Bhikkhu Cintita

Author: bhikkhu cintita

  • From Thought to Destiny: Habits in Context

    Uposatha Teaching: FullMoon, September 23, 2010.

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

    “Sow an act and reap a habit.” We read last week about this very comprehensible model of skill acquisition, that forms the basis of most Buddhist practice. Through repeated acts we develop habits; those habits reveal to a high degree what we have become. Before turning to the other aspects of human character I want to expand the scope of the discussion a bit by asking two questions. First, given that from repeated acts habits will arise, is there anything else that habits arise from? Second, given that our habits are a major influence in our external behaviors, what are the influences of our habits in the internal, emotive and cognitive, realms? Answering these questions will reveal additional points of Buddhist practice.

    Whence: Non-karmic Roots of Habit Patterns

    Habit patterns seem to arise rather spontaneously, especially in early life. Some children are easy to anger, others are very possessive, jealous, or generous. Some are sociable, some are shy. We might suppose these arose from repeated acts, but then what caused the acts to repeat in the first place, that is, before the habit had established itself? The easy answer has been that habit patterns carry over that were learned or transmitted in a previous life. Rebirth provides this elegant answer, if that mechanism itself is accepted. However, a variety of other factors explain the spontaneous arising of many of these habit patterns, entirely independently of rebirth. Some of these factors have become known only in modern times.

    Genetics. We know certain genetic encodings are responsible for the arising of certain behavioral patterns or at least play an enabling role. Most fundamental are those patterns that we all share as a species (human), or as a zoological order (mammal). For instance affection, anger, friendship, even revenge are habit patterns that have been passed on generation to generations not just in humans but in mammals for millions of years. From a Buddhist perspective these nevertheless have unskillful elements. Other behavioral patterns that run in families may be genetically determined. Certain people are even genetically predisposed to certain habit patterns, such as alcoholism, such that they go from act to habit particularly fast.

    The general lesson here for practice is that challenges run very deep; Buddhist practice requires corresponding effort. Sometimes I hear someone teach that Buddhism is about being natural. It is not. It is about looking from outside the box and seeing how what comes naturally gets us into trouble, no matter how deep-seated, and about developing new skills accordingly. Its tools, however, are natural to the human psyche, and its approach gentle, for the most part.

    Role Models. We readily acquire behavioral patterns from those we respect: a bigger brother, a mother, a golf pro, a teacher. An easy explanation is that we simply copy their actions, and pretty soon we’ve given rise to their habits. Recent research however indicates that neural mechanisms actually short-cut this process; that simply by observing another person, say, serving in a tennis game, activates many of the same brain patterns that would arise if the subject were serving the ball herself. In fact roll models play an important part in Buddhism:

    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. When a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades, he can be expected to develop and pursue the noble eightfold path. SN 45.2

    This is a strong endorsement. The monastic Sangha in Buddhism even institutionalizes this as one of its functions. Many Burmese Buddhists seek out the company of monastics at every opportunity, generally reserving free Uposatha Days for that purpose.

    The general lesson here for practice is to seek out the inspiration of strong practitioners and regard them with respect (Some of the ritual aspects of Buddhism in fact function to encourage feelings of respect). You will, sponge-like, begin to slurp up their skillful habits.

    Social Circumstances. Your family relations, social status, livelihood, the values and behaviors of the culture in which you are embedded, and prevailing governmental and (in modern times) corporate behaviors all influence one’s habit patterns because we begin to respond to manifestations of these circumstances in predictable ways. For instance, others’ greed or anger raises your level of fear. Someone steals from you and you seek revenge. You are oppressed by those more powerful and you begin to lie and steal to mitigate the harm to yourself. Your livelihood demands of you that you kill or cheat. You join a street gang for protection, then seeking status in that street gang, emulate its characteristic behaviors, and maybe even discover a role model in the gang’s leader. Hectic, complex, demanding circumstances obstruct stillness of mind. Favorable circumstances are conducive to the practice of developing skillful habit patterns, unfavorable circumstances can overwhelm any attempts to shape your habit patterns through Buddhist practice, even with a strong meditation practice.

    The lesson here for practice is to seek favorable circumstances. Many circumstances simply overwhelm the practice of even the most zealous. Choice of livelihood is highlighted in the Noble Eightfold Path, but many other factors are often subject to control, even if temporarily. Meditation retreats are routinely organized to remove participants from unfavorable social pressures, as is the monastic lifestyle. A Buddhist temple or center or community generally forms a safe environment that stands apart from prevailing social conditions. And most people have many choices of where to spend their time or who to hang with.

    The Media. Digital computer and communication technology is a particularly vexing concern for those who would like to develop skillful habit patterns. In the use of a large part of the media you are basically turning your mind over to corporate manipulation, exposing it to the relentless stimulation of greed for consumer products and services, through the incessant appeal to the addictive qualities of violence, lust and fear and to the hate mongering of politicians and pundits. You are presented with false role models often promoting, not humility or renunciation or compassion, but strong individualism and remarkable consumer needs.

