---
ai_generation_date: '2026-05-05'
ai_model: gemini-3-pro-preview
audiodharma:
  talks:
  - date: '2023-02-20'
    mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/17766/20230220-Tanya_Wiser-IMC-generosity_ethics_and_meditation.mp3
    speakers:
    - speaker_name: Tanya Wiser
      speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/286
    talk_start_time_seconds: 0
    title: Generosity, Ethics, and Meditation
    url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/17766
    video_unavailable: false
location_city: Redwood City, CA
video_unavailable: false
youtube:
  id: N4gyTvlobfM
  imprecise_upload_date: null
  title: 'Generosity, Ethics, and Meditation: offered by Tanya Wiser'
  upload_date: '2023-02-21'
  uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center
  uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter
youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4gyTvlobfM
---

# Generosity, Ethics, and Meditation - [Tanya Wiser](https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/286)

*This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.*


## [Generosity, Ethics, and Meditation](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/17766)

Hello everybody. Welcome. Is there anybody here for their first time? Welcome, I am glad to have you here. Are you comfortable with my mask off? Great. 

My name is Tanya Wiser. It is nice to see some of you again that I've seen recently, and nice to see some I haven't.

I have been thinking about the sutta Majjhima Nikaya 128 a lot. The things that I've really been struck by as I've been studying the sutta is how much it is about generosity, ethical action, and meditation—and meditation in the broadest sense, from mindfulness practice and meditation in daily life to concentration practice. It shows how supportive each of those things are for a clear mind. 

It is said in the teachings that the true nature of the mind is radiance, and as our mind is radiant, our heart is free to express generosity, kindness, caring, and ethical action.

This particular sutta is called *Corruptions*, in the translation by Bhikkhu Sujato that I used. I don't read Pali, so I'm reading the English interpretation. The corruptions are the things that cloud that luminescent mind and heart. I'll talk about them more later, but I want to go through the sutta a little bit and really look at the qualities of generosity, ethical action, and meditation, which are demonstrated more than they're really spoken about.

The sutta starts with the Buddha in a monastery. At that time, there was a group of mendicants who were arguing, quarreling, and disputing continually, wounding each other with barbed words. A mendicant came up to the Buddha, stood to one side, and told him what was happening. He said, "Please sir, go to these mendicants out of compassion." The Buddha consented in silence.

When I look at this, I see generosity on the part of the Buddha to consent to leave a monastery where he is meditating. It's very ethical to take our time to care for our minds, to take care of our body, heart, and mind in meditation and practice. 

The Buddha goes to these mendicants who are quarreling, arguing, and hurting each other with words. All of those things are the opposite of generosity, ethical action, and meditation; none of those qualities are present. The Buddha arrives and says, "Enough mendicants, stop arguing, quarreling, and disputing."

He said it three times, and each time the mendicant—I'm assuming the one that went to get him—said, "Wait sir, let the Buddha, the Lord of the Dhamma, remain passive, dwelling in blissful meditation in the present life." So three times essentially the Buddha tried to get these arguing mendicants to stop, to talk, to practice, and they didn't listen. Three times the mendicant says to him, "Take care of yourself, Buddha, they're not listening."

So the Buddha robed up in the morning, went out for alms, came back, got his lodging in order, took his bowl and robe, and recited a poem before he left.

He said, "When many voices shout at once, no one thinks that they're a fool." Right away, when people are shouting at once, there's no generosity. Everybody's trying to grab the space. There's no right speech, because they're all shouting. There is no ethical action, and they're certainly not paying attention to their mindfulness.

He said, "While the Sangha is being split, none thought another to be better. Pretending to be astute, they talk their words right out of bounds." Again, out of ethical action. "They blab at will," so no restraint. "Their mouths agape, and no one knows what leads them on." The energies of the hindrances—these corruptions—are what are driving their behaviors.

"They abuse me, they hit me, they beat me, they robbed me," he says they say. "For those who bear such a grudge, hatred never ends. For those who bear no such grudge, hatred does have an end. For never is hatred settled by hate, it's only settled by love." This is an eternal truth. To settle a conflict, we need generosity, ethical action, we need to speak with wisdom, act and behave with wisdom, and be mindful.

