Explanation of Atisha's Lamp for the Path to

Enlightenment
unedited transcript

Session Three: Bodhisattva Vows and Commitments

The Benefits of Developing a Bodhichitta Aim

Atisha was describing the ritual with which we can generate and then reconfirm our pledged
state of aspiring bodhichitta and then he goes on to mention the benefits. He says:

(12) The benefits of generating aspiring minds like this

Have been thoroughly explained
By Maitreya in
The Sutra Spread Out Like a Tree Trunk.

This uses the word in the plural, the aspiring minds like this, and its referring to the two
stages that we mentioned, the merely aspiring and the pledged aspiring states. And this sutra in
Sanskrit its called The Gandavyuha Sutra is a very famous sutra about the bodhisattva path
and it explains a great deal about the benefits of developing bodhichitta. Tsongkhapa, the founder
of the Gelug tradition, praises it a great deal. He says that one of the reasons why teachings about
bodhisattva are so widespread is because of this particular sutra.

Atisha doesnt mention the specific benefits here, but the benefits are also discussed by
Shantideva. And its very, very important when one tries to develop a certain state of mind to
understand what the benefits of it are, then we appreciate it much more fully. And by reminding
ourselves of the benefits over and again, that encourages us to go further in this direction.

[See: Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior, chapter 1.]

So, if we always are keeping this bodhichitta in mind, were always keeping this goal of focus on
our future enlightenment in mind. When we speak about a state of mind, Tsongkhapa says quite
clearly that we need to know what is it focused on and how does the mind take that object. Here,
as I said, with bodhichitta its focused on our own future enlightenment. The way that our mind
takes that object, our future enlightenment, is with the intention, Ive got to help everybody. I
really want to help everybody. And in order to help them the best I need to achieve this future
enlightenment. And when I achieve that, then I will benefit others as much as I can.

Of course, there are long lists of the traditional benefits which are mentioned in the texts, but if
we speak in general, here our whole mind is opened up completely. Its aimed at the fullest
development that we can possibly achieve and were always thinking, I need to achieve this, I
want to achieve this, and I can achieve this. So were thinking in terms of the highest state of
evolution thats possible and Im going to do it and I can do it.

And were doing that in order to be able to help others, Its not just because of myself. The
mind is expanded to being able to help everybody, so the mind is as vast as it can possibly be.
This gives us a tremendous amount of energy, much more than if were just thinking in a very
limited way of doing something to benefit ourselves, or to benefit just a few people.

We know this from just a simple example, like if were living by ourselves and we have a
headache, we dont feel very well, then we might not bother to make a meal when we come
home in the evening. We just go to sleep. But if we have children, then obviously we cant do
that. So our concern for our children gives us the strength to overcome that headache that we
might have and that doesnt stop us. And so were able to do something helpful for somebody
else, we make a meal for our children.

The way its explained in the texts is that were not thrown off by obstacles because of the need
that everybody has. And the need for us to grow and overcome these obstacles, it gives us the
strength to break through. Although we can have, lets say safe direction in life, refuge, our life
has a meaning, but theres much more urgency to it. Theres much more energy to it when we
really want to reach this goal, because of our concern for others, and it gives us the energy to
undertake huge things.

Look at people who are working for the cause of Tibet or for anti-war or whatever. Theyre
thinking in terms of the welfare of everyone, then that gives you this tremendous energy to do
something really big, not just sit in our homes and think only about ourselves and worry. And it
gives us the courage to try new things, to try to discover new abilities, new talents that we have
and to use them, to use them as fully as possible, which we might not have the energy to explore
otherwise.

(13) When you have read this sutra

or heard from your guru concerning this,
And have become aware of the boundless benefits
of full bodhichitta,
Then as a cause for making it stable
Generate this mind over and again.

When we learn about these benefits from either reading about them in this sutra or weve listened
to our spiritual teacher explain about them and we become aware of this that doesnt mean that
we just find out about it, but we really know it and we know it from the depths of our heart, we
really feel this and were convinced of the boundless benefits of bodhichitta, then we need to
try to make this state of mind stable and a very firm part of ourselves, a whole way in which
were always thinking, in which were always moving in our lives.

And to do that we need to generate this mind over and again. That means to strengthen it, to
reaffirm it, over and over again. Now, in the beginning were going to have to work ourselves up
to feeling this state of mind, so we would need to go through a process in meditation of taking
love and compassion and how to help others, the best way is to become enlightened, and like that
we work ourselves up to this bodhichitta. And this is natural; this is the way that we need to do it
at first.

