ཀན་ཏ་རྒྱ་བ་སན་རངས་ཀྱས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་མད intro.3

intro.3

The term poṣadha (Tib. gso sbyong) refers to the ceremony performed every full and new moon day by monastics, in which they confess any faults or transgressions and recite the prātimokṣa vows. Although lay people are restricted from going to these ceremonies, they traditionally adopt what are called “the eight poṣadha vows,”¹ which are observed by lay people on the same lunar day of the poṣadha ceremony or on other occasions, usually for a single day at a time. They are to refrain from (1) killing, (2) stealing, (3) sexual misconduct, (4) lying or divisive speech, (5) intoxication, (6) eating at inappropriate times, (7) entertainment such as singing, dancing, seeing shows, and beautifying themselves with adornments or cosmetics, and (8) using a high bed. These amount to not only an expansion of the standard list of five lay vows (which constitute the first five), but most of the ten vows of a novice monk or nun (with the seventh split in two as in this sūtra), which include the additional vow to not handle money. In a sense, the laity become monastics for a day, and the occasion is understood to be a period of abstinence that often involves fasting as a way to purify one’s conduct, often in conjunction with the monastic community.