Repentance & Refuges
3 Refuges of a Bodhisattva
(SFZC Style)
Repentance (3 X)
All my ancient, twisted karma,
From beginningless greed, hate
and delusion,
Born through body, speech
and mind,
I now fully avow.
Refuges
I take refuge in Buddha
Before all being
Immersing body and mind
Deeply in the way
Awakening true mind
I take refuge in dharma
Before all being
Entering deeplyThe merciful ocean
Of Buddha's way
I take refuge in sangha
Before all being
Bringing harmony
to everyone
Free from hindrance
Metta (Loving Kindness) Sutta
This is what may be accomplished by
The one who is wise
Who seeks the good
And has obtained peace
Let one be strenuous upright and sincere
Without pride
Easily contented and joyous
Let one not be submerged
By the things of the world
Let one not take upon oneself
The burden of riches
Let one's senses be controlled
Let one be wise but not puffed up
Let one not desire great possessions
Even for one's family
Let one do nothing that is mean or
That the wise would reprove
May all beings be happy
May they be joyous and live in safety
All living beings whether weak or strong
In high or middle or low
Realms of existence
Small or great
Visible or invisible
Near or far
Born or yet to be born
May all beings be happy
Let no one deceive another
Nor despise any being in any state
Let none by anger or hatred
Wish harm to another
Even as a mother at the risk of her life
Watches over and protects
Her only child
So with a boundless mind
Should one cherish all living things,
Suffusing love over the entire world
Above below and all around without limit
So let one cultivate an infinite good will
Toward the whole world
Standing or walking
Sitting or lying down
During all one's waking hours
Let one practice the way with gratitude
Not holding to fixed views
Endowed with insight
Freed from sense appetites
One who achieves the way
Will be freed from the duality
of birth and death
THREE PURE PRECEPTS (VOWS)
I vow:
To renounce all evil;
To practice all good;
To free all beings.
10 GRAVE PRECEPTS (VOWS)
1. No Killing
2. No Stealing
3. No Abuse of Sexuality, nor the intimacy of sangha
4. No Lying
5. No Use of Mind-Altering Substances
6. No Discussing the Faults of Others
7. No Boasting
8. No Possessiveness Concerning the
Dharma Assets
9. No Expressing Anger against Another
10. No Defaming the Three Treasures:
Buddha, Dharma nor Sangha
SHUSHOGI
(Part V: Practicing Buddhism &
Repaying Blessings)
Arousing the thought of enlightenment is mainly something that human beings in this world should do. Should we not rejoice that we have had the opportunity to be born in this land of the Buddha Shakyamuni and to have encountered him?
We should calmly consider that if this was a time when the true dharma had not yet spread in the world, we would not be able to encounter it, even if we vowed to sacrifice our very lives for it. We who have at present encountered the true dharma should make such a vow.
Do we not know that the Buddha said, " When you meet the teachers who expound supreme enlightenment, do not consider their family background, do not regard their appearance, do not dislike their faults and do not think about their conduct. Simply out of respect for wisdom bow to them three times daily, honor them and do not cause them any grief."
That we are now able to see the Buddha and hear the dharma is due to the blessings that have come to us through the practice of every one of the buddhas and ancestors. If the buddhas and ancestors had not directly transmitted the dharma how could it have reached us today?
We should be grateful for the blessings of even a single phrase. We should be grateful for the blessings of even a single dharma. How much more should we be grateful for the great blessings of the treasury of the eye of the true dharma the Supreme Great Dharma?
The injured bird did not forget its blessings but showed its thanks with the rings of three ministries. The trapped tortoise did not forget its blessings but showed its thanks with the seal of Yubu. If animals repay their blessings how could humans ignore them?
The true path of our expression of gratitude lies solely in our daily practice of Buddhism.This means that we practice without neglecting our lives day to day and without being absorbed in ourselves.
Time flies faster than an arrow and life is more transient than the dew. With what skillful means or devices can we retrieve even a single day that has passed? A hundred years lived to no purpose are days and months to be regretted. We should love and respect our bodies and minds which undertake this practice.
Depending on our practice, the practice of the buddhas is manifested and the great way of the buddhas penetrates everywhere. Therefore the practice of a single day is the seed of the buddhas, the practice of the buddhas.
These buddhas are the Buddha Shakyamuni.
The buddha Shakyamuni is "mind itself is buddha." When buddhas of the past, resent and future together fulfill Buddhahood, they always become the Buddha Shakyamuni. This is [the meaning of] "Mind itself is Buddha."
