MJ09 - 38 Blessings - Precepts (10 of 39)

This is the tenth step on the Buddhist path of practice described in the Mangala Sutta. This episode deals with Buddhist precepts and how to keep them in order to develop self-discipline, both on lay- and monastic levels.

Transcript

Last time you saw me,

We looked at blessing number eight on mastering your craft.

With the time I talk today,

We will continue our series on enlightened living with blessing number nine,

Artfulness in usage,

Or perhaps put more simply,

Self-discipline.

I should point out from the start that this blessing of the enlightened living series is almost identical to the fourth lecture of the Buddhist concept series,

Which I've already given as B005,

Avoiding unwholesomeness.

But as today's lecture is supposed to delve deeper into the Buddhist roots of knowledge,

Although there is some overlap of content,

Today I've added in more detail concerning definitions,

Scriptural examples,

And the monastic side of self-discipline.

So to revise the last few sessions,

The seventh blessing concerning artfulness in knowledge,

With the message that we should be curious to seek any new knowledge,

Either in spiritual or worldly ways,

As long as it doesn't have any negative implications for the human dignity of ourselves,

Others,

Or society in general.

Once you can avail yourself of such knowledge,

Then it is a blessing in itself.

Building on that,

The eighth blessing last time concerned artfulness in the application of knowledge or mastering one's craft.

The message there was that we should be enthusiastic to apply any new skills in spiritual or worldly ways,

As long as they don't have any negative implications for the human dignity of ourselves,

Others,

Or society in general.

Once you can avail yourself of such skills,

Then it is also a blessing in itself.

But since at this stage we are already equipped with the knowledge and its application,

The additional skill we need to master is the awareness of the ethical implications of our actions towards the human dignity of ourselves,

Others,

Or society in general.

The purpose of blessing number nine is to give us the guidelines we need to allow us to judge our own behaviour in word and deed,

So that the way we use our intellectual resources and craftsmanship brings no detriment to society around us or to our spiritual furtherment.

Without self-discipline,

Even a person of knowledge and experience can come to an unfortunate end if they lack self-discipline.

Mastery of self-discipline prevents us feeling tempted to apply our knowledge in an unscrupulous way to save our knowledge and skills from becoming like a sword without a scabbard,

Or a firearm without a safety.

In our consideration of the value of artfulness in usage towards human dignity,

We must always consider three levels of description,

Our own personal human dignity,

The human dignity of others,

And the dignity of the whole economic system in society.

Having self-discipline has benefits on all three levels.

Firstly,

On the personal level,

Having self-discipline protects our health from self-induced illness,

Reducing possible obstacles in our spiritual vocation,

Especially those arising from unintentional blunders with the defilements of action,

Or gamma-kilesa,

And allowing us to develop our level of virtue from mere discipline,

Or vinaya,

To self-discipline,

Or sila,

Which is the foundation for the subsequent development of meditation,

Or samadhi,

And wisdom,

Or vinyas.

It is said that having self-discipline is one of the major differences between humans and savages.

Therefore,

By preserving our level of discipline,

We protect ourselves from decline into savagery.

Secondly,

On the interpersonal level,

Having self-discipline stops people taking advantage of each other.

Lastly,

On the social level,

Having self-discipline promotes compliance with the law and a general harmony for society.

Of course,

It's an advantage to know all the theory about self-discipline and how to acquire it,

But it's not until you actually become a person with self-discipline that you will really start to gain the benefits from this blessing.

From person to person,

The intellectual resources and the level of craftsmanship may not be the same.

However,

Even more important than the knowledge and skills a person has is the potential damage they can do to themselves,

Others,

And society if they have no ethical discretion about how to use that knowledge and skill.

This is why it's vitally important that everyone has virtue to go hand in hand with their knowledge,

Specifically the virtue to know the negative implications of any deeds that they may do or the words that they may say.

In society in general,

We tend to think that if what we do or say is not illegal,

Then it's acceptable to our human dignity.

However,

The law is really only a very rough and ready guideline for what should or should not be done in society.

To give a dramatic example,

A person can get away with murder if they have no witnesses and leave no forensic evidence.

Furthermore,

If the law from country to country differs,

Does this also mean that the ethics can also be localized?

In some countries,

The law may be used to suppress freedom of expression.

So the law alone doesn't give us sufficient guidelines for the preservation of human dignity at any of the levels of description.

This is why more detailed guidelines were provided by the Buddha in the form of a checklist of four criteria for ethical behavior.

