The First Precept

The First Moral Precept: I undertake the training rule to abstain from the taking of life.

Thich Nhat Hanh has reformulate this precept as follows: Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life.

When considering the First Precept, please keep in mind there has to be four factors present to make the action of killing a negative act.

1...There has to be the object of the killing. One must understand the object being killed to be a living being.

2...There has to be the intention of killing. To step unknowingly on an insect is not a negative act. To purposely aim your car at a cat and run it over is a negative act.

3...There has to be the action of killing.

4. The death has to occur.

The First Precept asks us to do two things: to avoid taking a life and to protect life whenever and wherever possible. Buddhism is not a passive tradition. We act when we are able to act. And we guide our actions by Compassion and Wisdom.

In Buddhism the question is not “What is right or wrong thing to do?” The question is “What is the wisest and most compassionate thing to do.”