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their own minds, for most of the 
time, their 
thoughts and action are dictated by 
the defilements 
of sensual indulgence. The five 
precepts 
already teaches you to be 
contented with your 
spouse. The Eight Precepts goes 
further with this 
training by offering sixth, seventh 
and eighth 
Precepts to help play a supporting 
role in the 
reduction of attachment to sensual 
stimuli. 
The Fifth Precept: Not Drinking 
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Alcohol : Another difference 
between Five Precepts and Eight 
Precepts 
concerns the fifth Precept. For Five 
Precepts the 
fifth Precept has five components, 
but for the 
Eight Precepts, there are only four 
components 
as follows: 
1. The liquid drunk must be 
alcohol 
2. The person must have the 
intention to drink it 
3. The person must make the effort 
to drink it 
4. The alcohol must be swallowed. 
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You will see that for the Eight 
Precepts it is no 
longer necessary to know that the 
drink is alcohol 
in order to cause the fifth Precept 
to be broken. 
C.2.2 Sixth Precept: Refraining 
from Untimely 
Eating 
It is commonly asked by 
housewives who keep the 
Eight Precepts whether they are 
allowed to taste 
the food they are preparing for 
their husbands in 
the evening. Sometimes to taste 
and to eat food are 
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not the same (except for the person 
who tastes half 
a plate of food and still doesn't 
know the flavour!) 
1. It must be midday of one day to 
the dawn of the next: 
The dawn signals the changing of 
the day for 
Buddhists — technically the 
earliest time that if 
you go out into the open, and 
stretch out your 
arm, you can see the lines on your 
hand clearly 
without having to use a torch or 
the time at dawn 
when you can first distinguish the 
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leaves of trees 
as being of different shades of 
green. 
2. The substance eaten is solid 
food (chewable): This 
second component has some 
exceptions i.e. 
chewable food that is allowed. 
Exceptions include 
refined sugar, sugar cane juice, 
tamarinds, 
embolic myrobalan, nutgall or 
pickled ginger. 
For those who might have dietary 
problems if 
their stomach is completely empty, 
cheese or 
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butter is allowed (but not cheese 
sandwiches!) 
3. The effort is made to eat the 
food 
4. The food is swallowed. 
If all four of these components are 
present then the 
126 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
sixth Precept will be broken.The 
point of keeping 
the sixth precept is to remove 
another possible risk 
of sleepiness as a hindrance to 
one's meditation 
practice by avoiding a heavy 
evening meal. If we 
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eat too much, it will give us more 
energy than we 
can use and this contributes to ease 
of sexual 
arousal. If you were to miss a meal 
once a week by 
forgoing an evening meal, you will 
find that the 
excess food will be burned up. 
C.2.3 Seventh Precept: Not 
indulging in 
entertainment or immodesty 
Indulging in entertainment means 
specifically: singing, 
dancing or playing musical 
instruments yourself, 
watching others doing the same 
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(excepting the 
national anthem or music in 
honour of the monarch). 
Immodesty means wearing 
perfume, jewelry, 
flowers or makeup (except talcum 
powder for medicinal 
purposes). Some people ask if they 
can 
watch the television when keeping 
the eight precepts 
— the answer is that you have to 
be selective 
about what you watch. You can 
watch news but 
don't go watching a cabaret or 
certain sorts of advertising. 
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You have to avoid contact with 
cosmetics 
that are meant for beautification 
instead of for 
health. You shouldn't wear 
perfume, make-up, 
flowers, hair dye. Wearing talcum 
powder should 
just be to prevent athlete's foot or 
abrasion — not 
for beautification. The components 
of this seventh 
precept are any of the following: 
1. Playing musical instruments, 
dancing or singing 
romantic songs yourself 
2. Watching entertainment 
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consisting of singing, dancing 
or romantic music. 
or all of the following: 
1. There are cosmetics or perfume 
2. The reason is not because of 
poor health 
3. You wear the cosmetics or 
perfume 
C.2.4 Eighth Precept: Not 
engaging in Indolent 
Sleeping Habits 
The following are the components 
of the eighth 
precept: 
1. The sleeping place is large or 
high 
2. You know that the sleeping 
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place is large or high 
3. Sitting or lying down on that 
place 
You will notice that not only lying 
on a soft mattress 
is forbidden but also sitting on 
such a mattress, 
because they contribute to making 
the mind 
wander.The softer the mattress on 
which you sleep, 
the less you feel like getting up in 
the morning. As 
you sleep without mindfulness, it 
will start to undermine 
the purity of your third precept. 