The Buddha goes on to say, "Others don't understand that here we need to be restrained." These hindrances, these things that obstruct the clear mind, are energies. It's part of nature, we all have them. They've been in our culture for eons. If we don't restrain them, they just keep going and they grow. They become habits, and much more than a habit: our conditioning, our personalities.

He says, "But those who understand this need to be restrained, being clever, they settle their conflicts. Breakers of bones and takers of lives, thieves of cattle, horses, and wealth, those who plunder the nation—even they can come together. So why on earth can't you?" And he says, "If you find an alert companion, a wise and virtuous friend, then overcoming all adversities, wander with them, joyful and mindful. If you find no alert companion, no wise and virtuous friend, then like a king who flees his conquered realm, wander alone like a tusker in the wilds." A tusker is a male elephant with tusks—large and confident. He said it's better to wander alone. "There is no fellowship with fools. Wander alone and do no wrong, at ease like a tusker in the wild."

So the Buddha says this, and then he moves on. He goes to visit a mendicant in another village named Bhagu. Bhagu saw the Buddha coming off in a distance. Very much unlike the other group, when Bhagu saw the Buddha coming, he spread out a seat and placed water for washing his feet. When the Buddha came, he sat on the seat and washed his feet. Bhagu bowed to the Buddha and sat down to one side.

We see the complete opposite expression here. There is generosity, ethical action, and mindfulness. The Buddha says to him, "I hope you're keeping well, mendicant. I hope you're alright, and I hope you're having no trouble getting alms food." Bhagu says, "I'm keeping well, sir. I'm alright, and I'm having no trouble getting alms food." Then, in response, the Buddha educated, encouraged, fired up, and inspired Bhagu with a Dhamma talk, which is another set of generosity, ethical action, and mindfulness or meditation.

There's no mention in the sutta of the generosity, the kindness that they're showing, the care and regard. It's just simply described. I think the Buddha taught so much by what he showed us. We often read a sutta, and if you just read it based on the content, the content is much more focused on ill will, hatred, and conflict. But then the Buddha just gets up and goes—responds, helps, and goes to the mendicants who are arguing. When he's of no use, he leaves and goes to help Bhagu. Then he gets up and goes again.

This time he goes to see three venerables who were staying in the Eastern Bamboo Park. As he approached the park, the park keeper saw the Buddha coming along. He clearly doesn't know who the Buddha is, and says, "Don't come into this park, ascetic. There are three gentlemen who love themselves staying here. Do not disturb them."

Anuruddha, who is one of the mendicants there, sees the Buddha and the park keeper. He says, "No, no, it's okay," and calls to his other companions, saying, "Come forth, venerables, come forth! Our teacher, the Blessed One, has arrived."

So we see in this progression: with Bhagu, he stood and prepared for the Buddha, but there wasn't this "Come forth, come forth! Our teacher, the Blessed One, has arrived." We're seeing another layer of welcoming, generosity, and kind speech.

The three venerables came out to greet the Buddha, and all three of them engaged in this greeting. One received his bowl and his robe, one spread out a seat, and one set water out for washing his feet. The Buddha sat on the seat and washed his feet, and then the venerables bowed and sat down to one side.

The Buddha starts the conversation in the same way. He says, "I hope you're keeping well. I hope you're alright. I hope you're having no trouble getting alms food." Anuruddha says, "We're keeping well, sir. We're alright, and we're having no trouble getting alms food." 

Taking a moment with this: keeping well is important for us. It's really meaningful to say, "I hope you're keeping well." Getting alms food is incredibly important because that's what we need to survive in a body. We need food.

The Buddha has found out they're getting their nourishment and keeping well, and he goes on to say, "I hope you're living in harmony, appreciating each other without quarreling, blending like milk and water, and regarding each other with kindly eyes." Wow, that's quite a description. Quite a lot for the Buddha to be saying. You can see, if they're behaving this way, why the park keeper would say, "There are three people who are loving themselves." Anuruddha says, "Indeed, sir, we are living in harmony as you say."

