The Five Precepts

Well it's good to see somebody here today. It's a holiday. A lot of people

left LA and I'm of the mind to say the best time to be in LA is when everybody

leaves. So here we are. I was reading an article on CNN the other day and it was

an article about Oklahoma. And Oklahoma is going to start teaching in their

schools the Bible and the Ten Commandments. And I thought to myself

church, state, state, church, but I don't live in Oklahoma. And that got me to

thinking about the five precepts.

Are the five precepts good enough or the Ten Commandments be better? And then I

thought to myself, well who, who's in charge of the Ten Commandments? And then

God came to mind.

Now don't ask me to describe who she is because it's very difficult but it's

an interesting concept, nonetheless. And there are Buddhists who believe in God.

Not because of Buddhism, though. And then I thought to myself, well how did we get

the five precepts? Because we lack a divine law-giver, not part of our

religious model. And then I thought about the Buddha, the historical Buddha, who

said I only teach two things. I teach why we suffer

And I teach how to end suffering.

And by following the five precepts, we can diminish and ultimately end our suffering.

So if you're not a layperson, because the layperson has five precepts.

But if you're a monk, you might have 227 or over 350, depending on your tradition.

And if you're Jewish and the Old Testament, they have over 600 precepts that they take.

How do you remember 600?

And then I thought to myself, okay, well, five is a good place to start.

And when you become an official Buddhist, you take five precepts and the three refuges.

So we're going to talk a little bit about the five precepts and what surrounds them.

Why does that?

Because following the precepts reduce our suffering.

And I think it has something to do with karma.

What we say and what we do affects how much we suffer or how little we suffer.

And the five precepts seem to be a reference point.

If you want to suffer less, practice the five precepts.

Now that word practice is very important.

Because you don't practice.

Practice.

Remember, when you're praying and writing and understanding, you say the Ten Commandments.

You were told to either do them.

And things will happen if you don't.

But they figured it out at the end.

If you believe in Jesus, redemption and forgiveness, when you die.

If you believe in Buddha, the next rebirth.

When you die.

all the karma you've accumulated in this lifetime and all the other lifetimes you've already existed

transfers to the next lifetime that's why some people are born in polis 40s

hopefully not one of those 140 houses that are losing their electricity today but it's just like

okay if you want a real good start on your rebirth the five precepts and your karma

that's the answer but it's just to start it's just how you begin it's not how you end

so we've all read stories heard stories about people that had just remarkable beginnings

wealthy family very intelligent went to the best schools got the best jobs and then they killed

somebody

and you go how could they kill somebody one moment of unskillful thought led to many moments

of unskillful action and the consequences for a lifetime and you go wow so how do i prevent

my life from going south you take the five precepts so let's talk about the first one

the first precept is i will practice now that again that

word is really important i will practice not to take life so it's all up to you

you don't have to do it if you don't mind suffering it's okay not to do it

so what does it mean to not take life i posted this uh i-5 precept

article on my facebook page today and a woman said does that mean we don't even kill insects

and you know what if you don't kill insects and you don't kill insects

and you know what if you don't kill insects you're not gonna kill insects

question mark and i'm thinking to myself you know yeah probably but you're not going to start there

you're not going to start with the flies and the mosquitoes and the ants

you want to start with humans and you want to get up in the morning

and you want to have all this confidence and you go out the front door and you say to yourself

today i'm not taking anybody out

and you succeed at the end of the day and my gosh does that feel good not to take anybody out

then when you get really good at not killing humans then you start with animals

you know and and there's like a lot of different kinds of animals and sometimes you know like maybe

a you know a leopard or lion you know how can i not kill them well it's pretty easy just don't

get into their vicinity

there's no reason to kill a lion or a leopard or even an elephant and you know

all these conservation people are telling us don't kill them don't kill them and people still do

but they're not taking that first precept either now when you get really good at not killing humans

