The Five Precepts (pañca-shila) are not rules to be obeyed as if to disobey them were a sin. Nor are the Five Precepts like the Ten Commandments which make up the religions of Abraham. The notion of a precept or shila is not the same as a moral code or a commandment. The precept is intended to bring about virtue which is the strengthing of aloofness from the corporeal (skandha) which is linked with the Three Poisons (delusion, concupiscence, and malice). Worth adding, "shila" in Sanskrit, means "to cultivate and practice" with no hint of rule following. The Five Precepts are as follows:
- 1. Abstention from the destruction of the vital principle (prana-atighatad viratih)
- 2. Abstention from taking what is not given
- 3. Abstention from deceptive sensual behavior
- 4. Abstention from lies
- 5. Abstention from intoxicants
What is important to grasp is that breaking of precepts is a quantitative matter which inevitably leads to behavior that obscures or completely hides the inner pathway to the discovery of our Buddha-nature. The problem is thus a matter of excess; of doing, for example, too much drinking of alcohol or doing things, in excess, which despirit one (prana-atighatad) in which all becomes devitalized (depression?). Indeed, we can lead such lives that we lose touch with our spiritual being. Such living thus becomes an obsession that occludes our spiritual eye.
Perhaps the greatest sin of all in Buddhism is to reject the seeking and cultivation of the substance of pure mind (prakritvishuddicitta) which is immediate with us. Instead, we seek other things almost always excessively.
Briefly touching on the Bodhisattva Precepts there are ten. With the exception of "Abstention from intoxicants" they include, in addition to the aforementioned listed, abstention from slander, abstention from harsh or vulgar speech, abstention from frivolous and senseless talk, abstention from covetousness, abstention from malice, and finally, abstention from wrong views (mithya-darshanam viratih).
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