This talk was given at an men's Area Order weekend at Adhisthana February 2023
I will start not with an anecdote or story from my own
experience, but with my own opinion on the question of harmony in our Triratna
Buddhist Order. My own speculative opinion. Is there a deepening harmony in our
order? Is there a deepening or maturing harmony or unity in our Order. This
question reminds me of something Bhante once said when asked a question about
deep communication – he said that for deep communication you need deep people!
For deep harmony we need deep people too. For mature
harmony we need spiritually mature people. In my opinion we do have a lot of
spiritually mature people in our Order and therefore a lot of deepening and
maturing harmony too. When I first joined the Order in 1988 my experience of
chapter meetings and regional order weekends was that they often had a strong
element of conflict with lots of angry disagreement and arguments. These days,
as far as I can tell, there is much less, if any, of that.
I think that gradually over the years the ordination
training processes, the ordination courses, the private preceptor system and
the private preceptor retreats have been a few of the institutions that have
all contributed to a deepening harmony.
Even more significant perhaps is that many of us have now
been practising sincerely and effectively for decades and this has led to the
presence in the Order of many individuals of considerable spiritual maturity, (not
that long service necessarily equals spiritual maturity!). This, in my opinion,
means that at the heart of the Order there is considerable unity and harmony,
because there is trust, goodwill, spiritual maturity and a lot of very
long-standing friendships.
Many of us have connections that go back decades and often
those connections are based on shared experiences of either living or working together
or being on retreat together or even of having been in conflict.
My life has been interwoven with the lives of many of you
here in one way or another. And this is a story that is repeated throughout our
Order. On Conventions there is a palpable feeling of friendship and connection
that creates a very joyful atmosphere.
There are many strong bonds between us, and those bonds
have been further strengthened, deepened and matured by the work that we have
individually done on ourselves over the years and even decades.
So, yes, in my opinion, the Order, our precious and fragile
Order, does have a deepening and maturing harmony and unity at its heart. One
thing about harmony is that it is very quiet, even silent often, and can easily
go unnoticed, whereas disharmony tends to be loud, even dramatic and is always
sure to be noticed and to draw attention to itself. This is how the world is –
it is conflict, war and destruction that get all the attention, whereas, peace,
friendliness and constructive initiatives get much less attention.
I have said that it’s my opinion that there is considerable
harmony and unity in the Order. I wanted to emphasise that it’s an opinion,
because I don’t expect or need it to be everybody’s opinion. Opinions, after
all, are speculative and based on the limited information afforded to us by our
own observation and experience or maybe what we have heard or read. We all have
different experiences, which are likely to lead us to different opinions.
I think the key thing about opinions is that we need to
hold them lightly, not get too attached to them, too identified or obsessed
with them. Being identified with opinions or views is what leads to arguments
and arguments can often lead to hostility and hostility is the fuel that
ignites the fires of disharmony. When we are personally identified with a view
or opinion, then criticism of it is experienced as criticism of oneself and
even a threat to our sense of self.
In one of his sets of fifteen points for Order Members,
Bhante says “don’t argue, discuss”. The difference between an argument and a
discussion is that in an argument we want to win, or even have to win, whereas
in a discussion we are simply trying to arrive at the truth.
This distinction is drawn out in a different way by the
Buddha in the Kosambiya Sutta (MN 48). Here is the opening of the Sutta,
Thus, have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed
One was living at KosambÄ« in Ghosita’s park. Now on that occasion the bhikkhus at
Kosambī had taken to quarrelling and brawling, and were deep in disputes, stabbing
each other with verbal daggers. They could neither convince each other nor be
convinced by others; they could neither persuade each other nor be persuaded by
others
Then a
certain bhikkhu went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage to him, he sat
down at one side and informed him of what was happening.
Then the
Blessed One addressed a certain bhikkhu, “Come bhikkhu, tell those bhikkhus in
my name that the Teacher calls them.”
“Yes, venerable
sir,” he replied, and he went to those bhikkhus and told them, “The Teacher
calls the venerable ones.”