    The imperative here is to practice moderation in the use of the commercial media. The media can of course be used wisely and productively, but is enormously seductive. I am pretty certain that it is almost impossible to make significant progress in Buddhist practice if your viewing and interacting habits are those of typical Americans, even if you have a strong meditation practice. Making the media, in its common manifestations, an integral part of your life is like propelling yourself into the most unconducive social conditions for Buddhist practice.

    Whither: Experiencing Habit Patterns.

    An unskillful thought, for instance a craving or a fright, is painful to some degree. An unskillful habit pattern is the habitual arising, acting out and further reinforcement of the tendency toward that thought. So whereas the single thought might be compared to experiencing a small scratch or a pin prick, the habit is experiencing the ache of an open wound that is continually being scratched and pricked. With changes, even day-to-day changes, one might cease to manifest one habit and take up another for awhile. But where a particular habit pattern has taken on a dominant role in one’s karmic life, the overwhelming emotional tenor of that life will be that For skillful karmic patterns, such as generosity, the opposite will pertain: Each skillful thought is experienced as uplifting and healing. The cumulative experience brings an abiding joy. into one’s life. This abiding emotional tenor is a ripening of one’s karma visible in the here and now.

    Ripening (vipaka) is an important aspect of karma that will be discussed in detail in terms of Character and Destiny in the course of this series. This is our first mention of it. The way it is traditionally described is that every karmic act is like a seed that grows into a fruit waiting to ripen at some time in the future. Of course our actions of body or speech produce consequences in the external world, but the fruit remains as an internal possession of the actor, even carried, it is said, into future lives. The ripening is experienced by the actor. If the original seed was skillful, the ripening will be felicitous. If the original seed was unskillful the ripening will be unfortunate. Often this is called the Law of Karma. The phrase, “I believe in karma,” is often taken to mean not, “I believe in volitional action,” but rather, “I believe that my volitional actions eventually ripen in my own experience.” In short, Ripening is a kind of payback mechanism. It is often regarded in modern commentary as somewhat mysterious and metaphysical, but need not be.

    Mind overcome with unskillful qualities borne of greed aversion delusion his mind consumed, dwells in suffering right in the here and now, feeling threatened, turbulent, feverish, and at the breadup of the body, after death, can expect a bad destination. AN 3.69

    The abiding emotional tenor of one’s life as a result of one’s habitual karmic acts is probably the primary example of the ripening of karma observable in the here and now. It is not at all mysterious or metaphysical. I already explained how it works above and every step of the process is subject to introspection. In this case the individual acts do not have individuated ripenings, rather there is a cumulative and abiding ripening. Think of the individual act as like a dust particle that might jump out of a cushion when you sit down in a chair. It will not noticeably make a room dusty, but a roomful of people sitting down and getting up over a period of time will produce an ever thickening layer of dust on the wooden floor, on the window sills, on shelves, on books, and on bald heads of old men who don’t move a lot. The ripening of our habitual karma is like this. In fact, not only one’s emotional tenor, but one’s whole perception of reality may be altered. For instance, the world and the people in it will actually seem kind or harsh depending on one’s karmic habits.

    A man who is greedy for fields, land, gold, cattle, horses, servants, employees, women, relatives, many sensual pleasures, is overpowered with weakness and trampled by trouble, for pain invades him as water, a cracked boat. Snp 4.1 Kama Sutta

    When combined with the idea of rebirth it often appears in the Suttas that karma ripens at the time of rebirth as one is reborn in Heaven, in Hell, as an Animal, as an Angry Titan, as a Hungry Ghost or as another Human. Modern commentary often points out that these Six Realms have clear psychological counterparts observable in the here and now. And in fact they provide a very effective way to describe the abiding emotional tenor of one’s present life or even of a day or an afternoon in one’s present life. It is interesting that English uses some of the same metaphors to describe the emotional tenor one experiences, for instance, “I am in Hell,” “I am in Heaven,” and “He is an animal.” The karmic sources of these states are roughly as follows:

    • Animal Realm. This is the somewhat frantic, restless state that arises in response to the habit of turning all impulses (lust, greed, anger, jealousy, vengefulness, torpor, etc.) into action without reflection. A person of a passionate disposition lives in a world which pulls him this way, then that way, keeping him forever restless, unable to get his coordinates.

      Hungry Ghost Realm (click to enlarge)
    • Hungry Ghost Realm. This is a state of constant lack or dissatisfaction that arises from the habit of trying to satisfy greed. A person of greedy disposition likewise lives in a miserly world, one that withholds what she seeks, who can never get enough.
    • Angry Titan Realm. This is the state of fury directed at all obstacles that arises from the habit of acting out of anger. A person of angry disposition, who thinks angry thoughts, who acts repeatedly on his anger, lives in a world that is increasingly threatening, that is frightening and uncooperative or specifically conspires against him, and encourages even more anger in response.
    • Hell Realm. This is the extreme, overwhelming state in which greedy or hateful impulses have completely lost any bounds. A person who has committed egregious acts of violence to others lives in hell, where everything seems painful.

