Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

divided Bodhicitta into five stages:
i. Development of Bodhicitta. It is good to recollect
with concentration the vows of Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas, but it is much better to form and practice
one's own. (See Appendix III, A, 3.) Many people just
take on the vows of the great Bodhisattvas but when one
asks them what ideals they follow, they can only reply
that they rely upon the forty-eight vows of Dharmakara
(who became Amitabha Buddha), or upon the ten great
vows of Samantabhadra, and so on. They have no ideals
of their own and just take hold of those already made.
On the other hand, it is certain that it is very hard to
abide by one's own vows.
Before I came to Bodhi Gaya, I told many people that I
would be going and asked them if they had any vows
which I might declare there in Sakyamuni's sacred place.
Some gurus and meditators gave me their profound
aspiration, while others, some of them servants and poor
people, only wished for health and long life for
themselves or for their loved ones. I carried these vows,
some 200 in all, and recited them before the Vajrasana
at Bodhi Gaya.
I have tried to help others develop up their own vows,
particularly those who are my brothers in the Dharma
and have received initiations in the same mandala and
practiced the same meditations. For myself, I have
developed ten vows for preaching the Dharma, thirty for
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