Living the Buddhist Way of Life
To live the Buddhist way of life is not all that difficult. All you need is to have a strong desire to live a contented life, and have a strong dedication and determination to achieve this. You do not need to be Buddhist, or be converted to Buddhism to achieve contentment this way.
More Detailed Information
Find out how to achieve this contented frame of mind
>> The Buddhist Way of LifeA look at the general Buddhist way of life.
>> Worshipping the Buddhist WayA look at how Buddhists practice their daily devotions.
For a layman (an ordinary person who is neither a priest or monk), to follow the Buddhist way of life there are five basic principles to be adhered to in day-to-day living.
(These five precepts are known to Buddhists as ‘Pan Sil’ (පන් සිල්) – and consist of five self-disciplinary principles.)
These are, to,
- Refrain from killing.
- Refrain from stealing.
- Refrain from sexual misconduct that is unacceptable to good human society.
- Refrain from telling lies.
- Refrain from taking alcohol and other substances which give rise to the deferment of one’s deeds and duties.
Living thus, within the Buddhist way of life, you start to get a basic understanding of life itself, some aspects of which are given below in a summarized form, as needed to know at this early stage.
- Every action taken by a person – be it through thought, word or deed – gives rise to an effect (this is known as ‘karma pala’ කර්ම පල). The intensity of any karma pala (both for the good and the bad) depends on the power of the thought process associated with the related action. So, good deeds (කුසල කර්ම) give good effects, and bad deeds (අකුසල කර්ම) give bad effects.
- A lay person would under normal living circumstances (otherwise known to all and sundry as ‘daily life’!), will continue to “break” these basic principles, for such is the nature of the human being.
- A person who is looking to follow the Buddhist way of living to achieve contentment in their daily life must attempt to refrain from these misdeeds, or in other words, they should try and adhere to the five basic principles mentioned above.
- Contentment is reached by having peace of mind. The lesser the misdeeds the less worries you have and the more contented you will become.
- To help you achieve this contentment, your thought process is what matters. By learning to control your mind and your thoughts, you will find that you are able to control your actions. This in turn will help you to control your actions, which will in turn help you to achieve a peaceful and contented life.