Virtue & Right View

When Ajaan Suwat taught a retreat in Massachusetts, at the end of the retreat people asked him, “How do we carry the practice back home into daily life?” He emphasized the precepts in his answer. The person who organized the retreat was upset. He thought the implication was that lay people can’t handle real practice in daily life.

I mentioned this to Ajaan Suwat afterwards. He said, no, that wasn’t his intention at all. The practice of the precepts is an important part of the meditation—that, and having right view. As the Buddha said, the basis for establishing mindfulness has to be right view and good precepts. So make sure you hold to both.

Even if concentration doesn’t come easily, you can work on your precepts; you can maintain your right view. It helps you navigate life in a lot of ways. There are a lot of challenges that come when you’re back home that don’t happen in the monastery, and it’s good to have some clear directions.

People sometimes complain that the precepts are hard and fast. It’s better to think of them as clear-cut: They give a definite “yes” or “no” on certain actions. That saves you from a lot of having to think about: “Well, does this apply here? Does that not apply there?” They’re very clear, especially the precept against lying. You always tell the truth. You don’t have to reveal the whole truth, but you always tell the truth.

And make sure that your views are straight. In other words, they’re in line with the teachings of the Buddha on right view. As he said, if you lose virtue and right view, then it’s a serious loss. Loss of your relatives, loss of your wealth, loss of your health—even though those they may be serious, they’re not nearly as serious as losing your precepts and losing your views, right views.

So maintain those as your precious possessions as you go through the day, as you go through life. You’ll have a good foundation, a foundation that’ll keep you solidly established here. And if you have to leave from here, then they give you a good place to go. That’s your protection all around.

So don’t see the precepts as a lowly practice. After all, they teach you integrity. They teach you harmlessness. They teach you to be mindful of what you’re doing, alert to what you’re doing, to be ardent in trying to do it right. All these are good qualities of the mind.

Remember the word for meditation in Pali, bhāvanā. It doesn’t mean sitting with your eyes closed. It means, “to develop.” As long as you’re developing these good qualities, you’re meditating.

So. Meditate all the time. As we sit here in formal meditation, we try to keep our minds under control. Well, keep your mind under control as much as you can when you go out, knowing that there are certain pathways of thought that just are not going to be good for you, no matter what. So you can avoid them. Other pathways the Buddha leaves wide open.

And when you work on the path, you’re not taking anything away from anyone else. Most of the things we aspire to in the world require that somebody gets them, and somebody else has to lose them. You got a position in your work? Well, somebody else wasn’t able to get that position—and so on down the line.

But with the practice, no one else is fighting you. You don’t have to fight to get your breath from somebody else’s clutches. You don’t have to fight to get your precepts away from somebody else. They’re yours to begin with. Your thoughts, your words, your deeds—they’re yours. Work on perfecting those, and you won’t have to come into conflict with anyone when that’s your source of happiness. It’s entirely inside.