The 12 Steps and Zen Koans: December 2021

Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and practice these principles in all our affairs.

Called by various titles, The Four Great Vows, The Four Boundless Vows, The Four Bodhisattva Vows, etc. For our koan this month, we’ll be sitting with this sutra:

Koan: GREAT VOWS FOR ALL -- CityZen – Santa Rosa

I vow to wake [save] all the beings of the world

I vow to set endless craving [desire] to rest

I vow to walk through every dharma gate

I vow to live the great Buddha way

Year 2021 is nearly over and we’ve been practicing the 12 Steps along the way. Here we are, at Step 12, which is not the end of the course; it’s the spiritual engine that powers and directs our lives. The Four Vows are doing the same thing from a Buddhist perspective, showing again that 12 Step programs and Buddhism correspond to each other.

Linji advises, “Face the world and walk crosswise. Take what is given by the karma focused in the present moment and revise it. Turn things around. Change their meaning. The responsibility that goes along with taking the bodhisattva vows of Mahayana Buddhism does not have any limit. And the only way to shoulder it is to be unburdened by any habits or doubts…everywhere you stand is real - - the bodhimandala, or place of awakening. Doing so, even though circumstances come and go, they won’t be able to influence or catch you.”

Chan Buddhism by Peter D. Hershock, page 125

This is good advice when we read the Big Book. Turn things around and change the meanings, especially true in how we choose a higher power of our own understanding, or whatever we turn things over to. The responsibility that goes along with integrating the 12 Steps into our lives does not have any limit.

Step Twelve

Awakened at last

Knowing I have a purpose

Service to others

Looking around at various Mahayana schools of Buddhism, you’ll find that most of them place a high value on The Four Great Vows, putting voice to these vows at the end of each day.

“To me the four vows are important because they remind me that the intimate way involves all of us. I love the inside joke that we cannot actually achieve liberation without everyone coming along, and at the same time that victory was won before the creation of the stars and planets. For me repeating it daily is a constant reminder of the play of this sometimes horrific and sometimes painfully beautiful life. And that we're all together in this lovely mess...”

James Myo’un Ford, Roshi, Teacher Emeritus, Boundless Way Zen

Buddhist teachers throughout have changed words, language, and phraseology in order to more effectively teach new students of a different culture. Teachers today continue with changing – where one may prefer “save”, another uses “wake” – where one chooses “craving”, another uses “delusions”, and still another “kleshes”; they all are pointing in the same direction. Here is a sampling of various translations and preferences:

1] The Four Great Vows – Kwan Um School of Zen

Sentient beings are numberless. We vow to save them all.

Delusions are endless. We vow to cut through them all.

The teachings are infinite. We vow to learn them all.

The Buddha Way is inconceivable. We vow to attain it.

2] The Four Great Bodhisattva Vows – Upaya Zen Center

Creations are numberless, I vow to free them.

Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to transform them.

Reality is boundless, I vow to perceive it.

The awakened way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it.

3] FOUR INFINITE VOWS -- Honolulu Diamond Sangha

All beings without limit I vow to carry over;

Kleshas without cease I vow to cut off;

Dharma gates without measure I vow to master;

Buddha Ways without end I vow to fulfill

4] THE FOUR GREAT VOWS – Rocks and Clouds Zendo, Sebastopol, CA

The many beings are numberless, I vow to free them

Greed, hatred, and ignorance rise endlessly, I vow to abandon them

Dharma gates are countless, I vow to wake to them

The Buddha way is unsurpassed, I vow to embody it fully

5] FOUR VOWS OF BODHISATTVA– Nichiren Buddhism

Living beings are limitless; I vow to deliver them.

Mental afflictions are inexhaustible; I vow to cut them off.

Dharma gates are incalculable; I vow to practice them.

The buddha way is unsurpassed; I vow to attain it.

6] Regarding Tibetan Buddhism, Christine Skarda, Tibetan Buddhist Nun (She did her first three-year retreat in the early 90s) told me:

“In my Tibetan tradition we do not recite these four vows as do Zen practitioners at a sutra service. But we share these intentions nonetheless since they are embedded in the bodhisattva ideals of Mahayana practice. I am very fond of the zen tradition’s expression of these four vows in group practice. I think it is very important.”

"Shohaku Okamura wrote a book called, 'Living by Vow'. As Bodhisattvas that’s how our practice is developed. Our wish to wake up to the Buddha Way, which is our life in its most elemental way, framed by our vows and the Paramitas. The vows might appear impossible to attain, we know that, and yet as Okamura says we live by these vows. My teacher used to say that the fact that they appear impossible or very difficult if not impossible to not break, we do it anyway. That in itself is a big koan that we assume voluntarily with the spirit of a Bodhisattva, to alleviate the suffering of all beings including ourselves. I would say also, as we practice with our vows they make more sense and allow us continue the Path of the Bodhisattva”

Daniel Terragno, Roshi, Rocks and Clouds Zendo