      Hell Realm (click to enlarge)
    • Deva Realm. This is the comfortable, often complacent state relatively untouched by greed or hatred, in which one’s needs are satisfied. A person of a kindly disposition lives in a world of ease, where no personal needs are unmet, where others, even if not acting in an ideal manner, are forgivable.
    • Human Realm. This is a mixed state in which greed or hatred are present, but in which deliberate mastery of one’s emotional states are also possibilities. This is the best realm for Buddhist practice.

    Not only do habit patterns shape the emotional tenor of one’s life, but they actually begin to impact health and physical appearance. We are all aware that habitually angry people (titans) are subject to heart disease and other stess-related illnesses. They also take on the characteristic appearance of angry people; they enter a cocktail party and people immediately begin shuffling over to the other side of the room. For denizens of Hell this is all the more so. Animals and hungry ghosts take on the effects of overconsumption. These habit patterns begin also to shape the successes and failures in one’s life; people would rather do business with a deva than an animal, a human is more likely to have her act together than a hungry ghost. These habit patterns even to a large extent determine who your friends are; people attract others like themselves, or sometimes repel those unlike themselves.

    The general lesson here for practice is that:

    Your habitual actions in a very real sense make the world in which you live.

    Your life will be painful or joyful accordingly. And there is a kind of justice in this, since your world will probably correspond roughly to the amount of external benefit or harm you have brought into others’ worlds through the skillful or unskillful acts that gave rise to the habits that then gave rise to the world in which you live. Understanding karma underscores the urgency of Buddhist practice. You’d better get it together! Secondarily, when you begin to recognize the nature of the world they probably live in, your are more likely to experience compassion for those that have done you harm.

  • From Thought to Destiny: Habits as Karma

    Uposatha Teaching: New Moon, September 16, 2010.

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

    “Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking & pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness. If a monk keeps pursuing thinking imbued with renunciation, abandoning thinking imbued with sensuality, his mind is bent by that thinking imbued with renunciation. If a monk keeps pursuing thinking imbued with non-ill will, abandoning thinking imbued with ill will, his mind is bent by that thinking imbued with non-ill will. If a monk keeps pursuing thinking imbued with harmlessness, abandoning thinking imbued with harmfulness, his mind is bent by that thinking imbued with harmlessness.” Dvedhavitakka Sutta, MN 19

    We sow thoughts and reap acts. The verse after which this series of postings is named tells us we sow acts to reap habits. Actually habits are generally shaped as a cumulative consequence of many actions. This section begins to look at habits. In the following weeks we will turn to the character and then the destiny mentioned in the verse, all of which flow from our actions.

    The Products of Karma. Karma, in its base meaning, is volitional action. Actually since actions can be of mind as well as of speech and of body, karma can be volition (thought) with or without physical act. We have seen that thoughts are classified as skillful or unskillful (or neutral), and that unskillful thoughts tend (1) to be experienced as painful, (2) to distort my perceptions and (3) to lead to harmful consequences when I enact them. For instance, if I get angry at you, this is immediately stressful for me mentally (dukkha). Under this mental condition you are likely to appear before me as either a jerk or a schmuck, rather than the good supportive friend that would otherwise stand there. This compound condition might induce me to perform an unskillful action, for instance, to break the pencil you are using in two and to throw the two pieces onto the floor (That’ll show you!) or to issue an abusive slur (That’s telling you!), which is harmful to you and will also lead to further regret for me especially after you have remorphed back into your normal more amicable form.

    With regard to (3), we have seen that our actions lead to beneficial, or harmful results according to the triple criteria (a) of precepts, (b) of seeking benefit and (c) of encouraging or discouraging purity of mind. In the scenario just painted I would violate the precept of not taking what is not given or of right speech. I would also fail to use kindness and wisdom in order to seek benefit for all. Finally I would fail to purify the mind, instead probably reinforcing a bad habit, widening a fault in my character, maybe influencing my rebirth and chances for reaching Nirvana, and possibly leading later to an additional unfavorable experiential result. It will be helpful to clearly distinguish beneficial or harmful results into two groups, which I will call External and Internal results or consequences. Seeking benefit (b) focuses on external results, that is, harm or benefit in the world, Purity of mind focuses on internal results, that is, the consequences of an action for the actor’s personal development, including how it helps shape habits, character and destiny, and the actor’s future experiences. Notice that external results also impinge on the actor, but through a different channel. In a huff of anger I might feed what you have been fixing for lunch to the dog (a demonstrative stance to make some point the nature of which I will probably soon forget). This has an external result that both you or I go hungry, and an internal result that I reinforce my tendency toward anger, that I experience later remorse, etc.

    The word “karma,” and now “karmic,” has extended meanings. Many words extend meanings by association; this is called metonymy. For instance, the word “cup” in its root sense is used to describe a kind of container for (generally hot) liquids. However, it also is used to describe an amount of liquid, an amount typically contained in a cup. It is also used to describe other cup-shaped things, that may contain other sometimes non-liquid things, like a breast, for example. It is even used as a verb to describe a position in which hands together form something like the shape of a cup. The word “karma” is similarly used to describe things that carry forward into the future as a result of kamma in its root sense. These are exactly the internal results, that is, they impinge on the personality, the acting agent. The idea is that every action leaves a residue, that you are the heir of your actions. So “karma” is used to describe later habit patterns that develop under the influence of our volitional acts, any other factors that carry over to effect our character, then ultimately our destiny, insofar as this is shaped by our actions, including our capacity for realizing Nirvana.Internal results are also called Karmic results. The rest of this series of postings is almost exclusively about understanding karmic results.

