[Three sounds of the bell]
Dear Sangha, today is the 4th of January the year 2009. We are in the Loving Kindness Temple, New Hamlet during the Winter retreat. The topic for this Winter retreat is “The Path of the Buddha: Buddhist contribution to a global ethic.”
It’s the New Year, so I would like to wish everyone a year of good practice. May you be happy, and help many to be happy, too.
0:02:17 Being in touch with life, receiving life and giving life, life is wonderful
On New Year’s Eve, I spoke about being in touch with life, receiving life and giving life. Life is so wonderful and we ourselves can be a giver of life, to other people and other species.
And the insights of Buddhism can help us see this very clearly. I remember one day while doing walking meditation down to the Foot of the Mountain Temple, I had a profound experience with the oak leaves along the path. Those oak leaves had been falling for 2 months now and were starting to rot to become soil. If you pay a little bit of attention, you can see very clearly that in a short time, all those oak leaves will become soil. And once they become soil, you don’t see oak leaves anymore. You only see soil. But with the eyes of deep looking, you know that in the soil there are the oak leaves. Looking deeply, you can see that in the soil there are bones, skin, and flesh of other animals, the rotten tree branches. And so the soil… If you look closely, you can see that the soil embraces many things, including the oak leaves. When oak leaves fall, they do not feel sad at all, because they know that they will join the soil. It is coming home. Vietnamese people say that fallen leaves return to their roots. “Cội” means the foot of a tree. “Falling leaves return to their roots.” So when an oak leaf falls, it is going home. It is simply going back to its origin. And you can say that its origin is the soil. And it will integrate into the soil and become nutrients for the oak tree. Maybe in the following spring, the oak tree will give birth to new oak leaves. And looking at the new oak leaves, we can see the continuation of the old oak leaves making their way back from the earth.
So if you know how to look deeply, looking into one thing, you can see many things. Looking into the soil, you can see the oak leaves. And looking at the fresh oak leaves, you can see the soil and leaves from the bygone days. Nothing is lost. One embraces the other.
And I also spoke about … the teaching on interbeing, which is “this, is also that”. Soil is soil, and oak leaves are oak leaves. But the soil is also oak leaves, and oak leaves are also soil. When you look deeply into yourself, you may see that you are the son, you are a child. You are a daughter, you are a child. But you are also your father, your mother. Because looking deeply into your body, you can see the presence of your father, your mother and all your ancestors in you. Just as you cannot take the oak leaves from the soil, or the soil from the oak leaves, the same is true of the child. we cannot take our father out of us, we cannot take our mother out of us. we cannot take our ancestors out of us. Wherever we go, we carry our parents and ancestors with us. The one embraces the other. The other embraces the one. We cannot take them out of each other.
So our parents have given us life. But in fact, they have given themselves entirely to us. The giver and the gift are one. And the gift and the receiver are also one. We’ve received this body from our parents, our ancestors. The one who receives and the gift that is given, they are not two. The one contains the other. Without this, the other cannot be. At first, it seems as though the two things are opposing each other, but looking deeply, we see the one always contains the other. Like the left and the right. We may see the left and the right as opposites, like the moon and the sun. But the truth is where the left is, the right is. Where the right is, the left is also They seem like two extremes, but in reality, this embraces that, and that embraces this. And if there is no left, there can never be a right. Without the right, the left can never be.
So we can come to the conclusion that life and death are as such. Life and death are closely related to each other. Life embraces death. Looking at life, we can see death, and looking into death, we can see life. And so, looking deeply at death, it is clear that without it, there is no life.
0:09:27 Life and death look like opposites but in light of Buddhist insight, life and death inter-are
Like when we look at our lotus pond, we see the mud and the lotus. In the lotus there’s the mud. If there is no mud, how can there be lotus? So looking into the mud, we see that it can become a lotus. If there’s no mud, there’s no lotus.
So life and death, they look like opposites, enemies, but in the light of Buddhist insight, life and death inter-are. They rely on each other. They make each other. Without death, there can never be life. And there can never be life without death.
The same is true with the right and the left. The right hand and the left hand. They look like opposites, but in fact the one embraces the other. With this way of seeing we are no longer afraid. So when contemplating the oak leaves falling only to manifest into new leaves again, or when contemplating the presence of our parents in us and seeing that we are our parents, all of our all of our wrong views are no longer there. With right view, we are no longer sad, no longer resentful, angry or afraid. And if we … cherish life, we should know that death is an integral part of life. It is an element that makes life. If there is no death, there can be no life.
