To understand the importance of the Ten Precepts (listed at the end of this talk) or of any precepts it is first of all important to understand the law of karma. It is important to understand that the law of karma is what makes spiritual life, Dharma life, possible. In this sense the law of karma, karma niyama, is the key Buddhist teaching. The law of karma is, of course, an aspect of a much greater teaching, a much bigger perspective. That greater teaching, that bigger perspective is pratitya samutpada, the doctrine of conditioned co-production.
The teaching of conditioned co-production (pratitya samutpada) tells us that everything arises in dependence on conditions, not in a linear cause and effect kind of way, but in a much more complex pattern. Things and thoughts, events and ideas all arise in dependence on a multiplicity of conditions, a vast web of conditions and include in their brief existence all of those conditions. This is not easy to understand. The understanding which is trying to grasp the complexity of the web of conditions giving rise to conditions, is also the product of conditions and a condition in turn. A part of the web is trying to comprehend and embrace the whole.
This tornado of conditions rolls on relentlessly. There is little any individual can do to alter the vast web of conditions operating in the world and on our lives. Except, and it’s a big exception, when it comes to conscious actions, words and thoughts. What are often called volitional actions, that is things we do, say and think under our own steam, so to speak, by conscious choice. A non-volitional action is one you have no choice about. Like a sneeze or cough or an utterance when you’re surprised or frightened or the survival instincts of fight or flight. Volitional, conscious, chosen actions of body, speech and mind are in the realm of the law of karma.
Broadly speaking actions of this kind can be either skilful or unskilful. There may be neutral action too, e.g. scratching your back. The key distinction that any Buddhist has to learn to make is this distinction between skilful and unskilful. Maitreyabandhu was saying in a recent talk that he thought the terms skilful and unskilful sounded quite technical and may not touch our hearts sufficiently. We may need to think in terms of good and bad or even of virtue and vice. Not that we want to think of ourselves as a good or bad person or as virtuous or vicious, but that we can think of our behaviour or speech or thoughts as good or bad, to bring home to our hearts the need to change.
Because of this distinction between skilful and unskilful and because we can learn to act more and more skilfully, spiritual life is possible. In the Dvedhavitthaka Sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya (Sutta19) the Buddha talks about his practice before he was Enlightened and he says what he did was he tried to be aware of whether his mental states were skilful or unskilful. This is much more difficult than it sounds. We all have an inbuilt tendency to justify ourselves to ourselves. That is what having an ego identity is like. And we justify ourselves to ourselves by seeing what we think, say and do as justified or as inevitable or reasonable and therefore in no way blameworthy.
Perhaps we have been offended by something someone said to us or about us. We feel hurt, upset, angry, as sense of injustice. In that state it is very difficult for us to remember our Buddhist practice and to ask ourselves whether the mental state we are experiencing is skilful or unskilful, conducive to well-being or otherwise. We are much more likely to pursue an inner narrative justifying ourselves and blaming the other. There are various factors involved here. There is the overriding factor of self clinging, ego identity. There is conditioning, from family, school and society. There are the conventions current in the world at present.
We are very influenced by the world around us. The views and attitudes of the time and place in which we live pervade our lives and it is extremely difficult to step back and see things from a higher or bigger perspective. We have been influenced since childhood by various views, attitudes, beliefs and conventions. Sometimes we are more under the sway of past conditioning sometimes we are more under the sway of present conditioning.
Monogamous marriage based on personal emotion is an example of a recent historical convention that has a huge impact on us on what we conceive of as normal. The Internet and social media are examples of current conditioning factors that have a huge impact on us and our sense of identity. Credit cards, advertising, nationalism are all relatively new phenomena which have had and continue to have huge a impact on us. Often we are unconscious of this and we are also often unconscious of the more personal conditioning and conventions of our upbringing which continue to influence our behaviour, attitudes and ideas; the impact of our relationship with our father and mother, the impact of any religious conditioning and so on.
All of these things are influencing us all the time and these influences will sometimes be at variance with the Buddha's teachings about skilfulness and unskilfulness. We have to train ourselves to recognise skilful and unskilful mental states. We have to train ourselves to be honest with ourselves about our greed, our lack of generosity, our ill will, hatred and anger and our deep-seated egotism. We have to train ourselves to be honest with ourselves about our generosity, kindness and love, our wisdom and unselfishness.
The Ten Precepts are the training principles; the tools provided by the Buddha to help us recognise and acknowledge what is really going on. As well as training ourselves to recognise and acknowledge our states of mind, rather than simply justifying them, the precepts also provide us with a template, a guide for action and speech. Even if our mental states are not very positive we can learn to act and speak in such a way that we are likely to bring about more positive states of mind. But we have to make an effort. The ethical precepts may seem basic and easy but they require careful thought and application and they are relevant to every Dharma practitioner and every level of development.
