Eight Downfalls of Ordinary People

Eight Downfalls of Ordinary People

1. To teach emptiness to those who are unprepared for it, since they will abandon bodhichitta.
2. Consciously to direct people of a Mahayana disposition away from the Mahayana path.
3. By injudicious praise of the Mahayana, to lead people of a Hinayana disposition to give up their pratimoksha vows.
4. To maintain that following the Hinayana path does not eradicate defilements or that the shravakas do not have an authentic path to liberation.
5. To criticize bodhisattvas openly and to praise oneself.
6. To claim falsely that one has realized the profound view.
7. To encourage powerful people to persecute practitioners, and secretly to appropriate offerings.
8. To disrupt the practice of meditators by appropriating their goods, or disturb those engaged in shamatha meditation with bad rules and regulations.

See Also

• Eighteen root downfalls