Those are The Eight Precepts yogis kept during retreat in Burma in the 1940s.Refrain from killing living beingsThis includes humans, animals, insects.The training is toward harmlessness and sensitivity.Refrain from taking what is not givenNo stealing, taking, manipulating, or exploiting.Refrain from all sexual activityUnlike the Five Precepts, which prohibit sexual misconduct, the Eight Precepts require complete celibacy during retreat.The purpose is conservation of mental energy and reduction of craving.Refrain from false speechNo lying, deception, gossip, harmful speech.In retreat this usually extends into noble silence except when necessary or during teacher interviews.Refrain from intoxicantsNo alcohol or recreational drugs that cloud mindfulness.Refrain from eating after noonTraditionally:solid food only from dawn until midday,after noon only water or sometimes permitted drinks.This was not meant as punishment, but to reduce dullness, attachment, and bodily heaviness.Different modern centers sometimes adapt this rule slightly for health reasons.Refrain from entertainment, adornment, and beautificationTraditionally this includes:music, dancing, shows, games, perfumes, cosmetics, jewelry, decorative self-display.The aim is withdrawal from stimulation and identity-maintenance.In modern terms, this would also include:social media, entertainment browsing, compulsive phone use.Refrain from luxurious beds and seatsTraditionally:simple sleeping arrangements, modest comfort, avoiding indulgence and lethargy.Not self-punishment but simplicity.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahasi_Sayadaw
>>18471230>This includes humans, animals, insects.Given how inclusive this definition is, you would think it would also include bacteria. What would it say about washing your hands? It results in the death of countless organisms but somewhat increases your chance of survival
>>18471232If they can avoid killing bacteria or whatever, they will do precisely that. You understood right.
>>18471233I respect this for its consistency but i think the idea of living and letting live is wrong. Life naturally devours everything, drop out of the race and something else will take your spot. Dont kill the bacteria in your hands and it might instead kill something you interacted with in your stead.It sounds like its just designed to remove blood from your hands which absolves you from responsibility but probably does nothing for the world
>>18471253Christians would say you believe you are in hell, where there is competition and attack. They would tell you that you're yet to figure out that God's creation is like Him, perfect, and that all those flaws you see in the world are made by your mind, and you believe you're seeing reality, but you cannot perceive reality. Reality is beyond perception. So they would conclude you're actually blind to what is here.
>>18471335I may disagree with Buddhist morally but they walk a legitimate path. Christians are stuck in a circus where they do strange gymnastics like this with their own unique moves. Im afraid to say, any another Christians would perform a completely different trick. This is the first time ive heard this specific interpretation out of the dozens ive heard
>>18471253>Life naturally devours everythingStopped reading there. Crass darwinists ignore novel endosymbiotic events and the inevitability of multiplicity on account of that.
>>18471526>life doesnt devour everything because of friendship or something (which is secretly just them devouring the space in your body)Im sorry that you thought i was only referring to food. Space, time, objects, whatever it may be, if it can forcibly seize it, it will
