Tu Viện Quảng Đức105 Lynch Rd, Fawkner, Vic 3060. Australia. Tel: 9357 3544. quangduc@quangduc.com* Viện Chủ: HT Tâm Phương, Trụ Trì: TT Nguyên Tạng   

8. The Five Precepts

01/05/202017:12(Xem: 4844)
8. The Five Precepts

Five Precepts

THE FIVE PRECEPTS

Venerable Sumangalo

There can be no success in getting happiness out of Lord Buddha’s Dharma until we understand and use Sila, which is a Pali-Sanskrit word meaning morality. The Five Precepts are often called Pancasila, which means “the Five Moralities” or “the Five Rules of Good Conduct”. No matter how clever we may be at learning and understanding even the deepest teaching of Buddhism, we cannot call ourselves true followers of Lord Buddha until we follow the five “do nots”.

As a rule, these five rules are recited after the Three Refuges and are usually considered as a necessary part of the ceremony of becoming a Buddhist. Every one who understands these rules knows it is good and wise to follow them all, but many persons have weak characters and do not make a real attempt to be guided by these Five Rules that all Buddhists must follow. They are:

  1. The rule against killing.
  2. The rule against stealing.
  3. The rule against impurity.
  4. The rule against untruthfulness.
  5. The rule against intoxicating liquors and drugs.

Mercy is found only among human beings. A human being who delights in killing, is on a level with jungle animals. Not only must we avoid killing, we must show mercy to all living things and respect all life.

The rule against taking whatever is not rightfully ours must be obeyed fully. The fact that a theft is small does not excuse it. Every wrong act we do has an unhappy result. One of the worst results of breaking any or all of these five rules is that we do not only lose the respect of others, but we also lose self-respect.

The rule against impurity tells us that we must respect our bodies and not make improper use of them. Human beings know the difference between right and wrong and this places on us an obligation to behave ourselves in a way that is very different from animal conduct.

As for the rule against untruthfulness, perhaps this is the rule that is broken most of all. Once a person gets a reputation for being a liar, no one is willing to trust that individual anymore. Lying is also one of the very quickest ways to lose self-respect. The Buddha said: “He whose words are truthful and kind is loved and respected by all and, when he passes from this world, he is sadly missed.”

No Buddhist can make or sell intoxicating drinks or evil drugs. Anyone who engages in such a business is not a true follower of Lord Buddha. A real Buddhist will not have anything to do with any drink or drug that will poison his body or mind.

Perhaps you have some schoolmate who urges you to take part in some action you now to be wrong. There are silly fellows who think it clever to do wrong and succeed in keeping anyone from finding out what they have done. There is a line from a poem that gives good advice on this point:

“Be good, let those who will be clever.”

Actually it is never really clever to do wrong. Any boy or girl who observes the Five Precepts faithfully will be happy. If these precepts are observed all through life, then much sorrow will be avoided. Last of all, let us all remember that no one, boy or girl, man or woman, young or old, can be a real Buddhist unless he uses the Five Precepts as the guide to daily moral living.

 

OUR BLESSED MASTER

The Blessed Master teaches

That children must be true,

In every thought and every word,

In every act they do.

 

The Holy Master teaches

All children must be pure,

If they would walk His Pathway,

And happiness secure.

 

The Gentle Master teaches

That all must surely bring,

Tender care and kindness

To every living thing.

 

Our Blessed Master teaches

Each child must slay within,

The ugly selfish longing

That leads to acts of sin.

                                                                                               -D. Hunt.

 

QUESTIONS

  1. What does Sila mean?
  2. What does Morality mean?
  3. What is a precept?
  4. How many precepts are there for laymen?
  5. Name the precepts.
  6. Do animals show mercy?
  7. We lose two kinds of respect if we do not keep the Five Precepts. What are they?
  8. It is wrong for Buddhist to use alcohol or evil drugs, but can a Buddhist sell such things to others?
  9. Is it really clever to do wrong?
  10. Must we wait until we are grown-ups to follow the Five Precepts, or can children follow them, too?



