[Zen] The Five Precepts

[amazing63]

The Five Precepts (1) Whoever destroys living beings, speaks false words, who in the world takes that which is not given to him, or goes too with another's wife, or takes distilled, fermented drinks -- whatever man indulges thus extirpates the roots of himself even here in this very world.           ~ Dhammapada. 246-7~ So these actions are to be avoided if one wishes to be not only human in body but also to have a human mind. And birth as a human being depends to a great extent upon the practice of the Five Precepts, which are also called "the Dhamma for human beings," (manussa-dhamma). The practice of these precepts makes this human world bearable, but when such practice declines then it becomes a place of suffering. THE 1ST PRECEPT: "I undertake to observe the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures." The precept is broken whether one directly or indirectly (instructing another to) performed the act of killing. The following 5 conditions must be present for the killing to be grave enough to give rise to the possibility that the breaker of the precept may be led to the woeful States after death: 1.      A living being (not including bacteria and other micro- organisms or plants); 2.      Knowledge that it is a living being; 3.      A mind that thinks of killing; 4.      The effort made to kill (including asking another to do it); and 5.      The being dies through the effort. a) Marketing As far as possible living beings (cockles, crabs, live fish or prawns, etc) should not be brought home to be slaughtered before or during the process of cooking. This including live poultry (chicken and ducks) that are slaughtered on one's personal instruction. Fresh eggs too should not be used for cooking (since life has already been conceived in an fertilized egg). There is no restriction for one to purchase prepared meat that do not have live (mutton, beef, pork, salted eggs, etc). b) Cooking and Meals As mentioned in the above section, cooking should be done such that in the process, no living beings are intentionally killed, e.g. live cockles should not be immersed into boiling water and fresh eggs should not be cooked in any way. If the family is eating out, one should refrain from making orders which would cause living beings to be specifically killed for one's sake e.g. ordering fresh alive crabs, cockles or fish to be prepared into dishes. *eggs - This refers only to eggs, which have been fertilised. However eggs sold in big towns and cities are invariably mass-produced by artificial means and are therefore not fertilised, so they are not considered to possess life. c) Around the house Pests are, undoubtedly, major problems to the household. BUT before spraying toxic-pest mixtures all over the place, we should first make some other important considerations. We ought to ask: Why do pests come? Where do they abound in? Firstly, pests are animals - they are also living beings like us who need food to survive, and who fear death as much as we do. They come to scavenge for food, the necessity for life. Secondly, they abound in filthy, untidy places where it is safe to move around without being easily noticed and harmed by others (e.g. human beings and predators). Knowing this then, it is obvious that if we succeed in removing the conditions, which are conducive for them to thrive in, we would have eradicated them without having to kill them. This is what the 5 Preceptor should be encouraged to do. Food should be properly stored. The kitchen should always be kept clean and tidy.  Disposal bins should be regularly emptied and cleared. d) Hobbies If gardening involves the destruction of masses of snails, worms, ant and other insects, we should think again about continuing the hobby and seriously consider to slowly give it up, and to take up something else less harmful. Otherwise, like planting useful fruit trees, etc. But then again, a REMINDER here: preventive rather than destructive measures should be taken to control garden pests. Fishing, which appears to be quite a harmless sport should be avoided. Here, not only do we KILL fishes, but we do so with intention, out of desire and with pleasure. Any form of hunting as a sport should not be indulged in too. If we constantly remind ourselves that all of us fear death, and we desire to continue living, and so too do ALL other beings fear death and desire to continue living, we may perhaps develop compassion for them and so better restrain ourselves from killing in this habitual way. THE 2ND PRECEPTS: "I undertake to observe the precept to refrain from taking what is not given." The Precept is broken whether the stealing is done personally or through another person acting on one's instructions. The following 5 conditions must be present for the stealing to be grave enough to give rise to the possibility that the breaker of the precept may be led to the Woeful States after death: 1.      The object, which belongs to an owner 2.      Knowledge that the object belongs to an owner; 3.      The volition intending to steal; 4.      The effort made to steal; 5.      The object taken away through the effort. Being largely conditioned by the materialistic society which we live in, it is not surprising that many of us are obsessed with the mentality of anytime we can get things free, better get `em fast'. a) At the Office To illustrate this, ask ourselves: how many times have we intentionally flicked home from the office things like erasers, carbon papers, typing papers and other stuff, without even the slightest tinkle of guilt, when we are fully aware that these things belong to the office/company and are NOT for the taking? Keeping this precept means that we must try our best to check such seemingly trivial, but surely very bad habits, and to refrain from taking things which have not been given, nor meant for us. After all, these little things are not too expensive for us to afford, surely. So, in whatever place that we are working in, WE should exercise restraint and overcome the temptation and