I Vow To Deliver Innumerable Sentient Beings

March 14, 2004

The Four Great Vows are:
    “I vow to deliver innumerable sentient beings.
     I vow to cut off endless vexations.
     I vow to learn limitless methods.
     I vow to attain the supreme Buddhahood.”
These vows are very important.  We make the Four Great Vows when taking refuge in the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.  We also make the Four Great Vows during the evening service.  To eliminate selfishness, we vow to deliver other sentient beings besides ourselves.  Our practice will not be pure if we do not cut off endless vexations.  We cannot deliver sentient beings extensively if we did not master limitless methods.  And, we will not attain the supreme Buddhahood if we do not take any actions on the three vows.  Therefore, if we do not have the vows as guides with the strength of our mind, we will not stay the cause of practice.

We vow to study hard, to do a good job, and to take a good care of our family.  These vows are all related to self and they are helpful to our family and society.  In America, when politicians become the presidential candidates, they also need to make vows.  Their political policies are their vows.  For example, they would do this and that after they were elected to be the president.  There were some doubts in my mind while listening to the presidential debate.  Those politicians might want to influence people’s emotions so they would get elected.  If I had the right to vote I would not know who to vote for from these two political parties.  The bad karma of the current president is that after we were attacked by terrorists on 9/11, 2001, he chose to take the unpopular action of taking our country into the war with the country that harbored these terrorists’ groups, which made USA become the most scrutinized country and the top target to be attacked by the terrorists.  Looking into the history, war will not bring any peace to a country.  The candidates of the Democratic Party also had problem.  Many of them, although mouthing that they opposed the war for political reasons, actually voted for the resolutions to invade Iraq, e.g. Massachusetts’ Kerry and NY’s Clinton.  Each one of them said that he is the only one who can beat Bush.

It is natural to wish a candidate of one’s own party to be elected.  To be a president of a country, one should have a big heart.  If you only want to defeat one person, then it is the same as to be in a war.  You want to fight with others or verbally defeat others that is the seed of the war.  There are more important issues, which need to be resolved in our society.  For example, the issues of the gay marriage and the bad economy that makes people hard to make a living.  Buddhism transforms the phenomena of the homosexuality in a gentle way.  I believe that homosexuality is not only formed naturally but also caused by certain conditions in the living environment.  We should understand the root cause of the homosexuality and find a way to transform it not just to stop or against it.  We should be compassionate toward the homosexual people without discrimination because it is not in their power to control their bodies and mind for them to become homosexual.

There are so many issues in our society.  A leader should be able to catch the key of each issue and to give what people really need.  To defeat a president and to take over his position doesn’t mean that you can rule the country.  I hope those politicians focus on the needs of the people that is the commonwealth of our country.  No matter who gets elected to be the president, our country will become better.  This is the importance of making vows.  If you make a good vow and have a great policy, then it will definitely benefit everyone in the future.  Therefore, Buddhism and mortal world is not separate from each other.

Why these four vows are called the Four Great Vows?  They are called the Four Great Vows because they are the common vows of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.  Every Buddha and Bodhisattva has different vows, like Amitabha’s Forty-Eight Vows to deliver the sentient beings.  Those Forty-Eight Vows guide the sentient beings to complete their wish to be born in Amitabha’s Pure Land.  Medicine Buddha, in the Eastern Crystal World, has Twelve Great Vows.  His vows are different from the Amitabha’s.  Amitabha’s vows encourage the sentient beings to abandon the Saha World and to be born in the golden ground World of Utmost Joy.  Medicine Buddha’s vows satisfy the current needs of the sentient beings and let them practice in good condition and to be born in the Medicine Buddha’s Pure Land in the future.  Therefore, practicing Medicine Buddha is the best way to accumulate merit.  Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s Ten Great Vows are very famous in Buddhism.  The key point of his Ten Great Vows is: “The empty space will end but my vows are limitless that sentient beings and non-sentient beings all complete the same Buddhahood.”  His vows are similar to Earth-Womb Bodhisattva’s vow that “I will not become Buddha if the hell is not empty.”  The Bodhisattva we all familiar with, Avalokiteshvara vowed to assist all the sentient beings wherever they pray for help.  Avalokiteshvara’s vow is great and he has deep connection with us—the sentient beings of the Saha World.  All the great vows of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas that we mentioned here cannot be made by any ordinary beings.

(To Be Continued)