The first and most important criterion for something being ethical is whether it compromises the five precepts,

Which you could refer to as a minimum baseline for humane behavior.

In other words,

Does the action or speech contradict the five precepts?

And we will come back to these in just a moment.

This form of discipline is spiritual discipline concerning our quality of mind and the quality of mind of those who share society with us.

We find that these five precepts are at the heart of codes of discipline of many different religions,

Whether it be the Christian Ten Commandments,

The Night Journey verses of the Koran or the five Yamas of Hindu conduct.

The second criteria,

Not prohibitions,

But a set of positive observances,

Is that any ethical behavior should conform with the five virtues or panchatamma,

Which comprise compassion,

Right livelihood,

Contentment with ones lawfully wedded,

Truthfulness and awareness.

This form of discipline is spiritual duties concerning the quality of mind of ourselves and those around us in society.

The third criteria on peril of becoming an outlaw is that our behaviors should not conflict with local law.

This form of discipline is worldly or material discipline.

It concerns our quality of life and the quality of life of those who share society with us.

And lastly,

Some customs on a local level serve to bring people together.

Our chosen speech and actions would ideally align with local customs in order to fit in with our neighbors.

Again,

This form of discipline is worldly or material and concerns social harmony and solidarity.

To oppose behaviors such as smoking cannabis breaks the five precepts,

Even if it doesn't break the local law,

It should be avoided.

In the same way,

Even if something is not required by law but is a local custom,

For example,

Providing candies to children who come trick-or-treating on Halloween,

Perhaps this is a good reason to comply,

At least for harmony on the local level.

The proviso is,

Of course,

That the custom should not compromise the five precepts.

The root of the Pali word for artfulness in usage or discipline is vinaya,

Which comes from two stems,

Vi and naya,

Where naya means something that leads you and vi means any of the three things.

It can mean good or illuminated or different.

Particles together give us the literal definition of the word vinaya as leading you to good or leading you to enlightenment or leading you to something different.

Leading one to goodness means that it takes you away from unwholesomeness.

Leading one to enlightenment means that it allows us to see a person as they really are.

Leading one to be different means that it raises one above savagery.

In practice,

The word vinaya is usually taken to mean rules or regulations to restrain ourselves in word and deed to avoid causing suffering to ourselves or others.

It may seem curious that vinaya doesn't restrain the mind directly,

But indirectly it purifies the mind because it selects preferentially for wholesome actions in word and deed that originate in the mind.

When we can avoid causing suffering to ourselves or others,

We set ourselves on the path to goodness,

Enlightenment and difference from base conduct in society.

Vinaya will be the virtue that tells us what is appropriate or inappropriate to do or say,

Look at or eat.

When people think of precepts,

They often mistakenly think that precepts are nothing more than prohibitions.

In fact,

The meaning of the Pali word for precepts,

In the original language at least,

In other words,

The word sila,

Literally means the norm or cooling.

Precepts mean the level of virtue that is normal for human beings to have.

It's a norm that distinguishes men from savages or from nature,

Red in tooth and claw.

It is for this reason that we differentiate vinaya from sila by calling the latter self-discipline.

As we shall see,

Self-discipline is the result of training yourself in discipline.

It's a state of mind rather than a set of rules to follow.

Discipline is the means by which we restrain the manifesting of unwholesome deeds and speech.

When we are newcomers to discipline,

The mind is usually still rather reluctant.

Many protesting thoughts will go through our mind in response to the inconvenience of behaving in a disciplined way.

Such thoughts do not constitute a breach of discipline because they are not manifest.

However,

Conforming with those rules,

Even reluctantly,

Will protect a person from slipping into any of the four defilements of action or gamakilesa,

And in turn,

This minimal discipline will gradually channel the mind into development of self-discipline.

Self-discipline would mean that the person's thought will align with the wholesomeness of their actions and speech.

At this point,

The reluctance in the mind will have been overcome,

Indicating that one has started to be a teacher to oneself sufficiently well to be able to police one's body,

Speech and mind without the need of any further rules or regulations to force such behaviours.

In a technical sense,

This mature form of self-discipline originates directly from our conscience,

Would be referred to as ariya-sila,

Or the perfection of sila,

Topics which we'll come back to in more detail a little later on.

Having rules to stop you from doing certain things,

Of course,

Helps a person to become a more aware of those behaviours,

And by extension,

More aware of themselves.

They function according to what the 19th century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard referred to as the principle of limitation,

Which means that the more a person limits themselves,

The more resourceful they become.

