Review
We are going through the various stages to the path to enlightenment. The lam-rim, as it’s called in Tibetan, is a way of organizing the sutra teachings – with tantra coming at the end – in a way that allows us to progress along the spiritual path and to reach the spiritual goals that are outlined in Buddhism. These goals are, first, to get better rebirths, specifically precious human rebirths, so that we can continue on the spiritual path; then, to gain liberation from uncontrollably recurring rebirths, not just to get better and better rebirths each lifetime; and finally, to attain the enlightenment of a Buddha so that we know how best to help everybody else attain liberation from the sufferings of uncontrollably recurring rebirths.
Initial Scope
We have already dealt with the initial scope of aiming for better rebirths. The main points there were recognizing the precious human rebirths that we have now, identifying, first of all, the various temporary freedoms or respites that we have from the worst states in which we’d have no opportunity to benefit ourselves and then, seeing how our lives are filled with incredible opportunities to study and grow. We looked at how rare it is to have such an opportunity given the difficulty of creating its causes, and we examined ourselves to see if we are, in fact, building up the causes to continue having such wonderful opportunity.
We saw quite clearly that this precious human rebirth is not going to last forever and that, because it is so rare, we never know what kind of rebirth will follow this one. So, we looked at death and impermanence. We saw that death comes to everyone. That’s quite obvious, but it’s difficult to actually accept that it will actually come to us as well. But we are no exception from everybody who has ever lived. They have all died, and so will we. There is no telling when that will happen. Death can come at any time; we don’t have to be sick or old to die. Then we saw what, at the time of death, will be of help in terms of future lives. It’s not all the money that we have or our possessions, fame, muscles, good looks or anything like that. Only the positive habits that we have built up as preventive measures – in another words, the Dharma – can help to prevent future downfalls.
We saw that if we haven’t taken such measures, we can for sure expect one of the worst rebirths. We looked at what those might be like. We could be a trapped being in one of the joyless realms, the so-called hells, enduring unbelievable torture, pain and, obviously, unhappiness. We could be a clutching ghost, never being able to satisfy our needs, always living in paranoia and so on. We could also be reborn as animal, whether an insect, a fish or whatever, that is hunted by other animals and eaten alive. How horrible that would be.
Then we looked to see whether there was a way to avoid this. We really don’t want that; we are quite afraid of experiencing that type of rebirth. But it’s not a helpless and hopeless situation because we see that there is a way to avoid it. That is putting a safe direction in our lives (what’s known as refuge) of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Although we can look at Buddha, Dharma and Sangha in terms of the Buddha being the one who taught the Dharma, the method, and the Sangha being those who help us to accomplish them, we can also look on a deeper level at the actual preventive measures, which refer to the deepest Dharma Jewel. These are the true stoppings of the causes of suffering and the true pathways of mind (true paths) that lead to those true stoppings – in other words, the understanding of voidness, etc. – and that result from those stoppings. All of this is something that cannot exist just by itself. It has to occur on a mental continuum. It occurs in full on the mental continuum of a Buddha. It occurs in part on the mental continuums of the Arya Sangha, those people in whom only some, not all, of these true stoppings and true pathway of minds are present, though they are working toward attaining all of them.
Going in that direction ourselves will obviously enable us to avoid the worst rebirths and to accomplish more than that as well. But first, we need to avoid worse rebirths. The way to do that is to go in this safe direction, which is, on this initial level, to avoid destructive behavior because that is the main cause of worse rebirths and unhappiness in general.
That led us to the full discussion of karma. We looked at all the aspects that are involved with destructive and constructive behavior – how we act on the urges and impulses that come to our minds based on the habits, tendencies and so on that we’ve built up in the past.
After completing this initial scope with the strong resolution that we will go in the safe direction and try to avoid destructive behavior as much as possible in order to take advantage our precious human lives and avoid the worst rebirths, we looked at the intermediate level motivation of taking advantage of this precious human rebirth. All three scopes of the lam-rim are ways of taking greater and greater advantage of our precious human rebirths: first, to avoid the worst rebirths, second, to attain liberation, and third, to attain the enlightened state of a Buddha.
