7. Taking the Bodhisattva Vows

We are really fortunate wanting to actualize the enlightenment attitude of bodhicitta and trying to do so. In the West we speak of opening our heart—well, bodhicitta is the ultimate open heart. It really is some kind of remarkable internal revolutionary experience; one that completely shakes up the inner kingdom of the self-­cherishing thought. Therefore, it is extremely worthwhile if you can make the inner revolutionary change I’m talking about—totally upend self-­cherishing’s realm and replace it with the cherishing of others. That would be incredible. The nature of this attitude is a kind of enlightenment experience. 

Another way of saying this is that you want to actualize the buddha mind, the completely open, universal, essential buddha heart, and, as I say, this wish itself is some kind of enlightenment experience. Therefore, you are very fortunate. 

Lama Tsongkhapa likened bodhicitta to the central pillar that holds up a roof. It is the heart of the path to enlightenment. It is foundational, like the earth that supports everything upon it. Every realization on the path to enlightenment is supported by bodhicitta. To attain enlightenment, we need perfect wisdom, and for wisdom to become perfect, we need bodhicitta. 

He also likened it to the sort of alchemy that transforms iron into gold. That’s a fantastically good analogy. The enlightenment attitude of bodhicitta—greater concern for the happiness of other sentient beings than our own—makes all our actions of body, speech and mind, even negative ones, positive. That’s why Lord Buddha always taught that it’s not so much your actions themselves that matter as much as your motivation for doing them. 

Take the action of sweeping, for example. If you sweep with bodhicitta motivation, that action becomes the graduated path to liberation. Is that possible? It’s possible. It’s not the action itself; it’s the thought with which it’s done. 

It’s the same with cooking. An ordinary person giving up their own pleasure to cook in order to help others—for example, a student willing to cook at a meditation course so that others can attend the teachings, unconcerned with their own pleasure, liberation and enlightenment, thinking, “I’m happy to work in the kitchen so that others can have a good time”—also becomes the path to enlightenment. Like two people cooking, cleaning, washing dishes and so forth, one with annoyance, one with bodhicitta: the actions are the same; the attitudes are completely different. 

In other words, bodhicitta is the attitude that converts all actions that we consider mundane or even horrible into positive ones. It’s like transforming poison into medicine. Bodhicitta is like a huge cloud full of water. When it releases the water it contains, the rain falls on everybody without discrimination. The infinite positive energy radiated by bodhicitta is like that—it reaches each and every sentient being no matter who or what they are. 

So it is really worthwhile to train your mind in bodhicitta, as explained in the lamrim teachings. When you first begin, you have no power; you’re completely under the control of the self-­cherishing attitude. At that point you can’t suddenly start claiming to be a bodhisattva. It happens gradually. It’s a long journey. You start out meditating on the perfect human rebirth, then meditate on all the other topics explained in the graduated path to enlightenment, and as you approach the end you encounter the teachings on bodhicitta. Everything prior to that is slowly, slowly leading you to that destination: bodhicitta. 

Therefore, it takes time, but it’s extremely worthwhile. Especially if you actually take the eighteen root vows and the forty-­six branch ones. It’s something those of us who don’t have bodhicitta need to do. Nobody has completely intuitive, totally unified bodhicitta. That’s difficult. It takes a lot of meditation. But as you meditate more and more, you develop your mind such that your nature becomes bodhicitta. Once you reach that point, you don’t need to meditate on bodhicitta anymore. Your very nature has completely become bodhicitta, so everything you do comes from that place of loving compassion. 

Still, reaching the stage where you want to take the bodhisattva vows also takes quite a bit of meditation. You don’t yet have the complete, perfect realization, but you can easily see how it’s possible to develop it through further meditation. At that point you take the vows. The person who has not meditated and does not have the feeling should not take them. This is not some lama power trip: “You can’t take them.” No. It’s because such a person will find it difficult to keep those sixty-­four vows. 

Preamble

So, last night you all heard the vows. Do you understand what they’re about and what I’m saying in terms of who should and should not take the vows? That’s all I’m saying. If you feel you have reached the stage to take the sixty-­four vows, take them. If you feel you have not, take them at the aspiring level, thinking, “There’s no doubt that bodhicitta is the most worthwhile thing in the world, so I must try to actualize it by following the bodhisattva’s actions, such as practicing the six perfections, as much as possible.” By taking the vows in that way, you don’t have to keep the actual precepts but you plant the seeds for doing so in the future. It’s an individual decision, so check your own mind. 

