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Wrong Livelihood and the "Lowly Arts"
Transmetaphysical
Veteran
I was reading through the Buddha's list of the lowly arts that one should abstain from such as palm reading, astrology, prophesy, ritual sacrifice, God-worship, consulting mediums, spells, exorcism, etc. which are all good advice, but at the end he says that medicine is a lowly art and being a doctor is wrong livelihood.
Can anyone explain what he means and why he says this is a lowly art?
Can anyone explain what he means and why he says this is a lowly art?
BudDha wrote:Kevaddha Sutta: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.11.0.than.html
"Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such lowly arts as:reading marks on the limbs [e.g., palmistry];he abstains from wrong livelihood, from lowly arts such as these.
reading omens and signs;
interpreting celestial events [falling stars, comets];
interpreting dreams;
reading marks on the body [e.g., phrenology];
reading marks on cloth gnawed by mice;
offering fire oblations, oblations from a ladle, oblations of husks, rice powder, rice grains, ghee, and oil;
offering oblations from the mouth;
offering blood-sacrifices;
making predictions based on the fingertips;
geomancy;
laying demons in a cemetery;
placing spells on spirits;
reciting house-protection charms;
snake charming, poison-lore, scorpion-lore, rat-lore, bird-lore, crow-lore;
fortune-telling based on visions;
giving protective charms;
interpreting the calls of birds and animals —
"Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such lowly arts as forecasting:there will be a lunar eclipse;
there will be a solar eclipse;
there will be an occultation of an asterism;
the sun and moon will go their normal courses;
the sun and moon will go astray;
the asterisms will go their normal courses;
the asterisms will go astray;
there will be a meteor shower;
there will be a darkening of the sky;
there will be an earthquake;
there will be thunder coming from a clear sky;
there will be a rising, a setting, a darkening, a brightening of the sun, moon, and asterisms;
such will be the result of the lunar eclipse... the rising, setting, darkening, brightening of the sun, moon, and asterisms —
he abstains from wrong livelihood, from lowly arts such as these.
"Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such lowly arts as:calculating auspicious dates for marriages, betrothals, divorces; for collecting debts or making investments and loans; for being attractive or unattractive; curing women who have undergone miscarriages or abortions;he abstains from wrong livelihood, from lowly arts such as these.
reciting spells to bind a man's tongue, to paralyze his jaws, to make him lose control over his hands, or to bring on deafness;
getting oracular answers to questions addressed to a mirror, to a young girl, or to a spirit medium;
worshipping the sun, worshipping the Great Brahma [God], bringing forth flames from the mouth, invoking the goddess of luck —
"Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such lowly arts as:promising gifts to devas in return for favors; fulfilling such promises;he abstains from wrong livelihood, from lowly arts such as these. This, too, is part of his virtue.
demonology;
teaching house-protection spells;
inducing virility and impotence;
consecrating sites for construction;
giving ceremonial mouthwashes and ceremonial bathing;
offering sacrificial fires;
preparing emetics, purgatives, expectorants, diuretics, headache cures;
preparing ear-oil, eye-drops, oil for treatment through the nose, collyrium, and counter-medicines; curing cataracts, practicing surgery, practicing as a children's doctor, administering medicines and treatments to cure their after-effects —
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Comments
Maybe someone more knowledgeable than myself will correct me if I am wrong about this.
From what I know, even in the time of Leonardo da Vinci, ~late 1400s early 1500s--years after the life of Buddha, when this list was probably written--medicine was about the equivalent of alchemy... and not so much science as mysticism, snake-oil and magic powders and what not. I am sure there was legitimate medical knowledge during the lifetime of the Buddha, but the large bulk of it was likely nonsense, and recognizable as such apparently.
I don't want to derive a super radical interpretation of what the Buddha meant by with medicine being a lowly art, but I'm pretty confident that the one above is a reasonable modern interpretation.
Since medicine, astronomy, and mathematics are all useful and certainly not harmful, I don't see any reason why one should abstain from it. Neither is it fair to say that these are low arts, quite on the contrary, they are all highly developed (don't underestimate the traditional healing arts of previous centuries). Here in Thailand, medicine has been practiced by monks in the past, since there was no government health care until the 19th century.
Who said the suttas are infallible? - This is one of very few exceptions, however, where nonsense has crept in, perhaps due to the incomplete understanding of the authors/translators.
The large bulk of the sutta, dealing with various supranormal powers, remains unaffected. The section on virtue is probably intended to discourage monks and practitioners from turning their special gifts into a business.
