The Fifth Precept: to abstain from drugs (sutra)

Amber Larson, Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly translation based on "The Five Precepts" (pañca-sila), AccessToInsight.org (AN 8.39)

The Buddhist Wheel of the Liberating Dharma (kadampa.org)

  

Buddha mudra, Thailand (Ponz666/flickr)

There are five basic training rules observed by all practicing lay Buddhists.

 

The precepts are often recollected after going for guidance to the Three Jewels: Buddha (the Enlightened), Dharma (Teachings that lead to enlightenment), and (noble community called the) Sangha (those who have successfully followed the Buddha and Dharma to the ultimate goal of enlightenment).  

Five Precepts

1. I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures.

2. I undertake the precept to refrain from taking what is not given.

3. I undertake the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct.

4. I undertake the precept to refrain from false speech.

5. I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicants which lead to carelessness.

 

Five Faultless Gifts

I will enjoy peace of mind and freedom.

"There are five great gifts -- original, ancient, traditional, long standing, unadulterated from the beginning -- that are not to be faulted now, that are never to be faulted, that are upheld by wise spiritual recluses and Brahmin priests. What are they?
 
"A disciple of the noble ones, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from taking life. In doing so, one gives to limitless numbers of beings freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression. In giving freedom to limitless numbers of beings, one gains a share of limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the first gift...
 
"Furthermore, abandoning taking what is not given (stealing), a disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking what is not given....
 
"Furthermore, abandoning sexual misconduct, a disciple of the noble ones abstains from sexual misconduct....
 
"Furthermore, abandoning false speech, a disciple of the noble ones abstains from false speech....
 

Careless in Colarado (Brennan Linsley/AP)

"Furthermore, abandoning the use of intoxicants, a disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking intoxicants. In doing so, one gives to limitless numbers of beings freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression. In giving freedom one gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the fifth great gift -- original, ancient, traditional, long standing, unadulterated from the beginning -- that is not to be faulted now, that is never to be faulted, that is upheld by wise spiritual recluses and Brahmin priests."

Radical Therapy:

Buddhist Precepts in the Modern World

Prof. Lily de Silva (Buddhist Publication Society)

The Buddha rises above all obstalces (Buddhisam)

The Five Precepts are the basic Buddhist code of virtue, undertaken daily by lay Buddhists along with Going for Guidance to the Three Gems. Virtue is regarded as the indispensable foundation of a life in line with the Dharma.
 
The Five Precepts consist of five training rules of abstinence: (1) from killing, (2) from stealing, (3) from sexual misconduct, (4) from false speech, and (5) from intoxicants.
 
The Five Precepts are designed to [give freedom from remorse as they] discipline and purify the three avenues of human action -- body, speech, and mind.

The Buddha rediscovered the Path then taught it.

Abstaining from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct disciplines bodily action. Abstaining from false speech disciplines verbal action. ("False" speech is not a nice way of saying not lying; it refers to abstaining from perjury, slander, harsh/abusive speech, and frivolous talk).
 
The dual discipline of body and speech has a healthy effect on the purity of mind, although complete mental purity can only be brought about by "bringing it into being" (bhavana, mental culture, cultivation, self-development, or meditation).
 
The fifth precept -- abstaining from using intoxicants -- attempts to safeguard the mental faculty from degenerating through toxicity or a bad habit. A person under the influence has little control over oneself. So one is easily tempted to carelessly transgress the four other precepts as well. More

The ancient Five Precepts, Lumbini, Nepal (tripadvisor.com)

The Buddhist Layperson (sutra)

Dhr. Seven, Pfc. Sandoval, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; The Buddhist Lay[person], essays by R. Bogoda, Susan Elbaum Jootla, Maurice O'C. Walshe (BPS.lk/AccesstoInsight.org)

Temporary novice touches Indonesian image of the Buddha (Massulan/flickr)

The Lotus-like Lay-follower

Wisdom Quarterly (AN 5.175) 

Novice and layperson (deepblue66/flickr)

The Buddha said: A lay-follower (upasaka) with five qualities is a jewel of a lay-follower, is a lily, is a lotus.
 
What are the five qualities?

1. One has confidence (faith).

2. One is virtuous.

3. One is levelheaded (rather than superstitious).

4. One believes in the efficacy of action(karma) rather than luck or omen.

5. One looks to and attends first to the spiritual-community (Sangha) for those worthy of support.

Meditation hall as Tulku Dakpa Rinpoche gives teaching on seven-point mind-training at Danakosha Dharma Center (Mitjoruohoniemi/flickr)

 

Ten Qualities of the Lay-follower

Wisdom Quarterly (Questions of King Milinda (Milindapañha, Chp. IV)

King Milinda (Menander I) coin

These ten, great king, are the qualities of the [Buddhist] lay-follower: 

1. One shares the joys and sorrows of the spiritual-community (the lay, monks', and nuns' Sangha collectively).

2. One places the Dharma (truth) first [that is, before self and worldly considerations, referring to the three dominant influences (adhipateyya), Dharma being the third, after atta (self) and loka (plane of existence); see AN 3.40].