“Yes,
friend,” they replied, and they went to the Blessed One and after paying homage
him, they sat down at one side.
The Blessed
One then asked them, “Bhikkhus, is it true, that you have taken to quarrelling
and brawling, and are deep in disputes, stabbing each other with verbal
daggers. That you can neither convince each other nor be convinced by others;
that you can neither persuade each other nor be persuaded by others
“Yes,
venerable sir,”
“Bhikkhus,
what do you think? When you take to quarrelling and brawling and are deep in
disputes, stabbing each other with verbal daggers, do you on that occasion maintain
acts of loving-kindness by body, speech and mind in public and in private
towards your companions in the holy life?”
“No,
venerable sir.”
“So bhikkhus,
when you take to quarrelling and brawling and are deep in disputes, stabbing
each other with verbal daggers, on that occasion you do not maintain acts of
loving-kindness by body, speech and mind in public and in private towards your
companions in the holy life? Misguided men, what can you possibly know, what
can you see, that you take to quarrelling and brawling and are deep in
disputes, stabbing each other with verbal daggers? That you can neither
convince each other nor be convinced by others; that you can neither persuade
each other nor be persuaded by others? Misguided men, that will lead to your
harm and suffering for a long time.”
Then the
Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus thus: “Bhikkhus there are these six
memorable qualities that create love and respect and conduce to helpfulness, to
non-dispute, to concord and to unity. What are the six?
I don’t have time to go into the six principles the Buddha
mentions. You’ll have to look them up yourself. I just want to draw your
attention to three things in this opening to the sutta.
I think it’s noteworthy that when the Bhikkhus come to him
the first thing he does is repeat what he has heard and ask them if it’s true.
He makes no assumptions and establishes that they are ‘on the same page’, so to
speak, before proceeding. Is it true? Is an important first question,
especially if we hear something critical about another person. The question –
is it true? – could, maybe, avoid a lot of hurt and disharmony. I’m sure the
Buddha didn’t think the first monk was lying to him. But sometimes there are
subtleties and circumstances that are not immediately obvious – so, is it true?
Is a good starting point.
Then the Buddha gets down to the crux of the matter and
this is, perhaps, the single most important point in this talk. He asks them –
when you are in dispute, stabbing each other with verbal daggers, do you at the
same time maintain Metta, an attitude of loving kindness, in body, speech and
mind, in public and in private, towards your companions in the holy life? What
a question to ask! No beating about the bush there!
Imagine being asked – when you are deep in dispute or
discussion on some online forum or in your chapter or Centre Team – do you
maintain acts, and words and thoughts of loving kindness in public and in
private towards those you are in dispute with.
This is the test as to whether it is an argument or a
discussion, whether it is a case of hostilities in which both parties are
intent on winning or a discussion in which all parties are interested in
exploring something together.
Metta or an attitude of loving kindness is the absolutely
essential key to deepening or maturing harmony in the Order. Metta in public
and in private. Friendliness in public and in private. A heart of loving care
and concern for the spiritual welfare of our fellow Order Members experienced
and expressed in public and in private. This is what the Buddha says and the
first three of his six principles for harmony or unity reinforce that. To
maintain acts of loving-kindness by body, speech and mind in public and in
private towards your companions in the holy life.
Having established that the Bhikkhus are engaging in
hostile arguments and lacking in metta, the Buddha admonishes them.
Misguided men, what can you possibly know, what
can you see, that you take to quarrelling and brawling and are deep in
disputes, stabbing each other with verbal daggers?
He is not pleased with them. He even stops calling them
Bhikkhus. May be he thinks they are not worthy to be called Bhikkhus (or Order Members!).
I think the Buddha is being a bit ironic when he asks – what can you know, what
can you see ? At least it’s a rhetorical question.
What he is saying in effect is that your behaviour shows
that you are not spiritually mature. This phrase “knowing and seeing” or
“knowledge and vision” occurs quite a lot in the Pali Canon and usually in a
very positive sense, indicating Insight or Stream Entry. The seventh link of
the positive nidanas is yathabhutajnanadarshana – knowledge and vision of
things as they really are. Knowledge and vision, knowing and seeing are the
hallmarks of spiritual maturity. The Buddha is telling these misguided men that
they are not spiritually mature and are in fact heading in the opposite
direction – leading to their own harm and suffering for a long time.