Typing for Quang Duc Homepage in Melbourne, Australia:
Quảng Đại Thắng (Brendan Trần) & Quảng Đại Khánh (Nathan Trần)
https://quangduc.com/p52208a68074/buddhist-sunday-school-lessons-venerable-sumangalo
Gửi ý kiến của bạn
Tắt
Telex
VNI
Tên của bạn
Email của bạn
28/02/2014(Xem: 6395)
According to the Oxford English Dictionary the word ‘chant’ is both a noun and a verb, also (now Scottish) chaunt, compared with the late 17th Century, old and modern French verb, ‘with chant’ which is derived from the Latin, ‘cantum’.
28/02/2014(Xem: 4411)
My dear friends, suppose someone is holding a pebble and throws it in the air and the pebble begins to fall down into a river. After the pebble touches the surface of the water, it allows itself to sink slowly into the river. It will reach the bed of the river without any effort. Once the pebble is at the bottom of the river, it continues to rest. It allows the water to pass by.
28/02/2014(Xem: 5074)
We all know what happens when a fire goes out. The flames die down and the fire is gone for good. So when we first learn that the name for the goal of Buddhist practice, nibbana (nirvana), literally means the extinguishing of a fire, it's hard to imagine a deadlier image for a spiritual goal: utter annihilation.
28/02/2014(Xem: 3955)
This script was written and edited by: John D. Hughes, Arrisha Burling, Frank Carter, Leanne Eames, Jocelyn Hughes, Lisa Nelson, Julie O’Donnell, Nick Prescott, Pennie White and Lenore Hamilton. Consider a water tank as a model of understanding. When the water in the tank gets too low, you get sick and eventually die. For you to stay alive, the tank must be consistently replenished with water.
28/02/2014(Xem: 4213)
When we do walking meditation, the point is not to get somewhere, but rather to practice, using walking as the object of our attention. Even when we do have to get somewhere and must drive to do so, there is an opportunity for practice. Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen master and poet, has written a number of gathas, or brief verses, for enhancing our mindfulness during everyday activities, even driving a car.
28/02/2014(Xem: 4292)
The word Buddhism is derived from Buddha, meaning the Enlightened One or the Awakened One. Buddha is not a proper name, but a generic term or appellative, referring to a founder of a religion, one who has attained supreme enlightenment and who is regarded as superior to all other beings, human or divine, by virtue of his knowledge of the Truth (Dhamma).
28/02/2014(Xem: 5151)
Lama Thubten Yeshe gave this teaching during a five-day meditation course he conducted at Dromana, near Melbourne, Australia, in March, 1975. Edited by Nicholas Ribush. This teaching appears in the November/December 1997 issue of Mandala Magazine.
28/02/2014(Xem: 4688)
“When we take refuge in the Buddha, we mean the qualities of the Buddha that are inherent within us. We are taking refuge in our own intrinsic enlightenment.” Many people these days are reading books about Buddhism, practicing Buddhist meditation, and applying Buddhist principles in their work and personal lives.
28/02/2014(Xem: 4918)
We will illustrate the priorities of a Buddha Dhamma practitioner in contrast to the norms of the four common forms of Australian culture towards family life. There is no pure one culture but rather high-bred mixtures in a range from total denial of any family responsibility or obligation to obsessive clinging to the family unit as the one and only refuge that matters.
28/02/2014(Xem: 4271)
This short essay is intended to give a brief introduction to Buddhism. It will discuss the way Buddhists perceive the world, the four main teachings of the Buddha, the Buddhist view of the self, the relationship between this self and the various ways in which it responds to the world, the Buddhist path and the final goal.
facebook youtube google-plus linkedin twitter blog
Nguyện đem công đức này, trang nghiêm Phật Tịnh Độ, trên đền bốn ơn nặng, dưới cứu khổ ba đường,
nếu có người thấy nghe, đều phát lòng Bồ Đề, hết một báo thân này, sinh qua cõi Cực Lạc.

May the Merit and virtue,accrued from this work, adorn the Buddhas pureland,
Repay the four great kindnesses above, andrelieve the suffering of those on the three paths below,
may those who see or hear of these efforts generates Bodhi Mind, spend their lives devoted to the Buddha Dharma,
the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Quang Duc Buddhist Welfare Association of Victoria
Tu Viện Quảng Đức | Quang Duc Monastery
Most Venerable Thich Tam Phuong | Senior Venerable Thich Nguyen Tang
Address: Quang Duc Monastery, 105 Lynch Road, Fawkner, Vic.3060 Australia
Tel: 61.03.9357 3544 ; Fax: 61.03.9357 3600
Website: http://www.quangduc.com
http://www.tuvienquangduc.com.au (old)
Xin gửi Xin gửi bài mới và ý kiến đóng góp đến Ban Biên Tập qua địa chỉ:
quangduc@quangduc.com