Taking Vows
The question at the 2010 Blue Bunny Retreat which prompted the questions about asking was about the purpose of vows. Lama Dudjom Dorjee spent a morning talking about taking vows from his book 'Heartfelt Advice'. He discussed the five basic vows for a Buddhist which are to not lie, not steal, no sexual misconduct, no intoxicants, and not to murder. He also noted that there is merit in taking and keeping vows. Of course I have no concept of spiritual merit. For me, the goal of spirituality is a better, sweeter life. The question I had (and didn't ask) was how does the taking of vows help make my life sweeter. Why are they important. Of course one part of the answer is the sort of vows that a practicing Buddhist would take. They are vows which relate to treating ourselves and others better, not taking advantage of others, treating them with kindness and respect. Following these vows will certainly make our lives sweeter (or at least that has been my experience). The question is, how does taking a vow in public with our teacher help us. For me, the essence of the spiritual practices is to develop the discipline so that I can follow the teachings (or the truths which I have discovered) all the time. It is so easy on a weekend retreat with loving beings to follow the practices, open our hearts, and treat others with love and respect. However, to really have a sweet life we need to be able to continue this even when we are in difficult situations and faced with people who are coming with an adverserial attitude. For this we need to develop self discipline and good habits. In that regard, making vows (especially in public with our teacher) can be invaluable as it increases our awareness of our actual behaviour, when we are able to folow through with our intentions and when we slip into old habits and patterns of behaviour which are not conducive to a truly sweet life. By strengthening our resolve and awareness, vows can help us maintain our practices and develop good habit. To the degree that vows help us develop self discipline and good habits, they also help us develop merit as that is what I think that merit is. In any case, as I considered the teachings about taking vows providing us with merit, those are the conclusions I reached and you are welcome to ponder this, asking yourself what makes sense and reach your own conclusions about the advantages of taking vows as part of your spirtual journey. Click here to see the next rambling tale.This page was last updated on May 22, 2010