Dear sangha
A sangha member asked me:
It is a good question, and I have definitely struggled with all of the vows, particularly that first one. Initially it just felt wrong to have taken a vow that I could never live up to, like making a promise to a friend that I already knew I couldn't fulfil. I think the questioner already put it pretty well with "I understand, in a simplified conceptual way that it is an aspirational practice of never arriving to its end yet, we continue to work towards it."
If I may add my own thoughts, firstly, I think it is meant to be overwhelming. Having a task we can seemingly never accomplish forces us to think about things in a different way, in a similar manner that the huge task of sewing an Okesa for the first time puts you in a position of just proceeding stitch-by-stitch, or sitting a long Sesshin breath-by-breath. The vow is a lived koan a little like a Zen version of Kobayashi Maru – how do we act when there is no way we can succeed? Do we give up or find another way?
On a daily basis we are aware that people fall sick, get injured, and experience grief and loss, hunger, homelessness and war. Tackling any one of these things is the work of numerous government agencies and charitable organisations, let alone one person taking responsibility for all sentient beings everywhere.
So, what are we to do?
For me, the vow comes down to this: what can I do to help save all beings in this very moment, right now, even in a very small way? Sometimes we save all beings by looking after ourselves, sometimes by taking care of our children and family. Sometimes saving all beings looks like smiling at a stranger, giving money or food to a food bank, or not making things worse in a situation of conflict or struggle. At other times it looks like listening to a friend or petting a stray cat. In other words, it is anything we can do to put something positive into the world. One drop of positive action can send out more ripples than we can know.
What we can do depends on our individual circumstances but it is always worth asking the question what saving all beings looks like for you in this moment.
Thinking of others puts us into a path of service. This is what it means to be a bodhisattva. One important thing to remember, though, is that you too are a sentient being, and making sure that you get sufficient food, rest and time with friends and family is also part of the bodhisattva path.
In Living By Vow, Shohaku Okumura relates the Four Vows to the Four Noble Truths so saving all beings relates to the First Noble Truth, the truth of suffering. As dharma practitioners, we can help to free sentient beings by teaching people how to sit and with dharma teachings, but I would caution that compassion should often come before wisdom, and we need to meet people where they are at, rather than where we are at. A hungry person doesn’t want to hear about the power of Zazen to reduce cravings, and someone going through strong grief almost certainly knows more about impermanence than we have to teach them. However, outside of the realm of acute need, there is a reason that sangha is a dharma jewel and being part of Treeleaf means you have the chance to support others through your practice, both here and in the wider community.
At a different level, that of the absolute or universal, saving all beings takes on a different form. In terms of the absolute, in which nothing is discriminated or distinguished, what Jundo often calls 'the whole enchilada' or 'the great wholeness', there are no sentient beings to be saved as we are not separate from anything. In The Diamond Sutra, the Buddha says to Subhuti:
So, by recognising that we are not separate from all beings, all beings are liberated in an instant.
One teacher I know renders 'save all beings' as 'be with all things', and that intimacy with everything else allows the self to fall away and reveal the lack of separation.
For me, the first bodhisattva vow essentially comes down to being intimate with life and responding to what is needed in the moment. Don’t overthink it (like I have obviously done above!) but be present and open. Kōdō Sawaki said that life is in a continuous process of giving and receiving. Sometimes we are the hands of Kannon, sometimes the recipient of one of his/her hands. Just by being in the world, we are part of an exchange of oxygen and carbon, and organic matter and minerals, and sometimes it is okay just to be doing that as part of the natural cycle, and not taking more than we need.
In taking the bodhisattva path we have chosen to try to step beyond our self-interest and instead live by vow. Ultimately, nothing is separate and no one needs saving. But there are still people out there who are hungry and need food, and/or homeless and need shelter. Attending to them, or supporting those who do, is an expression of our interconnection as well as the iteration of our vow. We need not become saints, but we can do our best. There is no passing or failing, just living a life out of intention to help, in accordance with both the bodhisattva vows and the three pure precepts. Zen practice can often make us feel peaceful and comfortable with life, even among its more difficult periods, and it is good to remember that it is not all about us, and even if we are okay, there are plenty of beings who are not.
My apologies for running massively long!
