Sila Wholesome Conduct Summary of discussions in the European Buddhist Teachers Meeting, October 2 3, 2006 --- a basis for further discussions --- Introduction After the meeting of the EBU (European Buddhist Union) in Sakya Tashi Ling near Barcelona we stayed on for the annual Buddhist Teachers Meeting (BTM). European dharma teachers that have more than ten years of teaching experience were invited. Having discussed the topic of meditation last year, we chose to focus on wholesome conduct this year. The following excerpt of our discussions might be interesting for practitioners everywhere. However, the discussions were preceded by eight presentations that are included here only in a very rudimentary way. We shared our experiences on how the traditional understanding of sila is successfully communicated to a European audience within the context of a Western life style. The summary presents my (Lama Lhundrup s) personal understanding which is not necessarily the one of all participants. They had no time yet to read it and comment on it. What is sila? The Sanskrit term sila refers to an inner and outer discipline that might well be translated as wholesome conduct of body, speech and mind which is essentially mindfulness (smpti) training in respect to the consequences of our actions. We can also talk of appropriate action or honest encounter in relation to the world and ourselves. The common ground of Buddhist practice is to undertake the rule of training in pañcasila, the five traditional precepts, also called the 5 mindfulness trainings, of: (1) not killing, (2) not taking what is not given (not stealing), (3) not lying, (4) not creating harm through improper sexual conduct, and (5) abstaining from intoxicants. On top of that sila also includes performing the 10 wholesome actions and any other activity motivated by the wish to awaken oneself and to help others to awaken, as for example the precepts of the bodhisattva vow. Sila is not based on what others tell us to do and not to do. All precepts are based on the understanding that each one of our acts might have influences on others, in a beneficial or harmful way. To be conscious of this inter-relatedness ( inter-being ) is the basis for training in wholesome conduct. The essence of practicing sila is to avoid harming others and oneself, and instead helping each other. We take a commitment of avoiding or performing certain acts based on our insight into the causes of suffering and happiness. In order to practice sila we need to change from benefiting our own desires to benefiting all beings concerned by our acts. We can also express the essence of sila by a twofold respect: self respect (hri) and respect for others (apatrapya). The essence of sila is the attitude which is called the Heart of Awakening (Bodhicitta) in the Mahayana tradition, and which could be called the applied practice of the four Immeasurable Qualities (the four Brahmaviharas) in the Theravada tradition. Actually, living the precepts of sila can be understood as the direct expression of Buddha nature, the natural conduct an awakened being. With insight into our original or Buddha nature we will understand the precepts from the highest perspective as a completely natural way of living in the union of compassion and wisdom. Looking at it from this perspective one could say that the precepts are the Buddha, receiving them is like receiving a Buddha body, as if the Buddha was acting through me. 1
What is the purpose of sila? The goal of training in sila is to enter the mind and conduct of a completely awakened being (a Buddha) who free of all self concern spontaneously performs the benefit of beings. Every step of practising sila leads us into greater freedom becoming free from selfish attitudes, and becoming progressively freer from the heavy load of karma. That is why the practice of sila might be called stepping into freedom. The practice of basic sila through vows and precepts makes us discover the naturally wholesome conduct of a person turned towards benefiting others. This is the basis for an increasingly stable mind which progressively develops the capacity to apply sila to the thought process itself, giving up clinging to the arising selfish impulses. This develops further into being able to apply the highest truth of insight into non-self or emptiness to whatever arises in mind, thus leading into complete freedom. This is highest sila: constant mindfulness of the truth which then manifests in spontaneous activity for beings. How is it practised? The sila mindfulness training includes (a) mindfulness of the motivation preceding the act, (b) mindfulness while accomplishing the act, and (c) mindfulness of the results of our acts. Wholesome conduct is a much vaster practice than just keeping a number of precepts and vows. The overall attitude is one of allowing the practice of sila to shed light into the more obscure, ego-centred areas of our being which are not usually examined (e.g. the true motivations of writing a dharma book...) in order to become increasingly aware of subtle mechanisms that reinforce clinging to self. This is what is meant by honest encounter. Much of what we call the practice of sila is actually a practice of courage and flexibility: becoming brave in letting go our own wishes, dropping the self and not following our habits, in order to serve the needs of ever changing situations, it means seeing what action is appropriate when. We all have so-called dark corners in our being, even after long years of dharma practice. This can for example be seen in the way that some teachers are relating to their students which is not always truly free of self concern. Sometimes it is not even possible to address these problems with the teachers concerned. How can we avoid that this happens to ourselves? An answer seems to be that our practice of sila should