Discipline and life

First, abstinence at home is based on the Five Commandments.

When it comes to Buddhist precepts, there are mainly two kinds: one is becoming a monk and the other is abstaining at home. The monks' precepts are the corresponding precepts for monks, such as Misha, Shamini, Buddhist temples, monks' precepts and monks' precepts. The five precepts and eight precepts (eight official pavilions) are the main precepts accepted by families. People at home have a lot of social and family responsibilities to bear, so some contents of the precepts of becoming a monk are not suitable for people at home. Compared with becoming a monk, I quit much less at home.

For many people at home, the fundamental commandment is the Five Commandments. The contents of the precepts in Baguan Pavilion are added on the basis of the Five Commandments, and believers mainly hold them on the 6th or 3rd day of Ramadan. Ramadan is mainly said in ancient India. According to their calendar, a month is fifteen days, so there are only three days of fasting. The calendar of the Han Dynasty has thirty days in a month, so Lent has six days. Some believers also accept the precepts of the Eight Official Pavilion at the Christmas of Buddhists and Bodhisattvas.

Some people have a fear of precepts, and feel that if they are observed, they can't do this or that, which will bring great inconvenience to work, life and social entertainment. This idea is mainly due to their lack of in-depth and detailed understanding of criminals who quit the ring.

Cyanji has two or three meetings of three conversions and five precepts every year, and there is an eight-official pavilion meeting almost every month. Among them, the acceptance of the five precepts is very flexible. On the basis of three conversions, everyone can share the five precepts. The so-called sharing is decided according to your personal situation. If you can only accept one of them, you can accept one first, and so on, or you can accept two, three or four first. If your life and work permit, you can accept the complete five commandments at one time. In addition, every commandment has an offender, and the commandment is not mechanical.

Second, the five precepts at home are closely related to daily life.

Discipline is an indispensable norm for people to create a good social order and harmonious interpersonal relationship at home. No killing, no stealing, no evil, no nonsense, no drinking, these generally correspond to general social laws and even social morality. If someone violates some of the five commandments, he probably also violates social laws, social morality, social customs and other social norms. Violating the law will be punished by law, violating social morality and customs will be condemned by morality and public opinion, which will cause some 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 safeguard our physical and mental health and happiness.

Now some people have a problem with Buddhist precepts, thinking that they are out of date. However, the reality is that the five precepts have universal social applicability to ancient and modern social laws and social ethics, which shows that the five precepts will not be out of date. Of course, resources are relatively scarce in our time, and the competition between people is relatively fierce. If you want to get ahead and make a name for yourself, you have to work harder than others. However, if we just want quick success and instant benefit, put aside the precepts and take a "shortcut" to achieve our goal, our achievements will be unreliable and unreliable, and we may be punished by law for it, and ultimately the loss will outweigh the gain.

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

(1) Don't kill people

1, murder

Buddhism says not to kill, the key is not to kill. If you know that the other person is a human being, and you have the motive to kill him in your heart, and make corresponding preparations, you can either kill him yourself, teach others to kill him, or hire others to kill him, so that others die, and he commits a fundamental felony of not killing and giving up his life.

Because of the complexity of interpersonal relationships or fierce competition, people sometimes have hatred. Buddhism's warning to judge the crime of homicide is mainly based on body karma. If he just thinks or verbally says "Cut this man to pieces" and "Let him wear Wan Jian's heart" without putting it into practice, it is not a violation of the precepts. This is the same standard as the law to judge whether a person has committed murder.

This motto is very close to daily life. Because there are all kinds of bad phenomena in the world, such as unfair social distribution and bad treatment at work, some people immediately resent and embark on the road of killing people. Take new york as an example. On average, 540 people die at the hands of criminals every year, while there were 5 17 murders in 2008. In Mexico, 2,644 people were murdered in the fourth quarter of 2008, and 65,438+0,960 people were murdered in the first quarter of 2009.

Contemporary families are getting smaller. The most common is a family of three. A couple plus a child or two elders make up a family of five. In such a small family, one of them was murdered, which is likely to lead to the collapse of the whole family. For example, if the husband in the family is murdered, it will be difficult for the family to support, because men are usually the pillars of a family. For example, if the woman is injured, the man can't stand it. For children, losing the love of their biological parents will cause great physical and mental trauma and may lead to personality disorder in the future.