and animals that's when you get into the lower forms maybe not to them but to us

of not killing animals

and what i've been looking for in the last six years is inelillah

so crowded

it's really crowded

they don't do their services

and they don't get a陽

because they're right next door they saw the results of you know birds the mosquitoes and the beetles and the fish and the flies and you know wow that's really hard especially the mosquitoes because now they're carrying like this you know west nile's virus and stuff and

i just

posted an article on my facebook page

about bats that bats can kill up to a thousand mosquitoes an hour they eat

it i'm thinking to myself well is that bad

i was just thinking that you know this was bad but i think let's take a look for ourselves

man we all need to get some bats to hell with the poison you know have you seen

the trucks and there's sort of spraying the poison in the neighborhoods and they

and they tell us it won't hurt animals or humans and I'm going to myself really

and it kills all the mosquitoes and it's not gonna hurt us not that I'm skeptical

or cynical but sometimes it's hard to buy into it but if we all got our own

little bat and they say you can get a bat house to attach right to your own

house if you're lucky enough to have a house and the bats will go there and not

in your house and then every night they go out and they do their work eating all

those mosquitoes and then in the morning they go to the little house and they

decide to go to sleep usually upside down but that's okay and I thought to

myself isn't that really interesting

that's the way to do it or what we're doing too is we're releasing mosquitoes

that are infertile that can't produce other mosquitoes so then when they mate

nothing happens okay so there's ways to do it without killing them you can

prevent them from being born or you can get some predators you know and then of

course every predator has its own predator

you can get some predators you know and then of course every predator has its own predator

and except for humans we're our own predator and so okay cool I think I can

handle that first precept second precept not to take what is not given I will

practice not to take what is not given that's a little different than stealing

because stealing and we've seen it on the news lately everybody's like 50

people going in and stealing stuff and you go wow look at all the stuff they've

done here no you have to steal you know unbelievable but what does it mean not

to take what is not given that means if you need a pin and you're in the

classroom and you notice a desk over there and there's a pin that's not being

used you can't use it either because it wasn't offered to you it's not yours it

hasn't been gifted you have to go find the owner of the pen and say would you

mind if I used your pen

you have to go find the owner of the pen and say would you mind if I used your pen

and hopefully they will say of course you didn't even have to ask and you think to yourself

oh yes i did i needed to ask so not taking what is not given and in our culture

we have so much stuff and we all have receipts some people have boxes of receipts just in case

anything goes wrong and what does that receipt signify it signifies that you are the owner

you are the owner but if you meditate and study buddhism long enough you realize you don't own

anything i was talking to reverend kashati before the service today and he's talking about the aging

process and you sort of lose stuff along the way like sight

hearing

flexibility

you thought you owned it when you were 20 you owned all that stuff you were good that's why

i don't like watching the olympics they're so good and agile and strong and clever and smart

and i used to be some of that 50 years ago but it all went away and now it's can i get out of bed

today do i get a gold medal

for that yes you do kusla we're going to give you that gold medal so it's like okay I don't even own

myself how can I imagine owning everything else back in the 70s I had an opal manta and flag blue

it was so cool my first new car $3,500 out the door and I had an audio cassette player and it

sounded so great over my stereo speakers

and then i was like oh my god i've never owned anything that's mother standing and that's why I'm

one day I was going to work and I got in my car and I noticed instead of having

an audio cassette player I had a big hole in my dashboard and I thought to

myself how could that be how could that be how could anybody steal that audio

cassette player and I got out of my car and I looked at it and I pointed my

finger and I said to my car who owns you car who owns you and I listened for a

response silence nothing I'm thinking it's all one big illusion I thought I

owned the car but I didn't until somebody wanted my cassette player more

than I did Wow what a depressing start for the day

thankfully my insurance covered it and two months

later it was stolen again at that point I decided maybe I don't need a cassette

player maybe silence is better or the wind noise as you open the window and

you can think and go on mini retreat since you get into your car okay number

three no sexual misconduct I will practice not to get involved in sexual

misconduct

Now, I don't like that wording

because I oftentimes give talks to high schools

and sexual misconduct, you know,

when you're in high school, what does that mean?

