Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

sort of defense, and unless he has properly taken Refuge
in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, he is at the mercy
of these evil hosts. If they can catch his concentrated
mind, he is then said by others to be "mad."
This unhappy state often occurs among meditators in
Taoism where there are no effective Refuges to guard
one, but where they have nevertheless developed quite a
number of powerful meditation techniques. They
emphasize particularly keeping the whole mind
one-pointed, which is of course very good, but it is at
this time that one is most prone to attack by these bad
spirits, ghosts, demons, and so is most in need of a good
strong defense.
I have described the refuges above and the meditational
reasons for taking them. When one has done so, at least
there will be no trouble from these beings, and one may
peacefully make real progress, protected by the Buddha,
Dharma, and Sangha.
Then there are the five precepts. We have already said
that the gods are attracted to purity, and they protect
more carefully a meditator who keeps the precepts pure.
Meditators will soon find that if they do good
deeds—that is, keep their precepts—the mind becomes
quiet and relatively easy to control. Anyone who hurts
and kills, takes what is not given, commits sexually
unskillful deeds (such as fornication or adultery), utters
false speech, or takes beer, wines, spirits, or drugs and
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