The Bodhisattva Vows 

Source: Dalai Lama, Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide to Stages of Meditation

Eighteen Root Infractions

  1. Praising oneself and belittling others.

  2. Not sharing with others one's wealth and the dharma.

  3. Not forgiving even when others apologize. 

  4. Doubting and denying the doctrine of the Great Vehicle. 

  5. Taking offerings intended for the Three Jewels. 

  6. Abandoning the doctrine (through sectarianism, etc).

  7. Causing an ordained person to disrobe.

  8. Committing of the five crimes of immediate retribution. 

  9. Holding perverted view.

  10. Destroying places such as towns. 

  11. Teaching emptiness to the untrained. 

  12. Discouraging others from seeking full enlightenment. 

  13. Causing others to break the vows of individual liberation. 

  14. Belittling those who follow the path of individual liberation. 

  15. Proclaiming false realizations (of emptiness, etc). 

  16. Accepting gifts of articles that have been misappropriated from the belongings of the Three Jewels. 

  17. Laying down harmful regulations and passing false judgment. 

  18. Giving up the pledge of altruistic aspiration (bodhicitta). 


Forty-six Secondary Infractions

Seven downfalls related to generosity

  1. Not making offerings every day to the Three Jewels.

  2. Acting out thoughts of desire because of discontent. 

  3. Not paying due respect to those senior to one in ordination and in taking the bodhisattva vows. 

  4. Not answering others' questions out of negligence though one is capable of doing so. 

  5. Selfishly not accepting invitations due to pride, the wish to hurt others' feelings, or anger or laziness. 

  6. Not accepting others' gifts out of jealousy, anger, etc or simply to hurt the other. 

  7. Not giving the dharma teachings to those who wish to learn. 


Nine downfalls in relation to the practice of morality

  1. Ignoring and insulting someone who has committed any of the five heinous crimes or defiled his/her vows of individual liberation, or treating him/her with contempt. 

  2. Not observing the precepts of moral conduct because one wishes to ingratiate oneself with others. 

  3. Complying with minor precepts when the situation demands one's disregard of them for the greater benefit of others. 

  4. Not committing one of the seven negative actions of body and speech when universal love and compassion deem it necessary in a particular instance. 

  5. Accepting things which are acquired through one of the five wrong livelihoods (flattery, hinting, bribery, extortion and deceit). 

  6. Wasting time on frivolous actions (such as carelessness, lack of pure morality, dancing, playing music just for fun, gossipping) and also distracting others in meditation. 

  7. Misconceiving that bodhisattvas do not attempt to attain liberation and failing to view to view delusions as things to be eliminated. 

  8. Not living up to one's precepts, thinking that doing so might decrease one's popularity, or not correcting the undisciplined behaviors of body and speech which result in a bad reputation that limits one's ability to carry out the tasks of a bodhisattva. 

  9. Not correcting others who, motivated by delusions, commit negative actions. Doing so helps them to disclose and purify their actions, whereas concealing them generates suspicions of being disliked by others. 


Four downfalls related to patience

  1. Parting from the four noble disciplines: not retaliating when scolded by others, humiliated by others, hit by others or even when killed by others. 

  2. Neglecting those who are angry with you. 

  3. Refusing to accept the apologies of others. 

  4. Acting out of thoughts of anger; not opposing the arousal of anger within one's mind by reflecting upon its harmful consequences, etc. 


Three downfalls related to joyous effort

  1. Gathering circles of disciples out of desire for respect and material gain. 

  2. Wasting time and energy on trivial  matters; not counteracting laziness, addiction to excessive sleep, and procrastination. 

  3. Being addicted to frivolous talk. 


Three downfalls related to concentration 

  1. Not seeking the appropriate conditions for attaining single-pointed concentration, and meditating on it without proper guidance. 

  2. Not eliminating the obstacles to one's concentration. 

  3. Regarding the blissful experience derived from concentration as the main purpose of single-pointed meditation. 

Eight downfalls related to wisdom 

  1. Abandoning the doctrines of the Lesser Vehicle with the thought that the practitioners of the Great Vehicle need not study or practice them. 

  2. Unnecessarily expending one's energies in other directions despite having one's own Great Vehicle methods. 

  3. Pursuing non-dharma studies to the neglect of the dharma ones. 

  4. Studying non-dharma subjects with great thoroughness, out of attachment to these views, and favoring them. 

  5. Abandoning the doctrines of the Great Vehicle, claiming that they are ineffective, and rejecting texts on grounds of their literary style. 

  6. Praising oneself and belittling others out of arrogance or hatred. 

  7. Not attending dharma ceremonies, discourses, etc out of laziness or pride. 

  8. Disparaging one's guru and not relying on his words. 

Twelve downfalls related to the ethics of helping others

  1. Not helping those who need assistance. 

  2. Avoiding the task of caring for sick people. 

  3. Not working to alleviate others' suffering, such as the seven types of frustrations: being blind, deaf, lame, exhausted from fatigue, depressed, abused and rebuked by others, and suffering from the five hindrances to a calm and single-pointed mind. 

  4. Not showing the dharma way to those recklessly caught up in the affairs of this life alone. 

  5. Not repaying the kindness of others. 

  6. Not consoling those who have mental grief, such as that caused by separation from loved ones. 

  7. Not giving material aid to those who are in need of it. 

  8. Not taking care of one's circle of disciples, relatives, and friends by giving them teaching and material aid. 

  9. Not acting in accordance with others' wishes. 

  10. Not praising those who deserve praise and their good qualities. 

  11. Not preventing harmful acts to the extent permitted by circumstances. 

  12. Not employing physical prowess or an supernatural powers, if one possesses them, at the time of need.