Do The Right Thing

So, I have returned from my trip to Japan, and have a lot, A LOT, to blog about. While on the flight* back from Japan I read a lot of half-finished books. I finished I think three books and nearly finished a fourth. It was a long flight. In any case, while I finished up Thich Nhat Hanh’s commentaries on the Lotus Sutra, I found an excellent passage worth quoting here:

Mindfulness of love can help us in so many ways. Suppose that you are driving in your car and you are aware that your child is waiting for you at home. If you practice mindfulness of love, if you think of child waiting for you to arrive home safely, you will be more mindful and will drive more carefully and safely.** Perhaps you are thinking of having a drink. Practicing mindfulness of love, you think of your child, and you know that you are going to have to drive in a few minutes. Even if you think want a drink very much because it makes you feel good, practicing mindfulness of love will help you choose not to drink at that moment.

This is the essence of following the moral precepts in Buddhism. My recent post on Buddhism and Alcohol stirred up a variety of responses on this and other blogs, but what Thich Nhat Hanh is trying to say is that while people like to argue about the validity of precepts, their benefits to others are clear-cut. The late Ven. Yin-Shun spoke on the subject as well:

From the Āgama Sūtra and the Dharmapada to the Mahāyāna sūtras, the Buddha has clearly stated that keeping precepts means “to use one’s own feelings to measure those of others” for the purpose of controlling one’s sensual desires toward others. In the sūtras, using one’s own feelings to measure other people’s (all sentient beings) feelings is called the Dharma of taking oneself as the yardstick against which to measure things. This is the same as the principle of reciprocity in Confucianism.

So, if you find yourself questioning about their validity or how they help you practice, then you are still thinking in self-centered terms.

When Baby was first born, I took a stronger interest in the Five Precepts, because I just felt I wanted to do the right thing for her. That’s the spirit with which you should follow any of the Buddhist precepts: do the right thing.

No joke. At times I have been tempted to do something naughty, and while I am mulling over the idea in my head, trying to justify to myself it’s ok, I sometimes think to myself, “Doug, do the right thing” and that pretty much settles it.*** While you can argue over rules and legalisms, our intuition and sense of right knows better. Deep down you know what’s right, and as the Buddha taught, what is praiseworthy by the wise is what is best in the long run. In the Abhisanda Sutta (AN 8.39) of the Pali Canon, is the famous line:

“Now, there are these five gifts [the five moral precepts], five great gifts — original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning — that are not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and are unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives and priests.

Buddhism is praxis, doing stuff. Buddhism practiced has clear benefits to yourself and others. When you do the right thing, you just know you’ve made the right course. You do not inflict yourself with the negative karma of guilt or the cycle of mental justification, you do not regret it weeks later when you’re caught red-handed, and you do not inflict yourself with shame later.

So, just remember what Spike Lee said, “Do the Right Thing”. :)

Namuamidabu

* – 11 hours from Japan to Paris, 2 hours at airport, 2 more hours from Paris to Dublin, another hour getting through immigration, then another hour in the taxi home. *sigh* It was so much easier from Seattle to Japan.

** – My comment: this is true. I can attest to this from experience.

*** – I actually got the idea from the movie of the same title. I never saw the movie, but love the title. It’s very catchy, even after all these years. In any case, temptation is nothing new. Buddhists will deal with it their whole lives unless they reach Enlightenment; even great masters still get tempted, but through their practice of mindfulness and long-term training, the temptations don’t have much teeth anymore.


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9 Comments on “Do The Right Thing”

  1. ggw_bach says:

    keen to hear about your travels. Fairly new to your blog.

    “Buddhism is praxis, doing stuff. Buddhism practiced has clear benefits to yourself and others. When you do the right thing, you just know you’ve made the right course.”

    that sounds right

    “You do not inflict yourself with the negative karma of guilt or the cycle of mental justification, you do not regret it weeks later”

    yes! one has acted in the interests of the universe, not that of the limited ego.

  2. Gerald Ford says:

    Hi GGW, welcome to the L8B! You hit upon a great point: your actions, good or bad, do reflect upon the whole universe. This goes back to the Brahma Net Sutra (and the simile of the jeweled net) among other things.

    P.S. Your avatar icon rocks. No pun intended.

  3. arunlikhati says:

    Great post, Gerald. And I love the new design!

  4. What, no link to my response in your post?
    ;-)

    Whether we agree or not, the discourse spurs thinking, thinking spurs reflection, reflection spurs steps toward self-actualization.

    I too like the new design. Cutline is easy to customize. I use it for my site and for another site I’m developing: http://www.elderguru.com

  5. Gerald Ford says:

    Arun: Thanks much. :)

    Chasing: Actually I was thinking of at least two, maybe three unrelated “challenges” to this notion, so I didn’t feel like singling anyone out. :)

  6. Alice says:

    “While you can argue over rules and legalisms, our intuition and sense of right knows better. Deep down you know what’s right….”

    That reminds me of the Lojong slogan, “Of the two witnesses, hold the principal one.” It’s saying that since you’re the one who knows yourself best, go with what your intuition says is best. Of course, we also need to have massive amounts of discriminating wisdom in order to really know if we’re doing the right thing. That’s where practice comes into play.

  7. Gerald Ford says:

    Good point. We may not always know how to listen to our intuition, especially if our mind chatters away, so practice definitely helps.

  8. Kendall says:

    I have to disagree with a part of that first quote that says to practice mindfulness of your child waiting for you at home. What people should be doing is being mindful of their driving. People already drive with too many distractions, so our mindfulness their should be on driving. Though I do realize it was an example and I agree with the message it was trying to convey. I just feel it should have used a better example context.

  9. Gerald Ford says:

    I have to admit, from personal experience, I am a bad driver: impatient and just not that coordinated. But when I think of Baby, I tend to drive slower and try not to take so many risks. When she’s in the care with me, even more so. So I know what Thich Nhat Hanh is talking about, but I think we’re actually talking about the same thing. By remembering one’s child in this case, it reminds them to pay attention to their driving (hopefully). :)


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