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The Fulfilment of Vows

From Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
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The Vow is the determination to achieve one’s anticipated objectives in the heart, especially one’s innermost vows: such as the Heart Vow, the Aspirational Vow, the Vow of Wish, the Vow of Intention, etc. The Buddha and Bodhisattva, at the start of initiating the bodhicitta, with their wish to attain the

ultimate bodhi, vow to save sentient beings with strong determination, to exterminate worries, to accumulate merits, and ultimately to achieve perfect Buddha enlightenment. This type of vow is called the

“Grand Vow” or known as the “Chief Vow”, which is universally shared by all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, such as the Four Grand Pledges, etc. To take a vow is to initiate the wish of pledging a vow, such as taking the Great Vow, taking the Heart’s Vow, taking the Aspirational Vow, or taking the Supreme Vow.

Buddha and Bodhisattva either make the Great Vow in the pure Buddha land, purifying their Kingdom in ten directions, so as to enlighten sentient beings; or they vow to become Buddha in the degenerate world, so as to save and deliver those sentient beings who are difficult to reform. Although these vows are the same

for all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, nevertheless, due to the expectations of sentient beings and thus cause their differences. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have different vows which accord with each expectation, hence the term “Differential Vows.” For example, the Buddha Amitabha’s Forty-eight Vows are different from other

Buddhas; The Buddha of Medicine is distinguishable from other Buddhas by the Twelve Vows that specially eradicate the diseases of sentient beings, eliminate their worries and fears. The vows taken by various Bodhisattvas comprise of the Chief Vow, Differential Vow, Pure Land Buddha Enlightenment Vow, Degenerate World Buddha Enlightenment Vow and so on, with many different more varieties.


In their previous lives, before attaining Buddha enlightenment, and in order to save sentient beings, Buddha and Bodhisattva initiate their pledge of vows, with their wish to attain Buddha’s highest objective, which is called the “Primary Vow”. It is vow of “Cause Location” and is overall known as Grand Original Vow.

It is also known as the “Primary Oath” or “Vow of Home”. “Primary” also means origin. Although the heart of Bodhisattva is vast and the vows pledged are also boundless, they regard this vow as the origin; this is why it is called the Primary Vow. The vow was pledged at the “Cause Location” and bears the fruit today.

Hence, this “Effect Location” is also known as the Primary Vow. The power of the Primary Vow or its effect, is known as the “Vow Power”. Hence, when Buddha and Bodhisattva cultivate the Buddhist path, and wholeheartedly vow to become a Buddha, the “Vow to be awakened with Buddha Mind” cannot be missed. If a

vow was pledged to educate those sentient beings in the corrupt world towards end of their generation, one must possess the “Mind of Deliverance for Sentient Beings”. The Primary Vow of Buddha and Bodhisattva is both profound and vast, it is as deep and boundless as the great ocean, thus we use “Ocean Vow” as its simile.


The Heart of the vow can generally be divided into two:-


the vow to initiate and entreat the bodhi,

the vow to guide and deliver sentient beings with compassion.


One must first take a vow before one can cultivate goodness and accumulate merits; and those essays that record its essence and purpose are known as Vow-initiation Essay or Vow Essay, or Vow-pledging Essay. At present, the vow taken is called the “Unique Engendered Vow”, which is different from Vow of Home that arises from Cause Location.

The Power of the Vow is known as the “Power of the Primary Vow”, the “Power of the Home Vow” or the “Power of the Great Karmic Vow”. These are the power of vows pledged by various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in their previous lives at “Cause Location” before they have attained Buddha enlightenment and yet have gained their

achievement of taking vows at the Effect Location. According to the Treatise on the “Attainment of Rebirth” from the Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, the Buddha’s Power of the Primary Vow can swiftly and completely accomplish limitless and wonderous merits and virtues like those in the great precious ocean. The “Primary

Vow” and the “Power” can further be split into two. The “Primary Vow” refers to vows pledged at Cause Location, and the “Power” refers to the spiritual power on Effect. The Great Compassionate Vows are all varieties of Differential Vow engendered out of the heart of compassion from various Buddhas and

Bodhisattvas aim at saving sentient beings. The Forty-eight Vows initiated by the Buddha Amitabha are the vows taken at “Cause Location”, each vow with the compassionate heart which provides guidance to those sentient beings, hence it is named the “The Supreme Great Compassionate Vow”.


When Vow and Practice are combined together it is known as the Fulfilment of Vow. Vow being the Aspirational Vow; Practice is the deed of practice, the cultivation and achievement of practice. According to the explanation of the 【Benevolent King’s Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) Scriptural Text on the

Protection of a Country】Volume II, and the 【Ch’an Systematic Wisdom Dharma Door】Volume I, the direction of the Aspirational Vow must involve cultivation in order to gain satisfaction. Cultivation must be combined with the Aspirational Vow before results can be yielded. Therefore, Vow and Practice cannot be

separated, they compliment each other in order to achieve the best results. Cultivation and Vow pledging is similar to the two wings of a bird, if any one is missing, one will never arrive at the anticipated destination. It is also similar to Bodhisattva who take the Four Grand Vow, if they do not cultivate the

Six Paramitas, they also will not reach their destination. Dharmakara Bodhisattva who took the Forty-eight Vows when he faced with five eras (kalpa) , after passing through innumerable lifecycles and having cultivated boundless meritorious dharma deeds, ultimately became the Buddha Amitabha. According to 【The


Great Perfection of Wisdom Sastra】Volume VII, with regards to the great causes of Buddha realms, it is difficult to gain any kind of achievement if one just replies upon solitary deeds of merits and virtues; one must also rely on the Power of Vow to achieve results. Similar to the metaphor, even though a bull can

pull a cart, it still needs a herdsman’s guidance to reach its destination. If there is vow but no cultivation, the situation is similar to the one who wants to cross over to other side of the shore but is not willing to prepare a raft. It is certain that this person will always be on this side of shore and will never be able to cross over.


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