Obviously,

The more rules you follow,

Even if they were arbitrary,

The more aware you would become.

However,

Buddhist precepts are not arbitrary.

They have a rationale behind their content.

At the most basic level,

For householders at least,

The precepts are designed to prevent people exploiting the weaknesses of others or to streamline the mind for meditation retreats.

On a monastic level,

The precepts are designed to protect the reputation of the monastic community.

Accordingly,

There are different sets of codes of conduct which can be used for training in discipline.

Some are suitable for laypeople,

Others are suitable for monks,

But at root,

All the sets of precepts help to protect the human dignity of ourselves,

Others and society.

But it's true that the more intensive the level of practice,

The more rules of training we tend to keep.

But before we look at the precepts themselves,

Let's backtrack slightly to look at the rationale behind the precepts,

Which means the ideal we are aiming for when keeping the precepts,

So that when we look at the precepts themselves,

We can see how they pragmatize or operationalize particular forms of abstinence to bring those ideals closer within reach.

If a Buddhist wants to avoid picking up negative karma,

Ideally they should aim to abstain completely from accumulating any more unwholesomeness,

Such as in verse 124 of the Dhammapada,

The Buddha says,

Never does evil before one who does not do it.

This is why,

Before going into the practicality of avoiding unwholesome ethical choices,

It is useful to understand the ideal of a mind free from unwholesomeness.

The Tenfold Path of Wholesomeness or Gussala Dhammapada outlines a set of ten ideals to be aimed for.

The last three items on the list are actually qualities of mind.

These ten ideals comprise absolute avoidance of killing,

Stealing,

Adultery,

Telling lies,

Engaging in malicious gossip,

Speaking harshly,

Chattering idly,

Intending to take the possessions of others,

Vengeful intentions,

And wrong view.

Since such ideals are hard to achieve,

Especially when most of us do not even know our own minds well enough to keep up with our defilements in the mind of greed,

Vengeance,

Or false views,

Others have the intention to say things without upsetting anyone.

But when they come to speak,

The wrong words slip out.

Others are barely able to resist the temptations threatening to destroy their marriage.

Thus,

A more pragmatic strategy is needed to put these ideals into practice,

Especially to train our intentions to become more wholesome.

Three strategies for avoidance of unwholesomeness,

Or as they are known in Pali,

Viratthi,

Are generally described in Buddhism.

Firstly,

Avoidance on the spur of the moment,

Or Sampatthak Viratthi.

It relies on the person having a clear and accurate sense of conscience,

Which at this point in the blessings is probably not fully developed.

So it leaves the person vulnerable to making ethical miscalculations.

The second is avoidance of unwholesomeness based on taking the precepts,

Or Sammatthana Viratthi.

It is a form of discipline whereby one refrains from unwholesome actions or speech for fear of breaking precepts previously requested from a monk.

This is a strategy for avoidance we will be mostly interested in today.

Lastly,

There exists a way of avoiding unwholesomeness through transcending,

Or Sammutttheta Viratthi,

Which is a form of self-discipline whereby a person whose mind has become very pure as a result of a meditational attainment is no longer tempted to do anything unwholesome.

This is absolute avoidance of evil on the type achieved by those who have attained the stages of Buddhist sainthood.

But at this stage in the blessings,

We are too cautious to rely on spur-of-the-moment ethical decisions,

And we're not yet enlightened enough to rely on transcendence.

For blessing number nine,

We are mostly interested in pragmatizing our self-discipline by adopting a set of precepts at the level appropriate to our ability and status.

So let's start by looking at the most basic set of precepts advocated for every Buddhist,

Which is called the Five Precepts,

Or Panchasila.

The Five Precepts are much older than Buddhism,

But were adopted by Buddhism,

Along with many other religions,

As the core practice for moral conduct.

Elements of the same prohibitions,

As I mentioned earlier,

Are to be found in the ethical rules of other religions too.

It's because,

Irrespective of belief system,

The Five Precepts protect against a person taking advantage of the weaknesses of themselves or others,

Since there's nothing that leaves a person more vulnerable than robbing them of their life,

Their possessions,

Their spouse,

Or their trust.

There's nothing that disables a person more than the loss of their capacity to understand or retain information long enough to ethically weigh up a decision.

These five weaknesses in human relationships are protected by the Five Precepts.

Five Precepts address universal aspects of morality.

