The Five Precepts: to undertake the rule of training to abstain from intentionally killing life; to undertake the rule of training to abstain from intentionally taking what is not given; to undertake the rule of training to abstain from intentional wrong conduct in sexual relations; to undertake the rule of training to abstain from intentional false speech; to undertake the rule of training to abstain from intentionally using intoxicants that confuse the mind. They are very important.
If we look at them closely, why are we taking the rule to abstain from these things? Killing living beings; if we have compassion and lovingkindness towards ourselves and others, we don't want to harm other living beings. Because just as we want to live, and have fear, and don't want to die, so do other living beings. To abstain from taking what is not given; most people and beings work very hard in their life to obtain things that they may believe or are necessary, for the support of their body, the support of their family. And they work hard to maintain their happiness and security through accumulation of these things. So, through compassion and lovingkindness, we don't take what is not ours. We understand that if we had something we liked, or needed, we would not like other people to take it from us. To abstain from wrong conduct in sexual relations, again it is compassion, not to use others just as a vehicle for our own pleasure. To have compassion in our sexual relations and to understand that if someone is in a relationship with someone else then they are not available to us, because it can break up families, it can cause suffering for couples. So, we are more responsible in our sexual relations. To abstain from false speech, I have already talked about the importance of that. Just as we do not like to be lied to, somebody else does not like to be lied to. And once you have lost the trust of somebody it is very difficult to get it back. So, if we have compassion for ourselves, we realize that being truthful in our speech is very important, for compassion to ourselves and compassion to others. To abstain from intoxicants that confuse the mind. As you are all meditators you understand how difficult it is, even when we have a clear mind, to protect ourselves from harm, to protect ourselves from Mara, to protect ourselves from being unmindful and causing suffering for ourselves or others. If we cloud the awareness, it is going to be a lot more difficult and we may cause harm to ourselves and others. So, if we value and cherish our clear mind and we wish to protect ourselves from harm, or others from harm, we try to abstain from intoxicants that confuse the mind and make it more difficult to make wise decisions.