    Now, there is a simple method that if followed scrupulously will result in the most virtuous habit patterns, a sparklingly clear character, and a destiny headed directly toward Nirvana. This is simply the practice of only acting on the basis of skillful thoughts, never on the basis of unskillful thoughts, the continuous practice of virtue in every situation, the practice of making your every action a selfless gift. “Simply” here means simple to describe, unfortunately not simple to live up to. A lot gets in the way, including our responses to external conditions, our own delusive perception, our laziness, our lack of faith in the efficacy of such a way of being in the world. Instead we do the best we can. The precepts and the ability externally track harm and benefit can help keep us pointed in the right direction, and so can the evolution of our karma in all of the extended senses. So understanding how our actions influence our personal development, our habits, our character and our destiny, also help us in choosing our actions. Our choice of actions are our practice, and the study of karma it its various senses is to develop an understanding of the Buddhist model of human development, which is necessary for fully understanding the Noble Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths. We use the words Merit and Demerit or Meritorious and Demeritorious to quantify the karmic influence of our actions.

    Habits as Karma.

    The bread and butter products of our karmic acts are the development of our (karmic) habit patterns, and this is the topic of today’s episode. Here Buddhism assumes a very commonsense model of behavioral learning: If you do something over and over, you get in the habit of doing that thing, that is, you are even more likely to do it over and over in the future; you will be better at it, it will be more natural. An analogy is the rut that a cart wheel makes in a road. With time a rut develops through repeated trips of the cart and that enforces more and more the habitual path of the wheel. Almost all of Buddhist practice works on this principle.

    For instance, each time I steal something, I am reinforcing my tendency to steal, and as I reinforce that tendency I am increasingly likely to steal in the future. I can turn myself rather quickly into an habitual thief. Similarly, each time I give something away selflessly I am reinforcing my tendency toward generosity. Each time I get on a bike without falling over I am moving myself more and more toward being like Lance Armstrong. Each time I act like a buddha I become more like a buddha. Each time I drink alcohol I move myself in the direction of alcoholism. All things being equal, the action creates or reinforces the habit and the habit in turn disposes one toward the action. On the other hand, if I fail to reinforce a habit the associated impulse will slowly fade, like atrophying muscles. For instance, if I have an angry disposition, by avoiding acting out of anger I will gradually come to be a less angry person and will eventually no longer even recognize that as an aspect of my character. Simple. If I as a matter of practice stop channel surfing my habit of channel surfing will begin to recede. If I stop gossiping I will later have less of an impulse to gossip. To develop skillful habits we choose skillful actions and avoid unskillful actions. Our skillful habits will then incline us toward skillful actions, they will come more naturally with less effort. Practice virtue and we become more virtuous, practice stillness and we become by nature still.

    Developing Skillful and Losing Unskillful Habits. The task of losing an unskillful habit is exemplified by an alcoholic on the path of abandoning that habit. He might join Alcoholics Anonymous as a source of advice and support. Buddhism is Samsara Anonymous, and in fact alcoholism is just one of the more vexing of the many thousands of samsaric attachments, so the program is actually similar to that of Alcoholics Anonymous. We begin by recognizing the faults in our habit patterns, generalizing from a keen awareness of the faults in our actions and in our motivations. Repentance is the important factor, which in Buddhism is to fully acknowledge our unskillful acts. This is by no means in order to develop a sense of guilt, which would be an unskillful thought, but rather with the same purpose of someone trying to improve his putt: He needs to acknowledge when the ball has gone into the hole and when it has not; dishonesty or denial only cheats himself.

    Each unskillful act arises out of conditions. Interrupt any of those conditions and the act will not arise. Most importantly, should you sow an unskillful thought, you do not actually have to reap an unskillful act; if anger arises, resist the impulse to act out the anger long enough for it to fall again; if greed arises, resist the impulse to act out the greed long enough for it to fall again. Following precepts can itself become a habit pattern that furnishes this resistance to unskillful impulses; basically your behavior follows a clear script regardless of what volitional thoughts might arise. Secondarily, if an unskillful thought arises, you can transform that thought into something skillful by reconsidering the preceding thought. Thoughts of hatred and revenge, for instance, can be transformed into compassion by implicating pain and suffering in the motives of the one who made you mad. Working directly with thoughts establishes new thought habit patters; recall that the volitional thoughts themselves are karma.

    You can instead learn to sow skillful thoughts directly, which will tend to displace the unskillful. For instance, you can use metta meditation to establish thought patterns pointed toward loving-kindness for all beings, even those we would otherwise identify as enemies. Stillness and mindfulness are skillful thought patterns that you can develop through meditation. Precepts also have the tendency to encourage skillful thought patterns. There is a tendency for the mind to attune itself to the body (or to speech) just as there is a tendency for the body to attune itself to the mind. So, for instance, you might scrupulously follow the precept not to kill any sentient being initially with no motivation other than to follow the precepts. After a while, pure motives of loving-kindness will begin to fill themselves in as you continue to follow this precept, displacing any inner grumbling you might have about the “stupid precepts.” Following rites and rituals will tend similarly to clear away any unskillful thoughts that you might have since such thoughts are not attuned to what the body is doing. Rites and rituals like food offerings to the Buddha might have no external benefit, yet as enactments tend to be filled in by corresponding skillful volition, and therefore bring internal benefit.

