BODHISATTVA VOWS

Mahayana's

Root and Additional Vows

Revised Version 

Jörg Fitz

2012

PREFACE

The present bodhisattva vows are a revised version of the sutra-Mahayana vows. The main purpose of the reworking has been to clarifyingly promote bodhisattva activity in our time and beyond.

The revised vows harmonize better (than the unrevised) with the originally intentional chords that accompanied Buddha Shakyamuni's presentation for future sutra-Mahayana travelers. They are also more significance-consciously adapted to our time and should constitute a suitable basis for existentially aware and wisdom-spiritually oriented living.

Nine appendixes follow the vow formulation. They serve the purpose of enriching and clarifying the meaning of the vows. In APPENDIX 8, which deals with Significance Awareness, perspectives have been included that encompass more than what customarily composes sutra-Mahayana. This is partly to develop Mahayana consciousness in certain respects and partly to fundamentally prepare those who desire to begin studies and practice in Tantra-Mahayana.

The revision could be completed thanks to blessings, inspiration, and help from especially the Buddhas Shakyamuni, Padmasambhava, and Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö.

Communication with them on these matters could largely be carried out thanks mainly to Lottie Wahlin's assistance.

August 2012

Jörg Fitz

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

The bodhisattva vows are precious compositions originally presented by Buddha Shakyamuni to 19 students, 14 men and 5 women. He did this when he was 51 years old - in the year 329 BCE, 15 years after he became fully enlightened. The intentional meaning of these so-called vows is to be four-like cultivation instructions for the bodhisattva's journey in their oceanic vessel. These Buddha-enlightenment-guiding attitudes are humanly and wisdom-empathetically toned. They were not initially introduced as prohibitions or renunciation instructions, a form into which they were increasingly cast throughout history. Buddha Shakyamuni presented these cultivation specifications for presumptive Mahayana travelers, future bodhisattvas. A bodhisattva remains in the samsaric world and cultivates here, among other things, generosity, ethical awareness, patience, engagement, meditative concentration, wisdom, empathy, and spectral method practice. This is not about someone proudly saying no to samsaric life, in order to instead desire living in seclusion, in monasteries, solely in a certain tradition's domain, meditatively in divine realms, or in static nirvana states. A bodhisattva rather seeks, with multi-culturally community-conscious understanding, to help living beings, with, for example, accommodating, explaining, and healing gestures; first on a smaller scale and in time on a universal scale. A bodhisattva's aspiration is to realize - what we can call here - Significance Awareness: Buddha-consciousness, which enables, promotes, and guides the meaningful evolution of countless beings.

The Mahayana vows have traditionally been formulated as imperative negations, in the style of: 'one should not...', 'one should refrain from...', etc. Indeed, the formulation logic is even often in the style of: 'I promise to refrain from not...'. This results in many negations - which can grammatically contradict the purpose - and few positive cultivation instructions. This language of renunciation and prohibitions reflects the spirit of individual-oriented Hinayana and not the universe-oriented Mahayana, whose fundamental chord is composed of empathetic wisdom-spirituality and explanatory guidance to Buddha-consciousness.

The revised presentation has therefore been given a correspondingly appropriate character. The usual vow formulations have been integrated as examples, which they actually are and not generic categorizations as their language logic suggests they are. They have also been polished and adapted to our time and their central purpose in linguistic, logical, organizational, and other explanatory respects. Over the centuries, a certain "monasticization" of ethics and language within Buddhism has gradually occurred here and there, which is reflected in the unrevised bodhisattva vows. This tendency has been corrected here. Mahayana includes countless worlds in its vision, and the vows are meant to primarily function as cultivation-instructing reminders for bodhisattvas, whose not-so-uniformly oceanic conditions encompass considerably more than monastic ways of living.

The number of vows in our revised version is fewer. Nothing from the traditional wording has been excluded, however. Rather the opposite: the new formulations are more inclusive and the old ones have all been included as examples, though in refined language and improved organization. Most of the unrevised vows have also been synergistically condensed in various ways into more inclusive levels of consciousness. The classification basis for the unrevised vows is unusually messy. Indeed, throughout history, when classifying the vows, there seems to have been no suitable meta-reflections whatsoever. Many vows also express essentially the same thing. Most are examples, but the language logic is structured as if they were principled characterizations. Unreflected generalization is found in multiple places.