Put yourself in others' shoes. If a gangster holds a knife to his back, we will feel extremely scared. Life is precious to anyone. Buddhism often says that "the human body is rare", and the probability that the six sentient beings will get the human body in the afterlife is very small. How small is it? The Buddha made an analogy in the classic. He grabbed a handful of soil and said that the probability of getting a person is equivalent to the comparison between the soil in his hand and the soil on the earth. This means that there is little chance that we will continue to get a person in the afterlife after death. Since the human body is so rare, if we are murdered by gangsters and lose our lives, it will definitely be a huge loss for us and a huge loss for our family.

Step 2 Abortion

Abortion is the main act of killing people. If you haven't studied Buddhist precepts, you may be used to abortion. At present, most countries in the world legally stipulate that abortion is legal, so that couples in many countries and regions can have an abortion at will for both parties or even one of them. However, according to Buddhist precepts, abortion violates the precept of not killing. Abortion kills the fetus in the womb, and the fetus has sacred knowledge, so the fetus should also have basic human rights.

Generally speaking, after one month of pregnancy, the sixth child will open, and his hands, feet, limbs, eyes and ears will gradually mature. Fetuses also have all kinds of thoughts and consciousness. The fetus in the abdomen is the same as normal people after birth. So in Buddhism's view, the fetus is a complete person.

People are different from animals. The most important thing is that we have culture, morality, compassion and respect for others. However, in our self-proclaimed "civilized" modern society, the respect for fetal personality is far from enough. According to the survey, the total number of induced abortions in China in 2002 was 1.493 million, which means that 1.493 million lives were lost that year. In 2004, the total number of induced abortions reached 4 million, and in 2008 it reached about130,000. The total number of deaths in World War I just exceeded100000. Now in China alone, the number of small lives murdered in 2008 reached130,000. This is enough to make people feel shocked.

Abortion is based on selfishness, hurting an innocent little life in order to facilitate one's own life, which often reflects the dark side of human nature. Imagine that although you are sitting here alive now, if your mother doesn't want to give birth to you when she is pregnant, then she will abort you. If you want to be reborn and get a person, the probability is very small. In the previous life, you worked hard to practice the three conversions and five precepts, and finally got the chance to be a man in the next life. Your parents didn't cherish this opportunity to be a man and strangled you in the womb. How terrible!

3. War

If we are in an era of war or turmoil, our lives will be threatened at any time. This is what people don't want to meet. We all want peace, and only on the basis of peace can society develop. If everyone in society can abide by the precept of not killing and not infringe on others, then the whole social order will be basically guaranteed, and our life safety will be basically guaranteed, so that we can work, live and study normally.

For us Buddhists, if we don't want to fall into the three evils in the future, we must especially keep the commandment not to kill. People without certain good roots will not easily improve their confidence in Buddhism, so ordinary Buddhists will better abide by this commandment. However, we should realize that this commandment is essential for personal life, family life and social life. This commandment will not make people lose their freedom, on the contrary, it can ensure your life safety.

Buddha is very merciful. He not only cares about human life, but also cares about other people's lives. Therefore, this commandment stipulates that all living things should not be harmed at will.

(2) Don't steal

The second rule of the Five Commandments is not to steal. If you know that the property in front of you is not your own, but someone else's, but you deliberately take it for yourself, and keep it away from the original through corresponding convenience, this is not theft.

Theft, robbery and looting in daily life are all illegal means, or acts that violate social laws, unit systems or social morality and infringe on other people's property or public property to satisfy their own selfish desires.

Some thefts are personal, which will bring troubles to personal life. The ancients said, "Food is the most important thing for the people. Although our lives are not directly threatened, if we lose some material security in life, it will cause difficulties in life. Property damage may leave you with no food, no clothes, no money to pay rent or buy a house. Huge economic losses will bring great trouble to your normal life, and sometimes even directly endanger your survival.

Some thefts are aimed at public property, but the public is affected. Some thieves steal the manhole cover at night, and pedestrians will fall into the well carelessly. If passing vehicles don't notice the lack of manhole cover, it is easy to have accidents and endanger the lives of citizens. There are also thieves who steal some public facilities, such as wires, resulting in abnormal power supply in some areas. There are also small secret communication devices that hinder our normal communication.

In addition to theft, robbery and robbery also belong to theft. For example, car thieves stare at you wearing expensive jewelry and accidentally take away your gold necklace and silver bracelet. They generally don't care about your personal safety, and sometimes they usually tear your ear off in order to get your earrings. There are also some lawless people who, in order to achieve his goal, take other people's property and personal safety by some violent means. These are not allowed by law and morality, nor by Buddhist precepts.

