84000 Glossary of Terms

Our trilingual glossary combining entries from all of our publications into one useful resource, giving translations and definitions of thousands of terms, people, places, and texts from the Buddhist canon.

བ་ལང་གི་བརྟུལ་ཞུགས་ཅན། | Glossary of Terms

  • བ་ལང་གི་བརྟུལ་ཞུགས་ཅན།

  • ba lang gi brtul zhugs can
  • govratika
  • Term
Publications: 1
  • practices the ox vow
  • བ་ལང་གི་བརྟུལ་ཞུགས་ཅན།
  • ba lang gi brtul zhugs can
  • govratika
Definition in this text:

An ascetic (Skt. śramaṇa) takes up a practice by which they imitate the behavior of an ox/a cow in the hope that, by adhering to this form of penance and discipline, they will gain heaven after death. However, in the Kukkurravatikasutta (MN 57), the Buddha explains that when this practice goes well, the result will be rebirth among dogs, and when it fails, rebirth in hell; together with the “dog vow” (kukkuravratika), this ascetic or penance practice was seemingly well known at the time of the historical Buddha.