Ah, the endless road of Zen, always fulfilled right here in this step, and this step, and this ... 
Our version of the Four Vows at Treeleaf is this:
EVERYONE TOGETHER:
(To be chanted 3x - moderate, louder and whisper)
A little trivia about the melody and wording of the "Four Bodhisattva Vows" at Treeleaf:
Why do we Chant the "Four Vows" in the particular pattern that we do, moderate on the first verse, more forceful on the second, quieter on the third?
This is something that I inherited from my mentor, Rev. Doshin Cantor of the White Plum, as it was the way in his Sangha when I was sitting there. However, the Soto way of Chanting the Four Vows in Japan (the Shigu Seigan Mon / 四弘誓願文) is actually very steady and constant:
So, I contacted Joan Halifax who composed the melody with the late Bernie Glassman Roshi (who also created the interesting melody for our English "Identity of Relative and Absolute Chant/Sandokai" which, truly, is vaguely based on Fiddler on the Roof!
), and she said ...
We chant that way because, well ... that is the way we chant!
This reminds me of a true story, when I once asked a priest at Eiheiji's branch temple in Tokyo about why they ring the bells accompanied by drums with a certain pattern. (It turned out later that it is because it is timekeeping signals, like European churchbells). But he did not know, so called an older priest who ALSO did not know, but said to me: "We ring the bells that way because ... that is how we ring the bells!" Very Zen!
However, here is the interpretation of this which I hold in my heart, rather my own feeling, so let us consider it the "official" Treeleaf explanation if it is okay!
Why does our English "Four Vows" at Treeleaf have its particular wording?
It is my translation and wording, although inspired by other sources and the Mahayana meaning. The original Chinese/Japanese is:
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
Shu Jo Muhen Seigando
Bonno Mujin Seigandan
Homon Muryo Seigangaku
Butsu Do Mujo Seiganjo
Our "Treeleaf Version" is this ...
In the last line, I employed "non-attainable" instead of the phrase "unsurpassable" that seems more common in various English translations. Okumura Roshi, in Living by Vow, seems to say that the actual meaning is something like an enlightenment so "unsurpassable" that we can't get there. I would simply add that, while we keep moving forward even though we cannot "get there", from another wondrous way of seeing, we are ALREADY there and thus never any place to get at all.
The 無上 in the final line can mean "nothing higher" or "unsurpassable," but it can also mean "cannot be gotten on, can not be risen above" a road or "Way." So, it is an Enlightened Way that can not be gotten on or attained. This is more in keeping with the earlier lines about how we Vow to do what is impossible to do. Notice how the earlier lines are 無邊 (beyond number) 無盡 (inexhaustable) 無量 (boundless), with that 無 (mu) emphasizing both ultimate Emptiness, and the impossibility of the tasks which, nonetheless, we Vow to undertake. Why should the last line 無上 be not the same? In fact, I took this from Steve Hagen, another Soto teacher (Katagiri Lineage) who has:
Okumura says that the "Four Bodhisattva Vows" are associated with one older way that Buddha's Four Noble Truths were written (from p 16 here):
Later, a Mahayana twist was put on things. (It is not only a "Zen" Practice, by the way, but most of the other Japanese flavors of Buddhism recite them, as well as Korean and Chinese schools.) The Mahayana versions 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 Chinese version may stretch back further, it is found in the oldest known version (about 9th Century CE) of one of Zen's most cherished texts, the "Platform Sutra of the Sixth Zen Ancestor" (from page 143 here):
Although that version 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 (about 13th Century CE) of the Platform Sutra does contain wording very very close to the modern (page 48 here):
Thus, apparently, as the Platform Sutra was elaborated in later versions, someone added such phrasing to the Vows in order to more clearly reflect the Mahayana/Emptiness aspect.
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 are a whole bunch of translations in English, very differently phrased (and some in Hungarian!):
My wording was also inspired by the version Chanted at the Sangha of my mentor, Doshin Cantor (and similarly used throughout the White Plum, at Upaya Zen Center and elsewhere), which also refers to "Reality" in the third line, rather than the more literal "Dharma Gates" (法門 Homon), which is what the Chinese version actually states. 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 Sensei, in his "Zen Chants" book says:
So, I feel that "Reality" is actually clearer than the technical "Dharma Gates" term for most folks, and is accurate.
However we word it, let us keep these Vows!
By the way, here is a particularly lovely way of chanting the Four Vows, in one Rinzai Zen style. So beautiful:
A Zazenkai Talk reflecting on the Four Vows (and Verse of Atonement too) ... from about 01:50:00 here:
Gassho, J
sattodaylah
sorry to run long
Our version of the Four Vows at Treeleaf is this:
THE FOUR VOWS
EVERYONE TOGETHER:
(To be chanted 3x - moderate, louder and whisper)
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
To transform all delusions, though delusions inexhaustible
To perceive Reality, though Reality is boundless
To attain the Enlightened Way, a Way non-attainable
A little trivia about the melody and wording of the "Four Bodhisattva Vows" at Treeleaf:
Why do we Chant the "Four Vows" in the particular pattern that we do, moderate on the first verse, more forceful on the second, quieter on the third?
