How important is keeping Precepts?

Buddhist ethical conduct including the Five Precepts (Pañcasikkhāpada), and Eightfold Ethical Conduct (Aṭṭhasīla).
rowyourboat
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How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by rowyourboat »

Hello All,

I wondered how important keeping precepts was, in your personal practice- also it would be good to know why you give it little or high importance.

Thank you

With metta
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DNS
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by DNS »

Very high importance. It makes life flow smoother, less suffering.

Not killing is a no brainer; no one wants to be killed and we don't want to kill.

Not stealing, sexually exploiting others, or lying are also important to have a guilt-free better life and avoid quarrels later.

And the final precept about not taking intoxicants is not something I have any problem keeping. I know some Buddhists struggle with this one in social situations, but everyone I know, knows that I don't drink and don't make an issue of it. You don't need intoxicants to survive. We need to eat food, but there is no need for any intoxicants other than giving in to social pressure, which is not a good reason, imo.
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by befriend »

its not some empty ritual its necessary, like you just cant harm beings and then go sit down and be like mr. peaceful lovey dovey, theres a hippocracy your not in tune with yourself when you break the precepts.
Take care of mindfulness and mindfulness will take care of you.
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Ben
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by Ben »

Very important.
It is good for others as much as it is good for oneself.
And without the foundation of sila, there can be no sammasamadhi nor liberative panna.
kind regards,

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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James the Giant
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by James the Giant »

For me, the precepts are the foundation.
When I keep the precepts I feel happy.
When I feel happy I am relaxed.
When I am relaxed I concentrate easily.
When I concentrate easily I meditate better.
When I meditate better, I am a little closer to nibbanna.
Then,
saturated with joy,
you will put an end to suffering and stress.
SN 9.11
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Cittasanto
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by Cittasanto »

rowyourboat wrote:Hello All,

I wondered how important keeping precepts was, in your personal practice- also it would be good to know why you give it little or high importance.

Thank you

With metta
100% important.
they help you see the hindrences; provide a basis for good self esteem; make life more deliberate, so avoid allot of stress.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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SDC
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by SDC »

Very important. Paramount.

As others have said, it makes life easier for yourself and others.
“Life is swept along, short is the life span; no shelters exist for one who has reached old age. Seeing clearly this danger in death, a seeker of peace should drop the world’s bait.” SN 1.3
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thaijeppe
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by thaijeppe »

:goodpost:
James the Giant wrote:For me, the precepts are the foundation.
When I keep the precepts I feel happy.
When I feel happy I am relaxed.
When I am relaxed I concentrate easily.
When I concentrate easily I meditate better.
When I meditate better, I am a little closer to nibbanna.
Totally agree Sila is the cornerstone of the practise, without your practice will go nowhere.
Also I can recommend to follow the eight precept from time to time, it will also benefit your pratice a lot.
I have come into the habbit to follow the eight precept every vassa, so I am in it right now, and it is a great experince,
and it is not difficult either.

:anjali:
If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you
let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely,
you will know complete peace and freedom.
Ajahn Chah
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Kim OHara
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by Kim OHara »

I could just say, "Me, too!" but I will add a bit.
If we are awake for 16 hours a day and meditating for one hour a day (and I know I often don't manage that much :embarassed: ), then maintaining sila works out at about 95% of our practice opportunity.
The precepts are a concise statement of the basics, so they are relatively easy to keep in mind and apply, but I have to say that I broaden 'don't lie' into 'maintain Right Speech' - and I find it the most important, because it comes up so much more often than the others.

:namaste:
Kim
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Cittasanto
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by Cittasanto »

Kim O'Hara wrote:I could just say, "Me, too!" but I will add a bit.
If we are awake for 16 hours a day and meditating for one hour a day (and I know I often don't manage that much :embarassed: ), then maintaining sila works out at about 95% of our practice opportunity.
Think this is the best reason given so far!
:twothumbsup:
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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Hickersonia
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by Hickersonia »

Cittasanto wrote:
Kim O'Hara wrote:I could just say, "Me, too!" but I will add a bit.
If we are awake for 16 hours a day and meditating for one hour a day (and I know I often don't manage that much :embarassed: ), then maintaining sila works out at about 95% of our practice opportunity.
Think this is the best reason given so far!
:twothumbsup:
Wow... yeah, is a going point.

I keep the 5 precepts out of appreciation for their value as I have experienced directly. The precepts are critically important in any situation where I might otherwise do something unvirtuous out of ignorance or delusion. Unvirtuous action always leads me towards irritability and discontent while the keeping the precepts never does.
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BubbaBuddhist
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by BubbaBuddhist »

I think they are quite important, the hardest for me is right speech as I tend to be sarcastic. I also enjoy a fine cognac on occasion. Only one, and a small amount which I savor for a long time :toast: so it can hardly be called intoxicating although it's certainly a sensual pleasure.

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Alobha
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by Alobha »

rowyourboat wrote:Hello All,

I wondered how important keeping precepts was, in your personal practice- also it would be good to know why you give it little or high importance.

Thank you

With metta
Keeping the precepts was and still is highly important. Keeping them kept me from a lot of actions that would have led to remorse, agitation and suffering. Keeping the precepts is protecting myself and others from harm and a continuous support for peace and gladness in this life. It makes life much easier. Not lying, there is no fear that one's lies are being detected and one is punished or treated badly for it. Not killing, there is gladness whenever the choice to preserve or end life is taken in favor of preserving life - no matter whether it is a fly, a little spider or any other living being.
Every one of the precepts has its individual value, but all of them have always been beneficial, not unbeneficial for me and others.

Best wishes,
Alobha
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Ytrog
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by Ytrog »

I agree with the rest here: it is absolutely important.
I find right speech also the most difficult btw. I like to talk ;)
Suffering is asking from life what it can never give you.
mindfulness, bliss and beyond (page 8) wrote:Do not linger on the past. Do not keep carrying around coffins full of dead moments
If you see any unskillful speech (or other action) from me let me know, so I can learn from it.
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Re: How important is keeping Precepts?

Post by amrad »

I dont think its a matter of forcing your self to OBEY the precepts. If you have a strong meditation practice you find desire for alcohol drugs, hurting others lying stealing cheating on your wife,ect, just slip away of there own accord, you really start to see them for what they are. And you see the wisdom of how easy following the precepts makes your life,Its not a grit your teeth kind of thing. :smile:
The Buddha said to go to the base of a tree calm your mind and find tranquility, if you do that correctly its far more powerful than any drug. I probably haven't stated that correctly, but Im sure one of the sutta guardians will fix it :reading:
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