Besides, corruption also belongs to the category of theft. If staff members take advantage of their personal position to illegally embezzle the property of the unit or the state, it will endanger the public interest, which is also undesirable.

The precept of not stealing is mainly 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, don't hurt others based on hatred, on the other hand, don't rob others of their property based on jealousy or greed. If you infringe upon the lawful property of others by illegal means, it will not only violate social morality and social laws, but also violate Buddhist precepts, and will be condemned by public opinion and sanctioned by law. If we can't solve greed in time, realize the mistake of stealing and repent like a law, it may lead us to go astray in the future.

(3) Don't do evil

This commandment is closely related to social order and family happiness. Almost all countries have formulated corresponding social laws and social ethics to regulate people's sexual behavior, and almost all religious groups also have specific commandments about evil, and Buddhism is particularly important for this commandment. Of course, for people who believe in Buddhism at home, it is generally necessary to have a normal husband and wife life, but this commandment stipulates that apart from normal husband and wife sex life, there can be no other substantial proper relationship between men and women, because evil is likely to destroy other people's normal marriage and family, and even lead to fatal abortion.

Monogamy is a universal social norm. However, with the higher material living standards and lower moral values, gender relations in society are becoming more and more complicated. The data shows that the divorce rate in China is increasing year by year, and 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 will be desperate for divorce, leading to unstable marriage and family.

If a normal family has marital changes, the impact on children is extremely significant. Children who don't get complete fatherly love 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 in the future and may not be able to integrate well into society.

Generally speaking, remarried families will have a negative impact on children. It is a common phenomenon that stepfathers and stepmothers can't fulfill their responsibilities as fathers or mothers to children who are not their own. Sometimes stepfathers discriminate against or treat children who are not their own, which will cause serious psychological trauma to children. When such children grow up, they often have dark psychology about family and marriage.

Stepfathers and stepmother abuse children, and children are likely to have major personality disorders or behavioral problems in the future, such as depression, anxiety, autism, social fear or antisocial psychology, or run away from home, indulge in video games, and be keen on puppy love. Puppy love is often because children can't get corresponding care in the family and turn to the opposite sex of the same age to meet their emotional needs. These phenomena will lead to the unhealthy development of children's body and mind in the future. 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 children.

In addition, improper relationship between men and women can easily lead to abortion. Many women who have abortions are unmarried girls. Unmarried pregnancy first causes physical harm to women, such as intrauterine infection or habitual abortion. The more abortions, the greater the possibility of abortion in the future, and may also lead to lifelong infertility. Some unsafe abortions may even lead to death.

In addition, abortion will also cause mental trauma to the parties. For example, American obstetricians and gynecologists have found such data through research: about 35% of abortions often feel that their aborted children visit, about 54% of abortions often have nightmares related to abortion, and about 78% of abortions often cry, feel lonely and helpless, and even lose confidence in life and have suicidal tendencies. Foreign researchers call all these mental injuries caused by abortion "abortion sequelae".

Some sexual relations other than husband and wife are legal in some countries. For example, in some western countries, the yellow industry is legalized, the rights and interests of sex workers are protected by law, and many people in society have accepted this profession morally. But it is in these countries that prostitution leads to the widespread spread of sexually transmitted diseases, especially AIDS. 1984, there are less than 3,000 AIDS patients reported worldwide. But 25 years later, AIDS has killed 25 million people around the world, and another 33 million people have been infected. Because of AIDS, more than 1 1 ten thousand children in the world have lost at least one parent.

For Buddhists, sexual relations other than husband and wife generally make them violate the precept of innocence, and may also destroy other people's families and hurt their families. If you abort because of this, it will not only kill the innocent fetus, but also usually hurt the aborted woman herself. Non-evil precepts not only protect Buddhists themselves, but also protect social order and marriage and family.

(4) Don't lie

The other party is human. If we deliberately lie to him and tell him what we lied to, and the other party can hear clearly and understand, then we have made a serious warning. It is mainly aimed at people's commandments of not lying. If you are dealing with animals and plants, it cannot constitute a condition for breaking the precepts.

There is a big lie in a lie. What is a big lie? You pretend to be a Buddha in front of others when you clearly know that you are not a Buddha; You know that you didn't get the first fruit, the second fruit, the third fruit and the fourth fruit, but pretend to get the first fruit, the second fruit, the third fruit and the fourth fruit in front of others; You didn't see the Buddha, but pretended to see the Buddha; You didn't see the light in meditation, but pretended to see the light; You didn't achieve the first Yi Chan, but lied that you achieved the fifth Yi Chan, and even lied that you achieved the second Zen, the third Zen and the fourth Zen. For these masters of law, if you know that you have not proved them, you will commit the crime of not telling lies.