We know that in our body there are many cells. And our cells … are constantly being born and constantly dying. Every day cells are dying, and every day new cells are born. And without the death of old cells, new cells will not be born. So both birth and death are very necessary. Seeing this, we can embrace all of life and death happening in us. When we cherish life it doesn’t mean we’re afraid of death. And the practice in Plum Village is mindfulness. With each step, each breath, we can see that we are present. We are representing life, and we can be the giver of life for many beings. We may not know it, but with each breath we can give life, with each step we can give life, a very high quality life. We have a tendency to run after happiness somewhere in the future. We’re not satisfied in the present moment, so we don’t have the chance to recognize the wonders of life that are available in the present moment. The Buddha has taught that we can live happily right in the present moment. We don’t need to run toward the future. We don’t need to look for something else. That teaching is called “wishlessness”, or “aimlessness”. It’s not very difficult to understand this teaching. And it’s not very difficult to practice either. Aimlessness/wishlessness means to not run after a shadow of happiness in the future or elsewhere, but to live happily right in the present moment. And for the New Year we should be determined to learn and live like this. Happiness is possible right here and now. And first of all with your mindful breathing and mindful walking you can see that life is available. Life is available with all its wonders. Life is in your body, life is in your consciousness, life is all around you, and you must be in touch with life. Touching life with the energy of mindfulness, like an awakened person. An awakened person can recognize life and the wonders of life inside and all around. And without mindfulness, we cannot be in touch with life, with the wonders of life. When we recognize life and its wonders, we see that every moment is very precious. Every moment that we are here is very precious. In the morning when you breathe, the air is very fragrant, very fresh. The air is very fragrant, very fresh, and that brings happiness right away. There are times when the air doesn’t smell good at all. There are times when the air is not fresh at all. Yet we still have to breathe it. Meanwhile, here every time we wake up, and open the door to go outside, the earth and sky are so fragrant. So fresh. So that is being in touch with life, with the wonders of life. When we breathe, and our two lungs can breathe in and out, can breathe normally, so we can enjoy that fresh air. We should know that the moment we were born from our mother’s womb was a very difficult moment. In our mother’s womb, we were very warm and very comfortable. The fetus in the mother’s womb, is surrounded by water. So it’s very comfortable. It’s a mattress, a water mattress so it’s very soft to lie in. It’s never too hot, and never too cold. When it’s time to breathe, our mother breathes for us. When it’s time to eat, our mother eats for us. We don’t need to do anything. We just lie quietly in there. Those were amazing months in the palace. The palace of the child. The “palace of the child” is the womb. When the child is born, it was a huge shock. From a very soft and comfortable place, it has to come out and get in contact with very hard surfaces. And the most important thing is it has to breathe. It has to breathe on its own. At birth, in the baby’s lungs, there’s fluid. And it has to cough to drain the fluid from its lungs, so it can take its first breath. That was a very important moment in its life. If it can’t breathe at that time, it dies. That moment was a very difficult moment, taking its first breath. But before it can breathe … it has to cough, to expel the fluid in the lungs. And then, the baby must breathe on its own. And now, you have already passed that dangerous moment. It only lasted a few seconds. Whether the baby lives or dies depends on those few seconds. But you have overcome those moments and now you can breathe on your own. Your lungs are now free. So just breathing the fresh and fragrant air can already bring happiness. And you can walk, you can take gentle steps and be in touch with … the grass, the trees, the gravel and stones. You can be in touch with … the colors, forms, sounds and the wonders of life. You may not be able to explain it fully. Every blade of grass, every flower is truly a wonder. The moon, the stars, the clouds, the streams, they are all wonders.
