#precept

To write out the precepts again, we contend with them, and keep them; we build our humanity, and keep our humanity alive... Thay has named the precepts 'wonderful'... Wonderful because they can protect us, and show us how to live a joyous life, an interesting, adventurous, deep, large life, and how to be with one another, and with animals, plants, and all the Earth and universe. Wonderful because when we practice the precepts, we existentially become humane, we embody loving kindness... Standing in the midst of burning ruins, I was glad that I knew the precepts. Though I kept their tenets imperfectly, even in aspiration I created some invisible good that could not be destroyed... The Five Wonderful Precepts give clear and simple directions to finding that life. In devastation, I have blueprints for making home anew (90-92). --For a Future to Be Possible: Commentaries on the Five Wonderful Precepts ↗

— Maxine Hong Kingston

#home

We learn this by the precepts that Jesus left. He observed that the people were looking outward, and assured them that the kingdom of God cometh not with outward observation; and for this reason, that it was only to be known in man. ↗

— Elias Hicks

#cometh #god #jesus #kingdom #known

Religion is the solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion, and the duties of man toward God. ↗

— Gouverneur Morris

#duties #education #god #good #man

No one can practice the precepts perfectly, including the Buddha... Boiled vegetables contain dead bacteria. We cannot practice the First Precept or any of the precepts perfectly. But because of the real danger in our society--alcoholism has destroyed so many families and has brought about much unhappiness--we have to do something. We have to live in a way that will eradicate that kind of damage. That is why even if you can be very healthy with one glass of wine every week, I still urge you with all my strength to abandon that glass of wine (76). ↗

— Thich Nhat Hanh

#precept #family

This is the precept by which I have lived: Prepare for the worst; expect the best; and take what comes. ↗

— Hannah Arendt

#comes #expect #i #lived #precept

The first precept was never to accept a thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt. ↗

— Rene Descartes

#doubt #first #i #knew #never