In Practice
Lay followers undertake these training rules at the same time as they become Buddhists. In Mahayana schools a lay practitioner who has taken the precepts is called an upasaka. In Theravada, any lay follower is in theory called an upasaka (or upasika, feminine), though in practice everyone is expected to take the precepts anyway.
Additionally, traditional Theravada lay devotional practice (puja) includes daily rituals taking refuge in the Triple Gem and undertaking to observe the five precepts.
Read more about this topic: Five Precepts
Famous quotes containing the word practice:
“We black women must forgive black men for not protecting us against slavery, racism, white men, our confusion, their doubts. And black men must forgive black women for our own sometimes dubious choices, divided loyalties, and lack of belief in their possibilities. Only when our sons and our daughters know that forgiveness is real, existent, and that those who love them practice it, can they form bonds as men and women that really can save and change our community.”
—Marita Golden, educator, author. Saving Our Sons, p. 188, Doubleday (1995)
“Nonwhite and working-class women, if they are ever to identify with the organized women’s movement, must see their own diverse experiences reflected in the practice and policy statements of these predominantly white middle-class groups.”
—Kimberly Crenshaw (b. 1959)