integrate with the life of a sangha that is willing to be the mirror of my behaviour. A mutual agreement with practitioners in my peer group could help to encourage each other to shed light on my obscure areas like pride, wish to dominate others etc. Practicing sila is much easier in a group with inspiring examples to emulate. It is through nurturing examples that society can be changed. We do not practice sila to gain the respect of others or to feed subtle pride by a seemingly increasing purity. It is a gradual training in discovering and lighting up the darker areas of our being. A true sign of developing sila is that one has lost the illusion of oneself being pure. Basic reflections All actions have a result in this or in future lives. The load of karma is already quite heavy and due to this our mind stream is deluded. How can I start now to lighten the load of past acts and avoid creating a still heavier load? 2
Should I not consider the wellbeing of others just as much as my own? Are others not wishing to avoid suffering and to encounter happiness just as much as myself? Let me rely on a true refuge to find the way out of delusion and to help others as well. If I truly take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha I should follow the example of the Buddha s conduct, deeply reflect on his Dharma teaching which is wholesome from beginning to end, and become true Sangha, a true helper on the path to others. In order to do this, let me practice generosity, loving words, bringing goodness to others, and be conscious in all my acts of the equality of self and others. How to teach sila? The proper time and manner to introduce sila in the dharma teaching is very much a question of skilful means (upaya). Some teachers introduce it very early on in the path, others let it emerge gradually due to the increasing mindfulness of the students and then confirm it through the formal taking of precepts. Formal precepts are usually only given when practitioners already show some stability in the conduct that they wish to commit themselves to. However, the more a society has ethical problems, the more there is a need for teaching on sila. In our teaching we tend not to insist on an all-to-pure 100% keeping of the vows (the difficulty of not even accepting a sip of wine at a family gathering was mentioned) but rather present it as a way of training where the most important aspect is to find out what is the appropriate behaviour right now in this situation. And of course, everyone is bound to make mistakes but all of which can be repaired. Sila gives meaning to life and thus addresses directly the needs of the many people that come to us in their despair of not having meaning in their life. Practising wholesome conduct is about consciously taking choices, making decisions in view of the effects of our actions. In order to take these decisions we must know where we want to go in our life, what our priorities are. To find out what we truly want we have to connect with our heart, listen to it, and stay true to what it says. Keeping the link with the heart is the practice of sila. It can also be called the path of heartfelt aspirations (Skt: pranidhana, Tib: mönlam): creating the world we wish to live in through the power of heartfelt commitment to the happiness, liberation and awakening of all. In this way sila is also about rediscovering our wish to live, our enthusiasm. We establish a new relationship with the world by taking our karma into our hands and acting in a different way. The flavour of sila comes through in all dharma teachings; it is always there in the background. We need to notice our own patterns of functioning, seeing our own part of responsibility, and to take on that responsibility in situations, making use of our capacity to shape the world. Dharma practice arouses that inner knowing of what is helpful and what is harmful and this is also the arising of the natural, spontaneous precepts: first we begin to feel uncomfortable with inappropriate ways of acting and feel the need to clarify and straighten up to the actual needs of the situation. Then we act according to our best assessment of the situation and of our own mind, and finally we see whatever more we can learn from the situation as we return to our dharma practice. If our acts were unskilful, our mind will be unsettled or disturbed, and there will be more to learn... Trusting in this process, we can wait with formal precepts until they have arisen from within. Celibate and non-celibate practice of sila In Asia, the practice of celibacy was highly venerated and normally, the senior male celibate monks (bhikshus) were considered the top of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, with the nuns below, 3
and the non celibate practitioners (upasaka, upasaki) at the bottom. This conveys the idea of a higher and lower practice of virtue, symbolized by higher and lower seats in the temple. This might have made sense as long as the monks were truly the holders of the spiritual transmission and knowledge which however is not necessarily the case in the West. Many European teachers wonder, lay and monastics alike, if this traditional hierarchy of practitioners is useful for the development of dharma in the West. In some traditions there is a big distance between the lay and the monastic sanghas. Some say that their artificial separation has created sore wounds that need definite changes in behaviour in order to heal. In the eyes of onlookers of the dharma scene the traditional monastic sangha is losing some of its credibility; the reasons that were discussed were pride about their higher moral status, increasing incompetence in dharma matters, institutional inflexibility, and a certain intolerance and lack of openness towards the lay community. To reverse this development we should from both sides make efforts to diminish