As well as all the social, historical and personal kinds of conditioning we experience there is also our non-Enlightened state to contend with, our self clinging, our ego identity. The ten positive precepts describe a state of no self clinging, where actions are characterised by loving kindness, generosity and contentment, where communication is true, kindly, helpful and harmonising and mental states are calm, non-grasping, compassionate and wise.
At the other end of the spectrum is the grossly unskilful which is a description of unadulterated self clinging. Actions are violent, harmful, greedy, manipulative, coercive. Communication is lying, exaggerating, harsh, unhelpful, crude, slanderous and divisive. And states of mind are envious, grasping, hating, full of ill will and aversion and deluded and selfish. We are probably somewhere between these two poles, these two ends of the spectrum, and our task is to become more and more the embodiment of the ten kusala Dharmas, the ten positive precepts.
By making the effort, of reflection, of thought, of honesty, of action, to be more and more skilful we become more and more skilful. The law of karma states that skilful actions of body speech and mind have beneficial consequences for self and others and unskilfulness has bad consequences. The law of karma is a guarantee that spiritual development is possible. The law of karma is not a matter of belief, it is something that can be tested and proven in your own life.
Precepts are important because they are a guide to what is skilful and unskilful. They are important because they are the tools we can use to train ourselves to be more and more skilful. The Ten Precepts are important because they describe the behaviour and states of mind of one who is free from self clinging. The Ten Precepts are also the most comprehensive list of precepts. They apply to body, speech and mind in a complete way. In this regard it is sometimes asked why the Ten Precepts do not include the fifth of the five precepts; the precept about refraining from intoxicants that cloud the mind and developing mindfulness. To me the answer seems obvious; keeping your mind clear and aware is implicit in the Ten Precepts. They could not be practised by someone who is unaware, unmindful or drunk.
The Ten Precepts are especially important in the Triratna Community and Order because they are part of the vows taken at ordination. Ordination into the Triratna Buddhist Order represents an effective going for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. It represents an effective commitment to placing the Three Jewels at the centre of your life and at the heart of everything you do. This effective commitment, effective going for refuge, is given expression through observing the Ten Precepts. The Ten Precepts represent the practical, daily, outcome of making a commitment to live by the light of the Three Jewels. Observing the Ten Precepts is the unifying practice for Order members. Whatever studies, meditations on retreats Order members may engage with, all should be observing the Ten Precepts. And whatever living situation or lifestyle Order members have, all should be observing the Ten Precepts. Those who are not yet ordained, especially those who have requested ordination, should also be familiar with and practising the Ten Precepts.
The Ten Precepts are formulated positively based on the Buddha’s teaching to Chanda in the Anguttara Nikaya (10.176). This positive formulation allows us to see that there is no limit to the practice of the Ten Precepts and therefore that the same precepts are relevant at all levels of development. It is possible to embody to an ever greater degree the qualities and virtues encouraged by the Ten Precepts. We can move from the level of the precepts as a discipline, which we have to make an effort to observe, to the level of the precepts as a spontaneous practice, requiring little effort, to the level of the precepts embodied, requiring no effort, being the natural flow of our thoughts, communication and deeds.
It is said, in the Pali Canon, that there are forty meritorious qualities associated with the Ten Precepts. The first ten meritorious qualities are equivalent to observing the Ten Precepts. The second ten meritorious qualities consist in encouraging at least one other person to observe the Ten Precepts. The third ten meritorious qualities consist in giving approval to, rejoicing in, those who observe the Ten Precepts. And the last ten meritorious qualities consist in speaking in praise of the Ten Precepts. These are the forty meritorious qualities associated with the Ten Precepts and I hope we all partake of them tonight and for the rest of our lives.
The Ten Precepts
Panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
Adinnadana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
Kamesu micchachara veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
Musavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
Pharusavachaya veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
Samphappalapa veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
Pisunavachaya veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
Abhijjaya veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
Byapada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
Michaditthiya veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
sadhu sadhu sadhu
translation
I undertake the item of training which consists in abstention from killing living beings.
I undertake the item of training which consists in abstention from taking the not-given.
I undertake the item of training which consists in abstention from sexual misconduct.
I undertake the item of training which consists in abstention from false speech.
I undertake the item of training which consists in abstention from harsh speech.
I undertake the item of training which consists in abstention from frivolous speech.
I undertake the item of training which consists in abstention from slanderous speech.
I undertake the item of training which consists in abstention from covetousness.
I undertake the item of training which consists in abstention from hatred.
I undertake the item of training which consists in abstention from false views.
As used in the Triratna Buddhist Order
The Positive Precepts
With deeds of lovingkindness, I purify my body.
With open-handed generosity, I purify my body.
With stillness, simplicity and contentment, I purify my body.
With truthful communication, I purify my speech.
With kindly communication, I purify my speech.,
With helpful communication, I purify my speech.
With harmonious communication, I purify my speech.
Abandoning covetousness for tranquillity, I purify my mind.
Changing hatred into compassion, I purify my mind.
Transforming ignorance into wisdom, I purify my mind.
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