Five Precepts Check-In
This five precepts tracker is a short evening check-in. Go through the precepts you are working with, ask each one's question about today, and choose one to hold gently tomorrow. It keeps no score and no streak: it remembers only the evenings you checked in, and only in your own browser.
Look at the day the way you'd look in a mirror
To see clearly, not to judge. Take each precept you are working with, ask its question, and answer for today only. Nothing here keeps a score.
Where the mirror comes from
Speaking to the laywoman Visākhā on an observance day, the Buddha compares recollecting one's ethics to cleaning a mirror:
It’s when a noble disciple recollects their own ethical precepts, which are intact, impeccable, spotless, and unmarred, liberating, praised by sensible people, not mistaken, and leading to immersion. As they recollect their ethical conduct, their mind becomes clear, joy arises, and mental corruptions are given up. It’s just like cleaning a dirty mirror by exertion.
And to Rāhula, his son, he gives the mirror as the model for checking a deed before, while and after doing it:
What do you think, Rāhula? What is the purpose of a mirror?” “It’s for checking your reflection, sir.” “In the same way, deeds of body, speech, and mind should be done only after repeated checking.
1. Not harming living beings
Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi.
“I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures.”
Today, did I treat living beings — people, animals, even small creatures — with care?
2. Not taking what is not given
Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi.
“I undertake the precept to refrain from taking that which is not given.”
Did I take only what was freely given to me?
3. No sexual misconduct
Kāmesu micchācārā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi.
“I undertake the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct.”
Was I faithful to my commitments, and respectful of other people's relationships?
4. Not lying
Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi.
“I undertake the precept to refrain from incorrect speech.”
Did I speak truthfully today — saying “I know” when I knew, and “I don't know” when I didn't?
Beyond the precept: were my words also kind, timely and helpful? That belongs to right speech in the Eightfold Path rather than to the precept itself.
5. No intoxicants that cloud the mind
Surāmerayamajja pamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṁ samādiyāmi.
“I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness.”
Did I keep my mind clear today, steering away from drink or drugs that lead to carelessness?
An intention for tomorrow
Choose one precept to hold gently for one day. Most are given in the words of the one-day undertaking that lay followers make on observance days.
Your evenings
The last four weeks; a filled square is an evening you checked in. There is no streak to break: miss a night and simply begin again.
Which precepts are you working with?
Access to Insight, a Theravāda source, calls the five rules “observed by all practicing lay Buddhists”, often recited after the refuges. Some traditions allow a lay follower to take fewer: the Upāsakaśīla Sūtra, preserved in Chinese and long used in East Asian Buddhism, speaks of holding one, some or all, and Dudjom Rinpoche advises taking the lay vows "according to your own particular capacity". See how the precepts are taken.
Kept in this browser only. Nothing is sent to us or anyone else, and there is no account. Pali and English formulas from Access to Insight (CC BY-NC 4.0).
How the check-in works
The check-in follows the Buddha's own picture of moral self-review, the mirror. In MN 61 he asks Rāhula what a mirror is for, Rāhula answers "for checking your reflection", and the Buddha says that deeds of body, speech and mind should be checked in the same way, before, while and after they are done. Speaking to the laywoman Visākhā in AN 3.70, he says that recollecting one's own ethics clears the mind "just like cleaning a dirty mirror". Each precept is shown in the Pali formula and English that lay followers recite, with a plain question of our own about the day. The intention for tomorrow uses the one-day form of AN 8.41, "for this day and night", in which lay followers take precepts on observance days; for the third precept, whose AN 8.41 form is celibacy, it uses the lay verse of AN 5.179 instead. What each precept covers, and where teachers disagree, is set out in our guide to the five precepts.
Why there is no score
A tracker could count lapses, or keep a streak that one bad day breaks. This one doesn't, because that would work against what the precepts are for. In AN 10.1 the Buddha says that "having no regrets is the goal and benefit of skillful ethics", and that joy is the goal of having no regrets. In our view a running tally of lapses would keep the mind on them, so the check-in does not keep a day's answers: they are dropped the next time you open it on a later evening. If a precept was hard, it offers the reflection of SN 42.8 instead: it was not right, it cannot be undone, and it can be given up from now on.
