Brahma-cariya: ‘pure chaste or Noble life’, is a term for the life of the monk. Also a lay-devotee who observes the 8 moral precepts sikkhāpada, takes as the third precept the vow of chastity, i.e. full abstention from sexual relations. The highest aim and purpose of b. is, according to M. 29, the ‘unshakable deliverance of mind’ akuppā ceto - vimutti.