Taking the Bodhicitta Vows
Deshung Rinpoche

'The commitments from having taken the vows to develop wishing Bodhicitta' is divided into two sections:

1. Advice as to how to prevent your development of the Bodhicitta wish from degenerating in this life.
2. Advice as to how to prevent your development of the Bodhicitta wish from being lost in all future lives.

'Advice as to how to prevent your development of the Bodhicitta wish from degenerating in this life' is divided into four sections:

1. You must remember the advantages of developing Bodhicitta.
2. You must take the vows three times each morning and three times each evening in order to reaffirm and enhance your development of Bodhicitta and not to abandon it.
3. You must counter any arisal of the negative attitude by which you might think not to work for the sake of liberating harmful sentient beings.
4. You must work to accumulate your collection of merit in order to enhance your development of Bodhicitta.

'Advice as to how to prevent your development of the Bodhicitta wish from being lost in all future lives' is divided into two sections:

1. The four actions, producing black karmic consequences, that are to be abandoned.
2. The four actions, producing white karmic merit, that are to be practiced.

'The four actions, producing black karmic consequences, that are to be abandoned' are:

1. Confusing your Guru with lies concerning your keeping of the Bodhicitta vows and following their practice.
2. Discouraging others from practicing virtuous actions and causing them to regret the virtuous actions they have already committed.
3. Angrily abusing and insulting Bodhisattvas.
4. Having ulterior motives other than the pure selfless wish.

'The four actions, producing white karmic merit, that are to be practiced' are:

1. Abandoning consciously telling lies about keeping and practicing your Bodhicitta vows.
2. Being unbiased in helping all sentient beings without having any ulterior motives.
3. Recognizing all Bodhisattvas as Buddhas, as they are on the path to Buddhahood, and praising them as they deserve.
4. Letting the responsibility ripen on yourself to bring all sentient beings to the Full Enlightenment of Buddhahood.

'The commitments from having taken the vows to develop venturing Bodhicitta' is divided into two sections:

1. The eighteen root vows of actions to be abandoned.
2. The forty-six auxiliary vows of actions to be abandoned.

'The eighteen root vows of actions to be abandoned' are:

1. Praising yourself and belittling others because of attachment to receiving respect or material wealth.
2. Not sharing your wealth or the Dharma teachings because of miserliness.
3. Not forgiving someone who apologizes but punishing him/her instead.
4. Abandoning the Mahayana teachings and propounding false Dharma.
5. Appropriating what has been offered to the Three Jewels of Refuge.
6. Abandoning the Dharma by claiming, with sectarian feelings, that a certain text of either the Hinayana, Mahayana, or Tantrayana vehicle is not Buddha's teachings.
7. Disrobing monks or nuns with an especially harmful intention.
8. Committing any of the five heinous crimes.
9. Holding distorted views.
10. Destroying places such as towns.
11. Teaching voidness to an improper vessel that is someone not yet ready to understand it.
12. Turning someone away from working towards Full Enlightenment.
13. Turning someone away from keeping his/her vowed rules of moral conduct.
14. Causing others to share your distorted views about the Hinayana teachings.
15. Proclaiming false realizations of Voidness.
16. Accepting as a gift what has been seized from the Three Jewels of Refuge.
17. Passing false judgment such as favoring someone who merely recites texts over someone who meditates.
18. Abandoning Bodhicitta.

'The forty-six auxiliary vows of actions to be abandoned' are divided into two sections:

1. The thirty-four vows in connection with the six perfections.
2. The twelve vows in connection with the morality of helping others.

'The thirty-four vows in connection with the six perfections' is divided into six sections:

1. The seven vows in connection with generosity.
2. The nine vows in connection with the discipline of moral self-control.
3. The four vows in connection with patience.
4. The three vows in connection with enthusiastic perseverance.
5. The three vows in connection with meditative concentration.
6. The eight vows in connection with wisdom.

'The seven vows of actions to be abandoned in connection with generosity' are:

1. Not making offerings every day to the Three Jewels of Refuge with your body, speech and mind.
2. Acting out thoughts of desire because of discontent.
3. Not showing respect to your elders who hold Bodhicitta vows.
4. Not answering questions you are capable of answering, because of anger or laziness.
5. Not accepting invitations for selfish reasons because of pride, the wish to hurt another's feelings, anger or laziness.
6. Not accepting gifts of money and so forth for similar reasons.
7. Not giving the Dharma teachings to those who wish to learn.

