Vows and Aspiration Power in Buddhism

bohiruci SG

Why is Mahayana emphasize on Vows and Aspiration ?
becos the power of Making vows and Aspiration arise the motivation in our life to Get rid of sloth and alleviating suffering in downtimes in life

Vows Power is stressed in Amitabha Western Paradise .The resolve to make vow is meritious

I personally know of situation when the Vow Power can make unbelievable thing from happening , like findin some lost valuable or overcome life most darkest moment

Anyone interested in knowing more abt Vows and Aspiration are invited to Vows and Aspiration discussion in the coming skype

bohiruci SG

In modern day ,scientist have discovered a person who met with alot of setback and feeling positive ,the chance of him/her going to depression becomes slimmer

Cool Cool

paperflower SG

what if a person who makes a vow and never fulfill it, is that considered broken vow or the vow has never been made in the first place? what are the consequences (if there’s any) for not fulfilling a vow? what is a vow actually?

bohiruci SG

it depends on your intitial motivation .there isnt anything known as broken vows ,according to tientai school .While we cannot achieve the vow , we should still continue making the same vow

it will "take shape due to the power of Vow "
like vowing to western paradise

bohiruci SG

There is a story of a layman who regret his merits in building a Main Hall in Puli in Taiwan .during the 921 Earthquake the whole Main Hall is destroyed .He regretted in sponsoring the main hall construction

The Buddhist venerable correct him and help him ,becos the main hall is already built .the merits is already "paid out " one should not regret it

A clear example is all the Ashoka pillars to honour Buddha Sakyamuni are 99.9% destroyed due to war and earthquake ,but the merit is paid off

one should not regret on sponsoring merit action for fear it may be destroyed beos such thing is beyond our control

regret feeling shouldnt be in our mind becos the karmic of regret is obstacle when we enjoying the fruition of our merit

An Eternal Now SG

Vow is made as an aspiration... but with that aspiration you have to work towards that aspiration... so Yuan without Xing won't produce results.. and we will have set backs and delays attaining Buddhahood. Bohiruci also made a gd point in the previous post about how vows are not broken vows but you just have to continue working towards it.

paperflower SG

i see...
thanks for the explanation.

bohiruci SG

Excellent ! sadhu x 3

as AEN have point out

Even Zhongfeng(Middle Peak ) Pureland Patriach Pointed out

Faith ,Vow and Practice are like the 3 legs of an mini urn , without anyone to go to Western Paradise is impossible

Rolling Eyes

Xprobe SG

vows help one initiate the relevant Yin Yuan (karma) to help us realise our goals in the future

but the problem with commoners like us is that our thoughts are constantly changing and varies countlessly, the second after we vow, we may not feel as "true" to the moment as before (a crude analogy will be how you feel before and after you do your partner)

thus vows need to be practised day-in-day-out, so that it actually "seeps" into your 8th consciousness, then slowly all your actions and decisions will start to align behind these vows, thereby attaining them in due time

side note: because your actions and decisions start to align, you actually are changing your original karma (bad reference but easy to understand), this is also how certain people are able to single-handedly turn their life around