4 Vows and the Heart Sutra

[pinoybuddhist]

I often start my morning zazen by chanting the Heart Sutra and end by reciting the Four Bodhisattva Vows. While saying the Four Vows this morning it occurred to me: who is it that says the vows? Who vows to liberate all beings, end all delusions, and all that jazz? And this was what came up (no doubt riffing on the Heart Sutra):

"Beings are numberless - I vow to free them"
No numberless beings to be freed, and no one to free them

"Delusions are inexhaustible - I vow to end them"
No inexhaustible delusions to end, and no one to end them

"Dharma gates are boundless - I vow to enter them"
"No boundless Dharma gates to be entered, and no one to enter them

"The Buddha way is unsurpassable - I vow to realize it"
No unsurpassable Buddha way, and no one to realize it

[Taigu]

Re: 4 Vows and the Heart Sutra

Who are you?

Without beliefs, ideas, stripped of everything...

then, you may get a kind of answer.

As to all sentient beings...they have never been apart from my-your skinbag from the very start.

Making a vow is real. Real. REAL.



respectfully


gassho


Taigu


PS: before rewriting the four vows, have a nice tip to Syria ( my beloved country), North Korea, the next door neighbour house, and watch and see suffering. Its real. It hurts.
What do you make of all this???????????????????????????????????????????
And yes, there isn't anybody from the start.

My choice... looking into the broken pieces of this world.

[Rimon]

Re: 4 Vows and the Heart Sutra

Making a vow is real. Real. REAL.

Sometimes, when I recite the Bodhisatva bows, it hurts inside, shaken by the thoughts of all the suffering in the world. A very few times, my heart is full of joy and I say to myself: "I can do it." Sometimes is "I don't know". Most of the times, it is just reciting.

When is it more real? I don't know.

Gassho

Rimon

[Jundo]

Re: 4 Vows and the Heart Sutra

This happened to be the subject of the last two talks during the monthly Zazenkai ...

THE FOUR VOWS ...
http://www.justin.tv/treeleafzen/b/307460454

THE HEART SUTRA
http://www.justin.tv/treeleafzen/b/304740652

The rest of this month's Zazenkai ...
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4628

As Taigu points out eloquently, there are no sentient being to save, no separate "you" to save them ... nor delusions nor Dharma gates nor a Buddha way ...

... so you had better strive to save those suffering beings, avoid greed anger and ignorance, learn and live by the Buddha's way.

All At Once As One. So many Koans on just how to live so.

Don't drown in Emptiness.

Don't get caught in a mere intellectual understanding of Emptiness either.

Gassho, Jundo

[AlanLa]

Re: 4 Vows and the Heart Sutra

I recite my Bodhisattva vows at the end of all my weekly zazen sessions and I realize something new about them (application, meaning, etc.) all the time, and then I move on from that real realization on to the rest of my real day. It all fits.

[pinoybuddhist]

Re: 4 Vows and the Heart Sutra

As to all sentient beings...they have never been apart from my-your skinbag from the very start.

Making a vow is real. Real. REAL.

Its real. It hurts.
What do you make of all this???????????????????????????????????????????
And yes, there isn't anybody from the start.

As Taigu points out eloquently, there are no sentient being to save, no separate "you" to save them ... nor delusions nor Dharma gates nor a Buddha way ...

... so you had better strive to save those suffering beings, avoid greed anger and ignorance, learn and live by the Buddha's way.

All At Once As One. So many Koans on just how to live so.

Don't drown in Emptiness.

Don't get caught in a mere intellectual understanding of Emptiness either.

Gassho, Jundo

Thank you Taigu and Jundo.

Gassho _/|_

[Kyonin]

Re: 4 Vows and the Heart Sutra

That's exactly what happens to me.

Every morning I recite the Heart Sutra. Sometimes I realize something new about it, like a safe falling on my head. Sometimes I just go through it and my mind can't connect.

After zazen I say the Verse of Atonement and the Four Vows and there is always some new meaning and understanding.

It's impressive how much meaning can one find on so few words.

I recite my Bodhisattva vows at the end of all my weekly zazen sessions and I realize something new about them (application, meaning, etc.) all the time, and then I move on from that real realization on to the rest of my real day. It all fits.

[Jinyu]

Re: 4 Vows and the Heart Sutra

Sometimes, when I recite the Bodhisatva bows, it hurts inside, shaken by the thoughts of all the suffering in the world.

Thank you immensely to share this Rimon... it has a big meaning to me! So true, so true!

deep deep gassho,
Jinyu

[RichardH]

Re: 4 Vows and the Heart Sutra

Those vows also make me aware that everything awful out there, is in here. There is no destructive impulse, no violent or perverse element, out there that is not also in me, at least in potential. So there can be a sense of weight and responsibility, not for the actions of others, but for what we are made of in that way.