So I like to change it.

Instead of sexual misconduct,

is to find yourself in an intimate relationship

with kindness.

With kindness?

Wow.

Okay.

Not even with love.

Because love just gets so weird sometimes.

People, they fall in love.

They can't believe they got so lucky to fall in love.

And a year later, they get divorced.

You say, how could I have fallen in love?

But if you fell in kindness with someone,

if you wanted to be with them,

if you wanted to share their life,

if you had empathy towards them,

not sympathy, but empathy,

realizing that we're all in the same boat together,

and the boat's sinking.

So can we be in a relationship

that helps us grow and mature as a human being?

That's how I like to think of the fifth precept.

And it's difficult.

And a lot of us go through a lot of things to get there.

And some of us have decided not to go through those things at all

because it simplifies life.

But it's just like, okay,

can I be kind in all my relationships?

Maybe not even just in my intimate relationships,

but all my relationships, can I be kind?

Can I have that kind of ultimate sensitivity towards my partner?

And I think we can.

I think it takes a long time.

I don't know if being 19 is going to get you there.

But when you get in your 30s, 40s, or 50s,

you know, it's less about physical

and more about emotional and mental.

And having a partner that can share,

and understand, how many people understand you?

We don't even understand ourselves.

That's why people go to therapy.

But to have a partner that says, I understand, how good would that feel?

Okay, number four, and the top five, the list grows.

Number four is I will speak skillfully.

I will practice to speak skillfully.

No false speech.

Malicious speech.

Gossip, idle chatter.

That means you can watch TMZ, but you can't be on it.

So, can we speak skillfully?

You know, sometimes the words just come out.

Even before you think them.

They're just out there.

And the problem with being out there is you can't take them back.

So, you say something unskillful to someone,

they're not going to forget how they feel about it.

I posted something the other day on my Facebook page,

which has become my primary form of practice.

Three o'clock in the morning.

Oh, that's a good one, man.

That's a good one.

Six minutes later, nah, I don't think so.

Anyway, people will forget what you say.

People will forget how you say it.

But they won't forget how they feel about what you said.

Wow, I thought to myself, that's true.

You know, as the older I get, man, I'm good for about three days.

And then, what did you say three days ago?

You know?

But that's a blessing, my friends.

Don't look at it as being a curse.

It's a blessing.

The older you get, the less you remember.

And life becomes magical.

Every moment becomes the only moment.

You go, whoa, this is so cool.

You know, you don't have to dredge up the old stuff.

And rethink it a thousand times.

And wish you had done something different.

Or you don't have to be scared or in a hurry for the new stuff.

You know?

It'll happen.

Maybe.

After a certain age.

Maybe it will.

Maybe it won't.

But it doesn't matter that much anymore.

Because you're in this present moment.

And it's filled all your sense doors.

And you're experiencing it directly.

And it is magical.

And then it dissolves into the next moment.

Which becomes magical again.

And people say, well, what did you do today, Kusla?

Oh, I was just enjoying the magic of life.

They go, really?

You didn't go to the baseball game?

You didn't want to do anything other than just enjoy the magic of life?

Yeah, you know what?

That was good enough.

And then you take a deep breath.

You go, oh, yeah.

Still here.

Still focusing.

Still ready for that next cup of coffee.

Fantastic.

So we need to be aware of what we say.

And they say, the wisest people of all don't say much.

And I thought to myself, that is a profound statement.

That a lot of times the people that know the least speak the most.

And you go, wow, yeah.

And then you get this one guy or one gal.

Who knows a lot of stuff.

And you got to pry it out of them.

I thought, why would that be?

Wouldn't they like to show off their knowledge and their insight?

No, they don't care.

They're in the moment, man.

It's the sunny day.

It's the holiday.

They don't need to show off.

And then you have the other people.

Those people that have podcasts.

Who are talking all the time.

And sometimes they have podcasts.

And sometimes they have something to say.

And sometimes they're just saying it.

But that's okay.

