Surrendering to the Form

People sometimes ask me about the precepts.

They ask, “Can I keep three?” I reply, “Which three? They’re all pretty important.” That’s where the binding aspect of a religion or spiritual tradition comes in. If you surrender to its form, and the form is skillful, you can truly benefit from it. But if you decide to throw out all the teachings that conflict with your own desires or preferences, you can really cut short your spiritual growth – to the point where it’s stunted.

A structure of moral discipline isn’t something that’s meant to cater to the needs of your ego. Rather, it’s something that’s meant to challenge you. It challenges you to look at yourself in a helpful way, rather than in a self-deprecating way. The precepts certainly do that.

However, the importance of the precepts isn’t in the rules themselves, but in how we practice with them. Just blindly keeping to the precepts can degenerate into superstition or conceit. In the latter case, we can develop an attitude of “I’ve got more precepts than you. I keep eight of them.” It can get very silly at times.

But when the precepts act as mirrors to the impulses arising in the mind, and when they become something we reflect upon and practice with, they become very beneficial. So think of your work around the precepts in terms of orthopraxy–or right effort based upon right understanding–and the good results that come from that effort.

If you think of these moral disciplines in terms of awareness, contemplation, and kamma (or the consequences brought about by our intentional acts of body, speech, and mind), they’ll really help you.

This reflection by Ajahn Viradhammo is from the book The Contemplative’s Craft, (pdf) pp. 87.