Ten Skillful Actions

Bear fruit worthy of repentance.
-- Matthew 3:8

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house,
thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife,
nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,
nor his ox, nor his ass,
nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
-- Exodus 20:17

Let your word be "Yes, Yes' or "No, No';
anything more than this comes from the evil one.
-- Matthew 5:37

All this is from God,
who reconciled us to himself through Christ,
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;
that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself...,
and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
-- 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Finally, beloved,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable,
if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
-- Philippians 4:8

In the Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta, after explaining the Ten Unskillful Actions (akusala-kamma) of body, speech and mind that lead to suffering, the Buddha goes on to explain their opposites, the "ten skillful actions" (kusala-kamma) that lead to happiness, as shown below. Note carefully that these are expressed in both their negative and positive aspects: what to abstain from and what to do instead.

"Now, Cunda, there are three ways in which one is made pure by bodily action, four ways in which one is made pure by verbal action, and three ways in which one is made pure by mental action.

"And how is one made pure in three ways by bodily action?

• There is the case where a certain person, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from the taking of life. He dwells with his rod laid down, his knife laid down, scrupulous, merciful, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings.
• Abandoning the taking of what is not given, he abstains from taking what is not given. He does not take, in the manner of a thief, things in a village or a wilderness that belong to others and have not been given by them.
• Abandoning sensual misconduct, he abstains from sensual misconduct. He does not get sexually involved with those who are protected by their mothers, their fathers, their brothers, their sisters, their relatives, or their Dhamma; those with husbands, those who entail punishments, or even those crowned with flowers by another man.

This is how one is made pure in three ways by bodily action.

"And how is one made pure in four ways by verbal action?

• There is the case where a certain person, abandoning false speech, abstains from false speech. When he has been called to a town meeting, a group meeting, a gathering of his relatives, his guild, or of the royalty, if he is asked as a witness, 'Come & tell, good man, what you know': If he doesn't know, he says, 'I don't know.' If he does know, he says, 'I know.' If he hasn't seen, he says, 'I haven't seen.' If he has seen, he says, 'I have seen.' Thus he doesn't consciously tell a lie for his own sake, for the sake of another, or for the sake of any reward. Abandoning false speech, he abstains from false speech. He speaks the truth, holds to the truth, is firm, reliable, no deceiver of the world.
• Abandoning divisive speech he abstains from divisive speech. What he has heard here he does not tell there to break those people apart from these people here. What he has heard there he does not tell here to break these people apart from those people there. Thus reconciling those who have broken apart or cementing those who are united, he loves concord, delights in concord, enjoys concord, speaks things that create concord.
• Abandoning abusive speech, he abstains from abusive speech. He speaks words that are soothing to the ear, that are affectionate, that go to the heart, that are polite, appealing & pleasing to people at large.
• Abandoning idle chatter, he abstains from idle chatter. He speaks in season, speaks what is factual, what is in accordance with the goal, the Dhamma, & the Vinaya. He speaks words worth treasuring, seasonable, reasonable, circumscribed, connected with the goal.

This is how one is made pure in four ways by verbal action.

"And how is one made pure in three ways by mental action?

• There is the case where a certain person is not covetous. He does not covet the belongings of others, thinking, 'O, that what belongs to others would be mine!'
• He bears no ill will and is not corrupt in the resolves of his heart. [He thinks,] 'May these beings be free from animosity, free from oppression, free from trouble, and may they look after themselves with ease!'
• He has right view and is not warped in the way he sees things: 'There is what is given, what is offered, what is sacrificed. There are fruits & results of good & bad actions. There is this world & the next world. There is mother & father. There are spontaneously reborn beings; there are brahmans & contemplatives who, faring rightly & practicing rightly, proclaim this world & the next after having directly known & realized it for themselves.'

This is how one is made pure in three ways by mental action.

"These, Cunda, are the ten courses of skillful action. When a person is endowed with these ten courses of skillful action, then even if he gets up at the proper time from his bed and touches the earth, he is still pure. If he doesn't touch the earth, he is still pure. If he touches wet cow dung, he is still pure. If he doesn't touch wet cow dung, he is still pure. If he touches green grass... If he doesn't touch green grass... If he worships a fire... If he doesn't worship a fire... If he pays homage to the sun with clasped hands... If he doesn't pay homage to the sun with clasped hands... If he goes down into the water three times by nightfall... If he doesn't go down into the water three times by nightfall, he is still pure. Why is that? Because these ten courses of skillful action are pure and cause purity. Furthermore, as a result of being endowed with these ten courses of skillful action, [rebirth among] the devas is declared, [rebirth among] human beings is declared — that or any other good destination.