If the fifth precept is hard
If drinking or drug use feels hard to control, support is available. In the UK, Drinkline is on 0300 123 1110 (free and confidential, weekdays 9am–8pm, weekends 11am–4pm). In the US, SAMHSA's National Helpline is on 1-800-662-4357 (free and confidential). Anywhere else, including Singapore, findahelpline.com lists lines by country. Our pages on Buddhism and alcohol and Buddhism and addiction offer reflection, not treatment.
On observance days
On uposatha days many lay followers take eight precepts for a day and night, as AN 8.41 describes: the third becomes celibacy, and three more are added. The uposatha calendar shows when the observance days fall in each tradition.
Walk the whole path with the Eightfold Path explorer, or keep a meditation journal. See all our free tools.
Frequently asked questions
How do I practise the five precepts every day?
Bhikkhu Bodhi, drawing on the Theravada commentaries, says the precepts 'should be undertaken repeatedly, preferably on a daily basis', recited after the refuges. For looking back over one's conduct, the Buddha's image is a mirror: checking a deed before, while and after doing it (MN 61), and recollecting one's own ethics like cleaning a dirty mirror (AN 3.70). This check-in gives that evening review a few minutes and one intention for the next day.
What does the check-in offer if a precept was hard today?
It offers the reflection of SN 42.8: notice honestly that something was not right, accept that it cannot be undone, and give it up from now on; there it is followed by meditation on love for all beings. If the fifth precept was hard, it also shows where to find support. Our guide to the five precepts covers what the texts say happens when one is broken.
Can I check in on only some of the precepts?
Yes. Traditions differ on taking fewer than five. Access to Insight, a Theravada source, calls the five 'observed by all practicing lay Buddhists'. The Upasakasila Sutra, preserved in Chinese and long used in East Asian Buddhism, describes holding from one to all five, and Dudjom Rinpoche advises taking the lay vows 'according to your own particular capacity'. The check-in lets you choose which precepts to work with.
Why doesn't this precepts tracker keep a score or a streak?
Our choice: a score would turn an evening review into a ledger of lapses. In AN 10.1 the Buddha says that having no regrets is the goal and benefit of skilful ethics, and that joy follows from it. The check-in remembers only the evenings you checked in and the intention you chose; missing a night breaks nothing.
Is my precepts check-in private?
Yes. Everything is kept in your own browser, there is no account, and nothing is sent to us or to anyone else. Each evening's answers are dropped the next time you open the check-in on a later evening, and the delete button removes everything at once.
Sources
- 'The Five Precepts (pañca-sīla)', Access to Insight (CC BY-NC 4.0): the Pali formulas and their English, as on our guide to the five precepts
- Sabbath (AN 3.70), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral (CC0): to Visākhā, recollecting one's ethics is 'like cleaning a dirty mirror by exertion' (13.3–13.4)
- Advice to Rāhula at Ambalaṭṭhika (MN 61), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral (CC0): the mirror, checking a deed before, while and after it, and what to do afterwards (8.1–11.10)
- A Horn Blower (SN 42.8), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral (CC0): 'But I can't undo what I have done' and giving up a bad deed (7.8–7.16)
- What's the Goal? (AN 10.1), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral (CC0): 'having no regrets is the goal and benefit of skillful ethics'
- The Sabbath With Eight Factors, In Brief (AN 8.41), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral (CC0): the one-day undertaking, 'I, too, for this day and night will…'
- A Layperson (AN 5.179), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral (CC0): the five precepts of lay followers and the verse 'Content with your own partners'
- Overflowing Merit (AN 8.39), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral (CC0): the precepts as gifts of 'freedom from fear, enmity, and ill will'
- The Sutra on Upāsaka Precepts (Upāsakaśīla Sūtra, T 1488), trans. Bhikṣuṇī Shih Heng-ching, BDK English Tripiṭaka (1994), ch. XIV: degrees of holding the lay precepts
- Dudjom Rinpoche, 'The Mirror Clearly Showing What to Adopt and Abandon', trans. Adam Pearcey, Lotsawa House: the lay vows taken 'according to your own particular capacity'
- Bhikkhu Bodhi, Going for Refuge & Taking the Precepts (BPS Wheel 282/284, 1981), Access to Insight: the precepts 'should be undertaken repeatedly, preferably on a daily basis', recited after the refuges
- 'Alcohol support', NHS (page reviewed 17 August 2026): Drinkline, 0300 123 1110
- 'Substance abuse', USA.gov: SAMHSA's free, confidential National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
- What Are the Five Precepts?, e-Buddhism.com: each precept, how it is taken, and how the traditions differ