Master Hengqiang: Precepts and life

1. The five precepts are the foundation of the precepts at home

When it comes to Buddhist precepts, there are two main types: one is the ordination of monks, and the other is the precepts of the family. The ordination is the corresponding precept formulated for the monks, such as the novice precepts, the novice precepts, the Shikshamanani precepts, the bhikshu precepts, and the bhikshuni precepts. The precepts practiced by lay people are mainly the Five Precepts and the Eight Precepts (Eight Precepts of Fasting). Lay people have many social and family responsibilities to bear, so some of the contents of the ordination precepts are not suitable for lay people. Compared with the ordination of monks, the precepts at home are much less in terms of precepts.

For lay people, the fundamental precepts are the five precepts. The content of the Eight Precepts is added on the basis of the Five Precepts, and believers mainly practice it on the sixth or third fasting days. The three fasting days are mainly the ancient Indian saying, according to their calendar, a month is fifteen days, so there are only three fasting days. The Han calendar has thirty days a month, so there are six days of fasting. Some believers also observe the Eight Precepts of fasting on the Christmas Day of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Some people have a fear of precepts, thinking that if they accept these precepts, they cannot do this or that, which will cause great inconvenience to work, life and social interaction. This idea is mainly due to their lack of in-depth and detailed understanding of the precepts.

Saionji Temple has two or three Refuges and Five Precepts pujas every year, and almost every month there is a Eight Precepts fasting puja. Among them, the holding of the five precepts is very flexible. On the basis of receiving the three refuges, everyone can share the five precepts. If you can only accept one of them, then accept one first, and so on, or you can accept two, three, or four of them first. If your life and work situation allow, you can take the complete five precepts at one time. In addition, every precept held has a concealment, and the precepts are not mechanical.

2. The five precepts at home are closely related to daily life

Precepts are an indispensable norm for lay people to create good social order and harmonious interpersonal relationships. The five precepts of not killing, not stealing, not committing adultery, not lying, not drinking alcohol, and general social laws and even social morality are universally corresponding. If someone violates some of the provisions of the Five Precepts, then he is likely to violate social laws, social morality, social conventions and other social norms. Violating the law will be punished by the law, and violating social morality and conventions will be condemned by morality and public opinion, which will cause certain troubles to his normal life and work.

The five precepts at home are also very important for us to develop good living habits. With the foundation of good living habits, we can better maintain our physical and mental health and happiness.

Nowadays, some people have an opinion about Buddhist precepts and feel that they are outdated. But the reality is that the five precepts at home have a universal social applicability to ancient and modern social laws and social morality, which shows that the five precepts at home will not be obsolete. Of course, resources are relatively scarce in our era, and the competition between people is relatively fierce. However, if we are only eager for quick success, put aside the precepts, and take "shortcuts" to achieve our goals, the achievements we obtain are unreliable and unstable, and we are likely to be punished by law for this, and the gains outweigh the losses.

From the following, we can see how closely Buddhist precepts are related to the daily life of society.

(1) Do not kill

1. Murder

Buddhism says that the focus is not to kill. If he knows that the other person is a human being, has a motive in his heart, makes corresponding preparations, or kills him with his own hands, or teaches others to kill, or hires others to kill, and others die because of this, he will commit the fundamental felony of not killing.

People sometimes harbor resentment due to the complexity of interpersonal relationships or fierce competition. The Buddhist precepts judge the crime of murder mainly based on personal karma. If he only thinks or verbally says "cut this person a thousand times" or "let him pierce his heart with ten thousand swords", but does not put it into practice, it is not a violation of the precepts. This is the same standard for determining whether a person has committed murder.

This precept is quite close to everyday life. Due to all kinds of bad phenomena in the world, such as various injustices based on social distribution and bad treatment at work, some people immediately feel angry and embark on the road of murder and crime. For example, in New York City, an average of 540 people die at the hands of criminals each year, compared with 517 murders in 2008. A total of 2,644 people were murdered throughout Mexico in the fourth quarter of 2008, and 1,960 people were murdered in the first quarter of 2009.

