From: nina van gorkom
Message: 5216
Date: 2004-08-09
> Pali "vata" is equivalent to Skt "vrata". Thus, though a
> Theravadin-style gloss may differ a little, in sources familiar to me, a
> "vrata" often implies more than "practice". It connotes "a vowed ascetic
> observance" -- the "vowed" part is important -- undertaken for the purpose
> of purification to attain liberation in this lifetime.