rtsa ba'i ltung ba

a root downfall; root downfall[s] [RY]

root downfalls, fourteen, Skt. mulapatti. There are many sets of commitments within the Tantras, but the most well known ones are from the Anuttara tantras: The Fourteen root and eight branch commitments. The root commitments are: 1) Not to malign your Tantric teacher. 2) Not to disobey the instructions of the Buddha in general and your guru specifically. 3) Not to express anger at your Dharma brothers and sisters. 4) Not to give up love for beings. 5. Not to lose the bodhichitta. 6. Not to malign spiritual traditions other than the Tantras, in particular the Mahayana Sutras. 7. Not to give secret teachings to those who are not ready. 8. Not to afflict your own body with suffering. 9. Not to doubt the deep meaning of the Dharma. 10. Not to be loving to the malevolent who cannot be helped by love. 11. Not misinterpret with conceptualization that which transcends concepts. 12. Not to malign Dharma practitioners, and drive beings away from the Dharma and the Tantra in particular. 13. Not to follow purely Shravaka conduct, thus giving up the Tantric activities of the ganachakra, etc. 14. Not to malign women. The eight branch commitments are principally concerned with the practice of having a consort, and with teaching the Tantras [RY]