We should carefully investigate who is meant when we say "Mind itself is buddha."
This is how we repay the blessings of the Buddha.
Dogen’s
Vow
(Eihei
Koso Hotsuganmon)
We vow with all beings from
this life on throughout countless lives
To hear the true dharma
That upon hearing it we shall renounce worldly
affairs
And maintain the Buddha
dharma
And that in doing so the
great earth and all beings together
Will
attain the Buddha way
Although our past harmful
karma has greatly accumulated
Indeed being the cause and
condition of obstacles in practicing the way
May all buddhas and ancestors who
have attained the Buddha way
Be compassionate to us
Allowing us to practice the
way without hindrance
May they share with us their
compassion which fills the boundless universe
With the
virtue of their enlightenment and teachings
Buddhas and ancestors of old were as we
We in the future shall be
buddhas and ancestors
Revering buddhas and
ancestors
We are one Buddha and one
Ancestor
Awakening Bodhimind we are
one Bodhimind
Because they extend their
compassion to us freely and without limit
We are
able to attain Buddhahood and let go of attainment
Therefore the Ch’an master
Lung-ya said
“Those
who in past lives were not enlightened will now be enlightened.”
In this life save the body it
is the fruit of many lives
Before Buddhas were
enlightened they were the same as we
Enlightened people of today are exactly as
those of old
Quietly explore the farthest
reaches of these causes and conditions
as this practice is the exact
transmission of a verified Buddha
Understanding in this way one
never fails to receive profound help from all Buddhas and Ancestors
This is the true and simple
color of true practice
Of the true mind of faith of
the true body of faith
HYMN to the
PERFECTION of WISDOM
Homage to the Perfection of Wisdom,
The lovely, the holy.
The Perfection of Wisdom gives light.
Unstained, the entire world cannot stain her.
She is a source of light and from everyone in the triple world she removes darkness.
Most excellent are her works.
She brings light so that all fear and distress may be forsaken,
and disperses the gloom and darkness of delusion.
She herself is an organ of vision.
She has a clear knowledge of the own-being of all dharmas,
for she does not stray from it.
The Perfection of Wisdom of the buddhas sets in motion the wheel of dharma.
SHUSHOGI Part 1
Practice and Verification
The most important issue of all for Buddhists is the thorough clarification
of the meaning of birth and death
If the buddha is within birth and death
there is no birth and death
Simply understand that
birth and death are themselves nirvana
There is no birth and death to be hated
nor nirvana to be desired
Then for the first time we will be freed
from birth and death
To master this problem
is of supreme importance
It is difficult to be born as a human being
It is rare to encounter the buddha-dharma
Now thanks to our good deeds in the past
not only have we been born as humans
we have also encountered
the buddha-dharma within the realm
of birth and death
This good birth is the best
Let us not waste our precious human lives
irresponsibly abandoning them to the
winds of impermanence
Impermanence is unreliable
We know not on what roadside grasses
the dew of our transient life will fall
Our bodies are not our own
Our lives shift with the passing days
and cannot be stopped for even an instant
Once rosy-cheeked youth has gone
we cannot find even its traces
Careful reflection shows that
most things once gone by
will never be encountered again
In the face of impermanence
there is no help from
kings statesmen relatives
servants spouses children or wealth
We must enter the realm of death alone
accompanied only by our
good or bad karma
Avoid associating with deluded people
in this world
who are ignorant of the truth of
causality and karmic retribution
who are heedless of
past present and future
and cannot distinguish good from evil
The principle of causality is
obvious and impersonal
for inevitably those who do evil fall
and those who do good rise
If there were no causality the buddhas
would not have appeared in this world
nor would Bodhidharma
have come from the west
The karmic consequences
of good and evil
occur at three different times
The first is retribution experienced
in our present life
The second is retribution experienced
in the life following this one
and the third is retribution experienced
in subsequent lives
In practicing the way
of the buddhas and ancestors
from the start we should study and clarify
the principle of retribution in
these three times
Otherwise we will make mistakes and
fall into false views
We will fall into evil births and
undergo long periods of suffering
Understand that in this birth
we have only one life not two or three
How regrettable it is if
falling into false views we are subject
to the consequences of evil deeds
because we think that it is not evil
even as we do evil and
falsely imagine that there will be
no consequences of evil
There is no way for us to
avoid these consequences
