"Beings are numberless, I vow to save them
Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to end them
Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them
Buddha's way is unsurpassable, I vow to become it."
In my years of spiritual practice and meditation, I have spent time in various Zen centers and retreats, where some variation of the Bodhisattva Vows, translated above, are recited. The vows are the core of Mahayana Buddhism and the idea of bodhicitta. Bodhicitta is defined as a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, rather than just one's own personal salvation. Our current times that include mass shootings in America, war between Russia and Ukraine, the global Pandemic and continued international issues of poverty and oppression naturally bring an inner call to help somehow, somewhere. Compassion is a human response and this week has me recalling the line, "Beings are numberless, I vow to save them."
In times of chanting with a group as an "outsider" and a psychiatrist, I often found myself pausing at that line, questioning the wisdom and logic of vowing to "save" the numberless beings of the world. Like wrestling with a koan, my mind would wrestle with the rationale of vowing the impossible, even though I knew very well that the point of Zen and indeed religion, is not rationality. Then one evening it hit me, and I understood. The only way you save all beings is to awaken to Truth: There are no numberless beings to save; there is One Life. To know your Self, as Self is to liberate all.
That in no way is to dismiss human suffering and help. We live on two (or more or many) planes. We live in this concrete world where concrete action has its purpose. But that action is far more wise and healing when fed by the transcendent awareness. Jesus put it this way, "And I, if I be lifted up from the Earth, draw all people unto me." Metaphysically, when we know the Transcendent, we too are lifted up from the Earth and thereby free others. What we touch in those moments, we carry with us as a shared blessing with all, even in the whirlwind of daily life. Those moments bring new peace and renewed action. (Susan Nettleton)
“We will develop and cultivate the liberation of mind by lovingkindness, make it our vehicle, make it our basis, stabilize it, exercise ourselves in it, and fully perfect it.” The Buddha
“Whatever living beings there may be — feeble or strong, long, stout, or of medium size, short, small, large, those seen or those unseen, those dwelling far or near, those who are born as well as those yet to be born — may all beings have happy minds.” The Buddha
(ref: O'Brien, Barbara. "Bodhisattva Vows." Learn Religions, Aug. 25, 2020.)