As Buddhists, we are bound by certain fundamental principles. Thus we live our lives a certain way. The ultimate goal of living our lives is to understand the fundamental causes of suffering and strive for liberation from such.
Buddha (enlightened one), Dhamma (Buddha’s teachings), and Sangha (order of monks) are the first set of three main pillars that we pay respect and take refuge. Sila (precepts) are second set of pillars that we have to follow in our daily lives. For example, even as laymen and laywomen, we have to try our best to uphold the five fundamental Sila:
- Abstain from taking life
- Abstain from taking what is not given
- Abstain from sexual misconduct
- Abstain from false speech
- Abstain from intoxicants and abuse of drugs that cause heedlessness
By avoiding these unwholesome acts, we strive to sanitize our three basic Karma – mental, verbal, and physical acts. By continuously and assiduously following these principles, we strive to eventually liberate ourselves from the suffering of Samsara (incessant cycle of lives).
We believe that these are many benefits associated with doing certain activities include donations (of water, food, materials, money, and labor), upholding of the Silas, and conducting insightful meditation. These benefits include living longer, being beautiful/handsome, being happy, being physically strong and being intelligent to name just a few.
It would be incredibly beneficial if we live our lives in this way by our own will and understand, rather than by coercion, by tradition, or by force.