Many people ask, "What can I do to make my life meaningful — especially when facing problems and depression?" One answer is to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts.

The Eight Mahayana Precepts are a powerful and effective way for you to build, maintain and increase deep propensities for spiritual practice and attainment and thus is a profound method for giving meaning to your precious human life.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche quotes this passage from the King of Concentration Sutra: “For ten billion eons equaling the number of sand grains in the Pacific Ocean, if one offers umbrellas, flags, garlands of light offerings, food and drink with a calm mind, or offers service to one hundred billion times ten million buddhas, when the holy Dharma has become extremely perished and the teachings of the Gone to Bliss One have stopped, if somebody who is enjoying (living in) one vow for one day or night, this merit is particularly exalted than having made all those offerings.”

Previously published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, this new and revised edition contains the precepts ceremony with commentary by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Trijang Rinpoche, and Gen Lamrimpa.