Karma For Today's Traveler 5: The Five Precepts - I

The wall of harmony.

The Buddha thought that the basis of human morality lies in five precepts.

Refrain from killing.

Refrain from stealing.

Refrain from sexual misconduct.

Refrain from lying.

Refrain from using intoxicants.

By keeping these five precepts,

One lives in a way that no intentional harm is done either to ourselves or to the world.

No hostile,

Aggressive waves are generated in our sea of world equilibrium.

And when no harm is done to the world,

The world will have no new harmful feedback for us.

Now let's look at the law of cause and effect and see why it is wise to observe the five precepts.

The first precept,

Harmonious conduct regarding life.

If we harm other life,

We will be harmed in the same degree.

All beings love their lives and want to live.

So just as we would like to live unmolested,

We should refrain from injuring others or taking life,

Any life.

One who keeps the first precept will not swat a mosquito.

He or she will literally not hurt a fly.

The second precept,

Harmonious conduct regarding property.

If we don't steal or damage others' property,

Then we will never have to compensate for it.

People who have things stolen from them are being paid back in kind from past action against the property of others.

The third precept,

Harmonious conduct regarding sexual conduct.

This deals with socially accepted norms and respect for one another.

We must remember that we are all someone's son or daughter,

Someone's loved one,

Brother or sister.

Our behaviour,

Especially regarding sexual conduct,

Must be respectful,

Honourable and careful not to disturb the web of social relations.

If criticism about sexual misconduct arises,

It will spread quickly,

Disturbing the social equilibrium.

The fourth precept,

Harmonious conduct regarding verbal action.

We should speak only what is true.

This will make our world cleaner and more stable.

Truthfulness also involves two other important matters,

Trustworthiness and power.

A person who has good verbal behaviour keeps his or her word and can be trusted.

A promise from such a person is reliable.

Trustworthiness is an important source of personal power and has many good effects.

Most Buddhist chants originated from stories as told by Arahants,

Bodhisattvas or Buddhas to be,

Or the Buddha himself.

The chants are effective and have power because they are true.

The fifth precept,

Harmonious conduct regarding mindfulness.

Simply put,

Intoxicants decrease mindfulness.

If someone is drunk,

They can break other precepts,

Doing things that they would never do while sober.

Therefore,

According to Buddhist doctrine,

Drugs and alcohol should be avoided.

The question is often raised,

Is it wrong to drink a little if one doesn't get drunk?

In fact,

One who keeps the five precepts will try not to drink at all,

Because drinking reduces mindfulness,

And as mindfulness decreases,

Destruction increases.

If someone establishes themselves firmly in the five precepts,

It is very unlikely that they will cause harm to their world equilibrium or themselves.

They will act with respect towards life,

Property,

Social norms regarding sexuality,

Truth and mindfulness.

Such a person practices harmlessness.

Consequently,

The five precepts can be regarded as a form of world protection,

Because they are conducive to harmonious two-way interaction with the world around us.

Keeping the wall firm.

While few would argue with the sensibility of the five precepts,

Actually keeping them can sometimes be a problem.

I know how hard it can be.

When I was a layman,

I sometimes found it almost impossible.

I would begin with a firm resolve,

And then later in the day,

I would meet a friend who invited me for a drink,

And I thought,

Oh well,

Why not,

And precept number five went out the window.

Yet in fact,

Observing the precepts is to observe normal bodily and verbal actions.

It's quite natural when you think about it.

It's not extreme in any way.

But how to do it?

How can we be firm and stable in the precepts?

Because it's not enough to just go through our day and then look back in the evening and say,

Oh good,

I didn't end up breaking any of the precepts today.

That's not what I mean about keeping the precepts firmly.

I mean that we must make a conscious,

Deliberate decision to keep the precepts and maintain our awareness of our commitment throughout the day.

When I was a layman,

My teacher,

A venerable nun named Piang Duan Danarsan Pipit advised me how to observe the five precepts.

On waking in the morning,

She advised me to reflect on the virtues of that which I hold sacred.

For me,

That is the Buddha,

His teachings,

And those who follow the teachings.

In Buddhism,

This is known as the triple gem.

The Buddha,

The Dhamma,

And the Sangha.

You may reflect on Jesus,

Saint Mary,

Mother Earth,

Divine Spirit,

The I AM,

Whomever or whatever it is for you that is virtuous and sacred.

Then,

With your mind filled with this sacred presence,

Commit yourself to the observance of the precepts.

For me,

I held my Buddha amulet and said to myself,

Buddha,

Dhamma,

Sangha.

The first precept is refraining from killing.

The second precept is refraining from taking what is not given.

The third precept is refraining from sexual misconduct.

The fourth precept is refraining from false speech.

And the fifth precept is refraining from taking intoxicating things.

I am Mr.

Basakon,

And I now have the intention to observe these five precepts.

By the power of these precepts,

I make my request.

May I have a good,

Smooth,

And happy relationship with everyone I contact for business,

And may my business be successful.

This little habit of asking for something made it easier and more fun for me to keep the precepts.

But it's not just a trick.

You get a direct benefit from your precepts.

If you are a student,

You may make a request like this.

Today,

I have an exam.

I may need to make a few guesses.

By the power of the precepts,

May I guess correctly?

I am not kidding.

The power of the precepts can help you succeed.

Try it for yourself to see if it works.

Of course,

Since we are human,

After committing to keep the precepts,

We may unintentionally forget or break one by telling a little lie.

In other words,

We've made a negative impact on our world.

When that happens,

We should remind ourselves of our intention and recommit ourselves.

Other times,

We may even break a precept intentionally.

Afterwards,

We should remind ourselves again and once more firmly make the commitment to keep the precepts.

As my observance of the precepts became stronger,

Yet while I was still a layman,

My friends continued inviting me out for an occasional drink.

At times,

Depending on the social situation and my own,

Shall I say,

Weakness,

I still found it difficult to refuse.

So I reminded myself of my strong intention to keep the first four precepts and excused myself temporarily from the fifth firstly.

Buddha,

Dharma,

Sangha.

The first precept is refraining from killing.

The second precept is refraining from taking what is not given.

The third precept is refraining from sexual misconduct.

The fourth precept is refraining from false speech,

But the fifth precept,

Refraining from taking intoxicating things,

I have to neglect for a moment.

Then,

During the social time with my friends,

I took extra care not to break any of the remaining four precepts.

Once the drinking session with my friends was over,

I committed myself to re-observe the fifth precept again.

It may seem strange to you to drop a precept like that when temptation arises.

But at that time,

My resolve was not yet firm enough,

And keeping four precepts is much better than keeping none.

My teacher also advised me to repeat my intention of observing the precepts before going to bed at night.

Since we cannot break any precepts while we sleep,

We can be happy that for roughly one third of our lives,

We can maintain the precepts with no effort at all.

And reaffirming our intention to observe the precepts before we go to sleep is a pleasant,

Easy way to firm up our resolve,

Which will help us the next day.