Vows

The distinctions among the four classes of tantra can be described in terms of varying levels of reliance on external and internal methods and with the analogy of an increasing level of blissful awareness used to focus on voidness.

Atisha’s “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment” is the forerunner of the Tibetan lam-rim tradition. It places special emphasis on the bodhisattva vows and their necessity for successful tantra practice.

The secondary bodhisattva vows are to refrain from 46 faulty actions.

A downfall from the tantric vows requires transgressing one of the fourteen root vows with the four binding factors being complete. Several factors may cause us to transgress our vows.

A summary report of the 2007 International Congress on the Women's Role in the Sangha: Bhikshuni Vinaya and Ordination Lineages, University of Hamburg, 18-20 July 2007.