Daoism Series 2 [part 1]
道教五戒
The Five Precepts of Daoism
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无杀，
无盗,
无淫，
无妄，
无酒。
Do not kill.
Do not steal.
Do not indulge in sex.
Do not lie.
Do not consume alcohol.
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道教五戒传
Commentary on the Five Precepts of Daoism
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无杀
Do Not Kill
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There are many levels of life; plants also have life. However, especially large and ancient trees, if there is no absolute necessity, do not touch or move them. In particular you must not kill flying birds or ocean animals like dolphins. But if you are on a deserted island and you have nothing to eat is a necessity. Or if you have a severe disease and killing an animal’s life could potentially save you, then you could do it. In fact life also includes the veggies we eat.
How many cells do you tread under your feet each day?
That is, however, unintentional killing like accidentally stepping on ants or insects. Yet do not take life of the large living beings; make this maxim your main direction and purpose. The first precept of You shall not kill [wu sha 无杀] main point is that you must not kill intentionally, including killing sentient beings that have no effect on you or mean no harm to you. For instance if you stumble across a poisonous snake, remove it far away from the footpath and do not kill it. Nowadays if someone pulls out a knife and threatens someone, the police are allowed to kill them straight away, in order to save lives. If someone kidnaps dozens of people, and massacres young, old, women and children, you could sacrifice one human life to save so many others.
What if a lion or tiger goes to the city, would you not kill it?
Whose life is more important? The life of a lion or the life of a human?
There is another aspect implicated in this concept. If there is a true necessity as in the examples above, you should go kill life yourself, because there is a higher purpose for it. However afterwards you have to l
iberate them to help them transcend and to be able to Return to the Wheel; return to the Re-incarnation cycle. This requires the recital of the scriptures and transcending the sentient beings lives you have claimed, delivering their souls [chao du 超度] from suffering and letting their souls find peace. Therefore some people could perform this ceremony and others could not, because they have not sung the scriptures or accompanied it. At first you should communicate and commune simply with the living entity. Some rituals in Daoism are implemented forced and forcefully; whether the entity listens or not they have to listen. You should notify them and tell them, If you do not leave I’m going to get rid of you. If they do not obey, it will be troublesome for them.
The Ten Thousand Beings unify with Heaven,
Earth and Humanity are all One.
Another aspect of this precept of not killing is not to witness lives being taken, for instance where they sell fish. Do not watch them kill the fish. If your energetic field is weak, problems would easily arise. If you like to eat meat you kill it, but in the city stay away from these killing fields in general, such as slaughterhouses, morgues or crematoriums. There is lot of Dead -Corpse Qi [si wang shi qi 死亡尸气], and Yin- Qi [阴气]; Yin-type Qi. In society do not bow or prostrate to the dead, except for inside the Daoist Gate:
不拜亡人。
Do not kowtow to the dead.
Moreover do not go hunting, because it is for play, fun and joy, and maybe secondarily in order to eat meat. Often it is killing animals for enjoyment without a real necessity. Eating meat and killing life go together. If you eat small amounts of meat it is acceptable. However on the deeper levels of sitting meditation and cultivating stillness you will not be able to digest these micro-molecules and they will remain in your body. It has form, and its effects are even greater on the formless level. To clean it up you need a long time. You could eat meat, but do not butcher it yourself. People whose bodies suffer from illness could eat meat to replenish the nutrition of their body. Those who commonly eat beef like national athletes, they need this
heat capacity and meat’s calories. But this type of heat will not let you sit in meditation and it will not let you slow down your heart beat, as your heartbeat will be pounding stopping you from being able to enter stillness.
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Post-Scriptum: The full article will appear in the appendix of Purple Cloud Press’ forthcoming publication of 《The 49 Barriers of the Cultivation of the Dao》 by Xing De, a manual for refining Inner Nature based on Liu Yiming’s 50 Barriers
