  We introduce the Vilkovisky-DeWitt formalism for deriving the lower bound of
the Higgs boson mass.
  We illustrate the formalism with a simplified version of the Standard
Electroweak Model, where all charged boson fields as well as the bottom-quark
field are disregarded. The effective potential obtained in this approach is
gauge independent. We derive from the effective potential the mass bound of the
Higgs boson. The result is compared to its counterpart obtained from the
ordinary effective potential.
