Dhamma.it

«Anche se cita a iosa i testi sacri, ma non agisce di conseguenza,
il disattento è come un mandriano
che conti soltanto le vacche altrui:
non prende parte alla beatitudine della santa vita »
(Dhammapada, 19)

Sila (virtue, moral conduct) is the cornerstone upon which the entire Noble Eightfold Path is built. The practice of sila is defined by the middle three factors of the Eightfold Path: Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood.

Practicing Buddhists voluntarily undertake a particular set of training rules appropriate to their life-situation:

Lay men and women observe the Five Precepts (pañca-sila)
Lay men and women doing intensive meditation practice (as on Uposatha days) observe the Eight Precepts (attha-sila)
Novice monks (samanera) and nuns (samaneri) observe the Ten Precepts (dasa-sila)
A fully-ordained monk (bhikkhu) follows the 227 rules of the Bhikkhu Patimokkha; a nun (bhikkhuni) would follow the 311 rules of the Bhikkhuni Patimokkha.

[Ananda:] 'What, O Venerable One, is the reward and blessing of wholesome morality?'

[The Buddha:] 'Freedom from remorse, Ananda.'

'And of freedom from remorse?'

'Joy, Ananda'

'And of joy?'

'Rapture, Ananda'

'And of rapture?'

'Tranquillity, Ananda.'

'And of tranquillity?'

'Happiness, Ananda.'

'And of happiness?'

'Concentration, Ananda.'

'And of concentration?'

'Vision and knowledge according to reality.'

'And of the vision and knowledge according to reality?'

'Turning away and detachment, Ananda.'

'And of turning away and detachment?'

'The vision and knowledge with regard to Deliverance, Ananda.'

— AN X.1 (Nyanatiloka, trans.; from Path to Deliverance, pp. 65-66)