Our zen teachings are presented from multiple perspectives and belongings. Inoshi interprets and teaches from anatomical awareness and embodied states, which allow for conceptualization to occur.
Eightfold Path
Noble Path
Three Poisons
Three Remedies
The influential Chinese Chan (Zen) monk, Yin Shun, states, "To cultivate bodhi mind means to accept the bodhisattva precepts and practice the ten good deeds."
Bodhi Soul, also known as bodhi mind, bodaishin, or bodhicitta represents a person that intends and does, live and move on the path of emancipation.
This is not excessive mindfulness, nor pure isolated awareness. There is no one path, just direction. Each of us together have our place in the greater scheme of things. Life can be frustrating and sometimes it may not feel that you were meant to be here, or that existence is worthwhile with disparity at so many turns.
How does one involve oneself? To find wealth in meditation, in training one's body-mind, can have lasting benefits. Don't wait for handouts yet take what has been given! Reach out, go out, circulate, meditate, and see what happens in this adventure. In keeping oneself, remember to keep out of trouble.
There are four sacred vows thought of as a pinnacle expression of one who intends to live as a Bodhisattva. Why to do that is another discussion.
The English translations of the four vows vary, however they're usually akin. Typically they're chanted three times in a dirge-like manner at the conclusion of traditional zen meditation periods, or other zen events, with bells and no whistles.
In Japanese: Shi Gu Sei Gan Mon
Shu Jo Muhen Sei Gan Do
Bon No Mujin Sei Gan Dan
Ho Mon Muryo Sei Gan Gaku
Butsu Do Mujo Sei Gan Jo
Here are some English renditions:
Sanbo Kyodan
Creations are numberless, I vow to be one with them.
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to endure them.
Dharmas are boundless, I vow to be teachable.
The enlightened way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it.
Zen Studies Society
However innumerable beings are, I vow to save them.
However inexhaustible desires are, I vow to extinguish them.
However immeasurable the Dharmas, I vow to master them.
However incomparable the Buddha-truth is, I vow to attain it.
Zen Mountain Monastery
Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them.
Desires are inexhaustible; I vow to put an end to them.
The Dharmas are boundless; I vow to master them.
The Buddha Way is unattainable; I vow to attain it.
Honolulu Diamond Sangha
The many beings are numberless; I vow to save them.
Greed, hatred, and ignorance rise endlessly; I vow to abandon them.
Dharma gates are countless; I vow to wake to them.
Buddha’s way is unsurpassed; I vow to embody it fully.
The above version was extracted from an short article you might find interesting here: Bodhisattva Vows.
If it's all too much, then focus on eliminating delusions!
Frequently chanted in traditional zen settings, the Heart Sutra (text), or Hannya Shingyo, is excerpted from the lengthier Prajnaparamita (perfection of wisdom) sutra. It says principally that emptiness manifests form, and form emptiness. Kind of a mind stumper eh? That's zen, and the Hannya sits at its core.
This realization, considered a deep well of insight, sinks all other teachings within it. The style of the sutra is that of a teacher pounding on the anvil of the student, to remember its point, of impermanence, and that nothing can ultimately be grasped, sensed or conceptualized.
If that's the case, and nothing can really ultimately be understood, and this/that is a never ending condition, then change itself is naught. Where does that leave you, the person, the identity? What does it lead you to?
Concentrate on the form-emptiness, emptiness-form equation, and find out.
The three marks of existence (sanboin) relate the basic yet quite profound qualities, or facts of lived experience. Those being:
1) Impermanence (change, mujō)
2) Non-Self (insubstantiality, kū)
3) Craving (suffering, ku)
Do you really expect something to be existing forever, ceaselessly unchanging, including your self? Are you aware of your habitual cravings and do they cause you grief?
If you can realize an understanding of the marks of existence, then it's said that you have attained nirvana. Ponder upon these marks, one at a time, slowly, turn them over in your being and see what awakens in you.