Now, when you take the vows, visualize all the universal living beings surrounding you and look at them with equanimity and great compassion. Also visualize all the buddhas, bodhisattvas and arhats surrounding Lama in front of you. Think, “All these buddhas and bodhisattvas have actualized the universal, innermost heart thought, the purest of motivations, bodhicitta, and have gradually attained the highest goals. As I have discovered that this is the most beneficial path, I, too, am going to actualize the pure thought just as they did and attain the very highest goal, enlightenment.” 

Generating such thoughts is incredible; a remarkable inner cultural revolution the likes of which you have never experienced before. It is extremely difficult to do. Anybody can make the kind of external revolution that comes about through attachment and anger. Generating an inner revolution, abandoning the kingdom of attachment out of concern for other sentient beings, is truly a remarkable experience. It’s really too much. I think you people are all too much! It’s so worthwhile; really incredible. 

Normally, we think birthdays are special. We have the conception, “This birthday is special. I have to buy them a present, I have to dress up, I have to do this, this, this. . . .” Or New Year’s: “I have to celebrate; I have to buy all these things.” The new year is not so new. You’re getting old. You’re dying. Tibetan lamas think that instead of creating new year confusion, try to prepare for a happy death. Are we communicating? I’m saying that at New Year’s, it’s not a new life that’s coming. It’s that you’re getting older and closer to death. But still, you think, “Ooh! New Year, New Year.” You just make it up. It’s basically the same old thing but you totally exaggerate the occasion. 

From the Tibetan point of view, it’s much more important to dress up when taking the bodhisattva vows than it is on other celebratory occasions such as birthdays or New Year’s Eve. In Tibet, people taking the vows would make elaborate preparations. In a large group, some would do prostrations, some would meditate, some would offer mandalas, others would recite the prajnaparamita text; people would engage in all sorts of preliminary Dharma activities like those. 

So here, we’ve also made a big arrangement. You’ve just spent weeks listening to and meditating on the lamrim teachings, so in terms of preparing to take the vows, you’ve done pretty well.

If you look around the world, maybe you’ll find two or three people who have seen the shortcomings of self-­cherishing and sincerely want to change it into the cherishing of others. It’s incredibly rare to find people who are more concerned for the welfare of others than their own. Extremely rare. Over the past few years I’ve met a great number of Western people, many of them beautiful. They’re not religious; they just want to help others. But despite that, they tend to forget their inner world. They have this beneficial attitude but they still haven’t abandoned their attachment and self-­cherishing. Like I say, it’s just so rare to find people who have set their sights on the very highest goal and have generated the enlightenment attitude. 

Intuitively, Western people like to help others. That’s true. But their idea of help is limited. As I said before, when somebody discovers that the highest way in which they can help others is to change their attitude to that of bodhicitta, in my opinion that itself is some kind of enlightenment experience. It’s extremely fortunate, worthwhile, or, in the vernacular, mind-­blowing.

We can understand the power of bodhicitta by looking at what all the buddhas have done while they were on the bodhisattva path, dedicating their body, speech and mind to the welfare of mother sentient beings. Forget about material possessions—they would give their legs, their eyes, even their whole body to another sentient being if it would help. You can read about the incredible things Lord Buddha did in the Jataka Tales, stories from his previous lives as a bodhisattva. Unbelievable. 

When your level of bodhicitta is small, if someone in dire need asks you for money, perhaps you give them some, but it’s a bit painful. You see the need, you want to give, but it hurts a little. However, as you develop, you get to the stage where if somebody asks you for something, you’re extremely happy to give and you do so with pleasure and respect. 

Here I’m just talking about material giving. If you’ve been to Nepal, you’ll have encountered kids running up to you asking for money, “Sahib, paisa; sahib, paisa.” Since you have enough, you can feel very happy to give, thinking, “These children are helping me on the path to liberation.” Of course, it doesn’t have to be in Nepal. There are people asking for money all over the world; there are poor people everywhere. America may be the richest country in the world but there are still people begging in the streets. I’ve given them money myself. 

So, as your mind develops, you’re happy to not only give others things like food or money; you can even give parts of your body, as Shantideva said.²⁶ The Madhyamaka teachings explain that when you first develop bodhicitta, cutting off a piece of your flesh to offer somebody causes you pain, but you can control it. Your bodhicitta helps you cope. As you develop further, not only do you not feel pain; when you cut yourself you feel blissful. We think that’s impossible because we’re incredibly self-­sensitive, under the control of attachment. But it’s possible. We can even see ordinary examples of this. Many Western mothers would choose to die if it would save their child. They are extremely attached to their children and have much compassion for them, so they would give their lives in order to save them.

