Summary

The buddhadharma is the teaching of the awakened state of mind. Buddha means “awakened one.” Dharma means, in this case, “law,” or “teaching,” or “norm.” So we could say buddhadharma is both the “teaching of the awakened one” and the “norm of the awakened one.” It is a path of training that arouses the awakened state of mind, that brings enlightenment. At the same time the norm of the awakened state of mind is present all along, throughout the path. The path develops through ever greater levels of commitment. There are three main stages, known as the three yanas – hinayana, mahayana, and vajrayana, or tantra, and all three are indispensible. The hinayana brings the realization of the basic teachings of Buddha, the acknowledgement of suffering arising from the defensive struggle of ego. The mahayana brings the understanding of suffering, and experience in general, as the working basis for communication. The vajrayana brings total directness, in which the illusion of duality has been utterly seen through, and even the sense of a spiritual journey has fallen away. Corresponding to the three yanas are three vows, formal expressions of transcending hesitation. The first, connected with the hinayana, is the refuge taking refuge in the Buddha, the dharma, and the sangha – the three jewels. At a further state in practice, on the level of mahayana, the student has the opportunity to take the boshisattva vow, the vow to value the welfare of others above his or her own. In the culminating stage of the practice, on the level of tantra, there is the samaya vow of total devotion and surrender to the guru as the embodiment of the awakened state of mind. In ensuing pages are presented the teachings of Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, on the vows of the first two stages, the refuge and bodhisattva vows. The two articles are taken almost entirely from Rinpoche’s many talks accompanying actual vow ceremonies. (from the Introduction)