Its like when we work with the understanding of voidness, we need to go through the lines of
reasoning over and again in order to reconfirm that conviction in voidness and be totally
convinced that this is how things exist. I mean, with voidness its being convinced that things
dont exist in certain impossible ways, to be more precise. But once we are able to build
ourselves up to this state of mind, whether its bodhichitta or the understanding of voidness,
through a process, and we do that over and over and over again, then eventually itll reach a
point where it becomes so familiar that, without going through this line or process, we just feel it
instantly.

If we skip this step of working ourselves up to bodhichitta through a process and in the very
beginning just instantly go, May I achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings, if we do like
that, then theres a danger. The danger is that we wont feel very much of a positive emotion
behind the bodhichitta and its not going to have the strong support of love and compassion
which need to accompany bodhichitta.

In other words, May I achieve enlightenment to help all beings, we just sort of say that in a
very casual type of way, but we dont really feel. Were not really reminding ourselves of the
suffering that others have and how terrible that is and how we really would like to do something
about it and, This is what Im going to try to do to help them. So theres an emotion behind, a
feeling behind the bodhichitta.

This is very important, because its very easy to just skip over that, and then bodhichitta is just
words, its not really a felt emotion. And by reminding ourselves of the benefits of bodhichitta,
this gives us even more incentive to really work on it in a proper way.

(14) The positive force of this is shown extensively

In The Sutra Requested by Viradatta.
As it is summarized there in merely three stanzas,
Let me quote them here.

When I say positive force, this is whats usually translated as merit, and it is referring to the
positive energy. Its the positive energy that comes from developing this state of mind, and that
positive force is something which is very, very strong. It gives us a tremendous momentum to
achieve this goal. And so if we look at these three verses from the sutra, it says:

(15) If the positive force

Of bodhichitta had form,
It would fill completely the sphere of space
And go beyond even that.
(16) Although someone may totally fill with gems
Buddha-fields equal in number
To the grains of sand on the Ganges
And offer them to the Guardians of the World,
(17) Yet should anyone press his or her palms together
And direct his or her mind toward bodhichitta,
His or her offering would be more specially noble;
It would have no end.

When we are working with bodhichitta, were thinking to achieve enlightenment, and
enlightenment is something in which our minds and our hearts are going to be open as broadly as
is all of space and were going to think to benefit everybody throughout all of space. That is
really quite extraordinary that were thinking on such an unbelievable scope; and obviously the
positive force from thinking on such a large scope likewise is going to be as enormous.

If you think about that, to take that seriously, even if were not thinking in terms of past and
future lives, to really be sincere about, Im going to try to liberate and bring to enlightenment
every insect in the world, every cockroach, every mosquito, and so on and to really be sincere
about that, thats extraordinary, isnt it? Unbelievable. That one could actually be totally serious
about that and actually feel that, that somebody could really be like that and not only that
somebody could be like that, but that I can be like that.

If we were to actually be able to reach that state and be totally sincere about that, the positive
force of that, the energy that that would give us, its inconceivable. As it says, it would fill all
of space, just as our mind fills all of space, and it would be even more than that.

Of course, to reach that state we have to work in stages. Very often people say, Oh yes, I want to
benefit all sentient beings. But youre not really taking seriously all sentient beings in this
statement; so its almost meaningless, its jargon. We need to work on a small scale first: think in
terms of ourselves, people that we know, friends, neutral people, people we dont like, and
extend it to everybody in our city, our country, this planet, and different life forms, other planets.

You work gradually in steps. You cant just go instantly, all sentient beings and have that really
be meaningful on an emotional level. Somebody whos saying that theyre working for all
beings, but theres no time for their family or no time for their friends, then what is the meaning
of working for all beings?

As the second two verses say, developing this bodhichitta attitude, this bodhichitta mind is far
more positive force then making offerings to all the Buddhas. Buddhas dont need offerings of
gems and so on; what are they going to do with money? Thats not what a Buddha needs in order
to be able to benefit others. I mean, of course, if theyre great beings who are working to help
others, then obviously they do need some sort of financial help and so making offerings for great
projects of service to others, of course this is beneficial. But actual Buddhas in Buddha-fields,
thats something else.

But in any case, if we develop this attitude ourselves, it has far more positive force, because that
really is going to drive us on to reach this state of enlightenment ourselves and bring much more
help to everyone.
The Trainings from Having Developed the Aspiring States of Bodhichitta

(18) Having generated the aspiring states of bodhichitta,

Ever enhance them with many efforts;
And, to be mindful of it in this and other lives too,
Thoroughly safeguard as well the trainings explained in the texts.

