The Mindfulness Survival Kit: Five Essential Practices

At the heart of Buddhist ethics lie five mindfulness trainings, often called precepts: refraining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and the use of intoxicants. In this book, the Vietnamese monk and peace advocate Thich Nhat Hanh examines each training in turn, explaining what it asks of us and how it might shape ordinary choices at home, at work, and in the wider world. He describes the trainings as a kind of nourishment for a healthy society, and he suggests they could serve as shared secular guidelines for communities seeking a more caring and sustainable way of living. Whether called virtues, ethics, or precepts, the author argues, such guidelines point toward a life that avoids harming others.