0:19:55 If you are not mindful you cannot receive the wonders of life, you lock yourself in a shell of grief and anger
But, if you’re forgetful, if you’re not mindful, you cannot recognize these wonders. You lock yourself in a shell of grief, anger, anxiety and despair, and you miss out on all the wonders of life. Because you’re not able to be in touch with them. So the Buddha’s teaching on dwelling happily in the present moment is very wonderful, very important. You don’t have to run towards the future. You also don’t need to dream of a happiness elsewhere, in the future. Happiness is available right now, and you can be in touch with the wonders of life inside and around you. And what you are looking for, can be found right here, right now. Wonders. This is it. Meaning, what you are looking for is there in front of you. And when we go home to the present moment, we can be in touch with so many wonders of life. And we can be in touch with so many conditions of … happiness that are available to us. For example, we can breathe. Breathing in and breathing out, it’s not dangerous like when we were born. We can take steps. We can drink tea. We can see the white clouds, the silver clouds, the golden moon. We can smile, look at each other, and hold hands in walking meditation. All of those things are available to us and we can use them to be happy. A whole treasure of happiness is available to us. Even if our health is not perfect, even if nothing is perfect, we have more than enough conditions to be happy in the present moment. And so each of us, in practicing mindfulness, in making use of our mindful breathing and mindful steps, our mindful way of looking, we can be happy right away in the present moment. We don’t need to look anymore. We can celebrate. Celebrate life. Each day that we do walking meditation, we are celebrating life. Every step is a celebration. When we wash the dishes, we can celebrate life. When we make tea, we also celebrate life. We celebrate life in every moment of daily life. How wonderful. We are alive! Life is in us and all around us. Every moment we have, whether we are sweeping the floor, or whether we are cooking, is all about celebrating. Celebrating life. Then naturally, our daily life becomes something very wonderful. We don’t need to become someone else. We don’t need to become a Buddha or an immortal. We don’t need a degree. We don’t need any kind of status. We only need to … wake up. We need to be in touch with the wonders of life to be happy. We can live in such a way that each moment becomes a moment of celebration, a celebration of life. We can live in such a way that each moment becomes a legendary moment for our children and grandchildren. So they can say, “That’s how my grandparents lived.” Every moment is joy, every moment is happiness. And this is possible with the teachings of the Buddha. Every moment of our daily life can become a legendary moment for our children and grandchildren. We have the capacity to live happily. And the capacity to be happy, the capacity to be happy, can be a virtue, the most precious thing in a person. A person who is capable of being happy, is a person with the highest value. There are people who are very rich, there are people who are very powerful, and there are people who are very attractive, but if they are not capable of being happy, it’s as good as nothing. So the capacity to be happy, being able to live happily, is the most precious thing. And among us there are people like that. There are people who are capable of living happily. Those are very lucky people. And that is something we can train in. We don’t go looking for happiness elsewhere. We don’t go looking for happiness. We come home to the present moment to be in touch with the wonders of life. And we see that what we are looking for, the happiness we are looking for, is there right now, why do we have to strive? And when we can live happily, it’s very easy to make those around us happy. Every smile, every look, every moment of our life, is happiness itself. And we become a source of happiness for others. This is something we can do. And in the new year, we should aspire to live in such a way that we can be happy today. On this very day. We don’t need anything. We have enough. Ethics is a subject that requires thinking, reasoning. Reason And ethics has the purpose of finding out what should be done and what should not be done.
0:26:53 Normative Ethics: what is the right thing to do?
What is the right thing to do?
When we talk about normative ethics, normative ethics, Tiêu chuẩn đạo đức học (標準道德學) Normative.
Then we have to talk about the criterion of pain and pleasure. Whatever brings about pain or suffering, we should not do. And whatever brings about pleasure or happiness, we can do. It’s a criterion. One of the criteria.
But this criterion is not absolute. Because there are things that look like suffering but in fact is not real suffering. Your way (of seeing) determines whether something is a suffering or not.
For example, if we clean the toilet. We can ask: is cleaning the toilet pain or pleasure? It depends on the person, right?
There are people who don’t have a toilet to clean. There are people who have toilets, but they don’t have … soap or toilet cleaner to clean them. There are people who have a toilet, but don’t have the time to clean it. And so these people may be very happy to clean the toilet. “How lucky to have a toilet to clean, to have a clean toilet to use,” so while cleaning the toilet, happiness is possible.
But if you think, “Someone like me, cleaning toilets?” then you would be miserable.
So whether suffering or joy, or happiness, depends on us.
For example, going to school. Every day you have to go to school. Why do we have to go to school so often? The children are asking, they ask these questions. There are some children who say, “Being able to go to school, to have food, clothing, housing, and parents who support their schooling is a source of happiness. And there are other children who say going to school is not a happiness. And so pain and pleasure are not absolute. It depends on our mind.
When you drink alcohol or smoke marijuana, it’s pleasurable, right? It feels pleasant. It has a pleasant feeling. That’s considered a pleasure. But should you do it or not? Because it will bring about suffering in the future. So that pleasure leads to pain.
And that’s why the words “pain” and “pleasure”, have very relative meanings. Therefore, this criterion of pain and pleasure needs to be re-examined. There are schools of ethics that say whatever brings happiness and joy, that action is considered right. And anything that brings suffering is considered wrong and should not be done. That’s the criterion of pain and pleasure.
But just … just defining what is pain and what is pleasure already poses a difficulty. And then looking into suffering. Suffering itself is also a factor that produces happiness. Because we have already learned about interbeing. How can there be happiness if there is no suffering? How can there be right if there is no left? How can there be life if there is no death? So we see clearly that without mud, there is no lotus.
And so suffering plays quite an important role. It plays quite an important role in producing happiness. For example, if you have never been hungry, you cannot possibly experience the happiness of having food. Food is more delicious when you’re hungry. Only when you’ve experienced hunger, will you appreciate having something to eat.
Many young people coming of age have never known what war is. Therefore, they’re not afraid of war, they’re ready to go to war. But those who have gone through war know very well that war is something that should never happen. And when peace is there, they treasure it very much. They cherish it. They don’t want to lose the peace.
