Buddhist Ethics for Everyday Life

Bhikkhu Sumanapal (Dr. Subhasis Barua)

In order to follow morality in our daily lives we have to leave in a proper manner. This means that we have to control our body, mind and speech, we should be guided by compassion in order to be tolerant, wise and patient, we must be particularly careful abut our speech because even if something is said in a light hearted manner it might hurt someone’s feelings. Buddhism teaches us to fill our acts with positive energy and words can hup us a lot in that direction. So we should use words to help and encourage people and not to dampen their spirit. The Buddha forbade his followers to wall words in order to be harsh or to life, flatter and mislead. The Avatamska Sutra says, “The mind controls everything.”  So in order to control our mind we need to know it first. Master Xing Kong compares the practice of Buddhism to presiding over a walled city. The ruler of the city has to take steps in order to keep thieves and bandits away and be alert at night. Here the city is our virtuous mind and the thieves and bandits are our six senses that are constantly trying to hamper and undermine our peace and wisdom.

In order to control our mind we have to take different steps. Sometimes we have to allow it to roan freely. A very important timing in the training of the mind is the lesson of self control. The Buddha taught us to remain calm and patient in the face of insult and derision. This attitude is not a sign of weakness or timidity but helps us grow by using the negative experiences in a productive way.

Confucius said, “If a person has a good control over himself, others will follow him without being ordered to do so. If a person has no control over himself, others will not follow him even if ordered to do so. “The first step towards self control is the control of the body. Each of us should take care of our health and body. We should clean it properly and do exercise to keep if fit. At the same time we should try to check our lead habits like nail biting, scratching Yawing, etc. Again we should have regular eating and sleeping habits. If we can keep our body and mind healthy, that will be a stepping stone of our journey towards the path of the Buddha As soon as we start this journey our looseness frame of mind, In this connection we can mention some ways to acquired physical and mental fitness.

1.                  Proper rest: In order to keep healthy we should take proper rest, but at the same time we must maintain a balance between excessive hard work and laziness.

2.                  Proper exercise: If we want to Keep fit we have to do exercise regularly. Walking is a very good exercise.

3.                  Proper eating: Proper eating is very important. We should always take balanced diet. Meat should be avoided as for as practicable. Vegetable should be taken in long quantity.

Good health is desirable because it can be used to learn the Dhamma. On the other hand good health should not be considered as an end in itself but as a means to achieve spiritual growth. It is to be noted that all the wrong doings like stealing, Killing, lying, etc are perpetrated by the body so if we can efficiently call our bodies then we have a fair chance of controlling them. Naturally any person who practices Buddhism learns the art of controlling the leady and the mind. It has been rightly said in the Dhammapada,” Victory over a thousand enemies is not as valuable as victory over oneself.”

Apart from the controlling our body should also learn to control our speech. Words can be used both for the harm and good of ourselves and others. The mind generally controls the mount but our month has also the habit of talking by itself. So the Buddha advised us to be on our guard while talking. In order to control transgression of the mouth we have to control our speech first. Our speech expresses our mind. The speeches of many people prove them to be negative, ignorant and critical. But if we face these kinds of people we should remain calm and peaceful and should be careful not to make the situation worse by our own speech defeats.

We should guard ourselves carefully from anger because anger causes harsh speech and harsh speech can hurt others and may even cause violence.  On the other hand if we are soft spoken we will be loved and respected by everyone. At the same time our behavior will naturally follow our speech and this will help us to improve as a human being. We should not try to be smart and cleaner in our speech; instead we should try to be honest and encouraging in our speech.

In order to control our behavior we must learn to control our greed because it in the basic disease of all sentient beings. The base of greed his in ignorance. The problem of greed is that it can take various shapes like ‘wanting,’ ‘love’ or ‘needing’ and that is why it is very difficult to identify them as greed .

     

According to Yogacarabhumi Sastra greed arises from the fine perceptions namely form, feelings, perception, mental formation and consciousness. In the same book it is also said that there are ten conditions that lead to greed. They are grasping, sight not having, evil behavior, wanting to have children, friends and relatives, the necessities of life, desire for eternal life and the desire not be have eternal life. These aspects are not harmful in themselves but if we indulge too much in them they can lead us to greed.

Greed causes various problems in our lines. It makes us too much attached to the world and this hinders the attainment of Enlightenment. Buddhism offers two effective of getting rid of greed. The Theravada tradition advises us to contemplate the fundamental emptiness and impermanence of the desired object in order to see through them attachments. Both methods are equally valuable in curing greed.

