The First Bodhisattva Vow

With palms together,

On the First Bodhisattva Vow:

"Being are numberless, I vow to free them."

The Buddha Way is not only about personal awakening, but the practice of freeing all beings. One way of looking at this vow is to say that through our own awakening all beings are awakened. This comes from a deep understanding of the first truth in Zen Buddhism, The Absolute Truth where it is realized everything is one with no separations.

Another view, so to speak, is from the second truth, the Relative Truth, that we are all individual beings, unique to ourselves. We practice to realize, internalize, and hold both of these truths to be true at the same time. So, when I say the way is not only about personal awakening, but the practice of deep compassion for all beings so that all beings become free from suffering, I mean they are one in the same.

Here we are, now experiencing the truth that we are all interdependent and deeply interconnected. The darkness that is this pandemic is teaching us something about the Absolute Truth, our oneness.. My hope is that through this teaching we also become aware that the light is also inherent in the Absolute Truth. Through our compassion for each other we model the Buddha Way for to be compassionate we must practice to allow mind and body to fall away. In this process we ourselves in everyone and everyone in ourselves.

While unique we are as beings, we are also "everyman,"

Let us each and every one live in this way.

Daiho Hilbert