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Reciting the Five Mindfulness Trainings Within Lay Sangha
The Buddha sought liberation from afflictions like craving, anger, despair, jealousy, and delusion, realizing that building a Sangha is essential for transformation and healing. The fourfold community consists of:
- Monks
- Nuns
- Laymen
-
Laywomen
Taking refuge in the Sangha protects, supports, and guides us. To become a member, one practices mindfulness, concentration, and insight (smṛti, samādhi, and prajñā), concretely expressed through the Five Mindfulness Trainings: - The First Mindfulness Training: Protecting the life of humans, animals, plants, and minerals.
- The Second Mindfulness Training: Sharing time, energy, and material resources, and refraining from stealing or exploiting.
- The Third Mindfulness Training: Protecting the integrity of individuals, couples, and families from sexual misconduct and abuse.
- The Fourth Mindfulness Training: Restoring communication through loving speech and compassionate listening.
- The Fifth Mindfulness Training: Mindful consumption of food, drink, and cultural items to avoid ingesting toxins of hate, violence, fear, and anger.
Lay practitioners (upāsaka and upāsikā) must organize themselves to recite the trainings at least twice a month to help their training body (śīlakāya) grow in purity (trưởng tịnh). The trainings consist of both chỉ (refraining from doing) and tác (doing), which together constitute trì (holding the precepts). During the recitation ceremony (upoṣadha), the community performs saṅghakarma by asking three questions:
- Has the community assembled?
- Is there harmony in the community?
-
Is anyone absent that has asked to be represented, and has he declared that his śīla body is clear?
If there is discord, the recitation cannot take place until the community practices reconciliation and Beginning Anew.
Part of the following collections
Excercises On Mindful Breathing