From this we can gather that disharmony in the Order and
hostility between Order Members isn’t just bad for the Order, it is also very
detrimental to the individuals involved – leading to their own harm and
suffering for a long time. I would even venture to say that it is even more
harmful and destructive for the individuals concerned than it is for the Order
as a whole. The Order rolls on but the individuals can be left with wounded
hearts for months, years or even decades.
The silver lining to this cloud is of course that the
opposite holds true as well. Where there is friendliness, goodwill, metta,
genuine care and concern for the spiritual welfare of others, there will be very
beneficial consequences for both the individuals and the Order and for a long
time.
The point as Bhante puts it is that we need to discuss
rather than argue. But perhaps that is not so easy – what begins as a
discussion can sometimes easily and quickly become an argument. This is because
we can so quickly get attached to or identify ourselves with a particular
position.
As Bhante puts it:
“There will always be the possibility of
argument so long as ego is there. Ego will always tend to try to creep in, to
smuggle itself into discussion and when that happens, discussion will turn,
unfortunately, into argument.” (15 points for old and new Order
Members, p.16)
Another way of talking about this whole issue of unity or
harmony is in terms of skilfulness and unskilfulness. In the Dvedhavittaka
Sutta (MN 19) the Budhha says “ Bhikkhus, before my enlightenment when I was
only an unenlightened Bodhisatta, it occurred to me “ suppose I divide my
thoughts into two classes, Then I set on one side thoughts of sensual desire,
thoughts of ill will and thoughts of cruelty and I set on the other side
thoughts of renunciation, thoughts of non-illwill and thoughts of non-cruelty”
. He goes on to explain how he worked with his mind by discouraging
unskilful mental states and encouraging skilful mental states and he adds “Bhikkhus,
whatever a Bhikkhu frequently thinks and ponders upon, that will become the
inclination of his mind.”
It’s very simple and straightforward –“whatever a
Bhikkhu (or an Order Member) frequently thinks and ponders upon, that will
become the inclination of his mind.” Fortunately, we have the Ten Precepts
to guide us in this practice of distinguishing skilfulness from unskilfulness,
to guide us in what to focus on in our thoughts, actions and communication.
The Ten Precepts are not just a guide for us individually,
but also, perhaps, the single most unifying practice we have as Order Members.
Order Members do a variety of meditation practices from Just Sitting right
through to elaborate visualisation practices. Order Members have their
preferences in what to study or read about the Dharma. Order Members have lots
of different lifestyles.
But one thing all Order Members have in common is that at
the time of our ordination we undertook to observe the Ten Precepts, Every
Order Member has vowed to give expression to their going for refuge by
practising the Ten Precepts. So, these Ten Precepts are a very significant and
unifying factor for us. They are a major contribution to harmony in the Order,
especially if we frequently think upon and ponder them, so that they become the
inclination of our mind.
It is very important for us individually and as an Order
that we do practice the Ten Precepts. It’s important that we know how to
practise the precepts, how to develop and take further our practice of the
precepts. You could say it’s important that we have knowledge and vision of the
precepts. It is easy for us to assume that because we have read and studied the
Ten Pillars, that we have done all that is necessary to support our
understanding and practice of the precepts. But have we?
Perhaps we could take a fresh look at the Ten Precepts and
take a fresh look at how we practise them. We do this frequently in relation to
meditation and we do this in refreshing our knowledge of the Dharma. Perhaps we
could likewise reflect on whether we are relating to the precepts in a way
appropriate to our general level of practice.
Could we say of ourselves, as Bhante said of himself, “as
the years go by I see more and more clearly, how profound is the significance,
and how far reaching the implications – both theoretical and practical of each
apparently simple precept.” Could we say that we see more and more clearly
the profound significance of the precepts? I just want to say one thing about
the practice of the precepts before I go on to the principles of skilful
communication.