Intermediate Scope
On the intermediate scope, we looked not just at the suffering of pain and unhappiness but also at the suffering of change, which refers to our ordinary happiness, which even in the better rebirth states, never lasts and is never satisfying. It’s never enough, and we never know what is coming next. The more that we experience it, the more easily and quickly it turns into discomfort and pain, like eating too much of something that we like and then getting sick. We also looked at the deeper suffering of uncontrollably recurring rebirth in general and the specific sufferings of the better rebirth states, those of the humans, the gods, and the quasi gods or anti gods (the asuras) that are always jealous of and fighting with the gods. That covered our discussion of suffering, the first noble truth.
If we want to gain liberation from all that, we need to eliminate the causes, the true causes, for all of those types of suffering. We had seen on the initial scope that destructive behavior is the cause of the suffering of suffering, such as the worst rebirth states. But if we want to look at the causes for the suffering of change and the all-pervasive suffering of samsara, we have to look deeper. So, we looked at the disturbing emotions, most of which are mostly involved in destructive behavior. But the unawareness of reality, which is one of the disturbing emotions, is involved in constructive behavior as well. Since we want to overcome being under the influence of karmic impulses, namely, the compulsiveness of constructive and destructive habits – constructive ones being built up with confusion and then ripening into our experiencing the suffering of change, our ordinary happiness – we need to get rid of all the disturbing emotions.
The Root Disturbing Emotions
We’ve dealt with the six so-called root disturbing emotions. They are labeled as emotions, but we saw that not all of them fit into our western notion of emotions. However, there is no word that really covers all of them. In Tibetan or Sanskrit, the first five are referred to as the disturbing emotions that are without an outlook. The sixth is with an outlook.
The ones without an outlook are (1) longing desire, which is when we don’t have something, we exaggerate its good qualities, and then we’ve got to have it. If we already have it and don’t want to let go – that’s attachment. If we have some and want more – that’s greed, never being satisfied. The second one was (2) hostility or anger. Hostility is when it’s aimed at a living being. Here, we exaggerate the negative qualities of something and want to get rid of it, to destroy it in some way. Then there is (3) arrogance with which we inflate some qualities that we either have or imagine we have – “This quality that I have is so great.” We had smugness, or conceit, in the auxiliary, or secondary, ones, which is thinking that we ourselves are so wonderful because of having some quality. Arrogance inflates these things: “Ah, it’s so fantastic that I am good looking” or “So fantastic that I am wealthy” or whatever. Then we had (4) unawareness. According to Vasubandhu and Asanga, it is a closed-minded state of mind that blocks us, first of all, from knowing cause and effect. Unawareness of cause and effect is the basic reason for destructive behavior: we don’t know that acting destructively will bring about unhappiness and suffering. And because of that closed-mindedness, we not only don’t know that, but we also don’t really take it to heart. There is also the unawareness of reality, not knowing how we and everything exist. According to Dharmakirti, unawareness is misknowing, which is a subcategory of closed-minded unawareness. Unawareness underlies all our samsaric behavior. It perpetuates our uncontrollably recurring rebirth. Then we have (5) indecisive wavering, which deals more specifically with things that are true, particularly concerning the various points within the Dharma, the facts of reality. We can’t really decide, “Is it true or not? Do I really believe it, or don’t I believe it?” We could take that in a more general sense to refer to the reality of a situation: “This is reality: I lost my job. I have to deal with it,” or “My partner is not really on the same wavelength, the same way of thinking as I am.” Do we really believe it? This is fact, but we are indecisive about it – “Maybe it is true; maybe it is not true.” Then, we saw that we can speak in even more general terms of just being unable to decide anything, like “What should I have for dinner? What should I order in the restaurant?” These were the five disturbing emotions that are not associated with some sort of outlook, or view.
