Renewing of vows

kokoro

Hey there,
Having been following the Buddhist path for a few years now, and also approaching our 25th wedding anniversary, my wife and i decided that we'd renew our commitment to each other with a different approach to the one we took when we married.
We were married in the Catholic tradition (though i'm not Catholic and never have been, my wife was) but were never practicing, i think we went that way as it was the done thing getting married in a church.

I'm a practicing Buddhist and my path is somewhat different now to back then, and we feel that this approach should be reflected in our next step together.

I would like to think that this ceremony isn't unique to us, so i was wondering if anyone here has done, or been a part of, or even knows of a renewing of vows with a Buddhist outlook.
I'd be looking for information on what could be said, possibly suttas that could be applicable or any words that could be spoken on the day.
We have contacted a Buddhist centre and they've agreed to help us, even to point of giving us a blessing of sorts, but this is new to them also, we were also hoping to have the guests blessed upon receiving a kata.

We've yet to go into specifics with the centre but thought we'd get some wisdom from some of you kind people here, hope someone can point us in a direction.

Mike

Straight_Man

Mike, @Brian needs possibly to talk with you about this-- he will probably have a dual ceremony when he gets married and is planning that so far as I understand now. I myself would say that since you married in the Catholic tradition only you might want to marry fully in your favorite Buddhist tradition and that there you might find your Buddhist center on firmer ground. Or even ask the Buddhist center for some standard marriage vows they would recommend and adapt them to suit you.

I am neither expert on marriage nor Buddhism per se, but know lots of folks' traditions.

shanyin

If I find out through this thread that that something like that is possible I'll be thrilled!

No Sangha where I live.

riverflow

@kokoro (I love your screen name BTW):

I've got Thich Nhat Hanh's book Chanting from the Heart, which contains most of the ceremonies that the Plum Village monastics have. Nothing about renewing vows, but there is a section in it for a wedding. Perhaps it could be adapted for renewal purposes...?

how

I've attended such ceremonies in the Zen tradition. Most linage trained Zen teachers would be familiar with the renewing of wedding vows but I personally think this is more about what you are looking for in the renewing than anything else.
It looked like a regular Western Buddhist wedding ceremony, (Anglican or Unitarian with Buddhist terminology) minus the paperwork.
I also suspect from your post that your practise is Tibetan and if so, a Tibetan teacher officiating might be more meaningful.

kokoro

Thank you so much for all the replies, the ceremony isn't until Nov so that gives me some time to do some more research, i've yet to go into more detail with the venerable geshe sonam from the centre.
They are located in another state (our original hometown).
Thank you for the suggestion Riverflow, will def check that out.