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The Ten Pillars of Buddhism

by Sangharakshita

The Ten Pillars are the ten ethical principles, which provide a comprehensive guide to the moral dimension of human life. This lecture provides us with a thorough introduction to Buddhist ethics. Note: the second half of this long lecture was read by Dharmachari Devamitra.

Talk given in 1984.

Tracks (click play to listen)

	1.	The Order’s sixteenth birthday (7:43)
	2.	Introduction to the paper (9:26)
	3.	The Relation Between Refuges and Precepts (8:46)
	4.	Canonical Sources: i. the Kutadanta Sutta (5:13)
	5.	ii. The Sevitabba-Asevitabba Sutta (5:16)
	6.	iii.The Anguttura Nikaya (6:14)
	7.	iv. Other Canonical Sources (6:15)
	8.	v. The Mahayana sutras (3:16)
	9.	Total Transformation (6:05)
	10.	Body, speech, and mind (2:11)
	11.	Principles of Ethics (8:06)
	12.	Rules of Training (5:48)
	13.	Mula-Pratimoksha (8:24)
	14.	A norm of ethical behaviour (5:38)
	15.	Other Ethical Formulae (4:55)
	16.	Lifestyle (6:48)
	17.	The First Precept (6:55)
	18.	The golden rule – non-violence and love (7:34)
	19.	Love mode and power mode (6:28)
	20.	The Second Precept (5:58)
	21.	Taking the not-given; gratitude (4:58)
	22.	Indebtedness (5:30)
	23.	The Third Precept: sexual polarization and contentment (10:48)
	24.	Introduction to the four speech precepts (3:49)
	25.	The Fourth Precept: truthfulness, falsehood, and society; factual accuracy; believing others (7:18)
	26.	The Fifth Precept: harsh and kindly speech (4:44)
	27.	The Sixth Precept: frivolous and meaningful speech (4:31)
	28.	The Seventh Precept: slanderous and harmonious speech (4:23)
	29.	The Eighth Precept: covetousness (4:54)
	30.	Tranquillity and meditation (3:52)
	31.	The Ninth Precept: hatred and compassion (5:40)
	32.	The Tenth Precept (6:59)
	33.	Abandoning false views, letting Wisdom shine (5:58)
	34.	Conclusion: ten pillars, ten petals (5:10)

Total running time: 3:25:33

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