What the Buddha Taught 13

     Fourth: The relation between friends, relatives, and neighbours: They should be hospitable and charitable to one another, speak pleasantly and agreeably, work for each other’s welfare, be on equal terms with one another, not quarrel among themselves, help each other in need, and not forsake each other in difficulty.

     Fifth: The relation between master and servant: the master or the employer has several obligations towards his servant or employee: work should be assigned according to ability and capacity; adequate wages should be paid; medical needs should be provided; occasional donations or bonuses should be granted. The servant or employee, in his turn, should be diligent and not lazy; honest and obedient and not cheat his master; he should be earnest in his work.

     Sixth: The relation between the religious and the laity: Lay people should love and respect the spiritual's material needs; the religious, with a loving heart, should impart knowledge and learn to the laity and lead them along the good path away from evil.

     We see then that the lay life, with its family and social relations, is included in the ‘noble discipline’ and is within the framework of the Buddhist way of life, as the Buddha envisaged it.

     So, in the Samyutta-Nikaya, one of the oldest Pali texts, Sakka, the king of the gods, declares that he worships not only the monks who live a virtuous, holy life but also ‘lay disciples who perform meritorious deeds, who are virtuous, and who maintain their families righteously.

     If one desires to become a Buddhist, there is no initiation ceremony (or baptism) that one has to undergo. (But to become a bhikkhu, a member of the Order of the Sangha, one has to undergo a long process of disciplinary training and education.) If one understands the Buddha’s teaching and is convinced that his teaching is the right path and if one tries to follow it, then one is a Buddhist. But according to the unbroken age-old tradition in Buddhist countries, one is considered a Buddhist if one takes the Buddha, the Dhamma (the Teaching) and the Sangha (the Order of Monks) – generally called ‘the Triple-Gem’ –as one’s refuges, and undertakes to observe the Five Precepts – the minimum moral obligations of a lay Buddhist 1. Not to destroy life, two not to steal, three not to commit adultery, four not to tell lies, five not to take intoxicating drinks-reciting the formulas given in the ancient texts. On religious occasions, Buddhists in congregations usually recite these formulas, following the lead of a Buddhist monk.

     There are no external rites or ceremonies which a Buddhist has to perform. Buddhism is a way of life, and what is essential is following the Noble Eightfold Path. Of course, these are simple and beautiful ceremonies on religious occasions in all Buddhist countries. There are shrines with statues of the Buddha, stupas or dagabas and Bo-trees in monasteries where Buddhists worship, offer flowers, light lamps, and burn incense. This should not be likened to prayer in theistic religions; it is only a way of paying homage to the memory of the Master who showed the way. Though inessential, these traditional observances have their value in satisfying the religious emotions and needs of those less advanced intellectually and spiritually and helping them gradually along the Path.

     Those who think that Buddhism is interested only in lofty ideals and high moral and philosophical thought and that it ignores the social and economic welfare of people are wrong. The Buddha was interested in men's happiness. To him, happiness was not possible without leading a pure life based on moral and spiritual principles. But he knew leading such a life was hard, and it was in unfavourable material and social conditions.

     Buddhism does not consider material welfare as an end; it is only a means to a higher and nobler end. But it is an indispensable means of achieving a higher purpose for man’s happiness. So Buddhism recognizes the need for certain minimum material conditions favourable to the spiritual success of monks engaged in meditation in some solitary place.

     The Buddha did not take life out of the context of its social and economic background; he looked at it as a whole, in all its social, financial and political aspects. His teachings on ethical, spiritual and philosophical problems are pretty well known. However, little is known about his teachings on social, economic, and political matters, particularly in the West. Yet numerous discourses deal with these scattered throughout the ancient Buddhist texts. Let us take only a few examples.

     The Cakkavattisihanada-sutta of the Digha-Nikaya clearly states that poverty is the cause of immorality and crimes such as theft, falsehood, violence, hatred, cruelty, etc. Kings in ancient times, like governments today, tried to suppress crime through punishment. The kutadanta-sutta of the same Nikaya explains how futile this is. It says that this method can never be successful. Instead, the Buddha suggests that to eradicate crime, the economic condition of the people should be improved: grain and other facilities for agriculture should be provided for farmers and cultivators; capital should be offered to traders and those engaged in business; adequate wages should be paid to those who are employed. When people are thus provided with opportunities to earn a sufficient income, they will be contented and will have no fear or anxiety. Consequently, the country will be peaceful and free from crime.

     Because of this, the Buddha told lay people how important it is to improve their economic condition. This does not mean he approved of hoarding wealth with desire and attachment, which is against his fundamental teaching, nor did he approve of every way of earning one’s livelihood. As we saw earlier, there are specific trades like the production and sale of armaments, which he condemns as evil means of livelihood.

     A man named Dighajanu once visited the Buddha and said: ‘Venerable Sir, we are ordinary laymen, leading the family life with wife and children.  Would the Blessed One teach us some doctrines conducive to our happiness in this world and hereafter?

