Avoiding pamāda: An analysis of the Fifth Precept as Social Protection in Contemporary Contexts with reference to the early Buddhist teachings
1. Introduction
In many schools of Buddhism today practitioners undertake basic rules of moral training. Whilst these rules are not commandments, they express a commitment to ethical steps along a spiritual path taught by the Buddha, a path leading ultimately to nibbāna, the Enlightenment he realized.
In this dissertation attention will be focused on lay practitioners (or synonymously householders). Although according to the early canonical sources the Buddha taught primarily the homeless life, he also gave instruction on the basic moral framework that lay people could follow for their social well-being. For such householders one of the most popular formulations is pañca sīla (five moral virtues), more commonly referred to as the Five Precepts. At first sight the precepts appear quite obvious in their meaning, but when subject to application in varying contexts, particularly in contemporary society, the interpretation may not be a straightforward matter and the process of determining the meaning may reveal subtleties in the original formula that merit more attention. This can be shown for the Fifth Precept, which is commonly translated as 'refraining from taking intoxicants (alcohol and drugs).' A more literal translation from the Pāli does not mention drugs, but only kinds of alcohol, but it adds 'which are causes of pamāda'. The term 'pamāda' means 'heedlessness' or 'carelessness'. Is this a reference just to the aforementioned strong drinks or does it become a catch-all for 'intoxicants'? Then what should we understand by 'intoxicants'? How should the precept be observed and what are the conditions for breaking it? What are the impacts in observing or not observing the precept, especially with regard to social care and protection? Are there variations in interpretation? These are some of the questions we shall seek to address here.
https://www.academia.edu/34976455/Avoid ... _teachings