In order to get rid of greed completely we should realize that greed has no fundamental reality and there is nothing to be greedy about. Once we attain enlightenment we will be able to transcend all over attachments to this world.

Once who follows these teachings?

Because as brilliant as the sun and the moon

And can overcome all darkness

                                          --- Lotus Sutra

Apart from greed there are two other things which have been termed as “poisons” by the Buddha. Anger is one of them. It has many forms namely resentment, hatred jealousy, cruelty, abuse and taking delight to the misfortunes of others. According to Buddhism anger has three basis kinds”.

1)     Anger for no reason.” This kind of anger grows even if there is nothing outside to provoke it.

2)      Anger with some reason: Sometimes anger as a reason behind it.

3)     Dialectical anger : This type of anger is produced when someone disagrees with us According to the Avatamska Sutra, of all forms of evil, there is none  worse than anger A single moment of anger can be enormous obstruction to growth.

Anger hinders a successful study of Buddhism, The Mahaprajnaparmita Sutra says, “Anger should be thought of as the worst of all transgressions. It is worst of all the three Poisons (Greed, anger, ignorance) to see it as a form of energy, then we should consider the fact that our previous courses of anger does not matter now. Similarly our presence cause of anger ha very little bearing or significance to our present state of affair. The Mahayana Samparigraha Sastra mentions some ways to overcome anger.

1)     We should consider that life is short lived and transient.

2)     We should consider that all the sentient beings in the world must suffer.

3)     We should consider all sentient beings as our children.

In order to get real satisfaction we must learn to control our desire, when we desire something we become dissatisfied until we achieve it. Even if we achieve it we become dissatisfied when it fails to fulfill our expectation. So if we are wise we must not let ourselves to be driven by desire, In the Avadana we find, “Even if the seven treasures were to rain down from heaven they still would not satisfy desire.” But here we should make it clear that the necessities of life cannot be considered as desire, e.g. food and drink because they are essential for life. So it very important to form a clear idea about the difference between need and desire. So we can come to the conclusion that desire can never be satisfied. The most potent way of overcoming desire is to cultivate wisdom Mahakasyapa who was one of Buddha’s disciples lived many years in graveyard as part of his ascetic practice but he did not feel any want as a result of it.

However, it is true that today life is not so simple as it was in the past. But still it is possible to be satisfied in the modern world. We can overcome desire by considering its evil consequences, the amount of time, money and energy wasted in order to achieve it. Even if we fail in our goal we must try again with redoubled energy.

           

We all know that our mind the starting point of everything. In our mind we are all Buddha’s but due to anger greed and ignorance we are unable to perceive this reality. As soon as we decide to realize our Buddha nature and start striking to that direction, our mind becomes our friend and helps us to reach our destination.

When the Buddha spoke abut emotion he included through emotion, perception, body movement desires instincts, basic proclivities, and basic tendencies into it. The Buddha is considered to be a great physician because his teaching s can be used to get red of the chronic misuse of our mind. The Buddha’s teachings or the Dharma can be compared with water which can be used to cleanse the mind of impurities.

The mind of the Buddha is as most as the sea and it is the very antithesis of narrow mindedness. If we study and practice the Dharma earnestly in our daily life our mind will blossom to its highest potential. The realization of this truth will help us to be cured from all pettiness.

The mind should be trained in such a way so that we shall try to see the good in others and not the lead. It is important to form this habit because negativity and excessive criticism will lead us downhill. The people who are jealous are of a fault finding nature. In order to avoid fault finding we should be aware of the problems caused by it. But at the same time we should not be oversensitive to criticism. We should not insult others but if they disturb us we should not lose our patience. This is the bodhisattva path. A true bodhisattva does not praise himself or herself. If we have anything praiseworthy people will definitely admire them. By following this principle we shall be able to rise above praise or blame. In reality there is no such thing.

No man is perfect, anyone of us do wrongs. Most people indulge in lying, intemperance, and excessive sensuality. Some of them indulge even in stealing or cheating. We can at best control our bodies and months and thereby avoid wrong acts and wrong words but very few of us can control the mind by preventing the rise of improper thoughts like jealousy, anger, resentment or greed. But this is not to say that we should indulge in bad behavior. The aim of this appraisal is to arrive at a balanced and reasonable analysis of the human situation. We should accept the fact that too ever is human. If we make mistake we should try to correct it and be careful not to repeat it again. The Avatamaska Sutra says, “ All bad Karma that I created in the post / was created from beginning less/ greed , anger or ignorance / It was born from acts of body,. Month and mind and now I repent it all.”