Once weve generated these two aspiring states of mind merely wishing to achieve
enlightenment and pledging not to ever turn back until we reach that enlightenment then we
need to strengthen it and strengthen it with a lot of work, as it says with many efforts. We
want to strengthen it so that we dont have to work ourselves up to this state of mind through the
meditations on love and compassion, but it just comes instantly on a very sincere level.

And then we want to strengthen it even further, so that we have it all the time, not just when we
remember. In order to remember it thats what it means when we say here to be mindful of it
in this and other lives too then theres a certain set of trainings that helps us to achieve this.
There are four things that we train in, that we train with, thats going to help our bodhichitta
resolve not to decline, not to get weaker in this life:

The first of these is: each day and night we recall the advantages of having this bodhichitta
motivation. Well, every day and night, sometimes I say, Do it three times in the morning, three
times in the evening, it doesnt matter, as much as we can. Atisha himself was pointing this out
in an earlier verse, when we think about the benefits of bodhichitta, if we are mindful and
remember these benefits every morning, every evening, for instance in our meditation, then this
resolve is not going to weaken.

The second training is to reaffirm and strengthen our bodhichitta motivation by rededicating our
hearts to enlightenment and others three times each day and three times each night.

Then the third one is to strive to build up these, what I call enlightenment-building networks of
positive force and deep awareness. This is often called the collections of merit and wisdom,
but here were talking about the positive force, rather than merit, of doing many constructive
things, like actually helping others, meditating on bodhichitta. And its not that were getting
points for every time that we help somebody and were collecting points like in collection of
merit, its not like a collection of stamps. But rather that positive force from all of these
constructive actions are going to network with each other. Were dedicating it to enlightenment,
so its going to build up a force to bring us to enlightenment, to actually have a physical body of
a Buddha that can fully help others.

And then the other one is deep awareness, that is our awareness of voidness, basically. And
again, the more frequently that we meditate on voidness, that deep awareness that we get of
voidness also is going to network with each other, so that our understanding becomes deeper and
deeper, becomes more and more firm. And that also is going to be enlightenment-building, it
builds and acts as the main cause for having a mind of a Buddha.
So if were always working to try to strengthen these networks, these enlightenment-building
networks all the time, then obviously were doing that with bodhichitta, because what is the
purpose of it? The purpose of it is to achieve enlightenment; the purpose of it is to be able to
benefit others more as we progress further and further toward enlightenment and ultimately when
we achieve enlightenment.

[See: The Two Enlightenment-Building Networks (The Two Collections).]

And the further that we go along this path of strengthening these networks, then as a result of
that, our resolve is going to get stronger and stronger. Well start to get some benefits from these
networks in terms of our whole way of being. And our life becomes very, very meaningful, very
directed, and our mind stays in a more positive state more and more frequently. This helps our
bodhichitta resolve not to decline, not to weaken in this life.

And then the fourth one is never giving up trying to help anyone, or at least wishing to be able to
do so, no matter how difficult the person might be. If we give up on somebody, then our resolve
to be able to help everybody obviously is going to get weaker and weaker, Because I really
dont want to have to deal with that one; and that one over there is just too terrible, too difficult.

So, even if we cant help somebody and it would be not a very productive use of our time,
because there are many other people that we can benefit more fully and so, OK, temporarily Im
not going to make a big effort with you, at least we would still maintain the wish to be able to
benefit this person when they become more receptive, when they become more open and so on.
If we never give up on anyone, then likewise this resolve will not decline. Those are the four
trainings for our bodhichitta resolve not to decline in this lifetime.

Then there are various points of training for not losing this bodhichitta resolve in future lives.
The training for not losing our bodhichitta resolve in future lives is to rid ourselves of the four
types of murky or dark behavior and to develop instead the four glowing types of behavior. The
literal Tibetan words are the four black actions and the four white actions, but thats not very
politically correct nowadays to use that type of terminology, so I use instead murky and
glowing. Anyway, the first one is the negative action that we avoid and the second one in each
of these pairs is the positive one that we adopt.

The first is we need to stop deceiving, ever deceiving our spiritual teachers or our parents or the
Triple Gem and instead to be honest with them concerning our motivation and our efforts to help
others.

