Thought for Thu, 31 Dec 2009
The tongue like a sharp knife... Kills without drawing blood. - Buddha ...
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Going along with this week's theme of precepts -- here's a wonderful article from the summer 2006 Tricycle on precept practice by Lin Jensen. The author is writing from the Zen perspective, but I think this perspective applies to other schools of Buddhism as well.
Jensen quotes Daishin Morgan of Shasta Abbey, who said that the purpose of the precepts is "to guide us beyond their form in a legalistic sense to the spirit that lies behind them." The precept, then, is not a rule to be followed. Rather, Jensen says, "a precept is a question to be held up to the light of circumstance, an inquiry rather than an answer."
This doesn't mean a Buddhist is perpetually re-inventing ethics on the fly. Rather, the precepts guide us into the open heart of compassion. Compassion is not separate from the wisdom of anatta, no self. In compassion there is no separation of self and other, and no reliance of other points of reference, such as past or future. Jensen writes that the Buddhist does not ask what is right or wrong, but "What am I to do at this moment?"
Beyond Right and Wrong originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 23:22:48.
