Sacred promise,
Samaya,
This wish to Awaken,
this devotion to the Guru,
this commitment
to discovering reality,
remains with us always;
When we Aspire to Awaken,
we must do so
with an unbreakable promise,
or there is really no point to our commitment,
no point to our sacred texts or meditation,
no point to our entire life;
This Samaya shines brightly;
This Samaya holds us together
in the darkest of times;
Opening our heart and mind,
we enter this Samaya
directly,
effortlessly,
becoming one
with the Guru,
becoming one
with our Samaya,
As it is.
A poem by Robert Aho © 2026
Sometimes people think that a Samaya, or a sacred promise, is a promise made to a teacher only within the Vajrayana traditions. This is partially true; however, there is much more to it than that that people rarely discuss. In reality, it is also taught that we must see the Buddha within or as our teacher. This means that the Samaya is not simply something we externalize. We look within at our own Buddha Nature when we make a Samaya. I think if people really realized this then there would be far fewer problems in spiritual groups and institutions. We would realize that our Samaya leads to total and complete freedom. We would not utilize the Samaya to limit ourselves in any way.
In Vajrayana traditions, we are not only making this promise to our teacher, our teacher promises to help us. Although seemingly esoteric, this is a promise made by both student and teacher to Ultimate Reality itself, to the Primordial Buddha within us, who is us, perfect from the beginning. A Samaya is a sacred promise that does not need any spiritual tradition to make it so. Any Spiritual Practitioner at any level, even having barely begun, can make a Samaya.
When we first Aspire to Awaken, we are actually making this Samaya to the Primordial Buddha, promising that we will Awaken, simply because we have wished to Awaken. This is why I say that the first step is the same as the last step. We create a spark with our Samaya, with our wish to Awaken. This sacred promise is extremely important. With this Samaya, we must do whatever we can to Awaken, and to never give up. On that first step, we don’t really need to have a teacher in mind. We simply look within, intuitively calling upon our innate wisdom.
If we don’t make this profound Samaya to Awaken when we first step onto the Spiritual Path, when we first Aspire to Awaken, then there is no point in Spiritual Practice whatsoever. It’s a very important aspect of the first step. If we begin by merely dabbling in various ideas about meditation, such as finding a moment of peace or maybe just wanting to hang out with the cool kids who are on retreat, this idea of being released from cyclic existence will never come true.
Many people accumulate vast numbers of empowerments and transmissions from various famous spiritual masters; yet, they only fool themselves because they did not begin with a strong Aspiration to Awaken, with the additional promise to never give up. The power of this first Samaya is what makes liberation possible. Our first step needs to be powerful in this way.
Later, when we have been practicing meditation for a while, we can add other Samayas, as necessary. This varies from one individual to another; however, the ultimate purpose of any such sacred promises have to do with Awakening. We make such promises for very practical reasons.
When I ask my students to make a simple promise, that of meditating at least twenty minutes per day, I am actually asking something very easy that relates to this commitment to Awakening itself. I know that this minimum effort will provide some benefit. Since breaking a Samaya is considered very serious, something that can bring us a great deal of karmic trouble, it seems that asking people to do something easy and obtainable will bring very good karma.
My primary Samaya is that promise I made when I was still in the death bardo. I promised to teach at least a small number of people. I’ve come to realize that my efforts and Samaya over the last 2,600 years have actually helped millions of people. If I am only able to help a small number of people in this lifetime, then I should be very relieved, very contented. It means that my karma is being exhausted in this regard. Complete liberation should finally be within reach.
We pay attention to our Samayas in a very serious manner. When we die, we find ways to discover our Spiritual Practice from past lifetimes in order to regain what we need to know. We discover that we’ve made many Samayas throughout time, if we have had the good fortune of stepping onto the Spiritual Path. The power of Samaya brings us back and propels us into liberation.
We discover through Samaya that we have unlimited potentiality. We discover that we are not limited to schools or teachers or beliefs or ideas about this or that. Our original Samaya, that we will continue until we are liberated, guides us and propels us.
Blessings of Source,
Rigdzin Robert Aho
Robert Aho is the author of Timeless Luminosity and The Frog: A Spiritual Autobiography, Spanning Many Lifetimes. Both books, written after his death experience, give advanced spiritual advice regarding the complete Spiritual Path, inspiration for living each day and words of encouragement, with the intention of helping people to stay committed to their Spiritual Path, as well as preparing for death. This ultimately leads to discovering your own unlimited power within, which leads to Awakening. Both books are available on Amazon, Zenith Bookstore, as well as various other sources.