When this was said, Cunda the silversmith said to the Blessed One: "Magnificent, lord! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has the Blessed One — through many lines of reasoning — made the Dhamma clear. I go to the Blessed One for refuge, to the Dhamma, and to the community of monks. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge, from this day forward, for life."

-- from "Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta: To Cunda the Silversmith" (AN 10.176),
translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Access to Insight, Legacy Edition, 30 November 2013.

The Noble Eightfold Path

And inspire me that with mindfulness and alertness
Born from thoughts ultimately pure,
I may live in accord with the holy dharma,
The ways leading to personal liberation.
The Foundation of All Perfections

He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in paths of righteousness
for His Name's sake.
-- Psalm 23:

Although the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta lists the elements of the Noble Eightfold Path, it does not provide any information as to the meaning or content of these elements. A more detailed explanation is given in the portion of the Maha-satipatthana Sutta extracted below. There is a lot of information packed into this excerpt, which we will unpack in future posts, but here are just a couple of preliminary things to note:

• I personally prefer the word anguish instead of "stress" or "suffering" to denote the mental and emotional experience of the phenomenon denoted by the Pali word dukkha.
• "Right mindfulness" and "right concentration" are addressed in a slightly different, but not inconsistent, way by the Anapanasati Sutta, part of which we used in A Basic Meditation Technique (the Pali term jhana (Sanskrit dhyana) means "mental absorption").

"And what is the noble truth of the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress? Just this very noble eightfold path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

"And what is right view? Knowledge with regard to stress, knowledge with regard to the origination of stress, knowledge with regard to the cessation of stress, knowledge with regard to the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: This is called right view.

"And what is right resolve? Aspiring to renunciation, to freedom from ill will, to harmlessness: This is called right resolve.

"And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech.

"And what is right action? Abstaining from taking life, from stealing, & from illicit sex. This is called right action.

"And what is right livelihood? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, having abandoned dishonest livelihood, keeps his life going with right livelihood: This is called right livelihood.

"And what is right effort? There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, arouses persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen... for the sake of the abandoning of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen... for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen... (and) for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, & culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen: This is called right effort.

"And what is right mindfulness? There is the case where a monk remains focused on the body in & of itself — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. He remains focused on feelings in & of themselves... the mind in & of itself... mental qualities in & of themselves — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. This is called right mindfulness.

"And what is right concentration? There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful (mental) qualities — enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, he enters & remains in the second jhana: rapture & pleasure born of composure, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance. With the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, 'Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.' With the abandoning of pleasure & pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress — he enters & remains in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. This is called right concentration.

"This is called the noble truth of the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress.

-- from "Maha-satipatthana Sutta: The Great Frames of Reference" (DN 22),
translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Access to Insight, Legacy Edition, 30 November 2013.

The Four Noble Truths

No longer craving fantasy,
a steadfast desire for liberation,
attaining these two is the first breakthrough.
The Three Principles of the Path

Inspire me to realize the shortcomings of samsara
And to give birth to the great wish for blissful freedom.
The Foundation of All Perfections

Praise the LORD!
Happy are those who fear the LORD,
who greatly delight in his commandments....
The wicked see it and are angry;
they gnash their teeth and melt away;
the desire of the wicked comes to nothing.
-- Psalm 112:1,10

The core teachings of Buddhism are found in the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta ("The Sutra of Turning the Wheel of Truth"), which describes the Buddha's first sermon to his disciples in the Deer Park at Varanasi. This begins with a brief description of the Middle Path which avoids addiction to extremes. Then follow the Four Noble Truths, which explain why the path is to be followed.

The literal meaning of the Pali term nibbana (Sanskrit nirvana) is "unbinding", that is, liberation of the mind from its enslavement by the Three Poisons and all the anguish (dukkha, often translated "suffering") that follows from that.

"Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced.... There is addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is addiction to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable.

"Avoiding both these extremes, the Tathagata [The Perfect One] has realized the Middle Path; it gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment and to Nibbana.... It is the Noble Eightfold path, and nothing else, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration....

"The Noble Truth of Suffering [dukkha], monks, is this: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, association with the unpleasant is suffering, dissociation from the pleasant is suffering, not to receive what one desires is suffering — in brief the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering.

"The Noble Truth of the Origin [cause] of Suffering is this: It is this craving [thirst] which produces re-becoming (rebirth) accompanied by passionate greed, and finding fresh delight now here, and now there, namely craving for sense pleasure, craving for existence and craving for non-existence (self-annihilation).

"The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering is this: It is the complete cessation of that very craving, giving it up, relinquishing it, liberating oneself from it, and detaching oneself from it.

"The Noble Truth of the Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering is this: It is the Noble Eightfold Path, and nothing else, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration."

-- from "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting in Motion the Wheel of Truth" (SN 56.11).
Translated from the Pali by Piyadassi Thera.
Access to Insight, 30 November 2013.

The Fire Sermon

No longer craving fantasy,
a steadfast desire for liberation,
attaining these two is the first breakthrough.
-- The Three Principles of the Path, Verse 2

Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'/Our very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet/Mad bull lost its way
-- The Rolling Stones, "Gimme Shelter", 1969

You were taught to put away your former way of life,
your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts,
and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
and to clothe yourselves with the new self,
created according to the likeness of God
in true righteousness and holiness.
-- Ephesians 3:22-24

The bhavachakra is sometimes represented as being engulfed in flame as shown here (click on the image for a larger version), to make the point that all of cyclic existence (samsara) is afire with the Three Poisons of ignorance, attachment and aversion. A similar metaphor is employed by the Buddha in his "Fire Sermon", where he tells us that we must free ourselves from the fiery enchantment exercised by the Three Poisons on the five "aggregates" (skandhas: form, sensation, perception, mental habits and consciousness — the five skulls in the crown of Yama, the Lord of Death) through which phenomena arise to consciousness.

Your samsara is the continuation of your contaminated aggregates.
-- Gelek Rimpoche

Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,
so that you may discern what is the will of God --
what is good and acceptable and perfect.
--Romans 12:2

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Gaya, at Gaya Head, with 1,000 monks. There he addressed the monks:

"Monks, the All is aflame. What All is aflame? The eye is aflame. Forms are aflame. Consciousness at the eye is aflame. Contact at the eye is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs.

"The ear is aflame. Sounds are aflame...
"The nose is aflame. Aromas are aflame...
"The tongue is aflame. Flavors are aflame...
"The body is aflame. Tactile sensations are aflame...

"The intellect is aflame. Ideas are aflame. Consciousness at the intellect is aflame. Contact at the intellect is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the intellect — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I say, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs.

"Seeing thus, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with the eye, disenchanted with forms, disenchanted with consciousness at the eye, disenchanted with contact at the eye. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye, experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: With that, too, he grows disenchanted.

"He grows disenchanted with the ear...
"He grows disenchanted with the nose...
"He grows disenchanted with the tongue...
"He grows disenchanted with the body...

"He grows disenchanted with the intellect, disenchanted with ideas, disenchanted with consciousness at the intellect, disenchanted with contact at the intellect. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the intellect, experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: He grows disenchanted with that too. Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is fully released. With full release, there is the knowledge, 'Fully released.' He discerns that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'"

That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the monks delighted at his words. And while this explanation was being given, the hearts of the 1,000 monks, through clinging no more, were fully released from contamination.

"Adittapariyaya Sutta: The Fire Sermon" (SN 35.28).
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Access to Insight, 30 November 2013.
Final sentence modified, based on a translation by Ñanamoli Thera.

