Collection Of Buddhist Vows
Ten Virtues
1. Respecting Life / Killing
2. Generosity (respecting other’s property) / Stealing
3. Sexual Purity (honouring relationships) / Sexual Misconduct
4. Kind Words / Harsh Words
5. Speaking the Truth / Lying
6. Speaking to Bring People Together / Divisive Speech
7. Meaningful Talk / Idle Talk
8. Being Satisfied (with what you have) / Coveting
9. Good Will and Rejoicing / Ill Will
10. Correct World View / Wrong View
The Refuge Commitments
1.Not seeking refuge in worldly objects and deities once you have taken refuge in the Buddha
2.Not harming any living being once you have taken refuge in the Dharma
3.Not associating closely with people who do not believe in the Path once you have taken refuge in the Sangha
4.Considering any representation of the Buddha, regardless of the quality of its artistry or material, as though it were the Buddha himself, once you have taken refuge in the Buddha
5.Considering any written material at all, from a single letter on up, as though it were the Dharma itself, once you have taken refuge in the Dharma
6.Considering even a single scrap of the saffron robe as though it were the Sangha itself, once you have taken refuge in the Sangha
7.Going for refuge over and over again, by calling to mind the good qualities of the refuge objects
8.In remembrance of their kindness, offering the first part of any food or drink to the refuge objects
9.Encouraging others to take refuge
10. Taking refuge three times each day, and three times each night, by bringing to mind the benefits of doing so
11. Putting all your trust in the objects of refuge, during any activity you may undertake at all
12. Not giving up the Three Jewels, even if it should cost you your life, and in every situation from that on down to doing so in jest
Pratimoksha Vows
Refrain from:
1.Killing
2.Stealing
3.Sexual misconduct
4.Lying
5.Divisive talk
6.Harsh words
7.Useless talk
8.Craving
9.Ill-will
10. Wrong views
The Bodhisattva Vows
A. ROOT DOWNFALLS
1.Praising yourself, out of attachment to gain or honor
2.Criticizing others, out of attachment to gain or honor
3.Failing to give Dharma, due to feelings of possessiveness
4.Failing to give material assistance, due to feelings of possessiveness
5.Failing to accept someone’s apology
6.Striking another
7.Giving up the greater way
8.Teaching false Dharma
9.Stealing what belongs to the Buddha Jewel
10. Stealing what belongs to the Dharma Jewel
11. Stealing what belongs to the Sangha Jewel
12. Giving up the highest Dharma by discounting the scriptural collections of the way of the listeners
13. Giving up the highest Dharma by discounting the scriptural collections of the way of the self–made Buddhas
14. Giving up the highest Dharma by discounting the scriptural collections of the greater way
15. Taking away the golden robes, beating, or incarcerating an ordained person
16. Removing someone from the status of an ordained person
17. Committing the immediate misdeed of killing your father
18. Committing the immediate misdeed of killing your mother
19. Committing the immediate misdeed of killing an enemy destroyer
20. Committing the immediate misdeed of creating a schism in the Sangha
21. Committing the immediate misdeed of drawing blood from a Buddha with evil intent
22. Holding wrong views
23. Destroying towns
24. Destroying cities
25. Destroying whole areas
26. Destroying entire countries
27. Teaching emptiness to a person who is not yet mentally prepared
28. Causing a person to turn back from total enlightenment
29. Causing a person to give up the morality of freedom
30. Holding that a person cannot eliminate desire and the rest by following the way of the learner
31. Criticizing someone else due to one’s desire for the adulation of others
32. Professing the complete opposite by saying you have seen emptiness directly when you have not
33. Accepting what belongs to the Jewels, to the Sangha, or to an individual monk when someone presents it to you
34. Rejecting the practice of quietude, and giving the possessions of meditators to those whose practice is recitation
35. Discarding the wish for enlightenment
B. SECONDARY OFFENSES
1.Failing to make offerings to the Jewels through the three doors of expression
2.Allowing thoughts of desire to go on
3.Failing to pay respect to those who have taken the precepts of the bodhisattva before you
4.Failing to answer questions, out of anger or laziness
5.Failing to accept an invitation, out of pride, or a wish to hurt someone, anger, or laziness
6.Failing to accept gold or silver or any other kind of material wealth that a sponsor has tried to offer to you, out of a desire to hurt them, or out of anger or laziness
7.Failing to give the Dharma to those who wish it, out of a desire to hurt them, or out of anger or envy or laziness
8.Rejecting persons with sullied morality, out of feelings of wanting to hurt them, or out of anger or laziness
9.Failing to follow the rules of the teachings on discipline which lead other persons to develop faith
10. Performing deeds which are only of lesser benefit for all living beings