We are all of course aware of the importance of confession as
a support to skilfulness, but I would also like to emphasise rejoicing in
skilfulness as a support. I think it would be good for us to rejoice in our own
skilfulness and that of others more.
In the parable of the return journey in the White Lotus
Sutra the poor man spends years shovelling dirt, before gradually getting
accustomed to the jewels and wealth of the rich man’s house. When it comes to
ethical practice, we do of course have to shovel away the dirt – although after
many years of practice we could expect a quick sweep with dustpan and brush would
be enough. In addition to shovelling or sweeping away the dirt, we need to
accustom ourselves to the treasure and wealth which is ours. The treasure and
wealth of our skilfulness. It’s important to acknowledge to ourselves that we
are skilful, that we are capable of even greater skilfulness, and it is not
beyond the realms of possibility for us to enter the rich man’s house and fully
partake of our Dharmic inheritance.
In short, we need to encourage ourselves and each other by
rejoicing in our skilfulness and not focussing exclusively on our backsliding. We
need to build on what we have done rather than always focus on what we have not
done. Encouragement is essential to progress.
Let’s look at the speech precepts or the principles of
skilful communication. We frequently chant the ten precepts and are all
familiar with the principles of truthful, kindly, helpful and harmonising
communication. By the way, I imagine you have noticed that this is not the
order in which the speech precepts appear in the Pali Canon or the Mahayana
sutras. You are probably also aware that Bhante speaks of the speech precepts
as a hierarchy, going from truthful to harmonious in ascending order. This is
also not traditional. This is Bhante’s gift to us. The usual order, using our
terminology is truthful, harmonious, kindly and beneficial.
We could add two more principles of skilful communication
to this list – listening and timeliness.
There is no communication, skilful or otherwise, without
listening. And listening, in order to be a principle of skilful communication,
needs to include more than simply taking in information. Listening highlights
the aspect of awareness or mindfulness as applied to communication and
therefore it involves a full awareness of the other person, not just their
words. In this sense, listening is much more difficult to practise when the
communication is in writing or via the internet or phone.
Not everyone is capable of expressing themselves fully or
even adequately in writing. I would hazard a guess that most of us are only
articulate in a rudimentary fashion when it comes to writing. Being able to
convey, not only content, but feeling, atmosphere and subtle nuances in writing
is probably an art that most of us have not achieved. This is something to take
into account when communicating in writing and even more so when we receive a
written communication.
I have sometimes mediated between people who were in
conflict and nearly always the main issue was that they were not listening to
each other. When the element of listening is introduced, sometimes the issue is
solved almost magically.
The next principle of skilful communication is
truthfulness. Truthfulness is an obvious necessity and something the world
needs more than ever, now that the subversion of truth has become such a potent
force in politics and media, and misinformation is a monetised commodity. We
have corporations like Twitter (now X) and Facebook who are willing to allow
lies to spread around the world so long as their profits are not adversely
affected. Perhaps we could ask ourselves, is it skilful for us as Order Members
to support these corporations by using their products?
As we all know truthfulness is not just about being
factually accurate but also about not exaggerating, understating or omitting
things. In the Cunda Sutta the Buddha defines false speech as a person “consciously
speaking falsehood for his own ends, or for another’s ends or for some trifling
worldly gain.” That’s a definition of misinformation.
I’m going to skip kindly speech for now. I think the
precepts that encompass the principles of beneficial and harmonious
communication are the two key precepts for Order Members.
Again, going to the Cunda Sutta (AN10:176) here is how the
precept on beneficial speech is laid out in its positive formulation. Someone
who is observing the precept: “speaks at the proper time, speaks truth, (it
has to be true to be beneficial), speaks what is beneficial, Speaks on the
Dharma and discipline; at the proper time speaks such words as are valuable,
reasonable, succinct and beneficial.”
So, when we recite “With helpful communication, I purify my
speech”, the word ‘helpful’ stands for all of this – communicating at the
proper time, communicating the truth, communicating what is beneficial, communicating
the Dharma and discipline, communicating words that are valuable (literally to
be treasured), communicating what is reasonable, and succinct or to the point.