    Our external conditions tend to exert a strong influence on our behavior. Therefore changing those conditions can change the habit patterns we develop or lose. If we are alcoholics or smokers trying to clean up our act it is best not to frequent bars and night clubs or visit drinking or smoking friends. Right Livelihood is the avoidance of workplace conditions that obligate us to engage in unskillful behaviors, like slaughtering animals. Avoidance of angry people and stressful conditions will discourage the arising of anger and thereby the acting out of anger and the development of angry habit patterns. Many conditions of modern society are poorly conducive to skillful thought, action or habit. Employment is largely a matter of what has been called wage slavery in which the employee has little freedom to make his own decisions, works largely for the benefit and under the absolute authority of others, and therefore suffers a constant sense of resentment, spilling over into anger. Red tape and red lights make it difficult to get things done, cars, insurance, traffic tickets, long commutes are ways of life that cause much frustration. In general life has a kind of stuckedness we call Samsara, such that whenever we demand something of the world, the world demands more back from us, which escalates our demands. We desire a shiny new wide-screen TV, we are obligated to work more or go into debt. We worry about its durability and the day it will lose its shine, so we buy an extended warranty and worry about the possibility of theft. So we buy a home security system, go further into debt, and fear all the more for our financial security, and become infuriated should we lose our jobs. Tension leads to craving for distractions and we begin to overeat or drink ourselves silly. Because of this behavior our spouse eventually leaves us. It goes on and on, little of which is conducive to the cultivation of skillful personal qualities. This is the infamous Rat Race. Monastic practice and any progress we make in renunciation of the various points of stuckedness in samsaric existence are signficant contributors to developing skillful thoughts, actions and habits.

    In summary, karma is the key to the entire path and should be understood and practiced , as the Buddha says, “seeing danger in the slightest fault.” We might extend this to seeing benefit in the slightest virtue. Habit is the most immediate and observable results of our karmic actions. I will post one more essay on Habit, next uposatha day, in order to consider two questions important for the overall understanding of karma. First, Can habit patterns have non-karmic roots? This is relevant to our understanding or interpretation of rebirth. Second, How do we experience our habit patterns? This is important to our understanding of the Law of Karma, aka, the Fruition of Karma, the often observed retributive aspect of karma. Both of these themes will be fully developed when we discuss Destiny.

  • From Thought to Destiny: To Purify the Mind

    Uposatha Teaching: New Moon, September 8, 2010.

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

    Well-makers lead the water (wherever they like);
    Fletchers bend the arrow;
    carpenters bend a log of wood;
    Good people fashion themselves.     Dhammapada 145

    To review: Buddhism has not one system of ethics, … not two, but … Three! These are Avoiding Evil (or following precepts), Doing Good (or seeking benefit for self and others) and Purifying the Mind (developing personal virtue). The most interesting dichotomy is between Doing Good and Purifying the Mind, since actually Avoiding Evil just serves to support the aims of the other two. Doing Good focuses on consequences observable in the world. It is more objective. Purifying the Mind focuses on consequences for our personal habit patterns, for character traits, for our life situation and for our destiny. It is more subjective. While we make the world through our actions, we also make ourselves. While we perform virtuous actions, we become virtuous people. While we perform beastly actions we become cads. Purifying the Mind is the most uniquely Buddhist system of ethics as well as the most thoroughly elaborated within Buddhist teachings.

    Comparing Doing Good and Purifying the Mind. As expected, making a habit of Doing Good is a good way to Purify the Mind, and Purifying the Mind is a good way to ensure a future of habitually Doing Good. Both are practiced through our choice of actions, but they are not always practiced together. Some actions Do Good but fail to Purify the Mind. Others Purify the Mind but fail to do Good. This is similar to what the craftsman experiences. Throwing pots is a good way to become a master potter and becoming a master potter is a good way to ensure a future of Good pot throwing. However, there are some ways the potter can throw Good pots without Purifying his skills, and there are ways he can Purify his skills without throwing Good pots. For instance, he may choose a good technique for shaping cup handles that inhibits his ability to learn an excellent but more difficult technique involving moving his fingers in the opposite direction. A similar example is the tennis player who goes through a period of skill improvement as they blow games right and left in the process of learning a proper backhand. Or the potter may study painting, not even touching clay, to learn something that will carry over into how he throws future pots.

    Purifying the Mind deals with encouraging skillful thoughts and discouraging unskillful thoughts, that is acting with motivations grounded in renunciation, kindness and wisdom, with motivations that are not psychologically stressful and that tend to lead to external Good. In this regard there are nevertheless many practices which work with thoughts in isolation from actions of body or speech, that is, actions which would have objective consequences. For instance, sitting in meditation, letting go of greed and anger, developing mindful awareness in everyday tasks and so on are very important in developing Virtue, but are not themselves virtuous. Making a ritual food offering to the Buddha likewise is not Doing Good in an objective way (the Buddha does not actually get to partake in a meal) but is excellent for developing the positive mental states of the virtuous individual.

