Question: Can following the precepts or practicing meditation lead to right perception? Why or why not?
Answer: Can wearing white clothes change your character? Luang Por Thoon said that the color of your clothes can compel your behavior. It is true that wearing white can make you more careful, but does it actually change your character?
Precepts and meditation follow the same logic. As long as the cause still remains, once the right trigger comes along, the same old results will emerge. Precepts allow you to live with others in harmony. They’re just like traffic signs and laws of the land. Not following them all the time doesn’t necessarily hurt you or others. And following the rules to a T can also cause problems between you and others.
Meditation gives you a rest break. Counting to ten can calm you down and stop harmful words or actions from coming out. But it doesn’t change the fact that you are angry. If the same input comes along later, you’re likely to feel the same way as before.
So if precepts and meditation cannot lead to right perception, what can? How do you change wrong perception to right perception?
In the Buddha’s time, people attained levels of enlightenment much easier and much more frequently. They didn’t have to request the precepts or sit down and meditate beforehand. In fact, when they met the Buddha, many were in the middle of sinning, many were murderers, adulterers, liars, thieves, you name it.
So how did these “bad” people change their views and break free of the chains of suffering? By listening and thinking along. As the Buddha imparted wisdom unto them, these people dug up their own life experiences and applied them to these teachings. They realized the impermanence in what they had assumed and believed to be permanent. This is how they changed their views.
No Comments