3. One enjoys giving according to one's ability.

4. If one sees a decline in the Dispensation of the Teaching of the Buddha, one strives for its strong growth.

Meditation is not mandatory but joyful, helpful.

5. One cultivates right views, disregarding belief in superstitions and omens, and will not accept a replacement teacher to supplant the Buddha/Dharma, not even for the sake of life. (That is not to say that one has no other teachers. Even at the time of the Buddha, Buddhists had additional teachers like the Buddha's four chief disciples, Sariputra, Khema, Maha Moggallana, and Uppalavanna. They also had preceptors and noble helpers (kalyana mittas) given that "noble friendship" is the whole of path to enlightenment (SN 45.2).
 
It is characteristic of a stream enterer and other noble disciples, once having seen for oneself that the Buddha was correct and the only one pointing to nirvana, it is not possible to doubt. There is no need for any teaching to gain enlightenment other than one in line with the Dharma he taught and that other noble ones in the Sangha espouse).

Come on, I want to hear the Dharma in this beautiful gompa! (Daniel O'Donnell/flickr.com)

 

6. One guards one's deeds and words.

 

7. One loves and cherishes peace and concord.

8. One is not envious or jealous.

9. One does not live a Buddhist life by way of deception or hypocrisy.

10. One has gone for guidance (sarana) to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
 
Four Essays for Lay Buddhists

1. Principles of Lay Buddhism (R. Bogoda)
2. Right Livelihood: The Noble Eightfold Path in the Working Life (Susan Elbaum Jootla)
3. Having Taken the First Step (Maurice O'Connell Walshe)
4. Detachment (M.O'C. Walshe)
   

Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma's history (video)

Ashley Wells (editor), Wisdom Quarterly

The First Buddhist Shrine: Shwedagon, Burma, was first built to enshrine strands of the Buddha's hair given to ancient merchant travelers who saw the Buddha on the road on his way to set in motion the Wheel of the Dharma in the Deer Park at Sarnath, Varanasi, India (L'altra faccia della politica estera/Convegno alla Farnesina/Coop. allo Sviluppo).

 

The Legend of Shwedagon Pagoda

Roger Bischoff (Buddhism in [Burma]: A Short History, BPS Wheel 399), edited by Dhr. Seven

The massive shrine complex that is Shwedagon in central Rangoon, the former capital of Burma before military dictators renamed everything and built a secretive bunker compound in Naypidaw and called that the capital (airpano.com)

 
The Ancient Arrival of the Hair Relics

Buddhist nuns at Shwedagon (AFP)

Two traveling merchant brothers, Tapassu and Bhallika from Ukkala* [identified as Okkalapa near Rangoon, but which some like the Indian government in Orissa believe to be in modern Orissa (Utkala) on India's east coast], were going through Uruvela. They were directed to the Buddha by their familial deva (nat, sprite, nature spirit, angel).

 

The newly enlightened Buddha had just come out of seven weeks of meditation after his great awakening and was sitting under a tree feeling the need for food.

• Early Historical Background (Donaldson)
• PHOTOS: The Beauty of Golden Burma

The First Two "Buddhists"
Tapussa and Bhallika (the world's first Buddhist lay disciples) saw him and, having been prompted by the deva, made an offering of rice cakes and flower nectar, seeking guidance from two of what would eventually be the Three Guides (ti-sarana), guidance from the Buddha and the Dharma. (The third, the noble Sangha, or "community of enlightened individuals," did not yet exist). As they were about to depart, they asked the Buddha for an object to remember and honor him in his place. He gave them eight hairs from his head.

(U Myintl Win)  Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma's sacred relic shrine

 

After the two returned from their journey, they enshrined the three hairs in a reliquary (stupa), which is now the great Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon. It is believed in Burma that the hill upon which the Shwedagon Pagoda stands was not haphazardly chosen by Tapussa and Bhallika. It was, in fact, the site where the three buddhas preceding the Buddha Gotama (Siddhartha Gautama, Shakyamuni) in this world-cycle (maha kalpa) themselves left relics:

 

Iconography...Orissa (Thomas E. Donaldson)

The Buddha Kakusandha is said to have left his staff on Theinguttara Hill, the Buddha Konagamana his water filter, and the Buddha Kassapa a part of his robe. Because of this, the Buddha requested Tapussa and Bhallika to enshrine his hair relics at that particular location.

 

Tapussa and Bhallika traveled far and wide in order to find the hill on which they could balance a tree without its touching the ground either with the roots or with its crown. Eventually, they found the exact spot not far from their home in Lower Burma, where they enshrined the holy relics in a traditional Buddhist burial mound or stupa [Shway Yoe, The Burman (Scotland 1989), pp. 179f.]. The original mound is said to have been 27 feet high. Today the Shwedagon Pagoda has grown to over 370 feet. 