Anyway, as you know, when you have bodhicitta you have incredible patience, as well as the other perfections of generosity, morality, effort, concentration and wisdom, and your life is dedicated to benefiting other sentient beings. Moreover, you’re praying all the time, “May my body benefit sentient beings, my speech benefit sentient beings and my mind benefit sentient beings.” And as your realization of bodhicitta grows, your wish to benefit others becomes more and more intuitive. At the moment, we might say, “I want to benefit others. I want, I want,” but it doesn’t happen. Benefiting others is not an intellectual thing; it’s intuitive in nature. I’m sure you all want to help all mother sentient beings, but wanting is not enough. You need to develop the energy to do so. It’s an intuitive thing.

Also, when you get back home from here, you can’t go around telling everybody, “I want to help you; I want to help you.” That won’t work. They’re going to say, “Who needs your help? Go help yourself!” Helping others, bringing them inner peace, has to be natural. It’s really up to karma. You have to develop your own mind until you reach a certain level where you can intuitively help others. The ability to do that doesn’t come all of a sudden: “I want to do it, therefore I can.” It doesn’t work like that. First work on your own mind. 

Confronted with the story of Lord Buddha’s previous life as the bodhisattva prince and the mother tiger, the Western point of view is likely to be, “Oh, he must have been stupid. Idiot compassion.” The story goes that the bodhisattva was walking through the jungle when he came across a starving tigress who has just given birth to a litter of five cubs and was so desperately hungry that she was about to eat them.²⁷ Out of his great compassion, he tried to offer his body to the tigress, but she was too weak to eat him. So he cut his flesh and let her drink his blood until she had gained enough strength, and then she was able to devour his body. In that way he was able to save six tigers’ lives. Westerners are going to say that was stupid: “Why on earth did he do that?” 

His compassion, his bodhicitta, made him do it. He completely disregarded his own pleasure, his own happiness, and, for the sake of other mother sentient beings, gave up his life. Lord Buddha’s bodhisattva actions are beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. They’re going to say, “He was crazy. There must have been something else he could have done. He should have gone to the supermarket and bought her some meat, then he wouldn’t have died.” Westerners rationalize in incredible ways. Of course, it was a completely different situation. 

Let’s say you’re suffering from some illness and your doctor gives you medicine or ointment or whatever’s needed to cure it. You’re so grateful: “Thank you, doctor, you’re very kind. I’m OK now.” This is simply normal human behavior. But bodhicitta is the kind of medicine that can completely cure all ills forever. How amazing is that? There’s no way regular medicine can do that. 

So now, think about that. Meditate on it; check your own experience. Check how the enlightenment attitude of bodhicitta is the perfect solution. You can experience that. 

The bodhisattva vow ceremony

In order to receive the bodhisattva vows, visualize all the bodhisattvas and enlightened buddhas in the space in front of you, paying great attention to you with much pleasure, regarding you as a completely stupid son or daughter who, to their parents’ surprise, suddenly, one day, does something extraordinarily good. Normally we go around possessed by the self-­cherishing attitude, but this time we are acting totally opposite, being more concerned for the welfare of other sentient beings than our own, wanting to lead all of them to the highest destination, enlightenment. This makes all the buddhas and bodhisattvas extremely pleased. 

Now make a short mandala offering, dedicating your body, speech and mind to receiving the energy of bodhicitta as much as you possibly can. Making the offering without attachment and, especially, with the thought, “I dedicate my body, speech and mind, my entire life, to the benefit of others.” With that in mind, offer the mandala.²⁸

Sa zhi pö kyi . . .  

Dag gi chhag dang . . . 

Then crouch down on one knee as you do when you take the eight Mahayana precepts in the morning and focus with single-­pointed concentration on what we’re doing here. Again, generate the wishfulfilling thought, “From now until I discover the enlightenment attitude, innermost heart bodhicitta, the essence of my path, I will actualize, with the help of the superlative qualities of Lord Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the practice of this most incredibly valuable, most pure, indestructible, diamond-­like thought, irrespective of whatever conditions I find myself in. It is so worthwhile.” With that strong motivation, repeat the refuge and bodhicitta prayer three times:

Sang gyä chhö dang . . . 

