WHAT IS A GREAT VOW? WHAT IS CONSIDERED HELPING OTHERS TO BE SPIRITUALLY AWAKENED?
Caller: What is considered a great vow for lay practitioners like us who practise Buddhism at home?
Master Jun Hong Lu: For example, a vow to print Buddhist books, or “I want more people to get to know this dharma door, I want to propagate Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door, and I want more people to recite Buddhist scriptures”. These are all examples of great vows.
Caller: Yes.
Master Jun Hong Lu: Then, “I want to go out to help people to be spiritually awakened”. But making such a vow is no joke. You have to mention a specific number for them to be efficacious. It won’t work if you just make a general statement. For example, “I plan to help x number of people to be spiritually awakened within a year”, or “I plan to print x number of Buddhist books for free distribution”.
Caller: But I’m a little worried. What if I make the vow to help a certain number of people but fail to achieve it, what should I do?
Master Jun Hong Lu: It’s similar to your attempts at matchmaking your friends. After setting them up, whether the session turns out to be successful or not is a different matter. The fact is you have introduced them to one another, haven’t you? When introducing Buddhism to others, you may have told them, “I have told you about this and you know it now”, however, you would have no control whether they put it into practice. This is how we go about it. Take me as an example, even though I introduce Buddhism to others every day, there are always people who don’t listen to or believe in what I say.
Caller: I thought that we would only be considered to have introduced Buddhism to others when they have started practising and performing recitation.
Master Jun Hong Lu: When you set out to matchmake for a friend, do you have to make sure that they end up having babies? That’s simply absurd! We may be introducing Buddhism to someone, but their acceptance would depend on their affinity with Buddhism.
Caller: Oh, that’s right. Thank you, Master.
Source: Wenda20120513B 02:12, Master Jun Hong Lu’s call-in radio program
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