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Right action absolute?
Hanzze
Veteran
We often see a discussion about "relativity" of actions.
The definition (of right action)
"And what is right action? Abstaining from taking life, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from unchastity. This is called right action."
— SN 45.8
A layperson's skillfulness
"And how is one made pure in three ways by bodily action? There is the case where a certain person, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from the taking of life. He dwells with his rod laid down, his knife laid down, scrupulous, merciful, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings. Abandoning the taking of what is not given, he abstains from taking what is not given. He does not take, in the manner of a thief, things in a village or a wilderness that belong to others and have not been given by them. Abandoning sensual misconduct, he abstains from sensual misconduct. He does not get sexually involved with those who are protected by their mothers, their fathers, their brothers, their sisters, their relatives, or their Dhamma; those with husbands, those who entail punishments, or even those crowned with flowers by another man. This is how one is made pure in three ways by bodily action."
— AN X 176
*smile*
The definition (of right action)
"And what is right action? Abstaining from taking life, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from unchastity. This is called right action."
— SN 45.8
A layperson's skillfulness
"And how is one made pure in three ways by bodily action? There is the case where a certain person, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from the taking of life. He dwells with his rod laid down, his knife laid down, scrupulous, merciful, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings. Abandoning the taking of what is not given, he abstains from taking what is not given. He does not take, in the manner of a thief, things in a village or a wilderness that belong to others and have not been given by them. Abandoning sensual misconduct, he abstains from sensual misconduct. He does not get sexually involved with those who are protected by their mothers, their fathers, their brothers, their sisters, their relatives, or their Dhamma; those with husbands, those who entail punishments, or even those crowned with flowers by another man. This is how one is made pure in three ways by bodily action."
— AN X 176
*smile*
0
Comments
A student asks:
My question is about approaching our practice in the wrong way or from the wrong place.
I was struck in Rigdzin Shikpo's book, Never Turn Away, when he said meditation could merely reinforce our (wrong, deluded) world view.
When I was younger, I was influenced by my parents’ spiritual path and the teaching that one should sit each morning and 'work' upon oneself, in order to develop to a higher level. The practice of mindfulness, or in those terms 'attention', was a key part of the 'work'.
When I found my way to the Awakened Heart Sangha, I realised that I had some profound misgivings about the ideas I had followed earlier. I don't really have misgivings about the ideas themselves, I think I had misgivings about the way they were put into practice, particularly by some people I was close to.
It seems to me there is a huge amount of ego caught up in the practice, not only of these ideas, but also in lots of different disciplines. I have been to many different places and churches and paths - some seem very superficial and just like everyday life with empty ceremonies that used to have a deep meaning which is now lost, others seem to have more in them, in fact to have some power or something but they come with so much ego. The sense of ego actually hits you in the face as you meet these people. There is a sense of physical presence, a sense of something firm and grounded in their bodies but also a rather repelling sense of self satisfaction or something. It seems as if all their practice and endeavour has had an impact on their lives but to me it feels wrong.
So, I have been thinking. How do I stay open to life as it unfolds? How do I stay open to what is and not what I think it should be or ought to be? How do I not seek to repeat an experience that felt right because that is the 'right' way to go? How do I not feed my already huge ego so it grows ever greater and receives all that practice for itself? How do I stay on the path?
I can say there are many paths and each person has their own way to go but when you think you are on the 'right' path and can't see the wrong view, then although you might eventually be very lucky and see it, the only other thing is to have someone or something do something that calls you or wakes you up to what is true.
My thinking around it has ended with my thinking a truly enlightened being has an impact on the delusion of those around him or her - that in itself can break through that lovely self satisfaction.
Therefore I see the value of the teacher and the Sangha as being highly necessary in all the discomforts and friction that results from interactions between people, so things aren't always cosy and comfortable but the very discomfort and stresses force us to be aware of what is more real. That is part of my desire to become more connected and committed to the AHS. But I suppose one big question is whether my desire to stay open is enough? How do I steer a path between that which arises from common sense and genuine observation and things arising from fear and grasping. They are all there, all in a jumble. I can’t help remembering my early spiritual practice and the people I know who have tried and ‘worked’ on themselves for years and years and yet who remain some of the most closed people I know.
