20. Training Rules for All

The Buddha didn’t expect lay people to follow the monks’ rules, but he did recommend that they adopt five training rules as a constant practice. These rules are found in the Vinaya for monastics as well. The five are to refrain from:

With regard to the first training rule, “living being” covers human beings and all other animals large enough to see with the naked eye.

With regard to the second, stealing is defined as “taking what is not given,” and covers all situations in which you know that an object has an owner, and the owner would not be pleased with your taking the object into your possession, but you take it anyhow. This rule does not cover cases where you borrow an object with the intention of returning it to its owner.

With regard to the third training rule, “sexual misconduct,” for monks, means any sexual intercourse at all. For lay people, it means sexual intercourse with minors, with those who are married to someone else, with those who have taken a vow of celibacy, and even with those “going steady” with someone else (MN 41).

As for the fourth training rule, a deliberate lie is defined as any knowing misrepresentation of the truth, regardless of whether the intention is to deceive or to entertain with the falsehood, and regardless of whether your intentions toward your listener are compassionate or not. This training rule, the Buddha emphasized, was the most serious of the five. If you kill people or steal their belongings, the damage you do to them lasts only as long as this lifetime. But if you misrepresent the truth, the misunderstanding you create in your listeners might lead them to do or think things that could have a detrimental effect for lifetimes to come.

As for the fifth training rule, “intoxicants” covers substances that make you lose mindfulness and heedfulness. Other substances that are addictive but don’t have this effect, such as caffeine or tobacco, wouldn’t come under this rule.

To train under these rules means that you not only refrain from breaking them yourself, but you also don’t get others to break them, and you don’t condone their behavior if they do (Sn 2:14). When you follow these training rules, you work for your own benefit. When you get others to follow them, you work for theirs (AN 4:99).

In AN 8:39, the Buddha says that when you follow these rules in all situations, you’re giving safety to all beings, and you gain a portion of that universal safety as well. You possess what he calls the treasure of virtue (AN 7:6).

These five training rules are said to be the rudiments of the holy life. Monks who gain any of the noble attainments may still break other rules in the Vinaya, but they would never intentionally break these. Lay people who stick by these training rules in all situations are said to be like heavenly beings (AN 4:53). If they gain any of the noble attainments, they, too, would never intentionally break these rules.

If you’re a lay person, the inner rewards for following these five training rules are the same as those for the monks: You develop mindfulness, alertness, and ardency, the qualities needed for training in concentration. And because your behavior is harmless, you have no reason for remorse. That lack of remorse is a source of joy that calms the mind and nourishes you in the higher training of the mind. When you reflect on your virtue, you gain confidence in your ability to pursue the path deeper inside.