In the White Plum Zen lineage, we receive the sixteen Bodhisattva Vows when we formally commit to the Zen path in a Jukai ceremony. But making the intention to live by vows is available to all of us. They are practical, dynamic and applied differently in different circumstances. They are alive for us, all the time. Living by vow is lifelong. We never finish. We never once and for all “conquer” greed, anger, and ignorance. And yet, we keep going.

As Jan Chozen Bays says “Vows act like a conduit for our life energy.”