Why do you suppose it is that I read something again and again and then suddenly realize I haven’t been paying attention.
Today’s Daily Dharma says, “Superior-Practice is the embodiment of the fourth vow of a Bodhisattva: The Buddha’s teachings are immeasurable; I vow to attain supreme enlightenment.”
The Four Great Vows of the Bodhisattva are:
- SHUJO-MUHEN SEIGANDO – Sentient beings are innumerable: I vow to save them all.
- BONNO-MUSHU-SEIGANDAN – Our evil desires are inexhaustible: I vow to quench them all.
- HO-MON MUJIN SEIGANCHI – The Buddha’s teachings are immeasurable: I vow to study them all.
- BUTSUDO-MUJO-SEIGANJO – The way of the Buddha is unexcelled: I vow to attain the Path Sublime.
The Fourth Vow is the Buddha’s way, not his immeasurable teachings.
Gene Reeve’s “Stories of the Lotus Sutra” explains the correspondence between the Four Great Leaders of the Bodhisattvas from Underground and the Four Great Bodhisattva Vows:
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p193-194[T]he four great bodhisattvas – Superior Practice, Unlimited Practice, Pure Practice, and Firm Practice – who lead the great horde of bodhisattvas who emerge from the earth are said to display, or correspond to, the four great bodhisattva vows:
Firm Practice: However innumerable living beings are, I vow to save them all;
Pure Practice: However innumerable hindrances are, I vow to overcome them all;
Unlimited Practice: However innumerable the Buddha’s teachings are, I vow to master them all;
Superior Practice: However supreme the Buddha Way is, I vow to reach it.
So I guess I wasn’t paying attention on March 7, 2021, or July 8, 2019, or May 14, 2018 or Feb. 13, 2018, or April 16, 2016, or Aug. 14, 2015.
I probably didn’t know the Four Great Vows by heart in August 2015, but that doesn’t excuse not noticing this error until today. Just Not Paying Attention.