Taking The Bodhisattva Vow
A Bodhisattva vow is found at the end of the Avatamsaka Sutra by Samantabhadra. In Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, Shantideva explains that the Bodhisattva vow is taken with the following famous two verses from Sutra:
| “ | Just as all the previous Sugatas, the Buddhas Generated the mind of enlightenment And accomplished all the stages Of the Bodhisattva training, So will I too, for the sake of all beings, Generate the mind of enlightenment And accomplish all the stages Of the Bodhisattva training. |
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Alexander Berzin (1997) asserts that the bodhisattva vow transcends the present lifetime:
| “ | The promise to keep bodhisattva vows applies not only to this life, but to each subsequent lifetime until enlightenment. Thus these vows continue on our mind-stream into future lives. | ” |
Read more about this topic: Bodhisattva Vows
Famous quotes containing the word vow:
“There is but one love of Jesus, as there is but one person in the poor—Jesus. We take vows of chastity to love Christ with undivided love; to be able to love him with undivided love we take a vow of poverty which frees us from all material possessions, and with that freedom we can love him with undivided love, and from this vow of undivided love we surrender ourselves totally to him in the person who takes his place.”
—Mother Teresa (b. 1910)