Then we have five that are associated with an outlook. The main one is a deluded outlook toward a transitory network. The transitory network refers to our five aggregates, the things that make up each moment of our experience. What do we experience? Sights, sounds, our bodies, our states of mind, our emotions, our thoughts, our feelings, and so on. What this deluded outlook does is to look for and latch onto some part of this transitory network, something that we are experiencing, onto which the accompanying conceptual consciousness is imputing the concept “me” or “mine.” “Me” or “mine” is the conceptual framework through which this deluded outlook regards things. So, either we identify that member of one of the aggregates as being identical to “me,” thinking, “This is truly me,” or we identify it as being different from “me” as the possessor – as in “This is mine – my good looks, my wealth” or whatever – the controller or inhabitant.
That’s a cause for a tremendous amount of suffering because by identifying with what we are experiencing in either of these ways, we are basically freezing things. It’s like taking a still picture of an event and hanging onto it rather than realizing that everything is like a movie, that it goes on and on. We freeze one frame of it: “This is it. You said that terrible thing. You insulted me.” We identify the sound of the words that we heard with “me.” Then we get lots of problems.
According to Tsongkhapa, this deluded outlook focuses not on the aggregates but on the conventional “me” labelled on the aggregates onto which a false “me” is projected. It then sees that false “me” as being identical with something in our experience or as being the possessor, controller or inhabitant of it. So, there are two ways of defining and explaining how this works.
The Auxiliary Disturbing Emotions
Now we are going through the so-called auxiliary, or subsidiary, disturbing emotions. We have already dealt with ten of them. These are subdivisions of the three root poisonous emotions of longing desire, hostility and naïve close-mindedness. For example, hostility is a subdivision of anger.
Asanga’s Definition: No Moral Self-Dignity
We are up to no moral self-dignity, which is number 11 out of 20. The list of 20 is just a representative list. There can be many, many more subsidiary disturbing emotions.
No moral self-dignity can accompany any of the three poisonous emotions. According to Asanga, it’s the lack of any sense to refrain from destructive behavior because of not caring how our actions reflect on ourselves. Vasubandhu defines it differently as having no sense of values, which refers to a lack of respect for positive qualities or persons who possess them. Let’s look at each of these definitions, one by one.
Again, Asanga’s definition is “a lack of any sense to refrain from any destructive behavior because of not caring how our actions reflect on ourselves.” What does that mean? Whenever we find a definition, it’s not enough to just memorize it. We need to actually reflect and try to consider what it means in terms of our lives, our experience. So, we don’t care how our actions reflect on ourselves. Who is the one that’s involved here? Are we concerned about how our actions reflect on ourselves in other people’s eyes or in our own eyes?
Participant: In other people’s eyes.
Dr. Berzin: In other people’s eyes.
Participant: [Inaudible]
Dr. Berzin: This how you would understand it. Does everybody agree? Or are you talking about no moral self-dignity? Having no sense of values is about self-esteem, I think.
Participant: First of all, it’s about values, and values are external.
Dr. Berzin: No, this is the other definition. Let’s not mix the two. Having no moral self-dignity is not caring how our actions reflect on ourselves.
Participant: So, it’s referring to the consequences that we ourselves will have in the future.
Dr. Berzin: No. It refers to what concept we have of ourselves. I think it has to do a lot with respect, self-respect. If we are only concerned about how other people view us, we could do something in secret and nobody would know about it and, so, it wouldn’t matter. So, that can’t be what’s meant here. We in the West are so concerned about what other people think of us, aren’t we? I don’t know if that’s so much emphasized here.
Participant: It’s about saving face.
Dr. Berzin: Right, but saving face in terms of what? Saving face in terms of our own self-dignity or in terms of what others will think of us? Or is it a combination of the two?
Participant: I think that talking about it in terms of self-dignity is perhaps more useful. But I don’t think that that excludes how other people see us.
Dr. Berzin: That’s why I said that maybe it’s both.
Participant: I think it has both aspects.
Participant: What other people think of us is very much dependent on the values of the society.