the felt distance and separation and not feed further criticism by our own attitudes. There seems to be a need in the coming years for honest, heartfelt exchanges on these topics. Also, the original meaning of the monastic vows has to be stressed within the monastic sangha. We wear the robes to venerate the Buddha, to make ourselves identifiable and available as a servant of the dharma ( no hiding ), to reduce clinging to self importance and to be a humble servant of the larger sangha. Wearing the robes of the Buddha is a practice that is supposed to generate a certain quality of action ( accumulating merit ); it is a gift that we receive, and not the basis for claiming personal advantages in relation to others. Taking the vows of a monastic is a personal choice of life style, equivalent to committing oneself to simplicity, service, and renouncing worldly attitudes and cravings. Keeping a vow of celibacy is our personal preference, why look down on others that live in couple relationships? We all have to learn our own lessons and can support each other in this. And we can usually admit that the life style we chose is the easier one for us rare are the people that choose the more difficult. A relationship of mutual respect and gratitude will unite lay and monastic practitioners. Our true commitment to the dharma should be our primary concern; the life is only of secondary importance. Actually, some non-celibate practitioners might spiritually be more mature than celibates. There has been some confusion in the past: an assumption that a monastic would automatically be the most reliable dharma reference for others, with a corresponding higher ecclesiastical status for monks than lay people. If all beings are equal, where is the equality of all dharma practitioners? Do we have to insist that some are more equal than others? Some conditions support dharma practice more than others. Simplicity of life style is always of great help. We choose the life of a monk to be unencumbered in our practice of the dharma: no responsibilities for a family or children and no financial or professional obligations. A monk s life might indeed be the easier choice. But do we have so much of a choice are there not great forces of karmic inclinations and previous aspirations at work? Celibacy is indeed a very practical choice if we want to build up stable sanghas living in great simplicity free of outer obligations that pull the members of the community away into other areas of life. Taking monastic vows is a radical simplification of our life. Simplicity usually cuts something out; it reduces the complexity by weeding out the unnecessary. A simple sangha is usually a stable sangha. We need such stable sanghas to shoulder the task of assimilating the wealth of our Buddhist traditions and making it available to others. In all of this the basic question is: what is most useful to the world? We want to see people move from suffering to liberation, and the structures which we create should facilitate that development. There has to be some kind of hierarchy, some kind of minimal protocol for public gatherings. The place of each one has to be clear, otherwise there is fighting. But we would 4
like to avoid in European Buddhism the artificial hierarchies of church- or cast-like structures. Nuns and non-monastics should be able to teach monks if they are better qualified than them. It will bring peace to the sangha, if our behaviour is based on awareness and kindness, and our hierarchies based on true competence, experience and related qualities. If celibacy makes someone more pure in mind, than this will be felt by others, and they will show their respect. Let us not claim the respect of others but rather develop the qualities that deserve respect, remembering the deeper values of the dharma. The question remains whether it is necessary to be celibate in order to achieve complete awakening? And that question boils down to whether one can live sexual relationships without reinforcing desire but rather strengthening bodhicitta? Well, if we give bodhicitta complete priority in all aspects of our relationship, we will find out how far we can go; it seems to be difficult, but not impossible. Sexuality as such is not seen as a harmful act; its unwholesomeness as always depends on the state of mind that motivates the act: love or desire or whatever else. The way sexuality is looked at has changed a lot due to the presence of effective contraceptives; in former times celibacy was almost an obligation, if one did not want to have children and obligations towards them. There seems to be an over-emphasis on this theme of sexual relationships. Most couples do not actually live so much their sexuality; some do not have much time for it because they are so completely engaged in dharma activity. The next question is: can we be open and available for everybody while living in a partner relationship? Again, it is not so much the fact of living together which would be the problem, but rather, how this affects our mind. Does the relationship make us open up and reach out to others or does it close us up in a world of clinging? Could one value the commitment to a partner relationship as an important help for the dharma path? Could one also claim that some celibates might be in urgent need to live such a relationship? The challenge in couple relationships is to face up to all the emotions arising in relation to each other. The challenge in celibate life is to face up to sexual desire, loneliness, wishes for tenderness, hopes for happiness through intimate exchange etc. without having the option to live a couple relationship. A monastic, by his own vows, is obliged to find other ways, like developing bodhicitta, happy renunciation etc., to deal with these emotions. If he is successful, this leads indeed to a great increase in emotional