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As for the eight precepts, those move into another area of training for the mind. ...
In other words, there's nothing wrong with murdering people. It's just a training rule.
How could it be anything other than a training rule? Except in the mind of an individual who sees it some other way?
The Precept to not murder people is not a precept designed to train your mind. It's a precept designed to eliminate one part of the suffering of others. If you want to train your mind, go play chess.
As for the eight precepts, those move into another area of training for the mind. ...
In other words, there's nothing wrong with murdering people. It's just a training rule.
How could it be anything other than a training rule? Except in the mind of an individual who sees it some other way?
The Precept to not murder people is not a precept designed to train your mind. It's a precept designed to eliminate one part of the suffering of others. If you want to train your mind, go play chess.
I am going to have to disagree. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the precept is against killing or harming other beings, not murdering people. Some might say that it is the same thing. That causing suffering to other beings is morally wrong. Or that killing for any reason is sinful and will produce future negative results somehow. Others might take the view that killing is only murder under certain circumstances. And that it is morally defensable some times. That is, of course, the way the law views it. When the precept was created, how was killing viewed? Quite likely, it was carried out by authorities or individuals in ways that were not considered murder. I think that the intent of the precept is aimed at conditioning ones mind, or you could say, ones life, toward a more peaceful, compassionate, settled state, in order to facilitate meditative concentration and insight. As I have mentioned before the results of killing creatures for a living, as experienced by me, has not been moral degradation or deteriorating conditions in my life due to "bad karma". What it is, is a stifling of empathy and compassion and drifting away from a more meditative kind of life.
Intention is hugely important in Buddhism. If you have a compassionate intent for those around you, wear deodorant. Some of us are attached to not having to smell unpleasant smells. In this sense, wearing deodorant is an act of compassion. .
lol! Sparing those around you from suffering from your personal fumes also conforms with the "greater good" principle I mentioned earlier. Compassion is the ultimate guide, imo.
But likewise, the OP's brother shouldn't wear perfumes that cause his roomie headaches. No compassion there. I look fwd to your eventual liberation from that situation, OP.
Do you see how much suffering your attempt at rigid attachment to a human construct ("Follow these rules") is causing you?
I agree with @Brian, although I have an addition to make: unless you feel very "called" (to borrow a phrase from our Christian friends) to take up the 8 precepts, I don't see why you should force it upon yourself. That's not the point.
While I definitely think there's some benefit in observing the eight precepts, I also agree that blindly clinging to "rules and observances" in and of themselves is a recipe for suffering. Both wisdom and commonsense are needed in our approach to the eight precepts, in my opinion.
While I definitely think there's some benefit in observing the eight precepts, I also agree that blindly clinging to "rules and observances" in and of themselves is a recipe for suffering. Both wisdom and commonsense are needed in our approach to the eight precepts, in my opinion,
Yes, I agree. That's why I can clearly see the reasons for the first 5, but after that, in my view, it gets pretty questionable. Even with the first 5, one has to decide in his or her own mind exactly what they mean.
Comments
Some might say that it is the same thing. That causing suffering to other beings is morally wrong. Or that killing for any reason is sinful and will produce future negative results somehow.
Others might take the view that killing is only murder under certain circumstances. And that it is morally defensable some times. That is, of course, the way the law views it.
When the precept was created, how was killing viewed? Quite likely, it was carried out by authorities or individuals in ways that were not considered murder.
I think that the intent of the precept is aimed at conditioning ones mind, or you could say, ones life, toward a more peaceful, compassionate, settled state, in order to facilitate meditative concentration and insight.
As I have mentioned before the results of killing creatures for a living, as experienced by me, has not been moral degradation or deteriorating conditions in my life due to "bad karma".
What it is, is a stifling of empathy and compassion and drifting away from a more meditative kind of life.
But likewise, the OP's brother shouldn't wear perfumes that cause his roomie headaches.