ACROSS THE SEA OF SUFFERING IN A BOAT OF VOWS

 

On January 23rd, 1974, Bodhisattva Maitreyas birthday and the Chinese Lunar New Year, Bhiksuni Heng Hsien made the following vows in the Jeweled Hall of the Great Heroes at Gold Mountain Monastery before the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions and the four-fold assembly of disciples:

 

I, Disciple Gwo Pu, before the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas of the ten directions and the three periods of time make the following vows:

 

1.     To the exhaustion of empty space and of the Dharma Realm I vow that I shall follow and serve the Master wherever he may manifest, vigorously and fearlessly, taking no other Master until the exhaustion of the Masters inexhaustible great vows which I take on as my own.

  1. To the exhaustion of empty space and of the Dharma Realm I vow that I shall not achieve Anuttarasamyaksambodhi if there is a single living being or even so much as a blade of grass or a clod or earth that has not become a Buddha.
  2. To the exhaustion of empty space and of the Dharma Realm I vow that I shall never retreat from the Bodhi mind but shall quickly become irreversible in the Buddha Vehicle.
  3. To the exhaustion of empty space and of the Dharma Realm I vow that I shall quickly enter into the conduct and vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva: to worship and respect all Buddhas, to praise the Thus Come Ones qualities, to vastly cultivate the giving of offerings, to repent and reform all karmic faults, to follow and rejoice in merit and virtue, to request the turning of the Dharma wheel, to request that the Buddhas dwell in the world, to constantly follow the Buddhas in study, to forever accord with living beings, to universally transfer all merit and virtue.
  4. To the exhaustion of empty space and of the Dharma Realm I vow that I shall penetrate and embody the Buddhas Vinaya, perfecting the awesome manner and the fine comportments, and causing living beings to delight in maintaining the precepts.
  5. To the exhaustion of empty space and of the Dharma Realm I vow that I shall investigate, revere, propagate, and cultivate according to the Mahavaipulyabuddhavatamsakasutra, and to be present in every Avatamsaka Assembly.
  6. I vow that I shall leave home in every lifetime to study the Buddhadharma and cultivate the Way.
  7. I vow that I shall rigorously observe the Buddhist practice of eating only one meal a day.
  8. I vow that this is my last life as a woman unless I take transformational birth to teach and transform living beings.

10.       I vow that in every lifetime I shall maintain the five precepts of no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no false speech, and no intoxicants, even before having heard of them, and even as a child.

11.       I vow that in every lifetime I shall quickly master the languages of the Buddhist Canon and teach them to sincere Buddhist disciples who wish to translate Sutras and speak Dharma.

12.       I vow that I shall quickly obtain the five eyes, the six spiritual penetrations, unimpeded eloquence, and the miraculous functioning of the Great Compassion Dharmas.

13.       I vow that I shall never abandon any living being who so much as sees my face or hears my name but shall quickly cross them over to Buddhahood.

14.       I vow to be reborn in the Western Paradise, the Pure Land of the Buddha Amitabha, and to propagate the Pure Land Dharma Door.

15.       I vow in every lifetime to aid in the preservation, translation, publication, and circulation of all Dharma spoken by the Master, and in particular that I shall translate the Great Means Expansion Buddha Flower Adornment Sutra.

16.       I vow for all space, time, and worlds that I shall never be involved in the impurity of men-women affairs.

17.       I vow that in my conduct as a Bodhisattva, that, wherever there is a living being who sincerely wishes to hear the Buddhadharma, I shall speak the Dharma for that being in his own language, causing him to produce the Bodhi mind.

18.       I vow that I shall always be delighted when living beings know and understand more than I do, and that I shall make what has come to seem difficult and obscure in the Buddhadharma clear and interesting for living beings, enabling them to understand even what I myself have not yet understood; and at the same time I vow that I shall quickly come to understand and practice all the limitless principles and doctrines within the Buddhadharma.

19.       I vow that in this lifetime I shall especially cultivate samadhi, leave all demon affairs and break all outside ways.

20.       I vow that I shall always make these vows and that these vows shall be fulfilled.

Living beings are countless, I vow to save them all.

Afflictions are inexhaustible, I vow to cut them off.

Dharma doors are infinite, I vow to study them all.

The Buddha Way is unsurpassed, I vow I shall accomplish it.

 

May the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions and the three periods of time aid me in the fulfillment of these vows.

THE BODHI MIRROR

 

Introducing The Eminent Dharma Master

 

Shih Liu Kwok

 

This Dharma Master was born to the Tsung family and given the personal name Kwok-yuen, in Kwangchow, China, on May 18, 1952. Because of his good root and keen intelligence, he was able to meet a good teacher and leave the home life at the young age of fourteen. This is especially rare considering the fact that very few leave the home life in China, and the Buddhadharma is in serious decline in Asia.

 

On the anniversary of the birth of Sakyamuni in 1966 he left the home life under the Elder Master Mao Feng at Tung Po Temple in Kowloon, Hong Kong. He then continued his studies at the Buddhist Tai Kwong Middle School (equivalent of High School in the United States) from which he graduated in 1972. At the present time he holds a unique position in the cross culture exchange that is carrying Buddhism to Western nations as the first Chinese monk to pursue a course of study in an American College. In the fall of 1974 he will enter his second year of study at Vincennes University in Indiana.

 

About his study of the Buddhadharma he has said, The philosophy of the Buddha has broadened my view of life and the universe, and I vow to devote my life to studying and propagating it. It is my deep wish to revolutionize Buddhist methodology to meet the modern world so that people can be brought to understand it.

 

During the early summer this year Dharma Master Liu Kwok had the opportunity to travel with his classmate, Dharma Master Liu Ng, by bus from Indiana to San Francisco where he spent ten days in residence at Gold Mountain, joining the Avatamsaka Assembly and the residing at Bodhi House, Long Island, and will return from there to Vincennes in August.

THE BODHI LECTERN

 

Introducing The Eminent Dharma Protector

 

Christopher George

 

Dr. Christopher S. George was born in January, 1941, Massachusetts. He has studied both in the United States and abroad, receiving a bachelor of arts from Columbia University and a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. He has studied overseas in India and Nepal.

 

Dr. George is an active scholar and translator of Buddhist texts; his works include translations of the Candamaharosana Tantra and the Cittavisuddhiprakarana Tantra. He has published articles in journals and magazines in the United States and abroad, including both articles and reviews in the Journal of Asian Studies. He is proficient in Classical Tibetan and Buddhist Sanskrit as well as Nepali, French, German, and spoken Tibetan.

 

In addition to teaching at the University of Pennsylvania for the past four years, where he has given courses in Buddhist Sanskrit, Classical Tibetan, and Buddhism, he has joined the work of the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions where he specializes in research and is an expert on the application of the latest technological methods to the field of Buddhist studies. He has also been translating Buddhist Texts under the auspices of IASWR, and is participating in work sponsored by the Institute which aims at compiling and publishing a new multilingual Buddhist dictionary.

 

Dr. George is currently Assistant Director of Research for the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions. He resides with his wife Lisa and their daughter in New York City at 670 West End Avenue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biographies of eminent members of the Sangha and laymen are a feature of every issue of VBS.