What are some of the ritualistic or worship principles of Buddhism?

Answer 1

Buddhism's ethical foundation for laypeople is the Pancasila: no killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct, or intoxicants. (Some Mahayana followers add further items such as gambling.) That is, in becoming a Buddhist--or affirming one's commitment to Buddhism--a layperson is encouraged to vow to abstain from these negative actions, in order to avoid accumulating negative karma. Buddhist monks and nuns take many hundreds more such vows (see vinaya).

Ethics is defined as the rules or set of values held by the community or group of people to adjudicate its members’ conduct of what is right and wrong, or what is acceptable and not acceptable. Buddhism delineates ethics to comprise of honesty and integrity. According to the western view, honesty connotes communicating or acting truthfully. Integrity means a refusal to engage in a behavior that refutes responsibility. However, honesty and integrity under Buddhist ethics have deeper meaning than their western counterpart.

According to one Buddhist scholar, Ajarn Paul Tanongpol, in Buddhism, honesty is comprised of eight elements of sammā or “truthfulness:” (1) sammā dhitti, (2) sammā sanggappa, (3) sammā vaja, (4) sammā gammanta, (5) sammā achiva, (6) sammā vayama, (7) sammā sati and (8) sammā samāti. Sammā dhitti refers to truthfulness in thoughts or thinking. This first element of honesty requires objectivity in belief or thinking. A person must not be clouded by false belief in anything that is everlasting and permanent. Nothing in this world exists for every, everything tends towards entropy. In the Buddhist tradition, this first element of honesty or truthfulness requires that the individual accept fourth cardinal truths that life is full of suffering (dhuka); suffering has causation (samudhaya); suffering may be eliminated (Nirodha); and there is an empirical method of eliminating suffering (Magga). The second element of honesty is sammā sanggappa is truthful in opinion. An honest person’s opinion should not be influenced by lust, jealousy, and envy. Thirdly, honesty must have sammā vaja or truthful in words; truthfulness in words goes beyond the proscription against telling lies. Sammā vaja speaks against four types of defilement by words: musavadha (lie), pisuna vaja (insinuation), Bharusa vaja (verbal epithet or cursing), and sambhabprapa vaja (boastfulness). These four types of speech are considered untruthful, and, therefore, violates the rule of honesty. The fourth element of honesty is sammā gammanta or truthful in conduct and action. This fourth element of honesty comprised of three sub-elements: panadhipata (taking the life of another), adhinnadhana (theft), and gamesumichajara (infidelity). The fifth element of honesty is sammā achiva or truthful in profession or vocation. The vocation or profession in which one engages must be in conformity with the law of the community. Sixth, honesty requires sammā vayama or perseverance. There are four elements of perseverance: sangvara padhana (persevere against defilement of self), pahara padhana (cease defilement that had already occurred), bhavana padhana (persevere to promote the betterment of self), and anurakana padhana (prevent the improved self from deterioration). The seventh element of honesty is sammā sati or truth of consciousness. There are four sub-elements of consciousness: gaya-anoupasana (know that this body is not permanent), vedhana-anoupasana (know that happiness, sadness and detachment are not permanent), chitta-anoupasana (know that emotion is not permanent), and dhamma-anoupasana (know that even dhamma is not permanent). Lastly, honesty requires that a person has sammā samāti or truthful in concentration. This last element requires the person to be meditative in thinking. An honest person must have the correct or right thinking; correct thinking requires four elements: panya (intelligence or know what should be known), sajja (sincerity in words and conduct), jaga (remove that which deters sincerity), and oupasama (detach from that which destroys peace of the inner self).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_Ethics