PRELUDE TO RIGHT SPEECH, RIGHT ACTION, RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
In the last stage of Right Understanding, we looked at how this Right Understanding begins to move into virtuous action or sila. In Right Intention, we saw how specifically renunciation forms a bridge between Right Understanding and panna to Right Action and sila. As with renunciation, this practice of sila is often expressed in negative terms, i.e. "do not kill, steal, lie, commit adultery, or abuse drugs and alcohol". As we also saw in renunciation, however, this is an initial application which clears out barriers to practice. When our life has become simpler and clearer through the "negative" applications of renouncing, we then begin to open up to the positive applications of sila.
Sila thus begins in ethical restrain but flowers into creative
spiritual development as each person finds their own unique ways
to express this development. This unique and creative expression
ties in with the natural freedom of diversity. By cultivating
mental ecology, we become "free" in creating our own
unique connection with the larger ecology of nature. This open
endedness makes a sila which has strong foundations in
"negative" ethics while opening up into positive, non-dogmatic
and non-sectarian expressions. In the modern version of sila,
the rule of law as informed by the enlightenment notion of state
as a regulator of appetites restricts our legal system to a negative
penal code which does not work to develop positive behavior. Sitting
on this scientistic foundation, modern law lacks an integrated
ethics and sila which restricts improper behavior while
developing creative beneficial behavior. When we look at the modern
ideal of a free and democratic society in the United States again,
we see one of the highest percentages of a population in prison
in the world. As consumer culture blossoms in greed and delusion,
the laws pile up in an attempt to regulate these out of control
social defilements. With no ethic towards creative benefit, almost
everyone winds up committing one crime or another.
In this way, these three practices of sila evolve in social
terms towards Dhammic Culture.1 Culture as "the totality
of socially transmitted behavioral patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions,
and all other products of human work and thought characteristic
of a community or population"2 forms the second pillar of
our a Dhammic Society. Sila as ethical thought and action
help us confront in the initial spinning of paticca samuppada
at Craving-Clinging-Bhava. Sila then evolves into Dhammic
Culture which counters the structural manifestations of Craving-Clinging-Bhava
which we saw is Chapter II. The practices of panna in Right
Understanding and Right Intention form the foundation of society
in Dhammic Pedagogy. This practice of panna as Dhammic
Pedagogy then leads into the practice of sila in Right
Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood as Dhammic Culture.
RIGHT SPEECH (samma vaca)
Right speech as it
is typically rendered is "to not lie", a simple ethical
teaching that a parent or teacher usually delivers but something
many of us get used to breaking by the time we're adults. We have
of course the "white lie" which is used generously to
rationalize our ethical shortcomings. As we have discussed, it
is important to be able to move onward beyond negative ethics
which seem stifling and impractical in a complicated adult life.
Right Speech at its higher creative level "establishes a
correspondence between our own inner being and the real nature
of phenomena, allowing wisdom (panna) to rise up and fathom
its real nature."3 This correspondence is the linking with
the larger ecology of nature through cultivating mental ecology.
In Buddhism, mantras accomplish such a correspondence. Whether
it is the "Om-mane-padme-hum" of Tibetan Buddhism, the
"namu-myo-horenge-kyo" of Japanese Nichiren Buddhism,
or the "namu-amida-buddha" of Pure Land Buddhism, mantras
use Right Speech as a means of spiritual development by establishing
a correspondence with the dhammadhatu (the essence of dhamma).
The Vietnam Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh has adapted these
overtly religious practices into simpler daily utterances called
gathas.
Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment,
I know this is the only moment available for me to live.4
Using any daily activity like driving to work or washing the dishes, he has composed such short four stanza verses which we can repeat to ourselves to keep us rooted in the present while experiencing the natural ecology of our minds as "fresh, beautiful, quiet and joyful." Such individual practices help us to further practice the spiritual requisites of life and nature as we remain rooted in the present, practicing quiet solitude but intimately connected with natural ecology.
These practices contrast the most obvious aspect of unskillful
speech in advertising and news media. As speech that takes us
out of the present moment, they disturb this cultivation of an
inner ecology. Further, they play into the hands of Craving
(tanha) by cultivating our desire for what is not here (advertising)
and getting us addicted to events happening somewhere else (news).
