| Precepts
Precepts IX : To Refrain from Praising Oneself and Judging Others
This week’s topic continues from where we left off, focusing now on the praise we might be tempted to give ourselves. This is often said to go hand-in-hand with our previous Precept on “Discussing the Faults of Others.”
Our study material for this week is once more, brief and only includes a commentary by Nishijima Roshi and an essay by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede, who reflects on these two Precepts together.
Please comment … if you think you could say things better!
ASSIGNED READINGS:
Nishijima Roshi writes :
[O]ur next precept …. ‘Do not praise yourself or berate others.’ We should not praise ourselves, nor speak ill of others. We should be humble regarding ourselves, forgiving and not overly judgmental in our outlook toward other human beings. Although it seems a simple precept, I believe that it is one of the deepest in significance and import.
In our Treeleaf Jukai Ceremony this is phrased as:
VII. To seek as you can, in this body and life, to refrain from praising oneself and judging others