[2012 Spring Week 7 Dharma Talk] Living a Good Buddhist Life

On the 17th, our speaker was Venerable Guo Xing, a PhD. student at the UCLA center of Buddhist studies. She spoke on the theme of "Living a Good Buddhist Life" to the students, grad students, and UCLA workers gathered that night.

Given the large scope of the idea, Venerable Guo Xing decided to focus mainly on two concepts of Buddhism she believed tied will into the concept. The first was the five precepts-- five suggestions made by the Buddha to lay people (as she mentioned later, Venerables have about 250 more precepts, while nuns have as many as 349) in order to live a good life. According to her, the best way to understand them was not as a series of laws (as in the case of the Ten Commandments, for example), but in the framework of increasing compassion to other beings.

These are:

Avoid Killing: This applies to all living beings, not just humans. This may, according to one's beliefs, include indirect killing such as eating meet. She gave us an example of why we should be compassionate to all beings, as follows. When we are cut, we feel pain. We know therefore, from own pain and from the bodily actions of those we harm, that they too are in pain. Therefore, a compassionate being should not kill others.

Avoid Stealing. This again calls upon the idea that we would be unhappy to lose what we have, therefore we should avoid taking what is not ours.

Avoid Lying. In addition to the question of compassion, Venerable Guo Xing posited that the worst kind of lie, as far as Buddhist scripture goes, is claiming that one is the Buddha or that one is enlightened, lest one lead others astray from the path to true enlightenment.

Avoid Sexual Misconduct. This is again related to the concept of not hurting your loved ones.

Avoid Drugs and Alcohol. This is meant more as a precaution against committing the other acts. When one is under the influence, they are more likely to commit those sins.


She also framed "good Buddhist life" in the context of wisdom, the building of one's own Karma. According to her, in addition to both the cause and effect, there is also the importance of condition. We create our conditions through the effect of our previous actions. Therefore, we should try to make good actions to improve our environment. For example, when she does her laundry, Venerable Guo Xing makes sure to clean the laundry room around her. By making the area cleaner, she makes the room better for her and those around her.

Claiming the two concepts of compassion (helping others) and wisdom (improving yourself) as two wings, Reverend Guo Xing captured some of the ideas we discussed in the previous few weeks into a simple yet deep lesson on what it means to live a good life. We finished our meeting with a group discussion and a relaxing round of meditation. Thank you to everyone for coming and enjoying a[]d wonderful lesson on a highly applicable subject.