..续本文上一页commitment.
Now, it can happen that one makes the commitment and takes the vows seriously, later doubting one”s steps and thinking, "Oh, I didn”t really consider it very carefully. Maybe I made a mistake and I am just not going to keep it, because I didn”t think about all the angles." That can happen - sometimes it does occur. It shouldn”t happen in terms of the Bodhicitta thought, though, because all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the past have looked at it, seen how important it is, and identified it as the most crucial, most important aspect of spiritual development. We can rely on their investigations and needn”t think that we haven”t checked it out well enough. Furthermore, one really did make the right decision and had the right attitude of examining it; otherwise one wouldn”t have taken it. The initial thought was correct. If you examine and think about it now, you will see that it was the very best decision. Examine it and study the instructions on the vow. That is how to surmount doubtful thoughts like, "Well, maybe it”s like other decisions I have made in the past and I made a mistake." The Bodhicitta commitment is not a bad decision, like others made in life. Therefore, we don”t really need to wonder or doubt once we have taken it. However, just in case this happens, then think about it from another perspective:
Once you have taken the vow and fall away from it, then it is very harmful. For example, if you feed a stray dog that comes through your door one day, it will probably return the next day. You continue feeding the dog on the third day and the following days but one day decide, "Well, I”m not going to feed that dog anymore." The suffering and disappointment you are inflicting on the poor animal is tremendous, because the dog is expecting to be fed, is hungry, and becomes disappointed and sad. You impose so much physical harm on that dog that is stuck in the habit of receiving your help, because you basically promised to feed him every day. It”s like that with the vow of a Bodhisattva: If you take the vow and make the commitment to help all sentient beings, if you promise to protect them from suffering and pain, to bring them permanent happiness - regardless if only one, two, a hundred, or thousands of beings, everybody, all sentient beings - you promised to bring permanent happiness to all of them. Imagine how disappointed they are going to be if you turn away!
It is extremely beneficial to give rise to the aspiration, to take the vow, and to keep it. You must maintain it and not let it weaken because it is a great flaw to let it go. You might think, "Okay, I made the aspiration, I made the promise, and sometimes it weakens a little, but I can always renew it. The vow of Bodhicitta is quite powerful, it has so much power, and so it is okay to restore it again later. Let it laps and I will restore it again later." Such an attitude is not okay. Why
Because it is going to entail a very long process; you are never going to be able to fulfil your aspiration, because you will always be wobbling between fixing it, breaking it, fixing it, and breaking it again. So, you must continue through with it.
That was the first subject of having conscientiousness, which is the thought, "I really must do this. I will accomplish it. Until it”s finished, until the end, I will continue exerting effort." One takes the vow, intent upon accomplishing it. That”s the first subject.
The second point of chapter four speaks about being conscientious of the vow by thinking of the special opportunity of having the body that is the support of Bodhicitta. We are really very, very luck, very fortunate to have a human birth, a human life, and we should therefore really work to fulfil its potential, which is Bodhicitta, and to go through wit…
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