Its very important to be honest about how much are we actually helping others, how much are
we actually thinking of others, and not pretend that were such wonderful, great bodhisattva
practitioners when in fact were not, were just very, very selfish. Again, its important to be
realistic about this. And just as samsara and our moods are going to go up and down until we
become a liberated being, until we become an arhat, similarly, until we completely rid ourselves
of any type of grasping for a solid me, our motivation is always going to be slightly mixed with
some selfish thoughts.
Again, were not going to get rid of that until we become a liberated being, an arhat. And so, as
His Holiness the Dalai Lama always says, if were honest and we look at ourselves, we always
find that were going to have a mixed motivation: part is going to be altruistic, but theres going
to be a little bit of self-interest in there as well. Dont worry about that, but try to make the
altruistic part stronger than the self-interested part.

So, we need to be honest about this, not deceive our teachers, not deceive our parents, not
deceive ourselves, not deceive the Triple Gem.

The second training is to stop ever faulting or being contemptuous of bodhisattvas, but instead,
since only Buddhas can be certain who actually are bodhisattvas How do I know if that person
is a bodhisattva or not? We dont know so since only a Buddha really could know, then we try
to regard everyone in a pure way as our teachers. Even if people act in terrible ways, still they
can teach us to not act like that, so we follow.

If we are not honest about our motivation, then obviously in future lives thats going to go down
and down. How are we going to really continue in that direction if were not being honest about
it, if were deceitful about it? And similarly, we want to work toward enlightenment in future
lives as well, work as a bodhisattva. So if there are other people who are working in that
direction and we say, Oh, what youre doing is no good and its too big, or ...not the way that
I would want to do it, like that, then again, thats going counter to this whole direction of
bodhichitta. So naturally in future lives were not going to continue to have that resolve.

We dont need to agree with everything that everybody is doing, but its not helpful to have a
very critical, negative mind. If we dont agree with what the person is doing, But I can learn
from that, reaffirm in myself not to act like that, for example. So, always try to see the positive
side of things, What is it I can learn from things that really is in the flavor of bodhichitta?
When were thinking of the positive goal that we want to attain, rather than all my
shortcomings, we think of all our good qualities that we want to develop more and more; and in
terms of the shortcomings, Thats what I want to eliminate. Likewise other people and
shortcomings that they have, Well, Id want to eliminate them in myself as well. So, they teach
us; its something positive that theyre doing.

The third one is stopping ever causing others to regret anything positive that theyve done. If we
ask somebody to help us, lets say to type something on the computer, and they make a lot of
mistakes, if we yell at them, then they may never offer to help us again. They were trying to help
us; they were trying to be positive, trying to develop more and more and we say, Youre stupid.
You cant do anything. Then they regret and turn away from trying to act positive and that has a
negative effect on our own future development.

Instead what we try to do is to encourage others to be constructive and if theyre receptive

encourage them to work on overcoming their shortcomings, realizing their potentials, to be of
more benefit to others, in other words, encourage them in the Mahayana path but not as a
missionary pushing them, and only if theyre receptive.
And then the fourth one, the last one, is stopping ever being hypocritical or pretentious in our
dealings with others, in other words, hiding our faults and pretending to have qualities that we
lack. Instead, we take responsibility to help others and were always honest and frank about our
limitations and about our abilities. If were trying to help somebody, we dont promise more than
were capable of doing thats important, otherwise we let them down. They get very
disappointed and then we get discouraged as well. So, dont pretend to be able to do more than
we can and dont hide the faults and limitations that we have very important.

[See: Actions for Training from the Pledged State of Aspiring Bodhichitta.]

So, these are the trainings to enable us not to lose this bodhichitta resolve in future lives. When
Atisha says to be mindful of it, meaning bodhichitta, in this and other lives, in future lives
too, thoroughly safeguard as well the trainings explained in the texts, thats referring to
these trainings.

Taking the Vows for Involved Bodhichitta, Engaged Bodhichitta

(19) Except through the vows that are the very nature
of engaged bodhichitta,
Your pure aspiration will never come to increase.
Therefore, with the wish to progress toward aspired full enlightenment,
Take them definitely on, energetically for that sake.

The engaged state of bodhichitta is when we actually engage ourselves in the practices that will
bring us to enlightenment, and that means taking the bodhisattva vows. Basically, a vow is
setting up the boundaries and saying that, Im going to refrain from negative behavior which is
beyond these boundaries, So a vow is to restrain from something negative.

And the way that we actually are going to reach enlightenment is through practicing the six far-
reaching attitudes thats sometimes called the six perfections. Theyre far-reaching, thats
literally what the Tibetan and Sanskrit mean; its going to take us all the way to enlightenment.