It's a diversion.

It gives people something to do.

Okay.

One time I was asked, what's the benefit of meditation?

What do I get out of meditating?

And I came back with, well, it gives you something to do.

You know, instead of going through a list of all the good and the bad that comes from meditation.

It gives you something to do.

Don't.

Don't put too much value on it.

Just do it.

Okay.

Just do it.

Which is Nike.

They come up with that.

I don't know.

But it's like, okay.

The people that have meditated the most and the longest are just people that do it.

You know, and the ones that are really excited about going on the retreat.

And they're going to have all sorts of cool people.

And they're going to have great food.

And yeah, that's good.

That's good.

But, you know, every morning when you get up and the sun's still not.

Risen and you just decide to sit for 20 minutes.

That's better.

And then you start your coffee and you start your day.

And there's no investment.

It's just, okay, this is what I do.

And then I do this.

And then I do that.

And then I enjoy the day.

And then I do this.

And then I do that.

That's when it pays off.

Okay.

Number five.

This is the most difficult one of all.

I will practice not to consume intoxicants.

No, no.

How could that be?

How can you live without intoxicants?

Isn't it?

Isn't that the fun part of being 21 or older?

And, you know, you have to sort of wonder why the historical Buddha came up with that.

Because they had Soma back then.

People getting high and doing trips, man.

You go into alternative realities and they're going, yeah, this is so cool.

Yeah.

And look at all the gods that live on all these different planes, you know, that you can visit.

You can visit them and talk to them.

And they'll talk back.

Cool.

Well, the problem with getting high, according to Buddhism, is that it steals your wisdom.

You become really dumb.

And you do things that if you were sober, you wouldn't do.

And the results can follow you the rest of your life.

You know, all you need is like one DUI and it's like $20,000 and you've got to go to jail sometimes or you've got to go to these classes sometimes and you have to do all that stuff just because you were drinking and driving and there's Uber and there's even these cars now that don't even have anybody in them that just drive you where you want to go.

It's all automatic.

It's all so cool.

It's all high tech, man.

You know, and you can get your cell phone out.

Shows up.

There it is.

You know.

So why do you drink and drive?

Why do people do that?

Because they think it's not going to happen to them.

That's why they do it.

And then when it does, whoa, please forgive me.

But you know what?

The law doesn't forgive.

It has justice and it's payback.

You know, and karma works that way, too.

Karma does not forgive.

Karma has no ears if you plead with karma.

Please, please.

Karma has no eyes.

It can't see you.

And you.

Your knees begging for forgiveness.

It doesn't care.

It's a law.

Does gravity care when you fall down?

No.

Man, and everybody's falling down.

The older you get, the more likely it is you're going to fall down.

And you can curse gravity.

You can say, I don't want to fall ever again.

Well, get a walker, man.

Get a walker.

My stepfather in his 90s couldn't walk anymore.

And my mother said, well,

let's get you a walker.

And then at least you can go from room to room.

No, no, I don't want a walker.

I don't want a cane.

He was a very physical guy.

He worked for the phone company, climbed the phone poles and did all that kind of stuff.

And his image of himself did not allow him to have a walker.

So he sat in a chair all day, every day, watching TV, watching the

dog.

They even bring the meal over to the chair, the table next to it, so you didn't have to

get up or try to get up.

And you know what?

Sometimes you need to look in the mirror and say, well, maybe I do need a walker.

But I'm going to paint it rainbow colors, and it's going to be a fun one.

And I'm going to have a good time going from point A to point B, because I'm getting tired

of just being in point A.

Okay.

So when you're drinking,

and when you're driving, or when you're taking drugs, and we know how many people die from

drugs, fentanyl, everybody's dying from fentanyl.

And you just go, wow, just to get high.

And a lot of them are young, and they've missed now the rest of their life.

And the problem with death is, it's forever, man.

It's forever.

Now, if you're a Buddhist, you say, well, you come back.

Yeah, but you don't come back.

Something's come back.

It's your karma comes back.

