--- In [email protected], mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote:
>
> Steve,
>
> I think there are a couple of ways at looking at the precepts and how they
> apply
> to our practice. First of all, they were developed for the followers of
> Buddha
> and his immediate sangha i.e monks. Anyone on a retreat or sesshin can attest
> to
> the fact that the precepts are easier to follow in such a setting. Of course,
> they weren't posited because they are easy to follow, but because any course
> of
> intensive meditation requires a mind not stirred up by the things the
> precepts
> 'prohibits'. For example, killing a mosquito or gossiping about someone on a
> sesshin causes so much mental energy that prolonged, intensive  meditation
> is difficult (mental dissonance). A second point is that following the
> precepts
> (whether by monks or laypeople) can create such a psychological (some would
> say
> spiritual) ambience that an awakening is much more possible. My own feeling
> about the precepts is that they in fact describe the life lived after
> awakening.rather than before.Â
>
> Mike
>
> Hey Mike. If interested, look up the Sudden Enlightenment and Gradual
> Cultivation paradigm of Chinul.
Steve
>
>
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