Thank you for this reference. To me, it emphasizes that there is much more to the path than just the renunciation of material things. Though not exactly the same as the 8 precepts, these 8 rules are very important as well! Sensual pleasures are to be abandoned also.
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Iâm sorry you decided to delete your post, mpac. It was very informative and I enjoyed reading it. 
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Thank you for this Vimala. It is my hope that it will not be a shorcut but rather a preparation for monastic life. And a chance for concentration on the path until the conditions arise for ordination.
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Hello,
I have been doing eight precepts while living in my home for quite sometime. I highly recommend taking on this training as it is an absolutely wonderful support for freeing the heart.
I donât refer to myself as an anagarika but as a person wearing white with a shaved head doing eight precepts 
ď¸
Metta 
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Since anagarika indicates to me someone who is homeless and lives in a monastery and follows 8 or 10 precepts is there another word for this type of person following 8 precepts at home? Upasaka means âone who sits close byâ and is usually a lay devotee following 5 precepts. I know in Thailand they call white-robed 8 precept followers âpakkhaoâ or something like that (sorry I donât know the spelling Iâve never seen it written down).
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I think the best preparation for ordained life is following the 8-fold path as much as possible and to develop a solid grounding in meditation. How to do that is up to each individual and following 8-precepts can be a part of that. It is not about following 8 rules but about developing the mind so it helps our meditation.
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This is the training that I took on a few years ago. From reading all of the excellent posts here, and echoing Ven. Vimalaâs comment, I feel that the anagarika role is just as describedâŚitâs a training path, vs. a status or title. Itâs really not a monastic life, at least in my case, as I donât live in a wat, or depend on dana, or any of the myriad other beneficial aspects of true monastic life. Itâs also not true lay life, as the precepts involved remove oneself from most of lay life activities. In my case, I actually asked the abbot from the Thai wat where Iâd been a temp. samanera in 2010 for a formal anagarika ordination about three or so years ago, and he agreed to do that. In Thailand, I wear white, with shaved head and eyebows. In the US, I shave the head time to time but donât shave the eyebrows. I still feel like I need to âfit inâ with daily lay life here. Here in the US, I live alone in a formerly abandoned house, and have given away my assets to my children. I still work and and live a lay life from the outside, as none of the people that know me from my daily work know that I am training for a future monastic life, some years down the road. I use Anagarika Dharmapalaâs life as an example in some respects, as he traveled and worked as an activist in Sri Lanka, but was not an ordained monastic until the end of his life. I use money, and travel, and have tried to use funds that I raise from my work and a very minimalist life to support some small charitable causes in Thailand that are important to me. Itâs a middle ground between lay life and monastic life that I have found works well for me. Interestingly, without knowing my fascination with Sri Lankaâs Dharmapala, the abbot that ordained me gave me the Pali name âDhammapalaâ after asking me my date of birth and time of birth, etc, and handing me a piece of paper with the Pali name on it.
I am glad that others have shared their stories about living an 8 precept life outisde of a monastery. I do feel it is a challenge; one renounces lay life to a greater or lesser degree, but yet does not have the support and daily interaction with other monastics. Life as an anagarika in a lay world is wonderful training, and does support meditation absolutely, but it can be challenging, I have found, to be a semi-recluse, away from the energy of life in a wat (which I have always enjoyed, very much). I admire the character and strength of people that can be fully divorced from daily contact with others and that live a reclusive life. I donât feel that I am wired to do that longterm successfully.
I agree with Ayya completely that the best training in life is the Eightfold Path, and the choices we make in terms of the formal lay precepts are really benchmarks to keep us on that path. I donât feel that 8 precepts is per se better than keeping 5 well. I am a very un-special person; no real achievements here. For me, divorcing myself from romantic pursuits, from entertainments, eating before midday only to sustain the body etc. has been good training, and at least for me for the last few years, and has helped with my studies and meditation. I am also sure that there are many 5 preceptors here in the SC community that are far more grounded, meditative, and insightful than Iâll ever be.
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Iâm glad it was of benefit aconlan.
I struggle a bit in finding a good balance in participating in the forum here. The balance between sharing knowledge and experience, ie being of benefit to others, and negative effects on curbing self view, ego, proliferation of thoughts etc. I felt that my posts yesterday didnât hit the right balance.
Since your feedback, I will paste in a couple of the extracts from my post here, that others havenât already covered.
Iâve been living by the 5 precepts for a long time, and then the last 8 years with the extra ones 7 of the 8 ( I donât keep to only eating between dawn and noon but otherwise all the rest). Though this is just one way of looking at things. The precepts and the Vinaya both give great âadviceâ for being able to follow the N8fp. But I view them more as recommendations rather than rules - so do what is in line with the N8fp, not what the rules say.
Quite frankly I never even knew there was a label for this, I always thought it was just a lifestyle choice - it just made sense to live this way if one was looking for the truth about the way things are and to become free from suffering.
I have lived in isolation (with dog as companion) on a large bush property. I have found living in isolation really allows one to âknow ones mindâ and see the consciousnesses in action. Having no distractions, being silent leaves the mind fully exposed, so the knower and doer are the only things making contact, in my personal experience. I know that this âsilenceâ, removing the ability for the mind to hide can be very challenging for many people.
