Performing recitations, making vows, and performing life liberations are the Three Golden Buddhist Practices given by the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva. We must learn to use them well. Among these, the power of vows is very important to every Buddhist practitioner. Making vows involves saying your prayer quietly or softly in front of Guan Yin Bodhisattva, praying to the Bodhisattva for protection, blessings, or to perform miracles, to resolve your problems, confusions, disasters, misfortunes, etc. As part of the prayer, you will vow to do one or more of the following things:
• Adopt a vegetarian diet on the 1st and 15th day of every lunar month for the rest of your life;
• Not eat freshly killed seafood or other creatures for the rest of your life;
• Not perform the act of killing (including animals) for the rest of your life;
• Persistently perform good deeds every day;
• Offer gold plating for statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas;
• Introduce Buddhism to “number of” people within “a certain period of time”, helping them awaken and be free from suffering;
• Accumulate merits and virtues by performing meritorious and virtuous deeds, such as making donations to print “number of” Buddhist scriptures or books;
• Distribute or donate “number of” books and CDs to sentient beings.
- If you have made a vow to go vegetarian on every 1st and 15th of the lunar month, but later you have forgotten about it or you are unable to fulfil the vow due to special circumstances, you can inform Guan Yin Bodhisattva in advance, and practise vegetarianism on an earlier or later date. Alternatively, you can make a vow to adopt a vegetarian diet for two days every month instead of specifying on the 1st and 15th of each lunar month. This allows more flexibility.
- Once you have made a vow, you must consistently keep your vow. If you cannot keep your vow simply due to personal reasons, then you will certainly receive punishment.
- After you have your prayers answered by Bodhisattvas, you should return to the same temple where you originally made the vows to fulfil them before the statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. You can fulfil your vows by making incense offerings, making prostrations, donations and performing meritorious and virtuous deeds. The amount of donations that you make and the amount of merits you contribute do not matter, as long as it is within your ability and you are sincerely expressing your gratitude. If you have made the great vows to go vegetarian and to introduce Buddhism to people, etc., then you should persevere in your practice. This is also a form of fulfilling your vows.
