Buddhist Visions of the Good Life for All

Sallie B. King

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367561819
• eBook ISBN: 9781000393590
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Buddhism
• Index: History

This book highlights what Buddhism has to offer for "living well" here and now—for individuals, society as a whole, all sentient beings and the planet itself.

From the perspectives of a variety of Buddhist thinkers, the book evaluates what a good life is like, what is desirable for human society, and ways in which we should live in and with the natural world. By examining this-worldly Buddhist philosophy and movements in India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Tibetan diaspora, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and the United States, the book assesses what Buddhists offer for the building of a good society. It explores the proposals and programs made by progressive and widely influential lay and monastic thinkers and activists, as well as the works of movement leaders such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, for the social, economic, political and environmental systems in their various countries.

Demonstrating that Buddhism is not solely a path for the realization of nirvana but also a way of living well here and now, this book will be of interest to researchers working on contemporary and modern Buddhism, Buddhism and society, Asian religion and Engaged Buddhism.

Part I

The ancient Buddhist world

1 A map of the good life

The 38 blessings of the Maṅgala Sutta

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

Early Buddhism is often depicted as a spiritual path that devalues life in the world and extols an austere discipline of renunciation and contemplative practice aimed exclusively at a world-transcendent liberation. However, a careful and thorough examination of the discourses of the Buddha, as preserved in the Pali Canon, shows this depiction to be a caricature. When we look into the discourse collections (called the Nikāyas) we find a rich and wide assortment of texts that address the concerns of people living in the world with sensible, down-to-earth guidance in both the mundane and spiritual dimensions of their lives. These texts testify to the breadth of the Buddha’s teachings and his humble compassion. From the heights of perfect enlightenment, his message descends into the mire of worldly life, offering practical guidelines for finding genuine happiness and well-being.

The Maṅgala Sutta, or “Discourse on Blessings,” is a text in the Pali Canon that demonstrates this broad range of the Buddha’s teachings.¹ The discourse is one of the most popular in the Theravada tradition and is often recited on ceremonial occasions as a source of good fortune and protection. The sutta enumerates 38 factors that constitute maṅgala, “auspicious signs” or blessings. Although at first sight the 38 blessings seem to be thrown together at random, when considered carefully the blessings can be seen to fall into distinct—though partly overlapping—stages that constitute a comprehensive map of the good life: the life that is beneficial both to oneself and to the wider social circles in which one is enmeshed, ranging from the family to the entire society. I have called this sequence of stages “the ground plan” of the Maṅgala Sutta. Although the sutta itself does not explicitly demarcate these stages, I have found this ground plan an effective tool for understanding how the individual factors fit together both in the design of the sutta itself and in the Early Buddhist vision of the good life.²

The key word around which the sutta revolves, maṅgala (the same in Pali and Sanskrit), means “that which is auspicious, that which brings happiness.” In the Indian thought-world of the Buddha’s time, maṅgala corresponded to the idea of a lucky sign, an omen of good fortune, usually interpreted through a lens that today we would consider superstitious. As with so many other terms of his age, the Buddha took the word maṅgala and ascribed to it a new significance. It still meant “that which brings happiness,” but it was no longer conceived as an adventitious object or event that augurs good fortune. Instead, he interpreted it to mean the elements that constitute the good life.

The Pali commentaries explain that the practice of the Buddha’s teachings is intended to lead to three kinds of good. One is “the good here and now” (diṭṭhadhammika attha), benefits pertaining to the present life, including worldly success, respect and honor, a harmonious family life, cordial relations with others, and a peaceful society. The second is the good pertaining to future lives (samparāyika attha), a fortunate rebirth and felicity in one’s next existence. And the third is the supreme good (paramattha), the attainment of nibbāna. The maṅgalas enumerated in the Maṅgala Sutta are proposed precisely because they bring all three types of benefit.

A contemporary Thai treatise, A Manual of Peace, describes the series laid down in the Maṅgala Sutta from several points of view.³ The manual explains that the series is comprehensive, in that it provides a holistic picture of the good life. It is sequential, in that the maṅgalas unfold in a progressive series, with the earlier blessings serving as the basis for those that follow. The series is self-catalyzing, in that each stage contributes to the emergence of the next stage. It is multi-dimensional, in that the maṅgalas cover multiple spheres of human life—the personal, family relations, the community and the whole society. They are universal, in that (with slight modifications) they can be applied to virtually any culture in any era. And above all they are practical, in that they are guidelines to right living.

Strictly speaking, the series is not sequential in a unidirectional sense but comprises two alternative routes, two different ways of life. One is the route taken by a person who adopts the life of a householder, with its family and social responsibilities; the other is the monastic path taken by those who seek to accelerate their progress toward the fruit of liberation. But with this qualification, the terms in the series do display a definite sequence.

