#1 AVOID KILLING: As long as they live, the perfected ones give up killing living creatures, renouncing the rod and the sword. They are scrupulous and kind, and live full of compassion for all living beings.

#2 STOP STEALING: As long as they live, the perfected ones give up stealing. They take only what’s given, and expect only what’s given. They keep themselves clean by not thieving.

#3 TRY CELIBACY: As long as they live, the perfected ones give up unchastity. They are celibate, set apart, avoiding the base act of sex.

#4 DON’T LIE: As long as they live, the perfected ones give up lying. They speak the truth and stick to the truth. They’re honest and trustworthy, and don’t trick the world with their words.

Gotama was so emaciated from ascetic practices that when he went down to the water, he almost got washed away himself! Self mortification had made his body too weak and continuing would lead to certain death.

He made his way to the foot of a great Banyan tree, where he sat in meditation. There a devotee making an offering to the tree-spirit, found this austere ascetic; and thought to give the offering to him - as he might be the embodiment of that spirit! Gotama accepted the offering of sweet milk-rice pudding.

Suppose, bhikkhus, that a man needing heartwood, seeking heartwood, wandering in search of heartwood, would take a sharp axe and enter a forest. There he would see the trunk of a large plantain tree, straight, fresh, without a fruit-bud core. He would cut it down at the root, cut off the crown, and unroll the coil. As he unrolls the coil, he would not find even softwood, let alone heartwood. A man with good sight would inspect it, ponder it, and carefully investigate it, and it would appear to him to be void, hollow, insubstantial. For what substance could there be in the trunk of a plantain tree?

The Buddha retreated from the quarreling Sangha deep into the forest. There he lived secluded and well-attended by a noble elephant at the foot of a Sāl-tree. From the treetops a monkey watched as this powerful bull elephant served and protected the recluse; even fetching fresh water and collecting ripe fruit for him!

‘This won’t do!’ thought the monkey, ‘the elephant brings him everything except a reason to smile!’

There are simply some places an elephant is too shy and restrained to stick their nose. To develop the skill to knock loose some honeycomb with a stick, without harming any eggs, larvae, pupae or bees; without earning the retaliation of the hive - it takes the daring-ness of a monkey-king to conquer every impossibility!

Like a medicine stops the creep of a serpent’s venom, they remove anger;

Like water streams off a lotus, they repel lust;

Like a fierce river’s flow is completely dammed dry, they stop craving;

Like floods wash away bridges of grass, they destroy conceit entirely;

Like a seeker of rare flowers on the Udumbara tree, they find no essence in rebirths;

They keep no grudges inwardly, since this “being-not being” has gone beyond;