Contemporary families are becoming more and more small, most commonly a family of three, a couple plus a child, or two elders to form a family of five. In such a small family, the murder of one of them can most likely lead to the collapse of the whole family. For example, if the husband in the family is murdered, the family will be difficult to sustain because men are usually the backbone of a family. For example, if the woman is hurt, the man will not be able to stand it. For children, losing the love of their biological parents will cause great physical and mental trauma, which may lead to personality disorders in the future.

Put ourselves in our shoes, if we are held in the back by a gangster, we will feel extreme fear. Life is precious to any person. Buddhism often talks about "the human body is rare", and the probability of sentient beings in the six realms obtaining a human body in the next life is very small. How tiny? The Buddha gave an analogy in the scriptures, he casually grabbed a handful of soil, saying that the probability of getting a human body is equivalent to the soil in his hand compared to the soil on the earth. This means that the probability of us continuing to obtain a human body in the afterlife after death is very small. Since human life is so rare, if we are murdered by gangsters and lose our lives, it will definitely be a great loss for us, and it will also be a great loss to our family.

2. Abortion

The main act of committing murder is abortion. If you have not studied the precepts of Buddhism, you may be accustomed to abortion. Now most countries in the world legally stipulate that abortion is legal, so couples in many countries and regions can have abortions at will based on the will of both parties or even the personal will of one party. But according to Buddhist precepts, abortion violates the precept not to kill. Abortion kills the fetus in the womb, and the fetus has consciousness, so the fetus should also have basic human rights.

Generally speaking, one month after conception, the fetus opens, and his hands, feet, limbs, eyes and ears and other six roots will slowly develop and mature. So in Buddhism, the fetus is a complete person.

The most important thing is that we are cultured, moral, sympathetic, and respectful of others. However, in our modern society, which claims to be more "civilized", respect for the personality of the fetus is far from enough. According to the survey, the total number of abortions in our country in 2002 was 1.493 million, which means that 1.493 million small lives were killed that year. The total number of abortions reached 4 million in 2004 and reached about 13 million in 2008. The total number of deaths in World War I was only more than 10 million, and now in our country alone, 13 million young lives were murdered in 2008. This is shocking enough.

Abortion is based on selfishness, harming an innocent little life for the convenience of an individual's life, which often reflects the dark side of human nature. Imagine that even though you are sitting here alive now, if your mother is unwilling to give birth to you during pregnancy and then miscarriages you. If you want to be reincarnated again to get a human body, the probability is very small. In your past life, you worked hard to practice the Three Refuges and Five Precepts, and finally got the opportunity to be a human being in the next life, but your parents did not cherish this opportunity for you to be a human being and strangled you in their bellies.

3. War

If we are in an era of war or turmoil, our lives will be threatened at any time. This is something that everyone does not want to encounter. We all want peace, and only on the basis of peace can society develop. If everyone in society can practice the precept of not killing and not infringe on others, then the entire social order will be basically guaranteed, and our life safety will also be basically guaranteed, so that we can work, live and study normally.

For us Buddhists, if we do not want to fall into the three evil paths in the future, we must especially keep the precept of not killing. People who do not have a certain good root will not easily develop faith in Buddhism, so ordinary Buddhists will keep this precept better. But we must realize that this precept is essential for personal life, family life, and social life. This ring will not make people lose their freedom, on the contrary, it can protect your life.

The Buddha was very compassionate, and he took care not only of human life, but also of other species of life. Therefore, this precept stipulates that we should not harm all living beings at will.

(2) Do not steal

The second of the five commandments is not to steal. If we know that the property in front of us is not our own but someone else's, but we have the intention to take possession of someone else's property as our own, and we use corresponding convenience to keep this property away from its original place, we have committed the precept of not stealing.

Theft, robbery, and robbery in daily life are all through improper means, or violating social laws, or violating the unit system, or violating social morality, so as to infringe on other people's property or public property to satisfy one's own selfish desires.