With a more significance-oriented organization and categorization of the vows, there now remain 12 root vows (of the customary 18) and 22 secondary vows (of the customary 48). Even the so-called 10 harmful actions, which are mentioned in the 8th secondary vow, have been revised in a corresponding manner (see APPENDIX 5).

MAHAYANA ROOT VOWS

I promise:

Vow 1 

To sincerely appreciate others 

and cultivate a pure motivation in my Dharma practice 

and herein, for example, not 

greedily and manipulatively 

praise myself and belittle others 

in order to obtain 

gifts, economic gain, respect, and fame.

Vow 2 

To empathetically and affintity-aware assist those in need 

and herein, for example, help people who 

are materially poor 

suffer and are sick 

need Dharma teachings.

Vow 3 

To cultivate a generous and impartial attitude towards others 

and herein, for example,

not maintain a stingy and rejecting 

or otherwise ignoring attitude 

towards someone by whom one has previously been offended

- especially not when they remorsefully acknowledge 

their careless actions and ask for forgiveness.

Vow 4 

To responsibly cultivate unadulterated Mahayana awareness 

and herein be vigilant against 

separatist tendencies and mara´s works 

such as 

abandoning the maintenance of vows and other ethical commitments 

and prejudiced mistrust and unexamined questioning of 

the refuge jewels 

karma principles 

rebirth teachings.

Vow 5 

To ensure that gifts intended for the three Refuge Jewels 

reach their intended destination 

and herein, for example,

not stealthily appropriate them for myself 

donate them to another recipient 

manipulatively encourage others to give them to me instead.

Vow 6 

To cultivate a forgiving and helpful attitude 

towards persons who have broken their vows 

and otherwise transgressed their ethical commitments 

and upon transgression, for example, not 

unempathetically ignore such persons in need of help, 

expel sangha members from the community or 

exclude nuns and monks from a monastery.

Vow 7 

To cultivate a healing and reflection-conscious approach 

TO LIVING BEINGS 

and not commit any shameful act (see APPENDIX 2) 

TO OUR PLANET 

and not destroy any place by means of, for example, 

fire, bombing, pollution, or black magic.

Vow 8 

To cultivate awareness regarding maturity 

and good judgment when relating to people 

and herein, for example, not 

based on self-importance considerations 

thoughtlessly teach about SHUNYATA 

to persons lacking the means to understand this.

Vow 9 

To inspire others to realize Buddha-enlightenment 

and herein, for example, not 

divert others from Mahayana cultivation 

and instead encourage them 

to seek liberation from suffering for themselves alone.

Vow 10 

To cultivate a significant understanding of 

and attitude towards Hinayana 

and herein, for example, not

give others a distorted view of the individual vehicle 

saying that it does not lead to nirvana (see APPENDIX 3) 

or is not included in Mahayana.

Vow 11 

To cultivate truthfulness regarding my development level 

and herein, for example, not 

mislead others to believe

that I have realized a more liberated and insightful state 

than is actually the case.

Vow 12 

To cultivate a significant equivalence view 

regarding the practice and theory aspects of Dharma practice 

and herein, for example, not 

- ignorantly generalizing and pride-toned – 

NEITHER favor practice and disadvantage theory accentuation 

NOR vice versa.

THE ADDITIONAL VOWS

I promise:

Vow 1 

To daily cultivate my relating to 

The Three Refuge Jewels 

- physically, verbally, and mentally – 

through, for example, prostrations, appropriate symbolization, and meditation.

Vow 2

To patiently cultivate contentment

and herein, for example, not 

impulsively act out frustrations 

by grasping after and wanting to own desirable things.

Vow 3 

To respect Dharma practitioners 

and herewith not 

unexaminedly mistrust, doubt, or belittle 

for example, teachers, monastic practitioners, and laypeople 

for any of them could be a bodhisattva.

Vow 4 

To cultivate an honorable way of life 

and herein 

BE ACCOMMODATING with regard to, for example,

responding to a request that I am capable of answering

teaching Dharma to those who wishes this

accepting an invitation or gifts 

and to

NOT BE ACCOMMODATING with regard to, for example, 

receiving things that stem from 

manipulative insinuation

extortion 

intrigue 

bribery 

fraud.

