Key learning points

1. The Buddha taught five moral precepts that Buddhists may try to live by.
2. Precepts are based on positive states of mind that avoid bad kamma and aim to remove suffering.
3. The precepts include behaviours to avoid and behaviours to develop.
4. There are additional precepts that may be followed by monks/nuns.

Keywords

• Moral - concerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour

• Precept - a rule or direction, often with some religious basis, dictating a way you should act or behave

• Refrain - resist doing something

Common misconception