Continuing the exploration of various Buddhist Precepts.

The Anagarika Precepts Or Leaving Home

Anagarika means "leaving home" and is the most common way of referring to those who have taken the Attangasila Precepts (Eight Precepts) which are given to those who leave the life of a householder.  They may leave home permanently or temporarily or intermittently.  Sometimes, they leave home more as metaphor than in practice.  As you can see, this is not a hard-and-fast class of Buddhist practitioner.  The reason behind taking these Precepts, the effective practice, and the length of time holding to them may be defined by culture. Here are a few examples of which I am aware:

• (Vietnam)  An opportunity for practice: A sincere layperson holds the long-term intention of setting aside time from family and work each month, to staying at temple & living the temple life.   
• (Thailand) As cultural training and a temporary time of intense Buddhist practice: very many laypeople spend a period of time (three months - a year or more) living as monastics, before "putting down the Precepts" while resuming life as Five Precept householders in business and raising families.  
• Lay Attendants in residence monasteries are often Anagarikas.  They follow temple life but, as they are exempt from certain monastic precepts, are able to shop & handle money, prepare & store food, garden, drive vehicles, etc.  They may take Precepts as a long-term or temporary intention, or may eventually become monastics.   
• Although the above examples are more common, sometimes this level of ordination has been used as a "test" period.  It is felt less traumatic if, for example, a layperson takes the Eight Precepts in sincerity for whatever time period, but finds that "leaving home" is not for him/her.  The above precedent of temporary ordination at this level eases the transition back to Five Precepts.  
• Some laypeople become excellent teachers of the Dharma and, by choice or circumstance, stay within the world, teaching as Anagarikas.  
• By the same token, some Anagarikas take these Precepts with the specific intent of stepping onto the monastic path, either within in a set period of time (some traditions require a year as an Anagarika) or after certain conditions are filled.   
• In many cultures, monks and nuns are most highly revered; after all, they are one of the Three Treasures.  Some people do not feel worthy or able to take that ordination, but they do find fulfillment as devout Buddhist Anagarikas.   
• In some Buddhist traditions, the Nuns' Order either died out or was never fully established.  Traditionally, women who wish to live as nuns with a lifelong commitment within these branches of Buddhism ordain as Anagarikas and, with no higher ordination available within their tradition, they may or may not be recognized as nuns.  For some, this is not a problem; I met an Anagarika Master in Vietnam who told me she didn't feel any need for further ordination -- she knew who she was.  For many others, it is a big problem. Fortunately, options for full ordination of women are gradually opening through cooperation of the greater Bhikkhuni Sangha and cross-ordination between traditions.     

As you can see, there is a great deal of variation.  An Anagarika may be considered and treated as a devout layperson, as an ordination "between" lay and monastic, or as -- for all intents and purposes -- a nun.  All the title tells is what Precepts have been taken:     

2. Not take that which is not given. 

3. Not to speak that which may harm others.

4. Not to commit adultery.

5. Not to become intoxicated.  

6. Not to eat at improper times.

7. Not to engage in sensual entertainments or decorations.

8. Not to sleep or sit in a high bed.

 

Specifics of language, interpretation, and application vary between traditions and cultures, but when you take the Eight Precepts, you start by re-taking the Five Lay Precepts (which were considered in our November newsletter). These Five Precepts are our foundation as Buddhists, and we should remember and reconsider them constantly.   

The last three Precepts, effectively monastic rules, are interpreted culturally by various schools.  At times, it may appear that different traditions are operating under entirely separate sets of Precepts, practice appears so divergent.     

 

6. Improper Times:  Traditionally, the proper time to eat is defined as after you can see your hand in the morning (dawn) and before noon.  I've heard many explanations why this is so and many reasons why different schools adapted or stopped following this rule. The reasons for this rule that make the most sense to me are: that it was intended for begging monks who didn't have electricity and clocks.  Visual cues are still useful today, although some claim that they are no longer necessary.   

 

I have heard a million arguments, extremes on one side and the other, and several in-between.  Practice is a very personal thing, and 2,500 years and all the miles has  layered training over custom over tradition over, over, over.  For the moment, I will try to touch on my understanding of our practice at DZC and the essence of these Precepts.   

If I mis-step into sectarian justification, it is my error, not that of my teachers!

 

The time limitations of dawn to noon were given so that begging monks would be safe (go and return from begging at reasonable times and with daylight), would not bother the villagers too much throughout the day, and would eat in community.   In this context, the Precept makes perfect sense to me: it's about paying attention and being practical.  