Vow 5

To cultivate an accepting attitude towards 

Dharma practitioners' different preferences

and herein, for example,

consenting to someone's wish to receive a certain Dharma teaching 

and encourage to practice according to certain methods 

even if such elements are not central to my own sphere of interest.

Vow 6 

To cultivate equality awareness 

and herein 

remind myself of our shared essential energy quality 

and for example, not consider myself too worthy 

to be with more common people 

but instead learn to significantly recognize 

the inadequacy of varieties of pride (see APPENDIX 4).

Vow 7 

To cultivate increasingly inclusive self-knowledge

and herein 

–      not least with the help of more self-esteem, self-confidence, and insight

–       progressively become more liberated from attachments

to external confirmations and evaluations of myself.

Vow 8

To prioritize actions motivated by pure bodhicitta

over refraining from any of

the seven harmful actions

when circumstances necessitate this

(see more detailed analytical reasoning about this in APPENDIX 5).

Vow 9

To cultivate meaningful living

and in this, for example,

avoid unreflected superficial activities

and instead significance aware engage myself in Dharma activities.

Vow 10

To cultivate liberation from attachment to popularity

and in this, for example, not compromise on

the maintenance of the present bodhisattva vows

due to concerns that I thereby

may come to be regarded with unfavorable eyes.

Vow 11

To correct breaches of vows and ethical transgressions

through THE FOUR CORRECTIVE MEASURES (see APPENDIX 6)

and balancing actions, such as counteracting, for example,

thievishness with generosity

envy with wish-fulfillment

ignorance with interest

arrogance with humility

and similar dynamically healing contrary gestures.

Vow 12

To cultivate patience

and hereby REFRAIN FROM REACTING

with retaliation

with anger

with being unhelpful

WHEN I, FOR EXAMPLE, AM

belittled

rejected

blamed

OR WHEN I IN OTHER WAYS BECOME THE OBJECT OF

someone's negative projections

or acting-out defenses against making significant recognitions.

Vow 13

To continuously work with versions of my ignorance

and hereby

dispel, for example,

negligent indifference

postponements

ideas about my inability to study and practice Dharma

and waste of precious time and energy on samsaric trivialities.

Vow 14

To cultivate meditation

and hereby dispel both external and internal distractions

that hinder my meditation

and apply methods to achieve stabilization of

effort-free focusing (SAMATHA meditation)

so that conditions develop for undisturbed meditative perception

of both phenomena and our psyche as well as their essential nature.

Vow 15

To cultivate liberation from attachments to positive states

and hereby not seek to remain in, for example,

pleasure-generating states that meditation can bring

and regard these as goals in themselves

so that the bodhicitta motivation is thereby forgotten.

Vow 16

To complete the Mahayana cultivation

and hereby, for example, not

CHANGE METHOD, VEHICLE, AND TEACHER

if I am already fully involved and on a steady course toward enlightenment and also not

LOSE DISTANCE TO ALTERNATIVE SYSTEMS

so that the Mahayana realization is thereby endangered

or even rejected.

Vow 17

To participate in various forms of collective Dharma practice

and hereby participate in, for example,

communal meditations

study groups

dharma teachings

celebrations

ceremonies.

Vow 18

To cultivate gratitude

and hereby, for example,

reciprocate shown kindness and generosity.

Vow 19

To cultivate care for close persons

and hereby help

assistants, students, relatives, and friends

materially

psychologically

spiritually

enlightenment-oriented.

Vow 20

To encourage meritoriousness

and hereby, for example,

support, appreciate, and promote Dharma practice

and other valuable activities.

Vow 21

To prevent damage

and hereby avert destructive actions

especially those that may be harmful to the Dharma teaching

and it´s practitioners.

Vow 22

To use my possible extraordinary abilities when needed

(see more about this in APPENDIX 7).

