From Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom
(Dharmamitra Translation)

The precepts of those who have left the home life involve four categories: The first consists of the precepts of the shraama.nera and shraama.nerikaa, the second of the precepts of the shik.samaa.naa, the third of the precepts of the bhik.su.nii, and the fourth of the precepts of the bhik.susangha.

Question: If by way of the householder's precepts one succeeds in being reborn in the heavens, succeeds in gaining the bodhisattva way and also succeeds in reaching nirvana, of what further use are the precepts of the person who has left the home life?

Response: Although they inherently do conduce to success in deliverance, still, there are ways which are difficult and ways which are easier. The actions involved in the life of a householder involve all manner of endeavors and responsibilities. If one desires to focus one's mind especially on the dharmas of the way then the business of the family deteriorates. If one desires to focus one's mind especially on cultivating the business of the family, then the matters associated with the way deteriorate. If one neither seizes upon anything nor relinquishes anything one then and only then acts in correspondence with the practice of Dharma. This is renowned for its difficulty. However, if one leaves the home life, separates from the world of the layperson, cuts off all of the complexity and chaos, and then, with singular purpose, focuses the mind, then cultivating the Way becomes easy.

Moreover, the befuddlement and boisterousness of the householder's life involves many endeavors and much responsibility. It is the root of the fetters and the repository of the manifold ills. This is an extremely difficult situation. If one leaves the home life, it is analogous to a person going forth into the empty wilderness to an unpopulated place to then unify his mind. There is then neither consideration nor deliberation. Once the internal thoughts having been gotten rid of the external matters depart as well. This is as described in a verse:

Leisurely sitting within the forest,
In a state of stillness, one extinguishes the manifold ills.
Calmly and contentedly one gains singularity of mind.
This bliss is not the bliss of the heavens.

People seek after the benefit of wealth and noble status,
For famous clothes and fine furniture.
This sort of pleasure is not peaceful or secure.
One seeks after benefit without satiation.

The one of patchwork robes travels about seeking alms food,
Whether moving or still, his mind is always unified.
He spontaneously employs the eye of wisdom
To contemplate and know the reality of all dharmas.

Among all of the different types of Dharma methods,
All are entered through equanimitous contemplation.
With understanding and wisdom the mind abides in stillness.
Throughout the three realms none are able to equal this.

For this reason one should know that leaving the home life, cultivating the precepts and practicing the way are easy.

Additionally, if one leaves the home life and cultivates the precepts, one achieves the complete perfection of an incalculable number of aspects of good moral conduct. For this reason the white-robed ones and others should leave the home life and take the complete precepts.

Then again, within the Dharma of the Buddha, the dharma of leaving the home life is the one which is the most difficult to cultivate. This is as alluded to in the questions of the brahmacaarin Jambukhaadaka to Shaariputra, wherein he asked, "What is most difficult within the Buddha's Dharma?"

Shaariputra replied, saying, "Leaving behind the home life is difficult."

He also asked, "What are the difficulties involved in leaving the home life?"

He replied, "To leave behind the home life and find bliss in Dharma is difficult."

"If one succeeds in finding bliss in Dharma, then what beyond this is difficult?"

"To cultivate all good dharmas is difficult."

For these reasons, one should leave behind the home life. Moreover, when one leaves behind the home life, the king of the demons is frightened and worried, saying, "The fetters of this man are about to become scant. He will certainly gain nirvana and fall in with the numbers of the Sangha Jewel.

The Story of Bhikshuni Utpalavar.naa

From Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom
(Dharmamitra Translation)

Also, although people who have left the home life within the Dharma of the Buddha may break the precepts and fall into offenses, when the punishments have come to an end, they then gain liberation. This is as discussed in The Sutra on the Jaataka of the Bhikshuni Utpalavar.naa.

When the Buddha was in the World, this bhikshuni gained the six superknowledges and arhatship. She made a practice of going into the households of the aristocracy wherein she constantly praised the practice of leaving the home life. She spoke to the wives and daughters of the nobility, saying, "Sisters, you can leave behind the home life."

The aristocratic wives and daughters would reply, "We are young and strong. Our countenances and physical forms are full and beautiful. It would be a difficult think to uphold the precepts. It might happen that we would break the precepts."

The Bhikshuni replied, "Just go ahead and leave home anyway. If it happens that you end up breaking the precepts then you break them."

They responded, "If we break the precepts we'll fall into the hells. How can you tell us that they can be broken?"

She replied, "If it happens that you end up falling into the hells, then you fall."

The wives and daughters of the nobility all laughed at this, saying, "When one falls into the hells one undergoes punishment. How can you tell us that we can go ahead and fall?"

The Bhikshuni replied, "I recall that in a previous life I was an actress who put on all sorts of costumes and played traditional parts. There were times when I would put on the robes of a bhikshuni in order to amuse the audience. On account of these causes and conditions, at the time of Kaashyapa Buddha I was actually able to become a bhikshuni. However, on account of my aristocratic birth and beauty I became arrogant and then broke the restrictive prohibitions. On account of the offenses of breaking the precepts I fell into the hells wherein I underwent all manner of punishment as retribution.