Dr. Berzin: This is a very good point. So, what people in a very liberal society like Berlin, where almost anything goes, would think of us would be very different from what people in Afghanistan or other more traditional countries or countries with a different set of values would think. So, it’s very dependent on the company that we keep. This is why I don’t think it is such a strong guideline. There is something else in the bodhisattva vows, the secondary vows, which is to avoid behavior that would cause others to disrespect us, to lose faith in us. How can we help others if they lose respect for us because of the way we act? So, that’s taken care of. It allows for the differences of societies and of the different societal values. So, I think it’s very nicely phrased in the bodhisattva vows.
I find that so many people are quite neurotic in a way. They are so concerned about what other people think of them that they don’t do what they think is right. In other words, they always want the approval of others. That’s where it can spill over into something fairly neurotic. The approval of others is based on a big “me” that has to be approved of. Here, the emphasis, I think, is on having a sense of what’s right and having enough respect for oneself that we’re not going to act against that. We have too much respect for ourselves to go out and put graffiti all over people’s nicely painted houses. It’s not something that we would stoop to. It’s not what our lives are about.
Participant: For example, my friends are outside, and they are drunk and smashing car windows. But I have too much moral self-dignity to act in that way.
Dr. Berzin: Now, we have to be careful here not to be judgmental and look down on these other people: “I am so much better because I am moral.” I am not talking about that. Here, we’re talking about the lack of moral self-dignity. As I said, it is part of every destructive action. If we had moral self-dignity, we wouldn’t act destructively. We wouldn’t lie, cheat, rob, etc.
Participant: Is how others evaluate us another factor?
Dr. Berzin: As I said, it’s taken care of in the bodhisattva vows. I haven’t come across a specific term for that.
Participant: I thought that there were two in this list.
Dr. Berzin: Yes, that’s the next one. It’s caring how our actions reflect on others – for example, how they reflect on our family, on Buddhism, etc. Now, this is not talking about consideration, being considerate. I’ve always found that very interesting. They never talk about being considerate – for example, thinking, “I am not going to play my music loudly because it will disturb others.” Well, we don’t know whether it will disturb others or not. Here, it’s, “I won’t play the music loudly because I have enough moral self-dignity not to act in a destructive way, regardless of whether or not anybody else would be annoyed by it.” We’re not omniscient. We don’t know.
I think that the orientation here is more inward. So, this is something to really consider within ourselves. Do we have a sense of ethical self-dignity? And when we act destructively, do we have this disturbing emotion? As I said, I think that another way of thinking of it is as self-esteem in an ethical sense.
Participant: Would I be able to look in the mirror if I did something?
Dr. Berzin: Right. If somebody took a picture or made a movie of us doing this, how would we feel looking at it later?
Participant: And post it on YouTube.
Dr. Berzin: Well, no. Again, that’s how others would see us. But that’s a very good point, actually. Here we are talking about our own private YouTube. It gets into this whole thing of, “Would I be ashamed of myself?”
Participant: It is based on understanding cause and effect.
Dr. Berzin: Yes, but I don’t think that this necessarily has…well, is it only involved with destructive behavior? If it is only involved with destructive behavior – now I am analyzing – it would be accompanied by unawareness of cause and effect. We act destructively because we don’t know or don’t believe that it’s going to lead to unhappiness. We are blind to that.
Participant 1: You don’t necessarily have to have awareness of cause and effect, because many people who aren’t Buddhists at all have self-dignity and wouldn’t behave in a destructive way.
Participant 2: It doesn’t have to do with being Buddhist and Buddhist cause and effect, but just this life cause and effect.
Dr. Berzin: You have a good point. There are many people who would not act in an undignified or destructive way, and it’s not based on being Buddhist or understanding karmic cause and effect. It could just be a sense of what’s right. It could also be from another religion as well.
Participant: You need to have a feeling that what you did was wrong.
Dr. Berzin: Yes, but “wrong” on what basis? It’s what he was saying – that it’s on the basis of cause and effect, the basis of laws, whether they’re laws from a government or from a religion.
Participant 1: I don’t do what I don’t want to be done to me.
Dr. Berzin: Well, that’s the Golden Rule. That’s cause and effect.