Cheers, Thomas
It is from Digha Nikaya or Long Discourses. There is some controversy that the Digha is a later addition and some of the contents had been altered. That is why they became so long winded unlike the Majhimma or Middle Length Discourses. Personally I do not pay too much attention to the Digha.
What's with pickin and choosin of Suttas? "No no..I choose to ignore this one, it doesnt fit my thing".
If you guys are going to brandish the Sutta's as the authority, then at least pound this peg in somewhere.
I don't think it means we need to repel the observations of any of those professions, but first and foremost we should clearly and directly observe the world that is before our eyes. If we veil our own experience, we miss out on much of what is present, as we attempt to fit what we see into what we already think we know. Perhaps the professions mentioned in the sutta were infamous for this behavior, in the time of Buddha (and some now, of course).
If I was going to cast doubt on a Nikaya, it would be the Anguttara. About two thirds of the material in either the Dharmagupta and Theravada versions is not found in the other, which suggests that it was added some time after the split.
Buddha said Astrology is a lowly art, not Astronomy. Astrology is generally superstitious and involves determining peoples personalities based on the movement of planets.
I also don't recall him speaking against mathematics unless I missed something .
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The text mentions prediction of solar/lunar eclipses and asterisms, which belong to the field of astronomy. I also remember mathematics being among the lowly arts, although not in this translation -and perhaps- not in thjs sutta. Can't find a reference right now.
Cheers, Thomas
Sorry about that, i see what you're saying.
But he was saying that you shouldnt forecast celestial events, which seems to be in a sense, a form of prophesizing.
Astronomy isn't necessarily involve forcasting celestial events.
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I agree there is a common ancestry between the Pali Canon and the Agamas which points to a common source before the split.
However the Digha discourses is very long and appears imo to be a patchwork stitched together and also is largely directed towards lay Buddhists. Unlike the Majhimma which is mainly for monastics and often begins with the word "Monks".
I cannot envisage the Buddha describing a profession whose reason for being is the relieve of human suffering as "lowly".
As someone mentioned earlier, they probably didn't have reliable medical practices. Buddha mentioned ear oil and eye drops as lowly, and I know I wouldn't put anything from 2,000 years ago being squirted into my eye.
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I am not saying medicine is a waste of time, not at all, I am just saying that doctors are experts at medicine and monks are (or are in training to be) experts at Dhamma. So perhaps it is better for everyone if doctors are doctors and monks are monks. A jack of all trades is a master of none.
Each has its place. One relieves physical and sometimes mental suffering. The other cures spiritual disease. In fact the Buddha exhorted his monks to look after each other when they are ill. As I see it both have noble and selfless intentions.
Also, in his translation to DN 1 (where this passage is also found) Bhikkhu Bodhi notes that, "It is the practice of medicine for gain that is here condemned."
The similarity between the Digha and the Dirgha is, in comparison with other ways of dating the texts, a relatively reliable indicator of their age and the amount of editing and additions they experienced. Speculation based on their intended audience and lack of thematic unity is less reliable, and can be used to support a number of different claims.
There are some suttas in the DN which do not tally with suttas in the other nikayas. The differences are overwhelming. For example, the "maha nidhana" sutta.
Sadly, in America, this is all still largely true in the case of many physicians (only substitute "butcher" for "barber"). Including one in particular that I work with. But we can't fire him - it would ruin his reputation. Can you say "circular logic"?
Sigh...
Mtns
For me, personally, modern medicine informs my understanding of Buddhist concepts, like anatta.
How is being a lawyer a lowly art? You counsel people and help them with their legal issues - a thing they could not hope to do on their own. A lawyer (or "advocate" as it's called in my language "one who speaks for another") is just a mediator between parts in a conflict, making sure that everyone gets heard and treated equally.
I believe Sherab's reply is meant to be humourous (I found it funny).
I find it interesting that psychic and clairvoyance got a condescending comment earlier from someone (can't remember who off the top of my head) when I have read in Lama Surya Das' book "Awaken The Buddha Within" that quite a few monks in Tibet (and India) are consulted by lay people locally for advice on events via divination (which Surya Das found fascinating in a way because he's an atheist). I also read in a book written by HH Dalai Lama that the Buddha taught it's ok to BE psychic/clairvoyant but a person who is should not advertise it as this will take away from Dharma study (I need to find the name of this book for sources)
Respectfully,
Raven