Practice 3 – The Foundational Planks of Our Raft: Commitment to harmlessness
Laying a Groundwork of Kindness
As we begin the first stage of our journey – Recognising ‘What It Is To Be Human’ – we start by laying an essential foundation. Before we delve deeply into the complexities of human suffering and the specifics of our addictive patterns, it’s incredibly helpful to establish a baseline commitment to harmlessness. This commitment, embodied in what Buddhism calls the Five Precepts, is not about imposing rigid rules, but about cultivating awareness of how our actions impact ourselves and others, and consciously choosing to minimise harm. This ethical awareness forms the very foundation of our RAFT to Recovery. In many ways, these five gifts can be considered an original harm reduction programme.
Imagine we are building our raft. If the foundational planks – the base upon which everything else rests – are weak, rotten, or constantly causing leaks through harmful actions, then no matter how skilfully we gather other materials like mindfulness or wisdom, the vessel won’t be . Committing to harmlessness, through the spirit of the Five Precepts, ensures we are building our recovery on solid ground. It is a profound act of kindness, both to ourselves and to the world around us.
Universal Guidelines for Harmony: Ancient Wisdom
These guidelines for ethical living are not exclusively ‘Buddhist’ ideas that the Buddha invented. They reflect a timeless, universal understanding of how humans can live together more peacefully. Long before the Buddha was born, early legal codes addressed common themes that societies still grapple with today: violence, property, sexual impropriety, untruthfulness, and the disruption caused by intoxication.
Consider the Ur-Nammu Code from Mesopotamia (around 2100 BCE), predating the Buddha by 1,500 years. It already punished homicide, bodily injury, theft, robbery, adultery, and perjury. The later Hammurabi Code (c. 1750 BCE) added concerns about public order. These ancient codes aimed to establish frameworks to prevent disputes and conflicts – they recognised that certain actions reliably cause harm and undermine social stability. So, when the Buddha suggested his five training precepts, he wasn’t creating something entirely new, but tapping into an ancient and traditional understanding of what promotes social order and reduces suffering.
Beyond Law: The Five Great Gifts
However, the Buddha framed these guidelines very differently from legal codes. Laws typically focus on external rules, obligations, and punishments. The Buddha presented the Five Precepts as profound, personal gifts. Around 2,600 years ago, he spoke of:
“…these five gifts, five great gifts — original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning — that are not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and are un-faulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & brahmans.” (Abhisanda Sutta, AN 8.39)
He called them “great gifts” – why? Because when we sincerely undertake these precepts, we are offering the gifts of fearlessness and harmlessness unconditionally to all beings, including ourselves. We are essentially saying, “Regarding these five fundamental areas where harm is often caused, you have nothing to fear from me. I commit to acting with awareness and care.” This fosters trust, safety, and connection – essential elements often damaged by addiction and crucial for healing. Offering these gifts is an act of profound kindness and generosity.
Personal Intentions, Not Commandments
Crucially, these precepts are best understood as training guidelines or personal intentions, not as rigid commandments demanding impossible perfection. The path of recovery is one of learning and growth, and we are all imperfect human beings. Therefore, we frame these precepts using conscious intention:
- “I set the intention not to harm myself or others [by my thoughts, by my words or] by my actions.”
- “I set the intention not to take anything that has not been freely given.”
- “I set the intention not to harm myself or others by my sexual [and sensual] misconduct.”
- “I set the intention not to harm myself or others by false speech, harsh speech, gossip and slander.”
- “I set the intention to refrain from taking alcohol and other drugs that impair my mindfulness.”
This framing acknowledges that we are setting a direction, cultivating an aspiration. It focuses on the positive intention rather than solely on prohibition. When we inevitably fall short (as humans do), this framing encourages self-compassion and renewed commitment, rather than the shame and self-condemnation that can trigger relapse when rigid rules are broken.
Let’s look briefly at each intention:
- Harmlessness: Committing to refrain from killing or intentionally causing physical or deep emotional harm. This is the bedrock of ethical conduct.
- Trustworthiness: Committing to refrain from taking what isn’t ours, respecting others’ property and boundaries. This builds integrity.
- Sexual Responsibility: Committing to refrain from sexual actions that cause harm to ourselves or others (e.g., exploitation, adultery, actions breaking trust). This fosters respect and care in relationships.
- Truthfulness & Kind Speech: Committing to refrain from lying, harsh words, divisive gossip, and slander. This promotes clear communication and connection.
- Clarity of Mind: Committing to refrain from consuming intoxicants (alcohol, non-prescribed drugs) to the point of carelessness or loss of mindfulness. This precept is especially crucial in recovery. Intoxication directly clouds the awareness needed to uphold the other precepts and engage skillfully with the challenges of life. It undermines our ability to navigate our raft effectively.
Kindness and Reducing the Need for Forgiveness
By setting these intentions, we are proactively reducing the amount of harm we might cause, thereby lessening the future need for seeking forgiveness from others or grappling with guilt and self-forgiveness. As the provided text notes, because these categories of harm (violence, betrayal, dishonesty etc.) are so universal, they also form the basis for practices like forgiveness meditation. Committing to the precepts is preventive medicine for the heart and relationships. It is a fundamental way we practice kindness – offering safety to others and fostering self-respect within ourselves.
Self-Reflections
Take a few moments for honest self-inquiry:
- How does it shift your perspective when you view the precepts as “gifts of fearlessness” you offer to yourself and others — rather than as rules imposed upon you?
- When I reflect on the five areas (physical harm, taking what’s not given, sexual harm, harmful speech, intoxication), which ones feel most relevant to my past experiences or current challenges in recovery?
- In what ways has your relationship with intoxicants (or other forms of addiction), affected your ability to live in alignment with the five gifts (intentions)?
