The Antibody Network ·The Clearing
Reading 2 of 5 The Turn

The vow at the fork

Śāntideva writes the vow of the one who turns back, and the fork is the teaching’s image for it.

The reading — Śāntideva, Bodhicaryāvatāra ch. III — trans. L. D. Barnett, The Path of Light (1909); Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka (Lotus Sutra) — trans. H. Kern, Sacred Books of the East XXI (1884)

The Fork in the Road

As the earth and other elements are for the various service of the countless creatures dwelling in the whole of space, so may I in various wise support the whole sphere of life lodged in space, until all be at peace.

May I be a balm to the sick, their healer and servitor, until sickness come never again.

— Śāntideva, Bodhicaryāvatāra, ch. III, trans. L. D. Barnett, 1909

…desirous of the science without a master, of self-restraint and tranquillity, who apply themselves to the commandment of the Tathâgata to learn to understand causes and effects, for the sake of their own complete Nirvâna.

— Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka, ch. 3, trans. H. Kern, 1884

All the hundred thousands of myriads of kotis of creatures who in this world are suffering troubles will, if they hear the name of the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Avalokitesvara, be released from that mass of troubles.

— Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka, ch. XXIV, trans. Kern

Buddhism 8th century CE Open this teaching on the Map →
The framing

May I be a balm to the sick, their healer and servitor, until sickness come never again.

The image is familiar: the one who has woken up stands at a fork. One road leads on, alone, into the peace that has been earned. The other leads back into the world for everyone still in it. The first thing to say is that the fork is a teaching device, not a scene from any scripture. The vow, though, is real, and Śāntideva wrote it down in the eighth century, and it is one of the most beautiful things on the Map.

As the earth and other elements are for the service of countless creatures, so may I support the whole sphere of life. Notice the scale of the offer, and notice that it is an offer, not a boast. The bodhisattva does not claim to be the earth. The bodhisattva asks to be used like it. Read the vow aloud, once, alone. It is a strange thing to hear in your own voice, and the strangeness is informative.

Carry with you
At which small fork today did you take the road back, and at which did you go on alone?