When I, a student of Dharma,
Look at the real form of the universe,
All is the never-failing manifestation
Of the mysterious truth of Tathagata.
In any event, in any moment, and in any place,
None can be other than the marvelous revelation
Of its glorious light.
This realization made our ancestral teachers and virtuous Zen masters
Extend tender care, with a worshiping heart,
Even to such beings as beasts and birds.
This realization teaches us that our daily food and drink,
Clothes and protections of life are the warm flesh and blood,
The merciful incarnation of Buddha.
Who can be ungrateful or not respectful
Even to senseless things, not to speak of a man?
Even though he may be a fool,
Be warm and compassionate toward him.
If by chance he should turn against us,
And abuse and persecute us, we should
Bow down with humble words, in the reverent belief
That he is the merciful avatar of Buddha,
Who uses devices to emancipate us from sinful Karma
That has been produced and accumulated upon ourselves
By our own egoistic delusion and attachment
Through the countless cycles of Kalpa.
Then in each moment’s flash or our thought
There will grow a lotus flower,
And each lotus flower will reveal a Buddha.
These Buddhas will glorify Sukhavati,
The Pure Land, every moment, everywhere.
May we extend This mind over the whole universe
So that we and all beings together
May attain maturity in Buddha’s Wisdom.

bodhisattvas-vow