พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าศีลอยู่ที่เจตนาเป็นสำคัญ ผู้ที่ถือศีล 8 อยู่แล้วจะกล่าวตามเมื่อหมู่คณะสมาทานศีล 5 ก็ได้ หรือจะเพียงกำหนดจิตถึงศีล 8 ของตนก็ได้ พร้อมชี้ให้เห็นว่าศีล 8 ยังกลั่นใจได้ละเอียดกว่าศีล 5 คือหลุดพ้นได้ทั้งจากอกุศลและจากอัพยากตะPhra Ajarn explains that precepts rest on intention above all — someone already keeping the Eight Precepts can recite along when a group takes the Five, or simply hold the Eight in mind instead. He also shows how the Eight Precepts refine the mind more deeply than the Five, freeing it from both the unwholesome and the neutral-indeterminate state.
A question was asked: the questioner keeps the Eight Precepts, but sometimes joins a group that is taking the Five Precepts together — what should they do?
Intention matters most
This comes down to intention. If you're already keeping the Eight Precepts with sincere intention, then when the group recites the Five Precepts, you can recite along with them, or you don't have to — either way is fine. You can simply keep your Eight Precepts in mind, recalling each precept you hold one by one. For example, the third of the Five Precepts is “Kamesu micchacara veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami” (I undertake to abstain from sexual misconduct), while the third of the Eight Precepts is “Abrahmacariya veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami” (I undertake to abstain from all sexual activity). Once the group finishes taking the Five Precepts, simply return your attention to your own Eight Precepts — because precepts rest on intention. Intention is what matters most.
Taking a precept isn't just reciting words and moving on — you need the intention to keep the precept purely, the intention to offer safety to both yourself and others. Whether it's five precepts or eight, what matters is the intention behind offering that safety.
Precepts existed even before Buddhism arose
Consider that even before Buddhism arose, we already carried a sphere of within us — one made up of (sila), concentration (samadhi), wisdom (panna), (), and the -and-vision of liberation (vimuttiñanadassana). These are our innate instruments. But at that time there was no Buddhism yet — no bowing and reciting namo three times, then “Buddham saranam gacchami, Dhammam saranam gacchami, Sangham saranam gacchami.” People didn't even have words for wholesome, unwholesome, or the neutral-indeterminate state (avyakata).
Even so, in that era, since we already carried a sphere of virtue within, an inner knowing guided people to set the intention not to harm others or any living being — not to kill, not to steal, not to commit sexual misconduct, not to lie, not to drink intoxicants. These things all bring distress upon oneself, so the inner knowing steered people away from them, keeping them grounded in safety for themselves and others.
It's the same today. When the group takes the Five Precepts, you can recite along with them, but hold in mind that beyond the Five, you also keep the Eight.
How the Eight Precepts differ from the Five
The Five Precepts help free us from being controlled by . The Eight Precepts free us from both the unwholesome and the neutral-indeterminate state as well — that's the power of the Eight Precepts: freedom from both, so that we abide only within .
So alongside taking with the group, remind yourself: beyond the Five Precepts, I also hold the Eight. The Five free me from the unwholesome; the Eight free me from both the unwholesome and the neutral-indeterminate state. And from this you'll feel a quiet fullness and joy at abiding only within the wholesome.
When this is so, your sphere of virtue will shine bright with the stream of flowing through it — bright as a result of merit flowing in, whenever we set the intention to offer safety to ourselves and others. This intention — right here — is what matters most for making the sphere of virtue shine.
A follow-up question: is the merit that flows through more pure?
Someone then asked: since the Eight Precepts are more refined than the Five, is the merit that flows through them more pure as well?
Phra Ajarn answered that the quality of the merit itself is the same, but the quality of the refinement the precepts bring to the mind differs. The Five Precepts refine the mind to one level; the Eight refine it to another level, one that carries even greater — letting the dimension in which we abide, freed, recede into a deeper, subtler dimension, one the unwholesome cannot reach, and the neutral-indeterminate state cannot reach either. The merit flowing through continually purifies and frees us, so long as we keep setting the intention to offer safety to ourselves and others.
This intention also affects the s of (hiri) and (ottappa) — it makes these two mental factors brighter and clearer, which in turn draws in even more merit.