Participant 2: I think it’s instinctual for people. Since they were children, they’ve had this feeling about what is right and wrong.
Participant 1: It’s education.
Dr. Berzin: With children, do they know what’s naughty, or do they have to be taught what’s naughty? I think they have to be taught what’s naughty.
Participant 2: With some children, it’s more instinctual.
How Lack of Self-Esteem Contributes to No Moral Self-Dignity
Dr. Berzin: But let’s talk about self-esteem. I think this is the core issue here. I won’t dispute anything you’ve said, but I think we need to go a little bit deeper from a Buddhist point of view. I think that from a Buddhist point of view, it also has to do with not believing or respecting the fact that we have Buddha-nature. What would self-esteem be based on? “I have Buddha-nature. I am able to do better. I am able to gain liberation and enlightenment, and I am not doing it.” I think this is the deeper level of what’s behind a lack of self-esteem: we don’t appreciate this. We are not even aware of it. What do you think? Think about that for a moment.
[meditation]
There are a lot of people who have no self-worth, and they usually engage in very naughty behavior, socially destructive behavior, because they have no self-worth. Society has often reinforced that in terms of prejudice, economic disadvantages, and so on. “If society thinks that I have no self-worth, what does it matter what I do?”
[meditation]
Participant: I think that sometimes how someone else sees us may help us to re-affirm our motivation. If we see their disapproval, it can help us decide whether to stand by our position, because we know what our motivation is. Or we see that this makes us feel really, really uncomfortable, and so we are not able to bear it.
Dr. Berzin: But, again, I have to bring up the question, what are the values of these other people? For instance, we are with a gang of people that goes out breaking car windows and smashing things, and because we don’t join them, they show disapproval.
Participant: That’s why I am saying it can help you to look at what you’re doing and say, “They don’t approve of me.” In a sense, you have two options. One option is to agree with them – that you shouldn’t do what you do. So, they help you to see that you should change your attitude. The other option is to re-affirm your actions and to keep on doing what you’re doing, even if they do not agree with you. The point is to detach their view from yours, take it and then decide, “Am I with them or not with them?” In a sense, you can dialogue and then re-affirm.
Dr. Berzin: So, when we are in the company of others and are acting in a certain way, the response that we get from them can – depending on whether it’s approval or disapproval – make us reflect on what we are doing. I think that’s especially so if it’s disapproval. If they approve, then, usually, we just go along with it. But if they disapprove, it makes us evaluate whether their disapproval is based on our own set of values – in which case, we will straighten out and stop doing what we are doing – or whether it’s based on values that we don’t agree with, in which case, we will continue doing what we are doing. Their disapproval of our not getting drunk with them is not something that we value. But, sure, others can help us evaluate things. However, we don’t always have others around us or have others around who really care or care enough to respond.
Participant: I also wanted to say that lack of self-esteem can also lead to very strange behavior. Because you feel unsure, you act according to the expectations of the society.
Dr. Berzin: That’s very good. If we lack self-esteem, we are usually very insecure. The easiest pathway, in that case, can be to act according to the values of the society. But the values of the society might not be terribly ethical. The values of society might be to value honor killings, gang warfare, competition, and so on. They might not be the greatest. But you are right, when we lack self-esteem, we feel insecure, and we tend to just follow the herd.
Participant: “I am a good little girl, so I will accept the arranged marriage with somebody who is 50 years older than me.”
Dr. Berzin: Then we are a noble, lovely little girl.
Participant: But the values can also be virtuous.
Dr. Berzin: Yes. It depends on the society. The society could be wonderful, and their values could be perfectly harmonious with the Buddhist values that we are considering here.
Participant: Given the definition of a disturbing emotion, I would tend to think that this one would make us feel much more uneasy, because we would always be looking to see if what we are doing fits the pattern of what others are doing, rather than having our own set of values.
