དགེ་བསྙེན། | Glossary of Terms

A male who has taken the layperson’s vows.

Lay male devotees who uphold the five precepts.

A male who has taken the layperson’s vows.

A male who has taken the layperson’s vows.

male lay practitioner

Layman.

An unordained male practitioner who observes the five vows not to kill, lie, steal, be intoxicated, or commit sexual misconduct.

Householders with definite vows that set them off from the ordinary householder.

Male lay devotees who have taken the five precepts.

Layman who holds householder’s vows.

An unordained male practitioner who observes the five vows not to kill, lie, steal, be intoxicated, or commit sexual misconduct.

An ordained layperson; a layperson who has taken any or all of the five precepts (see the first five of the “fundamental precepts”) (Rigzin 52).

A male lay devotee.

Unordained practitioners who observe the five vows: not to kill, lie, steal, be intoxicated, or commit sexual misconduct.

The Tibetan and Sanskrit forms are gendered, and thus here specifically a male lay devotee, but there are also female lay devotees with the corresponding gendered forms.

The upāsaka precepts for lay practitioners include the five fundamental vows (pañcaśīla) not to (1) kill, (2) steal, (3) commit sexual misconduct, (4) lie, or (5) use intoxicants. Additionally, three other precepts are taken on full-moon and new-moon days for a total of eight (aṣṭāṅgaśīla): not to (6) eat after the noon meal, (7) engage in entertainment or adorn oneself with ornaments or cosmetics, or (8) sleep on high beds.