In addition to the above big lies about spiritual realm, people also have many lies in their daily life, such as slander, false accusation, fraud, perjury and so on. The crime of libel is to fabricate facts to slander others, which will have a certain impact on their personality, dignity, reputation and status, and even violate the law if the circumstances are serious. False accusations have risen to another level, fabricating charges to send others to the court, and if the means are clever, they may even send others to prison. Some people cheat their status, reputation, property, etc. Or use fraudulent means of fabricating facts or concealing the truth to disturb the normal social order. There are also some swindlers in the street, who have no fixed object and purpose, but use some false words to cheat others' interests at will according to the situation at that time. A witness's perjury in court may do great harm to the client. For example, if someone else didn't kill someone, you can testify in court that he killed someone, and it is possible to let the real murderer get away with it, while the innocent person will suffer from jail.

Liars usually aim at harming others and benefiting 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 to others, or even to help others directly. We call such lies convenience lies. For example, if you see a person being chased by gangsters and hiding in a certain place, the gangsters ask you if you have seen this person, and you say no, others may be saved by your lies. Legally and morally, this is acceptable and commendable. Although according to the voice of Buddhism, this is deceptive; But according to the precepts of Bodhisattva, you lied and saved a life, but you didn't violate the precepts.

(5) Don't drink alcohol

Wine can be both exciting and intoxicating. In ancient times, alcohol 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. Another example is cocaine, marijuana, heroin, ice, * * and other drugs, which are more harmful to people's health.

Abstinence from alcohol, in a broad sense, refers to any addictive stimulant or anesthetic that we know is addictive and have to swallow, inhale or inject, that is, promise to abstain from alcohol. Everyone should stay away from alcohol and tobacco, especially drugs, in order to keep discipline and keep body and mind clean. Why stay away from these addictive stimulants or anesthetics? Because they will hurt people's body and mind.

Excessive drinking at one time can lead to acute alcoholism, which is characterized by pale face, unclear language, vague consciousness, and even coma and incontinence. If effective measures are not taken in time for some serious situations, it may even lead to death. Work after drinking can easily lead to accidents, especially driving after drinking can lead to serious traffic accidents. Long-term alcoholics will suffer from chronic alcoholism, which will lead to poor orientation, decreased memory and tremors of hands and feet. Once alcoholics stop drinking for a while, the quality of sleep will drop significantly. One-time alcoholism and long-term alcoholism are harmful to health, and bring harm to human cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems, digestive systems, respiratory systems, nervous systems, reproductive systems and other organs. A woman who drinks a lot is likely to have a bad influence on the health of her children during pregnancy.

Long-term smoking may also lead to some serious diseases, such as oral cancer, esophageal cancer, laryngeal cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, gallbladder cancer, endometrial cancer and other rare diseases. Medical research shows that people who smoke for 20 years are 20 times more likely to die of lung cancer than ordinary people, and smokers are 3 times more likely to die in middle age than non-smokers. For the families of smokers, long-term exposure to second-hand smoke is likely to cause corresponding diseases, such as rhinitis, pharyngitis, pneumonia and even cancer.

Some modern people become addicted to drugs out of spiritual emptiness or curiosity. Drug abuse is very harmful to body and mind. Long-term drug abuse will not only destroy people's normal physiological function and immune function, but also make people mentally decadent and further lose their basic personal dignity. In order to obtain drugs and drug money, it is very likely to break the law. For a family, once one of its members is addicted to drugs, the family is likely to break up. Drug addicts will spend all their income on drugs, and once they run out of money, they will ask for it at home. If there is no money at home, it is possible to sell the family property, or illegally obtain money for drug abuse through personal injury to others. Many drug addicts are almost useless. One-time drug overdose will directly lead to death. Drug abuse not only harms the health of drug users, 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.

Taking these addictive stimulants or anesthetics will not only damage the physical and mental health of individuals, but also damage their family members, and even lead to personal death and family breakdown. So you should stay away from these addictive stimulants or anesthetics.

