The seriousness of the four parajikas ('defeats') leading to expulsion from the sangha

Despite the Buddhist path being an individual path, the monks and nuns live as a community and are reliant on it for support. They have rules to apply in order to live together and work towards their spiritual goals.

• The 227 rules, in practice, need wisdom in application and there is a delicate balance between personal, subjective standards and the objective framework of the Patimokkha
• 'Rules serve as more objective standards and thus are more enforceable. To work, they must be precisely defined in a way acceptable to the community at large. However, the more precisely a rule is defined... the less well it may fit other times and places. This is where principles and models come…