However, 
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nowadays houses commonly have 
sofas which are 
soft. If you were to be strict, sitting 
on a sofa would 
be forbidden, but for the sake of 
manners, it is better 
to accept others hospitality than to 
take all the 
cushions off the sofa and throw 
them away. At the 
same time we should take good 
care of our presence 
of mind. We have to think of both 
our Precepts 
and the appropriateness in any 
situation. 
Sometimes hotels have nowhere 
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but beds upon 
which to sleep. In other places it 
may be too cold to 
sleep on the floor without anything 
under you in 
the way of insulation. Thus 
consider appropriateness 
in each situation. 
C.3 Monastic Discipline 
C.3.1 The Objectives behind 
Monastic 
Discipline (Vin.iii.20, A.v.70) 
The Buddha created the monastic 
discipline for ten 
reasons: 
1. To maintain peace in the 
monastic community; 
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2. To restrain stubborn and 
shameless disciples; 
3. To maintain the happiness of the 
monastic community; 
4. To maintain the happiness of 
monks who love 
discipline; 
5. To give protection from 
defilements that might 
increase in the present time (for 
example if 
monks are allowed to speak 
one-to-one with 
females, there may be many new 
problems resulting); 
6. To give protection from 
defilements that might 
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increase in the future (for example 
if monks are 
allowed to speak one-to-one with 
females, later 
it may lead the monk to spend all 
their time 
thinking of that female.); 
Blessing Nine: Artfulness in Usage 
127 
7. To instil faith in the public who 
are not yet faithful; 
8. To increase the faith of the 
public who are already 
faithful; 
9. To maintain the Teaching of the 
Buddha steadfast; 
10. To maintain discipline itself; 
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C.3.2 Components of Monastic 
Discipline 
Although it would be possible to 
give the components 
for each of the 227 monastic 
Precepts (same 
principles apply as for those of the 
Five and Eight 
Precepts) there is insufficient space 
to do so. However, 
to demonstrate that monastic 
discipline is 
more than just the code of conduct, 
the four components 
of monastic practice are described 
below: 
C.3.2.1 Restraint according to 
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monastic code of 
conduct [pAEimokkhasaOvara]: 
The `pAEimokkha' is the set of 
rules of training 
which the Buddha gave to monks 
for the restraint 
of their bodily actions and speech. 
As soon a monk 
ordains, whether he knew the rules 
or not previously, 
it is immediately his duty to make 
sure he 
knows and abides by the 227 rules 
of conduct. The 
227 Rules therein can be divided 
into three degrees 
of seriousness: 
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I. Rules entailing defeat 
[pArAjika]: There are 
four rules in this category: killing 
people, 
stealing, sexual intercourse and 
claims of 
mental attainments. Any monk 
who infringes 
the rules of this category 
immediately in no 
longer a monk any more. Whether 
he is disrobed 
or not, he is no longer a monk any 
more. 
It is the heaviest infringement of 
monastic 
conduct possible. 
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2. Rules entailing an initial and 
subsequent 
meeting of the order 
[saIghAdisesa]: This category 
of rules of training is less serious 
than 
the previous, but can still be 
considered evil 
and coarse. When a monk breaks 
one of these 
rules, they must confess their 
transgression to 
the rest of the monastic 
community. If a monk 
who has infringed such a rule still 
has not admitted 
his fault to the rest of the monastic 
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community, 
then he is still not returned to 
purity. 
The reason for this is to show that 
you are 
aware of your fault and will not do 
it again. 
Only then can the monk be 
re-admitted to the 
monastic community. 
3. Rules entailing confession: 
These include 
"Rules entailing confession" 
[pAcittiya], 
"Rules entailing forfeiture and 
confession " 
[nissaggiya-pAcittiya]; "Rules 
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