greed of taking, for our own, things, which do not rightfully belong to us. b) Occupation and Business Deals We should also be wary that our occupations do not involve us committing the act of stealing. Taking away positions of our greed, for power or higher wages, by unjust means, for example, is considered to be a form of stealing. So is taking off office time for no good reasons, e.g. to chit chat, to deliberately do things slowly to avoid being given additional work, to make excuses in order to shirk getting work which should rightfully be given, etc. Cheating is also another form of stealing. Examples are numerous but let us consider a few: shopkeepers who use faulty measuring instruments, or who deliberately mix products to result in selling inferior quality goods at standard quality prices are breaking the precept. For big time businessmen, the diverting of houses, farms, estates, etc. of others to become one's own by means of lawsuits and allied methods is also considered an act of stealing once the rightful owner loses hope. c) Be a Good Borrower Some people have the bad habit of borrowing things for long stretches of time. Eventually, the original owner is forgotten and the borrower assumed possession of the property. Such cases, as well as the outright case of refusing to return borrowed things to the rightful owner, are also forms of stealing although not normally considered to be so. Therefore we should try our very best to be mindful on such occasions and to make it a point to remember the rightful owner and to return the property to him as soon as we have finished using it. d) Evading tax When we go vacationing and touring, and we do a lot of shopping, especially in other countries where goods are cheaper, it becomes sort of `instinctive' for us to start thinking of ways and means of how to evade the Customs officer, to escape duty on all the items that we desire to bring home with us. But we must guard against such `instincts', which are the cause of our carelessness in failing to mindfully keep the precepts. The smuggling of dutiable goods is an act of evading tax and this include income tax, assessments, quit rent, etc. THE 3RD PRECEPT: "I undertake to observe the precept to refrain from an immoral act of sexual intercourse." Normally, sex does not occur spontaneously or out of the blues, but is the mutual participation of a man and woman who are already involved in a developing or developed relationship. Having this in mind; this section deals not only with the particular conditions concerning the sexual act itself, but also with the relevant aspects of the man-woman relationship, which comes before and leads to it. This precept can only be broken by oneself and not for others. The following 4 conditions for the breaking of this precept are: 1.  The Forbidden object* 2.  The mind thinking of committing the sexual act on the subject; 3.  The effort made in committing the sexual act; 4.  The satisfaction derived in the mutual participation of the sexual act. * The forbidden object refers to human beings or animals of the opposite sex or of the same sex. i) Girls or boys who are not up to the age of maturity and independence, i.e. who are still innocent and do not know what is good or bad, and who are still dependants, being brought up, fed and cared for by their guardians (parents, relatives, friends). These make up the group of the unmarried and the unattached). ii) Women or men who are attached or married including those already engaged, as well as mistresses and prostitutes or gigolo. iii) Any types of animals, male or female. a) Sex and Morality Buddhism does not consider sex as immoral, shameful or dirty for a lay disciple but as something essential in the world of survival and procreation. (Not applicable to monks or nuns who made their determination to renounce the worldly conditions). What cause it to be immoral is the circumstances, under which sex is carried out. Is it by forced or by consensus besides all the above criteria. The lustful desires to experience or possess the forbidden objects decide the level of morality of a person in this context. b) Polygamy and Monogamy                                                   Polygamy was widely practised in the olden day, as it is reasonable accepted by the society. The first wife, instead of feeling hurt and jealous, might in fact welcome an extra pair of hands to help with the household chores. Today, with monogamy being the rule, society values have changed, thus reconditioning the expectations and outlook of its members. Thus, when two people get married, they are expected to be faithful to each other. c) Marriage Blues When a man or a woman commits, or thinks of committing adultery, it is usually an indication that something has gone wrong somewhere in his/her matrimonial relationship. The thought of committing adultery is actually a form of escapism. One conveniently leaves a set of problems, which desperately needs to be worked out, unsolved and imagines that it will be solved by escaping from it and by entering into a new (and probably highly idealised) relationship with another person. This is mainly due to lack of understanding, tolerance and respect for each other. One forgets about one's responsibility, obligation and sense of duty to keep the family together. Thus allows the emotion (ego) to blind oneself instead of solving the problems by forgiving oneself and the other. d) Adultery It is in fact sexual lust, which is the very potent force behind many a person's ruin and dishonour. "Love is Blind." An intense romantic love can led people to do all sorts of things including murder; thieving and destroying other's property; seduction and adultery; lying, slandering, abusive behaviour and taking to the bottle or to drugs. Thus we see that a person who breaks the 3rd precept is more than likely to break all the remaining four. Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/   To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]   Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.