The more refined our mind becomes, the more clearly, we are able to perceive both good and evil — for the discernment of good from evil is itself a matter of great refinement, and must be developed gradually through training.
At the beginning, one trains to judge through the Five Precepts. As practice deepens, one advances to the Eight Precepts. When that no longer suffices, one undertakes the Ten Precepts. And when even that is not enough, one observes the two hundred and twenty-seven rules of the Patimokkha. Only through sustained and deepening practice does one truly come to embody all two hundred and twenty-seven rules in their fullness.
Record of a Dhamma Teaching to Preceptor Monks of the Novice Training Centre at Dhammakaya International Meditation Center 30 October B.E. 2558 (2015)