Some thefts are aimed at individuals and can cause distress in personal life. The ancients said: "The people take food as the sky." "Although our lives are not directly threatened, if we lose some material security in life, it will cause difficulties in our lives. Damage to property may leave you without food, clothes to wear, money to pay rent, or money to buy a house, and major economic losses will bring great trouble to the normal life of the individual, and sometimes even directly endanger the survival of the individual.

Some thefts are directed at public property, and the public is affected. Some thieves steal manhole covers at night, pedestrians will accidentally fall into the well, and passing vehicles are prone to car accidents if they do not notice that the manhole cover is missing, which causes harm to the life safety of the public. There are also thieves who steal some public facilities, such as power lines, causing power to not be supplied normally in some areas. There are also thieves who steal communication equipment, causing obstacles to our normal communication.

In addition to theft, robbery and robbery are also theft. For example, a speeder thief will catch your eye on you wearing expensive jewelry and snatch your gold necklace and silver bracelet while you are not paying attention. They generally don't care about your personal safety, and sometimes tear your ears apart in order to snatch your earrings. There are also some criminals who, in order to achieve their goals, hold murder weapons and rob other people's property through some violent means and ways that harm personal safety. These are not allowed by law and morality, and they are also not allowed by Buddhist precepts.

In addition, corruption also belongs to the category of theft. If a staff member uses his personal position to illegally embezzle unit or state property, this will endanger the public interest, which is also undesirable for everyone.

The main purpose of not stealing is to protect personal property and public property from infringement, and it is also very important to ensure normal social life. As a Buddhist, on the one hand, do not hurt others based on hatred, and on the other hand, do not rob others of their property based on jealousy or greed. If you infringe on the legitimate property of others through illegal means, you will not only violate social morality and social laws, but also violate the precepts of Buddhism, and will be condemned by public opinion and punished by law. If we cannot resolve greed in time, recognize the mistake of stealing, and repent in the Dharma, it may lead to our fall into the evil path in the future.

(3) Do not commit adultery

This precept is closely related to social order and family happiness. Almost all countries have formulated corresponding social laws and morality to regulate people's sexual behavior, and almost all religious groups also have specific precepts against adultery, and Buddhism is particularly important to this precept. Of course, for lay Buddhists, a normal marital life is generally necessary, but this precept stipulates that in addition to normal marital sex, there can generally be no other substantive improper relationships between men and women, because adultery is very likely to destroy the normal marriage and family of others, and even lead to abortion and death.

Monogamy is a universal norm of social life. However, as the material standard of living becomes higher and higher, moral concepts become lower and lower, and the relationship between the sexes in society becomes more and more complicated. Data show that the divorce rate in our country is increasing year by year, of which extramarital affairs are "marriage killers". Some people have the idea of "riding a donkey to find a horse", and they already have a spouse at home, but when they meet the opposite sex they prefer, they will desperately divorce, which leads to the instability of marriage and family.

If a normal family has a marriage change, the impact on the children will be extremely significant. Children who do not receive complete fatherly and maternal love may have some personality defects. children who lack fatherly love may not be so strong in the future; Children who lack maternal love may not be able to accommodate others well in the future, and may not integrate well into society.

Generally speaking, remarried families will have a negative impact on their children. It is a very common phenomenon that stepfathers and stepmothers cannot fulfill their responsibilities as fathers or mothers for their non-biological children. Sometimes, stepparents discriminate or treat children who are not biological children, which can cause serious psychological trauma to children, and such children often grow up with dark psychology about family and marriage.

When stepfathers and stepmothers abuse children, children are likely to develop major personality disorders or behavioral problems in the future, such as depression, anxiety, autism, social fear or antisocial psychology, or running away from home, addicted to video games, and being keen on puppy love. Puppy love is often because children cannot receive corresponding care in the family and turn to the opposite sex of the same age to meet emotional needs. According to survey statistics, a large number of juvenile offenders come from families with broken marriages. Therefore, Buddhists must be cautious about extramarital affairs, whether out of faith or for the sake of children.

