Bhikkhu Cintita

Year: 2010

  • Does a Buddhist lose Ambition?

    Terasi asks:

    Would you talk about Buddhism and motivation please? Ever since I learned Buddhism few months ago (I am a newbie!) I’ve become more restrained, able to restrained anger, annoyance, craving to shop junks, etc. It’s wonderful, I am happier and calmer now.

    But then I wonder if all the stress on unruffled mind, upekkha, contentment, restraining from grasping, etc could lead one to be lacking ambition in real life? For example, no ambition to become successful at work, no wish to take up further study because “well, why would I want to be a manager if I am content and happy enough just to be a clerk?”, no wish to get better things “why should I look for another place to stay, this old apartment can still shelter me even though the bathroom is leaking.” and so on.

    This is a good question. There is a tendency to think of Buddhism as complacent or passive. Buddhism is actually about action, that is why we talk about karma (action) so much. However Buddhism does make a distinction between skillful motivations and unskillful motivations behind our actions.

    Human beings tend to be primarily motivation by the quest for personal advantage, to do what it takes so I get that manager’s job rather than my colleague, so that I have a better home than my friends, and so on. We do have an obligation to protect our physical and emotional health, but there are many motivations that do not put me and mine on center stage, such as those based in compassion and loving-kindness. The latter are skillful motivations; they are skillful because they lead away from personal stress toward lightness and joy, they do not present a distorted view of reality but open the heart, and they tend to produce great benefit, including for yourself where that is needed.

    With skillful motivations action actually becomes more effortless, more fluid. It no longer needs ambition. Ultimately on the path there is no sense of personal effort at all, but what needs doing is done. Here is my very favorite Buddhist verse, by Hongzhi, a Twelfth Century Chinese Zen master:

    “People of the Way journey through the world responding to conditions, carefree and without constraint. Like clouds finally raining, like moonlight following the current, like orchids growing in shade, like spring arising in everything, they act without mind, they respond with certainty.”

  • From Thought to Destiny: To Avoid Evil

    Uposatha Teaching: Full Moon, August 25, 2010.

    Index to Current Series
    “    Thought – Act – Habit – Character – Destiny”

    This mind of mine went formerly wandering about as it liked, as it listed, as it pleased; but I shall now hold it in thoroughly, as the rider who holds the hook holds in the furious elephant. Dhammapada, 326.

    Last week I introduced the three ethical systems that inform our actions in Buddhism, Avoiding Evil, Doing Good and Purifying the Mind. This week I discuss the first of these in detail, which is in fact a variety of systems of vows or precepts.

    Precepts take the form of rules or regulations. Examples are “Do not kill living things,”Do not tell a falsehood. There are systems of five, eight, nine and ten precepts. The full set of monastics vows runs into the hundreds of precepts. Almost always stated as abstentions, precepts are valuable for their clarity in stating minimal standards of physical conduct. In Buddhism they are almost always a matter of vow rather than imposed by an outside authority such as the Commandments that Moses brought down from the mountain as a gift from God, or traffic laws imposed under threat of fine. Exceptions might be temple rules like, “Take your shoes off before entering.”

    Precepts can inform important karmic decisions, like whether or not to murder your annoying neighbor, or simply provide standards to ensure harmonious relations, much like many traffic laws, or simply to express some point of etiquette, like always bowing to the Buddha when entering a temple. One can, and will, create personal precepts, like feed the dog at 6:00 pm. And in fact personal vows are how we best live deliberately, how we take a stand and boycott banks or insurance companies, or food from factory farms, and stick with them.

    Westerners often have some resistance to precepts because they regard rules and regulations as infringing on personal freedom, or would like to keep their options open rather than to commit themselves to anything. Doing Good or Purifying the Mind seems to afford more opportunity for personal creativity, they reason. However, the notion of personal freedom referred to is almost always at odds with the Buddhist concept of liberation; the latter is not the freedom to do what you want but rather the freedom from having to want anything, that is, it is freedom from the tyranny of the self with its endless desires and needs, dislikes and fears.

    Precepts put these requirements of the self into a box that if useful will create an initial level of discomfort, but give an opportunity to understand that self’s needs and to develop humility and contentment. It will also expose consequences that might have happened along with intentions that might have been enacted; these will be left dangling where they can be clearly observed as harmful and ill-conceived. For instance, many Buddhist codes include a precept to abstain from gossip, which gives one pause as certain situations open up this enjoyable option. Without that precept that behavior is likely to go unnoticed as something that causes problems, in its consequences for the mind and for others, we will tend to be careless in that behavior.

    In following precepts we learn better to care for consequences and to cultivate skillful karma. There is a Zen saying that if you put a snake in a bamboo tube it will discover its own shape. In fact one of the common expressions for precepts is sekiya, rules of training; one might think of them as training wheels for the bicycle of practicing Doing Good and Purifying the Mind. Precepts will also in the end create a sense of ease as a break from the burden of the self.

    Taking this one step further, all of ritual falls withing the range of precepts. In ritual there is no direct moral component, yet there is what is considered proper behavior. But like moral precepts they afford the opportunity to engage in activities independently of the tyranny of the self and thereby to develop wholesome qualities of mind, and to experience a joyful sense of liberation. Ritualizing everyday activities has similar advantages in eliminating opportunities for personal choice.

    Last week I described precepts as naturally porous and rigid. The rigidity often shows up when two precepts contradict. For instance Just War might involve killing for some greater good. With the Gestapo at the door and Jews in the attic, a little lie might be justified. In Zen circles there is generally an assumption that precepts almost always contradict one another and that through wisdom one arrives at the appropriate call. It is interesting that the Buddha rarely sanctioned violating precepts. The one example I am aware of is in MN 38 where the Buddha was challenged for using disagreeable speech against Devadatta, his cousin who tried to create a schism in the Sangha, tried to kill the Buddha and other disagreeable things. The Buddha said that sometimes it is necessary to dig a pebble out of a child’s mouth even though it causes great discomfort.

    Next week we consider how to Do Good, that is to plan actions that are of benefit, even where the bottom line of the precepts does not require it.

  • From Thought to Destiny: Action (Karma)

    Uposatha Teaching: First Quarter Moon, August 18, 2010.