And so the bodhisattva vows there are various vows in association with each of these far-
reaching attitudes, things that we are going to avoid, that would make a serious problem in terms
of our practice of generosity or of ethical discipline or patience or joyous perseverance, mental
constancy constancy of mind, concentration and discriminating awareness or wisdom, or
which would prevent us in general from helping others. So, these are things that we want to
avoid. There are eighteen primary ones and forty-six secondary ones, and you can find a big
discussion of these in my website.

[See: Root Bodhisattva Vows. See also: Secondary Bodhisattva Vows.]

Atisha says here, unless we take these vows, which is the nature of engaged bodhichitta
in other words, engaged bodhichitta means taking the vows, structuring our behavior in this way
then that aspiration to achieve enlightenment is not going to take us all the way there, is
not going to increase all the way to actually bringing us to enlightenment. We have to do
something; we have to work to develop ourselves.

He says if we want to make progress toward that full enlightenment that we aspire to, that were
wishing to achieve, then we have to definitely take on these vows, in other words, do it very
consciously, in a very formal manner. And energetically, he says, which is not casual, but we
put effort into actually keeping these vows.

What would be the preparation? Is there a prerequisite for taking these vows? Atisha says:

(20) Those who maintain at all times other vows

From any of the seven classes for individual liberation
Have the proper share for the bodhisattva vows;
Others do not.

The vows for individual liberation, thats called the pratimoksha vows in Sanskrit. And the seven
classes are the vows for a layman or a laywoman and then a provisional nun provisional means
youre trying it out for a few years before you make up your mind to actually do it and then the
vows for a novice monk and a novice nun and then the vows for a full monk and a full nun. So,
those are the seven classes.

When we speak about lay vows, there are five of them, but its not necessary to take all five, any
number of them will be sufficient. The five are: refraining from (1) taking a life, killing, (2)
stealing, (3) lying, (4) indulging in inappropriate sexual behavior, in other words, acting under
the influence of extreme disturbing emotions, with complete overwhelming desire or hatred, to
hurt somebody through sexual behavior, or naivety, thinking that its a path to liberation, and the
fifth one is taking intoxicants, thats alcohol, and also we would include in there drugs.

If we maintain one of these vows for individual liberation or liberation from samsara, also on the
way we get liberated from the indecisiveness, Should I have a drink? Should I not have a
drink? Should I kill this mosquito? Should I not kill this mosquito? When youve taken a
vow, your mind is made up, Im not going to do it, and then youre free from this indecision,
from this tension. So these vows are very liberating not only in the sense of helping us to achieve
ultimate liberation, but also very liberating on the path.

So, if we are keeping some level of these vows, then we have the proper share, he says. We
have the proper portion of ethical discipline that will serve as the basis for us to be able to take
and keep the bodhisattva vows the bodhisattva vows are more subtle than these pratimoksha
vows.

For instance the first one, what we want to avoid is praising ourselves and putting down others
because of our attachment to getting things from people. So saying, Oh, Im the best teacher,
or Im the best this or that and nobody else is any good, because you want to get people to
come to you. That really prevents us from being able to help others, because were trying to get
others to give us something over anybody else, so its really very self-interested. And if people
understand that, if people are not so stupid so they can figure that out, then theyre not going to
trust us and not going to trust our motivation. So thats going to make a big obstacle to being able
to help others, so we want to avoid that.

Well, thats a very subtle type of discipline with our speech and whats going to give us the basis
for being able to restrain ourselves from that type of harmful speech is if we at least have a
foundation of restraining ourselves from lying, from the pratimoksha vows. Then that gives us
the opportunity to restrain I guess its the share of discipline, to be able to restrain from
something a little bit more subtle. Those who dont have this type of basis of one of these seven
classes of vows, Atisha says they dont really have a firm foundation for being able to keep the
bodhisattva vows.

Not all Buddhist masters, particularly in some of the Tibetan traditions, agree with Atisha. Some
of them say, Well, tantric vows are enough; you dont need to take any other vows. But
Atishas advice is followed very strictly in the Gelug tradition at least and theres a great deal
of wisdom behind Atishas advice.

(21) As for the seven classes for individual liberation,

The Accordingly Progressed has asserted in his explanations
That those of glorious abstinence are supreme;
And those are the vows for fully ordained monks.

The Accordingly Progressed, thats how I translate the word Tathagata. Tathagata is
another name for a Buddha. The gata of Tathagata is progressed, they have progressed or
gone through stages, and tatha means accordingly, according to the proper understanding of
voidness, so that when they achieve enlightenment, what they have progressed to is according to
all the descriptions of a Buddha and theyve seen things according to how they actually are.
Theres a lot of meaning to the word Tathagata.

