THE CULTIVATION OF ETHICAL CONDUCT

How does one become a Buddhist?

There are no formal inductions, no formal initiations, no baptisms. Most Western Buddhists would agree with the statement "I didn't become a Buddhist. I realised that I am a Buddhist ."

The realisation that one is a Buddhist may be formally confirmed by repeating three times, "To the Buddha I go for refuge; to the Dhamma (the teachings of Buddhism) I go for refuge; to the Sangha (the Buddhist monastic community) I go for refuge." For those who have access to a Buddhist temple,  these words of refuge in the Triple Gem, are spoken in the presence of a monk or a nun, and are followed by saying aloud the Five Precepts.
The Westerner who regards himself or herself as a Buddhist is making a profound personal and social statement. That person is saying, on setting out to follow the Path: I believe, as the Buddha taught, that I should conduct myself with benevolence, compassion, joyous sympathy, and equanimity. I believe that these qualities are the basis of ethical conduct and that ethical conduct should be the  basis of society.
The Buddha's prescriptions for the cultivation of ethical conduct - Right Action, Right Speech, and Right Livelihood - derive from his conception of society based on universal love and compassion.

Right Action promotes honourable and peaceful conduct and is based on the five precepts: abstention from destroying life, from  stealing, from illicit sex, from intoxicants, from falsehoods

In abstaining from destroying life, some Buddhists, lay and monastic are vegetarian, although this is not compulsory!

In abstaining from stealing, there is the explicit admonition not to take that which is not offered. This is particularly applicable to monks who as mendicants do not reach out for the food or alms presented to them but instead wait until such offerings are placed in their hands, their alms bowls, or at their fingertips.

In abstaining from illicit sex, there are explicit proscriptions against adulterous sex, sex with minors, sex with those who are celibate. Total abstinence is, of course, for the monk/nun :)

In abstaining from intoxicants, the precept literally says "...distilled and fermented intoxicants producing heedlessness" Most Western Buddhists are not teetotal, but usually moderate.

In abstaining from false speech, the precept is intended to abjure more improprieties than just lying. False Speech is the opposite of..

Right Speech, an amplification of the precept on falsehood, Right Speech, which derives from Right Thought, promotes courteous, considerate, non-contentious conduct. It requires abstention from harsh language, from slander, from gossip, from bearing false witness.

Right Livelihood promotes life instead of destroying life. It requires abstention from earning a living in any way that harms others: slaughter of animals, trading in arms, drugs, intoxicants, living beings or poisons.
The Buddha said: your means of livelihood should be honourable, blameless, and innocent of harm to others.

Without moral behaviour it would be difficult, indeed impossible, to succeed in mental cultivation and insight~wisdom.

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