APPENDIX 1

SUMMARY OF ALL VOWS

ROOT VOWS

To cultivate

• an appreciative and pure motivation -

• empathic affinity awareness -

• generous impartiality -

• responsible and undistorted Mahayana awareness -

• awareness that gifts to the Three Jewels of Refuge reach intended destination -

• forgiving helpfulness to

  persons who have violated ethical commitments -

• healing reflection awareness -

• judicious maturity level awareness -

• the realization of Buddha enlightenment -

• an understanding attitude toward Hinayana -

• truthfulness regarding my level of development -

• significant equivalence view regarding practice and theory.

SECONDARY VOWS

To cultivate

• daily relating to The Three Jewels of Refuge -

• contentment -

• respect for Dharma practitioners -

• honorable living -

• acceptance of Dharma practitioners' different preferences -

• equality awareness -

• self-knowledge -

• significant prioritization awareness -

• meaningful living -

• liberation from popularity attachment -

• correction of vow breaches and ethical transgressions -

• patience -

• working with ignorance -

• meditation -

• liberation from attachment to positive states -

• Mahayana completion -

• participation in collective Dharma practice -

• gratitude -

• care for close ones -

• encouragement of meritoriousness -

• prevention of damage -

• significance-conscious use of extraordinary abilities.

APPENDIX 2

HEINOUS ACTIONS

In root vow 7, it is mentioned that one should not commit any 'heinous action.' Traditionally, this umbrella term refers to the so-called FIVE HEINOUS ACTIONS (Skt. PANCANANTARIYA):

(i)             Killing one's mother

(ii)           Killing one's father

(iii)         Killing an Arhat

(iv)         Intentionally causing bloodshed from a Buddha's (Nirmana-)body

(v)           Causing schism among sangha members.

Particularly heinous actions - such as those mentioned above - also include here the killing of a:

(vi)         bodhisattva

(vii)        monastic dharma practitioner

(viii)      yogi

(ix)          dharma teacher.

Now, intentional deprivation of life is heinous in most contexts - except under very special circumstances (see APPENDIX 5). Why the actions mentioned above are particularly heinous is explained by the fact that their consequences are so extensive and multi-dimensionally harmful. Such actions also entail 'immediate karmic retribution,' i.e., the perpetrator, upon death, is immediately reborn in a hellish state.

 

APPENDIX 4

 

PRIDE

In the sixth secondary vow, it is mentioned that variants of pride need to be dispersed so that significant awareness of equanimity can present itself and so that one can, without hindrance, see everyone's essential and radiating energy quality. When a bodhisattva in their activity has eventually succeeded in completely liberating themselves from these ailments and all branches of them, the 8th of Mahayana development's 10 so-called bhumis is completed and a very pure level of development has been realized. Only more subtle spheres of ignorance then remain to be dispersed before Buddha awakening dawns. In Mahayana, one usually speaks of the following 7 main variants of pride:

self-promotion's

superiority feeling's

pride-surpassing's

ego-sense's

conceit's

incorrectness-praising's

self-deprecation's

pride.

Partly metaphorically, we can summarize that when pride is active, one gladly places oneself in a position so that the sunlight - more or less directly - is mostly directed toward oneself, whereby one not infrequently seeks to shade others and turn a blind eye to the fact that light is always equally intended for all. With pride, one also prevents oneself from recognizing that the full moon in midnight clarity on a still water surface reflectively glimpses forth an essential aspect of everyone's Buddha nature. Our pride-operating ego often unconsciously places itself - like the earth during a lunar eclipse - hinderingly between sun and moon. This contributes to insufficient recognition that this very ailment both causes the projected shadows on the moon and evokes the tendency to assign "others" the blame for the eclipses in the world. When one, however, sees - with the sun at one's back and the eclipsing and pride-confined ego-earth recognized before oneself - that we all (both humans and spiritual beings) impoverish life with our numerous variants of pride, then the steps with which one disperses this ailment need not be so complicated anymore.

Upon meta-reflections on such a characterization, pride may possibly quickly mobilize difficulties in us, if we with ambivalent chords desire understanding and recognition of liberating insights. Our inventiveness could easily compose (defenses for) all kinds of alternative views that do not need to entail abandoning the maintenance of some variant of pride. E.g., prestige, power, tradition, narrow conceptions of life's meaning, money, and undesired short-term consequences may be at stake. When, however, we become considerably more who easily recognize our own variants of pride and hereby, before others, generously smiling and humanly sincerely, bring these forth to thereby invite us to instead cultivate our jewel-like radiating and inexhaustible wealth of energy, then a pride-liberated and radically new level of civilization can develop on our earth and elsewhere, whereby we can instead without effort and increasingly significance-consciously dwell in naturally generous dignity.

