Page 55 - EH59

E
HORIZ
ON

AS
|
TERN
5
ORUM
F
TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 533

However, there are many references to guardian devas our negative karma that we have been creating since
found in the commentaries, thus showing that this is a beginningless time, which is the obstacle to realizations,
later development. Probably the only suggestion of such and the accumulation of the extensive merit, which
devas is found in a list of 11 benefits for a monk who is is the cause to achieve realizations. The Seven Limb
well developed in the cultivation of loving-kindness, i.e. Prayer illuminated so eloquently in The King of
devas protect (him) [Mettā Sutta, AN 11.15]. Prayers: The Extraordinary Aspiration of the Practice of
Samantabhadra (Samantabhadracaryä praôidhänaraja),

Min Wei: Mahāyāna teachings are mainly based upon from the Gaôçavyüha chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra,
the path of a bodhisattva. Therefore, the basic practice which summarizes the activities of Bodhisattvas, is a
of Mahāyāna tradition is bodhicitta, a compassionate wonderful example. One may engage in such a prayer in
mind to attain Buddhahood for the sake of sentient honor of a Buddha. The first of the seven is prostration.
beings. Prostrations are physical-bowing, verbal-expression
of the qualities of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṃgha, and
The bodhisattva is the ideal of all Mahāyāna Buddhists. mental-contemplation of those qualities of the Buddha,
The bodhisattva’s path is for all of us, not just the beings Dharma, and Saṃgha, and generating appreciation.
in the statues and pictures. Mahāyāna Buddhists take Prostrations serve as the antidote to the poison of pride
the bodhisattva vow to generate the Four Great Vows. and the cause for one to attain the holy body, speech and
mind of a Buddha. The second limb is offerings, which is
The Four Great Vows are as follows: the antidote to attachment and greed, and the cause of
wealth and success in this and future lives up until one’s
Beings are numberless; I vow to free them. own enlightenment. It is a practice in generosity. Next is
Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them. confession of one’s misdeeds of body, speech, and mind.
Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to learn them. It is the antidote for anger, attachment and ignorance
The Awakened Way is unsurpassable; I vow to embody it. and all negative karma. Rejoicing in virtue is next and

the antidote to jealousy. It creates the cause for success
There was originally no such thing as prayer in in all one does. Requesting teachings is the fifth limb
Buddhism as we do not have the concept of creator God. and is the antidote to the very heavy negative karma of
We find the equivalent in the Mahāyāna tradition, which having abandoned the Dharma in the past. It’s the cause
is “vow” or “bodhisattva vow.” to achieve the perfect holy speech of a Buddha, to give
teachings to many beings in the future. The sixth limb is
Dadul: Looked at from the traditional Mahāyāna and, requesting the holy teachers to remain for a long time
within that, Vajrayāna perspectives, these vehicles are with us. It is the antidote to the heaviest negative karma
no different from the Theravāda vehicle in having been of having disturbed or disrespected one’s teachers in
taught by the Buddha himself, albeit to different group the past. It creates the cause for one’s own long life,
of disciples, with different disposition, at different and to achieve the holy body of a Buddha. Finally, we
occasions. Beings are diverse and require different come to the dedication of merit. This is the antidote to
methods to gain the understanding that Buddha wrong views and anger and the cause to achieve the
hoped to point toward. Prayer, in a pertinent sense, dharmakāya and rūpakāya.
is taught as one way to engage the path and cultivate
the various qualities necessary for the attainment of
Nirvāṇa or Enlightenment, namely the purification of