Five Precepts themselves consist of five rules of training to refrain from killing living beings,

From stealing,

From committing adultery,

From telling lies,

And from unknowingly drinking alcohol or consuming drugs that lead to heedlessness.

By keeping the Five Precepts,

People indirectly ensure the harmony of society and also prevent many of the roots of suffering.

The Precepts bring a sense of ease to the mind and body,

Because there is no sense of guilt and regret left in the mind,

Not to speak of its stressful physical by-products.

For disambiguation purposes,

I should point out that the Five Precepts share the same Pali word,

Pancasila,

As the five principles upon which Sukarno founded the Indonesian Constitution,

But Indonesian law is actually founded on five completely different principles.

Five Precepts are designed to be kept by Buddhist householders on a daily basis as a way to succeed in planned avoidance of unwholesomeness.

In an attempt to make such guidelines easy to understand,

They were always enumerated as rules of training or Sikkhapatta by which one's conscience is treated as a work in progress,

Where you are constantly improving yourself rather than commandments intended to produce guilt or about sin or attract punishment.

The Buddha was not even the originator of the Five Precepts because they are thought to predate Buddhism,

Like a defining blueprint for humanity itself.

By avoiding unwholesomeness of exploiting weaknesses in themselves or others,

Those who practice the Five Precepts are able to evade the associated suffering and pain that would come back as a result of the karmic boomerang.

There are some contemporary Buddhist traditions,

Like that of Thich Nhat Hanh's Five Mindfulness Trainings that have missed the point slightly and elaborated the Five Precepts into ideals,

But this form of moral escalation actually makes it much harder for the person keeping the precepts to actually know if they have succeeded or not.

To keep things clear,

In early Buddhism,

Ideals were kept separate from precepts to help Buddhists train themselves to actually keep the precepts in a way that they can be confident about,

Especially about the integrity of their self-discipline.

To this end,

Each precept was defined in terms of the components necessary to cause the precept to be broken.

To take the first precept of not killing as an example,

There are five components.

Firstly,

The victim must start out alive.

Secondly,

The perpetrator must be aware the victim is alive.

Thirdly,

The perpetrator must have the intention to kill the victim.

Fourthly,

The perpetrator must exert effort towards killing the victim.

Fifth and lastly,

The victim must die as intended.

All five of the components must be triggered for the precept to be counted as broken.

Therefore,

If some wild animal runs out into the road and you run it over in your car because you don't have the intention to do so,

Then that would be counted as breaking the precepts.

With the other four of the five precepts,

The components of each precept reflect the investment of intention,

Effort,

And fulfillment and awareness of what is happening.

Of course,

The operant action for each precept will differ,

Removing an object from its owner's possession for the second precept,

Sexual intercourse with someone else's partner for the third precept,

Misrepresentation of the truth for the fourth precept,

And consumption of an intoxicating drink,

Non-medicinal drug,

Or tobacco product for the fifth precept.

All these are precept components.

If in any situation not all components have been breached,

Although the behavior may incur bad karma,

The precept is still not regarded as having been broken.

This is not to say that unwholesomeness does not arise in the mind in proportion to the number of components breached.

The idea of keeping the precepts is eventually that they will become internalized or second nature in a way that makes them transferable,

Even to situations not explicitly mentioned in the precepts themselves.

The precepts thus become a force to bind people together in society with trust and integrity.

If a Buddhist has intended to keep the precepts but fails to do so,

Then they simply renew their precepts by saying the Pali formula,

Varnatipatta,

Vairamani,

And so on,

To themselves,

Or repeat it after a monk,

Next time trying harder to keep their precepts intact until they can succeed.

Beyond the five precepts,

There are several other elaborations of self-discipline that have more ambitious objectives,

Namely eight precepts and the monastic precepts,

That I will come back to.

To elaborate first of all on the eight precepts,

These are a set of rules of training which expand on the five precepts with adjustment of the third and fifth precepts,

In addition of a sixth,

Seventh,

And eighth.

Precepts themselves consist of eight rules of training,

Firstly,

Not to kill living beings,

Secondly,

Not to steal,

Thirdly,

Not to be uncelibate,

Fourthly,

Not to tell lies,

Fifthly,

Not to drink alcohol or consume intoxicants,

Sixthly,

Not to take meals between midday and dawn,

Seventh,

Not to indulge in romantic entertainment or immodesty,

Eighth,

And last,

Not to be indulgent in one's sleeping habits.

The eight precepts are intended to be kept by Buddhist householders during the times of intensified training,

Especially on meditation retreats or for self-purification on a periodic basis,

Such as once or twice a week.