Dr. Berzin: I agree. Always looking for society’s approval is makes you uneasy. That’s why we said before that these are very, very disturbing. It’s because we are completely unsure of ourselves and so on. In order to be much more stable, it’s important to have a sense of ethical self-dignity based on self-esteem, self-worth – which is not a big inflation of the “me.” Let’s not go to that extreme, that of “I am so pure, I am so wonderful, I am so holy, holy.” Instead, it’s based on an affirmation not only of having Buddha-nature but also of having a precious human rebirth. “I have a precious human rebirth, and I have Buddha-nature. What in the world am I doing getting drunk every night? I can do better than that.”
But it’s not necessarily low self-esteem. It’s just that we’re not thinking in terms of these things that we just follow the herd. And the herd might lead us quite astray, especially if we are teenagers and are so concerned about the approval of our peers.
So, let’s examine. What is our own level of self-esteem? And does it keep us acting in an ethical way? When we’re not acting in an ethical way, we’re not thinking in these terms. We’re being influenced by a lack of moral self-dignity. We forget about moral self-dignity because the disturbing emotion is so strong. That’s why it can be associated with any other disturbing emotion. “I was so enraged. I was so obsessed with desire that I lost all sense of myself and acted like a complete fool.” I am sure we have all done that.
Participant: It’s interesting what you said about Buddha-nature, that “I can do better than that.” I never thought of this line.
Dr. Berzin: Yes, I think this is a very helpful line of thought, particularly in our Buddhist context.
Participant: It also helps to strengthen self-esteem and self-dignity and to keep one’s vows. You feel really ready, then, when you take vows.
Dr. Berzin: Right, it helps us have the self-esteem and self-dignity to take vows that confirm our decisions. The thing that is so wonderful about vows is that they free us from indecision: “Am I going to take a drink of alcohol or not take a drink of alcohol?” We don’t have to take a vow every time we have to make a decision. When we take the vow, as you say in German, Alles klar – all is clear: “I am not going to drink.” Period.
Participant: And it’s to keep it in mind so that it always accompanies you.
Dr. Berzin: Sure. The vow is a restraint. There are two different ways of looking at vows, depending on the abhidharma system we are looking at. One is that it is a mental factor of restraint that becomes part of our continuums; so, we are always restraining. The other one is that it is a subtle form that, in a sense, shapes our behavior. That’s important with vows – to look at them not as a restriction but as an affirmation of self-esteem.
Here we’re looking at the pratimoksha vows. Pratimoksha means first liberation. It is the first step toward liberation. “I am taking this vow because I want to be liberated from suffering, from uncontrollably recurring existence. And this is going to help me.” If an action is a naturally uncommendable action, a naturally destructive one, we avoid doing it because it causes suffering. If it is a prohibited uncommendable action, namely, an ethically neutral action that Buddha prohibited for certain types of practitioners, we avoid it because, basically, it will be a hindrance – for example, we avoid eating in the afternoon if we are a monk because it will make us very dull for meditating at night and in the early morning.
Vasubandhu’s Definition: No Sense of Values
According to Vasubandhu, the destructive subsidiary awareness of having no moral self-dignity is having no sense of values. It’s a lack of respect for positive qualities or persons possessing them.
Having no sense of values means that there is nothing that we value, nothing that we hold sacred. We don’t respect learning or education. We don’t respect those who are trying to help others. So, we don’t respect positive qualities or persons possessing them.
Participant: That is going in the same direction.
Dr. Berzin: That’s because there are two definitions of the same word.
Participant: If one appreciates the good qualities in others, then probably one appreciates them in oneself.
Dr. Berzin: Yes, we appreciate their Buddha-nature factors.
Participant: But it has a slightly different flavor.
Dr. Berzin: Could you describe the different flavor?
Participant: I was thinking about why said “persons possessing those values.”
Dr. Berzin: Let me analyze. I think it’s the same reason that such a strong emphasis is put on one’s guru and one’s personal relationship with the guru. If we are thinking of positive qualities just in an abstract, idealistic way, it’s hard to relate to them. If we actually see a living example of these qualities, it’s very inspiring. It has to do with this factor of inspiration, which is often translated as “blessing” and which gives completely the wrong idea. It’s inspiring to see somebody who is so patient, so kind, so considerate and helpful to others. Now, of course, if we have low self-esteem, it could just make us feel worse. “I am so horrible compared to this person.” That’s why we also need to bring in the aspect of the first definition: “If they can do it, I can do it.” Not, “They can do it because they are so wonderful. But I am so horrible. I can never be like them.”