In Buddhist practice repentance has a very important place. It emphasizes the change of mind and the determination not to repeat the mistake again. The focus of Buddhism is not on the mistakes done by us, but on the correction of those mistakes. Like jealousy and greed excessive guilt and rumens are also false attachments like Dharma water repentance also cleanness us. Like a raft it helps us to move the other shore. Like a lamp it helps us to see in the darkness.

In order to know the Dharma we have to study it hard and listen someone speaking about it. The meaning of the Dharma will not be clear to us unless we study the Buddhist literature frequently. But in order to learn the Dharma properly we have to be humble in nature and only then the significance of those books will be clear to us. If we do not have the right attitude we will be unable to receive the full benefit. And not only that we should think ourselves fortunate because we have got the opportunity to listen to the Dharma.  Dhammapada says, “The wide who live in the world / often perform beneficial deeds / to come to understand yourself / is the most beneficial deed of all.”

The world is a combination of period  opposites It seems that it is made of halves; half dark, half light  half good, half bad, half wise  and half ignorant.

A wise person strives to bring happiness to everyone around him. But on ignorant person is negative and takes delight in the mistakes of others. Common people are a mixture of both these qualities. But we should try to reach out to others and daily reflect on the Dharma and at the same time perform good deeds for benefitting ourselves and others.

Our mind is the dwelling place of the entire cosmos and so the truth sleekness wants to understand the mind. Buddhism is a religion that studies the human nature. By studying human nature we can become wise and more efficient in the analysis of ourselves.

In order lie ethically we have to follow the rules of five precepts prescribed by the Buddha, Life is must previous thing on earth and all beings fear death. Sometimes we kill senselessly. For instance, children often indulge in killing small creatures without being conscious of the gravity of the crime Again, this tendency may even persist in their adulthood and as a result of it they will have tom face karmic retribution. If we choose the path of non –killing it will be many rewards for us. For instance, our sensitivity and sympathy for all creatures will increase manifold. It will helps to realize that life is all one By non killing our mind will be free from anger and anxiety and it will be free and light.

Another important thing is not lying, a liar is not trustworthy. It is a very serious kind of offence that wastes time, frightens people and causes then to doubt. Lying has many names and forms. They are deceit duplicity slander distortion, fabrication, fraud, misrepresentation, falsification, fabrication, fraud, misrepresentation, forgery and perjury. These are regarded as degrading acts but what is more lying can be perpetrated under the guise of lofty ideals. This is called hypocrisy a lie gins birth to another and it leads to another. So very soon the burden of lie becomes immense Lies are harmful to every one and it never produces good result the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra says that lying without regret or will hinder us from the attainment of enlighten Since a lie works against the flow of truth and compassion it will always lead a to trouble and problem.

Patience is another very important requirement for leading an ethical life. Pal means the capacity to endure hardship, disgrace, calamity and misfortune. We should remember that everything in life in short lined and transcend. So if we approach the problem if hardship with patience and acceptance it will help us to get red of it. The Dharmapada says, “The best way to rid ourselves of anger is through patience. Patience is most required when we face disgrace or insult because these are the must powerful assaults we have to endure in our life. Patients are beneficial for everyone. With the help of patience we grow rapidly and efficiently towards the full realization of the Bodhi mind Patience helps us in four ways.

Patience is beneficial incurring the disease of anger; actually patience exhausts the anger of every one because it leaves nothing for the anger to feed on. Patience is our ultimate and certain refuge. It in like a peaceful dwelling that is never threatened by disaster.

Everyone in this world wants to be regarded and honored. But Buddhism teachers us “Tree stature in not created by form or ornament; words spoken out of jealousy and greed oppose it. Only when evil has been stopped at its roots and when there is wisdom without anger in their true stature.” (Dharmapadavandana Sutra). We should bear in mind that expensive homes clothes or cars are not the mark of true stature. True stature is an inner achievement; when a person has true stature it emanates from him without any effort on his part.

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v  Guest Lecturer, (in Evening) Tibetan Language, Department of Languages, Calcutta University, Guest Lecturer, (in Evening) Pali Language, Department of School of Language and Linguistics, Jadavpur University,