    Index to Current Series
    “    Thought – Act – Habit – Character – Destiny”

    To avoid evil,
    To do good,
    To purify the mind.
    This is the advice of all Buddhas.     Dhammapada, 183

    In Buddhism it is in our deeds that the rubber meets the road. And deeds unfold from thoughts as their forerunner, from our intentions and impulses to the very way we conceptualize reality. To what end? So that we become masters of Doing the Right Thing.

    I should note that to many who first approach Buddhism are not so much interested in become a Saint as they are in being personally happy, or at least less miserable. In Buddhism these two aspirations are actually identical. People used to say, in an innocent age, What’s Good for General Motors is Good for the U.S.A. In Buddhism, What’s Good for General Beings is good for U.M.E. To the extent that we consider the two aspirations to be at cross purposes, we will achieve neither.

    Let’s get clearer about what actions are. Actions are commonly listed as coming in three colors in Buddhism:

    • Actions of Body. These are perhaps the most typical, driving a car, eating, browsing the Internet.
    • Actions of Speech. I presume the Buddha included Speech as a separate category in order to underscore how much power the word has in human affairs. Otherwise there is sometimes a tendency to discount speech: Sticks and Stones can Break my Bones but Names can never Hurt me, and Actions Speak louder than Words. But not always: The Pen is Mightier than the Sword.
    • Actions of Mind. I presume the Buddha included the category of Mind to underscore the need to watch the mind even when it is not spinning off physical actions, particularly because thoughts by themselves can help shape habit patterns, character and destiny. For instance, simply entertaining angry thoughts can turn into angry habit patterns, and into an angry character.

    For the Buddha actions (karma) are always harvested from thoughts, that is, characterized by volition (cetena). An act of speech is set in motion by an intentional thought, perhaps a by desire to serve with good advice, or by a malicious desire to spread gossip. And act of body is triggered similarly, perhaps by anger, by a desire to acquire or by a desire to give. Now, an act of mind is pure volition that does not translate into visible action, for instance, plotting a revenge that will never happen or daydreaming about ice cream.

    An action that is not volitional at all falls outside the scope of karma altogether. Things that are not karma would include involuntary responses, things done while unconscious or asleep, or things done otherwise without volition. In short, in karma one must first sow a thought before reaping an act.

    The verse at the beginning of this post enumerates the three practices of Buddhist ethics. Ethics or Right Conduct permeates Buddhism and it is conducted and developed on many levels, physical, affective and cognitive. “To avoid evil” refers to the practice of following Precepts. “To do good” refers to the practice of seeking Benefit. And “to purify the mind” refers to the practice of developing Virtue. These provide the guidelines for sowing acts, and in the order given are progressively more sophisticated and challenging.

    To Avoid Evil (Precepts)

    This practice essentially follows codes of conduct. Traditionally lay people throughout the Buddhist world take five Precepts, as follows:

    1. Not to kill living things,
    2. Not to take what is not given,
    3. Not to commit sexual misconduct (generally adultery),
    4. Not to tell a falsehood, and
    5. Not to consume an intoxicant.

    There are alternative sets for different circumstances or levels of practice commitment. Monastics follow an extensive set of precepts.

    Precepts are almost invariably stated as abstentions, for instance, “do not kill,” rather than “protect life,” etc., which is why they are summarized with the phrase “to avoid evil.” They also almost always regulate actions of Body and Speech but not of Mind.

    In Buddhism precepts are a matter of Vow, that is, they are undertaken voluntarily as an individual decision, rather than imposed by a God or a Pope or other authority. Although their appearance may be similar, practicing with precepts thereby involves a gentle sense of personal responsibility that differs from following the commandments of other religions.

    Weaknesses of precepts as a guide to ethical conduct are that they generally allow loopholes and they don’t permit appropriate exceptions, that is, they are porous and rigid. Advantages are that they are sharply defined and that, as such, are easy to learn and remember for the young or beginning Buddhist, that they clearly highlight some problem areas in human conduct, that they don’t require detailed understanding of the circumstances in which one proposes to act, and that they do not demand regulating the mind in any refined way, which would be a much more challenging task than regulating body or speech.

    Following precepts however requires discipline. Precepts generally do not refer directly to the thoughts behind one’s actions. However, the main challenge in following Precepts comes from the demands of one’s unskillful thoughts, which must often be brought under control in one way or another in order to act in accordance with the precept, for instance, in order not to steal a cookie while struggling with an enormous sweet tooth. Also, violations of Precepts occur only with intention, that is, as karma. Accidently sitting on Puff, the family cat, cannot violate the Precept against killing living beings.

    To Do Good (Benefit)

    “What do you think, Rahula: What is a mirror for?”

    “For reflection, sir.”

    “In the same way, Rahula, bodily actions, verbal actions, & mental actions are to be done with repeated reflection.
    “… if on reflection you know that it would not cause affliction… it would be a skillful bodily action with pleasant consequences, pleasant results, then any bodily action of that sort is fit for you to do.     MN 61

    The practice of doing good is to assess the overall benefit for self and others of potential actions and to choose to act accordingly. One might see a turtle in the road while driving, stop and move it to the side if it is not too dangerous to do so; one might cook a meal for one’s family; one might rescue a flood victim from rising waters.

    Doing Good generally results from some skillful thoughts, rooted in compassion, good-will and renunciation. It also often requires moderation of unskillful thoughts, rooted in greed and hatred and delusion, that might overwhelm one’s plans with self-centered motives. Finally, it works best with a skillful clear assessment of the circumstances and likely benefits and costs of the proposed action. More generally this can be seen as manifesting concern for the well-being of every being, that is, of showing loving-kindness and compassion in all one’s actions, without bias to self or other, family or friend or stranger.

    Characteristic of Doing Good is the absence of a clear level of obligation. Some people use all of their available energy feeding the homeless, adopting rescue dogs, campaigning for Universal Health Care, while others, for no apparent lack of good-will, sit at home, read the news and fret. Sometimes people are lazy or just lack imagination or self-confidence. Others are clever in reasoning that it is not their problem, but someone else’s responsibility. The point is whereas Precepts alone tend to produce a uniformity in behavior, Doing Good does the opposite.