Thus, by going though the pain, we grow and we can recognize what happiness is. So pain has its own positive value. Looking deeply, we see that as humans we have to go through some pains, we have to go through some suffering to grow as human beings.
And we can learn a lot from suffering. It is through suffering that we can develop understanding and love.
And so the criterion of pain and pleasure is not enough to build … a strong ethical foundation. Each of us needs some suffering. Suffering can help us understand and love. And without understanding and love, there can be no happiness. So suffering plays an important role in creating happiness. That is the insight of Buddhism. Interbeing.
0:35:41 The Buddhist criteria of ‘beneficial and un-beneficial’ and the relative nature of all criteria
Then we have the criterion of beneficial and un-beneficial Beneficial / Un-beneficial (利害). Anything that is harmful to your health, or harms … your happiness should not be done. Anything that is beneficial, that should be done.
In Buddhism, when we talk about beneficial and un-beneficial, we are talking about something being beneficial or un-beneficial to the practice. Beneficial or un-beneficial.
For example, an environment. An environment that helps us have mindfulness, concentration, and insight is called beneficial. But being in an environment that makes us forgetful, that makes us unable to, that makes us accumulate wrong views, that is un-beneficial.
So the criterion of beneficial or un-beneficial can inform the criterion of pain or pleasure. If that suffering is beneficial for us, then why don’t we accept it? If we accept it, the suffering doesn’t make us suffer anymore.
For example, the issue of … hiking in the mountains. There are people who say, “Where do people find the time to hike a whole day in the mountains, it’s so exhausting!” Once you reach the summit, you’re out of breath and then you came back, your clothes are all torn and dirty. And you’re hungry. Why torture your body like that with hiking?”
But there are people who go hiking and come back extremely happy. Because even though they’re exhausted, they feel good in their body. So that is beneficial. Why don’t you just stay home and watch TV to relax? Why hike dozens of kilometers through the mountains just to go home exhausted? So that is the criterion of beneficial or un-beneficial.
And pain can be beneficial it helps us to be more resilient as human beings. So we need a little bit of pain. Pleasure can sometimes be harmful. And that’s why we shouldn’t partake in certain kinds of pleasures.
“Enjoying the pleasures from craving, that pleasure is suffering,” “Experiencing pain in the practice, that pain is happiness.”
When you first think about being vegan, “Why be vegan? Such suffering!” But once you eat vegan with insight, you find that being vegan brings you a lot more happiness than eating meat. Being vegan, you can protect life, you can protect the earth. So being vegan, you no longer see it as a source of suffering, but that it’s a joy to be vegan, that you’re very fortunate to be vegan. So all of these criteria are relative.
We’re talking about normative ethics. All of the criteria are very relative. So the criterion of beneficial / un-beneficial informs the criterion of pain / pleasure.
Now let’s talk about the criterion of delusion and awakening. These are the criteria as found in Buddhism.
Delusion means you are lacking clarity. You’re not clear-headed. And without clarity, your decisions can be very wrong.
Suppose you are angry with your son and you make a will that after you die, your son would not receive a penny of your estate. At the time, you are blinded by anger. And if you write your will in that moment, your child will have to bear the burden of your mistake. So you shouldn’t make any decisions while you’re deluded. Sometimes you may not be angry, but you may be deluded. You may be caught up or swept away by something. Making decisions in that state can ruin your entire life.
You might decide to leave the sangha. So you lose the sangha, you lose your life of practice. So big life decisions should never be made in moments of delusion, but must be made while you have clarity. When you are in a deluded state, your understanding about what is beneficial or un-beneficial, about what is pain or pleasure is extremely distorted.
And so this criterion is an important one for us. Awakened means we have clarity; we know what is true, we have right view. And this criterion [deluded or awakened] can help inform the first two criteria.
1:01:25 ‘To open or to bar the way’ Buddhist criteria to prevent future harm
To open or bar the way “Khai” (開) means to open. “Giá” (遮) means to bar the way. These two words are found in Buddhism.
No precept can be absolute. No precept, no regulation, no moral criteria can be absolute.
And so there must be some openess in some special cases called “exceptional cases”. To open or make exceptions. For example, not lying. Not lying is a normative ethical criterion. But what if a murderer came and asked if you’ve seen that person hiding around here? He’s looking to kill that person.
And if you say that you’ve seen them hiding there, you’ve told the truth, but then the killer goes in and kills the other person. So telling the truth like that is an act that’s unethical. So, although not lying is an ethical criterion, but sometimes you have to make exceptions, to open the way.
There are special cases where we have to lie.
So there are many cases where sometimes you have to kill.
