Gotama Buddha gave us guidance to conduct life without harm to other beings or ourselves. In his Teaching titled “The Five Precepts”, he provides some basic guidance that when learned and practiced, will significantly reduce the harm you are causing in the world.

These are not commandments nor rules to follow, rather how to ensure you are not causing harm to others or yourself. By causing harm to others, we cause harm to ourselves by The Natural Law of Kamma. Through practice of these precepts, you will drastically eliminate unwholesome Kamma production and, thus, experience a more peaceful and content existence. (More on “Kamma” in a later Chapter.)

It is The Eight Fold Path that completely and fully extinguishes all unwholesome Kamma through the production of only wholesome Kamma, but here in The Five Precepts, we gain more insight into Right Speech and Right Action to further help us understand The Eight Fold Path. Through making wholesome choices in our life, we will experience wholesome outcomes. Through making unwholesome choices in our life, we will experience unwholesome outcomes. It is always our choice of whether we choose to make decisions based on wholesome or unwholesome teachings and then we experience the results according to our choices.

Gotama Buddha’s Teachings are not to control an individual nor dictate what they should or should not do. But instead, provide guidance that when practiced, will lead to Enlightenment, liberation of the mind, a peaceful and content mind and, thus, a peaceful and content life. Everything in this practice is attained through personal free will choices.

The Five Precepts will not be a surprise for you as they are all things you have been taught your entire life. The Five Precepts are required as a minimum for realizing the benefits of Enlightenment. You can gradually train the mind towards practicing these Teachings more closely each day rather than feel that you need to make multiple drastic changes at one time. If you have in the past practiced these precepts or are currently doing any of these now, good. If not, you can change or slowly modify your conduct to still seek Enlightenment.

1.) Abandoning the taking of life, refraining from taking life, without stick or sword, diligent, compassionate, trembling for the welfare of all living beings.

This is often translated in other writings as, “Do not kill or No killing or intentional taking of life”. As you can see here in this direct translation, we get much more details directly from Gotama Buddha himself. The final conclusion is, do not intentionally kill another being, human or animal. We should have compassion for all living beings.

There are three components that are needed to create a living being. An egg, sperm, and a consciousness (i.e. a mind). If these things are present, there is a living being.

Plants do not have a mind. While we may consider them as being “alive”, in some respects, they are not living beings. Bacteria are not a living being because they do not originate from an egg, sperm, nor have a consciousness. (This book series will share The Five Aggregates to help you understand what makes “a being, a being” based on this important Teaching.)

Euthanasia of a human or animal, termination of pregnancy, suicide, assisted suicide, capital punishment, attacking in war or any government sponsored killing, are all the intentional killing of another being. A person who is seeking Enlightenment or has attained Enlightenment, would not participate in intentions, speech, nor actions of these events. If you have conducted these actions in the past, that does not preclude you from pursuing and attaining Enlightenment. Putting the past behind us is important. Focus on the present moment to eliminate these actions.