To be bodhisattva today | Godinne, July 2013
Workshop directed by Silvia Leyer
In this workshop we took a little trip. We started with the meaning of "bodhisattva" and recalled the meaning of bodaishin the mind of awakening, the motivation of a bodhisattva.
Then we discussed Four Vows of the bodhisattva. What does "To save all sentient beings" mean? Eno, the Sixth Patriarch said: "I can not save anyone. But beings can be saved by their own buddha nature. "
We looked for examples of our daily lives, how we can actually help people saving themselves, or rather, free themselves, with our resources, with skillful means.
Similarly we continued with the second Vow, to overcome all bonnos, one’s illusions. As a bodhisattva we continue to lead a life with many illusions. How can they be used as a source of awakening and compassion ?
We tried to clarify the other two Vows. Do not miss opportunities to study the Dharma doesn’t mean only spending one’s time reading the sutras, but to see the Dharma everywhere in nature, in one’s daily life, when meeting others.
And to realize the path of Buddha does not mean to go to a goal or an end, but to remain continuously moving on the way as we are. To do the same zazen as Buddha, to get back to the present moment as Buddha did, living a life of bodhisattva, a non-selfish life driven by compassion.
The guide to the second part of our trip was a chapter of the Shobogenzo of Master Dogen, the Bodaisatta Shishobo where Master Dogen develops the four beneficial deeds of the bodhisattva: givig (fuse), kind speech (aigo), the benevolent or beneficial deeds (rigyo) and to be one with the other (doji).
He explains well the mind that lay behind these deeds and which makes the difference with a common gift, speech or a common deed. He gives examples for every action which are not only valid in the thirteenth century. We looked together how to transpose them in our time, in everyone's life.
Doji, to become one with the other, does not mean considering the other as different, it is to become one with the universe. For some this does not seem easy to realize in everyday life. But the explanations and illuminating examples of Dogen open the mind. Finally we saw that we can’t look at these actions separately, since they are driven by the same spirit: the mind of awakening.