    Actions with harmful consequences in the world but useful in developing virtue seem to be rare. However, one example may be the practice common in Thailand and Burma of paying someone to release a bird or fish or other animal that he has captured live for the purpose of providing this service to you or other kindly people like you. Now, making such a payment supports an industry that would simply not exist without customers, sparing future birds and fish the trauma of capture in the first place, for ever. However, making such a payment benefits the currently captive bird or fish. Although it is questionable that it is a real act of Doing Good, it nevertheless mimics Doing Good maybe even in a more real sense than feeding the Buddha mimics Doing Good. It may have an overall positive consequence in the project of Purifying the Mind, but this may depend on the ability of the Doer to trace out the consequences of paying for the release of the bird or fish, which might blissfully overlook the prevailing market mechanisms of the Animal Release Industry.

    Failure to track consequence.

    Likewise there are certainly some actions that are not harmful in the objective world, but nonetheless Depurify the mind. Just as an enactment of generosity to the Buddha can Purify the Mind, the enactment or even witness of killing may reduce the Purity of the Mind, for instance, playing violent video games and watching violent television programs may train the mind to evoke thoughts of anger and fear. There may be instances of killing that can be justified in terms of sacrificing one life to save two or more, as in the baseball bat scenario above. However killing under any conditions is generally assumed to be harmful to the Purity of the Mind. The wielder of the baseball bat would have not only to satisfy himself that the greater benefit is thereby achieved, but also that the toll on his own virtue is not too great a price. Nowhere does the Buddha ever condone killing of another human being, even expressly in self-defense. Studies have shown that executioners in America, the people who conclude death penalty cases, whether or not they believe that the death penalty Does Good, have enormous psychological afflictions by the end of their careers.

    Mutual Support of Avoiding Evil, Doing Good and Purifying the Mind. Both Avoiding Evil and Doing Good almost all the time contribute to the Purity of the Mind, even if I initially practice these with mixed motives, such as responding to peer or authority pressure, or just a sense of obligation to practice. For instance, there is a precept not to kill living beings. Maybe I do not initially for the life of me understand why the life of an ugly tweedle bug matters one bit, but a tweedle bug is a living being, and I want to be a good Buddhist, so I don’t kill tweedle bugs. After a few months I discover something that was not there before: a warm heart towards tweedle bugs—they become my little friends—and not just toward tweedle bugs but toward other beings as well, even certain people that I had once put into the same category with tweedle bugs. My mind has become purer. Try it! Put away the tweedle swatter and the Tweedle-Enhanced® Raid and see if you don’t soften right up.

    Purifying the Mind requires a constant profound awareness of your thoughts, along with great care to avoid acting out of greed, hatred or delusion. This same awareness provides a fortuitous reality check on whether you are really Doing Good. Recall that greed, hatred and delusion tend to produce harmful actions and renunciation, kindness and wisdom tend to produce beneficial actions. Notice, for instance, that whenever you jot off an email note out of anger you always regret it later? A lustful or an angry mind has a way of distorting reality such that you it sure seems crystal clear that you are Doing Good while in fact you suffer from blind spots that become apparent only upon chilling out. As a rule of thumb, just in terms of Doing Good, do not ever do anything when greed, hatred or delusion is present. The results are almost always harmful, and Depurify the Mind in any case.

    How to Purify the Mind. In short, through the Noble Eightfold Path, the path to the Perfection of Character. The practice of Avoiding Evil and Doing Good constitutes the Ethical Conduct part of the path, that is, the factors of Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood. Purifying the Mind per se from the perspective adopted here is Right Effort, and this works together with the other two factors in the Mental Cultivation Group, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration, which also give the mental support for the Ethical Conduct practices, and help strengthen Right Resolve, the understanding of the importance of Renunciation, and Kindness in all aspects of life. The most recalcitrant impurities of mind are only resolved through deep insight into the nature of reality; Right View removes the last supports for Greed, Hate and Delusion.

    Reaping What We Sow. This brings us back to the Farmer’s Path of sowing and reaping, you remember, the one that starts at Thought, runs through Act, Habit and Character, and ends at Destiny, each step of which shares a common name: Karma.

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

    In acting with skillful intentions we develop skillful habits and a strong character. We also bring subjective benefit to ourselves, included in a destiny that will propel us through felicitous rebirths, much opportunity through development of a character tune with these in mind, to Do Good, to See Clearly and to Cast Off Suffering, and ultimately reaching realization of the unconditioned, Nirvana. Some of its elements are a bit controversial among Westerners, but this is the model presented by the Buddha, and that we will consider during the rest of this series of Uposatha teachings. Its purpose is not to define our daily practice—that is the role of the Noble Eightfold Path—but to give us an idea of where it is taking us, to keep our sails full and our rudder set.

