Talk:Śīla

Moved

Moved from the Sanskrit section:

Also, perhaps śīla, a stone, i. e. a precious stone, pearl, or coral.

because I can't make sense of this half-sentence. Is this supposed to be an alternate meaning of the word? Lupo 11:14, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Stub

I don't think this a stub any longer, but could someone please verify this. Squidnchips 18:03, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

An opinion without any point of reference.

no longer being susceptible to perturbation by the passions like greed and selfishness,which are common in the world today.

The struck portion is an opinion without any point of reference. It is stated as a fact, not as a belief by any particular group. If it was not intended as "wiki says this is the right religion", then it is merely an awkward sentence. If a particular group or authority says that a motivation for their moral code is due to the observation that "greed and selfishness ... are common in the world today", then it should be stated as such.

No matter how much I or anyone else may agree with the opinion doesn't necessarily make it appropriate.

--199.80.142.72 (talk) 19:11, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Delusional

Whoever wrote this: " The Sanskrit and Pali word sīla is an ethical compass within self and relationships, rather than what is associated with the English word "morality" (i.e., obedience, a sense of obligation, and external constraint - all of which are quite foreign to the concept of sīla as taught by Gautama the Buddha since 588BC)." is delusional. Sīla, as is explained time and again, is all about obedience to the Vinaya; obligations to one's peers, family, etc (e.g. Sigalovadasutta), and the imposition of external constraints. Key words in Buddhist ethics are: saṁvara 'restraint', rakkha 'guarding', and hirotappa 'shame & moral dread'. One is frequently told not to do anything blameable (sāvajja) by the wise (viññu). Both the Buddha and the lay communities in which the monks live are often depicted rebuking the monks for their wicked behaviour, often for sexual behaviour of rich variety. The whole point of the Vinaya is to impose obedience to external constraints on people who don't know how to conduct themselves. But Westerners are busy rewriting Buddhism to their own liking and attributing it back to the Buddha, often in genuine ignorance of the Buddha's recorded words (if that's what the early Buddhist texts in fact are) or the languages they are mainly recorded in: Sanskrit, Pali, Gandhari, and Chinese. Jayarava (talk) 14:15, 13 January 2014 (UTC)