The Ten Precepts which are, perhaps, the basis for leading a life according to the teachings of Buddhism, should be the basic tenants of a Buddhist's life.
They are also served as guidelines that shape the life of a true Buddhist. As one's lifestyle expresses not only the attitude one has to the life, but also their collective expression in terms of skilful and unskilful attitudes, habits and behaviour patterns.
In a traditional sense what we have learnt and practised as Ten Precepts are those with negative deeds or negation of actions.
However it should not necessarily be so and instead of the negative Ten Precepts that we used to observe, we could observe their positive counterparts. Instead of "I undertake the item of training which consists in abstention of killing living beings" the first of the Ten Precepts, we could observe its positive precept "with deeds of loving-kindness I purify my body". Likewise we could observe the remaining precepts of the Ten Precepts in their positive sense.
In a life of a Buddhist, what takes a primary place is not the lifestyle but the commitment to the Ten Precepts, which themselves are the expression of being a refuge (Sarana Yama) and the observance of Ten Precepts takes a secondary and lifestyle tertiary. Although the all positions are important in one's life, the second was important as an expression of the first, that is the observance of the Ten Precepts and the third as an expression of the second.
Lifestyle open to criticism
However one's lifestyle cannot be considered as an ethically neutral way of life without any modification in the pursuit of Enlightenment. For this reason, one's lifestyle is something that is open to criticism and one cannot, as a Buddhist, rebut criticism of such things as one's particular attitudes, beliefs, habits or behaviour with the indignant rejoinder such as. 'Oh, but that's my lifestyle', as though this at once placed the matter not only beyond criticism but beyond discussion.
One of the main sources of confusion and misunderstanding, no doubt, the word's 'style'. In the context of the visual arts, one can speak of the baroque style and the rococo style without necessarily implying that one is better than the other. Similarly in the context of literary criticism one can speak of a plain style and an ornate style, and in the context of book production of the distinctive house styles of different publishers, without thereby implying the absolute superiority of one style over another. But one can speak of lifestyle in this way only to a limited extent.
In other words, very few lifestyles are truly neutral in character. One can, indeed, speak of a rural lifestyle and an urban lifestyle without necessarily implying an ethical judgment, but one can hardly speak of the lifestyle of a slaughterer or of a prostitute, to take two quite extreme examples without considering oneself as a Buddhist, thereby implying a very definite ethical judgment indeed.
Ten precepts as rules of training
The term "Rules of Training" is used as an equivalent of the Sanskrit 'Sikaspadas' (Pali Sikkhapada). However one cannot take Ten Precepts as mere ethical principles that are to be learnt, but also as principles which have to be learnt, for example, from a teacher. They are the set of ethical principles according to which, as true Buddhists, we should strive to lead our lives.