For example, in the case of helping people to die gently and without pain. Euthanasia. That person is in so much pain and really wants to end their pain. And that person wants a quick and pain-free death. But you follow laws that forbid killing, so you’re determined not to kill. So this is a matter of making exceptions.
Should we make exceptions? Should we allow them to die? This is an issue that is happening in many countries.
Now there are only 3 or 4 countries in the world that allow euthanasia. Euthanasia is illegal in all other countries. Because they’re afraid that when you make exceptions, people will take advantage and go too far.
So there’s fear.
The issue of abortion. The Christian Church, the Roman Catholic Church still has a very strong stance against abortion. Because abortion is considered murder. There was a period when the church believed that when the fetus is still small, it’s not yet seen as a person, so abortion is possible. But there was a period when people began to think that even though the fetus is newly formed, it is already a person and so abortion was considered to be murder. And so the church’s current stance is that abortion is seen as murder and so it’s forbidden.
Meanwhile, if you join the army and go into battle, if you participate in war, that is not banned, even though killing is also involved.
As for birth control. As for birth control they say it’s against God’s will. If God wills it, you must let it be. So intervening with birth control means that you are intervening in God’s work. And so there was a time —and it’s the same even now— there are a lot of people who are against birth control. And we know there’s a problem of overpopulation, and the problem of children being abandoned at birth. They grow up feeling rejected by society.
Many young American men who go on business trips to Asian countries leave behind many unclaimed children. In Korea, in Japan, in Vietnam, and other countries, and even in America. Even in America every year, there are hundreds and thousands of children born unclaimed. The father doesn’t claim the child and the mother also doesn’t want to keep the child. There are up to 250,000 to 350,000 children a year [in the foster care system].
Meanwhile, birth control is forbidden. So these are real problems in our world.
So our ethics must be applied and not theoretical so that it can reduce the suffering.
In the old days in China, polygamy was practiced. In Vietnam, too. Polygamy means having more than one partner. In the West, in principle, a man has only one partner. But maybe because of sexual energy and misconduct, so there are people who have extra-marital affairs. And so there are many unwanted children. Many unclaimed fatherless children, and whose mother wants to hand them over to the orphanage. In the old days in China, in Vietnam, there was polygamy. So if the first wife has no children she can find for her husband a second, a third, a fourth wife. So although in form it is polygamy, they didn’t have the problem of unwanted children. There were no “illegitimate” children.
0:52:33 Applied ethics are needed to address real challenges in our world
So these are real issues in society, which our ethics must directly address. It’s called applied ethics. Applied ethics. Applied.
Applied ethics (đạo đức học ứng dùng 應用道德學). That is, a kind of ethics that can be applied to real-life cases.
For example, in regard to homosexuals. In regard to gay and lesbian people. For a long time, the Catholic Church has had a very strong stance, saying that sex between homosexuals is a disorder. A disorder. And in the church’s view, homosexuals should not have that kind of sexual relationship. The church’s most recent view is that gay and lesbian people do not want to be born like that. But since they are born that way, we have to accept them as they are. The church has only been able to get this far.
But to say that gay and lesbian people are allowed to have sex, the church has not accepted. They consider it a disorder. And when gay or lesbian people talk about their right to be legally married, the church says no, that’s immoral. And something immoral cannot be considered a right. So that is the position of the Catholic Church now.
And we’ve learned that in the past, someone came up with a theory called natural law. Natural law. Aristotle had come up with it. He said that everything in the universe has a purpose. For example, when God created teeth, teeth were for chewing food. The tongue to taste. The eyes to see.
And so the church later adopted that theory saying it’s God who’s created things as they are. When asked why did God create sex? What is the role of sex? They answer very matter-of-factly. “The role of sex is to have children. Because any phenomenon in the universe must have a purpose. So the reason why we have sex is to have children, to have progeny, that is God’s will. And so sex is only for procreation.
As for homosexuals, they don’t have children. So their sexuality is not right.” And that’s how sex for homosexuals is condemned.
And that was the church’s reasoning during a certain period of time, based on the theory of natural law. Natural law states that any phenomenon in the universe has a purpose, has a function. Teeth are for chewing. Eyes are for seeing. And sex is for procreation. And if sex is not for procreation, it is misused.
But some people counter with this reasoning: Eyes. Eyes are for seeing, right? But there are many fathers who use their eyes to glare, to forbid, So those eyes are not to see. It’s to forbid. Or eyes are used to flirt. So eyes are not just for seeing, they can also be used for flirting.
So it’s the same for sex. Sex can be for making babies, but it can also be to express our love for someone. And when we love someone very much, and we see them as the only person we trust in this world, we can also express that love. We offer our body to that person. So there are people who think like that. They think that sex between homosexuals is acceptable. Like eyes, although it is for seeing, but it can also be used … to give black looks, to give dirty looks, to glare, to prohibit, etc.
