Aci Course 07 - Bodhisattva Vows

Front 1

Name the principal commentary that we will be using for our study of the vows of
the bodhisattva; give the author's full name and dates.

Back 1

The Highway for Bodhisattvas, by Je Tsongkapa Lobsang Drakpa, 1357-1419.

Front 2

Summaries of the precepts contained in the three sets of vows are a standard type of
book in Tibetan monasteries. Name the summary we will use, its author and his
approximate dates.

Back 2

The String of Shining Jewels, by Geshe Tsewang Samdrup; we do not know his own dates, but we do know that he was the tutor of His Holiness the Tenth Dalai Lama, Tsultrim Gyatso, who lived 1816-1837.

Front 3

Give the short definition of bodhichitta taught by Maitreya.

Back 3

The wish to become fully enlightened (total & pure) for the sake of all sentient beings.

Front 4

Name and describe three sufferings, and explain their cause:

Back 4

1. Suffering of suffering (physical & mental)

2. Suffering of change (impure pleasure that will end)

3. All-pervasive suffering (having a body that will get old and die)

Front 5

Explain briefly the meaning of the lines in Je Tsongkapa's Three Principal Paths where
beings are described as locked in a steel cage swept along a powerful river.

Back 5

All beings, which have been our mother, are shackled by their bad deeds, in a cage (ego/self-nature of things), in the darkness (ignorance) and going down the river (timeline of how quickly we will die) and go into our next life.

Front 6

Name and describe the three different types of morality.

Back 6

1. Refrain from doing bad deeds and keep your vows.

2. You try to collect merit (eg: 6 perfections)

3. You do #1 and #2 for the benefit of others.

Front 7

Name and describe the four wonderful qualities of the bodhisattva vows.

Back 7

1. Taken by another (you will feel shame if you come close to breaking them)

2. Pure intention (you will not break them because you remember how pure the intention was when you took them)

3. Vows can be fixed when broken (unlike other vows, these can be repaired if you break them)

4. You can avoid breaking them if you keep #1 and #2 strongly

Front 8

Describe Je Tsongkapa's reaction to the idea that practitioners of the secret way do not
need to follow the other two sets of vows.

Back 8

This wrong idea "cuts the roots of the Buddha's teaching, and is like a great rain of hail that destroys the tender crops of the happiness of all living kind; it reflects a total failure to grasp both the higher and lower teachings, an absolute misconception that should be thrown away like so much garbage."

Front 9

Give the five parts to the preparation stage, and describe each one briefly.

Back 9

1. Making a respectful request to your Lama to grant you the vows, offering a mandala for this purpose.

2. Inviting all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas to attend the ceremony and witness the vow you are taking; trying, at this moment, to be mindful of their wonderful qualities

3. Requesting that the vows be granted quickly, kneeling on your right
knee to do so.

4. Reflecting with joy on the opportunity you now have for collecting the immense amount of goodness needed to become an enlightened being and help all living beings.

5. Having the teacher ask you about your intentions: Do you really hope, by taking these vows, to achieve enlightenment for all living
beings? Do you really understand the vows, and do you intend to keep them all?

Front 10

Describe the kind of person who can grant the vows of a bodhisattva.

Back 10

1. Preferable, ordained and can give you your tantric vows.

2. Male or female.

3. Keeps their vows well and have respect for them.

4. They should know the ceremony, have the bodhisattva intention and be a master of the teachings.

5. Able and willing to bring up the student.

6. They should also be free of attachment, in the sense that they should be satisfied with what they have.

7. Not be easily upset or angered, or hold anger.

8. Not be lazy in the sense of having no joy in doing virtue.

9. Not have a mind that wanders and cannot meditate well.

10. Not be stupid in the sense of putting down the greater way (the mahayana).

Front 11

Describe the kind of person who can take the vows of the bodhisattva.

Back 11

The kind of person who can take the bodisattva vows is someone who really wishes to take them; who has a compassionate nature; who knows
the vows; intends to keep them; and is based in morality (avoids the ten non-virtues well).

Front 12

Describe the four steps to the concluding stages of the ceremony for taking the bodhisattva vows.

Back 12

1. You ask all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas to witness what you've done, and to acknowledge your oath to them; this is followed by three prostrations to each of the ten directions where these beings reside.

2. The teacher "pumps up" the disciples by describing the great deed they have just done; he or she describes for example how a shock wave caused by the disciple's extraordinary deed has just passed through all the Buddha paradises, and how these enlightened beings will now consider the disciple one of their special family, and care for them and lead them.

