IIO The Buddhist Community
ceremony or not, whether they have physical presence or are un-
seen ghosts or gods) also to rejoice in the merit of the ceremony.
The practice of good conduct takes the form of commitment
to the five precepts usually recited in conjunction with the three
refuges: (1) to refrain from harming living creatures, (2) to
refrain from taking what is not given, (3) to.refrain from sexual
misconduct, (4) to refrain from false speech, (5) to refrain from
· intoxicants that cause heedlessness (see pp. 170-2). In addition
the lay disciple may on special occasions (traditionally the full
moon 'observance' days) or for longer periods take the eight
precepts, replacing the third precept (refraining from sexual
misconduct) with complete sexual abstinence and adding (6)
refraining from eating after midday, (7) refraining from attend+
ing entertainments and using perfumes, etc., and (8) refraining
from using luxurious beds. In taking the eight precepts the lay
follower takes on a discipline that approximates to the ten pre-
cepts of novice members of the Sangha.
As far as the lay cultivation of meditation is concerned, prac-
tice can be seen as centring around the various kinds of offerings
(pujii) which arouse the religious emotion of faith (sraddhii!saddhii)
and conduce to the development of the initial stages of calm
meditation (seep. 179). Pilgrimages to the sites associated with
the events of the Buddha's life and also to local holy places and
shrines are another significant feature of lay Buddhist practice,
as too are festivals of various sorts. These again fit into the gen~
eral pattern of arousing religious emotion. The fact that Buddhist
devotions centred on stU pas, Bodhi~trees and images of the Bud-
dha, the finest and most sacred of which were generally to be
found in the grounds of monasteries, meant that monasteries were
also centres of lay religious activity.
Spiro's schema: apotropaic, kammatic, and
nibbanic Buddhism
In an important anthropological study of post-war Burmese Bud~
dhist practice, Melford Spiro proposed a distinction between three
forms of Buddhism: 'apotropaic', 'kammatic', and 'nibbanic';^64
By the first he meant Buddhist activity that is concerned with