  • From Thought to Destiny: To Do Good

    Uposatha Teaching: First Quarter Moon, September 2, 2010.

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

    Bad deeds, and deeds hurtful to ourselves, are easy to do; what is beneficial and good, that is very difficult to do. Dhammapada 163

    We are considering the three systems of Buddhist ethics as advice for what actions we choose to perform. In last week’s episode we considered To Avoid Evil, which is To Follow Ethical Precepts. Next week we will consider To Purify the Mind, which is the most uniquely Buddhist approach to developing Virtue. This week we look at the most natural form of ethics, which arises naturally in humans as a result of our innate capacity for kindness, and that is, to seek the benefit of all and avoid harm to all.

    What is involved in Doing Good is not only to have a reserve of kindness and a willingness to sacrifice some personal benefit for others, but also to track as best as possible the consequences of one’s actions, whether completed, in progresses or under consideration. This entails the capacity to Do Good will vary considerably from person to person, particularly with regard to the last point. We live in a very complex world in which tracing consequences of action runs very deep, and ultimately, like the chess player who can only see a certain number of moves ahead, to Do Good we must all in the end follow our best hunch.

    Performing actions in the world is a huge responsibility. The depth of the consequences of our actions is captured in the Buddha’s exposition of causality, “because this arises that arises, because this ceases that ceases” as the pervasive operating principle in the world, but is most thoroughly expounded in the Mahayana philosophical tradition with the view that just as we depend on everything in the world (Joanna Macy writes, “The Amazon Rain Forest is a part of our lungs”), and everything in the world depends on us (we move our arm and the world moves). To see that this is true, consider the following:

    The actions you perform today will determine whether others live or die! This sounds implausible because we tend to think of the effects of our actions as extending only as far as we can track them, while they in fact extend forever. Suppose, for instance, you drive to the mall to buy a spiffy t-shirt, and as you enter the freeway a friendly car, cruising down the slow lane, slows down further to let you merge. However a less patient car behind that car decides it really wants to drive a bit faster and pulls into the middle lane, which then induces some further realignment for other cars further back. It is easy to see that the process of realignment will propagate, but even as the adjustments settle is likely eventually to influence the timing of entries onto and exits from the freeway further down the highway, entailing further realignments. In fact the realignments will propagate down the highway you are on, then onto roads and highways that intersect with this highway, then back onto the highway but in the opposite direction, and eventually deep into Canada, and deep into Mexico. Traffic flow will differ slightly over the map in the hours and days to come for your having made this trip to the mall. Now every day accidents happen on our highways and roads, many of them fatal. An accident generally arises due to faulty split-second decisions in the context of the particular immediate alignment of vehicles. Since your actions have propagated realignments throughout the road map, it follows that accidents, some fatal, will now happen that would not have happened if you had not driven to the mall, but also that accidents will not happen that would have happened.

    In meteorology they similarly talk about the Butterfly Effect, the influence the flight of a single butterfly will have on the occurrence or non-occurrence of storms and hurricanes in the decades and centuries to come. Similarly your actions will result in wars happening or not happening, corporations rising and falling, and so on. You are not a sole cause of any of it, but an enabler for virtually all, past a certain time horizon. Being in the world is a huge responsibility, whether you are a human or a butterfly. Not that we can actually track much of this.

    One way we extend our limited ability to track consequences is to deal in probabilities. This is called Being Careful. So, leaving a tool box just inside the door of a poorly lit room is probably not Doing Good because of the likelihood, not certainty, of an unfelicitous consequence for someone’s bodily well-being. Another way to extend our ability to track consequences is research or investigation. This is called Being In The Know. For instance, I might learn the many ways my purchasing and consumption choices harm the environment; cause pollution of air, rivers, ground and oceans; cause global warming; sustain harmful social and economic conditions, and I might adjust my choices accordingly so that the consequences of my actions move away from harm and toward benefit. In the modern globalized world both the need to understand consequences is enhanced since they propagate so rapidly, and our ability to track consequences is extended since scholars and journalists explain many causal relations for us. Being Careful and Being In The Know are huge obligations for humans (butterflies, I suppose, are off the hook).

    The most ancient discussions in Buddhism in this area of Doing Good is the ethics of eating meat, an issue which is debated to this day. A number of precepts from early Buddhism touch on this issue. One is the precept not to kill living (breathing) things. Another is the broad rule of Right Livelihood, one of the eight folds of the Noble Eightfold Path, which lists among wrong livelihoods that of slaughtering animals. And a third is the monastic guideline laid down by the Buddha concerning eating meat (Jivaka Sutta, MN 55). This permits monks and nuns to eat meat, but with a caveat:

    “Jivaka, I say that there are three instances in which meat should not be eaten: when it is seen, heard, or suspected [that the living being has been slaughtered for the bhikkhu]. I say that meat should not be eaten in these three instances”

    In the later East Asian Mahayana tradition one of the Bodhisattva Precepts, common to all monastics and many laypeople, simply prohibits adherents from eating meat altogether.