Then the Buddha asks something incredibly important: "But how do you live this way?" I think it's a question we don't ask enough of ourselves. If you don't question and discover the factors that contribute to a positive state of mind, the mind takes those good states for granted. So when things are good and going well, ask yourself questions like: "What is happening now? Why are things going well? What attitude is present?" In this way, you start to recognize what we're doing to support the arising of well-being, both in our own minds and in our interactions with others. "How do you live this way?" Not just "I hope you're in harmony," but "Do you know *how* you're doing this?" This is so important for our practice.

Anuruddha answers. He says, "In this case, sir, I think to myself, 'I'm fortunate, so very fortunate.'" He's expressing gratitude and appreciation. That's a very powerful and supportive factor for helping us value what we're doing. It's really important for us to take the time to appreciate what we're doing that's supporting our well-being.

He thinks he's fortunate to live together with spiritual companions such as these. I feel fortunate to have this Sangha here, this place to come to, people here to practice with. He says, "I consistently treat these venerables with kindness by way of body, speech, and mind, in both public and private." Public and private is internally and externally. It's not just an external expression; he's actually relating to them in those same ways inside of himself. Sometimes we act kindly on the outside, but we don't feel so kindly on the inside.

He thinks to himself, "Why don't I set aside my own ideas and just go along with these venerables' ideas?" And he says, "That's what I do. Though we're different in body, sir, we're one in mind, it seems to me."

Then his other companions say likewise. They add, "That is how we live in harmony, appreciating each other without quarreling, blending like milk and water, and regarding each other with kindly eyes."

When we're interacting in a way that has a pleasing effect—if it's music, it's melodious. When you see people interacting and working together, if you've been on a retreat, you know. Have any of you been on a retreat? Oh yeah. It's a beautiful place to see, especially at the Insight Retreat Center. People are all in silence, and after the first meditation, everybody spends twenty minutes cleaning. They're dancing, weaving, and working around each other. Everybody has their jobs and is doing them with such care. It's very melodious. It's really beautiful.

The other thing I want to emphasize is the mutuality. Is this mutual? Like the Sangha service, everyone is engaged, shared, and reciprocated.

They say, "Yes, we're blending while we're regarding each other well." And the Buddha says, "Good, good. Sadhu, sadhu. I hope you're living diligently, keen, and resolute." Are you also living in a way that shows diligence, keenness, and resolution? Diligence is showing care and conscientiousness in one's work or duties. Keen is having some ardency, some energy. Resolute is being admirably and purposefully determined, unwavering.

Anuruddha says, "Yes, indeed, sir, we live diligently." And again, this good question is: "But *how* do you live this way?"

Anuruddha says, "In this case, sir, whoever returns from alms round prepares the seats, and puts out the drinking water and the rubbish bin. If there's anything left over, whoever returns last eats if they like, otherwise they throw it out where there is no grass that grows." They're paying attention to where they're disposing of the food, not to destroy plants that are growing or animals, or they drop it into water that has no living creatures. Again, attending to the life that's there.

"Then they put away their seats, drinking water, and rubbish bin, and sweep the refectory. If someone sees that a pot of water for washing, drinking, or the toilet is empty, they set it up." They're taking care of each other. "If someone sees that, and if he can't do it, he summons another with a wave of the hand, and they set it up by lifting it with their hands together. But they don't break into speech for that reason. Every five days, we sit together for the whole night and discuss the teachings." That's when they speak and talk about the Dhamma. That is how they live diligently, keen, and resolute. And the Buddha says, "Good, good, good."

Then he asks, "But as you live diligently like this, have you achieved any superhuman distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones, a meditation at ease?" This references deep concentration and insight.

In general, it's said that when people don't live in harmony with each other, they obstruct their access to the Dhamma. When we live in harmony, access to the Dhamma appears. This is probably why the Buddha is going further with these mendicants and his teaching; they're accessible and they're living in harmony, so their access to the Dhamma should be available.

Anuruddha says, "Well, sir..." And this is actually a really great example of how to talk about your practice. He says, "Well, sir, while meditating diligent, keen, and resolute, we perceive both light and vision of forms. But before long, the light and vision of forms vanish, and we haven't worked out the reason for that."