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-
A sangha member asked me:
I've been reading the Lotus Sutra for the first time and for some reason the very definition of the first Bodhisattva Vow has been burning in my mind. I understand, in a simplified conceptual way that it is an aspirational practice of never arriving to its end yet, we continue to work towards it. Regardless, I now keep pondering "Are we destined to fail?" I question even if I am good enough to even crawl an inch towards whatever this "save all sentient beings" is.
If I may add my own thoughts, firstly, I think it is meant to be overwhelming. Having a task we can seemingly never accomplish forces us to think about things in a different way, in a similar manner that the huge task of sewing an Okesa for the first time puts you in a position of just proceeding stitch-by-stitch, or sitting a long Sesshin breath-by-breath. The vow is a lived koan a little like a Zen version of Kobayashi Maru – how do we act when there is no way we can succeed? Do we give up or find another way?
On a daily basis we are aware that people fall sick, get injured, and experience grief and loss, hunger, homelessness and war. Tackling any one of these things is the work of numerous government agencies and charitable organisations, let alone one person taking responsibility for all sentient beings everywhere.
So, what are we to do?
For me, the vow comes down to this: what can I do to help save all beings in this very moment, right now, even in a very small way? Sometimes we save all beings by looking after ourselves, sometimes by taking care of our children and family. Sometimes saving all beings looks like smiling at a stranger, giving money or food to a food bank, or not making things worse in a situation of conflict or struggle. At other times it looks like listening to a friend or petting a stray cat. In other words, it is anything we can do to put something positive into the world. One drop of positive action can send out more ripples than we can know.
What we can do depends on our individual circumstances but it is always worth asking the question what saving all beings looks like for you in this moment.
Thinking of others puts us into a path of service. This is what it means to be a bodhisattva. One important thing to remember, though, is that you too are a sentient being, and making sure that you get sufficient food, rest and time with friends and family is also part of the bodhisattva path.
In Living By Vow, Shohaku Okumura relates the Four Vows to the Four Noble Truths so saving all beings relates to the First Noble Truth, the truth of suffering. As dharma practitioners, we can help to free sentient beings by teaching people how to sit and with dharma teachings, but I would caution that compassion should often come before wisdom, and we need to meet people where they are at, rather than where we are at. A hungry person doesn’t want to hear about the power of Zazen to reduce cravings, and someone going through strong grief almost certainly knows more about impermanence than we have to teach them. However, outside of the realm of acute need, there is a reason that sangha is a dharma jewel and being part of Treeleaf means you have the chance to support others through your practice, both here and in the wider community.
At a different level, that of the absolute or universal, saving all beings takes on a different form. In terms of the absolute, in which nothing is discriminated or distinguished, what Jundo often calls 'the whole enchilada' or 'the great wholeness', there are no sentient beings to be saved as we are not separate from anything. In The Diamond Sutra, the Buddha says to Subhuti:
Subhuti, those who would now set forth on the bodhisattva path should thus give birth to the thought: 'However, many beings there are in whatever realms of being might exist... in the realm of complete nirvana I shall liberate them all. And though I thus liberate countless beings, not a single being is liberated'.
(The Diamond Sutra, section three, Red Pine translation)
(The Diamond Sutra, section three, Red Pine translation)
One teacher I know renders 'save all beings' as 'be with all things', and that intimacy with everything else allows the self to fall away and reveal the lack of separation.
For me, the first bodhisattva vow essentially comes down to being intimate with life and responding to what is needed in the moment. Don’t overthink it (like I have obviously done above!) but be present and open. Kōdō Sawaki said that life is in a continuous process of giving and receiving. Sometimes we are the hands of Kannon, sometimes the recipient of one of his/her hands. Just by being in the world, we are part of an exchange of oxygen and carbon, and organic matter and minerals, and sometimes it is okay just to be doing that as part of the natural cycle, and not taking more than we need.
In taking the bodhisattva path we have chosen to try to step beyond our self-interest and instead live by vow. Ultimately, nothing is separate and no one needs saving. But there are still people out there who are hungry and need food, and/or homeless and need shelter. Attending to them, or supporting those who do, is an expression of our interconnection as well as the iteration of our vow. We need not become saints, but we can do our best. There is no passing or failing, just living a life out of intention to help, in accordance with both the bodhisattva vows and the three pure precepts. Zen practice can often make us feel peaceful and comfortable with life, even among its more difficult periods, and it is good to remember that it is not all about us, and even if we are okay, there are plenty of beings who are not.
My apologies for running massively long!
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-
)
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