Purification of the Mind
 The Importance of Lay Precepts
Taking the vows, reciting the words, doing the bows-these are all small rituals. As a rule, the earlier form the Buddhist tradition the fewer the rite and rituals. In Tibetan Buddhism there is a belief that when one takes a vow, a physical shield is placed around the person. It physically protects the individual from spirits and demons. In Mahayana vows are usually taken for life and remembered on the Full Moon. In Theravada, the vows are most often taken from month to month, after all, everything changes. Lifetime vows seem awkward and unreasonable in these sects.
The vows are designed to heighten the awareness of to behave in a moral way. The ceremonies that surround are meant to remind of us the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. The incense represents the sweetness of the world when we behave appropriately. The candle is for wisdom.
Virtue, that is, morality, is incredibly important to the practice of Buddhism. It is because morality is such an important aspect of practice that the Buddha gave us choices of how we may practice it. While they are designed to deal with the virtues of "body, speech, and mind," they do so by focusing on body and speech. The mind is the gateway. Essentially, there are three sets of precepts that may be taken by lay persons. These are
The precepts for Zen monks are from the bodhisattva literature and essentially lay vows. This is appropriate since Zen monks are, for the most part, householders. Strict monastics vows are not necessary for these monks and nuns.
The five precepts that are usually taken by all the Buddha's disciples are divided into two parts.
The eight precepts are also divided into two parts dealing with bodily action and speech. Here seven deal with normalcy of action and one with speech.
The precepts, whether five or eight, are ultimately two: (1) Right Action = normalcy in bodily action and (2) Right Speech = normalcy in speech. The Pali word for virtue and precept is Sıla. It literally means "normalcy." As a quality it can be separated into either five or eight component virtues. The eight uposatha precepts do away with more defilements of bodily action than do either the five precepts or the ten guidelines. The uposatha vows are taken on both the new moon and the full moon. It is an opportunity for the lay person to take on the role of a monk or a nun for 24 hours. In some traditions, the uposatha vows are taken for life and the two moon ceremonies are simply a renewal of the life style the practitioner has already adopted. This is the status of the anagarika, the "homeless brother" or "left home one."
The status and practice of the Anagarika, especially the highest level-ukkattha uposatha- who observes the eight precepts on each lunar sabbath, and on the day before and the day after each sabbath, without reference to month or season: twelve months, twelve days a month, thus 144 days a year. This is for people of firm conviction. There is also growing interest in the taking the uposttha
on a permanent basis for those who want to live the ordained life but for their own reasons, wish to do so at home, with their family.
Americans are often quite disturbed by any infringement on their ability to have sex. We are obsessed with the notion of being able to have it. In my first Dhamma talk in Chicago, I mentioned that celibacy for monks and nuns might be a good idea. I was speaking in front of an audience of Zen nuns mainly. One of the nuns, and all of the lay people could not believe those ideas spewed out of my mouth. One of the nuns actually insisted that having sex with one's partner was a way to experience "nonduality" (whatever that meant to her) and "emptiness." In respect to the paradoxical fame of American frigidity regarding sex on the one hand and the American craving for sex on the other, many Theravadin and Vietnamese Zen monastics have altered the vow of celibacy for Anagarikas to simply being "chaste" or faithful in their relationships.
This seems easier for the American mind to grasp. It is all about grasping, isn't it?
The bodily actions of a person who observes them weigh lightly, like those of one who is ordained. Anciently, it would appear that a person who observes the eight precepts does away with more greed, anger, and delusion in terms of bodily action than did the aspirants to the monk's ordination, of the past. Although as a novice the candidate was expected to observe the ten precepts, still when he/she was about to be ordained as a nun she had to be strict in observing only the first six. So whoever observes the eight precepts can be said to lead one form of the holy life, kāla-brahmacariya, temporary renunciation. The only real difference being that one doesn't have to change one's mode of dress.
It is only the rare individual, one of conviction with moral strength and integrity, that can live under these vows. Such people are particularly honored and revered in many parts of Asia. Many of these individuals are classed as meditation masters and venerable teachers who place a high value on samādhi (concentration).
While the five precepts and the eight precepts are formally taken as vows, the ten guidelines are simply followed without ceremony. Once understood simply go ahead and follow them. They are called the paramī (perfections)
The ten paramī can be categorized as falling into three types:
The three principles dealing with the mind are:
This is the conviction that skillfulness and unskillfulness, or for the more religiously minded, good and evil, really exist, and that the pleasure and pain we experience come from our own good and bad actions. The axiom applied to this thought is, whoever does good will eventually meet with good, whoever does evil will eventually meet with evil.
The ten guidelines are termed kusala kammapatha, skillful policies or clean actions. "Policy" is a good term. The ten guidelines are guiding policies that can be used to engage society. The more we follow these policies the lighter our lives become as greed evaporates anger subsides and delusion dissipates. Greed is countered by generosity. Both are expressed in thought word and action. Anger arises from fear, the fear of loss or even the fear that an opportunity to have something might be lost. Anger is expressed in thought, word and action.Delusion arises from ignorance, the act of ignoring the obvious. It too finds expression in thought, speech and action. This whole mass of defilements has a prescription-their opposites. You kill greed by sharing.Kill anger with thoughts and actions of good will. Kill off wrong views by associating with people who are knowledgeable, learning from them so as to develop your own discernment into how to do what is good. This is termed mental development (bhāvanā). This practice, then, fosters compassion. Compassion is the natural outcome of moral action, speech and thought.
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