 

Our practice derives from the Mahayana.  When Buddhism went into China, the monks ran into two big impediments to following this Precept as practiced in the Buddha's time:  

• 1. No begging: Buddhism was founded in a culture that found merit in supporting holy people with the necessities of life. Chinese culture did not support begging and didn't have a context for mendicant monks.  Buddhism was already at disadvantage in that it was perceived as a foreign religion, yet had to compete with native Chinese religions for supporters.  Custom and politics, as always, were intense pressures.  And begging was not an option. Lacking lay support and under political and religious attack, mendicant monks settled together in monasteries.  Even if there were support, a resident monastery would have depleted the resources of local supporters.  Monks had to do the work of farming, supplying and preparing food; with the additional work, they found they required more food over the span of the day.  
• 2. Climate:  China and India have very different climates.  Buddhism in China became associated with mountains, where it is cold.  Northern China is really cold.  When it is cold, it is necessary to eat more than once a day, especially when working to provide food.     

So, for all these (and other) very practical reasons, the 6th Precept presented a challenge to Chinese monks.  The monks looked for a way to keep this Precept and live in China, and they took advantage of an exemption already practiced:  when strictly observing this Precept, it is acceptable to eat at any time noon if one is ill (when it is medicine).  At DZC, we continue to follow this Mahayana solution by having a Medicine Meal in the evening. It's tradition: tradition based on necessity -- some might say it's woven out of a wiggle.  But it is our tradition and we hold that we follow the Precept, the intent of which was to be safe and considerate, mindfully eating together, in community.

 

7.  Sensual Entertainments and Adornments:  

These are often simply listed as: singing, dancing, playing music or attending entertainment/performances. Today, one would add in movies, television, radio, probably most of the Internet, various games and a great many books. Rather than go into detail on the whys, whats and wherefors (and the debate over whether chanting is singing or Dharma plays are performances), this Precept was intended to keep us present in each moment, not caught up in make-believe or diversions, not obsessed with fulfilling the appetites of our senses, not feeding our craving.     

 

As for adornments?  When I took this ordination, we were warned against wearing perfume or cosmetics, but deodorant was encouraged (it is important not to be offensive -- which is, by definition, determined by culture).  While I was figuring this first part out, I was sometimes confused when taught the prohibition against jewelry and garlands from monks who wore ornate malas and ritual items.  

 

But understanding this Precept is easy, really (Although following it? Maybe not so much). Both entertainments and adornments are related to the same attachment to sensual pleasure and cravings.  We use fragrance or wear decoration to please the senses, to attract others, to represent our place in society.  We rejoice in beauty and nurse that pleasure into fetish.  At the very least, we cultivate a tendency to accessorize. We do this, even though we know where this activity leads us: to attachments and judgements.  Limiting sensual exposure simply makes sense; living in the now is hard enough, without an overlay of fantasy.  But then, sometimes, I have wondered how this Precept applies to our practice -- out if devotion -- of decorating religious paraphernalia and fixtures.  It seems to me that -- unless we are able to make these offerings without clinging to our aesthetics, there comes a point where even items of Buddhist faith and effort come underneath this Precept. 

 

8. Sit or Sleep in a High Bed

One version of this Precept is translated as, "I undertake to abstain from luxurious places for sitting or sleeping, and overindulging in sleep,." This is pretty obvious: Don't get too comfy -- stay awake!  As a side note, because only important people sat or slept on elevated furniture in the Buddha's time, one of my teachers also translated this Precept as, "Don't be a jerk," -- don't be important or claim to be important by your actions.  Leaving home means leaving the comfort of the roof, the warm blankets/cool sheets, and the soft (or firm!) bed.  

 

Whether you sleep on the floor or in a bed, could you pass the Princess and the Pea test?  Could you spend a night not suffering because of a pea buried many layers deep?  For to be a Buddhist Anagarika is to leave behind notions of class, of breeding -- royal or common or outcast, of preference, of aversion.  Are we able to follow these Precepts according to our traditions and our understanding, without judging others' practice and interpretation?  Are we able to not toss and turn when encountering someone's judgement of our particular way of following the Precepts?  Do we sleep well at night, content, maybe even grateful, for life as it is?           

So, with such a wide range of translation, interpretation and practice for these Attangasila Precepts, how does one recognize an Anagarika?  Someone may tell you, "An Anagarika wears white." While this is often true, in Vietnam, typically they will wear a gray layperson's robe, perhaps over gray pajamas (which look a lot like Novice or Nun clothing). An older Vietnamese Anagarika might wear a brown layperson's robe or, if a woman, a beautifully embroidered satin Ao Dai.  Perhaps, they have hair or they may be shaven-headed.  There's no hard and fast rule, even within a culture or a single tradition.  What one wears, how one appears -- these are just hints.

So, without knowing, how should such a person be regarded?  The one thing you know about Anagarikas is that in taking the Eight Precepts, they -- in whatever way and for however long -- have stepped away from home on the Buddhist path.  Treat them as Buddha.  For, if you practice at DZC, you know that they already are Buddha. 

But you already know that about everyone, right?
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