The second vow, in our version, is, “Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them.” The feeling is like when you sit in the sunshine and receive the sunlight into your body, a feeling of infinity, a feeling that even if you sit there a year, your whole life, the sun will continue to shine. It’s the feeling of the sound of waves at the beach, never ending. “Infinite” is a very good translation. The third vow, in our version, is, “Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to master them. The fourth vow, in our version, is, “Buddha’s way is unsurpassable, I vow to attain it.” It sets up a paradox, like a sportsman’s record where this year another one will come and surpass it! The Chinese character is more complete, “accomplish.” In Chinese there is no subject; in English, we say, “I vow to surpass it.” I would translate this gatha:
Sentient beings are infinite,
they will save themselves.
Desires are infinite, they
will reach an end by
themselves.
Dharmas are infinite, so there
is learning, study.
Buddha’s way is no above, so
it is always accomplished
(or allowed).
Usually, although the Sixth Patriarch didn’t say this, it is called the four vows of a bodhisattva. We have to think about the person’s mind when he takes this vow. If I am not a sentient being, I cannot take this vow. If I am not with desire, I cannot take this vow. The subject is a sentient being, itself, passion, itself, Dharma, itself, road, itself, Buddha’s way. If the road, itself, has some choice, saying, “You can walk on me, you can’t walk on me,” then the vow cannot be completed. If the road says, “Anything can walk or ride on me,” the vow is completed. It is absolute. When we think of this vow, we have to think of karma. As one student said, to repeat this vow every day is a paradoxical activity. Yet the vow goes by itself and we just decide it is paradoxical, even more than paradoxical. What is important is whether I can consider myself a sentient being, or part of a sentient being. “I have limitless desires; I put an end to them.” It’s like sweeping fallen leaves. One hour later, more leaves come. Winter brings snow; spring, dust. When awareness is only on the sweeping, maybe you hate it. Maybe you hate the fallen leaf! Even if people’s desires are like that, we cannot say it’s bad. It’s a very delicate point, whether we vow, or not. It’s a big change in the karmic cycle of life. The spot where we are becomes a standard of measurement. The karmic life has many burdens. It’s a caught state, a heavy feeling. The Chinese word for “vow” is yang. “I have yang” means “I have an objective.” It’s not just a promise. It’s a determination to offer my whole effort. To take care of yourself, myself, in the vow, is the thing to do. For instance, when I have some sick friend, I take a vow in myself to not forget him, always be with him, even if we are separated, to always keep real friendship between us. It works really well. When a mother has a sick baby, that feeling is instinctively understood. The basis of the vow is a very natural feeling, not artificial. “I am fine, he is not fine, I have to take care of him.” The vow is the same as way mind. With this mind you practice. Suppose there are two persons walking in the desert and both of them see a village which they are about to reach. They are quite hungry and tired, with only a little water left. They are almost dried up. There is only water for one person. When such a thing happens, we’ll see whether we have way mind or not. In war, this kind of condition is given to each person; it is how they judge their action. With way mind, you let others reach to the destination first. The word, “save,” I don’t understand so well. In Japanese, do is like a sailor carrying a passenger from this shore to that shore. He, himself, doesn’t go there. The Bodhisattva’s vow is very paradoxical. It’s like, “I don’t need to attain the way because I’m always there, but many beings need to have this opportunity.” But when “I” become visible and static, I think,“This is me; they are not me.” At this time it’s very hard to understand what is the vow.
When I say, “all sentient beings,” my feeling is all the selves of me. When I reach toward some place and only my finger touches it, at that time my whole body is there. In the beginning, Shakyamuni Buddha had nothing to do for all sentient beings because they are there already and they are already enlightened. If your son says, “I want to do this,” you trust him, let him go ahead even if you are worried. You tell him, “You can do whatever you want.” That kind of feeling is like the Sixth Patriarch saying, “… they can save themselves.” The vow is not only toward the future. When you vow, you say it to the past, too. Not only your personal past, but the whole thing, which relates to you, will be saved. The vow is like putting a light in a dark room. We have done it many times. It’s not an act of will. It naturally happens. Vowing is remembering, renewing. When you practice, that practice saves seven past lives, your father and mother, their fathers and mothers… But even if all of them are enlightened, as long as we keep ignorance, we have to be in ignorance. With the vow, the light of the present reaches to past activity. Historians have eyes which reach to the past in very interesting ways. Actually, all of us have the eye which can remember past lives. We don’t need to talk about it, but we have very huge experiences of the past.