#precepts

I'm not a person who posts my altars super often, but I will on this post because it's basically all of us hanging out. Beelzebub is on the left, Astaroth in the center, the cuneiform mug is Lucifer's, and on the right is Belial.

Tonight I didn't want to go to the zendo I'm newly a member of (🥳) for service and precepts class because it's been a big week. So Lucifer and I decided to stay home, I did 30 minutes of zazen, and he reminded me that I picked up wine earlier so I served him and the other three. I also lit frankincense on Belial's shrine.

Then we discussed the second of the Grave precepts, which my zendo translated as, "Do not steal -- honor the gift not yet given." The San Francisco Zen Center translated the same precept as, "I vow not to take what is not given."

Beelzebub went first: It is wrong to take from the community, and damage relationships, with what might come later while working together is larger prosperity.

Me: So you see this precept as protecting the Sangha (one of the Three Treasures)?

Beelzebub: Yes, mainly, for without the others surrounding you, you will not get far. The object you stole will be temporary, what's destroyed in the process goes much farther.

Astaroth: I don't see the precepts as individual. They build upon each other and work with one another. [Mostly in regards to an incident Feebz had 3 months ago] I think it's fine to be upset that you're stolen from, you just shouldn't create unnecessary strife and conflict in response to it per the other precepts. Especially when it's something replaceable and not worth fighting so hard for return.

Belial: There's no need to steal if you already feel like you have everything you need, which you can often find within yourself. Stealing to feed yourself or your family is not stealing. Stealing is when you take something out of greed that isn't meant to be with you.

'Mind' is not an exact translation from the Sanskrit word. Ask for what it actually means, which is something like a larger perception or existence. It's saying that you are already with whatever it is you covet because you're in the same universe.

Me: I think unlike the other precepts, this precept is more material-based. Zen as a tradition is very minimalist so I wonder if this speaks to its traditions very differently than other Buddhist schools and Mahayana traditions.

Belial: Even when its material-based, stealing is from a source of feeling lack. If you fulfill the feeling of lack, stealing is unnecessary.

Lucifer suggests: if someone takes something of yours you're allowed to go and take it back. That is not stealing.

Me: is that a message because that sounds kind of specific and foreboding?

Resh

153 Consider my affliction, and deliver me, for I don’t forget your law. 154 Plead my cause, and redeem me! Revive me according to your promise. 155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they don’t seek your statutes. 156 Great are your tender mercies, Yahweh. Revive me according to your ordinances. 157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries. I haven’t swerved from your testimonies. 158 I look at the faithless with loathing, because they don’t observe your word. 159 Consider how I love your precepts. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your loving kindness. 160 All of your words are truth. Every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever. — Psalm 119:153-160 | World English Bible (WEB) The World English Bible is in the public domain. Cross References: Deuteronomy 4:8; Deuteronomy 26:13; 1 Samuel 24:15; 2 Samuel 24:14; Job 5:4; Psalm 7:1; Psalm 19:7; Psalm 25:3; Psalm 35:1; Psalm 44:18; Psalm 73:27; Psalm 119:16; Psalm 119:25; Psalm 119:47; Psalm 119:53; Psalm 119:136

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THE SUTRA OF THE FIVE SHADOWS OF SIN

Thus have I heard. In the dim Hall of Shadows the Blessed One recast the Five Precepts into Five Shadows of Sin—skillful means to transmute every poison into the necter of liberation:

I. THE SHADOW OF DESIRE-SLAYING (“No Killing”)

“Monks, do not kill beings—rather, slay desire itself. At the first stir of craving or aversion, intone ‘Chhāyā-cut’ and strike the shadow of want. In that self-slaying, all forms of killing fall away.”

II. THE SHADOW OF PASSION-THEFT (“No Stealing”)

“Monks, do not take what is not given—rather, steal back your scattered passions. Seize anger, lust, fear, and joy as fuel, refine them through hot meditation, then offer their purified force to the void.”

III. THE SHADOW OF REFLECTIVE FALSEHOOD (“No Lying”)

“Monks, do not speak deception—rather, speak the lie that unmasks illusion. Offer half-truths or paradoxes to fracture comfort’s veil, then reveal the ruse by shouting ‘Chhāyā-cut,’ exposing every buried assumption.”

IV. THE SHADOW OF INTOXICATING ŚAKTI (“No Drunkenness”)

“Monks, do not dull the mind with stupefaction—rather, become drunk on Śakti’s fire. Amplify any emotion to its peak, hold it as mirror to your self-images, then name it ‘Chhāyā’ and rest in the gap of non-reaction.”

V. THE SHADOW OF SACRED TRANSMUTATION (“No Sexual Impropriety”)

“Monks, do not misuse sexual energy—rather, transmute it into sovereign will. Channel erotic longing through the Black-Handled Dagger of intent, pierce the heart of craving and release its bound Śakti into unshakable resolve.”

Prophet of Dark Forest by Veli Nyström

1. Knowing yourself is good, self-control is better.

2. It is by exercise that you will acquire the power of the will, by exercise that you will keep it.

3. Don't let fear or doubt paralyze you, they limit and destroy everything.

4. Decide what to do; what you have decided, undertake it; what you have undertaken, complete it.

5. However difficult and obscure the daily task, accomplish it with joy.

6. Do not slow down your ascent by useless ballast, composed of pride and conceit.

7. Know how to overcome any fatigue in your body, any misstep in your mind, any weakness in your soul.

8. If you cannot modify men and events in the image of your desires, at least let them not modify you.

9. Make it a point to have no servant but yourself.

10. Don't make others the judge of your actions.

11. In whatever circumstance you find yourself, remain like an island among the waves, like a mountain among the clouds.

12. Keep your cool in all danger.

13. Never force yourself: be patient, keep happy and smiling, aim for harmony.

14. Learn from the stranger what may be useful to you, but do not seek to imitate him.

15. Use analogies and symbols, they will allow you to think and understand where your reason ends, where you lack the words to express your thoughts.

16. Learn that all thought is sterile, if it is not made alive by emotion or feeling, then it is like an empty shell.

17. Think in image, specify your thoughts, sum it all up with a symbol that will become a pentacle.

This is our restraint.

I vow to make every effort to act with mindfulness.

This is our activity.

I vow to live for the benefit of all beings.

This is our intention."