Don’t be a jerk (the Buddha says so).
In Episode 43 of Vibe with Venerables, Venerable Thubten Chodron at Sravasti Abbey discusses the Three Higher Trainings (Ethical Conduct, Concentration and Wisdom) — core practices across all main schools of Buddhism. Here’s the thing: she doesn’t start with big cosmic wisdom talk. She starts with ethics, and keeps coming back to it.
Because, as she puts it, without behaving like a decent human being, nothing you build on top of that is stable.
What we get into:
- How ethics isn’t just a starting point, but the basis for everything else.
- What the three tiers of Buddhist ethics are, and how each one builds on the last.
- How unethical conduct comes back to bite us in different ways.
- How mindfulness and introspective awareness begin with ethics.
- Why wisdom involves the correct understanding of emptiness.
Remember: the eightfold path is never separate from any of this. It unfolds through the Three Higher Trainings.
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