Morality

This is really just a first draft. I wrote this for a discussion at Emaho and probably could have spent more time preparing. It’s pretty short, but I think it hits the point I’m trying to get across.

Morality in Buddhism

Buddhist Ethics are not Absolutes. It’s important to understand this because many problems in the world are caused by one person or group of people trying to push their ideas of what is good and bad on another person or group. When we practice morality in the Buddhist tradition it should not be under the belief that these activities are inherently existing somewhere out there and that we, being Buddhists have special access to those rules. We shouldn’t think that the guidelines that we follow are written down in a book in the middle of the universe for every person to follow, lest they be punished by some always watching God. Wars are started because of this type of thinking – thinking “MY way is the right way, Your way is an affront to what is good.” Thinking this way we suddenly feel that it is reasonable to punish those that are not falling in line. Rather than developing compassion, equanimity, loving kindness and other wonderful qualities, we develop hatered, intolerance, and small-mindedness – attitudes that bring suffering to ourselves and others. But I don’t mean to say that ethics are un-useful. Not at all, I think that most Buddhist practice is set on the foundation of morality or ethics. Indeed, Buddhist practices are born from the realization of the great benefit of practicing morality, but they are not die-hard rules that must never be stepped outside of.

Indeed, the Buddha rejected the Priesthood’s ideas about Ethics and god. One reason he left the palace to begin his search for liberation was to find out for himself what is helpful and what is not – what actions will truly lead to the end of Samsara and into Nirvana. It’s important to know that Shakyamuni was a bit of a rebel. He was a social reformer. Great doubt arose in his mind about the status quo and after attaining enlightenment, he encouraged his disciples to develop the same doubting mind, even going so far as to insist they doubt his own words until they had tested and verified for themselves any benefit to what he was preaching.

In Buddhism, ethics is born out of one’s understanding of Karma. What we experience in this life and future lives is the result of actions performed with our body, speech and mind. Buddha taught that certain actions bring about good results, certain actions are neutral and others bring about bad results.

Actions that bring about good results are considered moral
Actions that bring about neutral results are of course considered neutral
Actions that bring about bad results are considered immoral.

When something brings us and others happiness and calmness we can consider that a good result, and if it brings direct suffering, of course it can be considered a bad result. So you can see that morality, in the context of Buddhist thought, is born out of our own direct experience rather than a mandate by some authority figure – who knows better than us. The Buddha quieted his own discursive mind to the point where it was very easy (effortless, actually) for him to see what was truly helpful and truly harmful, then he shared what he saw with all of us.

Robert Thurman, a professor of Tibetan Buddhist studies and an ex-monk describes the path to happiness in an evolutionary way. He describes us in some previous state of evolution as blobs that kind of bounce around in a slick of oil. So we were these little blobs that are crashing all over the place, maybe even eating one another and then at some point it occurs to us that we could maybe accommodate the presence of the other blobs, maybe we could give them the right of way or something – in an effort to communicate and connect. That begins an evolution that eventually leads to wanting to share what we think with the other blobs. So that is the start – this idea that we aren’t the only thing in the universe starts to shape our bodies over some period of time until we have developed a really excellent ability to communicate – it is taught that we have this human form because of our wish to communicate with others – we are looking for a more meaningful existence and we have accommodated others to the point where we can use language and share technologies etc. So that first sort of inclination – that basic inclination to accommodate the presence of others and the resulting restraint from crashing around in a self-centered way can be called morality and ethics. And it is through continuing to refine this genuine connection with others that we will all become Buddhas ourselves!

Ethics should be practiced in order to bring more happiness to ourselves and others. In the Buddhist ceremony of refuge we take the vows of

1. Not killing
2. Not stealing
3. Not engaging in sexual misconduct
4. Not lying
5. Not drinking intoxicants

All of these things are about accommodating others, aren’t they? Stated positively these can be described as nourishing and protecting life, being generous, respecting other people’s bodies, being honest and not acting brash and rude – like a crazed bovine due to altering one’s mind with drugs and alcohol.