A helpful list for a moral life

The Five moral precepts

• Refrain from taking life. Not killing any living being. D if you count food.
• Refrain from taking what is not given. Not stealing from anyone. OK.
• Refrain from the misuse of the senses. Not having too much sensual pleasure. …a work in progress
• Refrain from wrong speech. Not lying or gossiping about other people. Trying hard.
• Refrain from intoxicants that cloud the mind. Ooops. My GPA just dropped.

That puts me as a D or F student as I scored somewhere around 60%. I love a good steak with a beer, sake and sashimi, or any other non-pork delicacy. I had my days back in the day with the shimmee princesses of main street. I am peace with the Beast as described by Socrates. But those weaknesses cost me at least 40% to the total possible points. That’s just being honest in my case. We’re not perfect, especially me. I’m far from being an A student. It’s a process. I got the full 20% on a couple of them but fail in some categories.

With imperfection as the paradigm, from the CulaHatthipadopama-sutta, the “Lesser Discourse on the Simile of the Elephant’s Footprintsâ€, details the journey of mindful consciousness ^[23]

1. Dhammalsaddhalpabbajja: A layman hears a Buddha teach the Dhamma, comes to have faith in him, and decides to take ordination as a monk;
2. sila: He adopts the moral precepts;
3. indriyasamvara: He practises “guarding the six sense-doorsâ€;
4. sati-sampajanna: He practises mindfulness and self-possession (actually described as mindfulness of the body, kÄyÄnussatti);
5. jhana 1: He finds an isolated spot in which to meditate, purifies his mind of the hindrances (nwarana), and attains the first rupa-jhana;
6. jhana 2: He attains the second jhana;
7. jhana 3: He attains the third jhana;
8. jhana 4: He attains the fourth jhana;
9. pubbenivasanussati-nana: he recollects his many former existences in samsara;
10. sattanam cutupapata-nana: he observes the death and rebirth of beings according to their karmas;
11. dsavakkhaya-nana: He brings about the destruction of the dsavas (cankers), and attains a profound realization of (as opposed to mere knowledge about) the four noble truths;
12. vimutti: He perceives that he is now liberated, that he has done what was to be done.

Quite a phenomenal journey one can follow. Once in a while I inch my way up the list but always start over and have a beginner’s mentality.