Since the Maṅgala Sutta takes the form of verse, it does not offer explanations of the factors constituting the good life. Under the constraint of the śloka meter, in which each line must have eight syllables, the text merely offers a list of factors, each represented by a single word or phrase. However, the poem seems to presuppose that the reader or listener is familiar with the body of the Buddha’s discourses and thus can extrapolate from the words and phrases in the verses to other suttas in which these components of the good life are treated at length. We might thus see the sutta as a kind of menu, with each item representing a particular dish, from appetizer to dessert. A person familiar with the protocol of restaurants will know how to use the menu to order the dishes and thereby enjoy a fulfilling meal.

Proper orientation

The sutta begins with a passage that describes how a deity comes to the Buddha to ask the question from which the discourse unfolds. According to the Pali commentaries, in the middle of the night, when others are sound asleep, deities descend from various celestial realms to ask the Buddha questions.⁴ Although the Buddha is a human being, as a perfectly enlightened one his wisdom surpasses even that of the deities, who depend on the Buddha for guidance. In this case, the deity approaches the Buddha, bows to him in homage, and states in verse 1 the theme of the sutta, which is indeed the problem at the core of human existence. Deities and human beings, he says, have long pondered the question of what constitutes maṅgala, the source of all welfare, without being able to arrive at a clear answer. He then asks the Buddha to explain the highest blessing (maṅgalam uttamaṃ).

The Buddha’s reply begins at verse 2 by stating the conditions for success in mastering all the other elements of the good life. The verse mentions three factors, which in my ground plan I have grouped together under the heading “proper orientation”: not associating with fools, associating with the wise and honoring those worthy of honor. What unites these three factors is their role in contributing to the formation of a person’s character, particularly in developing the faculty of moral discretion, the ability to distinguish clearly between the good and the bad, between right and wrong, and to acquire a preference for the one over the other.

The first two factors represent complementary sides of right association. To avoid fools is one blessing (M1); to associate with the wise is another (M2).⁵ What underlies both is the premise that our attitudes, views and ideals—particularly as we reach the threshold of maturity—are strongly influenced by the people with whom we associate. Elsewhere the Buddha repeatedly asks us to examine the effects that the people we associate with have on our own inclinations. If we find that by associating with a particular person, unwholesome dispositions increase in us and wholesome dispositions decline, then we should avoid that person—except out of compassion, when we think we can help that person change their ways (see AN 3:26). But when we see that by associating with a person, wholesome qualities increase in us and unwholesome qualities decline, then we should associate with that person and follow their example (see AN 10:54).

A pair of similes illustrates the effect of wrong and right association on us. Associating with fools is like wrapping rotten fish in sacred kusa grass; when the wrapping is removed, the kusa grass gives off a rotten odor. Associating with the wise is like wrapping fragrant tagara, a sweet substance, in the odorless leaves of a tree; when the wrapping is removed, the leaves give off a sweet scent (It §76).

Since the verse instructs us to avoid the company of foolish people and to associate with the wise, we need criteria for distinguishing the two. Briefly, it is said, the fool is characterized by misconduct of body, speech and mind; the wise person by good conduct of body, speech and mind (AN 3:2). The “Shorter Discourse on the Full-Moon Night” (MN 110) distinguishes the two by way of their personal qualities, the people they associate with, the kind of advice they give, the way they speak and behave, their views and the way they give gifts.

At AN 4:115 the Buddha lays down another criterion for distinguishing between the foolish and the wise. He first delineates four kinds of deeds: (1) the deed that is disagreeable to do and leads to future harm; (2) the deed that is disagreeable to do but leads to future benefit; (3) the deed that is agreeable to do but leads to future harm; and (4) the deed that is agreeable to do and leads to future benefit. The first and last deeds, he says, cannot serve as a criterion, for both the fool and the wise person will avoid the one and undertake the other. The distinction emerges with respect to deeds (2) and (3). In each case, the fool will put present pleasure above the long-range good, while the wise person will place the long-range good above immediate pleasure.

The next maṅgala, “to honor those worthy of honor” (M3), further contributes to the development of a proper orientation. The commentaries identify those worthy of honor as the Buddha and the noble disciples as well as parents and religious teachers. Showing veneration to these worthy ones plants in the mind an innate reverence for the virtues they represent, disposing us to emulate their virtues and strive to acquire them ourselves. This process might be compared to the way a musician uses a well-tuned guitar to tune a guitar that has gotten out of tune. By revering those endowed with exalted virtues, we take them as our own models of human excellence, establish them in the altars of our hearts, and seek their guidance, either directly or through the legacy of teachings they have left behind.

Establishing secure foundations

Once a person...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• List of contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• PART I The ancient Buddhist world
• PART II The contemporary Buddhist world
• Index