These brief comments are extracted from a day-long program at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies on November 14,1999.
One. The teachings in the sutta are about empowerment, in a way, to craft our lives, to make a life that can be in harmony with other things, a life that can be supportive of our deepest values and the reliance on and respect of simplicity. The blessings in the sutta are, of course, expressions of relationships in the culture of India of Buddha’s time and written in that language of relationships. These expressions of relationships are about that sense of being a part of something greater than the limited sense with which we ordinarily walk around, the sense of that moment when something opens up, that sense of having connection to a meaning, so we are not just living randomly in an ad hoc way reacting mechanically to different circumstances. It is having a thread, a thread of integration. The Mangala Sutta
Sutta Nipàta 258-269Many gods and men Have thought about blessings, Wishing for well being. —Tell [us] the highest blessing;
Two. A blessing, in the context of this teaching, from this point of view, means a gift we give to ourselves. I like to think it is a moment of connecting personally and directly to a deeper truth. And when we do that, there’s a feeling that things have opened up or that things are coming together in some way that is not so fractured and fragmented. So it is both something that we do and it is also something that we receive (although not coming from above, necessarily). In these extraordinary moments, when we are reminded of our own potential, something happens: we experience the world coming together in a different way. Not consorting with the foolish, But with the wise consorting, And honoring those who are to be honoured. —This is the highest blessing.
Three. Many years ago, we brought one of our early teachers over from India and took him around to different centers in the country. He said, “It is wonderful, all that is happening here in the West. But there is something about practitioners in the West that reminds me of people sitting in a boat. They are rowing and they are rowing with great earnestness and sincerity, but they refuse to untie the boat from the docks. People are a little bit like that here. They want these huge transcendent experiences, these magical, mystical events; but they don’t really like to pay attention to how they speak to one another, or how they treat other people at work, or all these different circumstances of ordinary life.” But what we do all week long affects how we feel when we sit down on Sunday morning to meditate. If our week’s existence has been fragmented, it’s going to affect what we call our meditation. It’s not separate. So we look with a lot of care at all these different elements of life. To live in a suitable place, And to have done good deeds in the past, Having a proper goal for oneself. —This is the highest blessing.
Four. It matters how we speak. We might think that these are just words coming out of our mouths and when they come out it’s over and doesn’t matter. But it matters because intention has a power, and it has an effect. All of us have been hurt terribly by someone’s words at some point or another in our lives. It is also a question of how we use our energy, how we use discernment, what is our understanding of skillfulness, do we say that which is true and that which is useful? Do we look at all the different aspects of our life? How is our speech? How is our action? How is our livelihood? How is our sense of vision? Do we have a sense of what really matters most in life and can we keep pointing back to that as an inspiration? It doesn’t mean we evaluate our every action through a completely punitive mind, but it’s to remember, “Oh, yes, this is important to me, and this might be the basis for the next choice that I make.” Learning, craftsmanship, And being well-trained in discipline, What [ever] is said being well spoken. —This is the highest blessing.
Five. Support for mother and father. Help for wife and children. Spheres of work that bring no conflict. Whether the languaging feels appropriate to you or not, it goes back to that sense of a wholistic vision of spirituality. It is not some exotic activity that we do in a special way. Spiritual life is really about how we are. Support for mother and father, Help for wife and children, Spheres of work that bring no conflict. —This is the highest blessing.
Six. Generosity, morality and the helping of relatives. Doing actions that are blameless. The Buddha almost always began his teaching with generosity because that is something everyone can do. The giving is not even necessarily of anything material, but a recognition that any act of sharing makes us happy by helping someone else get happy. It is the act of letting go. You can always smile at somebody. You can give in that way. You don’t have to have material abundance to be able to give. And the very nature of giving is an opening that is really what the whole path is about. And then he went on to teach morality, because morality is the basis of tranquility in one’s mind. If you have an extremely complicated life and it is very fragmented and it has got devious corners, complicated stuff going on, it’s actually very hard to meditate. I mean it’s hard enough to meditate, but when you are not only in that less than purifying mode, awakening sensitivity not only about things you did ten years ago but when you are grappling with the complexity of your life right now—it’s very hard to be able to concentrate the mind. Generosity, morality And the helping of relatives, Doing actions that are blameless. —This is the highest blessing.
Seven. “Ceasing and refraining from evil.” Evil is not usually a word you see translated in Buddhist texts. Generally speaking, they translate it as something like unskillfulness, and it is meant in the sense of remembering that it really matters what we say and how we use our energy and how we care for one another and what we do. It makes a difference. “Abstinence from intoxicants” refers to drugs and alcohol, and is very interesting. The actual precept in the teachings reads “I’ll refrain from taking intoxicants which cloud the mind and cause heedlessness.” And there have been endless discussions (probably for 2500 years) about what this means. Does one beer at night mean intoxication? Is it moderation? Is it abstinence? Again, we are the ones who decide but it is interesting to look at how we decide what we decide. There are many different kind of scholastic textual interpretations, but it is very interesting to experiment with one’s life toward renunciation, toward letting go, toward exploration of how we are affected when we do different things. Because our own seeing is the barometer of what we know. Ceasing and refraining from evil, Abstinence from intoxicants, And diligence among mental states. —This is the highest blessing.