    To Purify the Mind (Virtue)

    Whatever I do, for good or evil, to that I will fall heir. AN 5.57

    Precepts and Benefit are practices found in most religions. Purifying the Mind has some aspects that are uniquely Buddhist. Purifying the Mind is forward looking; it’s task is to develop Virtue, a character fine-tuned physically, affectively and cognitively to live harmlessly and for the benefit of all. The focus in Virtue turns from external acts and looks inward, to purifying thoughts in order to end personal suffering, to let go of the delusions of the self with its demands for personal advantage and to set the conditions for acting harmlessly and beneficially in the world in the future.

    Purifying the Mind is the perfection of the human character, and it employs every practice and technology available in the Noble Eightfold Path. In particular, it takes Avoiding Evil and Doing Good as foundations. The latter are included in Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood, that is, the training in Right Conduct. In addition it works closely with the mind so that skillful thoughts dominate more and more, and Eventually (with a big ‘E’) unskillful, unwholesome thoughts are absent. This is done through Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration, that is, the training in Cultivation of Mind or Meditation. Finally the enormous human capacity for delusion, misperception, rationalization and distortion are met with Right View and Right Intention, that is, the trainings in Wisdom.

    Briefly, Developing Virtue involves Doing Virtue, that is Avoiding Evil and Doing Good, as much as anything else, just as becoming a master potter involves throwing pots more than anything else. But attention is given all the while to the overall shape of the character, and further training in Meditation and Wisdom takes place out of the shop, just as a potter might attend classes in color and design to round out her skills.

    The development of Virtue adds another significant element to practice of Right Conduct. When I choose an action it is not enough to ask, Does it respect the Precepts? and Is it Beneficial? Now I must also ask, What are the consequences for my character? For whatever I do, for good or evil, to that I will fall heir. To assess this I must closely track my own intentions. These along with what I actually do are Karma, and to that I will fall heir. For instance, if I do something out of spite, that will leave a trace in my personality: If I do this often I will slowly acquire a Habit of spitefulness. If I continue to exercise this habit spitefulness will eventually begin to color my Character, even my appearance and I will gain a reputation as a spiteful person. Beyond that my Destiny will be shaped and Nirvana will become quite distant. So I try to avoid doing anything that involves spite, or any unskillful thought.

    The theme of the present Uposatha Day series, From Thought to Destiny, will build for the most part on the practice of developing Virtue, or Purifying the Mind. But next week let me discuss Precepts and Benefit a bit more, since in these three practices together the rubber meets the road. Subsequently I will go on to reconsider Virtue, then Habit, Character and Destiny, which tell us where the road is taking us.

  • Was Jesus a Buddhist Monk?

    The neat separation many of us make in our minds between Eastern and Western religion and culture belies many common historical origins and interconnections. We forget the common origin of most of the languages of Europe and India, along with Persian, Armenian and Hittite. We forget how Alexander, a Greek/Macedonian extended an empire all the way to India, stranding many outposts of Greek culture in palaces like Ghandara, in present day Afghanistan and Pakastan, later to become a major center of Buddhism. We forget that King Ashoka of 3rd Century B.C. India dispatched missionaries to spread Buddhism far and wide, including to Greece, Egypt, Syria and Italy, and how the Silk Road, the trade route through which Buddhism extended itself historically extended not only to China in the east, but to the Mediterranean and Rome in the West. Centuries later the extensive Arab empire would serve as a conduit between East and West.

    So it should not be surprising that parallels between Christianity and Buddhism have been recognized for some time. Some of these are physical artifacts, such as the similarity of the Christian gesture of prayer, which apparently has no Jewish counterpart, and the Indian anjali, carried wherever Buddhism has spread, or the Catholic rosary and the Indian mala. Scholars have pointed out similarities between many biblical and Buddhist texts. Most striking for me has always been the Buddhist flavor of the words of Jesus, particularly evident in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas. And then there is the existence of similar monastic traditions in Buddhism and Christianity.

    I will let Ajahn Brahm fill in the next couple of paragraphs about recent discoveries of Buddhist communities around Alexandria Egypt dating since before the time of Christ, including the possible Buddhist identity of a monastic community called the Therapeutae and the possible affiliation of Jesus with that community or with some offshoot or sister community.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpBKG2Lz8lQ]

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv27hu-Sxu8]
    Is Christianity with its Jewish influences—much as Zen with its Taoist influences—in the end a branch of Buddhism? Was Jesus the original Jew-Bu, a precursor to the many modern Jewish practitioners of Buddhism?

    When I was at St. Joseph Abbey last month, visiting with Father William and Brother Aaron, I was glad to see that they were not only aware of the evidence for the Buddhist origins of their own monastic lives but found it to be quite compelling. A further common development in the monastic tradition both East and West concerns higher education and research. Universities developed in India from Buddhist monasteries in the First Millennium A.D.— Nalanda is the best know example—, and in Europe from Christian monasteries several hundred years later. In my recent essay “Science and Vinaya” I point to parallels between the traditional Buddhist monastic community and the modern scientific community. Although I attribute the commonalities there to similarity in function, it may be that the roots of modern scientific discipline trace all the way back to the Buddhist Vinaya historically.

    This is all cool stuff, but still speculative

  • From Thought to Destiny: Thought

    Uposatha Teaching: New Moon Day, August 10, 2010

    All that we are is the result of thought,
    Thought is its master, it is produced by thought.
    If one speaks or acts,
    With corrupted thought,
    Then pain follows,
    As the wheel follows the foot of the ox.

    All that we are is the result of thought,
    Thought is its master, it is produced by thought.
    If one speaks or acts,
    With pure thought,
    Then happiness follows,
    Like a shadow that never leaves.

    — Dhammapada, the Buddha, first two verses.

    Like most of us you probably have a lot of activity rattling and buzzing around between your ears, much of which is pretty useless, some of which delights and some of which gets you into trouble or keeps you endlessly confused, but some of which are the products of clarity, good will or creativity: “Hubba hubba.” “That jerk!” “Out of my way!” “It’s his own fault.” “Mmmm, chips.” “Aha!” “There there now, let me get you a paper towel.” “If I slide my sunglasses up my forehead I’ll look really cool!” All of these thoughts will seem to drive your behavior in one way and then in another. They also will seem to have to do with who you are, at least, you will seem to have a different mix of thoughts than most people you know. But how do you sort through this? How do you know what is a pure thought and what is a corrupted thought? And can you actually get rid of one and keep the other so happiness will follow instead of pain?

