The origin of historical consciousness in recognizing others
Humans began to count their age of history from the recognition that others' existence is important, as well as our own existence.
Buddha's awakening under the morning star as universal possibility
Looking at the morning star, Venus, opened up all of Buddha's possibilities. In the same way, that star tells us that such opening is possible in the future, too. You are not watching a star, you are watching yourself.
Practical approach to negative circumstances without adding hatred
When we are in the muddy road, to hate being in the muddy road doesn't do anything. The first thing is to step out of it, or find out how to walk in the muddy road. Hatred is extra.
Precepts as naturally emerging from sustained practice
Usually, without recognizing the Precepts, we are living the Precepts, especially when we continue to practice meditation for a couple of months or many years. Precepts reveal themselves in the form of your practice, internally and externally.
Vivid instruction to see through Buddha's eye
Take out your eye and put Buddha's eye into your socket and see what things look like. It becomes obvious that Buddha's awakening was the basis for the Precepts.
Inner compass as the lived experience of the Precepts
On each occasion, your center, maybe it's from the top of your head to the bottom of your hip hole, somewhere on that line there is a compass which lets you sense, "This is the right way," or "I went a little bit off, but it's okay," or "I am lost."
The inseparability of precepts, meditation, and wisdom
In primitive Buddhist orders, Precepts, meditation, and wisdom or sutra, together, are called "sangaku," three learnings, and one always contains the other two.
Description of early Buddhist sangha as revolutionary simplicity
Buddha's order didn't have a material position in society, except that it provided medical care and daily food. Clothing was absolutely simple. You used thrown-away, useless cloth, to wrap your body. They must have been seen as a drop-out party, or something.
Buddha as the original revolutionary drop-out
Gautama Buddha, one of the important rulers of the Shakya clan, renounced the world and became a drop-out.
Origin of precepts as responses to actual transgressions
It is said that six bad monks and six bad nuns did wrong things and then came to Buddha to be told, "That is the wrong thing to do." If you were a member of the primitive order of Buddha and did one of these things, you were liberated from the sangha.