Question

What does morality mean in Buddhism?

Answer

Morality in general is Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood. It means not causing harm through our actions and our speech, it means opening your heart, becoming a more compassionate person. Specifically we can say things like the Five Precepts, we are not going to kill, we are not going to steal, we are not going to commit sexual misconduct, we are not going to use our speech in a harmful way and we are not going to take intoxicants that confuse the mind. So specifically they have what they call the Five Precepts of what we try not to do, in general we are trying to watch our speech and our actions throughout our daily life, at work as well as at home. The compassionate intention, though, is what we stress. We have never taught the Buddhist Five Precepts in retreat, because for many people that is too idealistic. But underneath every one of these five precepts is the compassionate intention. So the more you develop the compassionate intention, guidelines such as the 5 Precepts, they just fit easily, because you want to do those things as you open your heart and you don't want to cause harm anymore.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.