The Buddha's Visits to the Region

Burmese oral tradition speaks of four visits of the Buddha to the region. While these visits were of utmost significance in their own right, they are also important in having established places of pilgrimage up to the present day. More

 

*NOTE: The Theragatha ["Psalms of the Elders"] Commentary (Vol i.48) informs us that the birthplace or residence of the travelers Bhalluka (or Bhaliya) and Tapassu (or Trapassu) was Pokkharavati in Ukkala. The sons of the caravan leader (Satthavaha) started their journey from Pokkharavati. Their destination was Rajagriha (modern Rajgir, India), and according to the Jataka (Jat I. 80) they were on their way to Majjhimadesa ("Middle India"), where they met and offered food to the Buddha and became his first lay devotees.

 

(DokusDeutsch) German documentary, in depth look at Shwedagon Pagoda

NEW ASIAN FRONTIER

Dalai Lama supports The Lady

Legend says that Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon (Yangon), Burma, is about 2,[6]00 years old. According to the ancient Theravada Buddhist tradition, it was built even before the Buddha's passing, which is thought to have occurred in 486 BCE. It is the most sacred Buddhist reliquary and shrine for the Burmese as it preserves the relics of four buddhas, including the hair of the historical Buddha. The life of Burmese culture, embodied in its ancient traditions, now has a new face emerging in Southeast Asia and beyond. The country has continuous and positive development and is in the process of a democratic transition [thanks to the military dictatorship, led by puppet-master Gen. Than Shwe, finally releasing pro-democracy Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a freedom fighter known throughout the land simply as The Lady] and renewed economic dynamism.

(VB) 4-Minute History of Burma (not "Myanmar"!) John Green tells Hank about the situation in formerly rich Buddhist Burma before and after the arrest of The Lady by military dictators.
  

NUOVA FRONTIERA ASIATICA

Ellen Page reveals Asia's "Hitler," Than Shwe

Una leggenda afferma che la pagoda Shwedagon a Rangoon in Birmania abbia circa 2[6]00 anni. Secondo la tradizione Theravada, fu costruita addirittura prima della morte del Buddha, avvenuta nel 486 a.C. È la pagoda buddista più sacra per i birmani poichè conserva le reliquie di quattro Buddha. Il Myanmar vive di cultura e tradizioni millenarie ma ora il suo nuovo volto si sta affacciando sul sud-est asiatico e oltre i suoi confini. Il Paese è in continua e positiva evoluzione e sta attraversando una fase di transizione democratica e di rinnovato dinamismo economico.

• Ambasciata d'Italia a Yangon 
• Associazione Amicizia Italia-Birmania
• PHOTOS: Buddhist Pagan (Bagan), Burma

The Path to Freedom (self-guided tour)

Wisdom Quarterly; FGS; AccessToInsight.org, Self-guided Tour of the Buddha's Teachings

Modern Buddhist pyramid pagoda/stupa complex (Linc060/flickr.com)

  

A foundation in the Buddha's Dharma

By its nature, the truth invites us to "come and see," to question and investigate. Curious about exploring the Buddha's teachings as presented in the ancient Pali canon?

  

Links are to selections of short passages from the Buddhist sutras introducing or illustrating aspects of a single topic.

 

When encountering a particularly meaningful or interesting passage, look for the full text by simply following the link at the end. 

 

The teachings are profound and complex

Many passages are cross referenced with other pages, making it possible to pursue a theme to whatever depth is desired.

 

This is not, of course, an exhaustive tutorial. A number of the topics introduced are explored more thoroughly in the Study Guides. The General Index also contains references to additional readings on related topics.
 

Modern Buddhist pyramid, Fo Guang Shan, Taiwan (Steven Barringer/Zosoiv71/flickr.com)

  
Begin the tour by exploring the Three Guides (Triple Gem):

1. THE BUDDHA: Sketch of the Buddha's life based on sutra excerpts.
2. THE DHARMA: Outline of the Buddha's teachings organized according to the "gradual instruction." The Buddha frequently used this framework to guide students from first principles through progressively more advanced teachings, all the way to the culmination of the Four Noble Truths by the realization of nirvana (Pali, nibbana).
3. THE SANGHA: Descriptions of the Noble Order -- the community of monastics and laypersons who have gained at least the first stage of enlightenment called stream entry. This is known as they Ariya-Sangha).

• Buddhist Dictionary, by Ven. Nyanatiloka (Kandy: BPS, 1980). A classic handbook of important terms and concepts in Theravada Buddhism.
• Path to Deliverance, by Ven. Nyanatiloka (Kandy: BPS, 1982). A systematic exposition of essential points of Dharma based on passages from the sutras.
• Study Guides: anthologies of short passages for individual and group study.
• The Wings to Awakening: An Anthology from the Pali Canon, by Ven. Thanissaro (Barre: Dhammadana Publications, 1996).