Observing First Precept
 

PROFESSOR MAHINDA Palihewadana

FIRST PRECEPT: There are people who say that the first precept is negatively formulated. And that this is intentionally done - to allow us room to eat animals that are killed by others.

Such People conveniently forget the positive corollary of the negatively worded precept. Buddhism does not stop at teaching us not to kill. It also insists that we protect and cherish all life. This is the teaching of loving kindness.

Sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta: May all beings be happy. Everybody says - at least all Buddhists do - that Buddhism is a practical religion. If this practicality means that we can eat animals, then we have to admit that in insisting on happiness for all beings, it is at the same time being severely unpractical.

Actually Buddhism is practical. But the practicality lies elsewhere. It does not ask us to attempt the impossible. Like tying a cloth over your nose lest you breathe in any invisible creatures.

Like refusing to walk lest you trample on tiny creatures that abound everywhere. We do what we can. We do the utmost that we can. That is all.

It is true that the Buddha did not lay down a rule for monks to be vegetarian. That was because they at that time depended on alms given by others, many of whom were not the Buddha's followers. And also it was not his style to be a spiritual autocrat.

But then, he laid down that right livelihood of lay people excludes the sale of flesh. What does that mean? It means that if a community is totally Buddhist there cannot be any trade in animal products in that community. Is that not sufficient as an argument for Buddhist vegetarianism, if one needs an argument?

There is one other point that I wish to draw your attention to. As I said earlier, we are not just being led by an arid wish to follow a rule, or even by a wish to gather merit for ourselves, when we consciously make the decision not to have anything to do with what killers of animals offer to us.

We make that decision realising what is actually happening in the brutal world in which we are fated to live. In this world there are such things as animal farms.

These are a hideous outgrowth of modern industry. They follow all of the horrendous evil that goes with the basic dictum of modern industry - the greatest profit at the least cost.

From that flows the most unconscionable features of the modern animal farm: the techniques of "intensive confinement" denial of free movement and all other traces of a natural life to animals so confined - which includes removal of the young from contact with the mother, keeping them in total darkness for long periods of time, filthy and overcrowded living condition, over-feeding, under-feeding, cutting their beaks and tails, utterly merciless modes of transportation and the final brutal act of the inevitable torturous slaughter. Especially the slaughter of large animals cattle, pigs, goats, sheep is not a job quickly done, like snapping on a mosquito.

It is an abominable long drawn-out process that offends the moral conscience of all sensitive human beings. Slow murder, Halal. Torture at its worst thinkable.

(Please don't take me amiss. I do not mean that we have to snap upon mosquitoes. Or that killing smaller animals is all right. This is just an example to highlight the greater brutality of the slaughter of large animals.

The modern animal farm is unlike anything that was known in the world in which the Buddha lived. Had he lived in the twentieth century. I can scarcely doubt that he would have made the first precept slightly more explicit and recommended vegetarianism to his followers.

The Buddha, had he lived in the world today would have certainly grasped the tremendous ecological/environmental hazards to which the planet is exposed by the lifestyles that are now gaining universal currency.

In this context we cannot fail to be struck by the fact that meat eating is one of the prime reasons for a great deal of damage to the environment of planet earth. Not many people realise that 33% of the world's total harvest of grain (and 70% of the massive US harvest) goes to feed livestock of the animal farms of the world. (This does not include the free ranging cattle and goats and other animals in the peasant economies of the world).

It is said that the entire human population could be adequately fed with just one quarter of the corn, soya etc. that are now being used to feed livestock destined to the slaughter-house.

And that means that three quarters of the massive acreage devoted to cultivating this livestock-feed can be diverted to forestry. That alone will reverse much of the environmental degradation that the planet is currently going through, with all that it costs to the quality of life of every species of its living beings.

Awareness of this fact is a compelling factor for millions of sensitive people of all faiths to renounce meat eating and take to vegetarianism and veganism.