And so in Buddhism there’s a lot of space thanks to this word “khai”. “Khai” means to open, to make an exception. There are special cases where we can make exceptions. There are exceptional cases where you can have an abortion. There are circumstances where you can use birth control. There are circumstances where we can help a person die peacefully. There are circumstances where we can lie.
But all of that must be done out of love. Without love, without applying the criteria of deluded or awakened, beneficial or un-beneficial, pain or pleasure, we wouln’t be able to do it.
There are philosophers like Kant who do not agree. He spoke about categorical imperatives and absolute moral rules. For example, not lying means not lying [an absolute moral rule]. You cannot make excuses in order to lie. When you don’t lie, you have to practice not lying one hundred percent. In every situation, it has to be like that, because you want everyone to do the same as you do. That attitude is very rigid. When we think of morality, of ethics, of what we call … right and wrong, good and evil, [Right and wrong.]
What is good and evil, right and wrong are decided by God and not by humans. Something is right because God says it’s right. Something is wrong because God says it’s wrong. We simply obey. God is the Creator and we are the Creature. And when the Creator created humans and Creation the Creator included what is right and wrong. And so that is called God’s command. God’s command theory. And it is absolute.
And so in Buddhist ethics, there is a skillful means called “khai”, to open, and on the other hand, “giá”, to bar the way. To bar means to stop. Stopping, this action may not cause any suffering, it might not cause any immediate suffering. It might not cause any harm. But it has the potential … to cause suffering, to cause harm.
For example, there was a woman. For example, the Ministry of Transport in France, saw an increase in the number of car accidents due to drinking and driving. Drinking and driving is very dangerous for your life and the lives of others, So the Ministry of Public Works spent money to … put an add on TV promoting this advice: “One glass is okay,” “but three glasses mean disaster.” In French, “Un verre ça va,” “trois verres bonjour les dégâts.” “Un verre ça va,” means it’s okay to have one glass. But after three glasses, we invite disaster..
So some alcohol companies have slogans that say, “We sell alcohol,” and in fine print, it says “Please consume with moderation.” Of course they want to sell alcohol, the more the better, yet they still include in fine print, “Please consume with moderation.” “Please consume with moderation.” Normally, if we have a glass, it won’t make us drunk. And normally we may still be able to drive and there’s no danger. But usually the first glass tends to invite the second glass. And so, although the first glass doesn’t bring harm or accidents, but it leads to the second and third glasses. And the truth is, if the first glass wasn’t there, how can there be a second or third glass?
So it’s best not to drink the first glass. That’s called “giá,” “barré,” to bar the way. Even though what you say or what you do may not cause harm, but it is potentially harmful.
So there was a lady from the UK, a lay practitioner, after hearing a presentation on the 5 mindfulness trainings, she said, “Maybe tomorrow I’ll ask to receive only 4 trainings. The fifth one on not consuming alcohol, I won’t be able to commit to, because for decades I’ve been drinking a glass of wine on the weekend without any problems. For decades now, nothing has happened, so why take the 5th mindfulness training and give up my glass of wine on the weekend?
So I told her, “I know that you’re perfectly right” “that for the past 30 years having a glass of wine every weekend” “hasn’t done you any harm” “in terms health or other matters.” “But you should know that when your children” “see you drinking, they may want to drink too,” “and maybe they have the seed of alcoholism in them.” “So to stop drinking, “it’s not just for you but for the sake of your children.”
Because children always do as their parents do. If parents smoke, their children smoke. And she got the message and decided to stop taking that one glass of wine, not for her sake but for her children’s sake.
That’s what it means to bar. To bar means to prevent that harmful thing from happening in the future. So in Buddhism there’s the idea of “to open or to bar the way.” “Khai” and “giá.”. This is a criterion in Buddhism.
Suppose there’s a nun who goes on the internet. According to the precepts of Plum Village now, monastics cannot go online alone. You must be accompanied by a second body. Because there are many dangerous sites online.
I wonder if parents can apply this policy with their children? Nowadays, you have 7 or 10-year olds going on the internet alone. And they might get lost on dangerous sites. Should we ban them or not? Banning might not be possble. But we can have a policy, that every time they go online, they have to go with a parent. Is this doable? That is a Plum Village precept. Any monk or nun who needs to go on the internet must have someone sitting next to them. It could be that they’ve been on the internet many times alone and nothing has happened. But to have someone accompany you, that’s what “to bar” means. It’s to protect, to prevent something from happening.
It’s like drinking and driving. You might not get into any accidents. But that’s just luck. So not drinking and driving is better, that’s setting a barricade [to prevent harm.]
