Pancha Sila: Five Precepts of Buddhist Morality. (Thich Nhat Hanh)

In the Buddhist spiritual path of liberation towards Nibbana, the state of complete freedom from all suffering, moral discipline (s ila ), is considered the basic foundation upon which the other two aspects of concentration and wisdom can be developed. Without proper morality, the right concentration cannot be developed and without the right concentration, wisdom cannot be developed. Moral discipline can be described as avoiding unskillful or unwholesome actions and engaging in skillful or wholesome actions. In Buddhist teachings, unwholesome actions are physical, verbal, and mental actions in which the intention behind a particular action is based upon negative qualities of greed ( lobha ), hatred ( dosa ), and delusion ( moha ) resulting in negative or harmful consequences to oneself, to others or to both. Wholesome actions are those in which the intention is based on positive qualities of generosity ( alobha ), loving kindness ( adosa ) and wisdom ( amoha ) with positive or benefici...