Indian Society for Buddhist Studies

Author(s): Prachya Vidyapeeth
Publisher: Prachya Vidyapeeth

Page 48

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and rare because the realms below the human are too miserable and above are too happy: moreover, the attainment of nibbāna is only possible during a human birth; more specifically, it is impossible to attain nibbāna being in any other spheres than human. In addition, early Buddhist Pāli texts state that a human rebirth is considered superlatively valuable because the human circle in the domain motivates one to look for approaches to be
reed from all suffering. Each human birth affords a great opportunity both for the expression of the effects of previously performed actions, and for the attainment of the nibbāna.
Moreover, one can accumulate merits towards attainment of the nibbāna through ethical behaviors and practices such as to abstain from taking life, to abstain from taking what is not given, to abstain from sensuous misconduct, to abstain from false speech, and to abstain from intoxicants as tending to cloud the mind. Refrain from killing, stealing, sensuous misconduct, false speech, and intoxicants are the most basic Buddhist paths that are undertaken by all who enter into the sangha for honest living by rooting out vices and cultivating virtues by practicing dhamma. More specifically, those who only observe these five ethical precepts will live the life of householder with selfpossession (visārado), and reborn in the heavenly world, or can generate merit towards the attainment of spiritual perfection, nibbāna. Thus, abortion or intentionally depriving of life of developing foetus thwarts the unfolding of kamma and consequently interrupts the journey towards nibbāna.
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Nuns within Modern Indian Society: A Study on
Buddhist and Hindu Tradition
Debapriya Ghosh, Santiniketan
Indian society has a great impact towards the concept of modernity which originated in the West. The society of India