1:12:00 ’To uphold or to break’’ Buddhist criteria relating to the precepts
Now for the set of criteria called “trì phạm,” “To uphold or to break.” This is referring to the precepts, the Mindfulness Trainings. When you observe it, you are upholding the precept. And when you don’t observe it, you are breaking the precept. If you uphold the precepts, they are whole, intact. If you transgress them, they are broken. The precepts body is broken. When you keep doing something you’re not allowed to do, you are transgressing. The precept is broken.
When you don’t do something you’re not allowed to do, you are keeping the precept. This is breaking the precept. For example, not lying if you practice it you are keeping the precept. It means your precepts are still intact, they are upheld. “Trì (持)” means holding. To hold. “Trì” means holding. Holding the precepts without letting go. If you let go, it will be broken. Those who keep the precepts, those who hold the precepts, are very happy, their conscience is very clear because they’re able to hold the precepts. Holding the precepts. The precept is held.
But if you don’t keep the precepts, if you violate or damage it, that’s called breaking the precepts. “Phạm (犯)” means to violate, to have broken the precept. This set of criteria is “to uphold or to break.”
So in the case of lying. To lie. A murderer is looking for their target and asks you, “Have you seen that person?” You know. You know. But you have to lie. And in this case, if you lie, you will keep the precept. If you don’t lie, you break the precept. If you don’t lie, you’ll kill someone. So you have to lie, for the sake of that person. And that’s why you “break the precept,” but in fact you break the precept in order to keep it.
So Buddhism is not rigid, it’s very flexible. And when, for example, if you are in a place where someone is suffering, or is in a dangerous situation. and you don’t intervene to help, even though you didn’t kill that person, you’ve broken the precepts.
When we see a person abusing or killing another person and you sit there, very indifferent, you don’t intervene, you are breaking the precepts. That’s called “non intervention.” “Non intervention” is a violation. Seeing someone trying to kill someone else and not doing anything to stop it, that is breaking the precepts.
So the criterion of “keeping or breaking” is also very flexible. Sometimes, technically, it’s a violation, but in fact we’re keeping it. Sometimes, technically, it’s upholding but in fact we have broken the precepts. And we know that Buddhist ethics is very flexible.
And it also has to be responsive, meaning it must be appropriate to the situation. We have normative ethics, but we have to get to applied ethics, so we can apply these criteria to very concrete and sometimes very exceptional cases.
But we know that all of these must be based on insight. That insight is the insight of interbeing, the insight of non-duality, which we have mentioned over and over again.
For example, when we talk about right and wrong, pain and pleasure, beneficial and un-beneficial. From the Buddhist perspective, the two things rely on each other in order to be.
This is because that is. That is because this is.
And that’s why we have a way of seeing that is very flexible. And when we talk about Buddha and living beings, we see a pair of opposites. Like beneficial and un-beneficial, or pain and pleasure, or right and wrong, or deluded and awakened. So just like the left and the right, or like the oak leaves and the soil, the soil embraces the oak leaves. The one embraces the other.
It’s the same with Buddha and living beings. Buddha embraces living beings and living beings embrace Buddha. We find the Buddha in living beings and we find living beings in the Buddha. And these two, Buddha and living beings, cannot be taken out of each other, just like oak leaves and the soil, the soil and oak tree.
That’s why in Buddhism there’s a teaching called “Phật sinh bất nhị (佛生不二)” The non-duality of Buddha and living beings. “Phật (佛)” means Buddha, “sinh (生)” means living beings. Buddha and living beings cannot be taken out of each other. Non-duality. The non-duality between Buddha and living beings.
If you cannot understand this, you cannot understand Buddhist ethics.
If we want to find the Buddha, we must find the Buddha in living beings. Because outside of living beings, there can be no Buddha. And when we become a Buddha, it is not like we stop being sentient beings. So the other day I said that the Buddha also has a Buddha body. If a Buddha does not have a body, how can he be called a Buddha? The Buddha must have a Buddha body. And so Buddha and living beings are not two opposing things. Like the lotus and the mud, they’re not opposites. The one embraces the other, and the other embraces the one.
And so the dualistic view prevents us from seeing the foundation of Buddhist ethics. When we chant the Heart sutra, we chant to the word “emptiness (không 空)” And in the light of the Heart sutra, in the light of emptiness, all pairs of opposites such as birth, death increasing, decreasing, being, non being coming, going, are all relative.
“Listen Śāriputra” “this body is not other than emptiness” “and emptiness is not other than this body.” We can see clearly the interbeing nature of all phenomena. Form embraces emptiness, emptiness embraces form. Outside of form there is no emptiness, outside of emptiness there is no form, and the same is true of feeling, perception, and consciousness. Outside of emptiness there is no feeling. Outside of feeling there is no emptiness. Feeling embraces emptiness, emptiness embraces feeling. “Listen Śāriputra,” “This body is not other than emptiness, emptiness is not other than this body.” “Listen, Sariputra, all phenomena bear the mark of emptiness” “Their true nature is the nature of no birth, no death” “no defilement, no purity” “no increasing, no decreasing.” Emptiness is the view that transcends all pairs of opposites.
