2 Commentary by Khenpo Sodargye
was conferring it. Once, a group of laymen and monastics visited from Lhasa. They requested His Holiness to give them the conferral of the bodhisattva vow, and he agreed and delivered it. I remember this clearly as I was there in person when His Holiness gave the vow. So, I received the complete transmission of his conferral, including his explanation and the scriptural references he quoted. Hence, rest assured that I’m not giving you the transmission just by hearing the voice recording. (Audience laughs.) Now, I will recite this material first and then confer the vow. (Khenpo reads the oral transmission for more than half an hour.)
Understand the Noble Qualities of Bodhicitta That is the entire oral transmission for you. Many of you will need it in order to confer the bodhisattva vow to others or to re-take it on your own. This is essential. Also, since you have received the transmission, I’d expect you to study the sadhana and His Holiness’s explanation thoroughly in the next couple of days. A good number of scriptural references on how the vow can be engendered within one’s mindstream are included in the explanation. Many of you should have aspired to generate bodhicitta, but the genuine bodhicitta may not have arisen in your mind yet. Or, you haven’t recognized the importance of bodhicitta. That’s why we require extensive study on the qualities of bodhicitta.
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