Eight precepts are sometimes called Ubbhussatthasila.

The only real difference between eight precepts and Ubbhussatthasila is the length of time a Buddhist is expected to keep them.

The content is the same,

But usually for Ubbhussatthasila,

A Buddhist will only keep them on the quarter moon days,

With the possibility of one day before,

After preparation,

And one day after for debriefing.

For the eight precepts,

The length of time is flexible.

As it happens,

Today we have two stories with a sort of creature called a Nāgā,

And just before you give me a hard time for having you believe in imaginary pre-scientific Buddhist life forms,

I just post an orphish photo for you to mull over the limits of our knowledge concerning the extent of strange water-borne species on our planet.

In any case,

If you remember back to my discourse on Buddhist cosmology and the 31 realms,

You will already know that Nāgās are a sort of very large serpents,

Which have the ability to shapeshift into human form.

They belong to the first level of heaven,

And in the form of a serpent,

They are huge in size and extremely dangerous.

But when they take human form,

They are able to mingle with regular human beings,

Although they have to restrain their dangerous powers to do so.

If they are not in the human realm,

Nāgās tend to have their own dimension at the bottom of rivers or lakes.

So the story I am going to share today was one which the Buddha told to give encouragement to a group of lay followers who were strict in keeping the eight precepts or Bhūṣṭhāt-sīla on the full moon days.

The reason he told the story was that he wanted to show that in a previous existence,

He too has strictly observed the eight precepts on the full moon days,

Even without the encouragement of a teacher,

Although he had to make great sacrifices to do so.

So here comes the story,

As it is told in the Bodhidatta Jātaka or the 543rd birth story of the Buddha.

At that time,

The Bodhisattva or the Buddha-to-be was born as a prince,

Called Bodhidatta,

To a regular human father and a Nāga mother.

He and his father regularly went to discuss matters of importance with the king of the gods who lived in the second level of heaven.

These meetings made the Bodhisattva long for the splendor of heaven and began faithfully to uphold all the eight precepts of the Uposatha-sīla on the full moon days to ensure rebirth there.

Initially,

He did this in an empty palace in the Nāga realm,

But he kept getting interrupted,

So he started to observe the eight precepts in the human realm because nobody would bother him there,

Even though as a Nāga this made him rather vulnerable.

He wound his body around a termite mound throughout the night,

And in the morning ten beautiful maidens would come to bedeck him with perfumes and flowers and accompany him back to the Nāga realm while playing music.

One day,

As he was keeping Uposatha-sīla in this way,

He was captured without a fight by a cruel and greedy snake charmer,

Because although Bodhidatta knew he was in danger,

He didn't want to obstruct his road to heaven and refused to use his Nāga powers to defend himself or flee to safety.

The snake charmer was thrilled to capture a Nāga and put him under a serpent spell,

Seized Bodhidatta by the tail,

Drew-rugged him,

Stretched him out to full length on the ground and crushed all his bones into pieces to rob him of his powers.

Although Bodhidatta suffered great pain,

He still allowed himself to feel no anger.

The snake charmer stuffed Bodhidatta into a basket and headed to a village to do a show.

When a crowd gathered round,

He ordered Bodhidatta to dance,

Change his shape,

Size and colour,

Make himself invisible and breathe flame and smoke.

Hoping he would eventually be released if the snake charmer made a lot of money,

Bodhidatta did everything he was asked.

And the crowd went wild,

Giving gold,

Garments and treasure to the value of a hundred thousand Gahāpanaas to the snake charmer.

The snake charmer had originally planned to set the Nāga free when he had earned a thousand Gahāpanaas,

But after the performance he got greedy and he knew he could make an even bigger fortune in the city.

So he did shows in every town he passed through until he reached Benares,

Where he was asked to perform in front of the king.

On the day Bodhidatta was seized,

His mother dreamt a man had cut off her arm and carried it away with blood streaming.

She knew the dream foretold misfortune in her family and when Bodhidatta was late to return,

She was sure something evil had befallen him.

She grew increasingly despondent and later,

When her other three sons and Bodhidatta's family came to visit,

They promised her that they would go out and rescue him.

Later to cut a long and complicated story short,

He was eventually freed by his family.

When Bodhidatta reached old age,

Having faithfully kept the precepts his whole life,

In spite of life-threatening dangers,

Upon death he earned the place in heaven he had worked so hard to achieve.

