Freedom Wherever We Go: A Buddhist Monastic Code for the 21st Century

When we practice the content, the essence of the precepts, we receive the benefit of peace, clarity, and freedom right away.

If we keep the precepts but are caught in their outer form and do not understand their deeper meaning, our practice cannot lead to liberation, purity, peace, and joy.

We tend to get caught in superstitious beliefs that do not bring us understanding and transformation.

The fifth kind of wrong view is being caught in the outer form of rites and rituals. We think that if we avoid doing what is forbidden and follow all rules and regulations, we will be liberated. We are content to follow rules and perform rituals without understanding their significance.

I discovered that precepts are mindfulness. This was a very important discovery in my life. The ancestral teachers and my own teachers had not taught me this directly; maybe they realized it but they had not actually said it. If the basis of precepts is not mindfulness, they are not authentic precepts.