In addition, improper relationships between men and women can easily lead to abortion. Among the women who have abortions, many are unmarried girls. Unmarried pregnancies first cause physical harm to women, such as intrauterine infection, or habitual miscarriage in the future. The more abortions you have, the more likely you are to have a miscarriage in the future, and it can also lead to lifelong infertility. Some unsafe abortions can also lead to death.

In addition, abortion can also cause emotional trauma to the person concerned. For example, obstetrics and gynecology experts in the United States have found such data after research: about 35% of abortionists often feel the visit of the aborted child, about 54% of abortionists often have nightmares related to abortion, and about 78% of abortionists often cry, feel lonely and helpless, and even lose confidence in life and have suicidal tendencies. Foreign researchers collectively refer to these mental harm phenomena caused by abortion as "sequelae of abortion".

Some non-husband and wife relationships are legal in some countries, such as in some Western countries, the pornography industry is legalized, the rights and interests of sex workers are protected by law, and many people in society have morally accepted this profession. But it is precisely in these countries that prostitution leads to the widespread spread of sexually transmitted diseases, especially AIDS. In 1984, fewer than 3,000 people were reported with AIDS worldwide. But 25 years later, AIDS has claimed 25 million lives worldwide and infected another 33 million. More than 11 million children worldwide have lost at least one of their parents because of AIDS.

For Buddhists, relationships between the sexes other than husband and wife generally cause them to violate the precepts of non-adultery, and may also destroy other people's families and harm their family members. If this is the case, not only will the innocent fetus in the womb be killed, but it will usually harm the woman who has had the abortion. The precept of non-adultery not only protects the Buddhists themselves, but also protects social order and marriage and family.

(4) Do not lie

If the other person is a human being, and if we have the heart to deceive him and say the deceitful words, and the other party hears and understands clearly, then we have committed the precept of not lying. The precept of not lying is mainly for people. If you are dealing with plants and animals, it cannot constitute a condition for breaking the precepts.

There is a big lie in the nonsense. What is a big lie? You know that you are not a Buddha, but you falsely claim that you are a Buddha to others. You know that you have not attained the first, second, third, or fourth fruits, but you falsely claim in front of others that you have attained the first, second, third, or fourth fruits. You have not seen the Buddha, but you falsely claim to have seen the Buddha; You don't see the light in meditation, but you falsely claim to see the light; You have not achieved the first meditation, but you falsely claim to have achieved the first meditation, or even falsely claim to have achieved the second meditation, the third meditation, the fourth meditation, etc. For these Master's Dharma, if you know that you have not proven it, and you have realized it by falsely speaking, you have violated the precept of not lying.

In addition to the above great lies about the state of practice, people also have many lies in their daily lives, such as slander, false accusations, fraud, perjury, etc. Defamation is to fabricate facts to slander others, which has a certain impact on the personality, dignity, reputation, and status of others, and if the circumstances are serious, it will also violate the law. False accusations have risen to another level, fabricating charges to sue others in court, and if the means are clever, they may also cause others to suffer from prison. Some people use fraudulent methods to fabricate facts or conceal the truth to defraud themselves of status, reputation, property, etc., or disrupt the normal social order. There are also some ostentatious and deceitful people on the street, who have no fixed object or purpose, but just randomly use some false words to deceive others according to the situation at the time. Witnesses who give perjury in court can cause great harm to the parties. For example, if someone else does not kill someone and you testify in court that he killed someone, you may let the real murderer go unpunished, and the innocent will suffer from prison.

Lyers are usually used to harm others or benefit themselves. But in daily life, sometimes people tell some lies, not to harm others or benefit themselves, but to avoid hurting others or causing trouble for others, or even to help others directly. For example, if you see a person being chased by gangsters hiding somewhere, and the gangster comes to you and asks if you have seen this person, you say no, others may be saved because of your lies. This is legally and morally acceptable and appreciated. Although according to Buddhism, it is a lie; But according to the bodhisattva precepts, you use lies to save someone's life, but you do not violate the precepts.

(5) Do not drink alcohol

Wine has the effect of both exciting the body and mind and anesthetizing the body and mind. In ancient times, wine was a major addictive drink. In contemporary society, there are more and more addictive stimulants and narcotics. For example, cigarettes, although temporarily refreshing, once addicted, the toxic substances in them will cause corresponding harm to the body. Drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy and other drugs are more harmful to people.