    The Buddha wondered about these things too:

    Bhikkhus, before my enlightenment, while I was still only an unenlightened Bodhisatta, it occurred to me, ‘Suppose that I divide my thoughts into two classes’. Then I set on one side thoughts of sensual desire, thoughts of ill will, and thoughts of cruelty, and I set on the other side thoughts of renunciation, thoughts of non-ill will and thoughts of non-cruelty. MN 19

    The first set he deemed wholesome or skillful (kusala) and the second unwholesome or unskillful (akusala). Most people will report that they in fact like some of the unwholesome thoughts, such as thoughts of revenge, and certainly they entertain many sensual desires with glee, and that they dislike some of the wholesome thoughts, like those of renunciation and not getting revenge. In fact, people must find the whole range of thoughts compelling at some level or else they would not spend so much time and energy on them. Nevertheless, when examined deeply, the Buddha noticed that what he was about to deem unwholesome had a set of properties missing in the wholesome. An unskillful thought

    … leads to my own affliction, to others’ affliction and to the affliction of both; it obstructs wisdom, causes difficulties, and leads away from Nibbana. MN 19

    This doen’t sound so great. He furthermore associated the unwholesome with three underlying unwholesome roots of Greed, Hatred and Delusion.

    Greed, hatred and delusion, friend, make one blind, unseeing and ignorant; they destroy wisdom, are bound up with distress, and do not lead to Nibbana. AN 3.71

    Greed (lobha) is the desire, longing, attachment or lust for sensual pleasures, for reputation or fame, for wealth, for power, for comfort, for security and so on. Greed is the cause of anxiety and restlessness, a feeling of unease that we call suffering. Initially this comes from not having what we desire. If we acquire what we desire it comes from knowing we will lose it, and from simply wanting more.

    There is no satisfying lusts, even by a shower of gold pieces; he who knows that lusts have a short taste and cause pain, he is wise; Even in heavenly pleasures he finds no satisfaction, the disciple who is fully awakened delights only in the destruction of all desires. Dhammapada, 186-7.

    If a man is tossed about by doubts, full of strong passions, and yearning only for what is delightful, his thirst will grow more and more, and he will indeed make his fetters strong. Dhammapada

    Hatred (dosa) is the aversion, dislike, dread or fear of pain, of discomfort, of enemies and so on. It includes thoughts of anger, revenge, envy or jealousy (which also involve greed), resentment, guilt and self-hatred, disdain, judgmental attitudes. Hatred immediately manifests as anxiety and restlessness, in short, suffering, because the world is not as we want it. Often it arises when our desires are thwarted or threatened.

    There is no fire like passion; there is no losing throw like hatred; there is no pain like this body; there is no happiness higher than rest. Dhammapada 202
    From greed comes grief, from greed comes fear; he who is free from greed knows neither grief nor fear. Dhammapada 216
    Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let him overcome all bondage! No sufferings befall the man who is not attached to name and form, and who calls nothing his own. Dhammapada 221

    “Greed” and “hatred” are perhaps too strong as words for many instances of lobha and dosa, but it is a rather standard translation, just as “suffering” is often a bit strong as a translation of “dukkha.”

    Delusion is found in the erroneous opinions or justifications, misperceptions, ignorance and denial. It is an often pervasive distortion of reality, manifesting particularly in the sense that certain things are unchanging, fixed or reliable, that there is fun, happiness and beauty where in fact there is decay and suffering. The greatest delusion is that there is an abiding self, a “me,” that in some way remains fixed in spite of all the changes that happen all around it, as the owner and controller of this body and mind. For the Buddha, Delusion is the most dangerous of the Three Unwholesome Roots.

    But there is a taint worse than all taints,–ignorance is the greatest taint. O mendicants! throw off that taint, and become taintless! Dhammapada 243

    Greed is a lesser fault and fades away slowly, hatred is a great fault and fades away quickly, delusion is a great fault and fades away slowly. AN3.68

    The root of delusion is also the basis of the other two roots, in fact the delusional sense of self is the source of it all. In the absence of the capacity to take them personally greed and hatred do not arise. But greed and hatred also distort reality as soon as they do arise.

    For instance, if we can simply abide in the way things really are, before these things arise, we we find we are embedded in a network of cause and effect, in which all things are simply dependencies on other things, magnificent in its complexity, delicate in its balance and in the ongoing flux rippling through the network. Now, if we desire something, then that becomes bigger than life, specifically its desirable features, as a caricature, become bigger than life, while the undesirable is no longer even noticed. The paths of causal relations that connect the object of desire to the (now bigger than life) self come alive as plans are considered for the acquisition of the object of desire. Whatever lies along those paths grows, specifically caricatures of their instrumental aspects grow, while all else shrinks and disappears. Even people become instruments and nothing more, or else obstructions, which then become immediate objects of irritation then hate, so caricatured as to appear demonic.

    We now reside in a sparse and anxious world fabricated from our own self-centered manipulations. This capacity of greed and hatred to distort reality is most easily observed in the case of hatred or anger, the great fault that fades away quickly. You all will certainly have had the experience of encountering someone for the first time as an impediment to some otherwise perfect plan, and thereby as a demon, only to encounter her at some later time under different circumstances and to your bewilderment as a rather nice person.

    We’ve been considering unwholesome thoughts. What about the wholesome? These are rooted in non-greed, non-hatred and non-delusion, that is, in renunciation, good-will and wisdom. It includes generosity, loving-kindness, compassion, patience, intelligence, mindfulness, concentration, equanimity and so on.

    One of our tasks as Buddhist practitioners moving from thought to destiny, is to cultivate skillful thoughts and to remove the unskillful thoughts. This task is like that of a gardener: one pulls out the unskillful weeds and waters the skillful flowers, shrubs, vegetables and herbs and thereby gives the desired shape to the garden. There are some standard mental techniques involved in Right Effort, but you will probably discover some of your own, from substituting another thought for the one you are entertaining, to deconstructing your present thought, from changing your perspective or conceptualization of the situation, to bringing the thought into the focus of attention until it dissipates of itself.

