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The Ethical Heart (4 of 5) The Ten Wholesome Actions

Today is the fourth day of this theme of ethics. As I've emphasized, there's not a good match in the Pali language of the Buddha for our English word "ethics." Sila^[1] doesn't quite match because it has to do with conduct. Ethics often has to do with conduct, certainly, but also other aspects, like virtue and the principles behind how we act. However, sila refers to action.

Some people nowadays, like Bhikkhu Bodhi^[2], translate it as "virtuous conduct." Conduct is actually quite important. There is this wonderful teaching in the Middle Length Discourses (Majjhima Nikaya)^[3] of two Brahmins who come to the Buddha. They are having a disagreement about what makes a person a Brahmin. Are they born that way? It's kind of like a caste system where somehow by birth they become the top class or caste in the society, or is it by their actions? The Buddha comes back with a lengthy response where he's very clear that people are defined by their actions, not by their birth. In this teaching, the Buddha was explicit that there's no differentiation between different species, races, or different human beings. Human beings are all one class of beings, and what differentiates human beings for the Buddha is their actions, what they actually do.

Repeatedly in the texts, the Buddha will come back over and over again to how people are actually living. Are they living in ways that are causing harm, or are they living in ways which are not causing harm? He answers philosophical questions, metaphysical questions, sociological questions, and questions about distinctions within societies and castes by always going back to how people act. What are they doing? Is it, in our English terms, ethical or not ethical?

In this discourse, he says, "One is not a Brahmin by birth, nor by birth a non-Brahmin. By action is one a Brahmin; by action is one a non-Brahmin." So here he is redefining "Brahmin" from being a particular caste of people to being someone whose actions are ethical. Everyone can be a Brahmin in this kind of teaching. He then goes on to describe how people are defined by what they do. People are farmers by farming, craftspeople by doing crafts. People are merchants by their acts, by what they do. Some people are robbers because they rob, soldiers because they soldier, and chaplains because they act as chaplains. People are rulers by their actions.

This is how the truly wise see action as it really is. The wise are skilled in action and in the results of actions; they see the consequences of actions. Then he says something I think is nice. Kind of like how in English we say, "Love makes the world go round," in translation, the Buddha said, "Action makes the world go round. Action makes this generation of people turn. Living beings are bound by action like a chariot wheel by the pin that keeps it to the axle. By self-control and inner training, by this, one becomes a Brahmin. In this lies supreme Brahminhood."

Here again, action includes not only physical actions in the world, but the actual inner actions of training, of self-control, of developing oneself through practice. Action makes the world go round, so action is very important. But the measure of action is whether it's causing harm or not, whether it's skillful or not.

There is a list of ten what are called skillful actions or wholesome actions. If we take the word kusala^[4] and translate it as "ethics," there are ten ethical actions that the Buddha emphasized much more than he emphasized the five precepts, for example.

To understand the ten skillful or wholesome actions, we can look at the ten unskillful or unwholesome ones. These are: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, malicious or divisive speech, harsh speech, pointless speech, avariciousness, ill will, and wrong view.

The skillful ones are: abstaining from killing, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from sexual misconduct, abstaining from speaking falsehoods, abstaining from malicious or divisive speech, abstaining from harsh speech, abstaining from pointless chatter, abstaining from avariciousness, abstaining from ill will, and abstaining from wrong view.

This is so important for the Buddha. This is why I think the word kusala—skillful or wholesome—is probably the closest to the English word "ethics" or "ethical." This list of ten is so important in the Buddhist teachings that he said doing the ten skillful actions is the Dharma. This is the noble Dharma, and this is the far shore.

Some of you might know that both the word "noble" and the term "far shore" are often used to represent enlightenment or the goal of practice. Here, he is very powerfully saying that living this way, by these ten ethical ways, is what the Dharma is. This is what is noble; this is the far shore. He says the near shore—what's not the Dharma, what's not noble—is the ten unskillful actions.

I wanted to emphasize this today because I want to keep bringing together the idea that what we might call ethics and the goal of Buddhist practice are one and the same. They can't really be separated. Attaining the far shore, attaining the noble Dharma, we become ethical; we become these qualities. Someone who is spiritually mature in Buddhism will naturally live by this. This is who they are. They're not going to kill, they're not going to steal, and they're not going to engage in sexual misconduct. They're not going to lie. They're not going to be involved in malicious or divisive speech, harsh speech, or pointless chatter. They are not going to be avaricious, always wanting and acquiring. They're not going to be living with ill will, and they're not going to have wrong view.

I know when I first came to Buddhism many years ago, in the counterculture of the United States at that time, this kind of ethical teaching was kind of uninteresting for us. What was interesting were the great states of mind, the more non-ethical descriptions of awakening and liberation. That was all fine, as it got many of us to practice. But as we practice, as we develop the practice, there becomes an inherent, natural tendency to want to live more and more in what we would call ethical ways. The Buddha would call them skillful, wholesome, or healthy ways.

These ten actions partly define what is healthy and wholesome. When ethics is associated with purity, he calls these ten the way to live with purity. He refers to them as good and bad—abstract terms that are often used to describe ethics. He says the skillful ones are conducive towards happiness, and the unskillful ones towards suffering. He also associates some of these with inner virtues, giving them a positive correlation. Abstaining from killing life is correlated with being compassionate for all beings. Avoiding malicious speech means using speech that unites those who are divided and promotes friendship. Abstaining from harsh speech is to speak gently and courteously. Abstaining from pointless speech is to speak what is factual and what is useful or good. Abstaining from ill will is to wish others to be free from affliction. So, it is a kind of virtue to live this way.

So, kusala is the word of the week. This is probably the best word for the English idea of ethics. I think you get a very different feeling for ethics when you think of it as developing what's skillful, what's wholesome, and what's healthy.

There are three roots of what is unskillful and three roots of what is skillful. That will be the topic for tomorrow. I will discuss that in the context of suggesting that there's one more word that can be associated with the English word ethics. That is the word I translate as "beautiful," kalyāṇa^[5]. What is ethical is also associated with beauty. So, the three roots and beauty will be the topic for tomorrow.

Announcements

The other thing I would like to say is that tomorrow after the teachings here at 7:45, for those of you who would like, we could have another one of these community meetings where we can meet on Zoom. You can ask some questions, but we can also do breakout groups so that you have a chance to talk with each other. Maybe we can discuss the topic for the week—I can pose some questions—or maybe just meet some people. It's quite a nice community we're developing over time here these mornings, and it would be nice to be able to meet someone somewhat randomly in the Zoom breakout groups.

The Zoom information will be posted on the IMC calendar for the event, and also it will be posted in the chat during tomorrow morning's 7:00 a.m. sitting. There might be a password again, and I'll tell you tomorrow what it is. That will be at 7:45. We'll finish here, and I'll probably just turn off the YouTube channel, and then we can all go to the link and meet on Zoom. I look forward to it. Thank you very much.