Dhammacari

Dhammacari initiates with ceremonial yellow sash.

Dhammacari (Pali: Dhammacārī; lit., "one who follows the Dhamma") is a term used in some Theravada Buddhist communities to refer to lay devotees (upāsakas) who have seriously committed themselves to Buddhist practice for several years. Dhammacaris follow four training vows in addition to the traditional Five Precepts that all lay devotees follow.

History

In the early 1990s Bhante Madawala Seelawimala of American Buddhist Seminary in Berkeley and Bhante Walpola Piyananda of Dhamma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara in Los Angeles decided to establish this formal initiation ceremony to train future American Buddhist leadership.

See also

• anagarika (lay attendant)
• bhikkhu (monk)
• samanera (novice monk)
• upāsaka (lay devotee)

External links

• "Dharma Vijaya,"

Source

• Prebish, Charles S., and Kenneth K. Tanaka, editors The Faces of Buddhism in America. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1998 1998.