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We are also taught that there is no liberation possible without the practice of active compassion for other beings. And how to we express that caring? By giving our time, our money, our kind words, and also what is considered most precious, the Teachings about liberation. We engage in these compassionate acts of giving directly, through our own involvement, and also through supporting the work of those beings and agencies whose reason for being is to act on our behalf for the benefit of all. If we understand how fundamental an attitude of generosity is to experiencing the reality of flow in our lives, we will make it a discipline to never overlook an opportunity to give. Especially when our lives feel tight and stuck, when there doesn't seem to be enough of anything to satisfy our many needs, we need to give, and give, and give again to jump-start the flow. It's easy to be generous when our lives are happy and abundant, but even then we are often so caught up in our narcissistic enjoyments that we forget. Later we learn how quickly states of ease can be lost, and how much effort is needed to re-establish the awareness of flow. Once this principle of giving is clearly established in the life, and there is a certain amount of movement, it becomes important to consider the question of morality. This refers to how we behave, how we train our resources of body, speech and mind in the aspiration to freedom. In this Teaching, moral behaviour is that which causes no harm to oneself, or any other being. From the Buddha's teaching and their own years of observation and experience, our predecessors on the Path learned that certain types of activity interfered with developing the calm, clear states of consciousness necessary for the experience of awakening. Training precepts are taught that increase in number and subtlety depending on one's depth of commitment. The fundamental ones are: to refrain from taking or harming any life, to refrain from taking that which is not given, to refrain from using any of the senses in an unwholesome manner, to refrain from communicating anything that is not true, and to refrain from eating or drinking anything that causes heedlessness or intoxication and interferes with the clear functioning of consciousness. These moral restraints ensure that once a certain flow is established in the life, it will be directed in ways that support the attainment of freedom, rather than in creating further karmic difficulties. They are based on the understanding that controlling our actions in a wholesome manner will lead to mastery of the more subtle thought processes and fantasies of mind.
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