A recent advertisement running on CNN is actually about advertising.
It equates advertising with the freedom of speech. Once again,
we see here a conflict with Dhammic freedom and modern ideas of
freedom. As with other aspects of modern freedom, freedom of speech
is about saying what you want, but there is no mention about saying
what is proper along side this. Once again, we see freedom as
open ended desire with no ethical grounding or notion of benefit.
Banning advertising which cultivates our greed is a violation
of the freedom of speech, but there is nothing in this covenant
of freedom which says that advertising should develop wholesome
qualities in people in the larger communal project. News media
is similar. Filled with images of war, crime and political corruption,
news media concocts vast amount of fear. This is considered news
while stories of benefit and concern are usually left for programs
of lesser importance.
In order to create Right Speech on a social level we must address
these structural forms of unskillful speech and makes sure they
nurture our correspondence with our inner ecology. As opposed
to creating more laws and regulations concerning advertising,
we need to infuse advertising with the aspects of Right Understanding
and Right Intention which we have just looked at. Advertising
would seem inherently incompatible with Right Speech as it is
based on the greed of corporate profit and the competition between
these corporations. In this way, it may require such a fundamental
transformation so that we no longer call it advertising. Public
service announcements might be what we can call this new form
of advertising. At its foundation, these announcements will provide
information which aid cooperation and the project for human benefit.
Further, they will be in no way tied to making profit.
Public television in Japan avoids advertising and creates revenues
through door to door solicitation. Public television in the United
States spends periods in between programs soliciting funds. It
also uses corporate sponsorship but only allows a very brief acknowledgment
of that support.5 Public access cable television in the United
States is another example of people using media for public benefit.
If we are truly interested in Dhammic Culture, we will realize
that all the money needed for fancy television stages and glossy
over produced mass distribution magazines and newspapers does
not create benefit and that the subsequent over dependence on
sponsorship and advertising is not needed.
RIGHT ACTION (samma kammanta)
Right Action traditionally
covers the other four basic sila in Buddhist practice.
In their simplistic and negative form, these are abstaining from
a) killing or taking life, b) taking what is not given or stealing,
c) committing adultery or other forms of sexual misconduct, and
d) abusing intoxicating substances. These, however, can be turned
around into positive action so that they become a) seeking to
preserve and support life, b) practicing generosity in material
form and time, c) promoting and supporting healthy and responsible
relationships, and d) consuming substances which promote health
and awareness. These practices are very beneficial in facing Clinging
(upadana), especially Clinging to forms (kamupadana)
which involves the other forms of Clinging (upadana).
In terms of consumer society, these practices involve some of
the things we outlined in the material and spiritual requisites.
In consumer society, practicing these four forms of Right Action
on an initial ethical level is like practicing Right Consumption.
a) Abstaining from Taking Life
& Preserving and Supporting Life
To practice actively preserving life, we must begin with persevering
our inner ecology. This means renouncing toxic levels of violent
intake by abstaining from consuming unnecessary images of violence
and death through movies, TV and inappropriate news broadcasting.
When we partake in such activities, we numb ourselves to the suffering
of violence and death and begin to lose the ability to discriminate
between the reality and fantasy of violence and death which is
not our own. This in turn leads to a passivity in the face of
violence and death and allows for practices like investing in
companies which make technology and equipment for non-peaceful
use. Instead, we must learn to make contact with the suffering
caused by violence and death in full awareness. When we make contact
in this way, we can avoid concocting vibhavatanha and instead
experience panna with insight into Impermanence, Not-self
and Dukkha. The practice of panna means that we take a
vital interest in benefiting those who are suffering. This experience
was the critical experience that the Buddha had when he made contact
with the suffering of sickness and death and went off in search
of the cessation of this Dukkha. His purpose was not in ending
his Dukkha but finding the solution to Dukkha itself,
which meant for every one.
To practice this on a social level requires integrating it into
the other factors of Right Action since economic exploitation
as stealing and sexual exploitation create much of the fear and
anger which fuels violence and the taking of life. In terms of
Right Culture, we need to re-examine our modern myths and heroes.
