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[Last updated: 23 September 1993]

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THE SECOND PARAMITA

BY

Robert Aitken, Roshi

This text addresses some of the most fundamental and delicate religious

issues. Therefore, it should be read, quoted and analysed in a mindful

way.

Originally published in MOON MIND CIRCLE, Summer 1987 pp.1-5.

Copyrights (c) by Robert Aitken and Sydney Zen Center

251 Young St., Annandale, Sydney, NSW 2038, Australia.

SHILA

Shila is the mnemonic listing of precepts, and by extension it is

Vinaya, the moral way.  Vinaya is the first of the "Three Baskets" or

Tripitaka, the Buddhist canon, the others being Sutra and Abhidharma,

the teachings and the commentaries.  Formally becoming a Buddhist is a

matter of accepting the precepts in the ceremony called Jukai.  To

understand how morality and Buddhism go together, it is probably best to

review the Buddhist teaching itself briefly:

The basic teaching of the Buddha is that there is no abiding self.  Our

being is made up of and constantly depends upon other people, animals,

plants, soil, water, air, the planet earth, the other planets, the sun,

moon and stars.  Our very genes are programmes provided to us by our

ancestors and from unknown sources back to the earliest green slime and

before.  Nothing is my own and everything makes me up:  my parents,

grandparents - the birdsong,  portraits by Rembrandt, the scent of the

Puakenikeni, and the laughter of a friend.  Also forming my being are

death in the family, the danger of biological holocaust,

misunderstandings, and malicious gossip.

This formation that is me, flowing along, eating and adapting and

adopting, is the same formation that is you, with very small variations

in our combination of genes and experience that give us our uniqueness.

This uniqueness is our own personal potential, and we depend upon each

other for sustenance to fulfill it.

Each centre in our multi-centred universe is dependent in this way.

Nothing abides and we find that everything is fundamentally

insubstantial -- shunyata, emptiness.  It is not a vacuum that we

perceive, but the absence of a fixed self in ourselves and in the

multitudinous things of the universe.  With this perception, or with an

understanding that such an experience is possible, we glimpse the

Dharma:  the peace of the fathomless void and the harmony of the many

centres as they flow about and through each other - out there and as

this 'me'.

We also perceive misuse of harmony as habitats are destroyed, nations

threatened, childlren and spouses abused and friends slandered.

The Ten Grave Precepts, which make up Shila for the Zen student, are ten

ways to prompt our awareness of the Dharma, the peace and great harmony

of life and death that is our universe.  They not only prompt our

awareness, they are expressions of perfection in the Dharma.  Each

precept is a paramita.

The Ten Grave Precepts.

l.   I take up the way of not killing.  This First Precept echoes the

first of our Great Vows for All, "Though the many beings are numberless,

I vow to save them."  The Precept is specific and negative in wording;

the Vow is universal and positive.  The emphasis in the Precept is upon

protection and nurturing: the emphasis in the Vow is upon spiritual

encouragement.  Both are expressions of perfections:  both enhance the

process of perfection.

Usually, nurturing a specific being is clearly also a matter of saving

the universe, but sometimes options of abortion, spraying bugs, and

trapping rats seem to offer ways to keep the world organism thinned and

healthy.  Such issues can becone agonizingly difficult, and it is

tempting to make decisions on the basis of persuasive arguments that are

over-simple and reductive.  They are koans and must be faced with a

clear sense of proportion.

Decisions about the quantitatively larger issue of war and peace have

been clarified by the unprecedented technological capacity for killing

which science has achieved.  There is no longer an argument for a "just

war", or for "mutually assured deterence".  Incredibly murderous weapons

are prepared to destroy all human life and almost all animal and plant

life.  The koan here is how to speak out appropriately and take action

that is instructive in opposition to such weapons and their so-called

rationale.

Less obvious, but no less dangerous, is the probability of biological

disaster through the destruction of forests, meadows, wetlands, lakes,

rivers, seas, and the air.  I vow to moderate my lifestyle and reduce

its demands, and to encourage you to do the same, for the protection of

all beings in their infinite variety.

2.  I take up the way of not stealing.  This and all the subsequent

Precepts are variants of the first, "Not Killing".  "I take up the way

of not stealing" means I will respect the order of things - the paramita

of harmony.

Peasants who occupy unused private land in Central America are

demonstrating their view of the fundamental order. "We are taking what

is rightfully ours", they say.  The landlords say they are stealing.

The question is, which view kills?  Which view gives life?

