What The Buddha Taught Summary

After reading about “the Foundation of Mindfulness” in the textbook “What the Buddha Taught”, by Dr. Rahula, I understand that a Bhikkhu or a monk is a practioner who train themselves to have consciousness at all time. They first startก by detach themselves from their family, friend, desire, power, luxuries, and other goods. They shaved off their hair to sacrifice the vanity. They live by the alms from the people. They have a strict rule that they have to follow. The five Buddhist Precepts are the most important rule and practice that all monks have to keep it in their mind. According to section 2, slide 18 lectures, the five precepts are no killing, no stealing, no improper sexual behavior, no lying, and no intoxicant. These things would be considered a sin and a bad karma in Buddhism. So, the monks have to keep their five precepts in mind and avoid to do some of those action.
The first way that the monk observed the activities of their body is by breathing. They Breathes in and out like a normal human being. However, as they breathe in, they will tell them self that I am currently breath in. the same concept with breathe out. Another training is the postures of their body. They will always tell themselves of what they did, whether they sit, walk, or stand. All these training and observation gives them awareness and full attention of their action. In addition, they see that the body and life as impermanent. This give the monk the consciousness. On the other hand, the training for observing the mind is quite simple. It basically means that the monk will tell themselves and be mindful of what they think, their feeling and emotions. This training creates the awareness that the mind exists. So that the monk can be mindful and have consciousness at all