A hero which conquers physical death through a competitive battle
in which the other side loses and dies (Rambo) goes against the
natural truths of Dukkha as death, cooperation (idappaccayata),
and Not-self (an other who's suffering is not ours). A Dhammic
hero is one who conquers spiritual death with the help of others
by conquering the enemies of the mind in greed, anger and delusion
and ultimately leads others to this state of spiritual deathlessness.
The Bodhisattva as well as other spiritual leaders like Christ
and Mohammed are such heroes. The Tibetan code of the spiritual
warrior, Shambala, further contrasts our modern consumer heroes
like Bruce Willis who follow the code of "kicking ass".
When the Nobel Peace Prize gives its award to people practicing
this first precept like the Dalai Lama or the Campaign to Stop
Landmines, it supports this development of Dhammic Culture.
When we begin to penetrate this ethical practice, we develop a
mental ecology which leads us to higher levels of practice beyond
the positive and negative. In this way, some Buddhist meditation
practices actually encourage students to purposefully contemplate
dead corpses. This is used as an experiential conscientization
practice to develop awareness of the inevitability of physical
Dukkha in birth, aging, sickness, and death. This awareness further
brings us in contact with the truths of Impermanence and Not-self
which help us go beyond the fear of death.
b) Abstaining from Taking What
is Not Given & Practicing Generosity & Simplicity
To practice generosity, we must first begin by abstaining from
disrupting the cooperative nature of our collective ecology. In
consumer culture, this is centrally abstaining from economic exploitation.
Becoming aware of such exploitation and the role each of us play
in it by consuming products from exploitative companies is the
first and extremely vital step. When Michael Jordan says isn't
aware of accusations that Nike exploits workers in Southeast Asia,
and responds,"My job is to endorse the product. Nike's job
is to be up on that.", he supports this exploitation through
his ignorance.6 All of these four practices including Right Speech
follow Gandhi's law of non-violence which says to not actively
oppose violence is to support it. In this initial application
of awareness, using our Dhammic Pedagogy is critical since economic
issues are complex and highly interrelated. They often avoid blanket
ethical solutions and require creative ones based on the causes
and conditions of each situation. In general, however, we must
work to abstain from forms of taking what is not given by large
multinational corporations and banks which redistribute wealth
to the rich by converting the wealth of labor and money into profit
for an elite group.
In the practice of the material and spiritual requisites in Right
Intention, we have seen how practicing personal restraint creates
economic surplus for others and leads to good will and harmlessness.
These intentions of renunciation, good will and harmlessness help
to develop the practice of generosity (dana). Generosity
as a practice can further train the mind in these Right Intentions
and was given by the Buddha as an instruction in entering the
larger path of sila-samadhi-panna..7 Generosity here extends
beyond drowning loved ones in material goods like we see at Christmas
time. Giving gifts to children and loved ones to make up for emotional
stinginess from self-involved busyness in not true generosity.
In our busy and material consumer cultures, we need to regain
the generosity of sharing time and energy. Recently, as the Japanese
economy has suffered a downturn, some of the well know, workaholic,
absentee Japanese fathers have grown disillusioned with their
selfless sacrifice to their companies and have begun to recommit
themselves to the value of time spent with their families. In
this way, we see how the experience of Aging & Death (jaramarana)
can lead us to saddha and sila.
Reasserting the values of material simplicity and emotional generosity
is a way to develop our larger Dhammic Culture. These values can
transform our present ones of poverty and wealth. When those in
"poverty" are no longer seen as half-human underconsumers
who paternalistically must be brought into the fold of consumer
values, they may discover an identity of self-worth and self-empowerment
to form true priorities in their quest towards material and spiritual
stability. The rich are transformed as well. Traditional Buddhist
society evaluated a person of wealth (sresthi) not by how
much they had accumulated personally but by how many soup kitchens
or shelters they had established. With renunciation as an active
social value, it becomes clearer to the rich what they actually
need for a comfortable life. The rest is excess to be shared with
others, especially those of lesser means among one's associations
and community.