Eight. “Respect, humility, contentment, gratitude.” These are virtues we don’t necessarily think much of. Or hearing the dharma in a timely manner, patience, or the ability to take criticism. The Buddha said that one of the preconditions for loving-kindness to arise more easily in one’s heart is the ability to hear criticism. People are often critical, and we can’t make that stop. We have to develop a malleability of mind so that rigidity doesn’t set in immediately when we hear something critical and there can remain some gentleness or softness in our mind. Why is it a blessing to visit with ascetics—holy models of spiritual power? In our society spiritual people are, generally speaking, not our heroes. They are not the people we respect or revere the most. But their existence is a blessing because certainly here is the great reminder of what is possible for us. When the Dalai Lama spoke for an hour and a half to tens of thousands of people in Central Park in New York this past summer, it was quite extraordinary because his very presence is a kind of blessing. There is something about certain people that helps us remember the best within us, or we remember a sense of possibility that completely eluded us when we were caught by the particular problem or circumstance of the day. Suddenly there is an opening, a sense of greater potential. Something special happens in an ordinary way. That is why I so enjoy watching the Dalai Lama—there is an energy in him that reminds us of what is best about ourselves. Respect, humility, Contentment, gratitude, Hearing Dhamma when timely. —This is the highest blessing.
Nine. Discussion of the dharma in a timely manner—this too is the highest blessing. One of my early teachers, Munindra-ji, once said to me, “The Buddha’s enlightenment solved the Buddha’s problem. Now you solve yours.” It was a fantastically empowering statement, because it felt like maybe for the first time in my life someone was looking at me and saying “You can solve your problem,” and that’s what this passage and the next one mean to me. It’s not just hearing the dhamma or hearing teachings. It’s discussing them and then practicing them, which means realizing that they are for you too. It’s not a question of admiring what the Buddha or somebody did 2500 years ago, or thinking, “Isn’t that amazing that someone can get free,” and then turning the page to go onto something else. What is important is the realization that all of these possibilities exist for each one of us. The Buddha was a human being. And the questions he asked about life were the questions any one of us might ask in our own way. What does it mean to be born in a human body which is subject to change, which grows old, which gets sick, which dies—whether we want it to or not? Patience, obedience, The seeing of ascetics And discussion of Dhamma when timely —This is the highest blessing.
Ten. We can’t say, “I’ve suffered enough,” or “I will never feel afraid again.” So where is happiness to be found if the body is changing according to laws of nature and not according to our direct control? It is found by seeing more clearly through the dharma; through awareness; through love. And happiness is for us; it is not just something that happened long ago to someone sitting under a tree. It is not just something that happens in exotic terrain. We have to see that not just Buddhist teachings, but any spiritual teaching exists as an invitation, not to just admire from afar, but to really investigate what it means to us. Can we bring it to life, can we actually participate in a way that is very meaningful? So we hear the dharma; we discuss the dharma; we practice the dharma, that is the highest blessing. Ardour, the religious life, Seeing the noble truths, The direct experience of nibbàna. —This is the highest blessing.
Eleven. The Buddha goes on to describe all of these different blessings, and even though each is said to be the highest, there is nevertheless an ascending order. It culminates with the mind which does not waver, even among worldly things. “Sorrowless, stainless, secure. This is the highest blessing.” Isn’t it interesting that this blessing comes after the direct experience of nibbana/nirvana? So here we have, even after the direct experience of nibbana—that which is beyond birth and death—life in all of its changing forms. And there is no one for whom it is only pleasant all the time. The Buddha probably rarely got horse feed as alms food, but it happened sometimes. The balance in the midst of changing circumstances is different in everyone’s life, but to think of only pleasure with no pain ever—this is just not how life works. It is not how things are laid out. So here the Buddha is saying that the absolute highest blessing is being able to move through life’s changes. It means that sense of integrity, that sense of wholeness, responding with compassion as strongly as we can. Responding with mindfulness as strongly as we can. That’s the stuff, the makings of really having a blessed existence. This is what is truly secure, sorrowless, stainless. Again we are using a certain language to express something. I think that when we think of security, we do think of something static which given the nature of things is not going to be and we also think of something constructed, something we create like a little nest. We don’t have to look at how things are whether it is in terms of change or impermanence or emptiness or whatever. But I think it actually does mean secure in the sense of steadfast, or steady. And that is something one can sense both in oneself at different times and I think in the presence of some of these great beings. A mind which does not waver [Even] among worldly things— Sorrowless, stainless, secure. —This is the highest blessing.
Twelve. One of my favorite expressions was coined by the theologian Howard Thurman, who said, “Look at the world with quiet eyes.” Isn’t that lovely? Just look at the world with quiet eyes. Usually when we are in life’s circumstance—whatever it is—we can be so reactive. It reminds me of those cartoon characters with eyeballs on springs that pop out when they see something surprising. But looking upon the world with quiet eyes, we can feel a sense of just coming back into ourselves and into that more receptive mode. We can be a little less grabbing or reacting. And that modality can extend really to every sense. What would it be like to see and hear and taste and touch and smell with that kind of quiet, just to receive. Let’s try it, shall we? Let’s go outside on this beautiful day and do some walking in just that way: When you are seeing, when you are hearing, when you are feeling—see what happens when you remind yourself of that ability of receiving and watch your eyes. See what happens when they get on that spring and start moving forward, or you are leaning forward into space to grab the next moment. Remember: just continually relax and relax, and come back into ourself. Having acted in this way, Everywhere unconquered, They go to well-being everywhere. —That is their highest blessing.