With such thoughts make efforts in the refuge and live as best as you can in the five lifelong precepts, praised by the Buddha as the basis of lay life. Take the eight one-day precepts at times and guard them dearly.

The eight Mahayana precepts are just like the five lay precepts with additional requirements. Both involve no killing, no stealing, no lying, and no taking of intoxicants. But instead of the lay precepts to avoid unkind and unwise sexual behaviour, for these 24 hours, it is celibacy.

The next Mahayana precept is not sitting on high, expensive beds or seats. In ancient India, everybody sat on the floor. If you were sitting higher, it was because you were an important person. In order to not fall prey to arrogance or conceit, do not sit on high or expensive beds and thrones. In our culture, people sit on chairs and that is usually not a sign of being arrogant unless, of course, you sit up there while everybody else is on the floor and you are looking down at others and feeling superior. In our culture, it would be coming into the room and sitting at the head of the table. Abandon this because it creates arrogance.

The next precept has two parts. One part is not singing, dancing and playing music. Although these are not naturally negative actions, they are abandoned for one day because it takes a lot of time to sing, dance, and play music. When you sit down to meditate, you are replaying the songs, the dance steps, and the entertainment. Although the precept just says “singing, dancing and playing music,” it includes all sorts of entertainment: watching movies and things that are entertaining just for the heck of it.

The second part is not wearing perfumes, garlands, or ornaments. Perfumes, garlands and ornaments draw attention to ourselves. We want to make ourselves attractive so that others are attracted to us. It is very distracting for Dharma practice.

The eighth one is not to eat at inappropriate times. Any time after mid-day is inappropriate. So, from then until dawn the next day, only take beverages. Beverages mean thin beverages. You can add a little bit of milk to some tea, that is fine, but not a whole glass of milk. No yoghurt. You can have fruit juice if it is strained, without pulp in it. You can have sweets that just dissolve in your mouth, but not things you chew. You can have vegetable broth, passed through a tea strainer (not a noodle strainer).

Those are the eight precepts. It is very good to take them. You can do it any day you want. It is especially good if you feel like your practice is losing energy, or you have been really, really distracted and your mind is all over the place. Or if you did something that you do not feel so good about doing and you know you need to get yourself back on track, then take the precepts for one day. It is really, good practice.

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