    Now, killing an animal is in itself considered harmful. However, at the Buddha’s time many lay people would kill animals to feed themselves and also offer to any recluses who came by in search of alms, Buddhist or otherwise. Doing Good entails that one’s own choices should not have killing an animal as a consequence. But notice how the Buddha’s caveat works to ensure exactly this. If the lay donors have already killed an animal for family conception and general recluse consumption, acceptance of meat by the bhikkhu seems not to have killing as a consequence. The bhikkhu has a clean bill of mental purity. Accepting the carnivorous meal furthermore also avoids offending, confusing or disappointing the donors. If, however, a family offers to provide a meal to some Buddhist nuns, say, and to kill a pig, say, to to do so, according to the Buddha they would have to refuse.

    However, the modern food industry works differently than this pastoral scenario. First, the person who slaughters the animal is generally far removed from the situation in which the meat is consumed. The donor more likely simply buys the already slaughtered meat at a grocery store, but creates a market demand such that new meat is killed to replace what is purchased. Second, harm to animals is greatly magnified in corporate farms. The Buddha refers in the Jivaka Sutta to “the pain and grief on being led along with a neck-halter” and “the pain and grief on being slaughtered.” Now we have to consider that these are often done in a much less humane way as heretofore, by poorly trained and poorly paid employees, and add to that the pain and grief of being raised indoors in crowded, smelly, poorly lit conditions, and of chickens having their beaks clipped off to prevent them from pecking each other out of stress. Tracing further we have to consider the impact of producing feed for the animals, which we know to be environmentally enormous, contributing significantly, for instance, we now know, to Global Warming. (We also have to compare the alternative to meat, that is the consequences of vegetarian food production, including the modern use of pesticides, etc., which can also cost many animals their lives.) In sum, whereas the Buddha traced out the consequences of accepting meat for his time, modern conditions entail that in the hopes of Doing Good, we do this work ourselves.

    Modern Buddhist controversy around eating meat I think has two sources, one having to do with how much weight is given to Avoiding Evil relative to Doing Good, and the other having to do with how much weight is given to Doing Good relative to Purifying the Mind. These are not always in accord. In the first case, the Buddha provided us with a clear guideline for Avoiding Evil in meat eating, and for some that is enough. For instance, in Theravada countries it is normal for monks to accept meat knowing it has been specifically purchased to feed the monks, since it has not litereally been slaughtered to feed monks. In the second case, the actual consequences of the development of Virtue seem to actually diminish the further one is removed from the act of slaughter. The karmic consequences for the monk who accepts meat will be much less than for the monk who kills the animal himself, as we will see beginning next week.

    Doing Good tends to be emphasized, at least doctrinally, more in Mahayana than in Theravada. It is neglected, for instance, in the Theravada Abhidhamma, but is highlighted in the Mahayana as part of the Bodhisattva ideal. This might partially explain the difference in the respective attitudes toward meat eating (allowing however that in Tibet not eating meat is hardly an option in the harsh agricultural environment). However, in general practice Theravada monastics are well known for their good works, for Doing Good, and there are, in fact, many Theravada monastics and sometimes monasteries are strictly vegetarian, citing ethical reasons. I have, or instance, met some very senior Burmese monks who have encouraged me never to accept meat from donors.

    Although Precepts can point out consequences that might otherwise be missed, occasionally they may contradict our commitment to Doing Good, for instance, in the case where the Gestapo shows up at your front door and asks you, gleefully aware that a Buddhist will not lie, if you are hiding Jews in the attic, or where you just happen to be returning from a softball game with a baseball bat in your hand and walk in right behind a man who has “gone postal” and is about start shooting at fellow employees. The inclination is greater in the Theravada tradition to obey the letter of the Precept, and in Mahayana to abandon Precepts more readily where this seems the more compassionate thing to do. The early Suttas give little advice on handling these contradictions, but one exception is MN 58, where the Buddha draws an analogy to the necessity of painfully digging a swallowed stone out of a baby’s throat with one’s finger, thereby causing harm but preventing greater harm. However the Buddha is not known ever to have justified anything remotely like a Just War or for that matter any taking of human life.

    A final point concerning Doing Good concerns who is the beneficiary of our kindness. It is a commonsense idea that certain people do not merit Goodwill, for instance, that criminals, torturers, murderers and people whose opinions or certain other attributed differ from ours, do not deserve to benefit from our deeds, in fact deserve to suffer from any misdeeds we might cook up. This idea is anathema to Buddhism (although there is a common misunderstanding in Buddhism that all personal suffering is caused by individual kamma and that helping them to alleviate the suffering means they will just have to burn it off later, a wrong view that I will discuss in future weeks). In fact, just as we try to develop Metta (loving-kindness) for everyone without discrimination, even for our worst enemies, all beings properly fall withing the scope of Doing Good. The thoughts of retribution that tell us differently are simply unskillful, and rooted in hatred. Thought they may be pervasive it is our aspiration to let them go and to Do Good without discrimination.

    Not the perversities of others, not their sins of commission or omission, but his own misdeeds and negligences should a sage take notice of. Dhammapada 50

    Here are questions to consider on this Uposatha Day: When is punishment Doing Good? You can consider punishment of children or punishment of criminals. What consequences of punishment can you trace that are harmful for others in addition to the person being punished?

  • 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