Buddha's 10 rules for non-harmful living
One of my favourite quotes of Shakyamuni Buddha was when asked to summarise his teachings, he replied: “Abandon harmfulness. Cultivate goodness. Subdue your mind.”
You might say that non-harmfulness is the hallmark of Buddhism and it’s the subject I’d like to explore today. Before I do, I’d like to pause for a moment on the last part of that soundbite: ‘Subdue your mind.’ This is because when we’re able to subdue our mind during meditation, even to some degree, we come to discover that consciousness is quite different from what we may have assumed. Far from being creatures driven by self-interest, we find that our mind is expansive, sky-like and lacking any sense of an inherently existent ‘me.’ If anything, consciousness is pervaded by a feeling of spacious benevolence. We are, in fact, beings of light and love!
Even a brief glimpse of this is enough to understand why Buddha’s summary has a subtlety and coherence that may not otherwise be apparent. Abandoning harmfulness and cultivating goodness isn’t some finger-wagging, moralistic injunction. It is what to do if we wish to live in accord with our own true nature. If outer and inner are to co-exist without dissonance, our underlying state of being should be reflected in how we act, speak and think, to others as well as to ourselves.
How exactly do we live non-harmfully? As a foundation, Buddhism defines ten virtues to cultivate, and their opposites to be avoided. Sometimes known as the ten black and white karmas, I have heard lamas describe them in three subtly different ways.
One way is that they offer the guidelines for a happy life, here and now. Lying, to use one example, can become very stressful when we have to remember what we said to whom and when we said it. Life is so much easier and simpler when we don’t have to engage in complex deception.
Given that the Buddhist definition of a virtue is ‘a cause of happiness,’ traditionally the ten virtues and non-virtues are also explained in terms of causality. If we wish for happiness in the future, we need to create its causes. The ten virtues outline what these are.
A third way we may think of these is as a description of how an enlightened being behaves. If we aspire to enlightenment, then these are our brief. The closer we can align our behaviour with the ideal, the more quickly we’ll get there.
BUDDHA’S TEN RULES FOR NON-HARMFUL LIVING
Many of the above are pretty self-explanatory. But I’d like to offer a few points by way of cultural translation.
First, when we talk about other beings, we are referring to all sentient beings, not only the human variety.
In the ‘Physical’ section for relationships, the harm referred to here is taking another person’s partner, just as the rows above refer to taking others’ life or possessions. Taking love from another person by trying to lure away their partner is the main harm to be avoided, irrespective of anyone’s marital status.
In the ‘Verbal’ section, the first harm to be abandoned is usually listed as ‘lying.’ I have used the actual definition of lying here - ‘creating a misleading impression’ - which is much more exacting!
Most of us are pretty good at lying as we do it all the time: “You’re looking very well,” and other such lies, kindly intended, lubricate our social interactions. They’re not what’s being got at. Rather, it’s when we say something like, “I visit my elderly mother regularly,” to give the impression of frequency, even though we only visit on her birthday and at Christmas. Or “I only had one slice of cake,” leaving out the fact that it was an enormous slice!
Intention is the yardstick. As it happens, Buddha himself gave an example in which even creating a misleading impression is appropriate. If you were to find yourself in the countryside and a fraught deer came rushing past followed, some time later, by hunters in pursuit, and if they were to ask what direction the deer had gone in, it would be acceptable to create a misleading impression to preserve the creature’s life.
Through this example we understand that the ten non-virtues are less black-and-white regulations than pointers to whatever behaviour is ultimately most coherent with a mind/heart of love and compassion.
There are a few aspects of speech which, in our conventional world, aren’t considered problematic but that are to be avoided.
Inflaming divisions is something that has become part of our political landscape to an alarming degree - it has become rarer these days for politicians to agree to disagree, or to play the ball instead of their opponents. When animosity becomes normalised, even apparently valid, at a national level, it can make whatever petty estrangement we create seem irrevelant. For example, we may think nothing of pointing out another person’s flaws for sake of amusing the people we’re with. But this creates division. It’s not in harmony with the true nature of our own mind, and it is the cause for us to be the butt of jokes in the future. How do we feel about that?
