Bhikkhu Bodhi (accesstoinsight.org) edited by Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly
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| Buddhism is non-theistic. Its framework grounds its outward ethics. There is no notion of "obedience." The emphasis instead is on harmony (samadhana) as a guiding influence (FF). |
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| I work hard, make my own money, my own choices, and lean on no one. |
Chapter 4: Right Speech, Action, Livelihood
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| So I play hard! |
The next three [Noble Eightfold] path factors -- right speech, right action, and right livelihood -- may be treated together, as collectively they make up the first of the three divisions of the path, the division of
virtue (
sila) or
moral discipline.
Although the principles laid down in this section restrain us from immoral actions and promote beneficial conduct, their ultimate purpose is NOT so much ethical as spiritual.
They are not prescribed merely as guides to action, but primarily as aids to mental /heart purification.
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| Compassion is sexy! |
As a necessary measure for human well-being, ethics has its own justification in the Buddha's teaching, the Dharma, and its importance cannot be underrated.
But in the special context of the Noble Eightfold Path, ethical principles are subordinate to the path's governing goal, final and complete liberation from suffering (nirvana).
So for moral training to become a proper part of the path, it has to be taken up under the tutelage of the first two factors, right view and right intention (or right understanding and right motivation), and to lead beyond to the trainings in right concentration (mental coherence) and wisdom (liberating insight).
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| Noble Eightfold Path |
Although the training in moral discipline is listed first among the three groups of practices -- sila, samadhi, and panna (virtue, coherence, insight), it should not be regarded lightly. It is the foundation for the entire path, essential for the success of the other trainings.
The Buddha himself frequently urged his disciples to adhere to the rules of discipline, "seeing danger in the slightest fault."
The training in brief
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| What is the path? |
One time, when a monk approached the Buddha and asked for the training in brief, the Buddha explained:
"
First establish yourself in the starting point of
wholesome states, that is, in purified moral discipline and
right view. Then, when your moral discipline is purified and your view straight, you should practice the
Four Foundations of Mindfulness" (SN 47:3).
The Pali/Sanskrit word being translated as "
moral discipline,"
sila, appears in Buddhist texts with several overlapping meanings all connected with right conduct (virtuous-nonharming behavior).
In some contexts it means action conforming to moral principles, in others the principles themselves, in still others the virtuous qualities of character that result from the observance of moral principles.
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| American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi |
Sila in the sense of precepts or principles represents the formalistic side of the ethical training, sila as virtue the animating spirit, and sila as right conduct the expression of virtue in real-life situations.
Often sila is formally defined as abstinence from unwholesome bodily and verbal action. This definition, with its stress on outer action, appears superficial. Other explanations, however, make up for the deficiency and reveal that there is more to sila than is evident at first glance.
The "
Higher Teachings" (
Abhidharma), for example, equates
sila with the mental factors of abstinence (
viratiyo) -- right speech, right action, and right livelihood -- an equation that makes it clear that what is really being cultivated through the observance of moral precepts is the mind/heart.
So while the training in
sila brings the "public" benefit of inhibiting socially detrimental actions, it entails the
personal benefit of mental purification, preventing
the defilements from dictating to us what lines of conduct we should follow.
The English word "morality"
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| Aaargh! On thy belly shall thou crawl. Dust shall thou eat... And don't talk back! |
.
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| Thou shalt obey! Do as what I say! |
The English word "morality" and its derivatives suggest a sense of obligation and constraint quite foreign to the Buddhist conception of sila. This connotation probably enters from the theistic [God, theologian, or commandment-based] background to Western ethics.
Buddhism is non-theistic. Its framework grounds its ethics. There is no notion of "obedience" to anybody or anything.
The emphasis is on HARMONY.
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| Who lives in harmony with self... M. A. |
In fact, the commentaries explain the word
sila by another word,
samadhana, meaning "harmony" or "coordination" [cooperation, smooth relations, peace, serenity of mind, flow, path of least resistance].
The observance of sila leads to harmony at several levels -- social, psychological, karmic, and contemplative.
At the social level the principles of sila help to establish harmonious interpersonal relations, welding the mass of differently constituted members of society with their own private interests and goals into a cohesive social order in which conflict, if not utterly eliminated, is at least reduced.
At the psychological level sila brings harmony to the mind, protection from the inner split (cognitive dissonance) caused by guilt and remorse over moral transgressions and harming others.
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| God, this sucks that I got to pray to you. |
At the
karmic level the observance of
sila ensures harmony with the cosmic law of karma (actions producing desirable and undesirable results in the future, causes and effects), hence favorable results in the course of future movement, the
continued wandering on, through the round of repeated birth and death.
And at the fourth level, the
contemplative,
sila helps establish the preliminary purification of heart/mind to be completed, in a deeper and more thorough way, by the methodical development of
serenity and
insight (meditation).
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| Kwan Yin, Bodhisattva/Goddess of Compassion: I love harmonious karma (actions). |
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When briefly defined, the factors of moral training are usually worded negatively, in terms of abstinence, refraining, abandoning, avoiding.
But there is more to sila than refraining from what is wrong.
Each principle embedded in the precepts, as we will see, actually has two aspects, both essential to the training as a whole.
One is abstinence from the unwholesome, the other
commitment to the wholesome. The first is called "avoidance" (
varitta) and the latter "
performance" (
caritta).
At the beginning of training, the Buddha stresses the aspect of avoidance. He does so, not because abstinence from the unwholesome is sufficient in itself, but to establish the steps of practice in proper sequence.
The steps are set out in their natural order (more logical than temporal) in the famous dictum of the
Dhammapada:
"To abstain from all harm, to cultivate the good, and to purify one's mind/heart -- this is the teaching of the
buddhas [the
fully awakened ones]" (v. 183).
The other two steps -- cultivating the good and purifying the heart/mind -- also receive their due, but to ensure their success, a resolve to avoid the unwholesome is a necessity. Without such a resolve the attempt to develop wholesome qualities is bound to issue in a warped and stunted pattern of growth.
The training in moral discipline governs the two principal channels of outer action, speech and body, the verbal and the physical, as well as another area of vital concern -- one's way of earning a living.
So the training contains three factors:
right speech,
right action, and
right livelihood. These will now be examined individually, following the order in which they are set forth in the usual exposition of the path.
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