The Tattvārtha Sūtra presents ascetic discipline as a carefully graded path, beginning with vows for householders and culminating in the total renunciation of the mendicant. At its core stand the five great vows (mahāvrata) for monks and nuns: complete non‑violence, absolute truthfulness, non‑stealing, total celibacy, and full non‑possession. These are mirrored in the five smaller vows (aṇuvrata) for lay followers, where the same principles are observed in a limited, more practical form suited to life in the world. For householders, these are further refined through additional vows that restrict movement and behavior, encourage avoidance of purposeless or harmful activities, and cultivate periods of equanimity and quasi‑monastic living. Supporting ascetics through sharing of resources and disciplined generosity is also treated as an integral part of lay practice, binding the community to the ideal of renunciation even while remaining engaged in worldly duties.

Alongside these vows, the text emphasizes inner restraint and meticulous care in conduct as essential ascetic practices. Control of mind, speech, and body (gupti) and carefulness in walking, speaking, obtaining food, handling objects, and disposing of waste (samiti) are not presented as mere etiquette, but as concrete means of preventing harm and curbing the subtle passions that bind karma. Daily obligatory observances—such as periods of equanimity and meditation, reverence toward teachers, confession and repentance, scriptural study, and bodily stillness—serve to keep the aspirant in constant recollection of the spiritual goal. Endurance of hardships, whether hunger, thirst, extremes of temperature, or minor physical irritations, is framed as an opportunity to cultivate detachment and even‑mindedness, rather than as self‑torture for its own sake.

The Tattvārtha Sūtra also articulates a detailed doctrine of austerities (tapas) as a direct method for shedding accumulated karma. External austerities include fasting, eating less than one’s fill, restricting the kinds of food taken, renouncing flavorful or stimulating foods, dwelling in solitude, and disciplined endurance of bodily discomfort. Internal austerities comprise repentance, humility, service to ascetics and the afflicted, study of scripture, relinquishment of attachment to body and possessions, and sustained meditation. Taken together, these practices form a coherent spiritual technology: vows arrest the influx of new karma, while austerities and disciplined conduct gradually wear away what has already been bound. The portrait that emerges is of a path where even the smallest act—how one walks, speaks, eats, or responds to pleasure and pain—becomes a deliberate step toward liberation.