    One of the things you will notice in Buddhist practice is that the bar is always set very high, in fact to a height that only the Buddha and the occasional arahant can vault over. This should not dismay you, rather it means that for many years, maybe for many lives, you will always be able to go deeper into the practice. It is like reading an epic novel that you cannot put down, but never seems to come to an end. It is particularly important not to think of yourself as a “sinner” or a” bad person” because of your probably relentless unskillful thoughts. Buddhism is gentler than that. If you have been reading carefully you will have noticed that guilt is listed among the unskillful thoughts to eradicate. In fact, you are most likely not convinced that the Buddha’s classes, wholesome and unwholesome, are accurate; you probably still enjoy many kinds of lustful thoughts, for instance. That is OK too. But keep observing and studying. You don’t need to give up anything until you are convinced that it should be given up. But become an astute student of samsara, of the suffering that permeates life, even tainting what should be fun.

  • From Thought to Destiny: Introduction

    Quarter Moon Teaching

    “Sow a thought,
    and you reap an act;
    Sow an act,
    and you reap a habit;
    Sow a habit,
    and you reap a character;
    Sow a character,     and you reap a destiny.”
    – anonymous

    This quote may have a Buddhist origin. No one seems to know where it came from, but various Nineteenth Century Western writers referred to it without attribution and it seems now to be variously attributed to each of them, but some think it may be a translation from Chinese, so its resemblance to Buddhist thought might not be a coincidence.

    This poem concisely and precisely as pie captures the foundational set of Buddhist teachings on Karma. The word “karma” in Sanskrit, or “kamma” in Pali (which is roughly Sanskrit without r’s), means action, action of all kinds. For instance, you can recognize this root in the Noble Eightfold Path in which Pali “Samma Kammanta” is English “Right Action.”

    Traditionally the central concern of karma in India, before and after the Buddha, has been the relationship between our present actions and our future welfare or destiny. The Sanskrit word for action is Karma. For the brahmins since before the Buddha the ritual aspects of action were the determinants of destiny, and knowledge of the rituals gave brahmins their authority. The Buddha rejected this and stressed the volitional or intentional aspects of karma as the determinants of future welfare, character or destiny.

    So the Buddha often used “karma” in a technical sense as for something having two components: Intention and Action, that is, why you do something, and what it is you actually do. For the Buddha intention is critical: If no intention is present, for instance in the case of killing a bug accidentally, there is no karma at all:. It matters to the world, but not generally to the character, welfare or destiny of the actor. But if intention is present, then the nature of the intention will help shape character and destiny.

    There is a great assortment of intentions, but the Buddha recommended avoidance of those rooted in Greed, Hatred or Delusion, because actions that have these as intentional components (1) are likely to hurt others, (2) tend to make us greedy, hateful and deluded people and (3) bring us personal suffering, if not now then in the future. Through karma we not only make the world, we also make ourselves. The more you steal the more you become a thief, the more you kill the more you become a killer, the more you gossip the more you become a gossip. Actions become habits. These habit patterns form who we are, and even manifest themselves in characteristic physical attributes such as beauty or ulcers. In fact the Buddha often referred to a Law of Karmic Payback whereby we reap what we sow in some rather specific ways. Our character propels us forward into life circumstances, into new rebirths, into states of woe or bliss and eventually into nirvana, that is, the ending of Karma.

    So, the focus of Buddhist practice, that is, of the Noble Eightfold Path, is the choice of that first thought from which, as the poem tells us, everything else follows. Understanding what else follows is important in understanding the choice we make in the first thought. I herewith begin a possibly lengthy series of Uposatha Day teachings on the topic of this little poem. It will take us from Karma past Rebirth and on to Nirvana.

    This is a challenging topic that is often poorly understood. Aspects of this topic are also quite controversial in the West. Western minds, particularly the Law of Karmic Payback and Rebirth. This will require some careful consideration of a range of viewpoints.

    … to be continued

  • The Goal of Buddhist Practice

    Quarter Moon Teaching

    This particular Uposatha Day is also the Day of the Full Moon. This particular Day of the Full Moon is also Dhamma Day, commemorating the Buddha’s first discourse, in which he first expounded The Noble Eightfold Path. Dhamma Day also marks the beginning of Vassa, the Rains Retreat. During Vassa for three months monks and nuns traditionally do not wander but devote their time to practice and study, because in India and today most of the Theravada world, including Burma, it’s raining this time of year.. Vassa shows up in Zen tradition as the three month ango, which however has lost its relationship to the rainy season in India. I will spend Vassa here in Minnesota, do not intend to travel, but will schedule a more intensive meditation practice, try to be pristine in discipline and devote more time to Sutta study (thereby covering the Three Trainings that subdivide the Noble Eightfold Path, namely meditation, ethical conduct and wisdom. For the first few days of Vassa I am joined by a group of new temporary monks, who ordained the day before Dhamma Day, but only intending to remain monks for a week. I think Ashin Nayaka is trying to get back from Asia to spend the Vassa here.

    The topic of today’s posting has come out of the blue, inspired by an email exchange with a dedicated Buddhist student in Austin. Buddhist practice, the Noble Eightfold Path, is generally assumed to have a goal, and in fact that goal is defined in lofty terms as Nirvana, Full Awakening or Liberation from Samsaric Existence, or what I equally vaguely called the Perfection of the Human Character in earlier postings. And often it is also assumed that reaching that goal involves a series of attainments, much like reaching the top of a mountain involves reaching each of a series of landmarks or becoming a scholar involves receiving a series of academic degrees. In fact goals of all kinds easily enmesh us in the Triple Poison of Greed, Hatred and Delusion as our desires flair, our competitive instincts set in and soon we live in a world of Me, What I Want, How I’m Going to Get it, and What is In My Way. Such a precious goal as the Perfection of the Human Character, ironically but nevertheless, is no exception. This goal, if so enmeshed, represents the exact antithesis of itself! We have to be careful.

