"What were the vows you took for discipleship?"



I'm not really sure. All I know is that after the ceremony, I was told that I was thenceforth a "Buddhist", and that I could no longer have sex with women. Great, I figured,  "Now I have to read about Buddhism". Yet another project.

I took the "Taking Refuge" vows with Shi De Cheng, amongst a slew of the Buddhist monks of the Shaolin Temple, in front of a few hundred Chinese tourists at the holiest and oldest pavilion in the temple grounds, back in October 1997. I was one of Shi De Cheng's first disciples. The vows I took were the same that many of the older "De" and prior generation monks had taken, and, few of the more recent individuals who are largely seen doing performances and the such. It is not common for these younger generations to take any vows whatsoever, as the Shaolin Temple and what it stands for, evolves. There are further levels of vows past the "Taking Refuge" vows, for Buddhist monks. Essentially, undergoing the ceremony for Taking Refuge makes you a Su Jia Di Tz, which can be found in the Shaolin FAQ / Monk FAQ area. 

The vows have  been translated for me (February 2001). It has been a long and painful process, as the Chinese that is used in the booklet is an old, unfamiliar form of Traditional Mandarin. They are fascinating to read, and the similarities between them and "rules" of other religions are interesting.You can read about them in the Shaolin FAQ / Temple FAQ under "Vows", and see images from said booklet.