1. Sila

　　 SILA – is that which sets a limit to the “outgoing exuberance”1 in a person”s actions of body and speech and the responsibility for these actions and their results rests with the heart.

　　 Good people do not like to associate with someone whose “outgoing exuberance” is not restrained by sila, and nobody trusts him. In business and other affairs, even if there are only one or two people who have bad sila and no sense of shame in their behaviour, it is certain that the social group in which they live and work cannot remain secure for long. It is bound to be destroyed or set in disorder by them in whatever way they can, as soon as they have a chance when others are off their guard. It is like living with a fierce poisonous snake which is just waiting to bite whenever one is unprotected.

　　 Thus sila is the Dhamma which protects the world, keeping it cool and happy so that there shall be no cause for doubt, suspicion and mistrust which can arise from a mutual lack of confidence in those things which are liable to cause friction and trouble. These things often start in a small way and develop into larger things, things which everyone wants to avoid.

　　 Sila is of many kinds, but here we will only consider the five sila, the eight, ten, and 227 sila, which different kinds of people should variously maintain as it suits their status, age, and physical capabilities.

　　 The five sila are the most important for lay people who have dealings with society in its various aspects. They should maintain these sila as that which gives a recommendation of their inpidual personal integrity and of their mutual integrity, thus keeping them from falling apart when they gain and lose from each other in business or society everywhere.

　　 It is noticeable how, if there are one or two people working in business, in a company or in government service, who always maintain the five sila, they are just the people who are most liked, praised and trusted in all kinds of affairs by their business associates, such as those affairs which are connected with money. Whether such people remain in that work or go elsewhere, they will be well liked and respected everywhere, because when they maintain sila, it means that they also have Dhamma within their hearts – like the taste of food which cannot be separated from its nature. And conversely, when such people have Dhamma within them, they also have sila, so that whenever they break any part of their sila, it means that at that time they do not have Dhamma within them, because Dhamma is associated with the heart and sila is associated with bodily actions and speech. Therefore the good and bad actions of the body and speech indicate and show the state of the heart – which is the leader and the one that is responsible.

　　 If the heart always has Dhamma within it, the ways of the body and speech are bound to be clean and free from blame in all their activities. Therefore, people who perform clean actions of body and speech proclaim by these actions that they are the kind of people who have Dhamma in their hearts, and moral behaviour in their actions, speech and hearts. This attracts the hearts of other people everywhere so that they turn to such people – and so it is that they are always popular and well thought of in all ages.

　　 Even those who are unable to promote their actions, speech, and hearts in the foregoing way still have respect and reverence for those who have moral behaviour in their actions, speech, and hearts, in the same way as all of us have respect and reverence for the Lord Buddha and his true followers (savaka). This indicates that moral behaviour, meaning that which is good and graceful, is always desirable and valuable in the world, and is never out of date.

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