Part 2: Honesty
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Dharma Speech Part 2 Another way you can tell if others are putting the Buddha’s teachings into practice is by how honest the person is. Honesty is one of the most basic values all practicing Buddhists hold. For aspiring Bodhisattvas the emphasis is on one’s motivation, taking into account that lying may be necessary out of compassion or the wish to bring all living beings to complete awakening.
I always thought of myself as a straight shooter, but I remember when I first formally committed to the Buddhist path, twenty-three or twenty-four years ago, that there was a transitional time where I started noticing how often I told lies to protect myself. Now, as I wrote that last sentence I noticed that I wanted to say twenty-four rather than twenty-three. Honestly, I don’t remember whether I formerly took refuge at Karma Choling center in Vermont in 1993 or 1994. Why did I want to say the higher number? I guess to increase my own status… as if anyone cares but me! So, there you have it, pride, anger, and desire still welling up from within and infecting my speech. What good is practicing a lot for twenty-three years, (ten months, five days, forty-five minutes!) if I still have afflictive emotions present in me? Well, I think there is good. Nowadays, I have a pause button. I recognize as I am typing, and hopefully most of the time when I am speaking, what my motivations are for what I am communicating. Less blurting, more pausing. Gradually, even the lying that is societally condoned with a nudge and a wink, such as lying on a job application or in a dating site, becomes impossible. If you want to, you can commit formerly to not telling lies by intentionally taking a vow. All nuns and monks have taken this vow, but a non-monastic male practitioner (upāsaka in Sanskrit, Genyen in Tibetan དགེ་བསྙེན་) or female practitioner (Skt. upāsikā; Tib. genyenma དགེ་བསྙེན་མ་) may also take the vow for one day, or for a lifetime. The classically recounted consequences of lying are that you are not believed by others. You are doubted. You experience others lying to you. All attempts to collaborate harmoniously with others fail, there is in-fighting on your team. People cheat you and you are afraid. I have these kind of experiences in my life, and part of my practice is to not point fingers at others but recognize that I am experiencing the result of having lied in this or previous lives. There is only one way to reverse that, and it means pausing and being super-careful about about honesty. Although it’s not easy and I sometimes fail, I recommend it. Try it for a day and notice what happens. |
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