The perfection of ethical conduct
Venerable Thubten Chonyi 
Gomchen Lamrim 
Aug 18, 2017 The text turns to training the mind on the stages of the path of advanced level practitioners. Part of a series of teachings on the Gomchen Lamrim by Gomchen Ngawang Drakpa. Visit Gomchen Lamrim Study Guide for a full list of contemplation points for the series.
- The benefits of keeping ethical conduct
- Is it easier to create non-virtue now versus in the past?
- How we engage in killing, stealing, and unwise sexual behavior in modern times
- Ways to practice protecting life, safeguarding possessions, and using sexuality kindly
- Methods to counteract our tendency to lie and speak divisively
Gomchen Lamrim 102: The Perfection of Ethical Conduct (download)
Contemplation points
- Going through each of the ten pathways of non-virtue, consider:
- What are some socially acceptable, contemporary activities that actually create negativity through this pathway of non-virtue?
- Have you engaged in the activity? What afflictions were working behind the scenes that made non-virtue seem like a good thing to do?
- What resources does the Buddha make available to you to overcome the wish to engage in this activity in your own life?
- What can you do to bring love, compassion, and wisdom to the situation when you see this activity in the world?
- What virtuous pathway directly opposes this non-virtue? What can you do to cultivate this in your life?
- Generate a strong aspiration to abandon negative actions and cultivate positive ones through your study, reflection, and meditation. Make the determination to allow a deeper understanding of keeping good ethical conduct to influence the way you interact with others in your daily life.
Venerable Thubten Chonyi
Ven. Thubten Chonyi is a nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She has studied with Sravasti Abbey founder and abbess Ven. Thubten Chodron since 1996. She lives and trains at the Abbey, where she received novice ordination in 2008. She took full ordination at Fo Guang Shan in Taiwan in 2011. Ven. Chonyi regularly teaches Buddhism and meditation at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane and, occasionally, in other locations as well.
