Monastic precepts
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Exploring Monastic Life 2006 
Aug 8, 2006 A talk given during Sravasti Abbey's annual Exploring Monastic Life program in 2006.
The sangha
- Development of the sangha community: diversity
- Guidelines for living together
- Precepts cover two kinds of faults: naturally negative and those which the Buddha prohibited
- Explanation of Pratimoksha and Vinaya
- Rise of the monastic universities around 5th century AD with emphasis on debate: Buddhism spread to Tibet
- What is Dharma and what is culture?
Exploring Monastic Life 2006: Session 4, 1-3 (download)
Keeping Precepts
- Classification of vows for fully ordained monastics
- Defeats
- Remainders/Suspensions
- Purpose of having novice ordination—a stepping stone to full ordination
Exploring Monastic Life 2006: Session 4, 2-3 (download)
Keeping Precepts (continued)
- Classification of vows (continued)
- Lapses with forfeiture
- Handling money in today’s context
Venerable Thubten Chodron
Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.