The Wheel of Existence

Deeply contemplate the certainty of karma
and the constant suffering of samsara.
See beyond the cycle of lives.
The Three Principles of the Path

Sensual gluttony is a gate to suffering
And is not worthy of a lucid mind.
Inspire me to realize the shortcomings of samsara
And to give birth to the great wish for blissful freedom.
The Foundation of All Perfections

We're captive on the carousel of Time...
Joni Mitchell, "The Circle Game" (1970)

Wretched man that I am!
Who will rescue me from this body of death?
-- Romans 7:24

Painted on the outside wall of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples is a "Wheel of Existence" (bhavachakra), a symbolic representation of samsara, the endless cycle of birth, death and suffering. As shown below, this comprises six "realms" or mental/emotional states, divided into three "lower" and three "upper" realms:

• The hell realm (naraka) of extreme suffering of heat, cold, mental and physical distress
• The realm of hungry ghosts (pretas), who suffer unquenchable hunger and thirst
• The realm of animals, who suffer from being killed and eaten, and from ignorance which keeps them in thrall to samsara
• The realm of humans, who suffer from birth, disease, old age and death, but who have the opportunity to get off the wheel thanks to the Ten Endowments
• The realm of samsaric gods (devas), who enjoy great pleasure but suffer from impermanence and death
• The realm of demi-gods (asuras), who suffer from their own jealousy, which leads them to constantly make war on the devas - and constantly lose!

In the center of the wheel are the Three Poisons, represented by three animals who provide the energy to keep the wheel turning: the pig (ignorance), the snake (aversion) and the rooster (attachment). On the inner rim of the hamster cage are the sentient beings, propelled downward by negative karma (their actions while under the influence of the poisons) and upward by positive karma (actions taken as they free themselves from the poisons). Around the outer rim are the "twelve stages of dependent origination," showing how beings are trapped in the cycle through ignorance. The whole wheel is held in the grip of impermanence, usually represented as Yama, the Lord of Death.

But look! Above the wheel there is a Buddha pointing at the moon, a symbol of freedom, clarity and peace. In some representations, as in the one below, there is also a "Pure Land" where beings who have not been able to reach full liberation can go to receive final instructions from Buddha Amitabha - the closest thing to the Christian idea of Heaven.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
-- Romans 8:3

Ach wie nichtig

Lacking the determination to be free,
you remain stupefied by samsara's delights.
Since obsession ropes all beings to samsara,
First free yourself from it.
Wonderful is this life, short its nature.
Don't cheat yourself with fleeting pleasure....
The Three Principles of the Path

By regarding all phenomena as illusory,
I will keep these practices undefiled
By the stains of the eight worldly concerns....
-- Geshe Langri Tangpa, "Mind Training in Eight Verses"

Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
Psalm 146:3-4

These verses remind us again not to let our spiritual development be distracted by obsession with the eight worldly concerns of gain and loss, praise and blame, success and failure, pleasure and pain; remember the metaphors of the dirty chalice and weedy ground. More to the point, they are giving us hints as to why to be indifferent to these concerns: They are "stupefying" (because they make us stupid!), and "illusory" because they are "fleeting", incapable of bestowing lasting happiness.

The old German chorale below may help to deepen your feeling for these root truths. It was written in 1652, just four years after the Thirty Years' War, a war of kings under the guise of religion in which the German states lost a third of their population to war, famine and plague. Just for a sense of proportion, that would be as if the US were to endure three 9/11's per day for thirty years.

The German word nichtig has a basic meaning of "insubstantial, perishable, futile" so the translator used "cheating" for rhyming purposes. You won't find this hymn in any modern hymnal, but it was the basis for a Bach cantata (BWV 26).

Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig
Michael Frank, 1609-1667
harmonized by J.S.Bach
Adapted from a translation in Hymns by Sir John Bowring

O how cheating, O how fleeting,
Is our earthly being!
'Tis a mist in wintry weather,
Gathered in an hour together,
And as soon dispers'd in ether.

O how cheating, O how fleeting,
Are our days departing!
Like a deep and headlong river,
Flowing onward, flowing ever,
Tarrying not and stopping never.

O how cheating, O how fleeting,
Are the world's enjoyments!
All the hues of change they borrow,
Bright today and dark tomorrow --
Mingled lot of joy and sorrow!

O how cheating, O how fleeting,
Is all earthly beauty!
Like a summer flow'ret flowing,
Scattered by the breezes blowing
O'er the bed on which 'twas growing.

O how cheating, O how fleeting,
All -- yes all -- that's earthly!
Everything is fading, flying;
Man is mortal, earth is dying;
Christian, live! -- on Heav'n relying.