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Annotation
Sutra: : a Buddhist scripture, spoken by
the Buddha or certified (to be
true) by the
Buddha. the “self” and life. From ignorance comes
desires and
hatred, which in turn lead to samsara.
Great
Beings: Highly enlightened beings; beings with
great virtue and
deeds;
bodhisattvas and Buddhas.
Mindfully:
sincerely, with great concentration;
whole-heartedly.
Eight Realizations:
what one must achieve to become a Great Being such
as Buddha.
First Realization: the foundation of the
eight realizations; the teaching of
impermanence,
suffering, emptiness, and no-self.
Four
great elements : earth (solid or dry matter),
water (liquid or wet
matter), wind
(air or motion), and fire (heat or energy). They
comprise all
matter.
Inhere in suffering: all worldly
things are impermanent, and prone to bring
suffering.
Emptiness:
without independent existence, consistency, or
fixed
characteristics.
Five
skandhas: five aggregates—form, feeling,
conception, volition, and
consciousness.
Ordinary beings take these aggregates to be the
“self”.
No self: emptiness of
independent, consistent self-identity. What we
perceive as
“self” is actually an illusive ego.
All that
arise... : all composite things are
conditional, always changing, and
will perish.
One should see beyond their appearance. There
isn’t a
master-controller.
Root
of evil: all harmful actions come from deluded
thoughts.
Reservoir of sin: the body is
prone to suffering, a result of past
transgressions.
Free
from birth and death: to escape the endless
rebirth cycle and attain
nirvana.
Birth, death: where there is birth there is
death; both are suffering. The
endless
rebirth cycle (“samsara”) is a result of desires
arising from
delusion.
Wu-wei
: free from forced effort (but not necessarily
no-action), free from
clinging and
attachments, unconditioned, absolute. It also
means inner
peace obtained
by having no desires, understanding that we are
intrinsically
complete and lacking nothing.
Sin: misdeeds, actions that lead to harm
and suffering.
Bodhisattva: one who vows
to become a Buddha and, with infinite
compassion,
liberates countless sentient beings.
Bodhi: enlightenment,
to awaken.
Sattva: sentient beings, beings with
consciousness.
At peace with poverty:
the bodhisattva is not distressed by physical
hardship; true
poverty is poverty of virtue, not material
comfort.
Wisdom as sole vocation:
“wisdom” means the understanding of truth. To
acquire such
wisdom is essential for the bodhisattva.
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