So to turn back to our subject matter for today,

Having dealt with the precepts of laypeople,

We now turn to look at the precepts upheld by Buddhist monastics.

We start by elaborating on the ten precepts upheld by novice monastics and those who have taken a lower ordination of Bhapajjhā.

The ten precepts are a set of rules of training which expand on the eight precepts,

With the splitting in two of the seventh precept and the addition of a tenth.

That is,

Firstly,

Not to kill living beings,

Secondly,

Not to steal,

Thirdly,

Not to be uncivilized,

Fourthly,

Not to tell lies,

Fifthly,

Not to drink alcohol or consume intoxicants,

Sixthly,

Not to take meals between midday and dawn,

Seventh,

Not to indulge in romantic entertainment,

Eighth,

Not to indulge in immodesty,

Ninth,

Not to indulge in timid sleeping habits,

Tenth and last,

Not to handle gold or silver.

These precepts are intended to be kept by Buddhist novices throughout the period of their ordination.

Next,

Let's briefly describe the precepts of fully ordained monastics,

Those who have taken the ceremony of Upasambhattā.

Fully ordained monastics have a special discipline in keeping with their aim to become enlightened within the shortest possible time,

While upholding the good name of the monastic community.

For the fully ordained monks,

The pathway to eradicate defilements of the mind is so intensive that the self-discipline of monastics is quite exhaustive,

Dealing with every aspect of their lives.

Fully ordained monastic conduct is a set of rules of training which expands on the ten precepts and is meant to be kept by monastics throughout their period of ordination.

Many of the additional precepts are intended to ensure that monks help maintain harmony and the good reputation of the Buddhist monastic community in the eyes of the lay supporters.

Monastic precepts,

Generally we are familiar with the number 227,

But this figure only refers to the number of precepts in the Theravādin code of monastic conduct,

Whereas the number may be 253 for the Mūlasārvāstivāda code of monastic conduct which refers to the Vajrayāna Buddhist monks,

Or 250 for the Dharmaguptaka code of conduct for the Mahayana Buddhist monks.

Where the monastic code is applied to nuns,

The Theravāda code requires 311 precepts and the Dharmaguptaka requires 364 rules.

The number for Mūlasārvāstivāda bhikkhunīs is missing because historically the female monastic tradition did not reach as far as Tibet.

The Buddha laid down the code of monastic conduct or patimokkha with the idea that it may be used as a training for monks to uproot their defilements,

To set a common standard of monastic behaviour where a love of virtue is the norm so that monks can have faith in their own conduct,

To save monks from embarrassment when others with mind-reading abilities question their conduct,

To save badly practicing monks from the unfortunate realms,

And as a harbour from which monks could set sail towards nirvana.

In the Vinaya and also in the Anguttara Nikaya you can find ten reasons for the Buddha laying down the code of conduct for monks.

For the excellence and peace of the monastic community,

To curb the behaviour of stubborn and shameless disciples,

While facilitating the happiness of the monastic community and of the monks who respect discipline.

Monastic code of conduct was also meant to protect monks from defilements that might increase in the present time or in the future.

To give an example,

If monks are allowed to speak one-on-one with females,

This may lead to more serious transgressions either in the near or distant future,

Such as monks getting used to spending all their time thinking about particular females.

And in its role of protecting the reputation of the monastic community,

The code of conduct was meant to instil faith in the public who are not yet faithful,

While increasing the faith of the public who are already faithful.

For the long term,

The monastic code of conduct was meant to keep the teaching of the Buddha steadfast,

While preserving the code of conduct for posterity.

Although it would be possible to describe each of the 227 precepts,

I don't think I have enough time to do that,

So I will just describe the monastic precepts in terms of the categories of seriousness.

The most serious are the rules entailing defeat,

Or paratikā.

These are four rules in this category,

Killing people,

Stealing,

Sexual intercourse,

And falsely claiming mental attainments.

Any monk who infringes the rules of this category would immediately be kicked out of the monkhood.

Even if no one witnesses the monk's misdemeanor,

He is effectively no longer considered a monk.

The second most serious are offences requiring an initial and subsequent meeting of the order,

Or sangha-dītēsā.

When a monk breaks any of these 13 rules,

Which cover things like dalliance with females,

Or building luxurious personal accommodation,

They must confess in front of a whole monastic assembly.

Then the monk will be put on probation and stripped of his monastic seniority for a period of about 10 days,

After which time if he shows remorse he can be readmitted to the monastic community.

