Steve, I don't disagree with the quote from Thich Nhat Hanh below. I do think, however, that the way he's phrased this in English could lead to a misunderstanding of the relationship between precepts and mindfulness. This is partially linguistic and partically because of the tendancy to look at things like this from a dualistic (and in our case, Western) perspective.
Following precepts does not lead to mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness, however, does lead to a life that is compatible with the precepts - at least the first 5. Or to say it another way: you can faithfully follow all the precepts and still not be practicing mindfulness; but if you are practicing mindfulness you will be following all the precepts - at least the first 5. ...Bill! --- In [email protected], "SteveW" <eugnostos2000@...> wrote: > > "If we don't practice the precepts, we aren't practicing mindfulness. I know > some Zen students who think that they can practice meditation without > practicing precepts, but that is not correct. The heart of Buddhist > meditation is the practice of the precepts. You cannot meditate without > practicing the precepts." > -from The Heart of The Buddha's Teaching, page 82 > Any comments? > Steve > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