When we go and share our practice, it's really helpful to name how we're practicing, what arises, and what we're seeing. That's what they're doing when referencing this light and the forms. They describe that they begin to get concentrated, and then the concentration dissipates. He says, "We haven't worked out the reason for that." They don't yet know why that's happening.

The Buddha responds again with tremendous generosity and decides to tell them about his own practice and what he learned. He shares about it from a first-person perspective and says, "This is what happened for me when that was going on." This is where the Buddha starts to talk about these hindrances and how they arise in meditation practice.

He said, "Before my awakening, when I was still unawakened but intent on awakening, I too perceived both light and vision of forms. But before long, my light and vision of forms vanished. So it occurred to me—and this is so important—'What is the cause? What is the reason why my light and vision of forms vanish?'"

Anuruddha was saying he hadn't figured that out, but remember, this is a worthy question when you are meditating and things come up. It's very worthwhile to reflect on what was going on, what changed, what qualities were present.

The first thing that the Buddha shares is, "Doubt arose in me. And because of that, my immersion fell away." Immersion is concentration. "When immersion falls away, the light and vision of forms vanish." And then he says, "I'll make sure that doubt will not arise in me again."

I love that in the sutta doubt is the first hindrance to be named. It is so common for us to have doubt. So common for us to question how we should practice. "Is my practice good enough? Am I good enough? What teacher should I listen to?" There's so much that we can doubt, and when we feel that doubt, we lack conviction. We become indecisive, hesitant, dubious, suspicious, or confused. Those things really affect our ability to be ardent, to be focused, energetic, and committed to our practice.

The Buddha actually doesn't explain what doubt is in the sutta. I'm explaining it to you a little bit. He doesn't tell them what they'll feel when they notice doubt, and he doesn't tell them what the cause of doubt is. In a way, this is incredibly beautiful and generous because all of us have our own experience of what doubt is, and we all need to discover it for ourselves and know how it manifests in our practice. He's saying, "Look for doubt, but you've got to figure it out."

We learn from each other, we can read, but it's when we recognize it as it's arising in our own mental space and our own hearts—those are the precious moments. These hindrances that arise are actually also the guides toward freedom. If we can recognize them, see them, and meet them skillfully, they're treasures. They are part of practice. They obscure the mind, but when we work with them, they dissolve, at least temporarily.

In our modern society, often a main source of doubt is giving inappropriate attention to thinking, to speculating, to analyzing, to doing a lot of thinking. Most of us value cleverness and wielding these answers. But the Buddha's teaching says thinking is the cause of many problems.

The Buddha goes on and brings back up, "While meditating diligent, keen, and resolute, I perceived both light and vision of forms. But before long, my light and vision of forms vanished. It occurred to me, 'What is the cause? What's the reason why my light and vision of forms vanished?'" 

He's not feeling sorry for himself. He's not trying to make himself have a different experience. He is simply recognizing something. The mind was getting clear and concentrated, and then it vanished. "Okay, what happened?"

We have to be pretty close to that event to be able to say what happened. When we have an event in our meditation and we get caught in a hindrance, wow, just like gold is right there. If we can really say, "Oh, I want to notice," not "Damn, I'm angry again," but rather, "Oh, this is nature. This is arising. Let me open up to this. Can I reflect what happened here? What generated the appearance of this doubt?"

This time the Buddha says, "It occurred to me, loss of focus arose in me, and it was because of that that my immersion fell away." Loss of focus could be part of sloth and torpor, which is another one of the hindrances. Torpor is when the mind sags, the mind is diffuse and not focused. That lack of focus is going to affect us staying present.

For me, when I think about a loss of focus, a lot of causes of that are actually a lack of interest. Are we interested in what's happening? Are we really seeing what's going on? Are we inspired? Are we inspired by our practice, by our teacher, by the Sangha, by the people around us? Do we have faith? Do we have faith in this practice, in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha? Those things support focus, energy, and interest.