3. You and the teacher make an offering of thanksgiving to all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, for granting the opportunity to have taken the vows.

4. You make a resolution not to advertise your vows to people who have no faith in them; if you do, and they have bad thoughts, it could
create obstacles for them. Keep the vows privately, without hoping that you could obtain some gain or praise from others through them.

Front 13

List the first nine root downfalls of the bodhisattva vows, using the short verse forms.

Back 13

(1) The root downfall of praising yourself, or criticizing others.
(2) The root downfall of failing to give the Dharma, or material assistance.
(3) The root downfall of failing to accept someone's apology (or suggestion), or striking another.
(4) The root downfall of giving up the greater way, or teaching false Dharma.

(5) The root downfall of stealing what belongs to the Three Jewels.
(6) The root downfall of giving up the highest Dharma.
(7) The root downfall of taking away someone's robes and the rest; or of removing someone from the status of an ordained person.
(8) The root downfall of committing one of the five immediate misdeeds.

(9) The root downfall of holding wrong views.

Front 14

List the two parts of each of the first four root downfalls

Back 14

1. a. Praising yourself, b. Putting down another person

2. a. Not giving Dharma teachings. b. Not giving material assistance.

3. a. Not accepting an apology. b. Striking another.

4. a. Giving up the Greater Way. b. Teaching false Dharma.

Front 15

List the 10th through the 18th root downfalls of the bodhisattva vows, using the short verse forms.

Back 15

(10) The root downfall of destroying towns and such.
(11) The root downfall of teaching emptiness to a person who is not yet mentally prepared.
(12) The root downfall of causing a person to turn back from total enlightenment.
(13) The root downfall of causing a person to give up the morality of freedom.

(14) The root downfall of holding that a person cannot eliminate desire and the rest by following the way of the learner.
(15) The root downfall of professing the complete opposite (that is, of saying that you have seen emptiness or deities and the like directly, when you have not).

(16) The root downfall of accepting what belongs to the Three Jewels when someone presents it to you.
(17) The root downfall of rejecting the practice of quietude and giving the possessions of meditators to those who practice recitation.
(18) The root downfall of discarding the wish for enlightenment.

Front 16

Describe the result which is required for the 11th root downfall to occur

Back 16

As a result of your presentation of the concept of emptiness, a person who had already entered the greater way (the mahayana) becomes
frightened or disturbed; they give up the teachings of the greater way, and enter the lower way (the hinayana).

Front 17

Describe how the 13th root downfall is committed.

Back 17

You tell someone who is keeping their freedom vows that their keeping these vows is not very important for attaining enlightenment, and that they should rather develop the wish for enlightenment and enter the greater way; the vow is broken when they agree and give up a moral life of following these vows.

Front 18

The 18th root downfall, and one other before it, are particularly serious and occur whether or not the four mental afflictions called the "chains" are all present. Name this other root downfall and describe it briefly

Back 18

This other downfall is the 9th; that is, holding wrong views. There are two classic types of wrong view: believing there is no such thing as good and bad karma, and believing there is no such thing as past and future lives.

Front 19

Name the four "chains": the four mental afflictions that bind you, and which must all
be present in order for a "major" instance of these afflictions to occur-- which destroys
one's root vow.

Back 19

1. You are willing to commit the particular wrong deed again.

2. You do not have any shame or consideration about doing it; that is, you are neither concerned, respectively, about avoiding the wrong deed out of respect for the self-image you have of yourself, nor out of a concern for how you action will affect others.

3. You derive a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction out of doing the wrong deed.

4. You do not consider the deed to be wrong.

Front 20

Describe the difference between shame and consideration.

Back 20

Shame is avoiding a bad deed because of your own conscience or self esteem. Consideration is avoiding a bad deed because of concern for
what others will think about you.

Front 21

Why is it wrong to be overly comforted by the fact that, if you destroy a root vow, you can take it over again?

Back 21

If you break even one root downfall completely, says Je Tsongkapa, it is impossible for you to see emptiness with bodhichitta—that is, to attain the first bodhisattva level or bhumi—in this life. Whatever collection of virtue you have to see emptiness cannot be increased further, and you lose any ability to create whatever kinds of this merit you have not already attained. It also makes it very difficult for you to meet spiritual teachers in the future.

Front 22

Name three different ways that a person can lose his or her bodhisattva vows.

Back 22

a) Holding wrong views.
b) Giving up bodhichitta, or the wish to reach enlightenment in order to be of help to every living being; this is the same as formally
giving the vows back.
c) Breaking a root vow with all four chains present.

Front 23

Name five instances in which you do not commit a secondary offense if you fail to reply to a question.

