v111q3r9@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Yi L Chiang) (02/06/91)
THE PRACTICE OF BODHISATTVA DHARMA
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In the Buddha's teaching, the Sutra collection and the Vinaya
collection comprise two kinds of Dharma. The Sutras are the
collection of the Buddha's discourses given over a forty-year
period in the Ganges valley, in India, nearly 2,6000 years ago, and
they are concerned with the nature of mind and experience and
the reality of the suffering, insatisfactoriness, and the frustration
of conditioned existence. The Vinaya is the collection that sets
forth the discipline of body and speech that bhiksus and bhiksunis
(Buddhist monks and nuns) must pratice. this monastic code
of discipline is undertaken upon ordination, when one formally
leaves home life, and Vinaya of this sort is primarily the concern
of the Sanhha (monastic body). An expanded version of this
Buddhist training is the Bodhisattva ordination, wherein one
undertakes the pratice of the fundamental bodhisattva Dharma
of body and mind. This Bodhisattva Dharma encompasses many
levels and degrees of practice, both worldly and transcendental,
and it is truly wounderous and inconceivable.
Many people are familiar with the term "Bodhisattva", but
the genuine meaning of the term could stand some clasrfication.
The average person perhaps considers images made of clay,
wood or gold or portraits and paintings of sintly personalities
to be some manner of substitute Bodhisattva. Indeed,
through Asian national customs and traditions, we have come to
associate religious statuary of this sort with the term "Bodhisattva".
Needless to say, this is incorrect. We should understand
that there are Buddha rupas portarying a higher degree of pratice
than Bodhisattva and also images of lesser sages, patriarchs, and
even demons with bodies of oxen and serpents. These images
should not be indiscriminately lumped together under the designation
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"Bodhisattva". Actually, men and women cannot look
like the representations of Bodhisattva that artists have created.
However, we are human beings with mind, and if we vow to
pratice Bodhisattva behavior, then we can gradually become Bodhisattvas.
the Sanskrit term "Bodhisattva" is composed of two words:
Bodhi, whick means enlightment or awakening;
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and sattva, which means being.
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The destignation "Bodhisattva" originally meant a living
being who had developed or had determinded to hold the Bodhicitta.
Citta is a Sanskrit work that means mind or heart; in the East,
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The two world "heart " and "mind" are synonymous. To search with
the great perseverance for the Supreme Bodhi and to
develop a compassionate heart in order to effect the liberation
of all sentient beings from their states of conditioned suffering--
such is the authentic meaning of the life and path of one who
has taken the Bodhisattva vows. Therefore, if we can resolve
determinedly to develop the Bodihicitta, to search above for the
Tao of the Buddha and seek the below to convert all sentient being to
the right path -- not simply in theory but in genuine pratice --
then we are praticcing real Bodhisattva Dharma. Only one who
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urges all beings to strive upward and penetrate the region of the
great enlightment can validly be recognized as and be called
A bodhisattva. Thus, it should be clear that images of clay or
gold are not the real thing; and only those who have determined
the Bodhicitta are genuine Bodhisattvas.
To initiate the Tao of the Bodhisattva, one need not already
stand in the highest regions of sanctity. By the same token, when
we observe our own natures closely, we see that pure-mind realms
are not so very far away. Starting from our worldly state, we
march, step by step, toward the highest, holiest region and create
purity and freedom. Staring from the shallow and progressing
to the deep, we transform inferior into superior beauty. Beginning
as worldlings with the bodhicitta, we eventually shall enter the
blessed stage of the final Diamond Heart. This is the condition of
the superlatively enlightened Bodhisattva.
Most people who have confidence in the Buddhadharma and
consider themselves Buddhists do not vow the develop the
bodhicitta. Thus, they remain mere worldlings if they do not
choose to add to themselves to dimension of Bodhisattva mind.
Genuine Buddhists who have determined the Bodhicitta are as
rare as the feathers of a phoenix or the horn of a unicorn. another
kind of Buddhist are those who, after encountering the Buddhadharma
, imagines the accomplishment of Buddhahood to be
so lofty as to be virtually unreachable. because of their inadequate
self-confidence, such people fail to realize the real goal and cannot
complete the Buddha Tao. They grasp the expendient teaching
which was revealed gradually by the Buddha -- i.e., wholesome
karma in this world and the subsequent reward of heavenly bliss.
Learning this very shallow dharma, they wish only to
satisfy their desire for bliss and blessings in the present life.
they can be said to have learned some Buddhadharma, but they are
still quite far, in reality, from any genuine, profound understanding
of teaching. in short, they are merely grasping expendient
teaching as absolute truth. Buddha was the censure this kind of
understanding as icchantika or the state of being unable to make
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siprtual progress.
Yet another kind of Buddhist is the sort who is personally aware of the
Bsufferion of birth and death and so learns the void dharma of the Middle-
Way beyond the two extremes of "is" and "is not". Always grasping the
extremes of "is" and "is not", and then one can enter the stage of void
samadhi. Even though this is considered a superior position and can lead to
the practice of Mahayana, it is, However, not the Bodhisattva Tao leading
to the Supreme Buddha Fruit. Thus, this approach was censured by the
Budhisattva Dharma, whether high or samadhi. The practice of Bodhisattva
Dharma, whether high or low, worldly or transcendental, starts from the human
level and proceeds until the complete Tao of Bodhi is won. This characterizes
that practice that goes all the way through from top to bottom, and it require
nothing apart from determining the Bodhicitta and vowing to act as a Bodhisattva
This development is analogous, by way of example, to a person beginning
kinder-garten and proceeding until he eventually reaches the research institute
and earns his doctoral degree; at all stages of his academic career he is called
a student. Similarly, in developing Bodhisattva practice, one begins by vowing
to detrermine the Bodhicitta and progresses to the Final-Diamond-Heart stage.
The beginning one approaches the Buddha Fruit. All stages are termed
Bodhisattva, and pratice is an ongoing matter. The Bodhisattva stage
immediately preceeding the Buddha Fruit is termed the Final
Diamond Heart. Though it is not easy to carry through, by not
letting go of Boddhisattva Mind even for one instant, one will
gradually complete the work and achieve the goal.
The pratice of this Bodhisattva Dharma is easily initiated
by accepting the Three Refuges of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Because it is feared that a person might stray onto wrong paths,
one, after accepting the Three Refuges, is encouraged to determine
to hold the Four Great Vows. These are:(1) Sentient beings
without number I vow to enlighten; (2) Vexations without
number I vow to eradicate; (3) limitless approaches to Dharma I
vow to master; (4) Supreme Bodhi I vow to acheive. The purpose
of taking the Three Refuges is to enable people to disentangle
themselves from erroneous views; the Four Great Vows are used
to teach people to hold to no desire for the bliss of men and
devas and the void samadhi of Dviyana (the two yanas of
Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas). This path can be termed the
direct road of the Boddhisattva Tao that leads one to the Supreme
Bodhi. After accepting the Three Refuges and thus inaugurating
the bodhisattva-Dharma training, it is very important for one
to pratice everywhere, continually turning the wheel of the
Dharma and aiding all sentient beings. relative to this view, the
Vimalakirtinirdesa Surta says: "The Bodhimandala ( place of
spiritual pratice) of the Bodhisattva is everywhere."
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