Presention by:

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Practice of Buddhist Ethicsin terms of
"Vrata"in Nepalese Buddhism
IABU Conference The First Summit on Buddhism and
Ethics September 13-15, 2008

• Presention by
• Rev. Dr. Naresh Man Bajracharya
• Head, Central Department of Buddhist Studies
• Tribhuvan University, Nepal

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Swoyambhu Stupa - Nepal
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Lumbini - the birth place of Shakyamuni Buddha
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Three Fundamental Components of Buddhism

• Sila, Samadhi and Prajna
• 1. Sila refers to the Buddhist ethics.
• 2. Samadhi denotes Buddhist meditation.
• 3. Prajna stands for the Buddhist understanding
  (wisdom) about the ultimate truth of the Life and
  the Universe.
• Following the Sila, (ethics), practice of the
  Samadhi (meditation) and attainment of Prajna
  (wisdom) are the exact understanding and the ways
  of practice of the Buddhism.

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Sila
Sila is expressed as ethics, virtue, moral
precepts and so on. Types of Buddhist
Ethics Buddhist ethics can be categorized into
five different sub titles based on contexts and
levels of people. They are as follows a. Five
moral precepts For lay people to be practiced in
their daily life b. Eight moral precepts For
lay people to be practiced occasionally c. Ten
moral precepts For monks and nuns to be
practiced for life long d. Three rights For lay
people, monks and nuns to be practiced life
long. e. Ten good deeds For lay people, monks
and nuns to be practiced life long.
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Sila
a. Five moral precepts The Buddha suggested
lay people to follow five moral precepts in their
daily life. 1. Abstinence from killing living
beings, 2. Abstinence from stalling other's
property, 3. Abstinence from sexual
misconduct, 4. Abstinence from telling lie
and 5. Abstinence from consuming intoxicant.
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Sila
b. Eight moral precepts 1. Abstinence from
killing living beings, 2. Abstinence from
stalling other's property, 3. Abstinence from
sexual conduct 4. Abstinence from telling lie
and 5. Abstinence from consuming intoxicant. 6.
Abstaining from eating more than one meal and
eating that one before noon. 7. Abstaining from
dancing, singing and listening music and or
playing musical instruments for sensual
pleasure. 8. Abstaining from the use of jewelry,
perfumes and other cosmetics. Buddha guided lay
people to observe eight moral precepts
occasionally. Except the third among five
precepts, four are identical. The third precept
-Abstinence from sexual misconduct - is replaced
by Abstinence from sexual conduct, even with own
spouse on the particular day.
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Sila
c. Ten moral precepts 1. Abstinence from
killing living beings, 2. Abstinence from
stalling other's property, 3. Abstinence from
marital life 4. Abstinence from telling lie
and 5. Abstinence from consuming intoxicant. 6.
Abstaining from eating more than one meal and
eating that one before noon. 7. Abstaining from
dancing, singing and listening music and or
playing musical instruments for sensual
pleasure. 8. Abstaining from the use of jewelry,
perfumes and other cosmetics. 9. Abstaining from
sleeping in high and lofty beds 10. Abstaining
from receiving silver and gold (not handling
money). Buddha prescribed ten moral precepts for
monks and nuns for life long. Monks and nuns live
in the monastic order and must strictly follow
the ten moral precepts.
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Sila
d. Three Rights (out of eightfold noble paths)
1. Right speech 2. Right Action and 3. Right
livelihood
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e. Ten good deeds Not to commit the Ten sinful
acts or misdeeds is itself the ten good deeds.
Ten Sinful Acts or Misdeeds (Akusala) As the
concept of Ten Moral Precepts there is concept of
Ten Sinful Acts or Misdeeds that is also known as
sinful acts. The ten misdeeds are categorized
into three groups basis on instrumental role for
the occurrence of the misdeeds. They are as
follows a. Three misdeeds by body or bodily
wrong action 1. Killing 2. Stealing 3. Sexual
Misconduct
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Ten Sinful Acts or Misdeeds (Akusala)
b. Four misdeeds by speech or wrong speech
4. Lying 5. Harsh Speech 6. Backbiting or
slander speech 7. Idle talk c. Three misdeeds
by mind 8. Coveting 9. Malicious
thoughts 10. Wrong View
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Benefits of Moral Precepts
1. Abstinence from killing living beings accept
other's existence just as your own. It deals with
the security of lives of all living beings
against the killing and violence. 2. Abstinence
from stealing other's property not to steal any
object belonging to others. It advocates security
of property of people. 3. Abstinence from sexual
misconduct to be honest to own spouse or do not
break your true lover's heart and not to
interfere in other's personal life. It advocates
against the sex before marriage, multi life
partners, prostitution. It also advocates
honoring own spouse.
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Benefits of Moral Precepts
4. Abstinence from telling lie to let other
know truth, as you know. It advocates human right
to know truth. It is against the spread of wrong
information, propagation of superstition and
misleading people. 5. Abstinence from consuming
intoxicant means not to use any kind of
intoxicants. It advocates about healthy speech,
body and mind. It alerts to be mindfulness
always. 6. 6-8 After the five precepts the
additional three precepts are concerned with the
minimization of desire in the senses - sight,
sound, smell, taste, and touch. They also serve
to instill and develop a sensible participatory
practice rather than indulging in taking extreme
delight in actions.
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Benefits of Moral Precepts
9. The ninth precept is an effort to reduce the
desire for bodily comforts and the last one
minimizes contact with the world of commerce and
commercial interaction, thereby limiting the
accumulation of worldly goods. 10. The ten
precepts are meant for those who have abandoned
the domestic life and have taken up the life of a
Buddhist ascetic. Those who have recently done
this are called Samanera or novices and who have
passed certain years are called Bhikshu for male
and Bhiksuni for female. They live in the
monastic order and must strictly follow the ten
moral precepts.
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Importance of ethics in Buddhism

