THE FIVE PRECEPTS | Zen Wisdom

QUESTION:
At the end of every retreat we take the five precepts. Would Shih-fu explain in more detail what these precepts encompass? To what level should practitioners embrace the precepts? During one’s practice, does the depth to which one accepts the precepts change? Also, your explanation of the five precepts has differed from retreat to retreat. Why is this so?

SHIH-FU:
The five precepts are part of the Buddhist tradition and they are: no killing, no stealign, no sexual misconduct, no lying, and no alcohol or drugs. The five precepts are a protecting mechanism for practitioners. They help to ensure the purity of their lives and minds so that they can safely and steadily continue to practice. For this reason, precepts are necessary.

In taking the precepts, you check yourself in regard to actions and speech. If your body karma and verbal karma are relatively undefiled, then your mind will tend to be more stable and pure. A stable mind leads to better practice, which in turn can lead to samadhi. Thus, the attainment of samadhi is dependent on the practice of the precepts.

Taking the precepts must be voluntary. You must be willing to curb your actions and speech. If you are forced to do so, then the precepts will only create frustration and anger; they will not help you in attaining samadhi, or even in your daily life.

It is not only for attaining samadhi that you should take the five precepts; it also signifies that you want to accept the teachings of the Buddha. In addition to taking the refuges, they are the basic requirement for being a Buddhist. When you follow these precepts, your behavior will be different from the ordinary person’s. Either people will recognize that your actions and speech are different because you are a Buddhist, or, conversely, they will surmise that you are a Buddhist by your actions and speech. At this point, whether you practice to attain samadhi is another issue. Even if you do not meditate, but wish only to be a basic Buddhist, you should take the five precepts.

Do people’s attitudes concerning the five precepts change as they journey deeper into practice? Yes, definitely. The precepts can be viewed from three levels. The first is the “individual liberation precept.” It is the level of the ordinary practitioner. Here the precepts are held one by one, from one period of time to the next. Each precept is taken and followed separately. If you are sincere in keeping a particular precept, then you will acquire the benefits of that precept. It does not mean that you will, or can, hold all five precepts simultaneously.

The second level is the “precept that is in conjunction with samadhi.” When people move sufficiently deeply into samadhi, they will no longer have any desire to break any of the precepts, and will naturally refrain from breaking them. If people claim to have attained deep samadhi, yet break the precepts, then the samadhi they speak of is not genuine.

The third level is the “precept that is in conjunction with wisdom.” From the time people first see their true nature to the time they achieve Buddhahood, their wisdom will progressively deepen. During this time, they will not have to remind themselves to keep the precepts. At this point precepts are a natural part of the practice.

STUDENT:
What is the difference between the second and third levels?

SHIH-FU:
At the second level, the samadhi level, it is possible to regress. While in samadhi you cannot and will not break the precepts, but when the power of the samadhi experience fades, you have the potential to break the precepts. However, as samadhi power increases, wisdom often deepens. So although it is possible for such people to break a precept, their breaches will not be serious ones. As for sexual misconduct, people who have experienced genuine samadhi simply will have no interest in sex.

Now let’s talk about the different levels which exist within each precept. The depth to which you value a precept depends on you and your practice. The worst infraction of the first precept is to kill another human being. If you kill another person, then you have permanently broken the precept for this lifetime. Even if you repent your action you cannot take the first precept again. Other than this extreme infraction, the first precept can vary from individual to individual. Killing any animal, whether it be a cow, a dog, or a cockroach, goes against the first precept, but humans have a lot of anger and desire created by deep-rooted habits. Being in samsara, we are vulnerable to countless vexations. Even serious Buddhists will kill ants and mosquitoes if they interfere with daily life. If you value the precept on one level, you may not kill a cockroach, but on another level you might. It depends on you and your commitment to the precept.

In regard to animals, if you kill them, and are aware of your actions, and later repent your actions, then the first precept remains intact. If someone were to take an extreme position and say all killings are equal and unrepentable, then nobody would take the precept, and people would drift away from Buddhadharma. Precepts are malleable.

