Precepts remixing

Open
- Speak of others with openness and possibility.
- Be transparent.
- Realise self and others are one. Recognise non-separation.
Clear
- Refrain from addictive or compulsive behaviour.
- Don’t use substances to escape experience.
Kind / Compassionate
- Befriend your own faults, compassionately allow them.
- Generous
  - Give and accept affection and friendship without clinging.
  - Give Benefits, freely.
  - Do not withhold.
- Respectful
  - Decrease violence. Reduce harm.
- Honest
  - Refrain from false and harmful speech.
  - Meet others on equal ground.
Content
- Appreciate what you have.

Valued Action

Relaxed
Open
- Speak of others with openness and possibility.
- Bearing witness to the offering of each moment.
- Be fully expressed.
- Be transparent.
- Realise self and others are one. Recognise non-separation.
Clear
- Refrain from addictive or compulsive behaviour.
- Don’t use substances to escape experience.
- Acknowledge responsibility for everything in your life.
Kind / Compassionate
- Active listening.
- Befriend your own faults, compassionately allow them.
Patient
Wise
- Speak up.
- Give your best effort and accept the results.
Generous
- Give and accept affection and friendship without clinging.
- Give Benefits, freely.
- Do not withhold.
Content
- Appreciate what you have.
- Be satisfied with what you have.
Faithful
Respectful
- Protect, preserve, respect life.
- Decrease violence. Reduce harm.
- Meet others on equal ground.
Honest
- Refrain from false and harmful speech.
- Embrace all experience directly.
Dependable
Mindful
Peaceful
- Let go of anger.
- Actualise harmony.
- Live in harmony.

Notes

I think specific positive injuctive framings (“Do this good thing”) are the most fruitful. But/and multiple angles are helpful for getting the best grip on something. And negation of something can be particularly useful, such as anattā / not-self.

I really like the take in “Good Life: A Zen Precepts Retreat” of:

Key (e.g. Gratitude);
Prohibition (e.g. Not killing)
Aspiration (e.g. To live in harmony with all life and the environment that sustains it)
Inspiration (e.g. There is not separate self)

I like links and lines and maps. So I like a mind map kind of structure:

Value (underlying the precept)
- Action 1 (that supports the value)
- Action 2
- Action 3

A few helpful angles from Opening to Oneness:

From not to non: both stealing and not stealing have been liberated to become non-stealing.
The precepts are not just ethical norms but rather expressions of enlightened reality.
Not about how to be “good” and live by the precepts.
- Rather, they challenge us to examine deeply who we are.
- Instead of aspiring to keep the precepts, we look deeply into our failure to do so.
Whatever we suppress in ourselves we tend to oppress in others.

Various takes on the precepts

Non-killing

Protect life, decrease violence, reduce harm.
Kindness, compassion.
Preserve life where possible. Be clear and present when we can’t.
Respect life.
Recognizing that I am not separate from all that is.
At the level of the absolute, non-killing is non-separation.
To live in harmony with all life and the environment that sustains it.

Non-stealing

Refrain from taking what is not given.
Take only what is freely given.
Give freely of what you can.
Refrain from negative action.
Cultivate contentment and generosity.
Generosity, renunciation.
Be giving.
Being satisfied with what I have.
Possessiveness, instead of non-attachment or generosity. From the delusion that we lack, are lacking.
To freely give, ask for, and accept what is needed.

Non-misusing sex

Engage in sexual intimacy respectfully, with an open heart.
Contentment, faithfulness.
Honour the body.
Chaste conduct.
Meeting the diversity of life with respect and dignity.
To give and accept affection and friendship without clinging.

Non-lying

Refrain from false and harmful speech.
Thoughtfully and compassionately speak and listen.
Honesty, dependability.
Manifest truth.
Listening and speaking from the heart.
Have no complicity with lies: speak up.
To see and act in accordance with what is.
There is no need to hide the truth.

Non-misusing intoxicants

Refrain from addictive or compulsive behaviour.
Mindfulness, responsibility.
Cultivate a clear mind.
Don’t use substances to escape experience.
Proceed clearly.
Do not cloud the mind.
Not Being Ignorant.
It’s not the intoxicant itself, but the craving, the being taking away from discomfort.
Not clouding.
To embrace all experience directly.

Non-talking About Others’ Errors and Faults

Speak of others with openness and possibility.
See the perfection.
Bearing witness to the offering of each moment.
Notice the implied “should.”
Befriend your own faults, compassionately allow them.
To acknowledge responsibility for everything in my life.

Non-elevating Oneself and Blaming Others

Meet others on equal ground.
Realise self and others are one.
Speaking what I perceive to be the truth.
Ask what you’re afraid of, what you’re not tolerating.
To give my best effort and accept the results.

Non-being Stingy

Give generously.
Do not withhold.
Using all the ingredients of my life.
Be fully expressed, be transparent.

Non-being Angry

Let go of anger.
Relate to our anger instead of from it.
Actualise harmony.
Bearing witness to emotions that arise.
Not holding on to anger.
Suppressing anger is a way of avoiding getting to know it. But so is acting it out.
Not to rage, resent, or seek revenge.

Non-abusing the Three Treasures

Take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha.
Encourage others to lead a spiritual life, in their own way.

Generosity
Morality
Patience
Effort
Meditation
Wisdom

Sources

So many! Including, my copies of:

Added 2024-12-20.