Practice on an Uposatha day: the Eight Precepts
The eight rules of restraint that lay practitioners take on for the Uposatha day, from one dawn to the next. They are taken up freely and for a single day — to live it more attentively, and to go on the next morning carrying a little more clarity and lightness.
What these precepts are
The eight precepts are a one-day training that lay people take on for themselves. Nobody assigns them: a person takes them for a single Uposatha, and by the next morning they are over.
They are the same five precepts a lay person already lives by, with the third made stricter — not «no misconduct» but full abstinence — and three more added: no food after midday, no entertainment or adornment, and a simple place to sleep.
The Eight Precepts
Not to take the life of living beings
To refrain from intentional killing — and on this day to be especially attentive to the life around you, meeting living beings with compassion.
Not to take what is not given
Not to appropriate what belongs to someone else, and to be content with what is given freely.
To refrain from sexual activity
For this day, no sexual activity at all: attention moves away from sensual pleasure towards inner collectedness.
To refrain from lying and to speak truthfully
And as far as you can, from speech that wounds and from idle chatter.
Not to take alcohol or other intoxicants
Anything that dulls clarity of mind and becomes a ground for negligence.
Not to eat after midday
The last meal is before noon; after that, only drink until morning. If your health does not allow it, there is no need to harm yourself for the sake of a rule.
To refrain from entertainment and adornment
Dancing, singing, music and shows — and everything used to deliberately adorn oneself: cosmetics, perfumes, jewellery.
Not to use high and luxurious beds
A simple place to sleep. The point is not to make yourself uncomfortable, but to do without excess for this one day.
When it starts and when it ends
The precepts are taken for a day and a night — usually from the morning of the Uposatha until dawn the next day. The exact order differs from one community to another; if you practise with one, keep to its order. The moment the moon changes phase, the one shown in the calendar, sets the date itself — not the hour the practice begins.
How to keep an Uposatha day
The precepts are taken freely — but once taken, they hold for the day. Nothing below is a precept: these are simply ways to spend the day more quietly and more attentively, and you can take what suits you.
The evening before
Finish what needs finishing, prepare simple food, and think about what you want to fill the day with.
In the morning
Say to yourself what you are taking on today. A plain intention is enough.
Through the day
Leave more room for quiet: meditation, reading suttas, a walk, unhurried work.
Food
Plan meals in advance, especially if the rule about eating after midday is new to you.
Without aiming at perfection
If something did not work out, that is no reason to abandon the whole day.
In the evening
Stop for a few minutes and look at what has changed in the mind over the day.
What this day can give
Attentiveness
A day with fewer of the usual stimuli makes it easier to see your own actions, speech and state of mind.
Ethical conduct
The precepts are a chance to deepen, for one day, the ordinary practice of behaving well.
Moderation
Doing without the usual pleasures leaves room for simplicity and calm.
Practice of the Dhamma
The day can be given to meditation, to reading suttas, to reflection.
What carries on
The Uposatha ends, but the attentiveness gathered during it can be carried further.
In the suttas
The Buddha sets this day out in detail in the following suttas:
Sankhittuposatha Sutta (AN 8.41) →
If you are hearing about Uposatha for the first time — what kind of day it is, where it came from and why it is kept.
May all beings be happy