Third, the conclusion

Once you violate the five commandments, you will often hurt yourself and your family while infringing on others. Some injuries are irreversible and irreversible. The Five Commandments can provide us with reliable guarantee, not only for physical and mental safety, but also for the happiness of life. For practitioners, the five precepts are also the most basic guarantee, whether they want to become Buddhists or get rid of them. Adhering to the precepts of three conversions, five precepts and even eight official pavilions will enable us to continue to be human beings in the afterlife, or to be born in heaven, or even to the Elysium. To sum up, the five precepts are the guarantee for people to live a normal, healthy and happy life.

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Ask questions and communicate.

Q: What you said today mainly refers to serious violations of the precepts, but the requirements of the precepts should be broader. How do we define the standard of keeping precepts?

A: There are slight, moderate and serious violations of the precepts.

As far as the killing circle is concerned, if it is intentional killing, it is a fundamental felony to kill others through corresponding convenience; Intentional murder, but also committed murder, but others did not die because of it, and committed a moderate crime; Intentionally killing people and making corresponding preparations, but in the process of killing people, the killing behavior was stopped in time and no harm was caused, which is a misdemeanor.

The ancients said, "Don't act because of petty crimes", and Buddhists should also "don't act because of petty crimes". A single spark can start a prairie fire. If you accumulate too many petty crimes in your daily life but don't pay attention to them, you are likely to commit more crimes in the future. So don't commit petty crimes easily.

Q: I have never had an abortion before when I met a Buddha. After I converted, I repented and vowed not to recreate it. Is there any way to get rid of the evil of abortion?

A: Abortion is indeed quite common in contemporary society. If there is an abortion after the five precepts, and the abortion is successful, it is the crime of not killing. Abortion before abstinence, because it has never been abstinent, does not violate the precepts. Of course, this behavior itself is also a mistake. As for how to repent, there are many ways, such as chanting, chanting, holding spells and worshiping Buddha. The most important thing is, as you said, it will never be rebuilt.

Q: Is it illegal to accidentally step on some tiny life such as ants while walking on the road?

A: Intention or not is often a very important criterion to judge whether to break the precepts. For the five commandments, if you violate them unintentionally, it is generally not a violation. You walked on the road and accidentally trampled an ant to death. Because you didn't mean to, you didn't violate the rules. But the ant must have died because of you, and you could have read a death spell for it.

Q: For meditation, is it better to be childlike or to completely sever sexual relations?

A: It is necessary for family members who practice meditation to observe the five precepts, but they should strictly observe the precepts of not doing evil. In addition to the normal sexual relationship between husband and wife, there should be no other improper sexual relationship. Even if it is a normal couple's sexual life, it should be reasonable and legal, and don't pursue the senses too much.

If you want to achieve high-level meditation, you'd better not win. Generally speaking, teenagers who become monks can achieve higher meditation skills than those who become monks halfway (not teenagers). Of course, there is a premise that his meditation is guided by good knowledge and the method is correct and appropriate.

For example, let everyone know the influence of winning on meditation. The Buddha told a legend that there were 500 immortals in ancient India. They were all good at meditation and could fly around in the sky. Once, these immortals flew in the sky together and saw a king having a good time in the Woods with his beautiful concubines. At present, 500 immortals have an idea that fell directly from the sky and was cut off by the king. The place where it fell was later called the place where the immortals fell.

Q: I'm in sales. It's easy for customers to lie when they ask about products. What should I do?

A: In sales, if it is inevitable to always tell lies, you can avoid being told lies. If you want to behave yourself, you have to change jobs.

Q: Is it illegal to drink milk to relieve stomachache after the Eight Guanting pavilion teaches by example?

A: This mainly involves the precept "Don't eat in the afternoon" in Baguanting. The so-called afternoon fasting, also known as fasting, mainly refers to not eating solid food in the afternoon, including liquid food such as soup and soup containing solid food. But it is acceptable for tea, fruit juice or drinks without any solids. Some people, like Southern Buddhism, think that drinking milk can also lead to unclean fasting, so it is certainly good not to drink milk. But if you have a stomachache and the doctor has asked you to drink milk to relieve it, then you don't violate the regulations.

Q: Today, after I was banned by Baguan Pavilion, someone handed me something to eat. For an instant, I forgot that I was forbidden to eat by Bajie. Is the ring broken?

A: After fasting, if you know that a food is solid in the afternoon and then eat it, then you have violated the commandment of "No eating after noon".

However, the motto "don't eat in the afternoon" is a cover-up. What is a cover? In other words, although the act itself violates Buddhist precepts, it does not directly hurt anyone, and it is not a big crime. Even if you have violated it, you only need to sincerely repent and swear not to violate it again when the Eight Guanting Pavilion is banned, and there will be no big problem.