APPENDIX 5

THE EIGHTH SECONDARY VOW

On prioritization between

enlightenment-oriented and harmful action

A. INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATIONS

The 8th secondary vow reads as follows:

I PROMISE:

To prioritize an action motivated by pure bodhicitta

over refraining from performing any of

the seven harmful modes of action

when circumstances necessitate this

The seven harmful modes of action refer to the first seven of THE TEN HARMFUL ATTITUDES. These are usually divided into three main groups and traditionally called the three bodily, the four verbal, and the three mental actions. Here we have revised the categorization designations somewhat and call the bodily and verbal categories MODES OF ACTION and the mental ones ATTITUDES. This latter designation is also suitable as an umbrella term for all categories. The usual formulation of the ten attitudes has also been improved somewhat here.

By bodhicitta motivation is meant an attitude that a bodhisattva has, i.e., someone who cultivates the present Mahayana vows. 'Bodhi' means 'awakening' and 'citta' means 'consciousness.' Bodhicitta motivation thus means that one in one's life is motivated by the intention to, for the benefit of all, seek to realize the fully awakened consciousness of Buddhahood.

THE TEN HARMFUL ATTITUDES are the following:

THE THREE BODILY MODES OF ACTION

1. Killing

   • intentionally depriving any living being of life

2. Stealing

   • taking someone else's property without permission

3. Sexual misconduct

   • Engaging sexually

(i) with an inappropriate partner

e.g., with someone who

has taken vows of renunciation

is married to someone else

is insufficiently mature

is closely related to oneself

(ii) at an inappropriate time

e.g., during pregnancy

(iii) in an inappropriate place

e.g., in places that are not appropriately secluded

(iv) in an inappropriate manner

e.g., loveless or with perverse intentions.

 

THE FOUR VERBAL MODES OF ACTION

4. Lying

   • knowingly speaking untruth e.g., in order to conceal a shady action one has performed

5. Slander

   • speaking ill of others e.g., in order to cause division

6. Irresponsible talk

   • speech that lacks significant awareness e.g., chatter whose motives and consequences are ignored

7. Insulting

   • e.g. speaking ill of someone

   • defaming someone with derogatory words

   • hurting someone's feelings by maliciously exposing their shortcomings or misdeeds.

   
   
   
   

THE THREE MENTAL ATTITUDES

8. Covetousness

   • Greedily coveting or desirously craving e.g., someone else's property, spouse, or reputation

9. Being retaliatory

   • E.g.,

   • begrudging someone else happiness and success

   • being resentfully bitter and vengeful for some old offense

   • desirously wanting to punish someone

10.  Having incorrect views

10. Denying the existence of

(i)             rebirths, the occurrence of past and future lives

(ii)           the karma principles, the causal laws concerning causative actions/conditions and their consequences.

(iii)         extra-ordinary abilities, so-called 'siddhis' (such as clairvoyance) in e.g., bodhisattvas, yogis, mahasiddhas, and Buddhas.

 

B COMMENTARY

The 8th additional vow essentially expresses a priority: if pure bodhicitta motivation exists, then potentially some of the seven harmful courses of action - instrumentally speaking - can be practiced if the situation necessitates it. The karmically negative consequences of the harmful actions are then supported by significance-aware bodhicitta motivation. When one's actions are not motivated by the pure intention to benefit others' healing and development toward awakened significance-awareness, the seven harmful courses of action always have destructive consequences.

For example, if one harms someone with a weapon with the purpose of causing suffering, this intentional act will leave dynamic imprints in one's own individual and in our collective psyche. These formative traces will in due time - either in the current or in some subsequent life - result in oneself experiencing similar experiences as those inflicted on the other. If one takes someone's life or steals from someone, without regretting it (see APPENDIX 6), these actions will result in one's own life someday being shortened or being deprived of something in a similar way. If, on the other hand, one damages a part of a person's body with a scalpel in order to access and remove a malignant tumor and save their life, then the harmful element in the operative action has healing consequences. The harmful action is here a necessary step in the life-saving procedure.

