Kelsang Gyatso - Ordination of Westerners

Ordination of Westerners

There are currently 700 monks and nuns within the New Kadampa Tradition, all ordained by Kelsang Gyatso. Kelsang Gyatso says:

Western people are well educated; they do not have blind faith but immediately question and try to understand the truth. I cannot pretend with you. We cannot be like a fully ordained monk who has taken 253 vows, but who is not even keeping one. We should never do like this; we need to do everything correctly and purely. The Kadampa ordination solves all these problems. Practically speaking, all the 253 vows explained in the Vinaya Sutra are included within the ten commitments.

That is to say, the vows of those ordained within the New Kadampa Tradition do not enumerate the multitude of details specified by the Indian and Tibetan Vinaya traditions. Rather, the vows follow a pragmatic approach in which the ten global commitments held by Vinaya novices constitute full ordination.

The vows held by monks and nuns within the New Kadampa Tradition are as follows:

Throughout my life I will abandon killing, stealing, lying or cheating, sexual activity, taking intoxicants and engaging in meaningless activities. I will practice contentment, reduce my desire for worldly pleasures, maintain the commitments of refuge, and practice the three trainings of moral discipline, concentration and wisdom.