8 Mahayana Precepts

Held on 15th of each month at 6.30am
(20 minutes)

The practice of taking and keeping the eight Mahayana precepts is a special practice of moral discipline that is performed with bodhichitta motivation – the supreme good heart.

The essence of the practice is to take eight precepts – promising to abstain for twenty-four hours from eight actions:

(1) killing,
(2) stealing,
(3) sexual activity,
(4) lying,
(5) taking intoxicants,
(6) eating after lunch,
(7) sitting on high or luxurious thrones or seats, and
(8) wearing ornaments, perfume, singing and dancing and so forth

– and to keep them purely for this period of time.

We use the prayer booklet, ‘A Pure Life,’ for this puja. If you want to buy your own copy you can purchase it online – https://tharpa.com/uk/a-pure-life-booklet.html

An electronic verson of the booklet is available as well as the paper version.