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When the precepts don’t feel like precepts

After reading Edward Conze’s translation of the Diamond Sutra, I had to lie down – or rather sit. In fact, it took a number of days of reading and sitting, and reading and sitting, and waiting for stuff to re-arrange in my heart. Like a penny dropping in slow motion, it was like a 14 day yawning realisation that the way I had been approaching Buddhism wasn’t really as helpful as it could have been.

This happened a few years ago before I wrote the Anxious Buddhist. More recently I came across a series of videos by the Venerable Guan Cheng at the International Buddhist Temple, British Columbia, on the Diamond Sutra, and the introductory video reminded me of a question I once heard someone ask of Thich Nhat Hanh – it was something like, “don’t you find it difficult to follow the precepts?”

Ven. Guan Cheng begins by placing Prajna (Wisdom) into context as one of three foundations of Buddhism, namely Sila (Morality or precepts), Samadhi (Meditation) and Prajna (Wisdom).

You can watch the video, but he draws an analogy for the three foundations as might be applied to a country or state.

He describes Sila like a country’s armed forces, protecting us at the borders. It prevents us from committing physical transgressions – from planting seeds of suffering to later manifest – and from watering existing seeds which are already latent in our sub conscious. Sila, our morality and the precepts are what generally protect us from the grossest causes. They are designed to work most clearly at the conscious level in our day to day lives – to form part of our habitual behaviour.

In the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, these are the Five Mindfulness Trainings, namely

  • Reverence for life
  • True Happiness
  • True Love
  • Loving Speech and Deep Listening
  • Nourishment and Healing

So, even without any further teaching, by following these 5 precepts (not like commandments – i.e. don’t spend your time finding fault in others), you can avoid a lot of trouble!

Ven. Guan Cheng then goes on to explain meditation, or Samadhi, as being like a country’s internal police force. If all we have are our armed forces at the borders (Sila – morality or precepts), then while we may be safe from gross transgressions, our internal state of affairs is still a mess. Crime and vice can still run rampant inside the country – that is to say, our mind will be all over the place! This will make the act of maintaining the armed forces (our precepts) seem like a painful austerity.

By practicing Samadhi (meditation) we calm and control our internal population. We come to recognise the more troublesome characters and show them compassion and understanding – or Maitri (loving kindness). By meditating, we aim to bring harmony to our internal population. By removing internal tensions, giving attention to and accepting who we are, we naturally start to experience less anxiety, anger and fear. By learning to recognise the bad characters that are in our internal population we are able to deal with them and prevent them from developing and taking control – we become less reliant on the precepts (Sila) to prevent our gross transgressions because our practice of Samadhi already reveals to us when damaging thoughts and views are arising.

Finally the topic of Prajna is discussed, and in the context of our pretend country, Prajna is represented as the central government, universities and education. This is the core of our wisdom. It has the ability to eliminate our bad characters at the very source by eliminating ignorance. It is the ability to recognise not just the harmful characters in our internal population, but to also understand the causes and conditions that led to their manifestation. Prajna is the ability to intuit the very seeds of our suffering at the most subtle level.

Thich Nhat Hanh was once asked “don’t you find it difficult to follow the precepts?” His answer was, predictably, “No”. He went on to explain that through meditation, and mindful living that one develops a way of life that is very much in harmony with the Precepts. This doesn’t mean that the precepts are not important – or that Samadhi and Prajna are all you need – it simply means that our daily life, and our morality, naturally begin to reflect the precepts without any conscious effort.

 

7 replies on “When the precepts don’t feel like precepts”

steve, you need to seniously start your chanting and practice again. The law and dharma as your guide. Mthe truth of buddha teaching is not to believe but to practice. You once walked away at eagle peak when the lotus sutra was first taught…

Well, today I seriously need to rest, go and visit my mom in hospital, see my grandkids, and then maybe meditate to calm my mind and observe the clouds in my sky. A lotus for you.

Hi Steve
I have gotten so much from your discourses, it has prompted me to start a sangha here in New Orleans. Please keep posting, you have a wonderful Buddha awakened within you!

Great news Rolf! Starting a sangha is a great step forward for your area – I wish you all the best of this, And hope you find some great fellow practitioners.

A Lotus for you, Steve for posting these videos and links for encouraging the learning process in understanding and practicing Buddhism!

Hi Steve, first off I do not mean to be hogging the forum, LOL
But I am more excited to have found your site than words can express, and your articles, comments and the posts are all highly addictive stimulants that nurture my Buddha nature, and living here in the South-land, swamp lands USA, I need all the nurturing and free exchange of ideas that I can get!
The more I read and contemplate here on your site the more leaves of the Lotus open up and flower and I cannot help but respond as little mini Buddhas bring delightful flashes of enlightenment through the neural pathways of my brain/mind!
I really like the idea you expound of ‘harmony of the precepts’ and that through meditation and mindful living we become harmonically immersed in the precepts, becoming one with them consciously and unconsciously, and I believe that, that state of ‘oneness’ is the whole point of both yoga and Buddhism.
An idea flashed in my mind during meditation many years ago was that at some point the precepts no longer become admonishments, but are celebrated effortlessly and joyfully with the awakening of the boundless compassion of our Buddha nature..

HI Steve I really enjoy your blog , even though its been a few yrs since your last update / entry I just discovered it recently so its all new to me . I seriously love your thoughts and what you have to say . I have a question for you though . I am currently practicing Nichiren Buddhism w the SGI and am thinking of trying something else . But there is so much out there it can be over whelming . What particular other branches did you get involved with or study after nichiren ?

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