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Annotation
Indolence: sloth or laziness easily leads
to moral misconducts.
Practice with
diligence: to attain the Way requires diligent
effort.
Vexations: klesas (pronounced
“kleshas”)—greed, anger, and ignorance; the
addictive
mental states that vex the mind; causes of
suffering;
defilement of
the mindy.
Four maras: maras are
obstacles to cultivation. 1. Kleshas, 2. skandhas,
3. death, 4.
deva-mara, the celestial evil
tempter.
Prison: the skandhas are like a
prison.
Ignorance: : ignorance of the true nature
of the “self” and life. From
ignorance
comes desires and hatred, which in turn lead to
samsara.
Study and learn: bodhisattvas
need to learn many ways of liberation in
order to help
wide groups of people.
Eloquence:
ability to convey the teaching well and to answer
difficult
questions.
Poverty and hardship: easily lead to
resentment, which in turn may
produce
otherwise undue and uncalled-for bad karma with
many
people.
Dana:
the practice of charity. One may practice the
giving of material
things, or
donating organs, or the giving of Dharma wisdom,
or the giving
of comfort and encouragement.
Equal:
bodhisattva understands all beings are
fundamentally equal; they
have no hatred
towards evil or malicious people.
Five desires: desire for sights, sounds,
smells, tastes, and touch.
Alternatively,
desire for wealth, lust, fame, food, and sleep.
They are
harmful, not
pleasurable.
Three robes …:
traditionally Buddhist monks wear only three
robes. Tiled
bowl: monk’s
begging bowl can be tiled or metal. Instruments:
used in
chanting or
Buddhist services. These are symbols of monastic
life.
Mahayana: means great (maha) vehicle
(yana). It is the path of
bodhisattvas
and Buddhas, who are devoted to the liberation of
all beings.
Mahayana mind: the bodhi mind, the enlightened
mind, the
Buddha nature
within all of us.
Take on sufferings: a
bodhisattva is willing to self-sacrifice for
others. But a
true sacrifice
is to eliminate the ego and help others to
eliminate the ego
and attain
enlightenment.
Sentient beings: all
living beings with sentience, including devas
(gods or
heavenly
beings), asuras (demi-gods), human beings,
animals, hungry-
ghosts, and
hell-beings. Unlike Buddhas and bodhisattvas, they
are all
trapped in
samsara.
Supreme joy: the joy of perfect
enlightenment; the joy of nirvana.
Dharmakaya: the Buddha has three bodies
(kaya), dharma-kaya, the truth
body, which is
formless, unborn, our original nature;
sambhogha-kaya,
the bliss
body, which can only be seen by great
bodhisattvas; and
nirmana-kaya,
the transformation body, which is the historical
Buddha seen by
ordinary beings.
Samsara: means
“birth-and-death,” referring to reincarnation,
that is the
endless cycle
of birth-and-deaths. By extension it means this
world of
afflictions
and suffering.
Nirvana: the state free
from all suffering; ultimate bliss and
tranquility.
Thought after thought: one
deviant thought can lead to grave peril; one
pure thought
can eliminate great sin.
Bodhi path:
the path to awakening, to becoming a Buddha.
Therein lies the
lasting joy.
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