The Ten Pillars of Buddhism

Introduction

Perhaps the best known group of sixteen in Buddhism is that of the sixteen Arhats – mysterious personages who exist from age to age and periodically reinvigorate the Sasana.

For many people in the FWBO, however, whether Order members, mitras, or Friends, the most familiar association of the figure sixteen – the one that springs most readily to mind – is with the “archetypal” Bodhisattvas, Manjusri, Avalokitesvara, and the rest, are all described in the literature, and depicted in the visual arts, of Buddhism, as appearing in the surpassingly beautiful form of Indian princes, clad in rich silks and adorned with jewels, and sixteen years old. They are sixteen because sixteen is the age at which a youth is considered, in India, to have attained to the full development of his faculties, both physical and mental, to be in the full bloom of masculine strength and beauty, and to be ready for the duties and responsibilities of adult life. In Western terms, at sixteen one reaches the years of discretion, one grows up, one passes from immaturity to maturity. The sixteenth birthday therefore has, for Indian tradition, something of the significance that the twenty-first birthday has in the West, the five year difference between them no doubt being attributable to the fact that in Europe and North America human beings mature later than they do in warmer climes.

In celebrating its sixteenth birthday the Order is therefore celebrating, i.e. we as Order members are celebrating, the attainment of our “collective” majority as a Spiritual Community. We have reached the age of discretion. We have grown up. We have passed – collectively, at least – from immaturity to maturity. We now have our own front door key, and are free to come and go as we please. In celebrating the attainment of our majority, however, we must not forget that although we are Buddhists we are, most of us, also Westerners, and that it may take us a few more years to achieve, as an Order, the kind of spiritual maturity that is symbolised by the physical and mental maturity of the sixteen-year-of Indian youth. It may not be until our twenty-first birthday that the Order will, in fact, be a recognisable reflection, on the mundane level, of the thousand-armed and thousand-eyed sixteen-year-old Avalokitesvara. 

Nonetheless, today is our sixteenth birthday, and therefore the day on which we celebrate the attainment of our “official” majority, even though we may be a bit backward in our development. It was for this reason, partly, that I decided not only that as many of us should meet together on this occasion as possible but also that I should, as part of the proceedings, deliver a lecture or read a paper. It is not often that we are able to come together in this way. Most Order members are very busy, and there are problems of travel and accommodation, but it is at least some consolidation that so large a section of the Order should have been able to gather here today – the more especially since we are not able to hold our biennial Convention this year as planned. The first of the seven times seven, minus one, conditions of the stability of the Order laid down by the Buddha shortly before His parinirvana, i.e. that the brethren should assemble repeatedly and in large numbers, if being fulfilled at least to a limited extent! Moreover, in gathering here today we do not forget those members of the Order who are unable to be with us and who, no doubt, are also celebrating our sixteenth birthday. We know that we are united with them, as they with us, through our common commitment to the Three Jewels, and through the all-pervading spirit of metta which, transcending time and space, links mind to mind and heart to heart in world-wide spiritual fellowship.

Now as soon as I had decided that I would give a lecture or read a paper to you today, I let it be known that I was open to suggestions as to what the subject of the lecture or paper should be. Various suggestions have, in fact, been made. They range from a suggestion that I should speak on whether there was a philosophical term or phrase that would summarise the nature of Buddhism, much as the term “monotheism” summarises the nature of Christianity and Islam, to the suggestion that I should speak on Prajna in the sense of “not settling down” – a sense which, according to the Order member making the suggestion, runs through the Heart Sutra. However, I shall not be speaking on any of the topics suggested, though I hope to be able to say something about all of them, in one context or another, sooner or later. Since I do not often have the opportunity of personally addressing so many of you at the same time, I wanted to speak, on this our sixteenth birthday, on a topic of fundamental importance to the whole Order. After giving the matter some thought I therefore decided to speak on the Ten Precepts, i.e. the ten akusaladharmas from which one undertakes to refrain, and the ten kusala-dharmas which one undertakes to observe, on the occasion of one’s “ordination” into the Western Buddhist Order or Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha.