When these practices are fully internalized, we again begin to
go beyond the ethical and the positive and negative. As we've
noted, the experiences of the nirodhavara #8 disenchantment
(nibbida) and #9 dispassion and fading away (viraga),
lead to intention (wise want) to live a life in simplicity with
simple, food clothing and shelter. This is a natural progression
as the development of a mental ecology ripens into a full connection
the ecology of nature. We may not all become renunciate monks
or nuns, but the practice of group generosity ensures that we
will never be lacking in any material requisites.
c) Abstaining from Sexual Misconduct
& Promoting Right Relationship
d) Abstaining from the Misuse of Intoxicants & Transforming
Substances to Promote Health and Awareness
We put these two practices together since sex can be seen as an
intoxicant. Sex and intoxicants can become understood within the
spiritual requisite of society or Right Relationship and the material
requisite of medicine. In consumer society, they are both misused
in similar ways. Sex and intoxication as entertainment have become
major industries, much of which escapes the limited means of our
laws and penal code which do little to promote methods of using
these properly. Abuse of sex and intoxicants is rooted in or attitudes
about them. Companies take advantage of our Craving (tanha)
for them by marketing them as consumables. As we have seen, this
Craving (tanha) concocts into Clinging (upadana)
and Bhava, and we develop "needs" for sex and intoxication
like in American attitudes of "needing" sex and Japanese
attitudes of "needing" intoxication to combat stress
and depression. Further, in broken consumer societies which have
lost traditional methods of marking the coming of age, public
acknowledgment of sex and the use of intoxicants like alcohol
and cigarettes have become markers of maturity. This attitude
exposes how we use sex and intoxicants to satisfy our second spiritual
requisites, society, or the requisite of human contact and relationship.
Practicing the material requisite of medicine develops a renunciation
practice which goes beyond the admonishment of "Just Say
NO" which leaves us still swimming in Craving (tanha)
and Clinging (upadana). The spiritual requisite of society
develops a renunciation practice which goes beyond repressive
and often patriarchal sexual attitudes. By de-alienating and "re-imbedding"
these practices into their original containers of medicine and
Right Relationship, they become practices which help to develop
our inner ecology. As far as Dhammic Culture, reinvigorating traditional
practices of coming of age or developing new such practices will
help nurture a true maturity where sex as relationship and intoxicants
as medicine are treated responsibility and in ways that benefit
others. In Thailand, a man's coming of age has been marked through
a three month period of ordination in a Buddhist temple. This
period has been seen as an important time for a man to develop
his spiritual and ethical manner in order to re-emerge as a mature
and productive member of society. If the man wants to get married,
this period of ordination is often a requirement of the wife's
family. Similarly, in indigenous cultures, a period of self-sufficient
solitude in the wilderness marks the transition from child to
adult. Further, although child birth has been the traditional
way for a woman to come of age, it is vital that new opportunities
of coming of age are developed for women such as spiritual study
which has often been confined to men.
When these practices are fully internalized, we begin to go beyond
the ethical and the positive and negative. Disenchantment (nibbida)
and dispassion and fading away (viraga) lead to the practices
of giving up all intoxicants and of celibacy. These may not be
practices that we all attain but they are results which are neither
severe nor fake.
RIGHT LIVELIHOOD (samma ajiva)
The next practice
in the path is Right Livelihood which is a consolidation of the
above five basic sila in a total way of living. It is often
discussed within the context of having an occupation which does
not exploit others. If we consider the deeper meaning of livelihood,
however, we bring in all the factors of our way of living. In
a compartmentalized, modern life, livelihood may be confined to
the work place. In a society with Dhammic Culture, however, Right
Livelihood is the way one conducts oneself through the day in
the web of interconnected activities. "Work" can be
any serious activity which requires sustained effort as opposed
to that aspect of our life which creates economic value for our
pursuit of appetites.
The first step in practicing Right Livelihood is to disembed ourselves
from Wrong Livelihood. In the context of Right Livelihood as occupation,
we can begin by practicing the five sila as abstaining
from employment in:
1. the Taking of Life
-the military
-media which creates images of violence
-large level poultry and meat industries which practice cruelty
in the raising of animals and harmfulness in using toxic hormone
treatments, and then participate in mass murder.
2. the Taking of What is Not Given
-investment banking, currency trading, etc. which seeks to gain
profit without the production of any material value and deprives
large groups of innocent people of their livelihood when economies
experience sudden losses in capital and in the value of currency.