    We have to be careful, especially in our acquisitive goal-oriented instant-gratification Western culture. In the West many people want to be on the fast track to Enlightenment, as if there were someone there to receive it when it comes and as if that someone would like it when it was reached. I suspect that this has a precedent in Buddhism Tang China, which enjoyed much social mobility, and in which Buddhists began talking about Sudden Enlightenment as if one did not need endless lifetimes of practice as one seemed to in India, which generally fixed one’s social status at birth. The danger of grasping after Sudden Enlightenment seems to have been offset by a further cultural adaptation, the idea that Enlightenment though at hand nonetheless should not be sought after. A very well-known Zen koan from this period begins:

    Chao-chou aked Nan-chuan, “What is the Way?”
    Nan-chuan said, “Ordinary mind is the Way.”
    Chao-chou asked, “Then may I direct myself towards it or not?”
    Nan-chuan said, “To turn toward it is to turn away from it.”

    At the end of this discourse Chao-chou attains Enlightenment. (I’ve posted an essay on this koan which further explores the theme of this posting here. ) In short, we as Westerners have what is certainly an even greater imperative to avoid the seduction of enlightenment than our predecessors before us.

    Even our friend the potter has to be careful. (I am as surprised as anyone that I have been able to get such milage out of his analogy to the Buddhist practitioner.) Recall that the potter, like the Buddhist practitioner, is on a path toward an ultimate goal, but in his case he moves toward mastery of his specific craft. However, if you ask him in his studio, What is it you are doing? He will generally answer, I am making a pot. If he answered, I am making a master potter, his answer, though true, would be worrisome. You would almost expect him to spend more time buying the right smock or adjusting his baret in the mirror than actually working with clay. We do the same in Buddhism. But the focus is all wrong. It seems that the most direct path to the distant goal of becoming a master potter is simply to focus on the immediate goal of making a masterly pot, over and over. But wait, it is not quite that simple: Occasionally the potter should recognize that his skills fall short. For instance, while he understands clay in his hands, he might not be so successful in design or in selecting glaze colors. If he recognizes this, or perhaps a more adept teacher does, then he might undertake an art class in design or color. This is not on behalf of the next pot, but in improving the skill set of the potter for the long run. The goal of making a master potter is therefore not to be entirely neglected but mostly the ultimate goal attains itself as long as the potter focuses on the immediate goal of making each pot as if a master potter had made it.

    Even the dieter has to be careful. Suppose you find yourself among the ranks of the chubby, so you set out to lose weight. Most people frame the task in terms of the goal of achieving an optimal weight, say 180 lbs., suffer much suspense and frustration on the path to that goal interleaved with brief feelings of accomplishment, typically do not stand the stress of this and give up in an impulsive binge, and if they do manage to achieve the ultimate goal, immediately start to backslide. An alternative, however, is simply to take on the discipline of eating an appropriate daily diet for their height and body type, and getting an appropriate amount of daily exercise, an immediate goal reached day by day. That’s what the ranks of the non-chubby already do. The body weights of the chubby will begin to shift as their systems seek new equilibria, and they will gradually blend with the non-chubby, but when and how fast that happens need not be of any concern.

    Buddhism is easy. It is the vow, *This* is how I will live my life from now on. Then you just do it. If you slip up you just renew your vow and continue. And if you look at how other people live their lives you have plenty of incentive to put in the effort to enact this vow. The immediate uplift of the harmless beneficial life is the greatest incentive. Then as long as you remain on the Noble Eightfold Path we will certainly experience stages of attainment, but it is best let Nirvana take care of itself.

  • Beyond the Noble Eightfold Path

    Quarter Moon Teaching

    The Suttas recount the following conversation:

    As he was sitting there, Ven. Ananda said to the Blessed One, “This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie.”

    “Don’t say that, Ananda. Don’t say that. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life.

    The question I want to raise is, What happened to the Noble Eightfold Path in this dialog? Isn’t it the whole of the holy life? The Buddha goes on to answer this, but let’s enjoy the suspense for a while.

    The Noble Eightfold path is pragmatic, rational, integrated and rather self-contained. As you continue your studies you will find that most of the Buddhist teachings relate to one or more of the eight steps of the path: as you learn about Emptiness, about meditation techniques, about Karma and Rebirth, about the many mental factors, about the various systems of Precepts, and so on, things I have only begun to touch on in my brief overview. However, like everything, a path is embedded in a larger context: A physical path winds its way through a forest to the top of a hill, down the other side, over a bridge spanning a creek, past a hornet’s nest across a meadow and home. What keeps the traveler on the path when he or she might just as well go off swimming or rock climbing, or prospecting. And it is also so with the Noble Eightfold Path. It has to begin somewhere, what are the conditions for entering the path in the first place? What keeps one on the path? How does one find out that there is a path and where it leads?

    We have seen that our friend the potter also follows a path, one that leads to the perfection of the skills of a master potter. Is there also some part of being a potter that lies outside the potter’s studio? Yes, the potter is embedded in a context that has material, social and motivational aspects:

    The Potter’s Material context. The potter had to rent or purchase his studio and all of the equipment needed, and probably has required a source of income, possibly from selling the fruits of the potter’s skills. The potter had to make a commitment of money and time to the practice of the potter’s craft, to rearrange his or her life simply to make room for practicing his or her craft.

    The Potter’s Social context. The potter has placed him- or herself into a tradition that has been transmitted through history to the present moment. The potter has probably spend innumerable hours studying the work of others, at craft shows, in craft shops and finally in museums. The potter found some source of training, perhaps as an apprentice to a master potter, or through college courses. The potter probably spends a lot of time talking with, and being encouraged and inspired by, other similar-minded craftspeople, and may belong to a guild or professional society. And the potter may also have become a resource for others who aspire to learn the potter’s craft perhaps.

    The Potter’s Motivational context. Probably the potter has learned a lot about art, and has been inspired by certain artists and certain trends. The potter has, if he or she is not too poor, purchased a lot of ceramics, other crafts and general art to bring home and live with as a constant source of inspiration. Almost certainly the potter subscribes to some potterly publications and reads potterly books. And the potter’s stained clothes and fingers are a constant reminder to him- or herself and to others that, “Here Stands a Potter.” All of these help keep pottering at the center of the potter’s life, ensures the unquestioned devotion of the potter to his or her craft, even when there are so many other interesting this to do in life.

    Buddhism is not much different:

    The Buddhist Material Context. The practitioner may share a practice space with a community, or may have invested some time and effort in fixing one up at home. The practitioner probably helps sustain a temple. The dedicated practitioner will have made a deep commitment to making room in his or her life, often with a complete reorientation of priorities, abandonment of livelihood and so on.