- In what ways could living more closely aligned with these intentions be considered an act of practical self-care or self-kindness?
- Does the phrasing “I set the intention…” feel more workable or less intimidating than a strict command like “Thou shalt not…”? Why?
- Has my life been better or worse since adopting these five gifts?
Journaling Prompts
Use your journal to explore these themes further:
- Focus on One Intention: Choose one of the five intentions that resonates most strongly or feels most challenging right now. For the next few days, make a conscious effort to bring awareness to situations related to this intention. Journal about what you observe: When is it easy to uphold? When is it difficult? What thoughts or feelings arise? What helps you maintain your intention?
- Fearlessness & Harmlessness: Write about the connection you see between living harmlessly and feeling fearless (or less fearful). How might reducing the harm you cause decrease anxieties about consequences, guilt, or others’ reactions?
- Past Harm & Present Intention: (Approach with self-compassion). Reflect on a past situation where your actions caused harm in one of these five areas. Without dwelling in guilt, briefly note the consequences. Then, write about how holding the relevant intention now might lead to a different outcome in similar future situations.
- The Fifth Precept’s Role: Explore honestly how substance use (or other activities that significantly impair mindfulness) makes it harder or easier to act in line with the first four precepts in your experience. What is the relationship between clarity of mind and ethical conduct for you?
Supporting Material: Ancient Wisdom & Modern Relevance
For those interested in the science and philosophy behind this practice, here is a brief overview:
- Ancient Law Codes (Ur-Nammu, Hammurabi): As discussed, the parallels between these ancient legal systems and the Five Precepts underscore the timeless and universal nature of these ethical concerns. They show that societies have long recognized that regulating behaviour around violence, property, sex, speech, and social order is fundamental to collective well-being. The precepts tap into this deep, cross-cultural understanding of what prevents suffering. These ancient codes show the enduring importance of the foundational planks needed for any vessel carrying us towards social safety.
- Psychology: Modern psychology validates the importance of ethical conduct for mental health. Living in accordance with our values reduces cognitive dissonance, guilt, and shame, while increasing self-esteem and self-respect. Prosocial behaviour (acting for others’ benefit, including non-harming) is linked to greater happiness and stronger social connections. In recovery, rebuilding integrity and trustworthiness, often damaged by addiction, is a key psychological task directly supported by committing to the precepts. Addiction often impairs impulse control; the precepts act as guidelines to strengthen volitional behaviour aligned with deeper values.
- Neuroscience: While ethics is complex, neuroscience suggests that practices promoting empathy, compassion, and impulse control (all related to the precepts) involve and can strengthen specific brain circuits, particularly in the prefrontal cortex (involved in decision-making and social cognition) and areas related to understanding others’ states (mirror neuron system, insula). Conversely, addiction can impair prefrontal function, making ethically consistent behaviour more difficult. Committing to the precepts can be viewed as a cognitive training exercise to strengthen self-regulation and value-based decision-making.
- Philosophy: The Five Precepts resonate strongly with various ethical philosophies. They embody the principle of non-maleficence (do no harm), a cornerstone of medical and general ethics. They align with virtue ethics, focusing on cultivating good character (truthful, responsible, non-violent) rather than just following rules. They provide a practical ethical framework for creating the conditions for a flourishing life (eudaimonia), arguing that inner peace and social harmony are difficult to achieve amidst ongoing harmful actions.
Closing Remarks
The Five Precepts, understood as personal intentions and gifts of harmlessness, form the essential ethical foundation for our RAFT to Recovery. They are the sturdy planks upon which we build our vessel. By committing to minimise harm in these five key areas, we create safety for ourselves and others, cultivate self-respect, simplify our lives, and establish the stability needed for deeper inner work. This commitment is not about achieving instant perfection, but about setting a clear, compassionate direction – a conscious choice to align our actions with our aspiration for freedom from suffering.
Hold these intentions sincerely as you navigate your recovery. They are powerful allies in Recognising our shared humanity and the ways we cause and experience suffering. With this commitment to harmlessness providing a stable grounding, we can now proceed to look more closely at the nature of human experience within our first goal.
A Final Thought
Many people discover that by abandoning their use of intoxicants (and other harmful addictions), the vast majority of their turmoil settles, for themselves and for those around them. There is also an immediate freedom for the individual; freedom from conflict, blame, guilt, shame, agitation, discomfort, regret, debt and freedom from hangovers! The space that this freedom creates can be filled with more helpful possibilities and with contentment.
Sutta References
- Abhisanda Sutta (AN 8.39 – Rewards / Floods): This sutta beautifully frames the precepts as gifts.
- Summary: The Buddha teaches that a person who undertakes the Five Precepts offers limitless safety, freedom from animosity, and freedom from affliction to countless beings. As a result, the person practicing this virtue themselves partakes in this limitless safety and freedom. He explicitly calls these precepts “five great gifts” which are ancient, traditional, pure, and praised by the wise.
- Pañcasīla (Found throughout the Pali Canon, e.g., AN 8.39): The precepts are a core element of Buddhist practice.
- Summary: The standard Five Precepts (Pañcasīla) involve undertaking the training rule (sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi) to abstain from: 1. Pāṇātipātā: Destroying living beings. 2. Adinnādānā: Taking what is not given. 3. Kāmesumicchācārā: Sexual misconduct. 4. Musāvādā: False speech. 5. Surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā: Intoxicating drinks and drugs that lead to carelessness (heedlessness). They are considered the minimum ethical standard for lay practitioners aiming to reduce suffering and cultivate the path.
Our commitment to the Five Precepts provides a crucial ethical container, helping us navigate this recognition without causing additional, unnecessary harm to ourselves or others along the way.
RAFT to Recovery © 2025 by Dr Cathryn Jacob and Vince Cullen
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