Next, the Buddha goes on and says, "While meditating, dullness and drowsiness arose in me." Every time he says, "I'm going to make sure that neither doubt, nor loss of focus, nor dullness and drowsiness will arise in me again."

Dullness and drowsiness might be the sloth part of sloth and torpor, which is usually energetic in the body. It's a lack of energy, and it can be due to a variety of causes. We need to figure out what that is for ourselves. Sometimes it's very simple: we ate too much for dinner, we didn't get enough sleep, we didn't exercise. Watching too much TV can make us feel slothful. But again, if we find ourselves really drowsy in our meditation, pay attention to why you might be feeling drowsy.

The Buddha goes on to name a few other things, but I want to pause here because we're getting near the end and see if anyone has any thoughts, reflections, or questions. I can go in any direction that you all are interested in.

## Q&A

**Question:** Thanks, Tanya. I'm interested in this phrase "light and vision of forms," and I wonder if you could say a bit about your interpretation of what that means.

**Tanya:** One interpretation of that could be that it's like the *nimitta*[^1], or the beginning of going into a *jhāna*[^2], a concentrated state. That's one possibility. It's also fairly common for people, just as they start to get concentrated, to find their mind can be quite bright. It also could just mean potentially that there's something about the clarity of how one is seeing. Getting the dark and light implies there's something quite clear that's being seen. You're really aware of what's happening.

I really want to emphasize how important it is to connect our behavior in the world and how we live with what happens in meditation. When we're in the world and we're enacting the hindrances... Classically they're listed as:
1. Sensual desire (wanting pleasantness)
2. Aversion or ill will
3. Sloth and torpor
4. Restlessness and worry
5. Doubt

You can think about desire and aversion as energies moving in opposite directions. Desire is wanting something; the energy is a pulling. Aversion is wanting to get rid of something. But they're both focused on wanting more, or wanting not.

Sloth and torpor, and restlessness and worry, are kind of the opposites. Sloth and torpor is a lack of energy, a lack of clarity in the mind. Restlessness and worry is too much energy in the body, a mind that's too worried and frenetic. And then doubt, which we've talked about.

If you just think about them as energies, the Buddha says that both desire and ill will are there from birth. They're life energies; we need to go for food, and we need to get away from being hurt, in the simplest form. So they're very innately there. The others kind of come along later as we become more aware of ourselves. But if we allow these energies to continue to manifest in our lives without discipline, they become habits, and then they become personality structures.

Next month, Diana Clark and I are going to teach a hindrances class using *The Wizard of Oz* as a reference. It's a great example of personalities that are created out of the different hindrances with the characters in that show. You might ask yourself, "Of these hindrances, which personality type do I have?" Often you'll hear in Buddhism there are three personality types: greedy, aversive, and deluded. But I actually like this idea of the five personality types of the hindrances. That certainly seems relevant to me. If you come watch *The Wizard of Oz* with us, we'll show little clips.

One final thing I'll share. I looked up "data corruption" in Wikipedia as a reference because they use this word *Corruptions*, and I liked it so much better than many other terms. Wikipedia says, "Data corruption refers to errors in computer data that occur during writing, reading, storage, transmission, or processing, which introduce unintended changes to the original data." That's a way to think about the hindrances! They come in at some point and make unintended changes to what we're doing, feeling, and saying.

It goes on: "In general, when data corruption occurs, a file containing that data will produce unexpected results." Yes! Well, that certainly can happen when we get driven by the energies of the hindrances. The results can be very minor, or very major—like a system crash.

I love this part too: "There are two types of data corruption associated with computer systems: undetected and detected." That's so simple. The hindrances: we either see them, or we don't. And what happens if we don't see them? They just run rampant. "Undetected data corruption, also known as silent data corruption, results in the most dangerous errors. Detected data corruption may be permanent with the loss of data, or may be temporary when some part of the system is able to detect and correct the error."

May our systems detect data errors. Thank you for your kind attention.

[Applause]

---
[^1]: **Nimitta:** A Pali term in meditation referring to a mental sign or image that arises, often indicating a deepening of concentration.
[^2]: **Jhāna:** A Pali word that refers to states of deep meditative absorption or concentration.