All the rest of the 227 rules are those entailing confession,

And these lesser rules cover several subcategories which include rules entailing confession,

Or pācittīyā,

Rules entailing forfeiture and confession,

Or nissakīyā-pācittīyā,

Rules entailing acknowledgement,

Or pācittēsāniyā,

The minor transgressions,

Or dukkhata,

And wrong speech,

Or dupāsitā.

By confessing to another monk,

The offending monk can be returned to purity again.

In fact,

Confession doesn't wash away the unwholesomeness caused by the infringement of the discipline,

But it helps to give the monk the motivation not to infringe the same rule of conduct again.

Confession is considered like the healing of an open wound where the karmic scar still remains.

Best of all is never to break the rules of monastic conduct in the first place.

It's important to remember that self-discipline for monks means more than just following a long set of rules.

In fact,

There are four important components of monastic practice of which following rules is only one.

The second component of self-discipline for monks is training in restraint of the senses,

Or indriya-samhara,

Which means specifically the restraint of the eyes,

Ears,

Nose,

Tongue,

Skin,

Contact,

And mind.

Monks should not look at inappropriate things.

For example,

If a monk sees a couple fondling each other at the side of the road,

He shouldn't stay and watch,

But should quickly go somewhere else.

Monks should not listen to inappropriate things.

For example,

There's no need to go listening to the gossip that doesn't concern that monk.

Monks should not smell things that are inappropriate,

Like perhaps cigarette smoke,

Or taste things that are inappropriate,

Like liqueur chocolates that taste of brandy.

Monks should not touch or have skin contact with things which are inappropriate,

Whether it be beauty creams for a smooth skin or touching decadent things.

Monks should not use their mind to think inappropriate thoughts.

In other words,

Monks should not find pleasure or displeasure from the use of the senses.

The third training in self-discipline for monks is practicing purity of livelihood,

Or achiva-parissati.

Although monks have dropped out from the rat race,

They still have to make their living somehow,

Even if it's not by cultivating fields or being paid as an employee.

The pure way to make a living for monks is to go on alms round.

All monks know this,

But some think that alms round is inconvenient because the supply of food is unpredictable.

They therefore try to get a more reliable income by setting themselves up as a fortune teller or as a purveyor of lucky lottery numbers.

But this would not be considered pure livelihood for monks.

Lotteries are a form of gambling,

And gambling is one of the roads to ruin.

This is why if you come across monks who encourage and make a living out of predicting lottery numbers,

You shouldn't encourage them,

Because they're in breach of monastic discipline.

Fortune-telling by monks is no better than lottery tips,

Because fortune-telling in effect is just a pseudoscience,

Where the gullible see divination at play,

Whereas in all likelihood there's nothing more than probability.

The punters only tend to remember the predictions that come true.

To many,

These self-fulfilling prophecies are easier to believe in than facing up to the responsibilities implied by the causes and effects of karma.

The fourth and last training in self-discipline for monks is to reflect on the four requisites that support them,

Or bhattchaya bhattchavikkhana.

This is the practice by monks of recollection or reflection on the four different sorts of requisites,

Either before,

During,

Or after use.

The four requisites comprise clothing,

Food,

Shelter,

And medicine,

And are basic for survival.

Monks must consume no more requisites than are required to keep the body going,

In the same way as fuel keeps a car mobile.

Most people use the requisites of life without distinguishing between need and want,

But for monks,

The proper practice is to use requisites to train oneself in moderation.

So just before we conclude today,

There is one more Naga story from the Dhammapada I would like to share with you,

Because it is an illustration of how difficult it is for monks to keep their self-discipline and the dangers involved.

Once upon a time there was a Naga king called Erakapatta,

Which literally translates as Eraka Leaf,

Because in a previous lifetime,

During the dispensation of Kassapa Buddha,

This particular individual had been a monk for 20,

000 years in a forest.

As some monks still do,

He used to go for his arms round while paddling his own boat,

But one day as he was going along he accidentally grasped a leaf of an Eraka plant,

Which is probably a kind of water weed,

And it snapped off in his hand.

Unfortunately,

In the code of monastic conduct there is a minor rule that prohibits monks from destroying foliage.

Although he practiced meditation for 20,

000 years in the forest,

At the moment of his death he didn't think about his meditation,

But he obsessed instead about the supposed lapse in his self-discipline,

And because of his great remorse,

Instead of being born in a high level of heaven,

Much to his grief and despair,

He was reborn as a huge Naga serpent.

The reason he was so sad was because he realized how having been reborn in animal form,

It would be hard for him to continue on his pathway towards enlightenment.