Participant: It’s like in the student-teacher relationship: there are conditions that have to come from both sides.
Dr. Berzin: Yes, there are qualifications for both. Here we are talking about the negative, the disturbing condition – lacking respect for positive qualities. But if we have respect for positive qualities and those who possess them, we also need to have respect for ourselves.
This is talking in an abstract sense of a set of values. Do we have a set of values or not? If we do, we would have a sense of self-esteem based on that set of values, wouldn’t we? So, this is a very interesting thing to explore. What is our set of values? Is it something that we have to learn in a so-called Buddhist Sunday school? Or do we really feel it deep inside?
Participant: I think that you, first, are educated by society.
Dr. Berzin: Right. But we can have instincts for them. For example, here in Germany, one of the German sets of values is hard work, hard work entailing precision, high quality, and honesty. Self-esteem is also part of it, isn’t it?
Participant: There is a whole set of things, which I think differ from society to society.
Dr. Berzin: Again, the values of a society could be that we have to be cut-throat, competitive, and to make the most money. Having the most money, the most possessions, and the most beautiful, sexy partner – who is very, very young, of course – is what is valued. So, just because a set of values is given by society doesn’t guarantee that it is an ethically viable, ethically acceptable set of values.
Participant: I am just thinking that, very often, we need this self-esteem and that we see that we should establish some good values. Certainly, sometimes the ones that society offers are those kinds of values. And a person might hold onto those values and think, “OK, I am working hard. I am worrying about my colleagues at work, but I am working hard, and I am making my family happy. And I have a good daughter and a good wife.” I just wonder whether sometimes people choose the values that are very easily available.
Dr. Berzin: So, you’re saying that people just choose the values of society that are easy to follow and are very available. I don’t know. I think the point here is that we need to have a set of values that are not dependent on the whims of a society, which might not have a good set of values.
What Makes Buddhist Values Better Than Social Values?
But this brings up another question. If we have a good sense of what’s ethical, of what good qualities are, and so on, as outlined by Buddha, why do we believe in them? Why is that set of values better or more acceptable than a set of values from society?
Participant: You see the result in yourself.
Dr. Berzin: In terms of what? What are we looking for when we look for the results in ourselves?
Participant: We’re looking, for instance, to see if it makes the mind uneasy.
Dr. Berzin: That, again, is the definition of disturbing emotions: they make us lose peace of mind and self-control.
Participant: The long-term result is not there.
Dr. Berzin: The long-term result in terms of happiness is usually not going to be so evident.
Participant: But if we believe that this is going to lead to liberation and enlightenment, then it gives us peace of mind.
Dr. Berzin: What if we become a suicide bomber because we believe that it will lead us to paradise? Isn’t that the same? This is really a very difficult question. Doing what feels right, what we know is right and makes us feel better could still be based on absolute ignorance. So, now it becomes very tricky because we are not feeling uneasy: we think that what we are doing is the right thing to do.
Participant: At least some of these naturally destructive behaviors are prohibited in other religions as well.
Dr. Berzin: So, there is a general consensus that killing, stealing, lying, etc., are immoral.
Participant: Every society tries to secure the welfare and harmony of its people. If an action disrupts the society or is destructive to it, it will not be approved.
Dr. Berzin: Well, here is a good example: gay marriage. There are some people who feel that this really disrupts society because it upsets the moral values and goes against the sacredness of the man-woman marriage or relationship. Again, disrupting the harmony of the society is based on the beliefs of that society. We might not agree with them. Then, the question is, why do we believe in what Buddha says?
Participant: One can only follow one’s logical understanding. And proving it logically may make it a bit more stable.
