Eightfold Path - Wise Action

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We continue our series of talks from the book, Awakening the Buddha Within, by Lama Surya Das, and this morning I’ll talk about a key component of the Eightfold Path- Wise Action.  You know, it all comes down to this.  There is a saying in Buddhism:

Death is certain.

The time of death is uncertain.

What shall we do?

Although we sometimes feel trapped and limited in our options for action, the truth is that everyone has an almost endless number of options of what actions can be taken.  So, how do we decide what to do?  What drives your decisions that you make every day in your life?  We know from the other parts of the Eightfold Path that our actions begin with our view of the world, and with our intentions, and with our level of mindfulness.  I watched two documentaries this last week, one on Adolph Hitler and one on Mother Theresa.  I was curious to see how two lives turned out so different.

Now, it would be easy to just think of Hitler as a devil or evil being, but in truth, he was a human being, just like you and me, and within him were tendencies that we all share.   And with Mother Teresa, it might be easy to think of her as a saint, some supernatural being, but she was a human being, just like you and me, and within her were tendencies that we all share.  When we look at the spectrum of actions to be taken, arguably Hitler and Mother Teresa demonstrate the widest variety of choices that we all have in our lifetime.

In Buddhism, as in Unity, we emphasize that our thoughts create our actions.  As we think, so we become.  So, how did Hitler and Mother Teresa come up with such different actions?  Ironically, both Hitler and Mother Teresa felt that God had given them a specific mission.  They were both driven and confident in their abilities.  They were both inspiring speakers, and gained great followings.  They both had great appeal with the poor and downtrodden.  But, what made their actions so different?

I would suggest it began with their intentions.  Hitler wanted to rule the world, and Mother Teresa wanted to heal it.  I would offer that their actions, in the simplest terms, were driven by significantly different motivations, and it primarily had to do with how they view themselves within the world.  Hitler focused on his own ego-gratification and Mother Teresa focused on her interconnectedness with all beings.  Each and every one of us has the potential to go in the direction of Hitler or Mother Teresa.  Reflecting on your past, what do you see?  We probably all have a mixture of at times craving ego-gratification and other times being loving and compassionate. 

Let’s look at these two different motivations:  Ego gratification.  Haven’t we all had moments where we wanted to outshine all others?  That we just wanted to make ourselves feel good?  Perhaps that’s innocent enough.  But perhaps we can each recall times that gratifying our own ego came at a negative cost to another, the cost of belittling or humiliating or injuring another person.  Hitler built up the poor and struggling Germans but turning them against the Jews.  Oh, simple, just kill all the Jews, and we’ll be fine.  This logic has been used hundreds of times to build the case for genocide.  But, even more subtly, in our current day world.  Who are those “people” that we label as causing our suffering?  Perhaps we lump all Muslims or bankers in that category, or terrorists.  It seems so easy to define, right?  If you had been British during the American Revolution, you would have called George Washington a terrorist.  Any time we attempt to paint a broad stroke over an entire population, we risk acting unskillfully.  The Chinese are terrorizing the Tibetans.  Are all Chinese bad people?

Mother Teresa spent her life helping many people, but she saw each person as a unique human being.

“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.”

― Mother Teresa

In Buddhism, the primary criteria used for determining Wise Action is what is the Truth in each moment?  We each must assess our view of the world and of ourselves, We each must asses our intentions.  Are we craving attention over the needs of others?  We each must be mindful of each moment to assess the best response.

There are no commandments in Buddhism.  Some denigrate that fact as relativism, but I am advocating that wise action can ONLY be achieved by weighing the specifics of each situation.   In his book, Lama Surya Das goes through a list of difficult situations, including:

• Is abortion right or wrong?
• Is euthanasia right or wrong?

Even though one of the Buddhist precepts or guidelines is to cherish life, to not kill, Buddhism’s primary purpose is to relieve suffering. The details of each situation are required to take the best action.

We can choose our actions based on what will relieve the most suffering or sometimes at least what will cause the least suffering.  Therefore, you are in a powerful position in your life in each moment to make a wise decision, to take wise action.  We can use the elimination of suffering as our litmus test.

These teachings have been tested and proven that long-term deep happiness is created by reducing our own ego-gratification and increasing our feelings of connection to others.  Don’t take my word for it.  Go out and try it in your own life.  

Death is certain.

The time of death is uncertain.

What shall we do?