Pratimoksha vows
Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia is now 14 years old
Our Encyclopedia recently received a wonderful opportunity for a major renewal on its 14th birthday . After many years of growing our Encyclopedia had become bit slow and sometimes even decided not to answer when people knocked on the door.
A very big thank you and blessings to Dmytro Rudiy (rudiy.nl) for his great work in upgrading the server, website and all of the infrastructure and helping make TBE fast and reliable again for everyone!
We kindly ask our readers to help us cover the cost of this important upgrade and also help with the ongoing costs of keeping the Encyclopedia alive and freely available.
or card
Every little donation helps and every one is deeply appreciated. 🙏🙏🙏
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM 🙏🙏🙏
May blessings shower down on all of yous 🙏🙏🙏
The vows of pratimoksha (Skt. pratimokṣa-saṃvara; Wyl. so thar gyi sdom pa) or vows of ‘individual liberation’ (Skt. pratimokṣa; Wyl. so sor thar pa) mainly emphasize disciplining one’s physical behaviour and not harming others.
Pratimoksha discipline is called the foundation of Buddhism because for ordinary people physical discipline is the beginning of spiritual training and the basis of spiritual progress.
The aspiration of the pure pratimoksha discipline is the achievement of liberation for oneself, as it belongs to the shravaka training.
However, since Tibetan Buddhists are automatically followers of the Mahayana, they emphasize taking the pratimoksha vows with the attitude of bodhichitta.
Seven Types of Pratimoksha Vows
These are the vows of:
- a fully ordained monk (Skt. bhikṣu; Tib. དགེ་སློང་) or
- a fully ordained nun (Skt. bhikṣuṇī; Tib. དགེ་སློང་མ་);
- a novice monk (Skt. śrāmanera; Tib. དགེ་ཚུལ་) or
- a novice nun (Skt. śrāmanerikā; Tib. དགེ་ཚུལ་མ་);
- a female novice in training for full ordination (Skt. śikṣamāṇā; Tib. དགེ་སློབ་མ་) and
- a male lay practitioner (Skt. upāsaka; Tib. དགེ་བསྙེན་) or
- a female lay practitioner (Skt. upāsikā; Tib. དགེ་བསྙེན་མ་).
There are sometimes said to be eight types of pratimoksha vows.
The eighth category is that of the one day lay vows (Skt. ashtangopavasa shiksha; Tib. བསྙེན་གནས་ nyen né).
Further Reading
- Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé, The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Five: Buddhist Ethics (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1998, reedited 2003)
- Lama Mipham's Commentary to Nagarjuna's Stanzas for a Novice Monk and Tsongkhapa's Essence of the Ocean of Vinaya, translated by Glen H. Mullin and Lobsang Rapgay (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1978)
- Ngari Panchen, Perfect Conduct: The Absolute Certainty of the Three Vows with commentary by Dudjom Rinpoche (Boston: Wisdom, 1996)
- Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen, A Clear Differentiation of the Three Codes: Essential Distinctions among the Individual Liberation, Great Vehicle, and Tantric Systems, translated by Jared Rhoton (New York: SUNY, 2002)