"When I had finished undergoing retribution for those offenses I was able to encounter Shakyamuni Buddha and leave the home life again, whereupon I gained the six superknowledges and the way of the arhat. For this reason, one should be aware that if one leaves home and takes the precepts, although one may eventually break the precepts, still, on account of the causes and conditions inhering in taking the precepts one gains the way of arhatship. If one merely does evil things but yet does not have the causes and conditions of the precepts, one will not gain the way. Thus, in the past I have fallen into the hells in many lifetimes. Upon coming forth from the hells, I would become an evil person and when this evil person died, I would go right back into the hells again and in every case I gained nothing whatsoever as a result."

Now, on account of this, we can verify and know that if one merely leaves home and takes the precepts, although one may eventually break the precepts, still, on account of these causes and conditions, one becomes able to realize the fruition of the way."

The Story of the Drunken Brahman Who Became a Bhikshu

From Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom
(Dharmamitra Translation)

Then again, this is exemplified by that time when the Buddha dwelt in Jetavana and a drunken brahman came to the Buddha and requested to become a bhikshu. The Buddha ordered Ananda to administer tonsure and outfit the man in Dharma robes. When [the brahman] awoke from his inebriation he was startled and amazed that he had suddenly turned into a bhikshu. Then he ran off. Thereupon, the other bhikshus asked the Buddha, "Why did the Buddha permit this drunken brahman to become a bhikshu?"

The Buddha replied, "Even in innumerable aeons, this brahman has never thought to leave the homelife. Now, on account of his inebriation, he briefly generated a feeble intention to do so. On account of these causes and conditions, he will later be able to leave behind the home life and gain the way."

On account of all sorts of causes and conditions such as these [one can see that] the benefits of leaving the home life involve incalculable merit. For this reason, although the white-robed layperson possesses the five precepts, they are not comparable to leaving the home life.

The Precepts of the Monastics

From Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom
(Dharmamitra Translation)

The moral regulations of those who have left the home life consist of four categories: those of the shraama.nera and shraama.nerikaa, the shik.samaa.naa, the bhik.su.nii, and the bhik.su. What is the dharma for leaving the home life and taking of precepts on the part of the shraama.nera and shraama.nerikaa? The white-robed layperson who comes seeking to leave the home life should request two masters: one upaadhyaaya and one aacaarya. The upaadhyaaya is like the father and the aacaarya is like the mother. He thereby puts aside the father and mother of his original life. One should seek thereby a father and mother among those who have left the home life. One dons the ka.saaya robe and cuts of the hair and beard. He should grasp the feet of the upaadhyaaya with his two hands. Why does he grasp the feet? It is the custom of India that to grasp the feet constitutes the most superior form of reverential offering. The aacaarya should teach the ten precepts according to the dharma for receiving the precepts. For the shraama.nerikaa it is also like this. It is just that she takes a bhik.su.nii for the upaadhyaaya. The shik.samaa.naa takes on six dharmas for a period of two years.

Question: The shraama.nera takes the ten precepts and then takes the complete precepts. Why, within the dharma of the bhik.su.nii, does there exist the shik.samaa.naa stage, and only afterwards, the receiving of the complete precepts?

Response: When the Buddha was in the world, there was the wife of an elder who, unaware that she was pregnant, left the home life and received the complete precepts. Afterwards her body became larger and her pregnancy began to show. All of the elders ridiculed and criticized the bhik.sus. It was on account of this that it was laid down that there would be a two-year period of studying the precepts and accepting six dharmas after which one would take the complete precepts.

Question: If they had been ridiculed and criticized [in the former circumstance], how is it that a shik.samaa.naa would not bring about ridicule [in similar circumstances]?

Response: The shik.samaa.naa has not yet taken the complete precepts. That status is analogous to that of a small child or a servant whom people still do not ridicule or criticize even though they may incur the defilement of an offense. This refers to the shik.samaa.naa's taking on of six dharmas. This shik.samaa.naa category is of two types: The first is the eighteen-year-old virgin girl who has taken on six dharmas. The second is a woman who has been with the husband's family for a period of ten years but who is then able to take on the six dharmas. If she wishes to take the complete precepts she should do so in the midst of the two divisions of the Sangha wearing the five-stripe robe and carrying the bowl. Bhik.su.niis serve as the upaadhyaaya and as the teacher providing instruction. A bhik.su serves as the precept master. The rest corresponds to the dharma for receiving the precepts.

Generally speaking, this involves five hundred precepts. Extensively speaking there are eighty thousand precepts. At the conclusion of the third karma [precept ceremony] one then gains an incalculable number of moral regulations. In the bringing to completion of the bhik.su.nii and the bhik.su, there are three robes and a bowl. There are three masters and ten Sanghans in accordance with the dharma for receiving the precepts. [For the bhik.su], generally speaking, there are two hundred and fifty precepts. Extensively speaking, there are eighty thousand. At the conclusion of the third karma [precept ceremony], one then gains an incalculable number of moral regulation dharmas. In general these are what are referred to as the precepts. These are what constitute shiila.