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Originally Posted by slash112
Funny you say that, when I repeat the vows I automatically whisper "all" at the end in my mind. I'm gunna solidify that actually. Thanks for pointing that out!
Reminds me of my original vow to myself when I went totally nuts and ended up in mental hospital. I kept saying "every person.... every person... EVERY person!". My entire trip (it was like dreaming while awake) was based around me wanting to save every soul.
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In the Buddha Dhamma that I am familiar with, saving every sentient being is also releasing every sentient being. In releasing notions of self and other, and falling back to the normalcy of a freed mind, one can save all beings, one can be one's best without the hindrance of ego and delusion. Thus, one's focus is always self-cultivation first, in my opinion.
Diamond Sutra:
須菩提、於意云何。汝等勿謂如來作是念。
我當度衆生。須菩提、莫作是念。何以故。
實無有衆生如來度者。若有衆生如來度
者。如來則有我人衆生壽者。須菩提、如來
說有我者則非有我。而凡夫之人以爲有
我。須菩提、凡夫者如來說則非凡夫。
The Buddha addressed Subhûti, saying, "Bodhisattva-mahàsattvas should thus subdue their minds: 'Where there is every single sort of sentient being; whether egg-born, womb-born, water-born, or born of transformation; whether having form or formless; whether having thought or no thought; whether neither having thought nor no thought; I will cause all to enter the non-residual Nirvàna, liberating them. Thus liberating the measureless, countless, and boundless sentient beings, in reality there are no sentient beings attaining that liberation.' And why? Subhûti, if a bodhisattva has the image of a self, the image of a person, the image of beings, or the image of a soul; then he is not a bodhisattva.
須菩提、若有人以滿
無量阿僧祇世界七寶持用布施。若有善男
子善女人發菩薩心者。持於此經乃至四
句偈等。受持讀誦爲人演說其福勝彼。云何
爲人演說。不取於相如如不動。何以故
一切有爲法 如夢幻泡影
如露亦如電 應作如是觀
佛說是經已。長老須菩提及諸比丘比丘尼
優婆塞優婆夷、一切世間天人阿修羅。聞佛
所說皆大歡喜。信受奉行金剛般若波羅蜜
經
"All conditioned things
Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows;
Like dew and also like lightning.
Thus should they be contemplated."
Once the Buddha had expounded this Sûtra, the venerable Subhûti, the monks, nuns (bhikùunîs), laymen (upàsakas), and laywomen (upàsikàs), and the gods, humans, and asuras in all the worlds who had heard the Buddha's discourse were all greatly elated. Faithfully did they accept and hand down the practice of the Diamond Perfection of Wisdom Sûtra.
~ The Buddha
Source: The Diamond Sutra