Perceiving is fine;

the issue is what we do next. 

The five senses, or five consciousnesses, are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. The first, for example, can let one accurately know what is being viewed. The five senses coupled with innate wisdom enable awakened beings to interact correctly with their environment and everything and everyone in it.

Sadly, unlike those beings who stop at perceiving and interacting correctly, we unawakened beings careen into the sixth consciousness of mental awareness—discrimination. This is the judgmental mind; let’s say the mind of black or white.

From here, things get worse as we instantly lurch into the seventh consciousness of thinking mind—attachment. This is the push-pull mind that judges inferior or superior, I dislike or I like, etc.

Fortunately for all involved, awakened beings stop at perceiving and interacting correctly.

Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.

And so, discriminating and attaching, we can end up causing terrible suffering. For ourselves in the future. And even worse, for others now.

Helping naturally and appropriately. 

Seeing a young girl struggle to extract a paper towel from its dispenser, I reached over to turn the awkwardly-placed dispenser knob. With that, the paper towel magically rolled out. Eagerly tearing off the towel, the girl turned and looked up at me.

Her smile was radiant. I also had a big happy smile as we shared our moment of hard-won success.

Helping her had been so natural. There had been no need to judge whether she was worthy of help. She was a little girl!

No need to decide if I should be the one to help. No one else noticed her predicament.

And deciding how to help wasn’t an issue because, thanks to personal experience, I knew how to extract the towel!

And so, I offered my help unconditionally and spontaneously. By experiencing a rare flash of clarity, I had gone straight from perception to action. Looking back over what had just happened, I mused that perhaps this could be considered a rare taste of how awakened beings help. Naturally and appropriately.

Buddhahood is unsurpassable;
I vow to attain it. 

The fourth vow of attaining the unsurpassable state of Buddhahood is our ultimate goal.

Only as a Buddha can we fulfill our first vow to help all sentient beings, regardless of their form, path, or state of mind.

Only as a Buddha will our generosity, morality, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom finally be complete.

Only as a Buddha will our compassion and wisdom be perfectly balanced.

But to accomplish all these, it is crucial we follow the vows in the order given to us. The first vow provides us with our motivation—we make the vow that we will help all beings end suffering and attain lasting happi-ness. The second, third, and fourth vows provide our roadmap of ending afflictions, learning Dharma doors, and attaining Buddhahood.

Without this roadmap, we will not know the necessary steps in which to progress, or even what direction we should head in.

With this roadmap to guide us, we will achieve all that we have vowed to. 

Sentient beings are innumerable; 

I vow to help them all.  

This aspiration to help all beings is the first of the four great vows of Buddhas. With much enthusiasm to learn and practice the teachings, many people become enthralled with the abundance of Buddhist teachings. But in the vows, we see that mastering boundless Dharma doors, the methods of learning and practice, is the third vow.

The first is to give rise to the vow to help all beings. “All beings? Can’t I just help myself?”

If we practice to solely help ourselves, our mind will remain narrow and biased. A broad and impartial mind, like that of an awakened being, is what we strive for. With our firm holding of the first great vow—the aspiration to help all sentient beings—our great compassion will be generated and compel us to be diligent on the path. Without compassion and diligence, we will give up in the face of obstacles.

So the first vow inspires and encourages us, and serves as our fundamental vow.

The other three vows serve to help us fulfill this first vow.