This is something that I inherited from my mentor, Rev. Doshin Cantor of the White Plum, as it was the way in his Sangha when I was sitting there. However, the Soto way of Chanting the Four Vows in Japan (the Shigu Seigan Mon / 四弘誓願文) is actually very steady and constant:
So, I contacted Joan Halifax who composed the melody with the late Bernie Glassman Roshi (who also created the interesting melody for our English "Identity of Relative and Absolute Chant/Sandokai" which, truly, is vaguely based on Fiddler on the Roof!
), and she said ...
dear jundo,
warm wishes to you.
am not sure of the meaning but i think this is something bernie and i devised years ago.
we also have tonal shifts in other chants: jeweled mirror and identity...
and of course gate of sweet nectar has significant melodic shifts.
as to why, i don't remember...
this doesn't help you much. so sorry...
two hands together,
Rev. Joan Jiko Halifax
Abbot, Upaya Zen Center
warm wishes to you.
am not sure of the meaning but i think this is something bernie and i devised years ago.
we also have tonal shifts in other chants: jeweled mirror and identity...
and of course gate of sweet nectar has significant melodic shifts.
as to why, i don't remember...
this doesn't help you much. so sorry...
two hands together,
Rev. Joan Jiko Halifax
Abbot, Upaya Zen Center
We chant that way because, well ... that is the way we chant!
This reminds me of a true story, when I once asked a priest at Eiheiji's branch temple in Tokyo about why they ring the bells accompanied by drums with a certain pattern. (It turned out later that it is because it is timekeeping signals, like European churchbells). But he did not know, so called an older priest who ALSO did not know, but said to me: "We ring the bells that way because ... that is how we ring the bells!" Very Zen!
However, here is the interpretation of this which I hold in my heart, rather my own feeling, so let us consider it the "official" Treeleaf explanation if it is okay!
First, we chant with sincerity and equanimity;
Second, we chant we more energy and determination to realize these Vows;
Third, we allow the Vows to merge with quiet and stillness.
Second, we chant we more energy and determination to realize these Vows;
Third, we allow the Vows to merge with quiet and stillness.
Why does our English "Four Vows" at Treeleaf have its particular wording?
It is my translation and wording, although inspired by other sources and the Mahayana meaning. The original Chinese/Japanese is:
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
Shu Jo Muhen Seigando
Bonno Mujin Seigandan
Homon Muryo Seigangaku
Butsu Do Mujo Seiganjo
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
To transform all delusions, though delusions inexhaustible
To perceive Reality, though Reality is boundless
To attain the Enlightened Way, a Way non-attainable
In the last line, I employed "non-attainable" instead of the phrase "unsurpassable" that seems more common in various English translations. Okumura Roshi, in Living by Vow, seems to say that the actual meaning is something like an enlightenment so "unsurpassable" that we can't get there. I would simply add that, while we keep moving forward even though we cannot "get there", from another wondrous way of seeing, we are ALREADY there and thus never any place to get at all.
The 無上 in the final line can mean "nothing higher" or "unsurpassable," but it can also mean "cannot be gotten on, can not be risen above" a road or "Way." So, it is an Enlightened Way that can not be gotten on or attained. This is more in keeping with the earlier lines about how we Vow to do what is impossible to do. Notice how the earlier lines are 無邊 (beyond number) 無盡 (inexhaustable) 無量 (boundless), with that 無 (mu) emphasizing both ultimate Emptiness, and the impossibility of the tasks which, nonetheless, we Vow to undertake. Why should the last line 無上 be not the same? In fact, I took this from Steve Hagen, another Soto teacher (Katagiri Lineage) who has:
To save all sentient beings, though they are numberless
To end all desiring, though desires are endless (or inexhaustible)
To learn the Dharma, though the Dharma is boundless
To realize the Buddha Way, though it is unattainable
To end all desiring, though desires are endless (or inexhaustible)
To learn the Dharma, though the Dharma is boundless
To realize the Buddha Way, though it is unattainable
Okumura says that the "Four Bodhisattva Vows" are associated with one older way that Buddha's Four Noble Truths were written (from p 16 here):
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.
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, by the way, but most of the other Japanese flavors of Buddhism recite them, as well as Korean and Chinese schools.) The Mahayana versions 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 Chinese version may stretch back further, it is found in the oldest known version (about 9th Century CE) of one of Zen's most cherished texts, the "Platform Sutra of the Sixth Zen Ancestor" (from page 143 here):
"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.'
“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 ...
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 are a whole bunch of translations in English, very differently phrased (and some in Hungarian!):
My wording was also inspired by the version Chanted at the Sangha of my mentor, Doshin Cantor (and similarly used throughout the White Plum, at Upaya Zen Center and elsewhere), which also refers to "Reality" in the third line, rather than the more literal "Dharma Gates" (法門 Homon), which is what the Chinese version actually states. 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 Sensei, in his "Zen Chants" book says:
Dharma: A Sanskrit word means "truth," "teaching," "thing," or "phenomenon"
Dharma Gates: Aspects or characteristics of dharma
Dharma Gates: Aspects or characteristics of dharma
However we word it, let us keep these Vows!
By the way, here is a particularly lovely way of chanting the Four Vows, in one Rinzai Zen style. So beautiful:
A Zazenkai Talk reflecting on the Four Vows (and Verse of Atonement too) ... from about 01:50:00 here:
Gassho, J
sattodaylah
sorry to run long
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