'The nine vows of actions to be abandoned in connection with the discipline of moral self-control' are:

1. Neglecting those who have broken their moral self-discipline.
2. Not keeping vowed rules of moral conduct because you wish to ingratiate yourself with others.
3. Complying with minor rules when in order to help others you would need to disregard them.
4. Not committing one of the seven non-virtuous actions of the body and speech when love and compassion deem it necessary.
5. Accepting things obtained by one of the five wrong livelihoods.
6. Being distracted by frivolous activities.
7. Wandering by yourself in samsara feeling that there is no need for Bodhisattvas to attain Liberation from delusion.
8. Not keeping vows because you think you will become unpopular.
9. Not correcting others although out of delusion they commit non-virtuous actions.

'The four vows of actions to be abandoned in connection with patience' are:

1. Separating yourself from the four virtuous trainings.
2. Neglecting those who are angry with you.
3. Refusing to accept the apologies of others.
4. Acting out thoughts of anger.

The four virtuous trainings are not to retaliate when abused, experiencing another's wrath, hit or provoked.

'The three vows of actions to be abandoned in connection with enthusiastic perseverance' are:

1. Gathering a circle of disciples because of desire for receiving respect or material gain.
2. Not eliminating your laziness, addiction to sleep and so forth.
3. Being addicted to frivolous talk.

'The three vows of actions to be abandoned in connection with meditative concentration' are:

1. Not seeking the means for attaining single-minded concentration.
2. Not eliminating the obstacles to your concentration.
3. Regarding a taste of bliss as the main benefit to be gained from meditative concentration.

'The eight vows of actions to be abandoned in connection with wisdom' are:

1. Abandoning the Hinayana teachings feeling that a Mahayana practitioner need not study or observe them.
2. Making an effort in another direction while you have your own Mahayana methods.
3. Making effort in pursuing non-Buddhist teachings to the neglect of Buddhist ones.
4. Favoring non-Buddhist teachings even when it is beneficial to exert effort in them.
5. Abandoning the Mahayana teachings by claiming they are ineffective.
6. Praising yourself and belittling others because of arrogance or anger.
7. Not attending religious ceremonies, discourses, pujas and so forth because of laziness or pride.
8. Disparaging your Guru and not relying on his words.

This concludes 'the thirty-four vows in connection with the six perfections.'

'The twelve vows of actions to be abandoned in connection with the morality of helping others' are:

1. Not helping those who need assistance.
2. Avoiding take care of the sick.
3. Not working to alleviate the physical suffering of others.
4. Not showing the Dharma teachings to those who are reckless, working only for this life.
5. Not repaying others' kindness.
6. Not consoling those who have mental grief.
7. Not giving to those in need of charity.
8. Not taking care of your circle of disciples, relatives, attendants and friends by giving them teachings and material aid.
9. Not acting in accordance with others' wishes.
10. Not praising others' good qualities.
11. Not preventing harmful acts in accordance with the circumstances.
12. If you possess extra-physical powers or the ability to cast spells, not using them at a time of need.

This concludes 'the forty-six auxiliary vows of actions to be abandoned' as well as 'the commitments from having taken the vows to develop venturing Bodhicitta.'

'Having taken these vows, the way to keep them pure without letting them degenerate' is concluded as follows:

There are four binding factors that must all be present in transgressing a vow for it to be broken completely. The first is not regarding what you have done as detrimental. The second is not forsaking the wish to repeat such behavior. The third is delighting and taking pleasure in what you have done. And the fourth is being shameless and inconsiderate, not caring about the consequences of your action for yourself or for others.

All four factors must be present for sixteen of the eighteen root Bodhicitta vows to be broken completely. This is not the case, however, with respect to holding distorted views or abandoning Bodhicitta. Merely to think in these ways constitutes a total breach of these vows.

If you break any root Bodhicitta vow, you must invoke the four opponent powers of declaring your previous non-virtuous actions in order to avoid experiencing their black karmic consequences. Then you must retake the entire set of vows at an appropriate ceremony.