Back 23

a) When teaching Dharma, or already engaged in a Dharma discussion with a person other than the one asking the question.
b) You are attempting to engage in an earnest conversation with someone to satisfy their needs.

c) When you yourself are listening to a Dharma talk.

d) If it would disturb someone else listening to a Dharma talk.

e) If you are afraid it might upset the Dharma teacher whose talk you are attending.

Front 24

Describe the kind of person you must be to break one of the rules of body and speech
out of compassion in certain very extraordinary circumstances.

Back 24

You must be a bodhisattva who is very well versed in the path, having practiced it for many millions of years; who has great compassion; who possesses skillful means; and who sees that there is no other alternative.

Front 25

Name and describe the five kinds of wrong livelihood taught in the String of Precious
Jewels, and then describe the additional general kind of wrong livelihood mentioned by
Master Bodhibhadra.

Back 25

1. Pretending (you are a holy person)

2. Flattery (hoping someone will give you something)

3. Hinting (for them to give you something they want)

4. Forcing (them to give you something they don't want to)

5. Baiting (by giving them a minor gift so they'll give you something great)

Front 26

Name the four points of the practice of virtue.

Back 26

1. Someone yells at you and you don't yell back.

2. When someone is angry and says something unpleasant and you don't respond.

3. Someone hits you and you don't respond.

4. Someone criticizes you and points out your faults, but you don't respond.

Front 27

Describe the kind of bodhisattva who can engage in serious study of hinayana and non-Buddhist teachings without breaking a bodhisattva vow.

Back 27

One who can correctly and quickly grasp the meaning of what he or she is reading; who is very logical in their approach; who can easily
remember whatever they have studied; and who cannot be swayed from their correct beliefs. Someone who on any given day would naturally want to spend twice the time studying Buddhist scripture as they would reading something else that they had to read for a good reason.

Front 28

Describe the four ways in which a person may make the mistake of rejecting a mahayana teaching

Back 28

a) By saying that some part of the teaching is inferior.
b) By saying that the composition is inferior.
c) By saying that the author is inferior.
d) By saying that the teaching won't help living beings much.

Front 29

Explain what the Protector, Maitreya, advises us to do if we find that some Buddhist teaching doesn't suit us for now

Back 29

If there is some point within the teachings which you cannot understand, or which you have a doubt about right now, then leave it for
the time being. Be careful not to decide for sure that it is wrong, or reject it, since this would be serious bad karma; rather, shelve the idea for now and decide you will come back to it later when you get more information or have thought about it longer.

Front 30

Name the "two states of mind" and "the other two states of mind" that often occur as
motivations for committing the secondary offenses.

Back 30

1. malice (wanting to hurt someone)

2. anger

3. regular laziness (being addicted to low level non-virtuous behavior)

4. spiritual laziness (failing to take joy in doing good deeds)

Front 31

Name the four white deeds, and for each explain the black deed for which it acts as an antidote.

Back 31

1. Never speak a lie to any living being, even in jest. This is the antidote to intentionally deceiving your Lama, or any other holy beings.

2. Bring other people to strive for the bodhisattva ideal of total enlightenment. This is the antidote for causing a person to regret a virtuous deed they have done.

3. Try to see every person or thing you encounter as being absolutely pure, and conceive of every living being as the Teacher himself (or herself). This is the antidote to saying something unpleasant to a bodhisattva out of anger.

4. Maintain an attitude of total honesty, free of any kind of deception, towards every living being. This is the antidote for acting in a
devious way towards anyone, without a sense of personal responsibility for their enlightenment.

Front 32

Describe the five steps involved in keeping the bodhisattva vows well.

Back 32

a) Respect the speech of the Buddha: think of the vows as a gift given to you personally by an enlightened being.
b) Maintain the three intentions: intend to follow the vows because an enlightened being gave them to you; intend to become
enlightened and reach paradise; and intend to help limitless beings.
c) Take the vows based upon the prior two steps.

d) Respect the vows as your most precious possession and the most precious thing in this world.
e) Since the previous point (d) is true, then avoid breaking your vows.

Front 33

Can a person break a secondary vow out of a mere forgetfulness, or does the motivation have to be one of the mental afflictions?

Back 33

You can break them either way.

Front 34

Name the four typical causes why a person might break their bodhisattva vows.

Back 34

1. You don't know your vows in the first place.

2. You know your vows, but are careless, lazy or forgetful in trying to keep them.

3. You know vows, but have an attack of bad thoughts.

4. You disregard the vows, you disrespect the Buddha and vows.