Kāmamithyācārād virati
kāmamithyācārād virati (T. mi tshangs par spyod pa spong pa / ལོག་གཡེམ་སྤོང་བ་ / འདོད་པས་ལོག་པར་གཡེམ་པ་སྤོང་བ་; C. li feifanxing 離非梵行). Abandoning the act of indulging in sexual misconduct (kāmamithyācāra).[1][2]
Refraining from sexual misconduct (kāmamithyācārād virati) is:
- the third of the ten wholesome courses of action (kuśalakarmapatha )[3][4]
- the third of the five precepts[5]
- the third of the eight precepts[6]
- the third of the ten precepts for novice monastics
In the context of the five precepts for a lay person, refraining from sexual misconduct means avoiding sexual behavior that is misleading, deceitful, or otherwise harmful to oneself or others. Traditionally, this refers having sexual relations with an illicit partner (see Bodhi 1994).
In the context of the eight precepts taken by lay followers on upoṣadha days, this precept means to refrain from sexual activity for the period for which the vow is taken (typically for one day and night).
In the context of the ten precepts for novice monastics, refraining from sexual misconduct means to maintain celibacy and refrain from any sexual activity.
Notes
- ↑ Robert E. Buswell Jr., Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton: 2014), s.v. List of lists, "Eight precepts"
- ↑
མི་ཚངས་པར་སྤྱོད་པ་སྤོང་པ་, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
- ↑
dge ba bcu, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
- ↑
འདོད་པས་ལོག་པར་གཡེམ་པ་སྤོང་བ་, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
- ↑
བསླབ་པ་ལྔ་, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
- ↑
བསླབ་པའི་གཞི་བརྒྱད་, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
Sources
Bhikkhu Bodhi (1994), Going for Refuge & Taking the Precepts, Access to Insight