The Bodhisattva Vow
The Bodhisattva is a being who has taken the Bodhisattva Vow to help save all sentient beings, before going into full Nirvana or enlightenment. There are in Mahayana Buddhist metaphysics a whole cosmology full of heavenly Bodhisattvas. The term is also used for human beings who have taken the Bodhisattva Vow to heart to such an extent that they will keep it, even in their next lives.
The Bodhisattva Vow is essential to Mahayana Buddhism, and thus also to Tibetan Buddhism and Zen Buddhism. Various forms are current. The essence is:
May I attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Here follow a few other ways of saying the same thing with a few more words (found on the internet).
However innumerable
sentient beings are, I vow to save them.
However inexhaustible
the defilements are, I vow to extinguish them.
However immeasurable the
dharmas are, I vow to master them.
However incomparable
enlightenment is, I vow to attain it.
All beings, without number, I vow to
liberate
Endless blind passions I vow to uproot
Dharma gates beyond
measure I vow to
penetrate
The way of the Buddha I vow to attain
Beings are numberless; I vow
to awaken
with them.
Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them.
Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to enter them.
Buddha's way is unsurpassable; I vow to become it.
I take refuge in The Buddha The Dharma and The Sangha
I
take refuge in The Guru The Yidam and the Dakini
I take refuge
in The Bodhisattvas The Protectors and The Tantras
Homage to
all of you
As long as there is suffering
As
long as there are sentient beings in the 6 realms
May I never
attain Enlightenment
And never cross over into Nirvana
The passions of
delusion are
inexhaustible.
I vow to extinguish them all at once.
The number of beings is endless. I vow to help save them all.
The Truth cannot be told. I vow to tell it.
The Way which cannot be followed is unattainable. I vow to attain it.
May I be a guard for those who are
protectorless,
A guide for those who journey on the road;
For those who
wish to go across the water,
May I be a boat, a raft, a
bridge.
May I be an isle for those who yearn for
landfall,
And a lamp for those who long for light;
For
those who need a resting place, a bed,
For all who need a
servant, may I be a
slave.
May I be the wishing jewel, the vase of
plenty,
A word of power, and the supreme remedy.
May
I be the trees of miracles,
And for every being, the abundant cow.
Like the
great earth and the other
elements,
Enduring as the sky itself endures,
For the boundless multitude of living
beings,
May I be the ground and vessel of their
life.
Thus, for every single thing that lives,
In
number like the boundless reaches of the
sky,
May I be their sustenance and nourishment
Until
they pass beyond the bounds of
suffering
Countless sentient beings, I vow to help to cross the ocean of existence.
Eternal Sufferings, I vow to end.
Innumerable spiritual methods, I vow to study and comprehend.
The buddha's unsurpassable supreme dharma, I vow to realize.
[adapted from Kim Dieu's translation from the Vietnamese]
2004
To be able to help all beings in this way, the Bodhisattva practices the six perfection, or paramitas.
On the history of the mahayana Buddhist vows and expanded versions thereof.