• Sila, (ethics), practice of the Samadhi
  (meditation) and attainment of Prajna (wisdom)
  are the exact understanding and the ways of
  practice of the Buddhism.
• The first step of these three ways of practice is
  Sila (ethics) and the others are gradual steps
  like second and final steps. Ethics forms the
  foundation of further progress on the path.
• In Buddhism it is believed that without success
  in the practice of ethics one cannot get success
  in meditation. Until no success in meditation one
  cannot attain the wisdom, the final goal.
• Ethics is foundation of Meditation and Wisdom
  just like earth is foundation of all animate and
  inanimate things. Ethics is the foundation of all
  positive qualities, all attainment, ranging from
  the mundane to the supra mundane.

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Relevance of ethics in Buddhism

• Direct preaching may not be enough. Parents and
  teachers teach children and students that smoking
  and drinking alcohol are harmful for health.
  Organizations are paying their assiduous efforts
  in this regards yet it is known fact that still
  most people are smokers and drinkers, youths are
  under the drug addiction, and crime rates are on
  the rise.
• Similarly Buddhist ethics are sound to listen but
  hard to follow it. It is necessary to implement
  these ethics into the society for personal
  benefit, social harmony and religious goals.
  Buddhist Mahayana masters, introduced many
  practices under the concept of "Skillful Means".
• "Ritual" is one skillful means. Nepalese (Newar)
  Buddhist masters designed the "Vrata" under the
  ritual for the practice of Buddhist ethics. It is
  therefore
• "Vrata" is a ritualistic way of practicing
  Buddhist ethics.

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Types of Vrata
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Manjusri Mandala
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Maha Pratisara (One of the five Panca Rakshas)
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Holding the five-fold thread while listening to
the discourses
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Following are taking rice pudding after vrata
ritual
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Bhavatu Sabba Mangalam !
Thanks