Modernity
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Last time, I suggested that modernity clouds the mind in ways far more pervasive than any single act of consumption. This is why the fifth precept matters so much. In modern Western contexts, it is usually read as a caution about alcohol: a reminder not to drink to excess. But if we take seriously the…
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The Five Precepts of early Buddhism are often presented as a set of ancient prohibitions: don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t misuse sexuality, don’t lie, don’t cloud the mind. They were shaped in a world where harm was immediate and visible, and where ethical restraint was the foundation of practice. But if these precepts are to…