The modern vegetarian movement, which is vigorous and vitally active in many parts of the world, is firmly anchored in an ethical foundation which takes into account the right of animals to life and freedom - and kindly treatment at our hands - as well as the duty of us all to protect the planet's environment: so that all forms of life will flourish as they did before the onset of the disastrous lifestyles that are currently fashionable.

If the Buddha were alive, he would have certainly been one of the prime advocates of such an ethical way of life.

And as I see it, this is what the first precept is all about: an ethical way of life that stands for the welfare and protection of all living beings upon this fragile planet that is our common home.

King Pasenadi's homage to the Buddha

KING PASENADI: On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Savatthi in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. At that time King Pasenadi of Kosala had returned from a sham battle, having been victorious and having achieved his purpose.

The king then set out in the direction of the monastery. He rode by chariot as far as the road went; then he alighted from his chariot and entered the monastery on foot.

At that time, a number of monks were walking up and down in the open. The king approached them and asked: "Where, venerable sirs, is the Blessed One staying now?"

"He is staying in the lodging there, great king, where the door is shut. You may go there quietly and without haste. Then enter the verandah, clear your throat, and knock with the door bar. The Blessed One will open the door for you."

The king did as he was told and the Blessed One opened the door for the king.

Having entered the dwelling, King Pasenadi bent low before the Blessed One with his head on the ground and kissed the Blessed One's feet, embracing them with his hands. Then he announced his name: "I am Pasenadi, Lord, the king of Kosala. I am Pasenadi, Lord, the king of Kosala."

"But, great king, what reason do you see for showing to this body such profound humility and for offering it such loving devotion?"

To express my grateful thanks, Lord; for that reason do I show to the Blessed One such profound humility and offer him my loving devotion.

"The Blessed One, Lord, lives for the welfare of the multitude, for the happiness of the multitude, he has established many people in the noble way, in good and wholesome principles.

It is for this reason, Lord, that I show to the Blessed One such profound humility and offer him my loving devotion.

"Again, Lord, the Blessed One is virtuous, of mature virtue, of noble virtue, of wholesome virtue; he is endowed with wholesome virtue. It is for this reason...

"Again, Lord the Blessed One has been a forest dweller for a long time; he resorts to remote forest lands, to secluded dwellings. It is for this reason...

"Again, Lord, the Blessed One is content with whatever robes, alms food, lodging, and medicinal requisites he receives. It is for this reason...

"Again, Lord, the Blessed One is worthy of gifts, worthy of hospitality, worthy of offerings, worthy of reverential salutation, being the unsurpassed field of merit for the world. It is for this reason...

"Again, Lord, the Blessed One obtains at will, without trouble or difficulty, (the opportunity for ) talk that befits an austere life and is helpful to mental clarity; that is to say, talk on fewness of wishes, on contentment, on solitude, on seclusion, on application of energy, on virtue, concentration, wisdom, liberation and the knowledge and vision of liberation. It is for this reason...

"Again, Lord the Blessed One attains at will, without trouble or difficulty, the four jhanas, which pertain to the higher mind and are pleasant dwellings in this very life. It is for this reason...

"Again, Lord the Blessed One recollects his manifold past lives, that is to say, one birth... (as in Text 188,$8)... It is for this reason...

"Again, Lord, with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, the Blessed One sees beings passing away and reappearing... (as in Text 188,$9)... It is for this reason...

"And again, Lord, the Blessed One, by the destruction of the taints, in this very life enters and dwells in the taintless liberation of mind, liberation by wisdom, having realized it for himself by direct knowledge.

It is for this reason, Lord, that I show to the Blessed One such profound humility and offer him my loving devotion.

"But now, Lord, we must go. We have much work and many duties."

"Do as you think fit, great king."

And King Pasenadi of Kosala rose from his seat, paid homage to the Blessed One, and respectfully keeping him to his right, he departed.

Anguttara Nikaya

I Give You My Life:

An extract from the autobiography of Ayya Khema
 

Continued from last week

AYYA KHEMA: They were taught by the Buddha; he practised and praised them highly. These levels of consciousness broaden our horizons and make possible for us a glimpse of the cosmic process.