     The Buddha tells him that there are four things which are conducive to a man’s happiness in this world: First, he should be skilled, efficient, earnest, and energetic in whatever profession he is engaged in, and he should know it well; second: he should protect his income, which he has thus earned righteously, with the sweat of his brow; (This refers to safeguard wealth from thieves, etc. All these ideas should be considered against the background of the period) third: he should have good friends who are faithful, learned, virtuous, liberal and intelligent, who will help him along the right path away from evil; fourth: he should spend reasonably, in proportion to his income, neither too much nor too little, i.e., he should not hoard wealth avariciously, nor should he be extravagant-in other words he should live within his means.

     Then the Buddha expounds the four virtues conducive to a layman’s happiness hereafter: 1 Saddha: he should have faith and confidence in moral, spiritual and intellectual values; 2 Sila: he should abstain from destroying and harming life, from stealing and cheating, from adultery, from falsehood, and intoxicating drinks; 3 Caga: he should practise charity, generosity, without attachment and craving for his wealth; 4 Panna: he should develop wisdom which leads to the destruction of suffering, to the realization of Nirvana.

     Sometimes, the Buddha even went into detail about saving and spending money, as when he told the young man Sigala that he should devote one-fourth of his income to his daily expenses, invest half in his business, and put aside one-fourth for emergencies.

     Once, the Buddha told Anathapindika, the great banker and one of his most devoted lay disciples, who founded the celebrated Jetavana monastery at Savatthi for him, that a layman who leads an ordinary family life has four kinds of happiness. The first happiness is to enjoy economic security or sufficient wealth acquired by just righteous deeds; the third is to be free from debt; the fourth is to live a faultless and pure life without committing evil in thought, word or deed. It must be noted here that three of these kinds are economical and that the Buddha finally reminded the banker that economic and material happiness is ‘not worth one-sixteenth part’ of the spiritual happiness arising out of a faultless and good life.

     From the few examples given above, one can see that the Buddha considered economic welfare a requisite for human happiness but did not recognize progress as real and true if it was only material, devoid of a spiritual and moral foundation. While encouraging material progress, Buddhism always stresses the development of ethical and spiritual character for a happy, peaceful, and contented society.

     The Buddha was just clear on politics, on war and peace. It is too well known to be repeated here that Buddhism advocates and preaches non-violence and peace as its universal message and does not approve of any violence or destruction of life. According to Buddhism, there is nothing that can be called a ‘just war’-which is only a false term coined and put into circulation to justify and excuse hatred, cruelty, violence and massacre. Who decides what is just or unjust? The mighty and the victorious are ‘just,’ and your war is always ‘unjust.’ Our war is always ‘just,’ and yours is always ‘unjust.’ Buddhism does not accept this position.

     The Buddha not only taught nonviolence and peace, but he even went to the field of battle and intervened personally, preventing war, as in the case of the dispute between the Sakyas and the Koliyas, who were prepared to fight over the question of the waters of the Rohini. His words once prevented King Ajatasattu from attacking the kingdom of the Vajjis.

     In the days of the Buddha, as today, some rulers governed their countries unjustly. People were oppressed and exploited, tortured and persecuted, excessive taxes were imposed, and cruel punishments were inflicted. These inhumanities deeply moved the Buddha. The Dhammapadatthakatha records that he directed his attention to the problem of good government. His views should be appreciated against his time's social, economic and political background. He showed how a whole country could become corrupt, degenerate, and unhappy when the heads of its government, the king, the ministers, and administrative officers, become corrupt and unjust. For a country to be happy, it must have a just government. The way this form of just government could be realized is explained by the Buddha in his teaching of the ‘Ten Duties of the King,’ as given in the Jataka text.

     Of course, the term ‘king’ of old should be replaced today by ‘Government.’ “The Ten Duties of the King’, therefore, apply today to all those who constitute the government, such as the head of the state, ministers, political leaders, legislative and administrative officers, etc.

     The first of the “Ten Duties of the King’ is liberality, generosity, and charity. The ruler should not have cravings and attachments to wealth and property but should give it away for the welfare of the people.

     Second: A high moral character. He should never destroy life, cheat, steal and exploit others, commit adultery, utter falsehood, and take intoxicating drinks. That is, he must at least observe the Five Precepts of the layman.

     Third: Sacrificing everything for the good of the people, he must be prepared to give up all personal comfort, name and fame, and even his life in the people's interest.

     Fourth: Honesty and integrity. He must be free from fear or favour in discharging his duties, sincere in his intentions, and not deceive the public.

     Fifth: Kindness and gentleness. He must possess a genial temperament.

     Sixth: Austerity in habits. He must lead a simple life and should not indulge in a life of luxury. He must have self-control.

     Seventh: Freedom from hatred, ill-will, enmity. He should bear no grudge against anybody.

     Eighth: Nonviolence means that he should not only harm anybody but also promote peace by avoiding and preventing war and everything involving violence and the destruction of life.

     Ninth: Patience, forbearance, tolerance, understanding. He must bear hardships, difficulties and insults without losing his temper.

     Tenth: Non-opposition, non-obstruction, that is to say, that he should not oppose the will of the people and should not obstruct any measures conducive to the welfare of the people. In other words, he should rule in harmony with his people.

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