I occasionally mention the vow “to be of service” which I made on December 31, 2000. This simple promise was not imposed on me but naturally arrived at my heart’s door during rohatsu, a weeklong silent Zen retreat. This vow has informed my everyday decisions ever since: each time I serve, it is re-charged.
Anyone can make and live by vows. You don’t have to be a monk or work in a hospice. Norman Fischer writes:
There are many ways to life a life of vowing. I have known people who live their vow through art or work or service, others do it simply by remaining for a long time in a particular place that they have come to know well and to love. Perhaps most movingly, I have also known people for whom the need to overcome great suffering–personal tragedies like abuse or loss, social forces like sexism, racism, or homophobia, a physical or mental illness, the long tragic course of addition–has been a vital and courageous path of vowing.
source: Fischer, N. (2003). Taking our places: the Buddhist path of truly growing up. HarperSanFrancisco, p. 127.
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