Hi Matt @amatt

Thanks for your reply. I would first of all like to pick up on your final point about some people who un-friend themselves and try to jump into a new, groovy “spiritual dude” or “spiritual chick” personality. I know what you mean. I remember one girl I met in particular who was talking about thinking outside society’s rules but was doing and being everything that society tells you a hippy chick is like.

I am really serious about my journey of Self discovery. I am doing it for me, not for an image, but I do hope that my journey will prove fruitful for me and in the end inspire positive change in others. That would be my goal.

You mention mindfulness a lot, and again I know where you are coming from. I call it going with the flow or listening to my intuitive spirit but the idea is the same. I try to slow down, be fully aware and mindful of what I am doing and how I am feeling, and make decisions based on that.

The journey this has taken me on so far has already been very profound and enlightening.

The only thing that I am not sure about is where you say “Consider that the precepts are more like a beginners guide to tuning your body.” I know that Buddhism sees the precepts as a guide, but isn’t that a bit of a loose interpretation of Buddha’s words? It is hard to know what Buddha actually meant all those years ago, but as I understand it, he said that all enlightened people carry out these precepts, and so if we want to be enlightened then it follows that we should carry them out too.

For my project at How to be a Buddha I am trying to live by the teachings of the Buddha to see what really happens.

This is why I struggle a little here. Because I understand fully that more important than following any specific instruction or rule is to follow our desires with mindfulness, and then we will stop carrying out non-compassionate actions as we listen to our Self anyway, but if I am following what the Buddha actually said to see if it actually works, then maybe being mindful of my drinking a beer could be seen as a way out of actually abstaining?

Further thoughts on what Buddha actually meant with his precept most welcome.

Thanks Matt for your thought-provoking response!

robito