Vow-making is a fundamental yet often overlooked ritual in Buddhist monastic training, shaping both individual practice and communal ethics. This paper examines vow-making as a living ritual that structures monastic discipline, moral cultivation, and the path of awakening. Drawing on Buddhist hermeneutics of practice, it explores how vows are studied, embodied, and ritually renewed in monastic education, focusing on Chapter 40 of the Flower Adornment Sutra and Samantabhadra’s ten vows.
Engaging both scriptural analysis and personal monastic experience, this paper interrogates authenticity, authority, and agency in vow-making, demonstrating how these commitments serve as a dynamic practice of ethical formation and spiritual development. By examining vow-making as a repetitive yet evolving ritual, this study highlights its continued relevance in contemporary monastic education, where monks and nuns negotiate the tensions between tradition, modernity, and the pursuit of awakening.