What Are the Five Precepts? Why Should People Follow the Five Precepts? What is the Five Precepts? In the previous article, Feng Shui Tam Nguyen shared with you the concept of the Five Precepts and 2 of the 5 things the Buddha taught Buddhists and people to follow. Today, back to the topic of the Five Precepts, we will share with our readers the remaining 3 things about the content and meaning of the Buddha's commandments we should follow! III. Not to commit adultery: Why not commit adultery? Fornication means that we want to talk about lewdness, illegality. The law teaches that people who leave the home world must completely stop lustful sex, and those who stay at home must not indulge in sexual misconduct. When husband and wife have enough wedding ceremony, it is called the main ceremony; In addition, sneaking around doing illegal activities with the opposite sex is called evil. But if the husband and wife officially go, but lying in the wrong place, getting close to each other without measure, it is also adultery. That's to say it's crude. To put it more subtly, all the distractions, immoral thoughts, and leisurely play, all fall under the category of adultery. According to Buddhism, adultery will be banished to 18 levels of hell. The Buddha forbids sexual misconduct for the following reasons: - Respect for justice: Everyone wants his family to be peaceful and happy, his wife and children are righteous. human sect, leading human wives into the path of lust. - Protecting family happiness: There is nothing more painful and dark than when a family where a husband or wife has a private, evil heart. Happiness is no longer, when husband and wife do not believe each other! Once the family falls into that situation, the children will be ashamed, neglected, orphaned, relatives do not care about, career ruined, villages denigrate, reputation tarnished. An essential condition for maintaining family happiness is the loyalty of husband and wife. It is said: "If the wife agrees with her husband, the East basin will also dry up". Because of the adultery of one of the two companions, there are often cases of jealousy, quarrels, beatings, and sometimes murders in the family. Sometimes, for revenge, people often see the scene "He eats cha, she eats spring rolls". A husband who cares about his wife, their own wife and children are also trying to cross the fence to other people's houses. They destroy the happiness of people's families, the happiness of their families has also been broken up first. Therefore, forbidding adultery is a necessary condition to build happiness for one's family and another's family. - Avoid hatred and evil retribution: The Buddha taught: "He who embraces lust is like one who carries a torch against the wind and is determined to be burned" (Sutta Chapter Fourteen). Indeed, people have an evil mind indulged in lust, sooner or later determined to be harmed: if they do not lose their home and lose their country, they will also break their legs and lose their lives by the point of a gun or a sword. In the past, the dark, catastrophic results caused by infatuation with lust were nothing short of; we just need to unload the piles of history books or daily newspapers, and we will see many in every page, every paragraph. Among the enmities, none is more powerful than the hatred caused by the frivolous deception of love. Murders happen every day, mostly as a result of adultery. The benefits of not committing adultery. Therefore, keeping the precept forbidding sexual misconduct will have the following benefits: - On the personal side: The Ten-Good Sutra says: "The worldly people who do not commit adultery will enjoy the following four benefits: + Six faculties (ear) , eyes, nose, tongue, body, and mind) are all perfected,+He will be respected throughout his life. + Eliminate all distractions and disturbances. + A lifelong love affair that no one dares to infringe." - In terms of unions: In a society where everyone does not commit adultery, the family will be happy, peaceful, and sad. , scenes of enmity, killing will not happen again; children will be healthy, cherished, society will prosper.In short, this unclean, suffering Saha world will turn into a pure world, Peace and joy IV. Not telling the truth: There are four ways to tell the truth: Lying, spoofing, two-way tongue talk, and cruel speech Lying will cause unpredictable consequences (Photo: VNA) slander) - Lying or lying: is not telling the truth, whether to say no, not to say yes, to say the wrong thing, to say the wrong thing to say the right thing; what is heard and not heard, what is not heard; or fake in front of you. praising, criticizing behind; Or when you like it, say it's sweet and fragrant, when you hate it, it's bitter and sour. In short, thinking that words, words, and actions are contradictory before and after, different from above and below, inconsistency inside and out, all belong to lies. - Talking about weaving: is a little work for a lot, making people angry; is to refine speech, refine a good voice, raise and lower the voice slightly to seduce listeners, make people passionately infected; sometimes it's satirical, slurred, sarcastic, and stingy, making the listener miserable. In short, how many words that are not true and true, adding or subtracting to frivolous, glossy literature that make listeners confused, create troubles, are called gossip. - Saying two-way tongue or more simply saying "two-pointed shock": that is, when you come to this place, talk with one side to speak ill of the other, To the other side, talk with that side to slander this side, to turn close friends against each other, favor and righteous people oppose and hate each other. - To speak cruelly: to speak harshly and curse words, making the listener suffer, sad, and afraid. Why does Buddha forbid telling the truth? The Buddha forbids telling the truth for the following reasons: - Respecting the truth: Buddhism is the Tao as it is; Buddhist followers must respect the truth. People who are used to lies and do not seek the truth can hardly witness the results. We are living in delusion, the main job of a monk is to try to break that illusion in order to see the original vow; If you can't do that, but on the contrary, you pile up that illusion with lies and deceit, it's really unethical. - Cultivate compassion: The main motivation of lies is selfishness, cruelty, wanting to harm people to satisfy their dark desires. People who are deceived or deceived must suffer for themselves, sometimes have to have enmity and hatred, sometimes they have to break up their family. Cultivators who do so have exhausted their conscience and have already strangled the love in their hearts. Once compassion no longer exists, which means that the main motivation is lost, the practice is only a lie, deceiving people, and of course never having good results. - Preserve loyalty in society: In a