But you don't get to go with it.

You know, you go, oh, man.

So the same applies to taking a life.

The same applies to taking stuff.

It's just, you know, we got to be in this moment, and we have to see the value of being

a moral human being, someone who doesn't cause more suffering, someone who's concerned about

reducing or ending their own suffering.

Now.

After you get good at not doing, then you got to do, then instead of not taking life,

you need to encourage life, you need to help life grow, and become what it's meant to be.

Now, this may sound really weird, but bear with me.

In the upstairs bathroom, we have a bathtub that we don't use, and there's articles, there's

like a broom in there, and there's a mop in there, and that kind of thing.

And there's a spider.

And the spider has...

It's woven its web, but doesn't get many visitors.

It just sits in its little spider web, just waiting for the next little visitor to show up.

And when I use the bathroom, I see the spider every day, and he looks at me, and I look

at him.

And I thought to myself, well, you know, on occasion, as I'm feeding the cats with the

wet cat food, flies will get in there, and they'll die.

So why?

Why don't I take one of those dead flies, and just sort of flick it in the spider web?

Give him a little meal.

Keep him alive for another day.

So I thought, no, nobody would ever do that, or at least admit to it.

So the other day, there was a dead fly in the cat food.

I got him, I picked him up, I took him upstairs, the little spider was waiting, and I never

saw the spider move so fast.

It just ran right over there.

Wove him up, put him into lunch.

Ready for lunch, ready for dinner.

And I thought to myself, this is really weird, but you're encouraging life.

And spiders are good.

Spiders kill a lot of things that we don't like, like mosquitoes and flies.

And they don't really bother you.

They're usually in a corner someplace.

You don't even see them most of the time.

And they're just like living their life and waiting for lunch.

That's all they're doing, waiting for lunch, man.

So when we get to the point where we get to the point where we get to the point where

we're good at not doing, then we need to be good at doing.

So encouraging life, rather than taking what is not given, maybe, maybe just practicing

a little generosity.

You know?

A lot of people out there need some help.

Doesn't have to be big.

You know?

And then no sexual misconduct.

Let's encourage kindness, empathy.

And if you like the word love.

Throw love in there as well.

Then we come to no unskillful speech.

Then we can practice only skillful speech.

Speech that encourages, complements.

And if we can practice not taking drugs or alcohol, maybe we can practice encouraging

others to see the wisdom in that statement of not taking drugs or alcohol.

Okay?

And you don't have to, you know, proselytize.

You could even just say, well listen, I'm not drinking tonight.

You are, I'll drive home.

You can come with me.

I'll support you in that.

You know?

So they won't get that DUI.

So looking at these five precepts.

It's a way to live skillfully in the world.

It's a way to understand your karma.

And.

How it works, skillful, unskillful, more suffering, less suffering.

Okay?

And it's a way of being a good human being.

Good in the sense of being skillful.

Good and bad is a relative concept and you know, it changes all the time.

It was bad in 1970s to drive at 65 because we're having an oil crisis.

So we had to drive at 55 and you were bad if you drove at 65 because everything was

supposed to be 55.

And then we got enough oil.

So now we can all drive at 65 and even faster.

How lucky are we?

But this relative idea of good and bad is always changing.

You know?

Who's making the laws?

Who's deciding what's good and what's bad today?

And you can see the Supreme Court and the local courts and everything is always changing

and we learn and hopefully we get a little bit better and have better laws, you know?

But.

This idea of.

Suffering and no suffering.

That seems to be pretty constant.

Humans are hardwired to have pain and emotional suffering.

Now we can't do anything about the pain except go to the doctor and get some medication.

But we can do something about the suffering because suffering is not mandatory.

Suffering is optional.

There's no chance of Dangi getting better.

I felt that there's a need to do something with what I'm dealing with.

I'm saving my life now.

I'm saving my life now, Larry.

My life is right here.

You're right.

My life is so much better.

Our Dios is the reason everything works.

I'm saving my life.

So.

What is going to happen in our lives?

What about you?