And so in the light of emptiness, we can transcend right and wrong, pain and pleasure, beneficial and un-beneficial, deluded and awakened. The one embraces the other, and the other embraces the one. And with this insight, we have a strong ethical foundation.
1:24:20 Meta Ethics: when you say right, what is right? When you say wrong, what is wrong?
In the world, this field is called meta-ethics (siêu đạo đức học 超道德學). Meta-ethics.
And meta-ethics has become very important in our time. People have spoken about applied ethics. Ethics means applied ethics. People have spoken about normative ethics, trying to find ways to define what we should or shouldn’t do in order to be happy.
But meta-ethics raises questions, questions everything. When you say right, what is right? When you say wrong, what is wrong? Pain. What is true pain? Pleasure. What is pleasure? Deluded. What is deluded? Awakened. What is awakened?
Meta-ethics puts everything into question. And that is why meta-ethics will inevitably lead to the insight of non-duality, the Buddhist insight of interbeing.
And in terms of meta-ethics, there are different branches, like semantics. Semantics.
There’s a branch called epistemology. Epistemology
And there’s also a branch called ontology. Ontology
So Buddhist ethics is very complete. Because Buddhism talks about conventional designations, names (名) [semantics]. Buddhism talks about epistemology, that is, is something knowable or not knowable? Knowable by reason or by intuition? That is ontology.
It is the foundation of everything.
So when we recite the Heart Sutra every morning, we are touching ontology. And if we do not have a firm understanding of non-duality, of the insight of interbeing in the Heart Sutra, we cannot establish an ethical foundation based on the insights of Buddhism.
When you research Buddhist ethics, you can also present them using the terminologies of current philosophers. Meaning we must also present the meta-ethics of Buddhism. the normative ethics of Buddhism, and the applied ethics of Buddhism.
And when we update the mindfulness trainings —the 5 or the 14 trainings— we have to make use of our insights regarding these three areas. And we will try to present the 5 and 14 mindfuness trainings in a language that non-Buddhists can accept and understand. And this is the work that the Buddha wants us to continue.
Because the Buddhist ethics that the Buddha proposed 2,500 years ago have not yet been completed. He only had 45 years. And before he passed away, he told the venerable Ananda to continue that work.
And we live in an age with many, many problems. We must do this work for the Buddha. But we cannot do it if we do not understand the true intention of the Buddha.
And so this retreat is an opportunity for all of us to come together and try to do that work and be able to offer the world a proposal for a global ethic.
And right from the start, you were given the text of the Chicago Summit of Religions that talked about the proposals for a global ethic. So while looking deeply and studying in this retreat, we have to refer to that text often to see if there is anything we can add or revise.
In the third mindfulness training, in the third training that we are revising, the third training is about sexual conduct. As in the previous Dharma talk we have to reiterate the fact that in our time there is much sex but little love. The third training is about sexual relations, is about love.
We have too much sex but we have too little love.
And so in the third training we must introduce the four immeasurable minds, which is true love.
In Buddhism, love must include loving kindness, compassion, joy, and inclusiveness. And we must revive love and reduce sex. That is the aim of the third precept.
Loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity are energies that create a lot of happiness. And the fourth energy which is Equanimity, is very wonderful. Equanimity means non discrimination, no division. We open our heart to embrace all people and all species.
True love is a love that grows every day. The greater the love, the bigger is our happiness. We are not caught in the self, in our own selfishness.
Hence the word upeksha, which we translate as equanimity (捨), we usually translate it as equanimity, right? Some people translate it as “indifference” – that is wrong. Equanimity is sometimes translated as inclusiveness. Sometimes translated as non-discrimination.
And in ethics in the outside world, people use a term, which we can also use. Which is impartiality. It means we wish everyone to be like that. We embrace, we don’t consider ourself as special. So when you share about the 3rd mindfulness training, you know that… our awareness right now, there is too much sex. It creates so much suffering, but there is so little love.
Therefore, we must find a way to bring the Four Immeasurable Minds into the 3rd precept. We revise in such a way that in each precept, in the 5 precepts or in the 14 precepts… that when it’s recited we can get in touch … with the insight of non-duality and inter-being.
This is the foundation. That is meta ethics. It is the foundation for our actions. It’s called normative ethics, and applied ethics.
Of course, the 5 precepts will have to be longer than the old 5 precepts. But for it to truly reflect the wisdom and the practice of Buddhism, it should probably be a little longer. It can be almost twice as long. But don’t make it too long.