In a previous life as a bodhisattva, Buddha Shakyamuni killed a person on a ship. He did this because he knew that this person was a mass murderer and would kill all 100 people on the boat. The only possibility to prevent this catastrophe was to kill the murderer. The former Bodhisattva was prepared to be reborn in hell as a consequence of this action. He prioritized this outcome if he thereby both saved the murderer from reaping this result and saved the lives of the others on the ship. However, this rebirth did not take place. The Bodhisattva's pure bodhicitta motivation supported and consumed the negative consequences, which would otherwise have inevitably occurred if the mentioned motivation in its pure form had not been present when performing the action.

What the vow under analysis also implies is that one can act seemingly virtuously, but upon closer examination, this can be used as a defense for variants of ignorance. By referring to adherence to moral rules, one thus seeks to camouflage one's own shortcomings. Now, such an evasive approach does not necessarily constitute a breach of vow. Such a breach is only actualized for bodhisattvas whose way of life includes - altruistically speaking, not in a warlike manner - even heroic accords. They also cultivate patient bravery and thereby seek to overcome the aforementioned restrictive tendencies. From this, it naturally does not follow that an honest admission - e.g., 'I cannot operate on this person' - constitutes an improper defensive statement. If any of the seven harmful courses of action are performed without bodhicitta motivation and then defensively rationalized as having been supported by noble motives, such an approach results not only in negative consequences of the harmful action but also of having lied and sought to deceive others (and oneself). When such consequences eventually manifest without being accompanied by significant understanding, and if one is extremely afraid of responsibly and regretfully recognizing these effects as self-inflicted events, then the probable formation of paranoid-like conditions is fostered.

The reasoning suggests that Buddhist ethics most often advocates an ethics of inner disposition where the character of the motivation when performing the action determines its quality. In Buddhism, this value is related to a teleologicalthinking: the action and intention have no ethical value in themselves, but the character of the motivation constitutes the very plant that is placed in the psychological and relational soil. This plant must then be cultivated until the intention is fulfilled.

For a well-motivated action, intentionally significant consequences for the Whole need to be kept in mind for the deed to qualify as responsible and meaningful. The more significance-aware a bodhisattva becomes, the clearer and simpler the choices of approach appear under different conditions. An appropriate term for Mahayana buddhist ethics is thus Significance-aware ethics. (Read more about Significance-Awareness in APPENDIX 8).

 

 

APPENDIX 6

TAKING VOWS

AND CORRECTING BREACHES OF VOWS

TAKING VOWS

Taking the present Mahayana vows means that these are pronounced under simpler ceremonial forms, whereby one commits to keeping them. The ceremony takes place in the presence of, among others, Buddhas who have sanctioned it and are blessingly participating in all elements. The meaning of the vows has been carefully studied and clarified before the ceremonial taking of vows.

BREACH OF VOWS

The keeping of vows can sometimes be less complete. For a breach of vow to take place completely, the following FOUR APPROACHES must be included:

(i)             One does not regard one's action as a mistake

(ii)           one does not care about refraining from repeating the action

(iii)         one rejoices over, or is content with, what one has done and

(iv)         one does not care about the consequences of the action.

CORRECTING BREACHES OF VOWS

When breaches of vows have occurred, one should as soon as possible take the following FOUR

CORRECTIVE MEASURES:

(i)             One realizes and acknowledges that one has acted wrongly

(ii)           one generates the intention not to repeat the action

(iii)         one regrets the action and

(iv)         one generates the intention to make amends for the negative consequences that one has caused.

Thereafter, the vows are taken again ceremonially.

ROOT AND ADDITIONAL VOWS

ROOT VOWS can in their intentional and incipient form be likened to the seedling of a tree. In their more developed applied form, we can liken them to the roots, trunk, and main branches of the tree.

ADDITIONAL VOWS can be likened to the branching of the main branches.

THE EXAMPLES can be likened to both the branching of the main branches and the branching of these.

When root vows are broken, the entire tree's existence can be damaged. When an additional vow is broken, it does not necessarily have such consequences. The harmful effects become more or less limited, like a tree that e.g., has a branch broken off.

