Thanissaro Bhikku’s translation of the Abhisanda Sutta can be found here.
In the Abhisanda Sutta, the Buddha demonstrates his love of lists by detailing the eight rewards of merit (related to karma, merit is the sort of positive force or potential that comes to you from your thoughts and actions, which leads to happiness). Three of the rewards of merit are the Triple Gem, and the remaining five follow from the Five Precepts.
In reading the Abhisanda Sutta, something interesting stood out to me about the presentation of the rewards of merit stemming from the Five Precepts. The Five Precepts have always felt like traditional religious dogma to me–here is a list of rules, a bunch of Things You Are Not Supposed To Do. This isn’t to say that I disagree with the Precepts, but they have the flavor of received wisdom to them, which carries a negative association to my mind. No doubt this comes from my Catholic upbringing (Catholics are very familiar with being told not to do things!). However, in the Abhisanda Sutta, the Buddha frames the Precepts in a different way. The Buddha speaks of the benefits of following the Precepts, and in doing so changes them from negative actions–refraining from taking a life, taking what is not given, engaging in sexual misconduct, speaking falsely, or ingesting intoxicants–into gifts given to everyone. The act of refraining from taking a life becomes the gift of freedom from danger given to all beings. The act of refraining from false speech becomes the gift of freedom from animosity, given to all beings, including the actor. Likewise for the other three Precepts. Framing them in this way shifts the Buddha’s teaching from a proscription, with the negative valence that entails, to something positive, a gift that you can give to others. Doing so make the Precepts much more palatable to me. Interestingly enough, this is the same shift of focus from self to other that is so helpful for many when giving metta to one’s self. What a powerful thing a change of perspective can be!