So, Buddha has said that of these seven classes, the one thats supreme are the vows of glorious
abstinence. Atisha explains in his commentary that abstinence means restraining from sexual
conduct and from alcohol, from intoxicants, its abstaining from both. And glorious abstinence
is saying that this is something which is a very positive thing and hes talking about the full
abstinence from it and this is referring to the vows of a fully ordained monk.

One has to understand this within the context of Indian society at that time, since obviously fully
ordained nuns have the exact same vow. But in that context of ancient India, women were not
treated in an equal type of way; and Atishas statement is not a reflection on female rebirth, but
its a reflection on the society of the time. Its not a fault within women, its a fault within society
of that time a woman would face many more obstacles in trying to help others as a bodhisattva
than a man would face.

A woman going out and trying to help men in a difficult situation might be raped by them, for
example, so they would face more obstacles. So thats why hes saying as a monk one has a
better situation for being able to benefit others. This may not be the case at present in our
Western societies. One has to understand these type of statements about men and women within
the context of the time when these were taught.
And here its referring to having a partner, or were married obviously in this context of India
were talking about being married and having a household and so on that this might be a bit of
a problem in terms of really working to benefit all beings because you have a very serious
responsibility to family and taking care of them. And when we have a sexual partner, then
likewise our attention is very strongly focused on this person and we would like to spend more
time with this person than with anybody else. And so we tend to want to stop helping others, at
least for a while, so that we can go off and have our private life with our lover.

So, that could be a problem. Similarly, if we are taking intoxicants, alcohol, drugs, and so on,
that clouds our judgment, our discrimination. We can get very lazy; it can make us sleepy; it has
many drawbacks that could prevent us from really helping others. We become dependent on it
usually, that we feel we cant do certain things unless we have our drug.

This is not stating that unless we are a fully ordained monk, we cant really follow the
bodhisattva path, its not stating that. Its just saying that if we are a fully ordained monk and live
this type of life of abstinence, that this would be the optimal situation for being able to take the
bodhisattva vows and keep them.

So, how do we take these bodhisattva vows? Atisha says:

(22) Through the ritual well expounded in

The Ethical Discipline Chapter of The Bodhisattva Stages
Take the (bodhisattva) vows
From an excellent, fully qualified guru.

The Bodhisattva Stages is a text by Asanga. Its called Bodhisattvabhumi in Sanskrit. It talks
about the stages of the bodhisattva path, and in it theres a chapter on ethical discipline and there
it talks about the bodhisattva vows and so there theres a ritual for actually taking them. And if
we take the vows with that type of a ritual, then we need to take it from a spiritual teacher, a
guru, and that teacher needs to be fully qualified.

One of the qualifications for such a Mahayana guru, someone who can give the vows, Atisha
gives in the next verse. He says:

(23) Know that an excellent guru is someone who

Is skilled in the vow ceremony,
By nature lives by the vows,
Has the confidence to confer the vows,
And possesses compassion.

The teacher has to be someone who is skilled in the ceremony, in other words, knows how to
perform the ritual. And by nature theyre somebody that actually lives according to these
vows. They have bodhichitta and they have these bodhisattva vows and they really follow them,
they really keep them, so theyre somebody with pure bodhisattva vows themselves.
And they have the confidence to confer the vows. This word confidence here, actually the
Tibetan word is the word for patience. Patience can imply that they have the patience to endure
all the difficulties that are involved in keeping the vows, that are involved in teaching others the
bodhisattva path, the patience not to get discouraged in terms of helping others, because
sometimes people are very difficult to help and give you a hard time. So we can understand all of
this from the word thats used here, patience.

But many of the commentaries explain that word as confidence, in the sense that if the teacher
has these different types of patience, then they a great deal of strength, inner strength, that of
keeping the vows, of being able to deal with others, helping others, and so on. And its this
strength or self-confidence that allows them to really serve as an ethical authority, an authority of
bodhichitta that will inspire confidence in us as well when taking the bodhisattva vows from
them.

A good example is His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We look at His Holiness and how much
difficulty he faces, what a hard time he faces from the Chinese, from the difficulties within the
Tibetan community itself, and from the nearly hopeless situation that the Tibetans face. And yet
he still continues to help others, to have compassion, to have patience with all of this, and this
really gives him moral authority, this confidence to confer the vows.