11. Failing to break a rule out of compassion [There are extraordinary requirements for those who should undertake these kinds of actions, and these must be studied seriously from a qualified Lama before one attempts them]
12. Taking up wrong livelihood of trying to obtain things through pretending
13. Taking up wrong livelihood of trying to obtain things through flattering
14. Taking up wrong livelihood of trying to obtain things through hinting
15. Taking up wrong livelihood of trying to obtain things through forcing
16. Taking up wrong livelihood of trying to obtain things through baiting
17. Forgetting yourself and acting wild, or getting others to act wild, and so on
18. Thinking that you only have to travel through the circle of suffering life
19. Failing to put a stop to rumors about yourself
20. Failing to correct someone when it must be done in a negative way
21. Losing the four points of the practice of virtue by responding to scolding with = scolding
22. Losing the four points of the practice of virtue by responding to anger with anger
23. Losing the four points of the practice of virtue by responding to being beaten by beating
24. Losing the four points of the practice of virtue by responding to being criticized by criticizing
25. Simply ignoring those who are angry at you, by failing to explain yourself to them in an appropriate manner out of a desire to hurt them, or pride, or laziness
26. Refusing to forgive another person when they apologize for doing something wrong to you, out of a desire to hurt them, thoughts of malice, or simply because you don’t feel like it
27. Allowing thoughts of anger to go on
28. Collecting a group of disciples, out of a desire to have others pay honor to you, serve you, or make material offerings to you
29. Failing to dispel your laziness and the like
30. Spending time with busy talk because you enjoy it
31. Failing to seek the meaning of meditative concentration, out of a desire to hurt someone, or laziness
32. Failing to purge yourself of the meditation obstacle of the pair of restless desire and missing something or someone
33. Failing to purge yourself of the meditation obstacle of feelings of malice about someone
34. Failing to purge yourself of the meditation obstacle of the pair of drowsiness and mental dullness
35. Failing to purge yourself of the meditation obstacle of attraction to objects of the senses
36. Failing to purge yourself of the meditation obstacle of unresolved doubts
37. Considering the pleasant sensation of meditation to be an important personal attainment
38. Rejecting the way of the listeners
39. Making efforts in the scriptural collection of the listeners, when you have an opportunity to exert yourself in the scriptural collection of the bodhisattvas
40. Making efforts in non Buddhist texts where no efforts should be made
41. Being attracted to non–Buddhist texts, even in a case where one must make efforts
42. Rejecting the greater way by discounting any part of the scriptural collection of the bodhisattvas by saying, “This part is not as good”
43. Rejecting the greater way by discounting any part of the scriptural collection of the bodhisattvas by saying, “The composition at this point is inferior”
44. Rejecting the greater way by discounting any part of the scriptural collection of the bodhisattvas by saying, “The author of this part was not the best”
45. Rejecting the greater way by discounting any part of the scriptural collection of the bodhisattvas by saying,“This part won’t contribute to the welfare of living beings”
46. Praising oneself out of pride or anger
47. Criticizing others out of pride or anger
48. Not going to hear the Dharma out of pride or laziness
49. Focusing on the vessel and the letters, by focusing on the teacher and not the teaching
50. Failing to assist someone in need who is just undertaking a particular task, out of anger or laziness
51. Failing to assist someone in need who is trying to get somewhere, out of anger or laziness
52. Failing to assist someone in need who is trying to learn a language, out of anger or laziness
53. Failing to assist someone in need who is trying to learn a skill (as long as it is not something harmful), out of anger or laziness
54. Failing to assist someone in need who is trying to protect their belongings, out of anger or laziness
55. Failing to assist someone in need who is trying to fix a split between people, out of anger or laziness
56. Failing to assist someone in need who is planning a virtuous event of some kind, out of anger or laziness
57. Failing to assist someone in need who is undertaking some more general virtue, out of anger or laziness
58. Failing to serve the sick, out of anger or laziness
59. Failing to make some attempt to remove the suffering of those who are blind, deaf, handicapped, weary from travelling, tormented by any of the five mental obstacles, haunted by thoughts such as malice toward someone, or suffering from defeat at the hands of someone else
60. Failing to give good reasons to those who are acting in a dangerous way, out of anger or laziness
61. Failing to repay someone who has helped you, by helping them back, out of a desire to hurt someone or out of laziness
62. Failing to dispel another person’s grief, out of a desire to hurt someone or out of laziness
