I was wondering why one of the rules of being a monk is this "I will refrain from dancing, singing, listening to music, and watching shows" How would singing or listening to music interfere with being a monk I consider myself buddhist but this will keep me from ever becoming a monk.
They're monks. They're supposed to turn away from worldly pursuits, right? At least that's what I understand. Of course I'll be the first one to admit how little understanding I have of Buddhism, though I AM willing to learn more.
Even Buddha said not to accept thing as truth without experiencing the reasoning behind it yourself first
I think that Darrellkitchen could do an exponentially better job explaining the prattimoksha than I can, but I'll try for you. As I understand it, by refraining from shows, the idea is that the monks are able to keep mindfulness a lot easier without having to focus on their actions and the colourful exciting shows taking place around them. That's my guess
Nacca gīta vādita visūka dassanā vēramañī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi I undertake the precept to refrain from dancing, singing, music, and from shows The first five precepts are meant to preserve morality which is the first aspect of the trilogy {Sila (morality), Samadhi (concentration), Panna (wisdom)}, and is the property of the Noble Eightfold Path, namely Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood. These first five precepts should be practiced moment-to-moment by everyone as they entail what is a right and moral behavior for all beings ... not to kill ... not to take what is not given ... not to engage in sexual behavior outside of one's own wife, or husband ... not to use incorrect speech ... not to engage in use of intoxicants that impare mindfulness. All other precepts that follow the first five, the eight- and ten-precept, are for the practitioner to seperate oneself from those things that cause the mind to become excited. When the mind is excited it is not at peace. When the mind is in a state of calm or peace, it is able to concentrate during meditation. The eight-precepts are for those who enter meditation retreats. The ten-precepts are for those who become Samanera/Samaneri (novice monk/nun), and for Upasaka/Upasika, Male/Female practitioner who is interested in becoming Samanera/Samaneri. Of the eight and ten precept practitioners, the third precept changes from not engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior to refraining from sexual activity alltogether. All these precepts are aimed at bringing calm and peace to the mind. Yet, calm and/or peace are not goals one works for or toward, more appropriately removing the things that hinder calm and peace. Since it is the eyes, contact with the eyes, sensations produced from contact with the eyes, feelings for the sensations, perceptions from the feelings, mental fabrications regarding the perceptions, and consciousness acquired from these fabrications, the eyes are very busy jumping from one form to another ... from one color to another ... from one shape to another ... from one sight to another ... non-stop, except for when the eyes are closed, and then the mind provides from memory past sensory input. Since it is the ears, contact with the ears, sensations produced from contact with the ears, feelings for the sensations, perceptions from the feelings, mental fabrications regarding these percpetions, and concsiousness acquired from these fabrications, the ears are very busy jumping from one sound to another ... from one tone to another ... from one shape to another ... non-stop, every waking and sleeping moment. Likewise with the nose, tongue, body and mind. The remaining precepts are meant to minimize this contact so that one can acquire a calm mind. As to your question for "How would singing or listening to music interfere with being a monk I consider myself buddhist but this will keep me from ever becoming a monk" ... it doesn't. You can do all but the first three precepts and still be a monk. The first three, killing, taking what doesn't belong to you, and sex will cause you to be disrobed without ever the chance to take the robes again. You can kill and practice Buddhism. You can take what is not given and practice Buddhism. You can engage in inappropriate sexual behavior and practice Buddhism. You can engage in inappropriate speech and practice Buddhism. You can use intixicants and practice Buddhism. Remember, the first five precepts are for the lay practitioner (which can really be practiced by any and every one) For the monk; not eating after the noon meal; no dancing, singing, going to shows; wearing jewelry, cosmetics or perfumes; sleeping on high and comfortable beds; accepting gold or silver ... one can still do these things ... but there are penelties one must accept from the community of monks before one can actually commit to these precepts ... and precepts are mainly for the Novice monk/nun ... fully ordained monks have 227 rules, the precepts expounded or incorporated into these 227. Breaking the first three precepts are severe as these are the first three of four of the 227 rules which will cause a monk to be disrobed. The fourth saying you have attained to and posess the abilities of one who has achieved the state of arahatship, such as saying you can understand the minds of all beings, or you can fly, or walk on water, or walk through walls, or through mountains or through the earth, or can disappear from this realm and reappear in any realm desired ... The catch is this ... without practicing the precepts, you will never attain to a state where your mind is calm. In Buddhism there is not threat of hell for not doing something. There is only the knowledge that you will not get the results desired ... or you will get exactly what you want based on your current actions, even if what you want is not apparent at the conscious level it would be so at a deeper level else you would not have done the thing that produced the desired negative results. There is no heaven or hell ... only words ... to describe realms of existence where the amount of suffering or pleasure can only be understood if words like "hell" or "heaven" are used. Edit: Oh, I forgot to add ... in the Theravada tradition males can be ordained Samanera at age 5, but cannot become fully ordained monks till age 20, while females must wait till age 18 and MUST remain Samaneri for two years. That is, once a female ordains Samaneri, even if at age 50, she must remain Samaneri for two years before fully ordaining. But for males, one can be a Samanera for up to one month or shorter long as one is over the age of 20. Personally I have seen men ordain Samanera for less than five minutes before fully ordaining. HTML:
Thank you especially for explaining that. Maybe because I've lived most of my life in the Bible Belt, I found those particular words troubling. It makes sense now.