Lama Shenpen replies
I really appreciated this email and it touches on many things that I have been thinking about recently.
I think you are right about needing a living teaching mandala with teachers and students working together with a genuine connection with the lineage of Awakening, a living connection, so that its power and influence (adhistana) is actually working on us as we relate to each other and try to make the Dharma a living reality for us, finding something in ourselves that genuinely resonates with the truth that liberates us from delusion, the delusion of grasping onto a false self...the ego-centric self that can, as you say, be reinforced by paths and methods that are subtly skewed.
This is our dilemma as ignorant confused beings.
There is something in us that recognises the genuine and intuitively senses when things are not quite right. But how do we learn to trust that? That is why the Discovering the Heart of Buddhism has the name it has. We have to discover it - the heart or the essence of the reality - and then learn to trust that reality as the path to liberation. It is about learning to recognise that reality and having recognised it learning to really have confidence in it and trust it.
That is the path and it makes a long journey, but it is not a journey to becoming more and more convinced about our views and opinions..........it is a journey into allowing ourselves to remain open to truth and reality from whatever direction it comes from, without losing our way.
It is not a matter of grasping at a bit of truth here and a bit of truth there and believing we now know something. It is more about learning what real knowing is and it is open-ended with no object to grasp on to.
And yet, it is knowing and it is knowing that changes us, even if only for a tiny flash or moment of time - or at least it seems that way. Then we have to let go and let reality claim us rather than we claim reality. It is a very unsatisfactory place to be from the ego-centric point of view. It undermines the ego but strangely opens up the heart.
I don’t know if this at all addresses what you are wondering about? I hope it helps.
GLOSSARY
Sangha: In this context, a group of Buddhist practitioners.
Mandala: Any structure with a centre and periphery. Anything that appears in our awareness takes the form of a mandala consisting of a central focus and what surrounds it. Mandalas have a structure and dynamic in the sense that they are held together by connections between centre and periphery, with emotionality at the boundaries and where one mandala touches on another. In most contexts one can substitute for mandala ‘world’, as used in the metaphorical sense
:wave: :wave:
Spoken of ego-centric, do they sometimes refer just what Buddha taught also? So some essence, coming to the point.
Noble right concentration
"Now what, monks, is noble right concentration with its supports & requisite conditions? Any singleness of mind equipped with these seven factors — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, & right mindfulness — is called noble right concentration with its supports & requisite conditions."
— MN 117
and its a Wheel:
"Of those, right view is the forerunner. And how is right view the forerunner? One discerns wrong action as wrong action, and right action as right action. And what is wrong action? Killing, taking what is not given, illicit sex. This is wrong action.
"And what is right action? Right action, I tell you, is of two sorts: There is right action with effluents, siding with merit, resulting in the acquisitions [of becoming]; and there is noble right action, without effluents, transcendent, a factor of the path.
"And what is the right action that has effluents, sides with merit, & results in acquisitions? Abstaining from killing, from taking what is not given, & from illicit sex. This is the right action that has effluents, sides with merit, & results in acquisitions.
"And what is the right action that is without effluents, transcendent, a factor of the path? The abstaining, desisting, abstinence, avoidance of the three forms of bodily misconduct of one developing the noble path whose mind is noble, whose mind is without effluents, who is fully possessed of the noble path. This is the right action that is without effluents, transcendent, a factor of the path.
"One tries to abandon wrong action & to enter into right action: This is one's right effort. One is mindful to abandon wrong action & to enter & remain in right action: This is one's right mindfulness. Thus these three qualities — right view, right effort, & right mindfulness — run & circle around right action.
Without right action there will be no progress on the path. *smile* So I think its very important and daily life.
No right action no progress. So its quite important and daily life. *smile*
Is knowing them needed?
Is reflecting and remembering them needed if we know them?
*smile*
Again and again making fresh bread. Going into the unknown.
I don't know what is going to happen. Do you?
So we could use them and watch further. Speculations is not so good, but what about a hint like "the fire is hot, don't touch it" for example. Do you think its maybe useful to convert our experiences a little. *smile*
Some of such hints did we got already.
Nice to see you two getting along so well together in public....