And the fourth quality which Atisha mentions is that the teacher needs to actually possess
compassion, is sincerely compassionate, really wishing for others to be free from suffering and
the causes for suffering and really is working in that direction, not just saying.

So, what happens if we cant find such a guru? Then theres another ritual for being able to take
the bodhisattva vows without a guru. This is actually quite significant. For pratimoksha vows,
vows for individual liberation, or for tantric vows, you have to have a teacher in order to take
them. You cant just take them without a teacher, although tantric vows you can renew without a
teacher, but to take it for the first time it has to be with a teacher. But bodhisattva vows, it is
possible to take it for the first time without a teacher. And actually its not that you take the vows
from a teacher, in a sense, because one makes these promises in terms of the Buddhas; the
teacher is the vehicle through which it is done.

(24) However, if you have made effort in this

And have been unable to find such a guru,
There is a ritual other than that for receiving the vows,
Which I shall explain in full.

Theres a source for this in the sutras, its not just something that he makes up. He says:

(25) Concerning this, I shall write here very clearly

How Manjushri generated bodhichitta in previous times
When he was King Ambaraja,
Just as is explained in The Sutra of
An Adornment for Manjushris Buddha-Field.
This is the source and the following verses are what Manjushri recited and what we would also
recite for taking the bodhisattva vows in this way, without a teacher. And obviously theres a
more elaborate ritual than this. This is just giving the main features of how Manjushri did it.

(26) Before the eyes of my Guardians,

I generate bodhichitta
And, inviting all wandering beings as my guests,
I shall liberate them from uncontrollable rebirth.

By Guardians, this is referring to the Buddhas, that they are guardians for us. They help us
along the path and protect us from wandering astray. With them as my witness, I regenerate
this bodhichitta resolve, reaffirm it, and I invite all wandering beings as my guests. In
other words, Im focused on everybody thats wandering through uncontrollable rebirth and
theyre my guests, I invite them, that means that were not going to let them down.

And what am I going to do for them? Im going to try to liberate them from uncontrollable
rebirth. That means that Im going to work to help them as much as I can now and try to achieve
enlightenment so that I can help them as best as possible, although obviously its impossible for
anybody with just a snap of the fingers to liberate everyone.

(27) From now until my attainment

Of a supreme purified state,
I shall never act with harmful intentions,
An angered mind, miserliness, or jealousy.

To talk about purified state thats the word bodhi in Sanskrit and that can be the purified
state of a liberated being, an arhat either a shravaka or pratyekabuddha arhat or the supreme
purified state is the attainment of a Buddha, so enlightenment. So now until my attainment of
that supreme purified state, in other words, enlightenment, now until then, Im going to
never act, which means Im going to try never to act, because obviously its impossible to
promise that were never going to get angry again, I certainly am going to try my best not to do
that.

Im not going to act with harmful intentions thats the exact opposite of love, we want
them to be happy, not for them to be unhappy. Harmful intention is the wish for them to be
unhappy, that something terrible happens to them.

Im not going to act with an angered mind, that Im really angry with you and I dont like
you anymore and I reject you, Im not going to act like that. And not act with miserliness
miserly means that we hold back and, I dont want to share what I have with you. I dont want
to give anything to you, whether were talking about help, time. It doesnt mean necessarily
material things; we can be very miserly with our time, our energy and so on. So its saying, Im
not going to be that way.

And, Im not going to act with jealousy. Jealousy can have many negative connotations here
of: somebody else does something thats helpful and Im jealous that I didnt do it, because I
want all the credit. We are unhappy about anything positive that the other person did and we
wish that they hadnt done it. So thats also very negative in terms of working for the benefit of
everybody. The benefit of everybody doesnt mean that I have to benefit them, If anybody
benefits them thats wonderful.

Another form of jealousy is if somebody gave something to somebody else, did something nice
for somebody else, were jealous that, They didnt give it to me. If theyre showing love to
somebody else, Theyre not showing their love to me, so Im jealous. That also, we are not
going to act like that; its not that we want things for ourselves.

(28) I shall live according to abstinent behavior;

I shall rid myself of negativities and attachment/greed.
Taking joy in the vows of ethical discipline,
I shall continually train myself as the Buddhas have done.

This is in the context of being an ordained monk going to live according to abstinent behavior.
And certainly one would want to at least not have as the motivating main force in our lives
devoting all our time to our sexual partner and having a lover and all of that and getting drunk all
the time. Best is if we devote all our time and energy to basically helping others. Of course that
has to be within the context of knowing when to take a break and not pushing too hard and being
a fanatic, otherwise its self-defeating.

