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These aren’t meant to be translations. But interpretations meant to be comprehensive, leaving no loop holes. And also with, I suppose you’d say, a touch of artistic license meant for greater emotional impact that a literal translation may lack. But I want to make sure it’s accurate before I try to make it fanciful, too! I suppose the whole “I’ve a burning drive to do or consume artsy stuff even if I’m bad at it” is a gati thing, but anyway:
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I undertake the Precept to hold all life sacred, to abstain from and withhold support of taking life.
Pānātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi
I undertake the Precept to abstain from and withhold support of not only theft, but all gains by immoral means.
Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi
I undertake the Precept to abstain from and withhold support of all sense-pleasure misconduct, not just the immoral but the obstructive as well: sensual pleasures are worthless without fail, all attachments to the world are illusory and dangerous.
Kāmesu micchācārā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi
I undertake the Precept to hold truth and connection as beautiful and bright, abstaining from and withholding support of all Wrong Speech, especially wordy warfare, even ruminating alone, not even in jest: the Wrong Speech of lies and harsh words, divisive gossip and slander, idle chatter and frivolous nonsense, and to see with wisdom when to observe noble silence and when to forge and strengthen bonds of good will and harmlessness.
Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi
I undertake the Precept to abstain from and withhold support of all intoxications rooted in the three poison saṅ of hate, greed, and ignorance; as all three unwholesome roots prey on our distorted perceptions, like a stage magician leading one to pits of glowing coals.
Surā-meraya-majja-pamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi
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Most of this was from perusing Pure Dhamma and these forums, especially this post from Amin. I feel parts of what I wrote could be changed in places due to run-on sentences, clunky metaphors, and so on. But perfect is the enemy of good, and this is meant to be personal (as opposed to public consumption) so I’m trying not to worry about all that. Anyway! I’m hoping these are accurate, and if not please let me know where and why so I may correct any misinterpretations. Thank you for your time.
Several clarifications:
ㅤ• “Sensual pleasures are worthless without fail” was lifted from this line in a translation of Sumedhātherīgāthā [Thig 16.1].
ㅤㅤ◦ I find The Verses of the Elder Sumedhā a most inspiring asubha bhāvanā (if that’s the right term?). I’m certain I first found these verses linked from Pure Dhamma, though I don’t remember which page.
ㅤ• “Not just the immoral but the obstructive as well” is to remind myself that I need not only avoid or minimize what’s immediately or obviously wrong, but from the likes of over-eating and even too much music. Second-order consequential thinking, and all that.
ㅤㅤ◦ Although I for one need to work on being more balanced and sensible about reducing sense-pleasure indulgences, to not to go full “no fun allowed” Puritan-mode. Lest my efforts backfire into distress and despair as I’ve often experienced (and Lal has warned of several times!), especially when I have bigger fish to fry.
ㅤ• The stuff about bonds and connections are, well, I’m rather withdrawn and hyperindependent. So I feel I need to remind myself that talking isn’t only about trading information, that making friends and being kind is also important. I suppose most people understand that implicitly.
ㅤ• “Wordy warfare” is from this translation of part of the Viggahika Sutta [SN 56.9].
ㅤㅤ◦ I’ve also seen this called quarrelsome talk and the like. But wordy warfare in my opinion gets the point across very well, especially if we look at the Internet’s most common pastime: raging at each other over nonsense that doesn’t matter. A lifelong bad habit I find it difficult to pull myself from; all it does is surrender my peace, makes the both of us look absurd, and nobody learns anything except to hate each other!
ㅤ• “Ruminating alone” as I’ve an often paralyzing habit of maladaptive daydreaming.
ㅤ• “Not even in jest” is from the famous Ambalaṭṭhikā Rāhulovāda Sutta [MN 61] where the Buddha lectures his son Rahula against telling a deliberate lie, even as a joke.
ㅤㅤ◦ Referencing this sutta also helps cue myself to recall the rest of the Buddha’s instructions on repeated reflection before, during, and after one’s bodily, verbal, and mental actions before the flames of greed and hate (AKA javana power of a citta, if I remember right?) take me over.
ㅤ• “Good will and harmlessness” seem to be common translations of abyāpāda and avihiṁsā. The Dvedhāvitakka Sutta [MN 19] is where I believe I first looked into those terms, especially coming across those side notes.
ㅤㅤ◦ Maybe they can also pull double-duty as references to mettā and karuṇā? That is, if this side-note is right. I don’t know how to verify if Sutta Central’s Pali dictionary (or any defintion of Pali words) is accurate, as not sure with what to cross-reference.
Born in a dark class, seeking brighter results.
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1. Your summary is good. Thank you for taking the time to think this through and summarize it. You wrote: “Most of this was from perusing Pure Dhamma and these forums, especially this post from Amin.” Yes. It is a good comment.
- What you described are ‘human gati‘. One is born human because of kammic energies accumulated with those gati (in previous lives). The Buddha divided all sentient beings into five major gati types. The “Gati Sutta (AN 9.68)” lists five main categories: Hell (niraya), the animal realm (tiracchāna), the hungry ghost realm (peta), humans (manussa), and the Deva.