The principle of timeliness, timely communication, is
included here. Timely, of course means at the right time - we could say it's
about being appropriate in our communication.
In the Abhayarajakumara Sutta (MN 58) the Buddha makes this
the key principle of skilful communication. Timeliness, which doesn’t appear
explicitly in our recitation of the precepts, is the key principle of skilful
communication. It is not enough for communication to be truthful and
beneficial; it must be at the right time. The Abhayakumara Sutta does not
mention harmonious speech at all, but it is clear that being appropriate or
timely would conduce to harmony as well as to the welfare of the individual. For
the Buddha this precept encapsulates the whole of skilful communication.
This precept about beneficial or helpful communication is
very far reaching and to practise it thoroughly requires a lot of reflection
and awareness of others. Imagine before you write a response to someone’s post
online or respond to an email, you first of all ask yourself, what do I want to
communicate? Why do I want to communicate it? Who am I communicating with? Am I
being truthful? Am I communicating for the spiritual welfare of someone? Am I
being reasonable? And is this the appropriate time? perhaps we would have less
to say. Maybe we should start a slow internet movement (SIM), like the slow
food movement. Everyone takes a long time before responding to anything! According
to Bhante, in his talk on right speech, silence is the highest form of
communication.
The Cunda Sutta says that the person who is
unskilful in this way “indulges in idle chatter. He speaks at an improper
time, speaks falsely, speaks what is unbeneficial, speaks contrary to the
Dhamma and discipline; at an improper time, he speaks such words as are
worthless, unreasonable, rambling and unbeneficial.”
This precept is about more than frivolous
speech in the sense of someone who prattles on about what's on TV or about
sport or fashion or the like. It is about that kind of chattering, of course -
Samphappala literally means 'talking nonsense'. But the more expanded version
of the precept mentions communication that is unhelpful, unreasonable,
rambling. It's communication that is contrary to the Teachings and practices of
Buddhism – contrary means opposite in nature, direction or meaning.
This is more than just talking nonsense. It's
nonsense that is definitely unhelpful, false and purveying wrong views. And it
is also said to be spoken at the wrong time. This doesn't mean that there is a
right time for talking rubbish! It means that in idle chatter there is a strong
element of being unaware of who you're speaking to and the circumstances and
conditions around you.
There is a huge amount of trivia and
opinionatedness that we can be exposed to, and this is something we need to be
aware of and do something about, if we want to access the depths and gain some
insight into the nature of existence. This is probably one of the most
difficult and urgent training tasks facing all Order Members. We are at the
mercy of media technology and it's going to demand quite an effort to free
ourselves from the unhelpful and addictive aspects of this. There is a battle
for our attention in progress and at present, we are generally on the losing
side.
Next is the principle of harmonious
communication. First of all, this means avoiding divisive communication,
avoiding communication that is likely or intended to cause division between
people.
Then according to the Cunda Sutta someone who
is practising this precept “brings together the discordant, restores
harmony, harmony is his delight, he exults in, is passionately fond of harmony;
he utters speech that makes for harmony.” The word translated as harmony is
‘samagga’. Others translate it as ‘unity’ or ‘concord’ or even ‘cordiality’.
The positive precept, you’ll notice, has two
aspects, an active and an emotional. It is about actively restoring, promoting
and creating unity and harmony and it is also about simply delighting in and
rejoicing in unity and harmony, - delighting in, exulting in, being
passionately fond of harmony. This is the spirit of the precept. It’s not just
about avoiding back-biting and gossip. It’s a passionate pursuit of harmony.
It has been further developed in the Mahayana
to include the Sangrahavastu of priyavadita and the nirukti pratisamvid. One of
the practices of a Bodhisattva is what is called the ‘act of gathering’, which
basically means creating a spiritual community. And part of this is skilful
communication, harmonising communication, clear communication, even helping
people to understand the meaning of words and what is to be taken literally or
metaphorically. Bhante has done all of this for us. We are the result of his
Bodhisattva ‘act of gathering’. In our practice of this precept, we can aim to
take it to the heights of this Bodhisattva practice and continue to deepen and
enhance this act of gathering that Bhante set in motion.