    The Buddhist Social Context.The practitioner has begun training, through reading, through lectures, through individual instruction from an admirable teacher, maybe joined a Buddhist center or a monastery. In fact, the practioner has placed him- or herself into a tradition that has been preserved and transmitted from ancient times through the centuries to the present moment. He or she probably belongs to a Buddhist community and has frequent contact with like-minded people, and it is here he or she discovers admirable people, those who have most benefited from and best embody Buddhist practice. The practitioner with time will become a resource for others drawn to practice perhaps even a deep inspiration for those taking their first steps on the path.

    The Buddhist Motivational Context. Similarly, the Buddhist practitioner has had the opportunity of contact with admirable Buddhist practitioners, which has often been the point at which entering the path is first considered, has read the Life of the Buddha and gained a deeply respectful attitude toward the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, the admirable teacher, his admirable teachings and those admirable ones who transmit his teachings to new generations, thereby opening one’s mind to the three sources of influence. The practitioner has viewed Buddhist art, depictions of the Buddha and other aspects of what is admirable Buddhism. He or she will be inclined to undertake ritual symbolic activities such as chanting, bowing and offering incense, around an altar or a pagoda to reinforce a sense of devotion and respect for that which is admirable. All of these help keep Buddhist practice at the center of the practitioner’s life, even while there are so many other interesting things to do in life, to keep the practitioner on the path.

    The surprising thing about the material, social and motivational context in which one practices the Noble Eightfold Path is that it gives Buddhism its religiosity. It is organized, communal and devotional, very much like other religions. Many Westerners who are giving Buddhism the eye like to think that Buddhism is not a religion, but a philosophy or a way of life, but in any case something entirely rational. What gives?

    First of all, these elements are not uniquely religious, as we have seen in the case of the potter. Similarly a marriage has a material, social and motivational context, as does a hobby, probably anything one wants to be doing as a profession, scholarship, sports, both spectator and participatory. The relevant aspects of the respective contexts differ in form, the elements of the context manifest according to subject domain. For instance motivational aspects of marriage include a solemn ceremony, the wearing of rings as a constant reminder of one’s vows, a lot of daily ritual expressions of affection; motivational aspects of sports includes cheer leaders, pep talks, wearing certain symbols of the home team as well as attire of the appropriate color, ritual chanting, worship of prominent athletes, often even displaying their pictures, and so on. Naturally the broad domain of religion has certain characteristics that carry over to Buddhism as well.

    Second, the context of the Noble Eightfold Path not only provides conditions for embarking and remaining on the path, but the context by itself seems to support many of the aims of the Noble Eightfold Path by itself, albeit in a very unsophisticated way. In particular devotional practices, bodily expressions of respect, involvement in a mutually supporting community tend to give rise to skillful states of mind. They dethrone the ego and encourage humility, gratitude, compassion and generosity. I think developing these qualities is the common project of most religions, which might explain why they seem to have a common “religiosity.” The Buddhist project takes this to another level by adding the Noble Eightfold Path, a technology that capable of bringing these admirable human characteristics progressively toward perfection. Buddhism at the same time makes living breathing people, not gods, as objects of devotion and respect, those admirable people that best embody the Noble Eightfold Path in their lives. The Buddha finishes the quote above as follows:

    Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk [read practitioner] has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades, he can be expected to develop & pursue the noble eightfold path.

    On this Uposatha Day of the first quarter moon, take some time and reflect, what are the factors that inspire me to take the Buddhist Path or that sustain me on the Path.  Of course many of the people involved will have reached you through books, on-line lectures, etc. Then consider, how do I show my appreciation for this, and how do I open my heart and mind to better accept this influence.


  • Some Temporary ordinations.

    In Burma and in Thailand it is very common for a man, especially a young man, to ordain as a monk temporarily, often for just a few days. This constitutes a completely valid ordination, going through all the steps, including shaving the head and beginning to wear the robes. But in this case the intention is not to remain a monk for long. Almost all Burmese men are ordained temporarily at some point, and of course many permanently. I don’t think there is temporary ordination for women, since ordination for nuns is a different kind of thing (that is quickly changing in the West, and in Sri Lanka).

    Last weekend I participated in a temporary ordination, and next weekend I will participate in another. Next weekend will involve three novices (under 20 years old) and five full monks (bhikkhus), and apparently they will live here at the Vihara for about a week. Interestingly I will be the senior monk from July 26 on, and so I will be responsible for offering them some training, scheduling meditation, etc.  An ordination is an Sangha Action, that is it is actually offered by a group of ordained monks, a sangha, who thereby accept new members.  So when I say I participated, it was as an existing member of a sangha.

    I learned a couple of interesting new customs at last week’s ordination ceremony, which I would like to describe here. One is boat ordination, and the other is maidens offering the use of their hair.

    A complicated aspect of ordination is that it, as an Act of a Sangha, has to take place within a clearly marked territory, called a sima. This is necessary because all monks within the sima are asked to participate, and monks outside of the sima are presumed to belong to other sanghas. It is all very legalistic. A sima can be a given monastery, it can also be something like the City of Maplewood, with its established boundaries. An ordination requires at least five fully ordained monks, so we generally need to assemble the sangha from more than one monastery, at least in the USA. One way to easily define a sima is simply to have the ordination on a boat, and declare the boat the sima. The acting sangha then consists of any monks who are on the boat. That is what we did last weekend for the temporary ordination ceremony.

    We filled a power boat on one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes with monks, pushed away from shore and conducted the ordination in the boat. There is actually a part of an ordination ceremony  in which the ordainees and their teacher need to separate themselves from the existing sangha. This was accomplished by using a second boat, which is technically outside the sima of the first boat, but can be steered close enough for monks to hop from one boat to the other and back. Of course the whole scene was quite a curiosity for the other totally uninvolved people who had brought their boats to the lake to fish: a boat crowded with bald, burgundy-robed, chanting monks was more than they expected.

    The second custom was enacted after the ordination, on shore. A lot of Burmese came to make offerings to the old and new monks. This takes the form of an alms round, with a long line of people offering various things like toothpaste, snacks, soap, flowers, finally culminating in a lunch lunch offered at a picnic table. The custom I had never seen before was enacted at the beginning of the alms round.