autonomy but it is not said that this process could not happen in a partner relationship. Taking the monastic vows is sometimes accompanied by romantic ideas about the purity of celibate life or by the wish to please the teacher. This leads to great inner tension and a rapid giving back of the vows. For this reason some sanghas have slowed down the ordination process to give enough time for these romantic ideas to evaporate. Considerable efforts are made to create a quality sangha where monastics deeply practice and truly serve the greater sangha. European monastics develop an increasing flexibility in changing roles according to the needs of the situation. We come together and learn to share our experiences on an equal level without hesitation. We are willing to enter the melting pot of European Buddhism to find out which aspects of our dharma traditions will really prove to be helpful. Restoring sila Every Buddhist school seems to offer ways to begin anew to practitioners that have slipped into unwholesome forms of conduct. All transgressions against sila can be repaired in one way or another; there are very simple and very elaborate ways of confession, repentance and restoration. 5
The first step for every act that burdens the mind which one cannot purify or let go off oneself, is to express our regrets in front of others or in front of the Buddha imagined in front of us: It was not as it could have been.... One will ask for understanding and forgiveness. Then one will reconsider the qualities of wholesome conduct and direct one s mind to practice in that way until one feels again the flow of joy or bodhicitta which is the flow of purification. Most problems with sila come from a lack of clarity and self-confidence, and from fear. To overcome these obstacles it is helpful, if others can listen deeply and attentively to our confession, without blaming finding loving words that inspire new self-confidence, courage, joy and hope. As a result of this we will see more clear and find more appropriate action responses to similar situations in the future this is the re-arising of sila in our mind. Spiral learning The three trainings of all Buddhists are sila samadhi prajña or in other words: wholesome conduct meditative stability wisdom. In this triad, wholesome conduct is the foundation on which develops stable mindfulness, which then leads to insight or wisdom as the result. However it already needs a bit of wisdom to start practising wholesome conduct, and whatever mindfulness we develop not only nourishes wisdom but immediately helps us to have more stability in our practice of sila. The three are completely interrelated, like a spiral where each element feeds into the next without end. We move into compassionate sila activity from wisdom with the support of samadhi which can be called stability in spontaneity. Without the power of samadhi and prajña we cannot truly uphold our sila, and whatever insight is gained will reinforce wholesome conduct which will reinforce meditative stability and so on. And the result of that will be true happiness. That is why this is also called the wheel of happiness. People will enter into the dharma by whichever one of these three doors to happiness, each according to his or her inclination and predisposition. Some come with an inner searching that is much related to wisdom, others want to learn immediately about meditation, and a third group asks for clarification in wholesome conduct. But all dedicated people will end up practising all three aspects of this path to happiness. The same truth of spiral learning can be found in the practice of the eight aspects of the Noble Eightfold Path and the Six Paramitas (awakening qualities) which each can be grouped according to the three trainings. The elaborate teaching on the six paramitas (generosity, wholesome conduct, patience, joyful perseverance, meditative stability, and wisdom) shows that each paramita already contains the other five. And like the above three trainings of which the paramitas are only an extension they all nourish each other, much in the way of a spiral rising towards awakening. The common root or source of the paramitas is awakened compassion, and awakened compassion alone contains them all. For this the Mahayana Buddhists coined the term Bodhicitta (awakened heart), the quality that includes all others. Difficult ethical questions There is no Buddhist church that would answer on our behalf; we have to find the answers to difficult ethical questions (abortion, active euthanasia, illegal immigration, genetic manipulation, using an army or not...) with our own wisdom and compassion. A dharma practitioner will deal with them practically always in the same way. Instead of giving categorical responses we will investigate into the consequences of acting one way or another and leave open the freedom of personal choice. The direction into which our answer will be going is usually clear: we want to act in such a way as to avoid suffering and enhance happiness in the 6
world with a perspective that includes the long term consequences of our acts for future lives and future generations. Should a Buddhist be vegetarian? Some say yes, others say that it is more a question of consciously eating: conscious of all of what contributes to our eating various foods, conscious of the result of buying such food... The direction is clear: we do not want to create additional suffering for ourselves as well as for others, including animals. Should countries have an army? Again, the basic direction is clear: we want to live in peace without cultivating fear or ambitions to dominate over others. Sila is actually a kind of inner disarmament, renouncing to impose our will and emotions on others. However, countries without an army easily fall prey to the ambitions of others......to be continued (your comments are welcome!) 7