Considering taking refuge vows

LoveWins

What made you decide to take refuge vows and is your life different now or better or worse for doing so?

federica

I too refuge vows because I decided this was the calling I wanted to respond to.
I recite my Refuge Vows every morning and evening.
It helps to keep me Mindful.

Which doesn't mean 'always good', but it helps the focus.

federica

I take it you have noted the comments in your previous thread?

Jeffrey

I haven't taken vows yet, but I am pretty faithful/confident of the Buddist path.

LoveWins

Jeffrey, has something stopped you from taking this step?

Jeffrey

LoveWins, I want to do it if my Lama from England visits USA (where I am). If she dies I will probably take refuge, but not the fifth precept because I drink about a six pack every week.

lobster

LoveWins said:

What made you decide to take refuge vows and is your life different now or better or worse for doing so?

It was because I was refused refuge by the local sangha that I had to go for refuge to the Buddha (don't ask, politics is a strange game).

Here is a more recent example refuge I took earlier this year
http://yinyana.tumblr.com/post/30916789642/re-fugue

Time to renew my vows? Not really, swearing in front of the Buddha is just a little disrespectful . .

Is my life better or worse? My life is better for practicing how to live better.
And that is the truth, the whole truth and Nothing
but The Truth
So help me Cod
[that might not seem like much of an oath to you but for a cructacean it is like swearing on the body of a mermaid]

:wave:

EvenThird

Honestly, I took vows because I simply really wanted to. I took them at a Vajrayana center this June. I'm not sure it's been long enough for me to say if my life is better or worse for it. However, I feel that my life is better.... perhaps not for taking vows, but for trying to following the precepts, having a regular meditation practice, and for being put on a heavier dose of medication.

lobster said:

My life is better for practicing how to live better.

This is how I feel, that the practical side to Buddhism makes it easier to live better. This has been my experience so far.

Chaz

By the time I actually "took refuge" I had been practicing for nearly 5 years. At that point taking part in a ceremony was a mere formality, but it was step I felt was necessary to take. The necessity was a bit complex, but the main reason was that it was, in my mind, time for a public declaration of sorts - of my aspiration to break with Samsara, to find my enlightened nature.

As far as change goes, I didn't become a Buddhist in order to be a better person, to find greater happiness, reduce stress and so on. I've never viewed Buddhism as some kind of self-help routine. I see life changing in every moment, for better or worse, doesn't really matter.

how

I took refuges after my first 3 month retreat in a monastery. My attitude towards them was really no different than any other effort during that retreat. What ever might help me along this meditation path at the time was just the next step to take.
Sometimes I am those refuges, sometimes those refuges are me, sometimes both disappear.
They are whatever I've allowed them to be.

cvalue

I was excited and really looked forward to take refuge like a child waiting for his or her birthday party. I signed for it in February, the date was set in May (Vesak day). I spent 3 months thinking about it like a child waiting for his/her Christmas gift. When the time came, I was disappointed because it was delayed until Mid June. Imagine how a child feels when his/her toy is denied (similar feeling of disappointment)? Finally, when the time came, it was Sunday, I showed up at the pagoda with an excited heart only to hear that it was delayed until Wednesday. I came home, almost cried out of frustration. But when Wednesday finally came, it was worth all my longing, waiting and frustration, because during a short but solemn ceremony, I was surrounded by all my new Buddhist friends in my pagoda. The table was decorated with flowers, the Abbot sat on the left, in the middle was his teacher, and at the right hand side was another senior monk. I repeated the vows after the teacher, solemnly, I really meant all the words that I repeated. I felt like it was my wedding day. When I came home that night I was so emotional that I cried.

Sabre

I took refuge because I have immense respect for the Buddha, Dhamma and sangha. In a Theravadan monastery it is very easy, you ask to take the refuges and precepts and they will be given. So it wasn't a big ceremony or anything, but that's fine with me. I did it to make a deeper connection with the Buddha and Dhamma and not to show it off to the outside world. It felt very right. Reflected on it a lot afterward both in good and less good moments.

You can't really say if life is better or worse because of it, because you don't know the alternative. For me the change wasn't huge but it felt like I became more serious about Buddhism, although at that time I was already quite serious about it with plans to ordain.