  

APPENDIX 8

SIGNIFICANCE-AWARENESS

INTRODUCTORY DEFINITION

The method-wisdom-oriented consciousness of Buddha and bodhisattva consciousness can be termed SIGNIFICANCE-AWARENESS. It is our most excellent consciousness and can be summarized with - what we can call - THE FUNDAMENTAL CHORD OF THE MULTIVERSE, which is a paradigmatically tuning fork formula with which one can in principle understand and explain everything.

THE FUNDAMENTAL CHORD OF THE MULTIVERSE

REALITY-AWARENESS

is the enabling prerequisite of the multiverse

CLARITY-REFLECTING CONSCIOUSNESS

it´s nature

LUCID EMPTINESS-AWARENESS

is it´s essence

PURITY-AWARENESS

it´s original qualification

INFINITE LIGHT-AWARENESS

it´s illuminating dispelling of darkness

ALL-THROUGHOUT ESSENTIAL ENERGY-AWARENESS

it´s inexhaustible radiation of wealth

CONSTANT ACCOMPLISHING AWARENESS

it´s dynamics of meaning

NATURALLY CONSCIOUS BREATHING

it´s life movement

HEARTFELT SINCERITY

It´s central tone

BALANCE-EMBRACING

AFFINITY-AWARENESS

it´s healing medicine

EMPATHIC WISDOM

it´s navigation instrument

and

SIGNIFICANCE-AWARENESS

it´s destination.

 

UNION WITH TANTRA

This - with the help of the multiverse's fundamental chord - essential characterization of Significance-Awareness serves here the purpose of facilitating the union of Sutra with Tantra-Mahayana. The motive for cultivating the Bodhisattva vows is, after all, to successively co-cause conditions that increasingly promote development and maturation to the meaningful being of Buddhahood. This destination-awareness can sometimes, in Sutra contexts, be placed in distant spheres, which is reflected in the unrevised vows. With a more significance-aware approach, life cultivation is promoted in such a way that a more reflective and dynamic destination orientation is present right from the start. This is similar to tantric Mahayana practice. Thus, when the cultivation of the Mahayana vows is enriched with significance-awareness, the integration and application of the tantric methods are also gradually facilitated.

DESTINATION-MIRRORING

The Bodhisattva vows function as reminders for proper maintenance and navigation of our both individual and, above all, collective vessel. The multiverse's fundamental chord clarifies the echo-glimpsing destination-being, through which we are increasingly reminded of the whence and whither of our life. If one's precious life lacks recurring reflection on the multiverse's chord, even the best operational intentions can lead to home blindness. In this way, identification with some tradition can occur so that significant distance and evolution are lost from sight, which can lead to generalizing fundamentalization of one's branch perspective so that it is unconsciously regarded as the entire paradigmatic tree.

SUPPORTING FUNCTION

The successive assimilation of the multiverse's fundamental chord also serves the purpose of supporting the cultivation of the Bodhisattva vows. If the practice of Mahayana commitments is likened to medical education and becoming a responsible doctor, then realized Significance-Awareness is the integrated principal experiences of all medical sciences.

INCREASINGLY DYNAMIC BODHISATTVA ACTIVITY

Significance-Awareness points to the fact that the more significant levels of maturity the Bodhisattva enters, the more dynamic and nuanced the application of the cultivation guidelines becomes. The superordinate guiding principle for a bodhisattva's life becomes increasingly a transformation-oriented question of what is the most relevant approach in different situations. When the Significance-Awareness of Buddhahood dawns, the bodhisattva's most central intention is perfected. The Mahayana vows have hereby functioned as precious soil suitable for the cultivation of bodhicitta plants, which are to mature into Significance-Aware trees, everyone's destination. The ways with which development and perfection seek to be promoted then, viewed with the consciousness of the destination position, are countless.

The dawn of Significance-awareness

dispels suffering and ignorance

is the explanatory formula that summarizes the principal message of both Sutra and Tantra-Mahayana Buddhism. It condenses the meaning in enlightenment-oriented messages and thus reflects a glimpse of the most urgent and inclusive multiversal method and evolution perspective.