-trade blocs and development banks which pry open vernacular societies
for the economic exploitation of powerful and wealthy corporations
3. the Practice of Unskillful Sexual Relations
-television, magazine and video entertainment which develops Craving
for sensual forms (kamatanha) and Wrong Relationship. This
is not confined to the industry of pornography.
-the sex trade industry which exports women and children to capital
cities and foreign countries in a chain of economic transactions
that reduce them to slavery.
4. The Improper Use of Intoxicants
- the massive and often state run alcohol and tobacco industries
which receive preferential treatment through the practice of duty-free
shopping in airports thus making a mockery of state run health
systems.
-large portions of the pharmaceutical industry which actively
undercut the use and development of natural medicines, develop
consumer drugs which ingrain Craving-Clinging-Bhava, and collude
with hospitals and doctors to over prescribe and addict patients
to unnecessary medicines.
5. Speaking What is Not True Nor of Benefit
-mass media which is dependent on large forms of advertising capital
and thus influenced by the above industries
-advertising
Our work to develop the practice of material and spiritual requisites is an important first step in creating an attitude adjustment towards the things we consume and the way we live our lives. Much of the perceived economic crisis comes from people who fear that they will have to restrain their appetites and their consumer dreams of designer clothes, Mercedes and condominiums. In Right Livelihood, the Buddha said that Right Understanding, Right Effort and Right Mindfulness "run and circle around Right Livelihood."8 The practice of the material requisites first helps us to disengage from time wasting and awareness debilitating preoccupations with sensual indulgence in Craving-Clinging-Bhava. When we develop simplicity in requisites, many of which can be provided in our local economy, we take steps towards disengaging from luxury "needs" provided by the free market and from over dependence on requisites provided by massive and inefficient state bureaucracies. Further, when we develop self-reliance and connection through spiritual requisites, we disengage from the alienating and addictive personal, social, and environmental "needs" concocted by the free market.
On the level of Dhammic Culture, simplicity in the material requisites
and connection in the spiritual requisites help to form more self-sufficient
and connected communities which control local natural resources
and local means of production. By practicing inner ecology in
the requisites, we create an outer ecology in Right Economics
and Right Ecology.9 In rural Thailand, Buddhist monks have been
traditional leaders of the community. Today, there are a number
of cases of monks applying these aspects of the practice to the
social level. Based at the village temple, the establishment of
buffalo banks and rice banks have enabled villagers to disengage
from purchasing unnecessary mechanized farming equipment and chemical
fertilizers from national and international corporations as well
as seed rice at inflated prices from their own government. Such
temples have integrated these community initiatives with personal
development of the community. By establishing meditation classes,
gambling and the consumption of expensive (and economically debilitating)
national and foreign liquors has been reduced. By adapting traditional
social events at the temple, such as robe offering ceremonies
for the monks, monks and lay leaders use these occasions to conscientize
villagers. They also use them to raise funds for community development
projects. Such projects like cooperative stores divert money back
into the community in a twofold form of Right Consumption. They
promote the diversion of excess money into community projects
as opposed to competitive, private consumption and also develop
and maintain locally run businesses which can be accountable to
the community.
NOTES:
1 Santikaro Bhikkhu develops this idea of Right Culture coming
from Right Action in Entering the Realm of Reality, 139-42.
2 The American Heritage Dictionary , Second College Edition
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982)
3 Bhikkhu Bodhi, "The Noble Eightfold Path", The
Wheel No. 308/311 (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1984)
53.
4 Interview with Thich Nhat Hanh, America On Line, November 1,
1997, The Book Report, Inc.
5 Since the Reagan era of the 1980s in the United States, public
television has been facing financial crisis. It is continually
facing cuts of its meagre budget by the federal government, thus
making it more prone to support from private businesses. This
contrasts the pride and importance nations like Japan and the
United Kindgom place on their public television.
6 Alexander, Nick, "Beyond Sweatshops? Missing Pieces: How
the Nike Campaign Fails to Engage African-Americans" Third
Force, July/August 1997.
7 Majjhima Nikaya, Upali Sutta, 56:18 (I.379-80).
8 Majjhima Nikaya, Mahacattarisaka Sutta: The Great Forty, 117:33
(III. 75).
9 Santikaro Bhikkhu develops this idea of Right Economics and
Right Ecology coming from Right Livelihood in Entering the
Realm of Reality, 143-47.