The Higher Ethical Trainings
The Higher Ethical Trainings help us live without causing harm by guiding us to let go of reactivity and habit energy. Buddhist ethics is less concerned with following rules or commandments, rules only open doors to relativism and contradictions. Following rules to the letter, at best can obscure understanding and at worst, lead to fanaticism. Rules tend to lead toward relativism and contradictions. Rather Buddhist ethics acknowledges that life is too complicated, too full of dilemmas, uncertainties and ambiguities to impose hard and fast rules. It is often too difficult and sometimes impossible to see what is ethical in a given situation. The Higher Ethical Trainings guide us to cultivating a practice of awareness and understanding, so that we are able to examine our thoughts, actions and speech and reduce or eliminate suffering. We use our practice of Skillful View to see our situation fully for what it is ad what it is not. We don't rely on either or thinking, instead we learn to move past good and bad, right or wrong, embracing whatever challenge or difficulty we are encountering, and use the Higher Ethical Trainings to help us think, act and speak skillfully and compassionately. A life guided by ethics is a gift to all.
The three Higher Ethical Trainings are: Skillful Speech, Skillful Action, and Skillful Livelihood
Skillful Speech, also known as Right Speech, is described by the Buddha as speech that is honest, kind, helpful and pertinent. If we cannot follow those guidelines, then it is best to refrain from speaking. Sometimes Skillful Speech is not speaking at all.
The foundation of Skillful Speech is deeply listening.
Thich Nhat Hanh offers two ways to practice deep listening:
1) Listening to what another is saying while refraining from judging, reacting or projecting your ideas and beliefs onto what is being said.
2) Listening to what another is saying as a form of compassion and present moment awareness.
Many of us have lost the ability to stop and really listen. Most of the time, we half listen to the person speaking, because we are already focusing on our own thoughts. We might be thinking about what we are going to say in response or reacting to something the person has said. Sadly, many of this only know how to do this kind of half-listening, and as a result, they are prevented from ever really knowing and understanding their friends, family, and loved ones. This kind of separation from true connection leaves people feeling lonely, even when with family and friends. Being able to truly listen, without entertaining the thoughts and judgements that might arise, is compassion in action.
When we hear a person talk about another person or thing, what we are really hearing are the speaker's ideas about the other person or thing. Those ideas were formed through the filters of the speaker's likes, dislikes, their education, ambitions, nationality, religion, racial or ethnic experience, political afiitations, family, and intent. Whatever someone says is skewed through all those filters. When we practice listening deeply, we are less likely to believe that what we heard is unvarnished truth. When we practice listening deeply, we are careful not to just accept everything we hear without considering those filters and weighing what is said against other views. Each situation must be perceived for what it is, rather than accepting it because it is easy or convenient to believe.
When our listening is complete, when can then practice Skillful Speech by first examining our own minds. We must understand what our motive and intention is before opening our mouths. To ensure that our speech is skillful, the Buddha suggested that what we say should fall within these four guidelines:
1) It is true. (refrain from lying, eggerating, or embellishing)
2) It is kind. (refrain from harshness, cruelty, or ridicule)
3) It is helpful.
4) It is pertinent or timely.
It can be difficult to say something that is truthful, kind, helpful and timely, and equally difficult to listen to. No matter what we believe we have to say, it is always important to check in with the heart and the mind, and speak from that place of awareness. When the mind is clear and the heart is open, speaking with compassion and wisdom is possible.
Skillful Action or Right Action is similar to Skillful Speech, in that it guides us to refrain from all actions and behaviors that are divisive and contentious, and toward doing what promotes harmony and unity. Our behavior, when skillful, becomes infused with patience and compassion. In its most skilled form Skillful Action is action done free of a sense of self, that is an action in which you don’t see yourself as separate from others things.
The practice of Skillful Action is shaped through the guidance of the five precepts.
The five precepts are the code of ethics for all Buddhists and are expressed as:
The precepts are not meant to be laws or commandments followed to the letter. Rather, they are meant to be guidelines to keep our thoughts, speech and actions from causing harm and suffering and as beneficial as possible. Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where we are confused or uncertain how to proceed. The precepts provide structure, or a framework, from which we can act, helping us keep our actions beneficial, resulting in the least possible harm. The precepts do not work as rigid rules. If we turn the precepts into rigid rules, we risk attempting to bend reality to favor our own ideas and beliefs. This then leads us into zealotry. In fact, if one tries to uphold the precepts as rigid rules, we will find it impossible to follow.
