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Back to the five precepts
Mar. 10th, 2025 07:04 amIt is Monday, the first after daylight savings, and now it is dark again when I get up. The flip side of the joy of longer days, I guess. I am taking the Five Precepts slowly since there is a lot to digest, and I'm also interested in how he's reframing them for the modern world.
The second mindfulness training, as he rewords it, is "Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing and oppression, I am committed to cultivating loving kindness and learning ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants and minerals. I will practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on earth."
That is quite an expansion from "not to steal"! In his explanation, he outright says that "Oppression is one form of stealing," and thinking of the colonial legacy, preventing others from profiting from human suffering is a very ambitious goal. His explanation of this one is more focused on the personal than the social level--being generous with time, helping people rely on themselves, helping people not be destroyed by fear--but not possessing things that should belong to others could theoretically be linked to things like land return to indigenous people, and the last part strikes at the heart of capitalism. I now really want to read the updated version of this book.
The third mindfulness training is "Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families and society. I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without love and a long-term commitment. To preserve the happiness of myself and others, I am determined to respect my commitments and the commitments of others. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct."
This one is a lot clearer than "avoid sexual misconduct," and I'm a little amused that we can see the western influence in his commentary (committed relationship for those who don't believe in marriage), but spelling out that it's important to protect families and children. Also, considering the amount of sexual abuse by Buddhist teachers publicized in the 90s, it's good that it specifically points out CSA as something to be avoided. The commentary also talks about commitment and needing a community to sustain that even if you don't believe in the institution of marriage.
The fourth mindfulness training is: "Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am determined to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy and hope. I will not spread news that I do not know to be certain and will not criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause family or community to break. I am determined to make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small."
Again, this is quite an expansion of "not lying"--what strikes me most is the "deep listening" component, which links back I think to the precepts of Plum Village and living in community. In his commentary on this one, he talks about kind words bringing loving kindness to people, and the need to look deeply into "the nature of our anger, despair and suffering" so that it doesn't shape our words to others. He also talks about deep listening as "the basis for reconciliation...To promote the work of reconciliation, we have to refrain from aligning ourselves with one party of another so that we understand both. This work takes courage; we may be suppressed or even killed by those we wish to help. After listening to both sides, we can tell each side of the suffering of the other. This alone will bring greater understanding." He also quotes a prayer to Avalokitesvara that asks to learn how to listen without prejudice, without judging or reacting, attentively, deeply, to hear what is said and unsaid.
I think the practice of deep listening is an important practice, and some of these teachings go back to basic Buddhist beliefs about not taking sides/loving all beings equally. It does position Buddhists as completely out of the fray, mediators and not participants, though, and that seems a little hard to reconcile with Buddhist activists.
The second mindfulness training, as he rewords it, is "Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing and oppression, I am committed to cultivating loving kindness and learning ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants and minerals. I will practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on earth."
That is quite an expansion from "not to steal"! In his explanation, he outright says that "Oppression is one form of stealing," and thinking of the colonial legacy, preventing others from profiting from human suffering is a very ambitious goal. His explanation of this one is more focused on the personal than the social level--being generous with time, helping people rely on themselves, helping people not be destroyed by fear--but not possessing things that should belong to others could theoretically be linked to things like land return to indigenous people, and the last part strikes at the heart of capitalism. I now really want to read the updated version of this book.
The third mindfulness training is "Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families and society. I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without love and a long-term commitment. To preserve the happiness of myself and others, I am determined to respect my commitments and the commitments of others. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct."
This one is a lot clearer than "avoid sexual misconduct," and I'm a little amused that we can see the western influence in his commentary (committed relationship for those who don't believe in marriage), but spelling out that it's important to protect families and children. Also, considering the amount of sexual abuse by Buddhist teachers publicized in the 90s, it's good that it specifically points out CSA as something to be avoided. The commentary also talks about commitment and needing a community to sustain that even if you don't believe in the institution of marriage.
The fourth mindfulness training is: "Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am determined to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy and hope. I will not spread news that I do not know to be certain and will not criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause family or community to break. I am determined to make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small."
Again, this is quite an expansion of "not lying"--what strikes me most is the "deep listening" component, which links back I think to the precepts of Plum Village and living in community. In his commentary on this one, he talks about kind words bringing loving kindness to people, and the need to look deeply into "the nature of our anger, despair and suffering" so that it doesn't shape our words to others. He also talks about deep listening as "the basis for reconciliation...To promote the work of reconciliation, we have to refrain from aligning ourselves with one party of another so that we understand both. This work takes courage; we may be suppressed or even killed by those we wish to help. After listening to both sides, we can tell each side of the suffering of the other. This alone will bring greater understanding." He also quotes a prayer to Avalokitesvara that asks to learn how to listen without prejudice, without judging or reacting, attentively, deeply, to hear what is said and unsaid.
I think the practice of deep listening is an important practice, and some of these teachings go back to basic Buddhist beliefs about not taking sides/loving all beings equally. It does position Buddhists as completely out of the fray, mediators and not participants, though, and that seems a little hard to reconcile with Buddhist activists.