Non-drinking, in a broad sense, any addictive stimulant or narcotic, if we know that they are addictive stimulants or narcotics, also swallowed, inhaled or injected, that is, abstaining from alcohol. In order to keep the precepts and keep the body and mind clean, everyone should stay away from tobacco and alcohol, especially drugs. Why stay away from these addictive stimulants or narcotics? Because they can harm people's bodies and minds.

One overdose can lead to acute alcohol poisoning, which is manifested by paleness, slurred speech, confusion, and even coma, incontinence, etc. If effective measures are not taken in time for some serious conditions, it can also lead to death. Working after drinking alcohol can easily cause accidents, especially drunk driving can lead to serious traffic accidents. People who have been addicted to alcohol for a long time will suffer from chronic alcoholism, resulting in poor orientation, memory loss, tremors in the hands and feet, etc. Once a person with alcohol addiction temporarily stops drinking, the quality of sleep will decrease significantly. One-time alcoholism and long-term alcoholism can be harmful to health, causing harm to the body's cardiovascular and cerebrovascular, digestive system, respiratory system, nervous system, reproductive system and other system organs. A woman who drinks alcohol regularly is likely to have adverse effects on her little one's health during pregnancy.

Long-term smoking can also lead to serious diseases, such as oral cancer, esophageal cancer, laryngeal cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, gallbladder cancer, endometrial cancer and other rare diseases. According to medical research, people who have smoked for 20 years have a 20-fold increased risk of dying from lung cancer than ordinary people, and smokers are 3 times more likely to die in middle age than non-smokers. For smokers' family members, long-term secondhand smoke is likely to cause corresponding diseases, such as rhinitis, pharyngitis, pneumonia and even cancer.

Some modern people begin to become addicted to drugs out of mental emptiness or curiosity. Drug abuse is extremely damaging to the body and mind. Long-term drug use not only destroys people's normal physiological and immune functions, but also makes people mentally decadent and further loses basic personal dignity. For a family, once one of its members becomes addicted to drugs, the family is likely to break apart. Drug addicts will use all their income to take drugs, and once the money is gone, they will ask for it from their families. If there is no money at home, they may sell their property or illegally obtain money from drug use through physical harm to others. Many people with drug addiction have almost become useless. A one-time drug overdose can directly cause death. Drug use not only harms the health of drug addicts, but also causes public health problems such as the spread of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and sexually transmitted diseases, the most serious of which is the infection and spread of AIDS.

Smoking these addictive stimulants or narcotics can harm the physical and mental health of individuals on the one hand, and on the other hand, it can also harm their family members, and in severe cases, it can even lead to personal death and family breakdown. Therefore, these addictive stimulants or narcotics should be avoided.

3. Conclusion statement

Once you violate the Five Precepts, you will often hurt yourself while infringing on others, and may also affect your family. Some injuries are still irreversible and irreparable. Whether it is for life in this world or for the Dharmakaya wisdom in the next life, the Five Precepts can provide us with a reliable guarantee, which can not only ensure the safety of body and mind, but also ensure the happiness of life. For practitioners, whether they want to become Buddhas or liberate, the five precepts are also the most basic guarantee. Accepting the Three Refuges and Five Precepts and even the Eight Precepts of fasting can allow us to continue to be human beings in the next life, or to be born in heaven, or even to be reborn in the blissful world. In summary, the five precepts are the guarantee of a normal, healthy and happy life for people.

 Ask questions and exchange

Q: The precept violations you are talking about today mainly refer to more serious ones, but the requirements of the precepts should be more extensive, how do we define the standards for keeping the precepts?

Answer: There are two types of violations of the precepts: misdemeanor, moderate crime, and serious crime.

As far as the precept of killing is concerned, if you have the intention to kill someone and kill someone else through corresponding convenience, you are committing a fundamental felony; intentionally killing and committing murder, but others did not die because of it, committing a moderate crime; He had the intention to kill and made corresponding preparations, but in the process of committing the murder, he stopped the murder in time, did not cause harm, and committed a misdemeanor.

