Ethical Conduct
For the mind to be unified in concentration, it is necessary to refrain from unwholesome deeds of body and speech to prevent the faculties of bodily action and speech from becoming tools of the defilements. Ethical conduct (Śīla / Sīla) is used primarily to facilitate mental purification.
Read more about this topic: Noble Eightfold Path
Famous quotes containing the words ethical and/or conduct:
“I wonder if it’s ethical to watch a man with binoculars and a long-focus lens? D’ya suppose it’s ethical even if you prove that he didn’t commit a crime? I’m not much on rear window ethics.”
—John Michael Hayes (b. 1919)
“The mere fact of leaving ultimate social control in the hands of the people has not guaranteed that men will be able to conduct their lives as free men. Those societies where men know they are free are often democracies, but sometimes they have strong chiefs and kings. ... they have, however, one common characteristic: they are all alike in making certain freedoms common to all citizens, and inalienable.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)