Dr. Berzin: So, Buddhist teachings are based a little bit more on logic and so on, so one’s belief is a little bit more stable. Buddha didn’t set down laws, saying, “You follow this or else.” He said to question, to use our discriminating awareness. We need to discriminate what is appropriate, to discriminate what causes suffering and what doesn’t cause suffering. But it’s very, very difficult to ascertain, isn’t it?
Participant: And even if you do use logic, there are some premises that are just based on assumptions.
Dr. Berzin: Right, even if we accept logic, there are certain things that are taken for granted; we just assume that that’s the way things are. We’ll get this in another one of these auxiliary disturbing emotions. Even if we know that it’s logically correct, we still don’t believe it.
Participant: Everybody wants to be happy.
Dr. Berzin: Right, that’s a given. That’s not questioned – that everybody wants to be happy.
Participant: That’s something that’s empirically based on observation.
Dr. Berzin: But also, I think it’s part of the survival instinct. We could interpret the survival instinct as everybody wanting to be happy; everybody wants to survive. Anyway, let us not digress. Let us stay with this disturbing emotion of having no sense of values, having no respect for anything positive, regardless of how that’s defined or how we know something is a good quality. These are the troublesome issues here.
Participant: Why do you use the word “respect”? Is that just a translation thing? If I have respect for something, I already see a value in it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have respect. And that respect leads me already to have a particular behavior. If I have respect for a teacher, for example, I would not commit some naughty behavior in his presence. Or I would greet him properly or whatever.
Basing Our Sense of Values on Our Buddha-Nature Factors
Dr. Berzin: Again, I would bring this whole discussion back to Buddha-nature. There are the good qualities of a Buddha. We have the potential, the Buddha-nature potential, to develop those good qualities. We have them in traces within us, developed to one extent or another. So, our sense of values is based on the Buddha-nature factors that we see in a Buddha or in somebody else. That’s what behind the whole thing with the guru. We focus on the good qualities of the guru, which are the Buddha qualities, and that forms the basis for our sense of values. And when we see those qualities in ourselves, we have self-esteem. So, everything stems from refuge, from safe direction, doesn’t it? We didn’t list all the qualities of a Buddha. We’ve already dealt with them. But there is a long list of the qualities of a Buddha. That’s the direction that we want to go in.
There are the qualities of the mind of the Buddha in terms of knowing everything, qualities of the compassion of a Buddha, qualities of the activities of a Buddha, qualities of the speech, the ability of a Buddha to communicate, and so on. There is a long list of qualities, and that’s the basis for the values. If somebody with those qualities teaches us the way to avoid suffering and we put it into practice, our suffering gets less. I think this is the direction to go in terms of trying to understand this whole thing about moral self-dignity – not having it and not having a sense of values.
If we have no direction in life, we have no sense of values. Isn’t that so? If we have a sense of values, we can put a direction in our lives. I think this is the flavor behind refuge. It’s why I translate it as a “safe direction.” It will protect us. By adopting that set of values, by going in that direction, we protect ourselves from suffering. So, these are some of the things that come to mind when analyzing no moral self-dignity, this auxiliary disturbing emotion.
What’s productive here is not only to think whether or not we have self-dignity, this sense of values. It’s also to examine, when we are acting destructively or are emotionally upset and so on, whether we are lacking in these values and self-esteem. And is that what is influencing our behavior? Of course, it comes together with forgetfulness. We’ve forgotten something; we’re no longer mindful of it. None of these disturbing emotions are the only factor going on in any particular moment. There’s a huge network of them. This is just one component, but it’s a very important one. It’s one that they say is always present with destructive behavior.
Let’s spend the final few moments reflecting on whether there are times when we lack self-esteem, this moral self-dignity, this sense of values. And why do we lack it? It’s because we’re not remembering the good qualities of Buddha-nature, the good qualities of safe direction, of refuge. We forget the direction that we want to go in in life. To overcome this, we need to reaffirm that direction, reaffirm Buddha-nature and so on. Seeing these values in others adds the factor of inspiration, which plays on another aspect of Buddha-nature – that these qualities within us can be affected by inspiration. We can be inspired to grow. That’s another aspect of Buddha-nature.