Uposatha: Take 3

I really am a glutton for punishment. I decided to try and observe the Eight Precepts on Uposatha, the Buddhist sabbath, again. I’ve tried this two other times, and it went like so:

• First attempt: I made it through, but had a lot of nagging (read: paranoid) self-doubt as to whether I made an inadvertent oversight.
• Second attempt: I gave up in the afternoon. I hadn’t eaten very well in the morning and had some more self-doubt.

However, recently, a conversation came up on e-sangha about observing Uposatha, and people (including myself) asked the monks if “A” broke the Eight Precepts, or if “B” did and so on. The monks provided helpful answered, and made me realize some critical points:

1. Sitting in a car seat does not violate the Eighth Precept for abstaining from luxurious seats. Neither do office chairs, if it’s the standard issue.
2. Listening to baby music in order to entertain Baby does not violate the Seventh Precepts on entertainment. For that matter, neither does playing with the Baby at all.
3. Reading books does violate the Seventh Precepts if they’re for entertainment, not studying the Dharma.

So with that in mind, I will take the Eight Precepts tomorrow and observe Uposatha. Wish me luck!