Being Human: Understanding Buddhist Ethics, Patience, and Freedom
--a conference overview by Steven Lin

What does it mean to be a human being? What role does morality play in being human? How do the choices people make affect the world? Fifty college students and young professionals participated in workshops to find answers to these questions at the 7th annual DRBY Spring Conference, hosted for the third consecutive year at Gold Sage Monastery in San Jose, CA.

The Five Great Gifts
--a short summary of the five precepts compiled by Dharma Mirror Staff

In the Abhisanda Sutta, the Buddha called the Five Precepts
the “five great gifts” that bestow “freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from the oppression of limitless numbers of beings.”

Practicing Mindfulness
--a short reflection on the DRBY Spring Conference by Mayshen Chen

...The informative lectures and the lively discussions on each of the five precepts during the March 2005 Buddhism conference helped me realize the importance of being aware of my thoughts and behavior...

When You Hold the Precepts, New Options Appear
--personal stories on precepts by Sarah Babcock

...I realized then that holding precepts brings the clarity of mind that allows new options to appear. This was very liberating. If you don’t hold them, the precepts may seem restrictive, but once you start holding them, different struggles come up, but you find creative solutions that you’d never have thought of without the help of the precepts.

Finding the Wisdom Behind the Precepts
--personal reflections on holding precepts by Brant Stokes

I’ve lived at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB) for five years, and I’ve held the precepts for most of that time. The precepts have taught me and changed me far more than anything else and so I’d like to emphasize that they’re fundamental and important to the transformation that is cultivation. I’d like to share some stories with you on my personal experiences with the precepts.