High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Pratimoksha is a Buddhist moral discipline(skt.). A loose translation of the term is "personal liberation", and thus the discipline is concerned with the Buddhist's quest for personal liberation, and originated with the Pratimoksha Vows given by the Buddha to his followers. "Prati" means 'towards' or 'every', "moksha" liberation from cyclic existence. The Pratimoksha comprehends the vows for nuns and monks (Buddhist monastics) as well as vows for the lay followers of Buddhism. The Pratimoksha belongs to the Vinaya of the Buddhist doctrine and is seen as the very basis of Buddhism. The Pratimoksha of the Mulasarvastavadin lineage, followed in Tibetan Buddhism, is taken for the whole life and the vows end when the person who received it died or has broken one or more of the four root vows. On the basis of the Pratimoksha there exist in Mahayana Buddhism two additional set of vows: The Bodhisattva vows and the Vajrayana vows.
