Welcome.
As you settle in today,
Take a breath that feels steady,
Grounded,
True.
Feel into the presence that carried you through each of these vows so far.
You're showing up,
And that is what this path is all about.
I want to thank you for your presence,
As it's a gift to me and to the world.
Take a deep breath in through the nose,
And release,
Deepening into your presence and relaxation.
The fourth bodhisattva vow says,
The Buddha Way is unsurpassable.
I vow to embody it.
This vow speaks to the path itself,
The vast,
Living way of awakening.
The Buddha Way isn't one doctrine or belief system,
It's the whole of what it means to live with awareness,
Compassion,
Wisdom,
And responsibility.
It's a way of being in the world,
With clarity and care,
Even when things are hard.
When we say unsurpassable,
We're recognizing that this path has no destination.
There is no moment where we graduate from being human,
No point where awakening is complete.
This vow points us back to the path,
And to walk it with heart.
It reminds us the unfolding continues for as long as we are willing to keep showing up.
There will be days we feel steady and clear,
And others when our attention falters.
But to walk the Buddha Way is to return over and over again with sincerity.
It means bringing compassion to the table when we're tempted to shut down.
It means bringing presence even when distraction or discomfort feel louder.
To embody the Buddha Way means we don't just study teachings,
We become the teaching in how we move through the world.
In the 8th century,
The great Bodhisattva Shantideva wrote,
As long as space endures,
As long as living beings remain,
So too may I remain to dispel the suffering of the world.
This is the vow of staying.
Staying with ourselves,
Staying with others,
Staying awake to this life.
When we feel peaceful and poetic,
Yes,
But also when we're bored,
Stressed,
Tender,
Messy.
We're not here to be perfect,
To walk the Buddha Way.
We just keep walking.
That's how it begins to live through you.
I invite you now to sit in practice with me.
Bring your attention inward.
Allow yourself to settle into your breath,
Into your body,
Into this moment right now.
Breathing in,
I soften.
Breathing out,
I allow.
Feel your breath meet this moment.
Now,
Bring to mind a time when you showed up with compassion,
And specifically a time where maybe no one noticed.
It was quiet,
Invisible,
It was ordinary,
But you chose presence.
You chose care.
You chose to stay awake.
Feel that moment.
Feel what it asked of you,
And what it gave you.
Now,
Bring to mind something you're walking through now.
Maybe a place where you feel uncertain or tender.
Imagine bringing the Buddha Way to this moment.
Being honest,
Moving gently,
And remembering that this,
Too,
Is part of the path.
Offering yourself these words.
May I walk with presence.
May I act with compassion.
May I return again and again to the heart of the path.
Now,
Letting your awareness open a little more.
Bringing to mind someone else,
Someone else walking their own path.
It can be a stranger,
Someone you know.
You may not know what they're holding,
What they're facing.
You may not know where they're headed.
But you know that they can trust,
Too,
That they are finding the way.
Offer these words.
May you walk with steadiness.
May your path be guided by love.
May the way reveal itself.
Notice the openness and spaciousness of your heart.
Take a moment to honor the time that you spent here.
The care you gave to your own path.
The way you keep returning.
Let's take another breath together.
A full inhale through the nose.
And a long exhale.
Let your awareness return to your surroundings.
Notice where you are,
What you hear,
What you feel.
And let the moment meet you as you are.
As always,
If you feel moved to journal,
Here's the prompt.
In what ways have I already been walking the Buddha way?
And where might I take the next step?
Let's close now with the fourth bodhisattva vow.
The Buddha way is unsurpassable.
I vow to embody it.
May this vow move through me and reveal itself to you.
May it ripple out into the world.
Thank you for your presence as we've walked through each vow together.
In the final session,
We'll focus on integrating these vows into real life.
And even when to practice them in our meditations.
I'll meet you there.
Namaste.