- In contrast, every time one (or more) of those precepts is broken, one would have a gati associated with an apaya (one of the four lowest realms, corresponding to the first three types of gati). That does not mean that even breaking a single precept can land one in an apaya; we all break at least some of those at times in various degrees.
- The fourth type of gati corresponds to the human realm. The fifth, “deva gati,” is assigned to the six Deva realms and Brahmās in the 20 Brahma realms. The ‘deva gati’ is assigned to the six Deva realms are similar to that of ‘human gati‘, but better. They involve abstaining from breaking the precepts you discussed and engaging in meritorious deeds such as giving and showing compassion. (To cultivate the gati of the Brahmās in the 20 Brahma realms requires cultivating jhana and arupa samapatti; I discussed that in “Big Picture – Three Types of Bhava“).
- Therefore, to be reborn in a ‘good realm’ (human realm or one of the six Deva realms, leaving aside the Brahma realms), one must abstain from breaking those precepts you discussed and engaging in meritorious deeds such as giving and showing compassion.
- So, one would have two ‘reservoirs’ built: one would be the ‘set of bad kamma‘ accumulated, and the other would be the ‘good set’.
- The next rebirth is decided based on the relative sizes of those two sets. If one has accumulated a relatively large reservoir of ‘good kamma‘ that can overcome the set of ‘bad kamma‘ to lend to a good rebirth. However, that only conveys the basic idea. The Buddha gave an analogy: Consider a cup of pure water and a large bucket of pure water. If you add a teaspoon of salt to each, the ‘saltiness’ is obvious only in the cup of water. If the bucket is large enough, its ‘saltiness’ may not be even detectable. Thus, if one has accumulated a relatively large pool of ‘good kamma‘, the effect of some minor ‘bad kamma‘ would be negligible.
- The Buddha discussed the effects of ‘good kamma‘ and ‘bad kamma‘ in detail in the “Mahākammavibhaṅga Sutta (MN 136)“. It is too long for me to translate. I think the translation in the link is good enough. I would be happy to answer any questions.
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2. Then, there is a deeper aspect to the Buddha’s teachings.
- The above material is enough to get started. It teaches one how to avoid bad rebirths.
- However, following precepts alone does not guarantee avoiding ‘bad rebirths’. Based on temptations, any human who is at least not a Sotapanna Anugami may even commit a highly potent ‘bad kamma‘ that can directly lead to a rebirth in an apaya.
- Furthermore, even someone who is likely to be reborn in an apaya (due to obviously potent bad kamma accumulated) can overcome that by comprehending the deeper teachings. An example is Angulimala, who killed hundreds of people and was likely to be reborn in an apaya. But the Buddha taught Dhamma to him, and he became a Sotapanna (free of rebirths in an apaya) within a short ime; see “Murderer to a Sotapanna in an Hour – How Is That Possible?“
- That is the aspect that I have focused on in most posts during the past few years. But I realize I need to discuss more of the basics, too.
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Thank you so much for your clarifications! Especially your analogies on reservoirs. Long ago, I remember a sutta (but not which one) where the Buddha compared crimes and punishments between a worker (a butcher I think?) and someone of a higher social status like someone of royal blood or at least rich. Where if the worker stole from the merchant or prince the worker would go to jail, and if he stole from the worker then that worker could only hope to beg for his stuff back as the upper class person would have gotten away with it. Sounds unfair but that’s probably from my tiny slice of perspective of existence!
But I’m only half-remembering. I probably got details wrong, maybe it wasn’t the best of translations, and I might have misunderstood parts. But I think the Buddha was using this to illustrate how if you’ve gotten a lot of bad kamma accumulated then another akusula would be more likely to result in a bad rebirth, but if you’ve done a lot of meritorious deeds in your reservoir then you’ll get a relatively minor setback in this life and have that kammic debt paid off from the same akusula.
Your analogy of reservoirs helps make the idea much clearer, thank you again! The Mahākammavibhaṅga Sutta makes me think of the idea of a “time lag” between many bija and vipaka, sometimes many lifetimes in between. Most of us can’t know what horrible deeds we did in prior lives, evil seeds of what we have done germinating within us, waiting for the right patch of fertile soil to take root and sprout. If I have the idea right? I can only nod and contemplate the rest of your post and links.
Born in a dark class, seeking brighter results.
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You wrote: “Most of us can’t know what horrible deeds we did in prior lives, evil seeds of what we have done germinating within us, waiting for the right patch of fertile soil to take root and sprout. If I have the idea right?”
- Yes. That is correct.
- However, we know that we have not done an anantarika kamma (like killing a parent or an Arahant) in our previous lives. That would have prevented us from being born as humans. So, anyone who has not done such a deed in this life is eligible to attain a magga phala, i.e., the Sotapanna stage.
- As I pointed out earlier, Angulimala killed hundreds of people and still was able to attain the Sotapanna stage within a short time of meeting the Buddha. A few weeks later, he attained the Arahantship, too.
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