I have a house⌠quite a big house, but it is pretty empty - it just came with the property - so why knock it down or build another smaller one? I have spent many years constructing right livelihood, and this year have finally managed to move to a passive income. This was the last step to allow me to disengage from things that I found interfered with my path.
It is clear to me, that full renunciation (possession-less) (reliant on Dana) would be more beneficial in really penetrating the Buddhas teachings and be more conducive to identifying and removing hindrances and fetters. That and the benefit of living in a community with people with right view and right understanding etc.
However, I believe one can be a householder (literally own a house) but not participate in the rat race. I think the more connections to the rat race one has the harder it is, eg. job, family, partner etc.
In my personal opinion the state of owning a house does not make or break the ability to follow the path diligently - rather it is the amount of entanglements that one has, and the amount of time left to dedicate to practice.
Metta 
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Excellent advice Vimala! Thank you 
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Thank you for your repost mpac. It has certainly been of benefit to me and I hope that it will be for others.
I believe the same. The Buddha said that there was a way to end suffering and that way was the eightfold path.
I found it very challenging for a while myself. Over time, however, it has come to be quite a blessing.
Well said. Thank you again for posting!
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Thank you for sharing your story here. It is inspiring to hear from someone who has formally taken this path for some time. 
Wonderful! I am hoping that being able to travel will also help me to visit and learn from some of the amazing teachers here in the US. There is little to no formal teachings (in English anyway) in my area.
It is inspiring to hear you say that. Your wisdom and humble attitude serve you well.
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An early teacher and inspiration for me was Anagarika Munindra, who lived this way for decades. In his case it was a response to feeling that the Bhikkhu form (which he had taken up) was too isolating.
My own experience mirrors Ayya Vimalaâs. I was given the anagarika precepts by Ajahn Amaro and lived that way for about a year and a half, while working as a cook at a large retreat centre in the US. It was not easy on many levels, but was wonderful practice.
Of course you donât need anything more than resolution to do this, but the precepts and the outer clothing sure do help!
The only caution I would offer (and you may not be prone to this, but Iâll say it anyway) is to beware of becoming too tight around the precepts, which can happen out of fear of falling down the âslippery slope:â No-one else is living this way around you, so it is very easy to get anxious or rigid about holding the precepts âperfectlyâ - whatever that means for you. I speak from sad experience.
The way @Pasanna went about it sounds perfect:
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Thank you Ayya. I am unfamiliar with Anagarika Munindra but that will soon change
That is good to hear you say!
I do seem to be prone to this. There is always this underlying fear that if I break any given habit that I have developed, then it will be easier to break it over and over until it stops being a habit. I think that by focusing on the eightfold path as a whole rather than being too strict regarding any given rule, maybe that fear can be lessened somewhat.
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I used to coach people in dietary habit compliance and it was very obvious if they took on too much at once then theyâd fail.
If youâre not keeping the 8 precepts currently which extra bit can you easily do? Probably switching to a simple single bed would be the easiest for most people.
Great youâre now on 6 precepts
Then itâs up to you. Iâd break the adornments and entertainment precept into its two components (like for samanera) and pick either one half of that or the food one next. Whichever is easier.
With each new bit just to work to the minimum compliance level that brings more peace. Then you have an incentive to keep it up and increase compliance 
Maybe this is useful, maybe not
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A few years ago I began working with the Eight Precepts in a solitary quasi-monastic fashion. 1-5, 7.1, and 8 had sort of happened organically, 6 gets adapted a bit for health reasons, and 7.2 is a work in progress 
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Being in an in-between state allows flexibilty, but can be very lonely, especially as I donât practice with a local group. But Iâm really lucky that I can live with my sister, and only have the major expense of my very necessary car. Otherwise, I keep it simple.
Thank you all for this topic. The advice and individual stories has been really helpful.
Added
One big issue I have with my in-between state is feeling like a fraud or a serious waffler. 
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Absolutely- not focusing on just the sila bit is good because, these path factors help each other out. For example samadhi and jhana help out with keeping precepts, making it very easy. It does become more joyous. I remember thinking that the meditating was like a cool welling up of water, but it needed the firm banks of sila to keep it from dispersing away.
with metta
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This resonates very well with me too, at least sometimes. Also the fact not to be in a monastic environment and having no regular exchange with monastics makes it sometimes feel difficult. But overall I am very grateful that I have this opportunity!
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Me too! I need to bring that to mind more often.
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First, let me say that everyone who has posted on this topic has been wonderfully generous with their information and wisdom! The kindness and Metta in this group makes me long for the day when conditions allow me to be part of a sangha with people like you!
Could anyone help me to understand how to adhere to the 7th precept? The others seem pretty clear-cut on how to apply them in modern life, but Iâm a little âfuzzyâ on this one. Singing, dancing, playing music I understand. But what is considered entertainment?
For instance, when it comes to books, is fiction mostly entertainment and non-fiction is not? With videos, certainly, things like sitcoms and action movies would be entertainment. What about documentaries? Or news broadcasts? Or is it really about the individual determining their motives? Am I watching this just to be entertained or am I seeking to gain knowledge or wisdom?
It seems hard to draw a definitive line to me. How do all of you understand this as it pertains to the 7th precept?
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I sometimes watch documentaries and read the newspaper (not very entertaining though, more like depressing!). I think it is good to stay informed.
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