While reciting this, generate especially strong compassion for all universal living beings, thinking, “I will actualize bodhicitta for the sake of all living beings in the universe in order to lead them into everlasting peaceful enlightenment and I take responsibility for doing this by myself alone.” So with that strong motivation, repeat:

Dro kün si zhi jig pa le dröl chir . . . 

This is like somebody making you choose: “Give up bodhicitta or lose your life.” It’s a kind of threat. Then you’re going to reply, “That’s your problem. I will never give up bodhicitta.” You have that kind of strong determination. You’d rather lose your life than abandon bodhicitta: “I will hold this wish and never forsake it, even to save my life.”

Dro kün si zhi jig pa le dröl chir . . . 

In particular, it means that some mother sentient beings are bound by delusion, while others are bound by nirvana, which means self-­realization, attachment to everlasting peaceful blissful samadhi and a total lack of concern for other sentient beings. We distinguish ourselves from these by motivating “I want to lead all sentient beings to enlightenment by actualizing bodhicitta.”

Dro kün si zhi jig pa le dröl chir . . . 

You can see how the earth’s highest-­class billionaires live, but even if their houses are made of diamond, they’re still in there with their self-­cherishing mind and its attendant suffering. They’re not sitting around thinking how to help the poor. They’re simply in their diamond houses enjoying their lavish lifestyle with hundreds of servants and their luxurious possessions. But it’s not true enjoyment. Since they’re still under the control of self-­cherishing, they’re suffering. They may not be experiencing suffering of suffering, like unbearable pain, hunger, thirst and so forth, but they’re still suffering. And just as they’re in bondage to the self-­cherishing thought, arhats are in bondage to nirvana. All mother sentient beings are in bondage to something. 

Dro kün si zhi jig pa le dröl chir . . . 

So again, whoever’s taking the engaged bodhisattva vows should generate the strong determination, thinking, “I’m taking and will observe the eighteen root and forty-­six branch bodhisattva vows and will actualize bodhicitta and the six perfections.” 

Those who are not taking the vows in this way but are aspiring to do so eventually should think, “I want to actualize these sixty-­four vows and the six perfections as much as possible, just as all the tathagatas, including Lord Buddha did, to emulate their bodhisattva deeds and to act just as they did.” 

So whichever way you are taking the vows, generate a strong determination in front of the lamas, buddhas and bodhisattvas before you. 

La ma gyäl wa sä chä nam . . . 

Here we are saying, “All lamas, buddhas and bodhisattvas, please listen, or pay attention, to me. Just as you have taken the bodhisattva vows and actualized bodhicitta and the six perfections, thereby discovering everlasting, peaceful enlightenment, so shall I act in exactly the same way.” Repeat twice more:

La ma gyäl wa sä chä nam . . . x2

So now you have received the perfect, pure energy of the bodhisattva ordination and you should be extremely happy: “Since just this once I have received a perfect human rebirth and have gained a deep understanding of its significance and a little wisdom, I decided that the most worthwhile thing I could do was to take the bodhisattva vows. By doing so I am no longer a child of samsara but have instead become a child of the buddhas. As such, my duty is to act just as Lord Buddha did when he traversed the graduated path to liberation and to take this opportunity with a motivation unmixed with the self-­cherishing thought.”

With that in mind, repeat this:

Deng dü dag tshe drä bu yö . . . 

“For countless lives I have almost never done anything fruitful, but this time I have done something so useful, so meaningful, the result of which is so perfect, so incredible, the most worthwhile thing ever, something I never did before, in this life, my previous life and all the beginningless lives before that—an action that is totally opposed to the self-­cherishing thought. It’s unbelievable, but today I have discovered that I can change all my old habits, my entire trip, and this is a remarkable, most worthwhile experience. Therefore, as much as possible, I want to act in accordance with this precious new decision and actualize the path without the slightest taint of self-­cherishing whatsoever.”

Deng dü dag tshe drä bu yö . . . 

“This perfect human rebirth is such a meaningful, incredibly precious opportunity that instead of spending it for nothing, I will use it in the highest, most beneficial way that I can.”

Deng dü dag tshe drä bu yö . . . 

OK, so now sit back down comfortably. Very good.

