The Four Noble Truths represent the core of the teachings of the Buddha, and are as follows:
The First Noble Truth
Unsatisfactory-ness and suffering exist and are universally experienced.
The Second Noble Truth
Attachment and Aversion are the causes of unsatisfactory-ness and suffering.
The Third Noble Truth
There is an end to unsatisfactory-ness and suffering.
The Fourth Noble Truth
The end can be attained by journeying on the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Noble Eightfold Path
Right Understanding Right Thinking Right Speech Right Action Right Livelihood Right Effort Right Mindfulness Right Concentration
1. Right View
See things as they truly are without delusions or distortions for all things change. Develop wisdom by knowing how things work, knowing oneself and others.
2. Right Intention
Wholehearted resolution and dedication to overcoming the dislocation of self-centered craving through the development of loving kindness, empathy and compassion.
3. Right Speech
Abstinence from lies and deceptions, backbiting, idle babble and abusive speech. Cultivate honesty and truthfulness; practice speech that is kind and benevolent. Let your words reflect your desire to help, not harm others.
4.Right Action
Practice self-less conduct that reflects the highest statement of the life you want to live. Express conduct that is peaceful, honest and pure showing compassion for all beings.
5. Right Livelihood
Avoidance of work that causes suffering to others or that makes a decent, virtuous life impossible. Do not engage in any occupation that opposes or distracts one from the path. Love and serve our world through your work.
6. Right Effort
Seek to make the balance between the exertion of following the spiritual path and a moderate life that is not over-zealous. Work to develop more wholesome mind states, while gently striving to go deeper and live more fully.
7. Right Mindfulness
Through constant vigilance in thought, speech and action seek to rid the mind of self-centered thoughts that separate and replace them with those that bind all beings together. Be aware of your thoughts, emotions, body and world as they exist in the present moment. Your thoughts create your reality.
8. Right Concentration
Through the application of meditation and mental discipline seek to extinguish the last flame of grasping consciousness and develop an emptiness that has room to embrace and love all things.
THE BODHISATTVA PRECEPTS:
The Vows of Refuge in The Three Treasures
I take refuge in the Buddha
I take refuge in the Dharma
I take refuge in the Sangha
The Three Pure Precepts
Renounce all evil;
Practice all good;
Save the many beings.
The Ten Grave Precepts
1. Not Killing
" The Buddha-seed grows in accordance with not taking life. Transmit the life of Buddha's wisdom and do not kill. " - Dogen Zenji
2. Not Stealing
" In the realm of the unattainable Dharma, not having thoughts of gaining is called the Precept of Not Stealing. " - Bodhidharma
3. Not Misusing Sex
" The Three Wheels are pure and clear. When you have nothing to desire, you follow the way of all Buddhas. " - Dogen Zenji
" The Three Wheels are the actor, the thing acted upon, and the action. Committed lovers and their act of love are intrinsically pure and clear. The celibate too, fully realized, finds that Buddha-nature pervades the whole universe. " - Robert Aitken Roshi
4. Not Lying
" Self-deception, deception of others, cheating, gossip, and carelessness with language are all disloyal to the peace in our heart of hearts. Words expressive of that peace are true. Silence expressive of that peace is true. " - Robert Aitken Roshi
5. Not Giving or Taking Drugs
" Now when I view all beings everywhere, I see that each of them possesses the wisdom and virtue of the Tathagata, but because of their attachments and delusions, they cannot bear witness to that fact. " - Shakyamuni Buddha (Tathagata is another name for the Buddha, the one who comes forth purely from essential essence, as essential essence.)
" In the realm of the intrinsically pure Dharma, not giving rise to delusions is called the Precept of Not Giving or Taking Drugs. " - Bodhidharma
6. Not Discussing Faults of Others
" In the Buddha Dharma, there is one path, one Dharma, one realization, one practice. Don't permit fault-finding. Don't permit haphazard talk. " - Dogen Zenji
7. Not Praising Yourself While Abusing Others
" As one who truly practices the Tao, Don't regard the world as ignorant. If you condemn the world, That is your own condemnation. " - from The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
8. Not Sparing the Dharma Assets
" In light of all the meanings of 'Dharma', we can understand 'Dharma assets' to indicate energy and its tendencies, energy and its inclinations. The bounty of the phenomenal world is matched by the bounteous spirit of the individual. " - Robert Aitken Roshi
9. Not Indulging in Anger
" Treat your anger with the utmost respect and tenderness, for it is no other than yourself. Do not suppress it - simply be aware of it. Awareness is like the Sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed. when you are aware that you are angry, your anger is transformed... Mindfully dealing with anger is like taking the hand of a little brother. " - Thich Nhat Hanh
10. Not Defaming the Three Treasures
The Three Treasures are " the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha: enlightenment, the truth, and harmony. Not defaming them is the path of understanding fully, keeping them clear in our minds, and presenting them in our lives. " - Robert Aitken Roshi
The sixteen Buddhist precepts (above) are so intimate a part of Zen practice that they have traditionally been called the "blood vein" of the ancestral lineage. The precepts can be understood and interpreted at many levels. They can be understood as supports for the practice of awakening, as the arena of that practice, and as the expression of awakening itself. While Mahayana precepts are sometimes understood from relative and sometimes from absolute points of view (for example, that the precepts are never fully accomplished or that they are always fulfilled), no Zen practice can exist without basing one's actions on the sixteen Bodhisattva precepts.
