Beauty of Precepts

  During the Dharma Talk tonight, Fashi had described the importance of repentance and being true to one's practice, as well as keeping the precepts as a cornerstone to Buddhist life. And for a little while, I felt a kind of beauty in the precepts, even though in the past I associate precepts with restrictions or 'rules' of life. I even wonder what this 'beauty' or attraction to keeping precepts could mean, and how it differs from other models of moral thinking that I have encountered in the past. And it segues into my other question of how Western practitioners can become as attracted to precepts as they currently have become to meditation and mindfulness.
    I think the beauty of the precepts lies in the way of life they point to. To live with a mind of cherishing others before oneself, for instance, is the essence of "do not kill", the first of the five Buddhist precepts. But how is this life a good life, and would there not be a lot of painful sacrifice resulting from it? Not necessarily, because in a sense to cherish others is to let go of the burden of the self, which is such a huge source of anxiety for people. A practitioner gave the example the other day of how she normally doesn't think about what clothes she wears or how she styles her hair, but was told by her children to try to look more presentable for their sake, so that others don't perceive her as poor. Rather than withdrawing into an identity of 'one who doesn't care what clothes she wears', the practitioner decided to start dressing in a different way for the sake of her kids. This person does not attach to "this is my way" and "this is my kids' way", but is able to see that they are just appearances, and they can be manipulated without identifying with them.
     The precepts about not stealing, lying and committing sexual misconduct are similar, in that they arise from a sense of relating to the world and others in a way that respects their conditions and does not compromise or exploit the world for personal gain or pleasure. This would be a very green world, and a beautiful one, because it is not tainted by human desire or too much entanglement with our ideas, likes and dislikes. When one limits one's scope to what can be gained honestly and with the least harm or exploitation toward others, the clearer the mind can be, and is not taking anymore than what they can use to benefit others. Even a marriage can be thought of as fulfilling precepts to protect someone else's interests, and not to use a person or deceive them in a way that is harmful or dishonest.
    Finally, the precept against taking intoxicants relates to simplicity of what we ingest. By not engaging in mind-altering drugs, the mind remains as alert as possible and not dependent on stimulants to create a certain experience. When I engage in life in this way, one's material dependencies are not so complicated, and one can live more straightforward.
     I am simplifying a quite complex topic, but I do so with the aim of trying to see how to present precepts in an attractive way that is deeply introspective. All too often, people think of precepts as dogmatic rules, and they quickly become boring or even perceived as obvious. But precepts also point to deeper aspects of life. When they are viewed from this phenomenological perspective, precepts give people glimpses of human boundaries and even the emptiness of beliefs. They suggest a way  of being that doesn't entangle a person in self-deception, creating difficult karma, and enmeshment with others. I think there are viable ways to present precepts that move away from the idea that they are simply 'do's and don'ts'.