3.  I take up the way of not misusing sex.  Sexual intercourse is

misused when it is an addiction rather than the peak experience of love

between a committed couple.  All the Precepts point to addictive

behalviour, stealing, lying, using alcohol or drugs, slandering, even

killing.  Addiction reveals a lack of confidence, a need for something

from others, the interdependence of all things inverted for just one

being.  It is no good condemning promiscuity as immoral behaviour, for

it is only a symptom of general immaturity.  Like anybody else, the

addict needs guidance to find a way to forget the self.

4.  I take up the way of not speaking falsely.  Speaking falsely is also

killing, and specifically, killing the Dharmna.  The lie is set up to

defend the idea of a fixed entity, a self image, a concept, or an

institution.  I want to be known as warm and compassionate, so I deny

that I was cruel, even though somebody got hurt.  Sometimes I must lie

to protect someone or large numbers of people, animals, plants and

things from getting hurt, or I believe I must.  What is the big picture?

"Buddha nature pervades the whole universe."  1

5.  I take up the way of not using drink or drugs.  This can be extended

to anything that clouds the mind:  silly conversation, noisy music, most

TV programmes.  But Buddhism is not absolute.  A little wine warms my

bones and relaxes my inhibitions, and casual conversation enhances my

humanity and the humanity of others.  This Precept is warning against

addiction and dependency. When I am completely honest at the very source

of my thoughts, what is the path of the Buddha?

6.  I take up the way of not discussing faults of others.  Again, this

Precept too deals with an aspect of killing.  More people get hurt by

gossip than by guns.  The point is that nobody has a fixed character.

Everyone has tendencies, and those tendencies can be used or misused,

read or misread. The tendency to be accomodating can be seen negatively

as passivity, and positively as patience. Encourage the tendency, and it

will find its own perfection.

7.  I take up the way of not praising myself while abusing others.  The

reason I praise myself and abuse others is that I seek to justify and

defend myself as a certain kind of rather superior being.

Actually, I am not superior or inferior.  My actions and words are

appropriate or inappropriate to the needs of people, animals, plants and

things, including myself. If I am authoritarian and put myself up and

others down, then I am not meeting their need to grow and mature or my

own to listen and learn.  The Buddha Dharma is obscured.  The world

suffers.

8.  I take up the way of not sparing the Dharma assets. The Dharma

assets are all phenomena in their precious uniqueness, the

interdependence of everything in perfect harmony, and the absence of any

abiding self.  When I am not stingy with the Dharma assets, I conduct

myself and say things that enhance my own understanding of uniqueness,

harmony and peace - and understanding on the part of others, so that my

family members, friends and everyone and everything can maintain their

path of perfection.  Another way to say this is:  I conduct myself so

that the original perfection becomes more and more clear to all beings.

9.  I take up the way of not indulging in anger.  You and I have had the

experience in sesshin of bathing in anger.  Something unreasonably tiny,

perhaps something you don't even notice, punctures a nasty bubble of

angry gas, and you sit there playing out scenarios of retribution.

Perhaps you blame yourself for this condition, but it is needless blame,

and it only adds to the confusion. Even such a nightmare of anger is not

a violation of this Precept, because if you are sincere, you return to

the practice whenever you possibly can.  Anger itself is the field of

your practice, and you pursue the little puck Mu on that field.

Blake says, "the tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of

instruction." Kwan-yin hurls a thunderbolt of anger from time to time.

Indulgence in anger is the addiction, and it rests upon pain.  What is

it that troubles you?

l0.  I take up the way of not slandering the Three Treasures. The  Three

Treasures are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.  These are

variously the Historical Buddha, his teaching, and the fellowship of his

followers - and realisation, the path to realisation, and the harmony of

all beings.  Slandering such Treasures is belittling them, and the

grossest kind of belittling is conceptual analysis that reduces and

quantifies - obscuring the unknown and unknowable source, the marvellous

subtlety of the Buddha's words and the words of his great followers, the

synchronicity and symmetry of experience, and the precious nature and

aspiration of each individual person, animal or plant.

I take up the Ten Precepts of the disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, and I

invite you to join me.

THE TEN GRAVE PRECEPTS.

l.  I take up the way of not killing.

2.  I take up the way of not stealing.

3.  I take up the way of not misusing sex.

4.  I take up the way of not speaking falsely.

5.  I take up the way of not using drink or drugs.

6.  I take up the way of not discussing faults of others.

7.  I take up the way of not praising myself while abusing others.

8.  I take up the way of not sparing the Dharma assets.

9.  I take up the way of not indulging in anger.

l0.  I take up the way of not slandering the Three Treasures.

******************

Notes.

l.  From the classical dedication of sutras, translated by Nakagawa Soen

Roshi, and used in the Diamond Sangha and at the Zen Center of L. A..

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