63. Failing to give money or other material things to someone who wants them, out of a desire to hurt someone or out of laziness
64. Failing to fill the needs of your circle of disciples, out of a desire to hurt someone or out of laziness
65. Failing to get along with someone, out of a desire to hurt someone or out of laziness
66. Failing to praise someone’s good qualities, out of a desire to hurt someone or out of laziness
67. Failing to cut someone off when the time has come to do so, out of mental afflictions or laziness
68. Failing to use your supernormal powers to threaten someone or such when needed
C. SECONDARY OFFENSES AGAINST THE PRECEPTS OF THE PRAYER FOR THE WISH FOR ENLIGHTENMENT
1.Failing to support those whom it would be proper to
2.support, with Dharma
3.Failing to support those whom it would be proper to support, with material things
4.Failing to let go of your anger about something some one else had done to hurt you
5.Discriminating between people, in the sense of liking some and disliking others
6.Failing to take yourself to a holy Lama
7.Giving up the practice of learning
8.Giving up the practice of contemplating upon what you have learned
9.Failing to have helping others in mind as you partake of food or clothing or any other thing that you make use of
10. Engaging in any virtuous activity without having in mind the wish to reach enlightenment for the sake of all living beings
D. THE BLACK AND WHITE DEEDS
1.The black deed of intentionally deceiving your Lama, or those to whom we make offerings, or any such person, by lying to them
2.The white deed of never intentionally speaking a lie, even if only in jest, to any single living being there is
3.The black deed of causing another person to regret some virtuous thing they have done
4.The white deed of bringing a person that you are cultivating to strive for total enlightenment, rather than bringing them to the path of the lower way
5.The black deed of saying something unpleasant to a bodhisattva out of anger
6.The white deed of trying to conceive of every sentient being as the Teacher himself, and to see all beings and things as totally pure
7.The black deed of acting in a devious way with any living being, without any sense of personal responsibility for their enlightenment
8.The white deed of maintaining an attitude of total honesty toward every being, free of any kind of deception
The Five Vows of a Lifetime Layperson
1.Not killing a human or a human fetus
2.Not stealing anything of value
3.Not lying about your spiritual realizations
4.Not committing adultery
5.Not taking alcohol or intoxicants
1. Respecting Life / Killing
2. Generosity (respecting other’s property) / Stealing
3. Sexual Purity (honouring relationships) / Sexual Misconduct
4. Kind Words / Harsh Words
5. Speaking the Truth / Lying
6. Speaking to Bring People Together / Divisive Speech
7. Meaningful Talk / Idle Talk
8. Being Satisfied (with what you have) / Coveting
9. Good Will and Rejoicing / Ill Will
10. Correct World View / Wrong View
The Refuge Commitments
1.Not seeking refuge in worldly objects and deities once you have taken refuge in the Buddha
2.Not harming any living being once you have taken refuge in the Dharma
3.Not associating closely with people who do not believe in the Path once you have taken refuge in the Sangha
4.Considering any representation of the Buddha, regardless of the quality of its artistry or material, as though it were the Buddha himself, once you have taken refuge in the Buddha
5.Considering any written material at all, from a single letter on up, as though it were the Dharma itself, once you have taken refuge in the Dharma
6.Considering even a single scrap of the saffron robe as though it were the Sangha itself, once you have taken refuge in the Sangha
7.Going for refuge over and over again, by calling to mind the good qualities of the refuge objects
8.In remembrance of their kindness, offering the first part of any food or drink to the refuge objects
9.Encouraging others to take refuge
10. Taking refuge three times each day, and three times each night, by bringing to mind the benefits of doing so
11. Putting all your trust in the objects of refuge, during any activity you may undertake at all
12. Not giving up the Three Jewels, even if it should cost you your life, and in every situation from that on down to doing so in jest
Pratimoksha Vows
Refrain from:
1.Killing
2.Stealing
3.Sexual misconduct
4.Lying
5.Divisive talk
6.Harsh words
7.Useless talk
8.Craving
9.Ill-will
10. Wrong views
The Bodhisattva Vows
A. ROOT DOWNFALLS
1.Praising yourself, out of attachment to gain or honor
2.Criticizing others, out of attachment to gain or honor
3.Failing to give Dharma, due to feelings of possessiveness
4.Failing to give material assistance, due to feelings of possessiveness
5.Failing to accept someone’s apology
6.Striking another
7.Giving up the greater way
8.Teaching false Dharma
9.Stealing what belongs to the Buddha Jewel
10. Stealing what belongs to the Dharma Jewel
11. Stealing what belongs to the Sangha Jewel
12. Giving up the highest Dharma by discounting the scriptural collections of the way of the listeners
