In todayand#8217;s Dharmabyte Sangharakshita shares a few thoughts on and#8220;Bodhichitta, Vows andamp; Prims of Lightand#8221;from the talk and#8220;The Bodhisattva Vowand#8221;.
and#8220;May I deliver all beings from difficulties; may I eradicate all passions; may I master all dharmas; may I lead all beings to Buddhahood.and#8221; This is the Bodhisattvaand#8217;s resolve upon the awakening of the Bodhi Heart.
Talk given in 1969.
This talk is part of the series and#8220;Aspects of the Bodhisattva Ideal.and#8221;
[Music] Dharma Vites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for real life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, come and join us at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. Thank you, and happy listening. [Music] We saw last week that the bodhicitta represents a sort of cosmic will to universal redemption. And its manifestation in the individual, independence on the appropriate conditions is what is known technically as the arising of the bodhicitta. Now as we also saw the bodhicitta itself is not universal and is not individual. The bodhicitta itself is universal. There is only one bodhicitta in which all bodhisattvas participate. But this one bodhicitta, one that it is manifests in the individual or rather manifests in individuals. Not only does the one bodhicitta manifest in individuals, but it also expresses itself through them. So this expression, this expression of the bodhicitta through the individual, this individual expression as it were of the bodhicitta, this is what is known as the bodhisattvas vow. The vow therefore may be defined as the concrete, practical expression of the bodhicitta in the life and work of the individual, bodhisattva. Now this expression is not single. It's multi-form. Traditionally we do speak indeed of the bodhisattvas vow, but the vow is in fact a set of vow, a plurality of vow. So we can now begin to see the difference between the bodhicitta on the one hand and the bodhisattvas vow on the other. The bodhicitta is universal. The bodhicitta is one. Different bodhisattvas participate in it, but the vowels are individual. The vowels reflect the bodhisattvas special interests and aptitudes within the context, within the framework if you like, of the bodhicitta and the wider framework of the bodhisattva ideal itself. Now at this point at this stage, as this may begin to sound a little obstruse, a comparison may possibly help. We may say that the bodhisattva himself is like a prism, like a glass prism, and the bodhicitta is like pure white light shining through the prism. And the vowels of the bodhisattva are like the different colored lights which emerge from the prism on the other side. So you have three things. You have the prism representing the bodhisattva, the pure white light representing the bodhicitta shining in, and all the colors of the rainbow as it were shining out representing the bodhisattvas vowels. We can pursue this sort of comparison even further. We can go so far as to say that this pure white light of the relative bodhicitta streams from the sun of the absolute bodhicitta. And we can further say that this light, this pure white light of this one bodhicitta shines through hundreds and through thousands of individual prisms. And as it shines through them all, each one produces its own particular set, its own particular combination of colors. We know of course only seven colors of the rainbow, but in some kinds of meditation we're advised we're asked to try to imagine, even try to see, to visualize colors which has yet we know not. So if we can extend the comparison even further, if we can think of all these prisms as the white light shines through them emitting not just the seven colors that we know, but hundreds of thousands of all sorts of wonderful colors that we know not of. Then perhaps we should get some idea of how this one bodhicitta shines through the minds of different bodhisattvas producing all these innumerable combinations of colors in other words or vowels. We see therefore in this way that provision is made, both for unity and for variety. We see that the bodhisattvas all participate in one bodhicitta, this is the source of their unity, it's one bodhicitta shining in the midst of them all, shining through them all. They all participate in it, it manifests itself in them all in different ways, but each bodhisattva expresses that one bodhicitta in his own way, or in her own way, and this individual expression in terms of life and work and career and activities. This is what we call, this is what we term the bodhisattvas vows. We usually think of a vow as something verbal, rather like an oath you're taking the court, putting up your hand and so on and so forth, but the vow is not just a verbal expression, it's not just that the bodhisattva says, I will do this and I will do that. The vow is an expression in terms of the life and the work and the activity of the bodhisattva. It's not even just a question of the bodhisattvas conscious willing, not even a question of his conscious intention. To change the metaphor we may say that the vows of the bodhisattva are so many sparks as it were struck from the bodhisattvas total being, not just from his mind, not just from his will, but from his total being under the tremendous impact of the bodhicitta. We hope you enjoyed the talk. Please come and help us keep this free at freebuddhistaudio.com/community and thank you. [music] [music] [music] [music]