We are not talking here about good-natured teasing, but rather about the snide remark, the caustic asside. Also, repeating rumours that put ideas in other people’s heads about a third party is especially problematic. Once something has been heard, it can’t be unheard. And it doesn’t matter whether that third party is a next door neighbour or someone as remote to our everyday lives as members of a royal family, a karma is created which we will have to experience, perhaps having grown out of all proportion to its original cause because karma is dynamic.
Better to recall the advice given in some monastic settings which is always to imagine the person you are talking about is standing right next to you when you discuss them.
Meaningless speech and gossip also doesn’t sound like such a bad thing to our Western ears. Again, hanging out together for no particular reason and shooting the breeze isn’t the problem here. From a non-harmfulness perspective, ‘idle gossip’ as it’s sometimes described is what happens when we slide into pointlessly repeating rumours, deepening divisions and and stirring up resentments.
What’s more, if we get into the habit of talking about meaningless trivia we diminish ourselves. I am sure you know at least one person who prattles on endlessly about little of importance. How do you rate the proximity of such a person to the mind of enlightenment?!
Even on a worldly basis, sometimes the less people say, the more closely we listen to them. I remember as a young market researcher reporting to my clients at J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, the consumer feedback I presented on different creative options usually prompted animated chatter from all the account managers, directors and others around the table. But when one reserved and soft-spoken individual spoke, everyone stopped to listen. Generally, he had the last word, because his opinion was so considered.
We are far more influential when other people value what we say. We are in a better place to help them. This is why we need to aspire to be more Buddha-like in our speech.
When it comes to ‘Mental’ actions, cultivating compassion for those who provoke us may also require explanation. Returning to our starting point, anger doesn’t sit naturally with beings of light and love. The person or situation that enrages us almost certainly doesn’t offend everyone, so we need to take ownership of our emotion.
But let’s say that our unhappiness is warranted, and that the person or people we’re focusing on really are evil and dangerous. Well then, the future they are creating for themselves is of acute, unrelenting misery. Without knowing why, their lives will be blighted with pain and misfortune. Is compassion not a more helpful alternative to anger?
The Dalai Lama frequently tells a story of a monk who escaped from jail in Tibet after being imprisoned and tortured for years. Asked by His Holiness what was the worst part of the whole ordeal he replied: “I feared that I would lose compassion for my Chinese jailers.”
Such is the mind to which we aspire.
The ten black and white karmas are helpful to memorise and recollect throughout the day. Some old school kadampa monks used to carry little pouches of black and white stones and count them out during the day as a means of keeping track of their behaviour. The better we monitor, the more effectively we can manage!
I have also come across the practice of pulling out a notebook several times a day to review the passage of the past few hours through the lens of virtue and non-virtue. Most of us have made a few negativities our very own - a tendency to craving and grasping perhaps, or to anger. Maybe we find it hard stopping ourselves from speaking negatively about others, or we’re in the habit of envying or belittling certain people.
The advice I have heard offered by my teachers is always to identify the biggest target, our most unrelenting negativity, and make that the focus of change. The task of striving towards enlightenment may be too overwhelming otherwise!
Virtuous behaviour is, quite obviously, a vast and complex subject, but one with points of direct, personal relevance. If you are new to the Dharma the recommended approach is always to read/listen, to think through what has been presented, and then to meditate on it.
As my precious teacher Les Sheehy often says: “A realisation is when your understanding of a subject deepens to the point that it changes your behaviour.” That is the point we aim to reach!
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I am delighted to be sharing this image to mark the new lunar year, the Year of the Dragon, from Dongyu Gyatsal Ling nunnery. DGL is one of the four main organisations you support through your subscription:
If you would like to see a short, happy video from the nunnery, showing preparations for the new year celebrations, you can do so here.
And when this picture came through from our friends at Twala, another of the not-for-profits we support, I just had to share it …
Thank you, David for this week’s message. A wonderful article which gently reminds us all of what we are to be about, if we are REALLY striving to attain enlightenment. The challenge is to not be in a hurry. This is a lifetime path and one to be cherished as we move along. I for one am so grateful to be a part of this group. . . . I thoroughly enjoyed the video of the nuns. How beautiful! Then burst out laughing at the kitty/monkey photo! That will keep my laughing all day long!
🙏🏽 Love the Chart as it is something easy to share with others 💖 worth volumes and keeps it simple ❣ xoxo