Rite of Mahāyāna
The bodhisattva vow.
Beings are numberless; I vow to free them all. The most self-defeating promise ever formalized — taken knowingly, as the engine of the path.
⏱ taken once, renewed forever◌ anyone — that is the point
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this rite is held
The bodhisattva vow is taken formally in ceremony and renewed regularly, often daily. The four-part version is standard: beings are numberless, I vow to free them; delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them; dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them; the Buddha way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it. Practitioners are explicitly told that the vow cannot be completed, and that taking it anyway is the practice.
The same ground, other faiths
rites that share this one's ideas
The monkey king's bridge.
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Your parents have a claim on you.
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Bhai Kanhaiya's water.
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'Abdu'l-Bahá.
The Bahá'í Faith · figure
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Omoluabi.
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The Jedi Code.
Jediism · precept
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