Every person who practises with patience reaches such states of complete concentration. It is in this way that a person can find a way into the inner space of his or her mind, where absolute purity and clarity prevail.

In 1993 the lump in my breast, whose growth I could constantly feel, broke open. It was very painful and it bled almost continuously.

So finally I had to undergo an operation. After the operation, there were two days during which I had the feeling that my vitality was ebbing away; more precisely, I felt if flowing away through the soles of my feet. I was absolutely reconciled to this.

I was ready to die, and gave myself over entirely to the pleasant feeling of letting go. Then a great many cards and flowers from my students arrived that not only spoke of their love, but also told me to just stay alive - I didn't need to teach anymore. That made a deep impression on me and encouraged me a lot.

In the visits the doctors made, and in the care from the nurses, I perceived what great effort people were making to keep me alive. At that point I resolved to help them succeed in this, and against all expectations, I recovered very nicely.

After that, I had three further operations, the last one in November of 1995. During this last operation, a strange thing occurred.

Although I was fully anaesthetized, I suddenly heard an unknown doctor saying, "Oh, for God's sake, something has to be done immediately!" I saw him clearly, although my eyes were tightly closed.

I saw him trying without success to get a needle into one of my veins and in the process getting more and more nervous. I tried to infuse him with calmness. The other doctors around me were becoming impatient. This contributed further to the nervousness of the anaesthetist.

He finally switched his efforts to my right hand and found a vein which, with a sigh of relief, he found usable. It was clear to me that my blood pressure had gone down tremendously. I heard someone say it was "eighty over fifty" and that this was life-threatening.

I was also clearly aware that my body was lying there entirely numb and that in the meantime my mind had separated from my body and was watching the whole proceedings from a bird's-eye view. My mind was absolutely calm. I only felt bad for the doctors. I wanted to help them attain calmness as well.

Everything that I have lived through from that time on is, so to speak, a bonus. To have finished my life, and then still to be here for a period of time, now already four years, and to be able to finish some last things, is without doubt a great gift. I am careful to use the time that remains to me very selectively. I only do things now that seem to me valuable and useful.

One of the great teachers of our time was a monk from Thailand, Ajahn Chah. He used to describe the three marks of existence - suffering, impermanence, and insubstantiality - by means of a simile: "Look here at this glass," he would say.

"It is very useful to me. I can drink out of it. But when it falls to the ground, it is destroyed. In fact for me," he said, "it is destroyed already. For me, all that is and all that will be, has happened already." This simile is very meaningful for me. My glass is also broken already.

In 1993, for me, my life came to an end. Now, although my body is there again, and although I am still able use it, it has as little meaning for me as a broken glass. In anything that I have done since that time, the sense of a personal relationship to it has been missing.

I do things presuming that they are helpful. I take pleasure in being able to see things develop for a little while longer. But when this life comes to its end, nothing important will happen. Everything will have happened already.

My encounter with death has definitely contributed to my ability to propagate the Teaching in a way that has nothing to do with my own identity.

I am not only unimportant; I experience myself as being not even present, except as a mouthpiece for saying things that might help people. I will live as long as it is determined that I should do so, then everything can go on without me.

In this chapter I have written a great deal about death, because fear of death is a theme so frequently raised with me by people who hear my talks.

I am continually confronted with the subject. Until we have fully accepted our own death and related to it lovingly and with devotion, our life is bound up with fear. True peace can only enter our hearts when we see things the way they really are.

Courtesy: Forest Newsletter

The oldest Buddhist temple in Cambodia

BAYON TEMPLE: The political history of Cambodia shows it as a land troubled by invasions and wars, political struggles even in modern times. In spite of these travails, down through the centuries, the country has remained totally Buddhist.

It has remained steadfast to its ancient culture despite passing under French influence in 1884, from which it gained full independence towards the close of 1953.

Cambodia's religious fabric, so interwoven with Brahmanism in its early history has been, a shining example of religions syncretism, tolerance and co-existence.

Bayon temple, the oldest Buddhist Shrine in Cambodia is shown at right.