    Three young women with long hair knelt, and leaning forward, their foreheads touching the grass, and their hair spread forward across the path the monks were about to walk on. The monks then began the alms round by walking on their hair!  I had to ask what this was about after the event.

    Buddhist practice often involves many forms of ritual symbolic offerings. This is as true from my experience in Japanese Zen as in Burmese Theravada. A prime example is a food offering made to a Buddha statue. Such enactments in Buddhism, though symbolic, have a quite practical purpose: they bring forth positive states of mind which are reinforced through the mindfulness of ritual. So, for instance, although there is no Buddha actually there as a recipient to receive a food offering, the enactment of the donation creates merit for the donor. This means it actually helps the donors character develop karmically in a positive direction. This is the logic of symbolic offerings.

    The maidens offering their hair in this way is apparently a reenactment of a Sir Walter Raleigh-like story of someone who did this with hair rather than with cloak, presumably for the Buddha so that he wouldn’t soil or dampen his feet. For the maidens it produces merit, as in a food offering. However in this case the offering is symbolic not because there are no recipients for the donation (we monks were the recipients), but rather because nothing was actually offered (our feet were in no real danger of becoming soiled for want of hair). Mostly the whole thing was fun.

  • Noble Eightfold Path: the Big Picture

    Uposatha Day Teaching

    During each of the last eight Uposatha Days we have taken up a successive step on the Noble Eightfold Path, the Buddha’s checklist for Buddhist practice, the path to the Perfection of the Human Character. Each step has been described concisely, in fact too briefly to do full justice. But I hope I have managed to convey three things: First is the reason behind each fold in the path. I’ve tried to make a clever concrete analogy with the training of a master craftsperson, a potter, wherever possible. Second is a handle on practice. The Noble Eightfold Path is very practical, and is almost entirely about action, action of body, speech and mind, which you can practice with and observe throughout the day, not just on the cushion. And third is an appreciation of the way all of the steps form an integrated whole, none working independently of the others. This appreciation should be an inducement to treat all of the steps as roughly equivalent in worth, not to neglect one in favor of another. This is the value of the checklist format of the Noble Eightfold Path; it is helpful to review the eight steps periodically and consider what you are doing to uphold each step. And continue to receive instruction and to practice diligently each of the steps.

    How the trainings in the path work together.

    The Perfection of the Human Character happens at three levels. Our actions form habit patterns, our habit patterns solidify into our character. Through Ethical Conduct we transform our actions directly, and through Cultivation of Mind we transform our habit patterns. However this will go only so far, because we generally continue to have very recalcitrant ways of cognizing and perceiving the world and our situation that will inhibit liberation at a very fundamental level. Through Wisdom we transform the most recalcitrant delusive views. For instance, and this is the most important instance, most of us have this very pronounced view that we are a separate self, and that is always an impediment to perfecting virtue. Most fundamentally this entails that we misperceive the world because of a consant bias in favor of this self. Nevertheless, through the practice of Ethical Conduct we can behave toward others as if that self were not there, by not stealing, by not harming, and so on. Through the practice of Cultivation of mind we can mitigate the affective mental factors that manifest that self and try to take control of our actions, that is, we can learn to put aside greed, anger and so on, that arise in the self’s quest for personal advantage. Now, all of this will tend to loosen the iron grip of the self, but not eliminate it. Through the practice of Wisdom we get at the most recalcitrant views, especially this view of the self.

    How the path deepens Right View.

    It is at this point we should reveal that the Eightfold path is not linear, and in fact among its many loops, Right Concentration brings us right back to Right View, from whence the path began. On the basis of a steady, pure and aware mind we gain Insight, a kind of Right View that is much more profound that the teachings we began with. To understand Insight, consider what the potter knows. The potter goes beyond mere conceptualizations of his domain and learns the materials and tools by feel or intuition, in ways that cannot readily be put into words. In fact, much of what the potter knows from experience is known not by the brain but by the fingers. By the same token, the greater part of Right View is a direct experience of the way things are, unmediated by conceptual thought. When we got into the path we found ourselves actually working with the material of life, just as the potter works with his or her materials and tools. Very prominent in the Buddhist path is the mind itself, which is the primary material we work with. This is made possible through the cumulative contributions of all of the folds of the Noble Eightfold Path that together support a mind that is utterly steady, pure, beyond manipulation and the filter of self-concern, beyond excuses , preconceptions or even opinions, simply open and aware.

    What is it that the Buddhist practitioner becomes aware of? In short, the three marks of existence: impermanence, suffering and selflessness. We become aware of a world in constant flux, where changes propagate continuously through an ever evolving network of contingencies, in which we seek in vain for any semblance of solid ground, any constant we can grab onto. But as soon as we grasp something we think we can rely on it begins to melt away in the constant flux of existence. It is painful when our hopes and plans cannot keep pace with reality. What we seek more than anything in this flowing network of contingencies is a self, a constant reference point, a lasting identity, and trying to hold on to this becomes the most painful thing of all. No wonder we had always felt so insecure and anxious. The only way out is for our minds to become as open and as fluid as the world.

    Where the Path Leads.

    I’ve described the path as leading (in spite of its loops) to the perfection of human character. It has been described in alternative ways, but these are equivalent. It has been described as the path that leads to the end of karma (and thereby of the cycle of rebirths), to the realization of emptiness and to the end of suffering. These descriptions are respectively from the behavioral, cognitive and emotive perspectives associated with the trainings in Ethical Conduct, Wisdom and Cultivation of Mind. The difference between these perspectives sometimes raises the question of whether we practice for ourselves or for others. The answer is that we always practice in spite of ourselves, the practice always mitigates the influence of the delusion of a separate self. This has consequences at the same time for the harm one does to oneself and the harm one does to others. If I advise you to drive carefully, to make sure your windshield is not frosty, to make sure your breaks are in order, to avoid cell-phone or intoxicant use while driving, and so on, I can justify this in either of two ways, by adding either, “… or else you might injure yourself,” or, “… or else you might injure someone.” The fact is, a car not in control is a dangerous thing, and a mind not in control is a dangerous thing (in road rage we find both). This is why we follow the Noble Eightfold Path.