Pabbajja Course Manual

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Our life is conditioned and surrounded by obligations, duties and responsibilities and it is a big challenge and struggle fulfilling them. Insecurity, tension and worry is a part of it. While living in such a life of struggle, there always arise likes and dislikes leading to sorrow and lamentations. Hence the household life is often referred to the life of Dust-path (rajapatho). The dust here means the mental impurities.
Pabbajja is the life of a layman voluntarily renouncing household life to homeless life and committing oneself to the practice of simple life of contentment and sacrifice. The candidate would spend his days in the monastery practicing meditation and learning Dhamma from the monks.
Wise people knowing the dangers in the household life sought for higher and nobler life left behind household life and took to the life of a monk. A monk possessed nothing. Since he possessed nothing, there is nothing to lose. And his life is compared to the life of Open Sky (abbhokasa).
Many commit to this life permanently, while those who are much engaged with family matters also get the chance to live the renunciate life for a short while which is called Temporary ordination. It is called 'Dullabha monkhood, the life which is difficult to attained. So it is a rare privilege to learn practise and live a life of monks while staying in the monastery.