Again, only if you kill another person is the precept broken. Otherwise, precepts can be forsaken, but not broken. If you know that you may kill someone, such as during war, then you should officially return the precept. Afterward, you can take the precept again. This is permissible, because during the time that you killed, you were not a Buddhist. And, if you violate the precept to a lesser degree, you can repent and continue to keep it.

STUDENT:
Wait a second. If you return the first precept because you know that you are going to kill someone, that’s premeditated murder. How do you explain that? Also, what happens if you kill someone accidentally after taking the precept?

SHIH-FU:
Let me clarify what I just said. If you are angry with someone, you do not hand in your precept, kill that person, and then take the precept again. That’s ridiculous. The point of the precept is not to harm or kill anything, especially human beings. But if you know you are in a situation where you may have to kill someone, such as in war, then you can officially return the precept. When you return from war, then you can take the precept again. If you have a choice, you may refuse to go to war, perhaps as a conscientious objector. That is a personal decision.

What about killing someone accidentally? There are a few criteria regarding the first precept. In order for the precept to be violated, the killing must be premeditated. You must intend to kill someone, and you must succeed in doing so. And when you are killing the person, you must be aware of your actions. These elements must be present before it is clear that you have irrevocably broken the precept. Regardless of the precept, if you kill accidentally or intentionally, it still affects your karma.

STUDENT:
What is the consequence of mentally killing someone?

SHIH-FU:
Wishing someone dead is confined to your own mind. If you have not physically killed someone, then you have not broken the precept.

STUDENT:
In reference to killing, are all Buddhist monks and nuns vegetarians? Don’t Tibetan Buddhists eat meat?

SHIH-FU:
In addition to Tibetan Buddhists, Theravada Buddhists also eat meat. Theravada Buddhism encompasses Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and Burma. Though some monks and nuns eat meat, they do not kill the animals themselves. Others supply the meat. Furthermore, the animals must not have been killed specifically for them. They do not order others to kill for them. They acquire meat from a butcher, for instance. The reason they eat meat is because of the environment in which they live. Perhaps other foods are scarce.

STUDENT:
Enlightened people keep the precepts naturally. Does that mean if their houses are infested with roaches, ants and rats, they will not do anything about it?

SHIH-FU:
Enlightened people will not kill these animals. The animals would stay away from enlightened beings. Such situations would not arise.

Let’s continue. What about not stealign? Is there an extreme violation such that people can never repent their actions? The precept of not stealign was based on the legal system of ancient India. If the crime was punishable by death, then the precept was permanently broken. In ancient India, you did not have to steal much to be executed. In the United States, the legal system does not execute people for stealign, no matter what the amount. Some people might take this as a green light to go out and rob the nearest bank. Stealign is wrong, no matter how small or large the amount stolen. It violates the second precept, but you can repent your action.

The third precept, no sexual misconduct, is important. People who do not uphold this precept can create a lot of grief and turmoil in families and society. I urge all Buddhist lay practitioners to take this precept. According to ancient Indian standards, the following actions constituted an extreme infraction of the precept: unmarried couples having sex, adultery, and unnatural sex acts.According to custom, sex had to be performed at night, in the privacy of the bedroom, and in the standard manner (genital sex). Anything else was considered unnatural.

Again, times have changed, and the Western moral code is different. People live together without getting married. Even some of my students live together, as if they were married. In that case it is not sexual misconduct. Even so, I encourage these people to marry. If you are unmarried and have children, it can create problems for them. And even if you do not have children, it is better to be married, because it shows that you are committed to your partner. Marriage is a sign of responsibility and maturity, and that is good.

If you are not married, and you aren’t living with someone, you should try to curb your sexual urge, and not change partners every night. What would be the extreme violation for this day and age? Adultery. But passions are strong. If you think you cannot control your sexual urge at this point in your life, perhaps it would be best to return the precept, and take it later on when you think you have more control over your desires. However, this is not a good solution, only a last resort, and I do not advise it.

The worst violation of the fourth precept ─ no lying ─ would be to tell someone that you are a Buddha or bodhisattva, or to falsely claim enlightenment, in order to gain wealth, respect or social power. You must be aware that you are lying. This is the extreme violation, and repentance will do no good.

If you really believe that you are enlightened, then it is not an infraction of the precept. It is a consequence of arrogance and pride, and not a lie.

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