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There is a composite of 18 downfalls, which people who wished to take the engaged Bodhisattva vows should study and understand a little.

To praise oneself and criticise others for personal gain
To refuse to give wealth or Dharma out of miserliness
To fail to forgive people who ask for forgiveness
To give up on the  and Sangha
To steal offerings
To reject the Dharma
To harm the Sangha in some way
To commit the 5 heinous deeds
To hold a wrong view
To destroy villages, towns etc
To teach emptiness to the untrained
To turn people away from the Dharma
To make people give up pratimoksha discipline
To disparage sravakas and pratyekabuddhas
To lie about realisations
To receive offerings under false pretences
To make harmful rules
To abandon bodhicitta and helping sentient beings

In the morning people received the aspiration Bodhisattva vows. However, an aspiration doesn’t make things happen. The difference between aspiration bodhicitta and engaged bodhicitta is the difference between someone who wants to do something and someone who does it. Aspiration has to be transformed into action. For example, working to protect the environment saves the lives of many sentient beings. We need to protect the snow mountains so that the snow doesn’t melt and so that all the great rivers of the world can continue to flow. Protecting these rivers will save millions of sentient beings who either live in them or depend on them. It is very important to take action. Quoting from the first line from the Four Immeasurables prayer: May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness, His Holiness warned that sometimes when we recite this we are merely paying lip service, whereas we should be creating something concrete and helpful.
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Engaged bodhicitta does not require extreme sacrifices such as cutting off a hand. Such actions have to be practised skillfully, as, for example, in one of the Jataka stories, somebody gives an eye, makes a dedication, and then the eye comes back. Somebody who is highly advanced can only do this. You have to be able to give without any regret. But it is not necessary to go to these extremes: you can make a start in small ways at your own level.

We are gathered here in this really holy and sacred place of Bodhgaya. The Buddha foretold that if people in the future, who had not been able to meet him, went on pilgrimage with pure motivation and devotion to places where he had been, it would be the same as meeting him. Our mind is the main thing. Someone said once, “We are so deluded and so ignorant, it is extremely fortunate that I see my lama as a human being, and not as a dog or a donkey.”

We hold our future in our own hands, to use the occasion to create something good for the future, so we should use this opportunity. Sometimes one action can achieve many things.

Lamp for the path to enlightenment  – teachings by the Gyalwang Karmapa: Day three
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The fact is that when you make the other suffer, he will try to find relief by making you suffer more. The result is an escalation of suffering on both sides. ~Hanh Nhat Thich

Photo source: ច័ន្ទ រាជា

We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over. ~Ray Bradbury

Photo source: ច័ន្ទ រាជា

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One thing is certain: you can never become anything other than yourself, and unless you become yourself you cannot be happy. Happiness happens only when a rosebush grows roseflowers; when it flowers, when it has its own individuality. You may be a rosebush and trying to flower as lotus flower – that is creating insanity. Erase the mind. And the way to erase it is not by fight: the way to erase it is just to become aware. ~Rajneesh

Great love knows no boundaries of race, religion, or nationality. ~Master Cheng Yen

Dharma is very simple: eliminate greed,
malice, and ignorance, and you will
discover your own true nature.
~Master Cheng Yen

Just like dripping water can penetrate stone,
patience and persistence can break through anything
no matter how great the difficulty.

~Master Cheng Yen

Buddha and Sariputta

By Jack Kornfield

Equanimity is a wonderful quality, a spaciousness and balance of heart. Although it grows naturally with our meditation practice, equanimity can also be cultivated in the same systematic way that we have used for loving-kindness and compassion. We can feel this possibility of balance in our hearts in the midst of life when we recognize that life is not in our control. We are a small part of a great dance. Even though we may cultivate a boundless compassion for others and strive to alleviate suffering in the world, there will still be many situations we are unable to affect. The well known serenity prayer says, “May I have the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Wisdom recognizes that all beings are heir to their own karma, that they each act and receive the fruits of their actions. We can deeply love others and offer them assistance, but in the end they must learn for themselves, they must be the source of their own liberation. Equanimity combines an understanding mind together with a compassionate heart.

To cultivate equanimity, sit in a comfortable posture with your eyes closed. Bring a soft attention to your breath until your body and mind are calm. Then begin by reflecting on the benefit of a mind that has balance and equanimity. Sense what a gift it can be to bring a peaceful heart to the world around you. Let yourself feel an inner sense of balance and ease. Then begin repeating such phrases as, “May I be balance and at peace.” Acknowledge that all created things arise and pass away: joys, sorrows, pleasant evets, people, buildings, animals, nations, even whole civilizations. Let yourself rest in the midst of them. “May I learned to see the arising and passing of all nature with equanimity and balance. May I be open and balanced and peaceful.” Acknowledge that all beings are heirs to their own karma, and that their lives arise and pass away according to conditions and deeds created by them. “May I bring compassion and equanimity to the events of the world. May I find balance and equanimity and peace.”

Buddhism has its roots in a hot country where sunshine was seen as much a problem as a blessing, and so Buddhist metaphors tend to focus more on rain. In the Flower Ornament Scripture (the Avatamsaka) we’re told:

The supreme water spirit Ocean covers the earth with clouds; the rain in each place is different, but the spirit has no thought of distinction. Likewise, Buddha, sovereign of truth, extends clouds of great compassion in all directions, raining differently for each practitioner, yet without discriminating among them. Source: Wildmind