Consider the first precept, not to kill. We cannot uphold this first precept perfectly. Our very lives depend on the killing of living beings. Even if we become vegan, we are still eating plants that were living. Our clothes and many other products are made from, or the process of making them, result in killing living beings. You might ask: If we cannot uphold the first precept, then why do we try to follow it?
The precept helps bring to our awareness that our lives depend on the killing of many living beings. With this awareness in mind, we can make choices to minimize as much as possible the unconscious harming or killing of living beings. The other precepts help guide us from acting unmindfully and seeing our situation clearly.
Skillful Livelihood, or Right Livelihood, refers to earning a living in a manner that doesn’t bring harm to yourself or others. The Buddha described the kinds of livelihood for lay practitioners to avoid, because they unavoidaby lead to harm. The four kinds of livelihood to avoid are:
The true practice of Skillful Livelihood, is to cultivate joy and compassion and not to harm others, ourselves and all living beings, including the earth.
It can be very difficult in our society today to determine what a Skillful Livelihood could be in our very tangled social and economic systems. today. As with the precepts, it is nearly impossible to find a livelihood that does not cause any harm to anyone or anything, because of how enmeshed everything is today. In order to choose a livelihood that causes the least possible harm, we must look deeply into our own lives. We must each observe our own circumstances and choose actions that are the most beneficial. And if we do look deeply and find that the livelihood we are in unavoidably causes harm, then we can ask ourselves if we might try to offset that harm in some way. For example, if our livelihood requires us to make long commutes, because there is no viable public transportation, we might look into getting an electric or hybrid car, ride a bike, share a ride, or invest in other actions that aim to minimize pollution.
When we examine ourselves and our own lives, in order to practice Skillful Livelihood, we can ask ourselves:
--What are our needs?
--What drives our consumption?
--Do we really need what we buy or collect?
Sometimes we examing our livelihood and recognize it is not beneficial for other living beings, but we are not in a position to give up that livelihood at that moment. We might need to face some fears about letting go of that livelihood, or address issues around where we live and what options for livelihood are available. In those cases it doesn't mean we cannot practice Skillful Livelihood. Often the most effective action we can take to practice Skillful Livelihood is in just simplifying our lives. The less we need, the less harm we potentially cause. Working toward reducing our needs and simplifying may even reduce more harm and increase benefits than leaving the problemmatic livelihood.
The three Higher Ethical Trainings are: Skillful Speech, Skillful Action, and Skillful Livelihood
Skillful Speech, also known as Right Speech, is described by the Buddha as speech that is honest, kind, helpful and pertinent. If we cannot follow those guidelines, then it is best to refrain from speaking. Sometimes Skillful Speech is not speaking at all.
The foundation of Skillful Speech is deeply listening.
Thich Nhat Hanh offers two ways to practice deep listening:
1) Listening to what another is saying while refraining from judging, reacting or projecting your ideas and beliefs onto what is being said.
2) Listening to what another is saying as a form of compassion and present moment awareness.
Many of us have lost the ability to stop and really listen. Most of the time, we half listen to the person speaking, because we are already focusing on our own thoughts. We might be thinking about what we are going to say in response or reacting to something the person has said. Sadly, many of this only know how to do this kind of half-listening, and as a result, they are prevented from ever really knowing and understanding their friends, family, and loved ones. This kind of separation from true connection leaves people feeling lonely, even when with family and friends. Being able to truly listen, without entertaining the thoughts and judgements that might arise, is compassion in action.
When we hear a person talk about another person or thing, what we are really hearing are the speaker's ideas about the other person or thing. Those ideas were formed through the filters of the speaker's likes, dislikes, their education, ambitions, nationality, religion, racial or ethnic experience, political afiitations, family, and intent. Whatever someone says is skewed through all those filters. When we practice listening deeply, we are less likely to believe that what we heard is unvarnished truth. When we practice listening deeply, we are careful not to just accept everything we hear without considering those filters and weighing what is said against other views. Each situation must be perceived for what it is, rather than accepting it because it is easy or convenient to believe.