The ancients said that "do not do it for small evils", and Buddhists should also "not commit small sins". If you accumulate too many minor sins in your daily life but do not pay attention to them, you are likely to commit greater sins in the future. Therefore, we should not easily transmit minor sins.

Q: I have never had an abortion when I encountered Buddhism before, and after taking refuge, I repented and vowed not to do it again. What is the way to absolve of the sin of abortion?

A: Abortion is indeed quite common in contemporary society. If you have an abortion after receiving the five precepts and successfully have an abortion, you have committed the precept of not killing. If there is an abortion before the ordination, there is no violation of the precepts because it has not yet been ordained, and of course this act itself is also at fault. As for how to repent, there are many methods, such as chanting Buddha, chanting scriptures, chanting mantras, worshiping, etc. are all good methods of repentance. The most important point is, as you said, I swear not to create again.

Q: Is it a violation of the precepts to accidentally step on some tiny creatures such as ants while walking on the road?

Answer: Intentional or unintentional is often a very important criterion for determining whether or not to violate the precepts. For the five precepts, if you unintentionally violate them, they are generally not violating the precepts. You are walking on the road and unintentionally trample an ant to death, because you are not intentional, so you have not violated the precepts. But the ant will die because of you, and you can recite the rebirth spell for it at that time.

Question: For the practice of meditation, is it better to enter the Tao innocently or completely sever the relationship between the sexes?

Answer: For lay people who practice meditation, it is necessary to keep the five precepts, and the precept of not committing adultery should be kept more strictly. In addition to the normal sexual relationship between husband and wife, there should be no other improper sexual relations. Even for the normal sexual life of husband and wife, it is necessary to be reasonable, lawful, and quantitative, and do not pursue sensory stimulation too much.

If you want to reach a high level of meditation, it is best not to be lustful. Generally, people who become monks as children can achieve higher meditation skills than those who become monks halfway (not as children). Of course, there is a premise, that is, his meditation is guided by good knowledge, and the method is correct and appropriate.

For example, let everyone know the influence of lustful mind on meditation magical powers. The Buddha told a legend: In ancient India, there were 500 immortals, and their meditation skills were very powerful, and they could fly around in the sky. Once these immortals flew together in the sky and saw a king leading his beautiful concubines to rejoice in the woods. At the moment, the five hundred immortals fell directly from the sky when they had an idea, and then they were all cut off by the king. The place where it fell is called the place where the immortals fell.

Q: I am in sales, and it is easy to lie when customers ask about some information about the product, what should I do?

Answer: When doing sales work, if it is inevitable to always tell lies, you can avoid the precept of not lying. If you are going to take the precept of non-lying, you have to change jobs.

Question: If you have undergone the Eight Precepts and drank milk to relieve stomach pain, is it considered a violation of the precepts?

Answer: This mainly involves the precept of "not eating after noon" in the Eight Precepts. The so-called fasting after noon, also known as fasting, mainly refers to no longer consuming solid foods in the afternoon, including soups, soups and other liquid foods containing solid foods. However, teas, juices, or beverages that do not contain any solids can be ingested. Some people, such as Southern Buddhists, feel that drinking milk will also cause fasting to be unclean, so they resolutely refrain from drinking it, which is of course also good. But if you have stomach pain and the doctor has told you to drink milk to relieve stomach pain, then you do not break the precepts.

Question: Today, after I took the Eight Precepts, someone handed me something to eat, and I forgot that I had received the Eight Precepts, so I ate it. Is the ring body destroyed?

Answer: After fasting, if in the afternoon you know that a food is solid and you eat it, then you have violated the precept of "not eating after noon".

However, the precept of "not eating after noon" is a precept. What is a precept? That is to say, although the act itself violates the Buddhist precepts, it does not directly hurt anyone because of it, and it is not a great sin. Even if you have already violated it, it is not a big problem if you sincerely repent and vow not to do it again the next time you take the Eight Precepts again.