The buddhas are incredulous that after countless lives, including this one, spent uselessly in selfish activities, such naughty boys and girls have completely opened their minds in the way you just have. The universal ten directions’ buddhas and bodhisattvas, the supreme enlightened ones, have the telepathic power to detect the universal energy of the enlightenment attitude of bodhicitta—and it really is psychological, earth-­shaking universal energy—that we have been generating here in this old English castle. They are totally surprised that all you lady and gentleman bodhisattvas have completely opened to the remarkable, vast enlightenment experience, and right now are all praying for the success of these new baby bodhisattvas’ Dharma practice; and so should we. 

Jang chhub sem chhog . . . x3

Many of you have been studying, practicing and meditating on the graduated path to liberation for a long time, and that’s also what we’ve been doing during this meditation course. Therefore, over this time we have created a vast amount of merit. And especially, on top of that, today we have taken the bodhisattva vows, so we need to immediately dedicate all this precious, meritorious energy, before anger has a chance to arise in our mind. 

Traditionally, the way we do this is by transforming the internal, mental consciousness energy of the merit we have created into the most beautiful external objects we can imagine, such as exquisite flowers and so forth—whatever you consider to be most beautiful. And we offer all this beauty to Maitreya, the embodiment of all the buddhas’ divine love and compassion, who currently resides in the pure land of Tushita. You know that, long after Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings have disappeared from this earth, Maitreya, the next founding buddha, will appear to again turn the wheel of Dharma. By offering our merit to Maitreya, we’re making a great deal, a good investment, a kind of agreement that if by the time he arrives we have not yet fully awakened, when he does appear we can be reborn in his presence, open completely, and quickly attain enlightenment ourselves. So that is a good way to dedicate your merit before its positive energy gets dissipated one way or another. 

Conclusion

OK, so that’s simple. We’ve now finished. Very good; so worthwhile. If you check the Tibetan tradition, you’ll find that historically, all the lamas like to offer the bodhisattva vows at the end of a series of lamrim teachings. Traditionally, they do it every time, so it’s extremely worthwhile and we do it as often as we can. Sometimes we’re too busy at the end of a course to give much explanation, but we still like to offer the vows. Also, you should try to take them at least once a year. Doing so gives you incredible strength and a brave mind. 

What gives you a brave mind; what makes you free? It’s the completely opened mind. The brave person has a totally open mind. A completely open mind makes you fearless. Are we communicating? Yeah? So that’s the guarantee I was referring to before. 

It’s true. The person who acts with loving kindness bodhicitta is as soft as cotton wool in every situation. Attachment is like a nail. Wherever there are nails, you worry. But the person with the pure thought is always sweet, as soft as cotton. You never have to worry that they’ll hurt you. Bodhicitta is the real guarantee. You can see. It’s wonderful.

Now, the way to actualize the vows without allowing them to degenerate is to always remember what they are. You can easily keep them in mind while I’m talking about them, but you need to understand the alchemy of keeping them continuously beneficial. In other words, everything you do should be done with the enlightenment attitude of bodhicitta, whether it’s sweeping out a room, cooking a meal or offering somebody a cup of tea or a glass of water. If you do even simple, ordinary actions with bodhicitta, they are transformed, or transmuted, into wisdom energy and become steps on the path to enlightenment. 

Constantly remembering such benefits of bodhicitta helps you keep the vows and you can study texts that explain these benefits. I don’t have time right now to explain the details, but there are a couple of things I can tell you. One is to maintain enthusiasm for actualizing bodhicitta and for developing it more and more, in this life and in all future lives. The other is to formally generate bodhicitta three times in the morning and three times at night. Always remember that. If you can’t do it all, do as much as you can. 

However, the formal practice is quite simple. Just recite the verse for taking refuge and generating bodhicitta six times a day.²⁹ Of course, if you can maintain continuous memory of bodhicitta you don’t necessarily have to recite these words, but recitation makes it easier as we go about our busy mundane daily life. At a minimum, you should bring bodhicitta to mind at least once a day, definitely before you go to sleep. It is so worthwhile. 

According to the texts, there are many things you can do to help you develop bodhicitta: purification, prostrations, lamrim meditation and so forth. There are hundreds of things. 

The texts also mention the four black dharmas, or actions [Tib: nag po chö zhi], to be avoided in order to keep the bodhisattva vows pure.³⁰

The first is breaking your word to, or deceiving, your teacher, guru or those worthy of being venerated; confusing your guru with lies. This means cheating your guru or preceptor by lying or other means, all of which are considered “black,” or negative, actions.