The other principle of skilful communication is
what we call kindly communication. When you read the Pali terms used to
describe this principle, it becomes clear that it is something like polite or
courteous communication or even gracious, as we used to recite. The Cunda Sutta
says that the person practising this precept, “speaks such words as are
gentle, pleasing to the ear, and affectionate, as go to the heart, are
courteous, desired by many, and agreeable to many.” If you go to the Pali
dictionary and look up all the positive terms associated with this precept you
find – gentle, pleasing, affectionate, amiable, charming, agreeable, pleasant,
courteous, polite, lovely, delightful.
It’s as if this precept is not so much about
what you say as about how you say it, the tone of voice and language used. It
is about finding the right way to convey the message of Metta. And of course
this is doubly difficult in written communication. In his second set of fifteen
points for Order Members, Bhante does touch on this under the heading of ‘be
more ceremonious’, when he talks about manners.
These are the six ways that we are training
ourselves in skilful communication – listening, truthfulness, timeliness,
helpfulness, harmonising and kindness. Our training in skilful communication
can be very strongly challenged if other people are very critical of us or even
verbally attack us or insult us or disagree with us. Our hackles rise, we
become quickly defensive and start to sharpen the verbal daggers. This is the
natural egoistical response and in the face of this we have to make quite a
strong effort.
In the Akkosa Sutta (SN 7:2) the Buddha is
abused and insulted by Akkosaka Bharadvaja. The Buddha responds by asking him
if when he offers food to guests and they decline to take it, who does it
belong to. Of course, Bharadvaja says it still belongs to him. The Buddha then
says, "In the same way, brahmin, that with which you have insulted me,
who is not insulting; that with which you have taunted me, who is not taunting;
that with which you have berated me, who is not berating: that I don't accept
from you. It's all yours, brahmin. It's all yours.”
He then goes on to say, “Brahmin, whoever
returns insult to one who is insulting, returns taunts to one who is taunting,
returns a berating to one who is berating, is said to be eating together,
sharing company, with that person. But I am neither eating together nor sharing
your company, brahmin. It's all yours. It's all yours."
Usually when we hear this kind of story we
identify with the Buddha and have a laugh at Bharadvaja’s expense. However,
what the Buddha is really saying to Bharadvaja is your mental states belong to
you, you need to take responsibility for them. And this of course applies to us
whether we are the ones on the receiving end of verbal abuse or the ones
dishing it out.
We are all capable of being an Akkosaka
Bharadvaja, in our thoughts, if not in words and it may be useful to reflect
whether we want to partake of the meal. If the meal is a verbal slanging match,
whether in person or in writing, is it a meal that will nourish us spiritually
or are we causing ourselves harm and suffering and that for a long time. The
Buddha is also pointing out that we not only have a choice about how to respond
to whatever communication comes towards us, but we also have a choice about
whether to engage with it at all.
Most of us rarely, if ever, have to deal with
that kind of insult or attack, but whether we do or not, we still have the
challenge of being skilful in our communication and not in a superficial way
but in a way that really promotes the unity and harmony of the Order.
I said at the beginning that deep harmony
requires deep people. That means that our personal practice of skilfulness,
meditation, study, retreats and friendship will all contribute to the unity and
harmony of the Order as we individually change and grow and become more and
more spiritually mature.
What we really need is to go deep enough to
have a lived experience of the truth of pratitya samutpada. If we could
thoroughly understand the implications of pratitya samutpada, if we could
realise and have a lived experience of pratitya samutpada we would quite spontaneously
delight and rejoice in harmony.
When more and more of us experience ourselves
in terms of the laws of conditionality, or in terms of shunyata or in terms of
inter-conditionality or interdependence – whatever concept we use – when more
and more of us have a lived experience of this reality, then there will truly
be a deepening and maturing harmony among us. In the meantime let’s improve our
practice and knowledge and vision of the Ten Precepts, the single most unifying
practice of our Order.