13. Giving up the highest Dharma by discounting the scriptural collections of the way of the self–made Buddhas
14. Giving up the highest Dharma by discounting the scriptural collections of the greater way
15. Taking away the golden robes, beating, or incarcerating an ordained person
16. Removing someone from the status of an ordained person
17. Committing the immediate misdeed of killing your father
18. Committing the immediate misdeed of killing your mother
19. Committing the immediate misdeed of killing an enemy destroyer
20. Committing the immediate misdeed of creating a schism in the Sangha
21. Committing the immediate misdeed of drawing blood from a Buddha with evil intent
22. Holding wrong views
23. Destroying towns
24. Destroying cities
25. Destroying whole areas
26. Destroying entire countries
27. Teaching emptiness to a person who is not yet mentally prepared
28. Causing a person to turn back from total enlightenment
29. Causing a person to give up the morality of freedom
30. Holding that a person cannot eliminate desire and the rest by following the way of the learner
31. Criticizing someone else due to one’s desire for the adulation of others
32. Professing the complete opposite by saying you have seen emptiness directly when you have not
33. Accepting what belongs to the Jewels, to the Sangha, or to an individual monk when someone presents it to you
34. Rejecting the practice of quietude, and giving the possessions of meditators to those whose practice is recitation
35. Discarding the wish for enlightenment
B. SECONDARY OFFENSES
1.Failing to make offerings to the Jewels through the three doors of expression
2.Allowing thoughts of desire to go on
3.Failing to pay respect to those who have taken the precepts of the bodhisattva before you
4.Failing to answer questions, out of anger or laziness
5.Failing to accept an invitation, out of pride, or a wish to hurt someone, anger, or laziness
6.Failing to accept gold or silver or any other kind of material wealth that a sponsor has tried to offer to you, out of a desire to hurt them, or out of anger or laziness
7.Failing to give the Dharma to those who wish it, out of a desire to hurt them, or out of anger or envy or laziness
8.Rejecting persons with sullied morality, out of feelings of wanting to hurt them, or out of anger or laziness
9.Failing to follow the rules of the teachings on discipline which lead other persons to develop faith
10. Performing deeds which are only of lesser benefit for all living beings
11. Failing to break a rule out of compassion [There are extraordinary requirements for those who should undertake these kinds of actions, and these must be studied seriously from a qualified Lama before one attempts them]
12. Taking up wrong livelihood of trying to obtain things through pretending
13. Taking up wrong livelihood of trying to obtain things through flattering
14. Taking up wrong livelihood of trying to obtain things through hinting
15. Taking up wrong livelihood of trying to obtain things through forcing
16. Taking up wrong livelihood of trying to obtain things through baiting
17. Forgetting yourself and acting wild, or getting others to act wild, and so on
18. Thinking that you only have to travel through the circle of suffering life
19. Failing to put a stop to rumors about yourself
20. Failing to correct someone when it must be done in a negative way
21. Losing the four points of the practice of virtue by responding to scolding with = scolding
22. Losing the four points of the practice of virtue by responding to anger with anger
23. Losing the four points of the practice of virtue by responding to being beaten by beating
24. Losing the four points of the practice of virtue by responding to being criticized by criticizing
25. Simply ignoring those who are angry at you, by failing to explain yourself to them in an appropriate manner out of a desire to hurt them, or pride, or laziness
26. Refusing to forgive another person when they apologize for doing something wrong to you, out of a desire to hurt them, thoughts of malice, or simply because you don’t feel like it
27. Allowing thoughts of anger to go on
28. Collecting a group of disciples, out of a desire to have others pay honor to you, serve you, or make material offerings to you
29. Failing to dispel your laziness and the like
30. Spending time with busy talk because you enjoy it
31. Failing to seek the meaning of meditative concentration, out of a desire to hurt someone, or laziness
32. Failing to purge yourself of the meditation obstacle of the pair of restless desire and missing something or someone
33. Failing to purge yourself of the meditation obstacle of feelings of malice about someone
34. Failing to purge yourself of the meditation obstacle of the pair of drowsiness and mental dullness
35. Failing to purge yourself of the meditation obstacle of attraction to objects of the senses
36. Failing to purge yourself of the meditation obstacle of unresolved doubts
37. Considering the pleasant sensation of meditation to be an important personal attainment
38. Rejecting the way of the listeners
39. Making efforts in the scriptural collection of the listeners, when you have an opportunity to exert yourself in the scriptural collection of the bodhisattvas