When our listening is complete, when can then practice Skillful Speech by first examining our own minds. We must understand what our motive and intention is before opening our mouths. To ensure that our speech is skillful, the Buddha suggested that what we say should fall within these four guidelines:
1) It is true. (refrain from lying, eggerating, or embellishing)
2) It is kind. (refrain from harshness, cruelty, or ridicule)
3) It is helpful.
4) It is pertinent or timely.
It can be difficult to say something that is truthful, kind, helpful and timely, and equally difficult to listen to. No matter what we believe we have to say, it is always important to check in with the heart and the mind, and speak from that place of awareness. When the mind is clear and the heart is open, speaking with compassion and wisdom is possible.
Skillful Action or Right Action is similar to Skillful Speech, in that it guides us to refrain from all actions and behaviors that are divisive and contentious, and toward doing what promotes harmony and unity. Our behavior, when skillful, becomes infused with patience and compassion. In its most skilled form Skillful Action is action done free of a sense of self, that is an action in which you don’t see yourself as separate from others things.
The practice of Skillful Action is shaped through the guidance of the five precepts.
The five precepts are the code of ethics for all Buddhists and are expressed as:
- To support all living creatures, and refrain from killing.
- To respect the property of others, and refrain from stealing.
- To regard all beings with respect and dignity, and refrain from objectifying others.
- To be truthful, and refrain from lying.
- To maintain a clear mind and refrain from harming myself or others with intoxication.
The precepts are not meant to be laws or commandments followed to the letter. Rather, they are meant to be guidelines to keep our thoughts, speech and actions from causing harm and suffering and as beneficial as possible. Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where we are confused or uncertain how to proceed. The precepts provide structure, or a framework, from which we can act, helping us keep our actions beneficial, resulting in the least possible harm. The precepts do not work as rigid rules. If we turn the precepts into rigid rules, we risk attempting to bend reality to favor our own ideas and beliefs. This then leads us into zealotry. In fact, if one tries to uphold the precepts as rigid rules, we will find it impossible to follow.
Consider the first precept, not to kill. We cannot uphold this first precept perfectly. Our very lives depend on the killing of living beings. Even if we become vegan, we are still eating plants that were living. Our clothes and many other products are made from, or the process of making them, result in killing living beings. You might ask: If we cannot uphold the first precept, then why do we try to follow it?
The precept helps bring to our awareness that our lives depend on the killing of many living beings. With this awareness in mind, we can make choices to minimize as much as possible the unconscious harming or killing of living beings. The other precepts help guide us from acting unmindfully and seeing our situation clearly.
Skillful Livelihood, or Right Livelihood, refers to earning a living in a manner that doesn’t bring harm to yourself or others. The Buddha described the kinds of livelihood for lay practitioners to avoid, because they unavoidaby lead to harm. The four kinds of livelihood to avoid are:
- the business of weapons
- the business of illicit drugs
- the producing or selling of poisons
- business of human exploitation
The true practice of Skillful Livelihood, is to cultivate joy and compassion and not to harm others, ourselves and all living beings, including the earth.
It can be very difficult in our society today to determine what a Skillful Livelihood could be in our very tangled social and economic systems. today. As with the precepts, it is nearly impossible to find a livelihood that does not cause any harm to anyone or anything, because of how enmeshed everything is today. In order to choose a livelihood that causes the least possible harm, we must look deeply into our own lives. We must each observe our own circumstances and choose actions that are the most beneficial. And if we do look deeply and find that the livelihood we are in unavoidably causes harm, then we can ask ourselves if we might try to offset that harm in some way. For example, if our livelihood requires us to make long commutes, because there is no viable public transportation, we might look into getting an electric or hybrid car, ride a bike, share a ride, or invest in other actions that aim to minimize pollution.
When we examine ourselves and our own lives, in order to practice Skillful Livelihood, we can ask ourselves:
--What are our needs?
--What drives our consumption?
--Do we really need what we buy or collect?
Sometimes we examing our livelihood and recognize it is not beneficial for other living beings, but we are not in a position to give up that livelihood at that moment. We might need to face some fears about letting go of that livelihood, or address issues around where we live and what options for livelihood are available. In those cases it doesn't mean we cannot practice Skillful Livelihood. Often the most effective action we can take to practice Skillful Livelihood is in just simplifying our lives. The less we need, the less harm we potentially cause. Working toward reducing our needs and simplifying may even reduce more harm and increase benefits than leaving the problemmatic livelihood.
