- The Healing Power of the Precepts
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu
- Copyright © 1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu
The Buddha was like a doctor, treating the spiritual ills of the human race. The path
of practice he taught was like a course of therapy for suffering hearts and minds. This
way of understanding the Buddha and his teachings dates back to the earliest texts, and
yet is also very current. Buddhist meditation practice is often advertised as a form of
healing, and quite a few psychotherapists now recommend that their patients try meditation
as part of their treatment.
After several years of teaching and practicing meditation as therapy, however, many of
us have found that meditation on its own is not enough. In my own experience, I have found
that Western meditators tend to be afflicted more with a certain grimness and lack of
self-esteem than any Asians I have ever taught. Their psyches are so wounded by modern
civilization that they lack the resilience and persistence needed before concentration and
insight practices can be genuinely therapeutic. Other teachers have noted this problem as
well and, as a result, many of them have decided that the Buddhist path is insufficient
for our particular needs. To make up for this insufficiency they have experimented with
ways of supplementing meditation practice, combining it with such things as myth, poetry,
psychotherapy, social activism, sweat lodges, mourning rituals, and even drumming. The
problem, though, may not be that there is anything lacking in the Buddhist path, but that
we simply haven't been following the Buddha's full course of therapy.
The Buddha's path consisted not only of mindfulness, concentration, and insight
practices, but also of virtue, beginning with the five precepts. In fact, the precepts
constitute the first step in the path. There is a tendency in the West to dismiss the five
precepts as Sunday-school rules bound to old cultural norms that no longer apply to our
modern society, but this misses the role that the Buddha intended for them: They are part
of a course of therapy for wounded minds. In particular, they are aimed at curing two
ailments that underlie low self-esteem: regret and denial.
When our actions don't measure up to certain standards of behavior, we either (1)
regret the actions or (2) engage in one of two kinds of denial, either (a) denying that
our actions did in fact happen or (b) denying that the standards of measurement are really
valid. These reactions are like wounds in the mind. Regret is an open wound, tender to the
touch, while denial is like hardened, twisted scar tissue around a tender spot. When the
mind is wounded in these ways, it can't settle down comfortably in the present, for it
finds itself resting on raw, exposed flesh or calcified knots. Even when it's forced to
stay in the present, it's there only in a tensed, contorted and partial way, and so the
insights it gains tend to be contorted and partial as well. Only if the mind is free of
wounds and scars can it be expected to settle down comfortably and freely in the present,
and to give rise to undistorted discernment.
This is where the five precepts come in: They are designed to heal these wounds and
scars. Healthy self-esteem comes from living up to a set of standards that are practical,
clear-cut, humane, and worthy of respect; the five precepts are formulated in such a way
that they provide just such a set of standards.
Practical: The standards set by the precepts are simple -- no intentional
killing, stealing, having illicit sex, lying, or taking intoxicants. It's entirely
possible to live in line with these standards. Not always easy or convenient, but always
possible. I have seen efforts to translate the precepts into standards that sound more
lofty or noble -- taking the second precept, for example, to mean no abuse of the planet's
resources -- but even the people who reformulate the precepts in this way admit that it is
impossible to live up to them. Anyone who has dealt with psychologically damaged people
knows that very often the damage comes from having been presented with impossible
standards to live by. If you can give people standards that take a little effort and
mindfulness, but are possible to meet, their self-esteem soars dramatically as they
discover that they are actually capable of meeting those standards. They can then face
more demanding tasks with confidence.
Clear-cut: The precepts are formulated with no ifs, ands, or buts. This means
that they give very clear guidance, with no room for waffling or less-than-honest
rationalizations. An action either fits in with the precepts or it doesn't. Again,
standards of this sort are very healthy to live by. Anyone who has raised children has
found that, although they may complain about hard and fast rules, they actually feel more
secure with them than with rules that are vague and always open to negotiation. Clear-cut
rules don't allow for unspoken agendas to come sneaking in the back door of the mind. If,
for example, the precept against killing allowed you to kill living beings when their
presence is inconvenient, that would place your convenience on a higher level than your
compassion for life. Convenience would become your unspoken standard -- and as we all
know, unspoken standards provide huge tracts of fertile ground for hypocrisy and denial to
grow. If, however, you stick by the standards of the precepts, then as the Buddha says,
you are providing unlimited safety for the lives of all. There are no conditions under
which you would take the lives of any living beings, no matter how inconvenient they might
be. In terms of the other precepts, you are providing unlimited safety for their
possessions and sexuality, and unlimited truthfulness and mindfulness in your
communication with them. When you find that you can trust yourself in matters like these,
you gain an undeniably healthy sense of self-respect.
Humane: The precepts are humane both to the person who observes them and to the
people affected by his or her actions. If you observe them, you are aligning yourself with
the doctrine of karma, which teaches that the most important powers shaping your
experience of the world are the intentional thoughts, words, and deeds you chose in the
present moment. This means that you are not insignificant. Every time you take a choice --
at home, at work, at play -- you are exercising your power in the on-going fashioning of
the world. At the same time, this principle allows you to measure yourself in terms that
are entirely under your control: your intentional actions in the present moment. In other
words, they don't force you to measure yourself in terms of your looks, strength, brains,
financial prowess, or any other criteria that depend less on your present karma than they
do on karma from the past. Also, they don't play on feelings of guilt or force you to
bemoan your past lapses. Instead, they focus your attention on the ever-present
possibility of living up to your standards in the here and now. If you are living with
people who observe the precepts, you find that your dealings with them are not a cause for
mistrust or fear. They regard your desire for happiness as akin to theirs. Their worth as
individuals does not depend on situations in which there have to be winners and losers.
When they talk about developing lovingkindness and mindfulness in their meditation, you
see it reflected in their actions. In this way the precepts foster not only healthy
individuals, but also a healthy society -- a society in which the self-respect and mutual
respect are not at odds.
Worthy of respect: When you adopt a set of standards, it is important to know
whose standards they are and to see where those standards come from, for in effect you are
joining their group, looking for their approval, and accepting their criteria for right
and wrong. In this case, you couldn't ask for a better group to join: the Buddha and his
noble disciples. The five precepts are called "standards appealing to the noble
ones." From what the texts tell us of the noble ones, they are not people who accept
standards simply on the basis of popularity. They have put their lives on the line to see
what leads to true happiness, and have seen for themselves, for example, that all lying is
pathological, and that any sex outside of a stable, committed relationship is unsafe at
any speed. Other people may not respect you for living by the five precepts, but noble
ones do, and their respect is worth more than that of anyone else in the world.
Now, many people find it cold comfort to join such an abstract group, especially when
they have not yet met any noble ones in person. It's hard to be good-hearted and generous
when the society immediately around you openly laughs at those qualities and values such
things as sexual prowess or predatory business skills instead. This is where Buddhist
communities can come in. It would be very useful if Buddhist groups would openly part ways
with the prevailing amoral tenor of our culture and let it be known in a kindly way that
they value goodheartedness and restraint among their members. In doing so, they would
provide a healthy environment for the full-scale adoption of the Buddha's course of
therapy: the practice of concentration and discernment in a life of virtuous action. Where
we have such environments, we find that meditation needs no myth or make-believe to
support it, because it is based on the reality of a well-lived life. You can look at the
standards by which you live, and then breathe in and out comfortably -- not as a flower or
a mountain, but as a full-fledged, responsible human being. For that's what you are.
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