Precept and practice ~ Malinda Words

More than twenty years ago, a group of young men spent four to five days at an aranyaya, a retreat designed for study and meditation. They were guided in this by a haamuduruwo well versed in the Dhamma.

He walked his students through the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha’s discourse on mindfulness. He took them through the contemplation of the body, contemplation of feeling, contemplation of consciousness and contemplation of mental objects.

Heady stuff of course. They struggled. The haamuduruwo was a good teacher. He was kind and patient. The disciples learnt something.

There was a meditation exercise every morning. After the first session, the haamuduruwo asked the disciples to describe the experience. So they answered. One said that he had fallen asleep. The haamuduruwo said this was not uncommon. He went around the room, asking each young man what he had felt or thought. One of the boys (let’s call him Asanka) didn’t respond. He appeared to be deep in meditation. His name was called out. He didn’t respond. It was called out louder and he opened his eyes as though startled.

‘I realised that the entire universe is patterned,’ he said solemnly.

His friends didn’t buy it. They knew him. But they were polite; they let it go. One did not. He asked, ‘is that something you truly realised or is it something you read in a book?’ He was blunt, that way. The question startled the young man all over again. This time probably for real. His response, a quick, sharp uttering of ‘no’ which was repeated several times, confirmed quite the opposite. No one said anything.

A few days later, when they were about to leave the aranyaya, one of the others (let’s call him Nalin) decided that it would be fun to tease Asanka.

‘Haamuduruwo has suggested shaving all our heads. It’s just a simple exercise to affirm the principle of abandoning upaadaanas (fixations).’

Asanka, friends, had long hair and it was known that he was quite in love with his locks.

‘He’s not serious,’ Asanka laughed it off.

‘He is.’

‘But we know the principle. That’s what is important. These things are frivolous, unimportant.’

‘That’s the very point. Theory is easy, it’s the practice that stumps. So this is a simple exercise that could help us understand the concept better.’

He wasn’t sure whether Nalin was being serious.

Nalin went to the haamuduruwo and told him what had happened.

‘You don’t have to cut his hair. Just shave my head. That would be enough.’

Nalin wanted his laughs. The haamuduruwo was indulgent.

Nalin sat on a chair. The haamuduruwo had the shaving implements ready. A few minutes later, Nalin, bald headed now, smiled at Asanka and said ‘It’s your turn now.’

Asanka was sweating by this time. He was clearly distressed.

Someone else volunteered for a shave. Maybe someone else as well. Not Asanka.

Nothing more was said on the subject. Asanka was left alone. Everyone learned a lesson. Indirectly, Nalin did too. Intent on exposing Asanka he had forgotten that it was in fact a distracting exercise. Compassion and kindness had to be retired. Upaadaana had been formed to some meaningless matter.

The idea is explained in the Silabatta Sutra where the Buddha puts a question to Ven Ananda: ‘Ananda, every precept & practice, every life, every holy life that is followed as of essential worth: is every one of them fruitful?’

Ven Ananda says that it is not to be responded to with a categorical answer. The Buddha then suggests that an analytic answer be given.

‘When — by following a life of precept & practice, a life, a holy life that is followed as of essential worth — one's unskillful mental qualities increase while one's skillful mental qualities decline: that sort of precept and practice, life, holy life that is followed as of essential worth is fruitless. But when — by following a life of precept and practice, a life, a holy life that is followed as of essential worth — one's unskillful mental qualities decline while one's skillful mental qualities increase: that sort of precept and practice, life, holy life that is followed as of essential worth is fruitful.’

The student spoke thus. The teacher approved. Later, the Buddha offered the following observation: ‘Monks, Ananda is still in training, but it would not be easy to find his equal in discernment.’

It was after the Buddha Parinirvana that Ven Ananda became an Arahat, but he had known the principles long before that. The true test, though, is not one of discernment but the affirmation of discernment in practice.

Asanka may have known. Nalin may have known. Even the haamuduruwo may have known. Twenty years have passed. May each of them have moved closer to practice. And may all beings be well, may all beings be happy, may all beings be free from suffering; sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta.

malindadocs@gmail.com

['The Morning Inspection' is the title of a column I wrote for the Daily News from 2009 to 2011, one article a day, Monday through Saturday. This is a new series. Links to previous articles in this new series are given below]

04 July 2023

Precept and practice

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