Now obviously sexual drive is something which is very strong in many of us. And to deny that or
repress that, especially if its done in an unhealthy way, can also be a big obstacle. But it is
important to not be ruled by our sexual drives, not be overwhelmed by them, particularly if were
trying to help somebody whom we find attractive. What is our motive for helping them? Is it just,
I want to help this one because I find them attractive? And what really am I after? Am I after
them liking me, or getting some sort of sexual favor from them, rather than really helping them?

That can really distract us, really make a big problem; and if the other person realizes that, they
can become very negative toward us. And even if we are actually helping them, theres part of us
that still wants to get physically close to the other person, so this undermines our pure motive.
Its quite interesting, if this is the case, to examine ourselves and see, Would I be so interested in
helping this person if they didnt look the way that they look; if I found this person ugly?

And if we find that we wouldnt be so interested in helping the person if they looked like
somebody that we find very unattractive, then we really need to examine whats going on with
our motivation. So, if our sexual drive is strong, we need to somehow deal with that, be honest
with that, find some sort of resolution with that thats not going to make a major impediment in
our helping others. Also, as Shantideva points out in his text, when were trying to gain
concentration, single-minded concentration, the biggest distraction is going to be mental
wandering because of sexual desire.

And Atisha says, I need to rid myself of negativities and also attachment and its a word
that can mean either attachment or greed, wanting to get something that we dont have, or if we
have it, not wanting to let go. Negativities can also refer to the negative force thats been built
up by our destructive behavior, so we want to purify ourselves of that. Because when we have
such negative force, were always thinking in a very depressed way and in a very defeatist,
negative type of way, so we want to rid ourselves of that.

And taking joy in the vows of ethical discipline, in other words, not feeling that this is a
terrible burden and like a prison sentence that Im abstaining from these things, but taking joy in
it, This is wonderful. This is giving me a structure that will allow me to be able to help others.
How wonderful it is that Buddha has pointed out what are the things to avoid if we want to be
able to help others. This is great. I didnt have to learn by mistake myself; the Buddha has
pointed out the things to avoid. So, Im delighted with this, this is wonderful. Thank you.

So, taking joy in these vows and in this discipline, Im going to continually train the way the
Buddhas have done, so follow their examples. That doesnt mean that we have to do absolutely
everything exactly the way that our teacher does. And were not going to be monkeys and just
blindly imitate. We obviously have to adopt what the Buddhas have done, what our teachers have
done to the circumstances that we face in life and the people that we meet, that we have the
connections to be able to help, but follow the basic themes of the training the way the Buddhas
have done.

(29a) I shall take no delight in attaining enlightenment

By a speedy means for my own self,

In other words, were not going to just work to achieve enlightenment for myself, but were
going to work for the sake of others. So he says in the second half,

(29b) But I shall remain until the end of the future,

If it be a cause for (helping) one limited being.

So, even if were helping just one limited being, Im going to continue to work and Im
not just working for myself.

(30) I shall cleanse everything into

Immeasurable, inconceivable realms
And remain everywhere in the ten directions
For those who have called my name.

That means that Im going to try to make everything around me into, what he says is, an
immeasurable, inconceivable realm, in other words, make everything into like a Buddha-
realm, so that everything around me is conducive for people being able to make spiritual
progress. In this sense we cleanse the atmosphere around us.

And remain everywhere in the ten directions, so no matter anywhere, Im going to remain
to help those who have called my name, in other words, those who have some sort of karmic
connection with me to be helped by me and who call for me to help them.

Then the last verse of this quotation:

(31) I shall purify all the actions
Of my body and speech,
And purify as well the actions of my mind:
I shall never commit any destructive acts.

In purify the actions of body, speech, and mind, purify can have two meanings: either we
purify away all the obstacles that are preventing our body, speech, and mind from functioning at
their fullest, so purify away the negative potentials, basically. Or purify can be understood in
the sense of were going to try to make all the actions of my body and speech pure, in other
words, act in a pure way with a proper bodhichitta motivation and aim.

And, I will never commit any destructive acts at least Im going to try not to act in a
destructive way from the negative emotions or attitudes.

That finishes this section of Taking the Vows for Engaged Bodhichitta and that perhaps is a
good place to stop for today.

So, we end with a dedication. We think, whatever understanding weve gained, may it go deeper
and deeper and may it act as a cause for not just improving my samsaric situation, but may it act
as a cause for reaching enlightenment and truly being able to benefit all beings as much as is
possible.