Vipassana Meditation : Lectures On Insight Meditation by Venerable

completely purified there will not arise any dukkha or suffering. Sufferingceases to exist. This purification of the mind from defilements is concernedwith the practical aspect of Buddhism whereas the former two points areconcerned with the ethical aspect of Buddhism.There is also the Mangala Sutta (Sutta-nipata, verses 258-269) with 38kinds of blessings. In the Suttas are many ethics to follow which enable us tolive happily and peacefully such as:· You should live in a suitable place where you can be prosperous in everyaspect, having done meritorious deeds in the past.· You should do meritorious deeds as much as possible at present too.· You must watch your deeds, speech and mind properly.That means, we should keep our deeds, speech and thoughts free fromdefilements. In this way, we have many aspects of ethics to follow so that wecan live happily and peacefully.I want to remind you of the Ambalatthika Rahulovadasutta (Majjhima-Nikáya, Sutta No.61) which may be familiar to you. In that Sutta, the Buddhaencouraged his son, Rahula, who was a seven-year-old samanera, to liveproperly, happily and peacefully. The Buddha taught Rahula to stop and reflectwhenever he had the intention of doing something."Rahula, you must be mindful of what you are going to do and considerwhether this deed will be harmful to yourself or to others. By considering thus,if you find that this deed will be harmful to yourself or to others, you must notdo it. But if this deed will not be harmful to yourself or to others, you may doit."In this way, the Buddha instructed Rahula to consider what is to be done,to be aware of what is being done and to reflect on what has been done. Sothis ethic too is the best way for living happily and peacefully in our daily life.There are innumerable aspects of ethics conducive to a happy and peacefullife. If we try to understand these ethics and follow them, we are sure to live ahappy and peaceful life although we cannot yet get rid of all our suffering.Moral AspectThough these ethics are very conducive to a happy and peaceful life, weshould not be contented merely with the second aspect of Buddhism. Weshould proceed to the higher aspects of Buddhism, the third aspect- the moralaspect. In the moral aspect, you must observe precepts, five, eight or ten. Theten precepts are for novices (samaneras) while the 227 rules are for monks(Bhikkhus). In daily life, we must observe at least the five precepts. When we19