptiness aspect.

As to translators, the original in Chinese is this ...

四宏誓願
眾生無邊誓願度；
煩惱無盡誓願斷；
法門無量誓願學；
佛道無上誓願成

Now, when you are a translator, there is much room for word choice and expression as one seeks to capture the meaning from one language to another. So, here is a list of a whole bunch of translations in English (and some in Hungarian!) ...

https://terebess.hu/zen/szoto/vows.html

Our "Treeleaf Version" is this ...

To save all sentient beings, though beings numberless

To transform all delusions, though delusions inexhaustible

To perceive Reality, though Reality is boundless

To attain the Enlightened Way, a Way non-attainable

I took this in homage to my mentor, Doshin Cantor, who uses about this version as part of the White Plum Lineage (Maezumi Roshi's Lineage) to which he belongs. A quick online search shows that Joan Halifax at Upaya Zen Center, also White Plum, uses about this same phrase:

Creations are numberless, we vow to free them.
Delusions are inexhaustible, we vow to transform them.
Reality is Boundless, we vow to perceive it.
The awakened way is unsurpassable, we vow to embody it.

However, is "Reality" a fair and clear translation of "Dharma Gates" (法門 Homon in the original Chinese)? I feel it is. As Okumura Roshi says in Living By Vow (p. 17), "The original word for 'Dharmas' is homon (Dharma Gate), which means teachings about reality and reality based practice." Tanahashi, in his "Zen Chants" book says:

Dharma: A Sanskrit word means "truth," "teaching," "thing," or "phenomenon"
Dharma Gates: Aspects or characteristics of dharma

So, I feel that the White Plum/Upaya version "Reality" which we borrowed is actually clearer than the technical "Dharma Gates" term to modern folks maybe.

Thanks for asking.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Banto]

Jundo thank you so much! What a wonderful read through your post, very interesting.
When I first heard Domyo's "I vow to enter them" I wondered if that was inferring that everything in life is an opportunity for us in our practice. Methinks I was reading too much in to it.
Or perhaps not ... if homon means teachings about reality.

I've never read the Platform Sutra, but I think I need to ... but after Living by Vow. I've now got that on Kindle and will begin reading it soon. Very neat that the first chapter is on for vows! Looking forward to going through that with you all.

Thank you!
Gassho
BantoSatToday

[Jundo]

Jundo thank you so much! What a wonderful read through your post, very interesting.
When I first heard Domyo's "I vow to enter them" I wondered if that was inferring that everything in life is an opportunity for us in our practice. Methinks I was reading too much in to it.
Or perhaps not ... if homon means teachings about reality.

I've never read the Platform Sutra, but I think I need to ... but after Living by Vow. I've now got that on Kindle and will begin reading it soon. Very neat that the first chapter is on for vows! Looking forward to going through that with you all.

Thank you!
Gassho
BantoSatToday

If you will read the Platform Sutra, I would recommend to read the older, simpler less doctored and fancied up version translated by Yampolsky, but make sure to read Dr. Yampolsky's brilliant introduction too (not included with all online versions).

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Banto]

Great, I sure appreciate that. Wading through all the different offerings can be so daunting. I believe I found a Kindle version of the one you're referencing

https://www.amazon.com/Platform-Sutra-Patriarch-Translations-Classics-ebook/dp/B007QXW92G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1494208971&sr=8-2&keywords=platform+sutra

I believe it has the introduction:

Dr. Yampolsky also furnishes a lengthy and detailed historical introduction which contains much information hitherto unavailable even to scholars, and provides the context essential to an understanding of Hui-neng's work. He gives an account of the history and legends of Ch'an Buddhism, with particular attention to the traditions associated with Hui-neng, quoting or summarizing the most important narratives. He then discusses the various texts of the Platform Sutra, and analyzes its contents.

Gassho!
S2D

[Jundo]

By the way, looking at the last line of our Treeleaf version ...

To attain the Enlightened Way, a Way non-attainable

Most translations seem to have something closer to "The Buddha way is unsurpassable: I vow to attain it." (although the unique Kobun Chino, in the translation list I linked to, has the unique "Buddha's way is not above, so it is always accomplished.")

The operative word here is 無上 (in "佛道無上誓願成"). This 無上 (Mujo) literally means "nothing above", thus "incomparable" or "unsurpassable." But since the 道 (Do, as in "Chado," the Way of Tea, of "Budo," the Way of the Warrior) in this phrase "The Buddha's Way" has something of the image of a path or road. the phrase Mujo also means "not on", and so the phrase can also literally mean something like "a road you can't be on, can't walk" or ("as in Kobun's version) a road that is "not something above" so always here. That, combined with general Mahayana/Zen teachings that enlightenment is not something "attained", is where I developed "To attain the Enlightened Way, a Way non-attainable." I feel it has the meaning very well, although other translators might just say something like "the Buddha Way is unsurpassable but we vow to try anyway". Kobun's "not something above" is very nice.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Mp]

This is great Jundo, thank you for the explanation. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Kokuu]

Very interesting! Thank you for asking, Banto!

I don't know if it is true but I have read in several places that the vows were first formulated by Tendai patriarch Chih I in sixth century China.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

[Jundo]

Very interesting! Thank you for asking, Banto!

I don't know if it is true but I have read in several places that the vows were first formulated by Tendai patriarch Chih I in sixth century China.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

Hi Kokuu,

Thank you, and I should not have included that fact. Chi'i (Zhiyi) also seems to be the fellow who originated the "though numberless, though inexhaustable" language addition. From one scholar's paper (you need to download the PDF, but from pg 55)

The Four Extensive Vows and Four Noble Truths in T'ien-t'ai Huddhism. Robert F. Rhodes

https://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiGgI-8tOHTAhUDe7wKHQabCKkQFggnMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fotani.repo.nii.ac.jp%2F%3Faction%3Drepository_action_common_download%26item_id%3D3628%26item_no%3D1%26attribute_id%3D22%26file_no%3D1&usg=AFQjCNF-X6tcmXwNiy2lu5FJo26-jphA_Q&sig2=wt99sV3Q2fm_Bp5o-vv8lQ

Gassho, Jundo

SatTodat