Because Nagas have very long lifespans,

He bided his time and waited for the appearance of the next Buddha.

Since Erakapatta had a very beautiful daughter,

He asked her to help him track down the Buddha of the new era.

To attract the attention of anyone who knew the teachings of the Buddha,

She danced and sang a riddle,

Which only someone with the knowledge of the Buddha would be able to answer.

She offered herself in marriage to anyone who would sing a reply to her song.

Erakapatta hoped thereby to become aware as soon as a Buddha should appear in the world.

The riddle constituted four questions.

Firstly,

Who is a ruler?

Secondly,

Is one who is morally dysfunctional to be counted as a ruler?

Thirdly,

What sort of ruler is free of moral defilements?

And lastly,

What sort of person can be considered a fool?

Many unsuccessful suitors came and went,

Unable to answer the riddle to the satisfaction of Erakapatta's daughter.

And an interval between two Buddhas passed and still no one was successful.

At last,

A young Brahmin called Uttara,

Who was later to become a stream-enterer,

Managed to answer the riddle.

He gave the four correct answers that whoever controls the six senses is a ruler.

Secondly,

Whomever is overwhelmed by the mist of moral defilements cannot be called a ruler,

Since rulers must be those free of craving.

Thirdly,

A ruler free from craving is one who is free from moral defilements.

And lastly,

The person who hankers after sensual pleasures should be called a fool.

Uttara's correct answers were to lead Erakapatta to the Buddha,

And later Erakapatta was able to receive a teaching from the Buddha.

However,

The Naga was again seized with great sorrow on account of his condition,

And would also have attained stream-entry had it not been for his animal nature.

As a result of the whole tragic story,

The Buddha spoke the familiar 182nd verse of the Dhammapada,

That Kiccho Manussapattilapo,

Kicchamacchanakivitam,

Kiccham Satthammasavanam,

Kicchobhutthanamuppatto,

Which translates as,

It is hard to gain rebirth in human form.

Hard indeed is the life of mortals.

It is hard to hear the sublime teachings of the Buddhas.

It is hard for the Buddha to arise in the world.

In theory,

If the monk in the past had focused on his meditation instead of his perceived transgression,

He would have attained enlightenment much more easily.

This is why a major component of self-discipline,

At whatever level we practice,

Is concerned with keeping our mind bright and clear as a result of our conduct in word and deed,

Rather than being obsessed with the small details.

So,

In conclusion,

What you may have gathered about self-discipline from my session today,

Whether applied to lay Buddhists or to monastics,

Is that it involves a lot of things called precepts,

Which are shalt-not abstentions couched in the terminology of rules of training.

They start out as prohibitions from action of word and deed,

That take advantage of the weaknesses of others.

Although in more elaborate sets of precepts,

The rationale extends to streamlining the mind for meditation,

And if you are a monastic,

To preserve the reputation of the monastic community,

And to preserve the teaching for perpetuity.

What you will see though,

Especially with the monastic way of practicing self-discipline,

Is that the rules are a means to an end of internalizing self-discipline as part of one's character,

A quality known as noble self-discipline or Ariyat Sila.

Once self-discipline becomes internalized,

Then it will be realized that even simple acts such as picking up litter in a public area,

Putting a trash can,

Can be considered an act of self-discipline too,

Because it's a small act of self-sacrifice for the greater good.

Also,

In order to see what we are really aiming for when we internalize self-discipline,

Apart from attaining the tenfold path of wholesomeness,

The second of the ten perfections,

Self-discipline,

Practiced correctly,

Will allow us to overcome any shoddiness still lingering in our character that affects the wider community,

While avoiding any behaviors likely to bring us into conflict with others,

Just like the yak that takes the trouble to extricate its tail from a thorn bush without leaving behind a single strand of hair.

Our precepts can therefore be thought of like a mold which transforms worthless clay into luxury tableware,

In the same way the precepts shape our lives to upgrade our character from savagery to humanity.

So,

This session I have introduced you to blessing number nine on self-discipline.

For my next session with you,

I will move on to the tenth blessing on the topic of skillful communication,

Which explains how speaking artfully can be a pathway of blessings.

Hopefully,

As a result of today's session,

For those of you who are already able to apply your knowledge with mastery,

You will be a little bit savvier about how to apply your skills in a way that uplifts your ethicality in life.

So,

For today,

This is me Pratniklas Dhanisaro signing off for today.

So long folks,

And stay safe.