Ten Fundamental Precepts of Buddhism

Ten Fundamental Precepts of Buddhism

by Himalaya Crafts on Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 3:31pm

No.1: Don’t destroy life. We all have our life, The Universe is life itself. We should not destroy that of which we are a part. We should not destroy life in vain.



No.2: Don’t steal. We have our own place in the world; our own position and property. We should not invade another s position. We should not steal.



No.3: Don’t desire too much. We all have desire. Desire is an important factor in our life. But excessive desire is not the origin of happiness. It destroys our composure.Too much desire tends to make our life unhappy. So Gautama Buddha recognized the existence of desire but he warned against too much indulgence. He advised us not to desire too much.



No.4: Don’t lie. We are living in the Universe. The Universe is the truth itself. Truth and honesty are bound together. If we want to find the truth we must be honest. If we are not honest we can never find our real situation in the Universe.



No.5: Don’t live by selling liquor. This seems rather strange as a religious precept. I feel that the original concept might have been not to drink liquor. Perhaps as Buddhism spread from India to countries like China and Japan this precept was altered to suit local conditions. In those northern countries alcohol was considered an important aid to survival during the cold winter months. So personally I feel that it is important not to drink, but we should recognize the precept in the form that it has come to us from the past.



No.6: Don’t discuss failures of Buddhist priests and laymen. As Buddhists we try our best to live and practice the Buddhist life. In doing so we often make mistakes. This is natural. Our mistakes come directly from our efforts. This may sound strange, but it is the fact in our life. So when we see the mistakes of others we should not be critical, for their mistakes are only the product of their efforts in this life.



No.7: Don’t praise yourself or berate others. Modern psychology tells us that most of us have some sort of superiority or inferiority complex. I think this is basically true,and because of these personal inclinations we are prone to praise or criticize ourselves and other people. But we are all human beings. If we recognize the true situation it is impossible to blame others for their faults, and praising ourselves is needless—it is a waste of breath.



No.8: Don’t begrudge the sharing of Buddhist teachings and other things, but give them freely. Our tendency is to want more than we have. We want more teachings; we want more things. But when we see our situation clearly we realize that we are part of the wide and glorious Universe. We have everything we need already. In such a situation it is natural to give. We want to share the teachings and what wealth we have with others. It is a natural activity of our true situation.



No.9: Don’t become angry. Many of us are prone to become angry. It seems a natural outcome of our personality, but in fact anger is not our natural state—it is not our natural condition. In Buddhism we seek to maintain our composure. To be composed is our natural condition. To be natural is the teaching of Gautama Buddha.



No.10: Don’t abuse the three supreme values. Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are the foundation of Buddhist life. We must honor them, esteem them and devote ourselves to them.





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