Innocence Emerges

This is not about which precepts one may follow and which ones you might wish to ignore. This is about the way that one approaches others in one’s life and community. Do you want to approach them thinking I know what is right, and I know what is wrong, and they must follow my path or be lost, and not a Buddhist.

Or, does one approach them with the openness of learning that they are also Buddha in their own way, in their own life; and it is the truth of their Buddha that they are revealing to you. For the Buddha does not just live through the original teacher, but through the many teachers and students that have gone since.

Now the topic that is in front of us is the behavior of everyday people, not the behavior of monks and nuns. This is important to remember because the outlook in life, and the way that they are supposed to lead their lives are different.

And, since the topic is one for the general Buddhist, we have to consider what behavior is correct for them. It is given in the precepts, which they take refuge in, that one refrains from wrong behavior in regard to sense pleasure.

This precept is undertaken to help the refugee to focus upon the teachings of the Buddha in a mindful manner. No to be lost in the usual idle thoughts that so occupy those who are not caring of the mind and its contents. It is intended to help focus the mind in the correct direction for the Buddhist follower, to further their progress upon the noble eightfold path with less obstruction.

It is not meant to be proscription, but to lead a direction. This is important to understand because there is no punishment, that is why the phrase is “to refrain from” this activity. Not to make this elimination, but a consideration of the intent that we approach practice with.

If this is instead taken as a proscription, then the effect may not be to instill this as a direction of practice, but a wall that prevents one from living ones life in a realistic manner. The noble eightfold path is not about unobtainable ideals, it is about approaching other folk in a realistic manner, and living in a way that supports that direction.

As a direction that one undertakes, rather than a proscription, than one sees this as not a reason to condemn others, whose lives may be different than our own, but as a way to help us deal with our own lives more effectively. Therefore, these directions may not be suited for everyone, as there may be some who partake of sense pleasure in an automatically decent amount. Rather than getting lost in sense pleasure, or its various side issues. For those who are extremely indulgent, this refrain would be more of a direction for them to undertake.

To turn these directions on their head, and make them the master of one’s life could hardly be what the Buddha intended, because the Tathagata intended for his followers to achieve liberation, not rule followers. The prejudice that I spoke of earlier was about those who hold up a moral yardstick unto others, insisting that they live by their proclaimed rules, judging them to be the standard because they have found some wise man somewhere who, at a surface reading, seems to embrace these idealistic rules. Whereupon, a deeper reading of the meaning that is to be conveyed in the wisdom of these teachers, finds not so much rules to entrap one’s life, but instead the intentions that go into a wise life.

With this in mind then, we can view this precept as one that makes intimate relationships not an abomination, but the expression of love that humans do. The Buddha did not forbid intimate relationships, and he did not encourage any specific posture as far as I know.

If he had some special rules for monks and nuns that some would like to apply to everyone’s life then that is their interpretation. But, it is not that one could say that the Buddha declared that all should live by the rules for monks and nuns.

It is hoped that one is able to see these ideals that the Buddha leads us to consider to be of value, not in the light of keeping others under control, but in giving one’s practice a clear path to lead it to a better place. Some might wish to review the precept on refraining from speaking evil about others, should they wish to continue some other ideas to consider.