family, a group, a society where no one believes in anyone, all efforts from small to large will fail. In Confucianism, one of the five basic virtues is faith. "Humans do not have faith in themselves", that is the teaching of Confucius. Family and social happiness cannot be obtained in lies. suspicion, envy. - Avoiding the karma of suffering: Speech is not a sword, but it is more dangerous than a sword, because it has two points, one stabbing others, the other stabbing the person who uses it. Everyone probably has not forgotten the story of the shepherd boy who wanted to fool the neighbors, by shouting "Fire! Fire!", but he only managed to fool people once, the next time his house burned down, even though he screamed miserably. no one wants to come to the treatment anymore. See, the liar only harms himself. Therefore, the Buddha taught: "For all people in this world, the sharp ax is in their mouth, the reason why they cut themselves is because of evil words." I had to say slander and misrepresentation to harm people, but when I have harmed people, people will always harm me. "Evil retribution evil" is like that. To avoid enmity, avoid bad karma, we should not lie and lie. Benefits of not lying: - On the personal side: Being respected and trusted by others, no one holds any grudges; Wherever you go, people around you will give you a friendly and warm welcome. In the business profession, honest people have many clients and are entrusted with many precious responsibilities. - In terms of union: Family and society are united in trust. All joint works are promoted with good results. Compatriots love and understand each other more. Limits Lying is a great disaster, for you and the society. However, there are also some cases when it is advisable to lie. That's when out of compassion you have to lie to save people or things. Lying is a crime in cases where greed and hatred are motivated. On the contrary, if motivated by compassion, one must lie, then there is no sin. V. Do not drink alcohol: All things that have intoxicating or toxic substances are not allowed to drink. I can't drink it myself, but I also can't force others to drink. Forcing and encouraging others to drink, the sin is worse than drinking. When you are seriously ill, take medicines that do not heal, the doctor tells you to mix alcohol with medicine, so you can temporarily use it. But before using it, you must tell them to the Sangha. When the illness is over, do not continue to take the medicine mixed with alcohol. Alcohol changes people's moods. For what reasons did the Buddha forbid drinking alcohol? Buddha forbids drinking alcohol for the following reasons: - Preserving the seeds of wisdom: Alcohol is more dangerous than poison. A cup of poison we drink, we die immediately, but we only die in the present body, but when we drink alcohol, we lose the seed of wisdom. Therefore, in order to preserve the precious seed of wisdom, the Buddha forbade drinking alcohol. - Preventing the causes of sin: Alcohol itself is not a sin such as killing, stealing, adultery, but it can cause other sins to arise. When drunk and intoxicated, any crime can be committed. Here is a story to prove it: A farmer was plowing a field in the middle of the field when suddenly appeared in front of him a huge, strange evil spirit, threatening to kill him. He was terrified, crying and begging for his life. The evil spirit said, "If you do any of these three things, I will spare you: either kill your father, or beat your mother, or drink all the wine left on your table. The farmer thought for a while and then replied: - Please let me drink a liter of wine. After hearing that, the god seemed satisfied and then disappeared. That afternoon, The farmer came home, saw a liter of wine that his dear grandfather bought to treat guests, because the house was about to have an anniversary, he quickly grabbed it and gulped it down. His father saw his son insolent, grabbed a stick and charged at him. The magic has absorbed, he no longer knows right and wrong, snatched his father's staff, beat him to death with a tree! The mother ran to hug the mule. He was not angry yet, beat his mother to the dust. Neighbors ran to arrest him to lead him to the mandarin for killing his father and beating his mother. When he woke up, he knew that drinking was the heaviest of the three things that the evil god made him do." In short, alcohol causes many sins. Here are 10 harmful effects of alcohol that in the scriptures mentioned: 1 - Loss of wealth; 2 - Increase in killing intent; 3 - Intellectual decline; 4 - Unsuccessful career; 5 - Body and mind are suffering a lot; 6 - Body or illness; 7 - The mind of anger is impulsive, likes to argue; 8 - Blessings wear away; 9 - Lifespan is reduced; 10 - The end of life goes to hell. Benefits of Alcohol Prohibition - On a personal level: Those who do not drink alcohol can avoid the 10 harms mentioned above. - In terms of unions: The family is happy, the children are less sick, the society is harmonious, the race is strong. Conclusion We have seen the practical and beneficial use of the 5 precepts in terms of individuals and groups. If the Three Refuges are the foundation, then the five precepts are the five steps for lay Buddhists to step up to Sainthood. In the first step, if a Buddhist can make a vow to keep all five precepts, the better; If because of many attachments we can't keep all five precepts, there are a few precepts that we think we can practice, such as: Do not drink alcohol, do not lie. Then, with diligence and strong bodhicitta, we continue to make vows to keep other precepts such as not stealing, not engaging in sexual misconduct. .. But if you have made a vow to keep any precepts, keep them loyal, don't take one step forward, two steps back, you will never get anywhere if you stick around like that. If a Buddhist does not observe any precepts, why is he called a Buddhist? Ordinary people, not following the Buddha, but still maintaining the right conduct such as not drinking, not lying, not stealing, let alone a Buddhist? We come to Buddhism to want to go beyond the ordinary life of the world. If we have entered the Tao and still continue with the old floating life, or worse than the ordinary life of the world, then we want to tarnish the Dao. Therefore, Buddhists must try to keep the precepts to be worthy of their name, to bring happiness to themselves and sentient beings. Non-Buddhists should also keep the precepts: The five precepts mentioned above are nothing special or mysterious. It is a common citizen lesson that any society, any country that wants to be prosperous and powerful cannot ignore. So those five laws are not only applicable to Buddhists, but also to all those who want to live a healthy, peaceful, respectful and progressive life.END=NAMO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.22/6/2021.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.