Having grown up within the culture of rules, regulations, and commandments, it’s easy to view the Five Precepts as just another set of rules to follow. Rules, after all, are for control, aren’t they? A governing body creates rules for the governed. This body controls the actions of that body. Those who break the rules are punished. Even when they are designed for the good of the people, rules are often seen as restrictions on freedom. Very often, great profits are the result of rules. Great suffering, too.
The Five Precepts have but one purpose: creating safety for the one who practices them and, by extension, everyone who is in any way associated with the practitioner. Of course, by further extension, this includes all living beings.
Disclaimer: I’ve broken them all. But through retrospection on my past, and in my associations with those who do practice the precepts as well as with those who don’t, I’ve come to appreciate their immense and immeasurable value.
1) To refrain from destroying living creatures
2) To refrain from taking that which is not given
3) To refrain from sexual misconduct
4) To refrain from incorrect speech
5) To refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness
“There are these five gifts, five great gifts, original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning, that are not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and are unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & priests, Which five? ….” (AN 8.39)
To answer the question of which five, the Buddha teaches that in practicing each of the five precepts the practitioner “gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings.” Further, the Buddha says that in giving such freedom the practitioner “gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression.”
I’ve heard the precepts expressed in ways that open them to interpretation. But when anyone opens a precept to interpretation (to make it more palatable? to justify breaking it?) it becomes adulterated, watered down, and worthless as a means of protection and safety.
In the United States, we see freedom as being able to do what we want and when we want, so long as we follow the rules. Rules, though, are always subject to change, not to mention open to interpretation.
Buddhism sees rules and freedom in a much different light. A rule is like an umbrella in a rainstorm or sandals on a gravel path: It offers protection. For the Buddhist, the protection is not from the elements and terrain, but from blame and suspicion. This is real freedom, that is, freedom from the suffering brought about through mental anguish on the inside and through accusation or on the outside.
Someone who is free of blame and above suspicion is able to offer to others, not just an umbrella and a pair of sandals, but an expansive tent and a lush carpet. Such freedom is safety in its most refined form.
Five Precepts: Five Faultless Gifts
Having grown up within the culture of rules, regulations, and commandments, it’s easy to view the Five Precepts as just another set of rules to follow. Rules, after all, are for control, aren’t they? A governing body creates rules for the governed. This body controls the actions of that body. Those who break the rules are punished. Even when they are designed for the good of the people, rules are often seen as restrictions on freedom. Very often, great profits are the result of rules. Great suffering, too.
The Five Precepts have but one purpose: creating safety for the one who practices them and, by extension, everyone who is in any way associated with the practitioner. Of course, by further extension, this includes all living beings.
Disclaimer: I’ve broken them all. But through retrospection on my past, and in my associations with those who do practice the precepts as well as with those who don’t, I’ve come to appreciate their immense and immeasurable value.
The Five Precepts, according to Venerable Walpola Rahula, Buddhist monk and author of What the Buddha Taught, are “the minimal moral obligations of a lay Buddhist.”
The Five Precepts are:
1) To refrain from destroying living creatures
2) To refrain from taking that which is not given
3) To refrain from sexual misconduct
4) To refrain from incorrect speech
5) To refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness
By following the precepts, one offers, in the words of the Buddha, the Five Faultless Gifts:
To answer the question of which five, the Buddha teaches that in practicing each of the five precepts the practitioner “gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings.” Further, the Buddha says that in giving such freedom the practitioner “gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression.”
I’ve heard the precepts expressed in ways that open them to interpretation. But when anyone opens a precept to interpretation (to make it more palatable? to justify breaking it?) it becomes adulterated, watered down, and worthless as a means of protection and safety.
In the United States, we see freedom as being able to do what we want and when we want, so long as we follow the rules. Rules, though, are always subject to change, not to mention open to interpretation.
Buddhism sees rules and freedom in a much different light. A rule is like an umbrella in a rainstorm or sandals on a gravel path: It offers protection. For the Buddhist, the protection is not from the elements and terrain, but from blame and suspicion. This is real freedom, that is, freedom from the suffering brought about through mental anguish on the inside and through accusation or on the outside.
Someone who is free of blame and above suspicion is able to offer to others, not just an umbrella and a pair of sandals, but an expansive tent and a lush carpet. Such freedom is safety in its most refined form.
For more on the Five Precepts, go here. Follow this link or an excellent essay on The Healing Power of the Precepts by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.