40. Making efforts in non Buddhist texts where no efforts should be made
41. Being attracted to non–Buddhist texts, even in a case where one must make efforts
42. Rejecting the greater way by discounting any part of the scriptural collection of the bodhisattvas by saying, “This part is not as good”
43. Rejecting the greater way by discounting any part of the scriptural collection of the bodhisattvas by saying, “The composition at this point is inferior”
44. Rejecting the greater way by discounting any part of the scriptural collection of the bodhisattvas by saying, “The author of this part was not the best”
45. Rejecting the greater way by discounting any part of the scriptural collection of the bodhisattvas by saying,“This part won’t contribute to the welfare of living beings”
46. Praising oneself out of pride or anger
47. Criticizing others out of pride or anger
48. Not going to hear the Dharma out of pride or laziness
49. Focusing on the vessel and the letters, by focusing on the teacher and not the teaching
50. Failing to assist someone in need who is just undertaking a particular task, out of anger or laziness
51. Failing to assist someone in need who is trying to get somewhere, out of anger or laziness
52. Failing to assist someone in need who is trying to learn a language, out of anger or laziness
53. Failing to assist someone in need who is trying to learn a skill (as long as it is not something harmful), out of anger or laziness
54. Failing to assist someone in need who is trying to protect their belongings, out of anger or laziness
55. Failing to assist someone in need who is trying to fix a split between people, out of anger or laziness
56. Failing to assist someone in need who is planning a virtuous event of some kind, out of anger or laziness
57. Failing to assist someone in need who is undertaking some more general virtue, out of anger or laziness
58. Failing to serve the sick, out of anger or laziness
59. Failing to make some attempt to remove the suffering of those who are blind, deaf, handicapped, weary from travelling, tormented by any of the five mental obstacles, haunted by thoughts such as malice toward someone, or suffering from defeat at the hands of someone else
60. Failing to give good reasons to those who are acting in a dangerous way, out of anger or laziness
61. Failing to repay someone who has helped you, by helping them back, out of a desire to hurt someone or out of laziness
62. Failing to dispel another person’s grief, out of a desire to hurt someone or out of laziness
63. Failing to give money or other material things to someone who wants them, out of a desire to hurt someone or out of laziness
64. Failing to fill the needs of your circle of disciples, out of a desire to hurt someone or out of laziness
65. Failing to get along with someone, out of a desire to hurt someone or out of laziness
66. Failing to praise someone’s good qualities, out of a desire to hurt someone or out of laziness
67. Failing to cut someone off when the time has come to do so, out of mental afflictions or laziness
68. Failing to use your supernormal powers to threaten someone or such when needed
C. SECONDARY OFFENSES AGAINST THE PRECEPTS OF THE PRAYER FOR THE WISH FOR ENLIGHTENMENT
1.Failing to support those whom it would be proper to
2.support, with Dharma
3.Failing to support those whom it would be proper to support, with material things
4.Failing to let go of your anger about something some one else had done to hurt you
5.Discriminating between people, in the sense of liking some and disliking others
6.Failing to take yourself to a holy Lama
7.Giving up the practice of learning
8.Giving up the practice of contemplating upon what you have learned
9.Failing to have helping others in mind as you partake of food or clothing or any other thing that you make use of
10. Engaging in any virtuous activity without having in mind the wish to reach enlightenment for the sake of all living beings
D. THE BLACK AND WHITE DEEDS
1.The black deed of intentionally deceiving your Lama, or those to whom we make offerings, or any such person, by lying to them
2.The white deed of never intentionally speaking a lie, even if only in jest, to any single living being there is
3.The black deed of causing another person to regret some virtuous thing they have done
4.The white deed of bringing a person that you are cultivating to strive for total enlightenment, rather than bringing them to the path of the lower way
5.The black deed of saying something unpleasant to a bodhisattva out of anger
6.The white deed of trying to conceive of every sentient being as the Teacher himself, and to see all beings and things as totally pure
7.The black deed of acting in a devious way with any living being, without any sense of personal responsibility for their enlightenment
8.The white deed of maintaining an attitude of total honesty toward every being, free of any kind of deception
The Five Vows of a Lifetime Layperson
1.Not killing a human or a human fetus
2.Not stealing anything of value
3.Not lying about your spiritual realizations
4.Not committing adultery
5.Not taking alcohol or intoxicants