The second is instilling regret in the minds of others about something that does not need to be regretted; discouraging others from practicing virtuous actions and causing them to regret virtuous actions they have already done. For example, say your girlfriend wants to meditate and you don’t like it and tell her, “You’re terrible. You just sit there hour after hour doing nothing. Your actions are as meaningless as a dog’s.” Perhaps she’s at a one-­month meditation course and you take your frustrations out on her, hurting her and making her feel guilty. I’ve seen that sort of thing happen a lot. Many of my students have had that kind of problem. Boyfriends don’t like their girlfriends meditating or going to meditation courses, even though the girls really like doing so, so these guys guilt trip the girls for practicing Dharma. It’s quite common. 

A good example comes from the life of Milarepa. He was leading an ascetic life alone in the mountains, naked, eating nothing but nettles. One time his sister came to see him and completely freaked out. “Please, please, my brother,” she cried. “You’re a human being; please wear something. At least cover your genitals! Maybe you’re not even human anymore but have become an animal. Your whole family is ashamed of you.” Then Milarepa replied, “If you think my life is shameful, what about yours?” Pointing to the baby in her arms, he went on, “I was born with this body. When you were born you didn’t have a child. Where did that come from?” But even though his argument cut straight to the point, she still didn’t understand what he meant!

That kind of thing can be very painful. The wife gets high on meditation and when she comes down, out of frustration and delusion her husband lays a guilt trip on her: “Ooh, you’re this big meditator, you must be a buddha by now. Well, get this buddha: I’ve found a new girl.” Then she feels terrible. “What a mistake. I went on retreat; he found himself somebody else. How stupid am I?” This is a simple example, but it happens. It’s incredibly painful. 

So this kind of behavior is considered to be a black, or negative, action. Check your own experiences. I have many other good examples. Like one of my young Canadian students, a twenty-­year-­old woman. She liked to get up early to meditate. Her boyfriend freaked out. She came to me crying. It’s unbelievable, right? What kind of man is that? Deluded. I mean, we’re not angry with him but still, he is really deluded, and that kind of action is black: making people who do positive actions feel guilty. 

The third one is expressing or voicing words of blame, infamy or disgrace about sentient beings who are established in the Mahayana tradition. For example, disparaging other bodhisattvas out of jealousy; saying nasty things about them. Bodhisattvas are sort of the essential beneficial energy of the universe, so damaging them is incredibly dangerous. 

The fourth one is employing deceitfulness and/or guile toward another person instead of the special attitude [Tib: lhag sam]; cheating or deceiving other sentient beings in a very sneaky way by pretending to be something you’re not. The actions themselves can be beneficial if done with pure motivation, but this is not that. It’s doing such things with no special thought, without compassion or loving kindness. In other words, do not lie to or cheat other sentient beings. Be as straight as possible when dealing with others. 

Anyway, there are English translations explaining these four actions. You should study those.³¹

I think that’s enough. You’ve had the sixty-­four vows explained to you so you should also study those and meditate on and train your mind in bodhicitta as much as you possibly can. That is extremely worthwhile. 

---

Notes

26. Bodhicaryavatara, 7:25
"At the beginning, the Guide of the World encourages 
The giving of such things as food. 
Later, when accustomed to this, 
One may progressively start to give away even one’s flesh." [Return to text]

27. Said to have occurred at Namo Buddha, Nepal, about twenty-­five miles from Kathmandu. This story does not appear in the Pali Jataka but may be found online as the first tale in the Jatakamala, or Garland of Birth Stories. [Return to text]

28. See Appendix 2 for the full ceremony prayers. [Return to text]

29. Sang gyä chhö dang tshog kyi chhog nam la     
Jang chhub bar du dag ni kyab su chhi     
Dag gi jin sog gyi päi tshog nam kyi     
Dro la phän chhir sang gyä drub par shog    

I take refuge until I am enlightened
In the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Supreme Assembly.
By my merits of generosity and so forth,
May I become a buddha to benefit transmigratory beings. [Return to text]

30. These are from the Kashyapa Parivarta Sutra. See The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Vol. 2, pp. 75–79 for a detailed explanation. 

1. (Wylie) rdzun gyis bla ma dang mkhan slob sogs dbu bskor ba
2. gzhan dge ba byed par ’gyod pa bskyed pa
3. byang sems la zhe sdang gis mi snyan pa brjod pa
4. lhag sam ma yin pa’i bi yu gi che pa [Return to text]

31. Steps on the Path to Enlightenment, Vol. 3, pp. 175–82. [Return to text]