I have chosen this topic mainly for three reasons. Firstly, because despite the importance of the subject I have not – to the best of my recollection – ever devoted a whole lecture to it. Secondly, because 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. Thirdly, because I want to emphasise yet again our principle of “more and more of less and less”, i.e. our principle of trying to go more and more deeply into the so-called basic teachings of Buddhism rather than trying to hurry on to teachings which are allegedly more advanced. This emphasis is perhaps all the more necessary now that we are celebrating our sixteenth birthday. As I mentioned earlier, now that we are sixteen we have attained the years of discretion. We are grown up. But as I also mentioned, we may not, in fact, as an Order, be quite so mature as our sixteen years might lead us to suppose. One of the signs of immaturity – whether individual or collective – is that one thinks that now one is out of leading-strings, so to speak, one can safely forget the lessons learned in one’s childhood. Translated into more specifically Buddhist terms, it means that one thinks one can afford to neglect the “elementary” teachings of Buddhism – and by elementary one of course usually means the ethical teachings as embodied in, for example, the Five or the Eight or the Ten Precepts. It is in order to forestall any such development, rather than because I see any sign of it actually happening, that I want to speak on the Ten Precepts on this occasion.

I hope no one feels disappointed. I hope no one was expecting me to speak on some very advanced, or very esoteric, subject. If this was the case, and especially if anyone still harbours the idea that ethics is a dull and uninteresting topic, you will at least be glad to know that I am entitling this paper not simply “The Ten Precepts”, which admittedly does not sound very colourful or very inspiring, but “The Ten Pillars of Buddhism”. The Ten Precepts are, indeed, the massy supports of the entire majestic edifice of the Dharma. Without the Ten Precepts the Dharma could not, in fact, exist. Continuing the architectural metaphor, one might say that the Three Jewels are the three-stepped plinth and foundation of the Dharma, the Ten Precepts the double row of pillars supporting the spacious dome, Meditation the dome itself, and Wisdom the lofty spire that surmounts the dome. Elaborating, one might say that each of the ten pillars was made of a precious stone or precious metal, so that there was a pillar of diamond, a pillar of gold, a pillar of crystal, and so on. In this way we would be able to gain not only an understanding of the importance of the Ten Precepts but also, perhaps, an appreciation of their splendour and beauty. Having exclaimed “How charming is divine Philosophy” Milton, in a well known passage, goes on to assert that it is

Not harsh and crabbed as dull fools suppose

But musical as is Apollo’s lute.

In similar vein one could assert that, like Buddhism itself, the subject of Buddhist ethics – particularly as represented by the Ten Precepts – was not dull and uninteresting, as to the superficial observer it might appear, but on the contrary full of light, life, warmth, and colour. Paraphrasing the paradoxical words of another poet, one might also say of Buddhist ethics – might say of the Ten Precepts – that you must love them before they will seem to you worthy of your love.

Though I may not have devoted a whole lecture to the subject of the Ten Precepts, I have certainly both spoken and written on Buddhist ethics, particularly as a constituent of the Noble Eightfold Path and of the Path of the Ten Paramitas or Perfections. I have also dealt with the subject in an article entitled “Aspects of Buddhist Morality”, in which I discuss (1) The Nature of Morality, (2) Morality and the Spiritual Ideal, (3) Morality Mundane and Transcendental, (4) Patterns of Morality, (5) The Benefits of Morality, and (6) Determinants of Morality. In the present paper I shall try to avoid covering ground I have already covered elsewhere, or dealing with matters that have been adequately dealt with by other writers on Buddhism, whether ancient or modern. In particular I shall try to avoid losing myself in the details of scholastic analysis in the sort of way that has become traditional for some forms of Buddhism.

Even limiting myself in this way there is still, however, a good deal of ground to be covered, and if I am to cover it even cursorily the subject matter of this paper will have to be tightly organised. In speaking on “The Ten Pillars of Buddhism” I shall therefore divide the paper into two parts. In the first part I shall deal with the Ten Precepts collectively, so to speak. In the second part I shall deal with them individually, i.e. I shall deal with each of the Ten Precepts separately. For the sake of further convenience, the discussion of the Ten Precepts collectively will be broken down into a discussion of eight distinct topics, between which there will of course be various interrelations and even a certain amount of overlapping. The eight topics are (1) The Relation Between Refuges and Precepts, (2) The Canonical Sources of the Ten Precepts, (3) The Ten Precepts and Total Transformation, (4) The Ten Precepts as Principles of Ethics, (5) The Ten Precepts as Rules of Training, (6) The Ten Precepts as “Mula-Pratimoksa”, (7) The Ten Precepts and Other Ethical Formulae, and (8) The Ten Precepts and Life Style. The division of the first part of the paper in this way will, I hope, enable us to obtain a more comprehensive view of the Ten Pillars of Buddhism in their collective majesty.