Six Perfections and Five Moral Precepts

Six Perfections

• Generosity/Giving: selfless desire to benefit others with no expectation of reward

• Morality: following 5 precepts and the following 5 for Mahayana Buddhists

• Patience: ability to tolerate and endure personal hardship and suffering and the face of those who show you anger

• Energy: making a courageous effort to reach enlightenment by deepening practice

• Meditation

• Wisdom: insight into the true nature of reality, realisation of sunyata

Six Perfections Importance

• Offer a Buddhist a means to follow the Dhamma and attain enlightenment
  Pali Canon: “How many bases for training are there for those seeking enlightenment?” The Buddha replied “There are six; generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditation and wisdom”
  Buddhists have a clear path to enlightenment

• Give guidelines
  Offer a structure to life
  Encourages skilful, moral actions

5 Moral Precepts

• Abstain from taking life (killing)

• Abstain from taking what is not freely given (stealing)

• Abstain from misuse of the senses

• Abstain from intoxicants that cloud the mind

Breaking Precepts

• No divine being to judge a Buddhists actions

• Unskilful to break a precept

• Should reflect but not dwell on their actions

• Learn from their mistake and move on

• Argued that they are a relative form of morality

• Sometimes more good comes from breaking a precept

• Ethics is rooted in intention, they must want to do the act

5 Moral Precepts Importance

• Offer guidelines and suggested ways of living
  Buddhist Monastics: “The five precepts are formulated in such a way that they provide a practice, clear-cut set of standards”
  Offers a structure to life
  Encourages moral/skilful actions

• Overcome the 3 poisons
  Viewed as a prescription for treating human condition
  Self-healing machine

Is it possible to live by the 5 Precepts today? YES

• They aren’t an absolute guide to Buddhist morality
  Can be adapted

• Quite reasonable and undemanding
  Common sense for most people
  On the basis of many laws in society

• Most people want a happy lifestyle
  Allow society to be built on a solid foundation

Is it possible to live by the 5 Precepts today? NO

• Culture of contemporary society in Buddhist and West countries is perceived as materialistic and individualistic
  Out of date with modern attitudes

• A life of pleasure, gossip and theft seems more appealing to some people, rather than refraining from these acts