Ethics in new Millennium
Ethics for the New Millennium [excerpts]
By Dalai Lama
Definitions of Ethics
1. Webster’s New International Dictionary, 2nd Edition
i. A treatise on morals (Aristotle)
ii. The science of moral duty, more broadly the science of the ideal human character and the ideal ends of human action.
2. The term ethics is derived from the Greek ethos. The terms ethical and moral are synonymous.
I shall try to show in this book what I mean by the term “positive ethical conduct”
The Basics: “What I propose is a spiritual revolution”
We have, in my view, created a society in which people find it harder and harder to show one another basic affection. In place of the sense of community and belonging, which we find such a reassuring feature of less wealthy (and generally rural) societies, we find a high degree of loneliness and alienation. […] Modern industrial society often strikes me as being like a huge self-propelled machine. Instead of human beings in charge, each individual is a tiny, insignificant component with no choice but to move when the machine moves.
I have come to the conclusion that whether or not a person is a religious believer does not matter much. Far more important is that they be a good human being.
We may also conclude that we humans can live quite well without recourse to religious faith.
Since the majority does not practice religion, I am concerned to try to find a way to serve all humanity without appealing to religious faith.
I believe there is an important distinction to be made between religion and spirituality. Religion I take to be concerned with faith in the claims of salvation […], an aspect of which is the acceptance of some form of metaphysical reality, including perhaps an idea of heaven or nirvana. Spirituality I take to be concerned with those qualities of the human spirit – such as love and compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, a sense of responsibility, a sense of harmony – which bring happiness to both self and others.
My call for spiritual revolution is thus not a call for a religious revolution […], it is a call for a radical reorientation away from our habitual preoccupation with the self.
What, then, is the relationship between spirituality and ethical practice? Since love and compassion and similar qualities all, by definition, presume some level of concern for other’s well-being, they presume ethical restraint. We cannot be loving and compassionate unless at the same time we curb our own harmful impulses and desires.
We have no means of discriminating between right and wrong if we do not take into account other’s feelings, other’s suffering. For this reason, […] ethical conduct is not something we engage in because it is somehow right in itself.
The factor that is perhaps most important of all in determining the ethical nature of an act is neither its content nor its consequence […] but kun long which is understood as what, in a sense, drives or inspires our actions […]. It therefore denotes the individual’s overall state of heart and mind. It is more than “motivation” or “disposition”, rather the “mind state”. In Tibetan the word for “mind”, lo, include the ideas of consciousness, or awareness, alongside those of feeling and emotion.
When the driving force of our action is wholesome, our actions will tend automatically to contribute to other’s well-being. They will thus automatically be ethical.
In my view, then, the aim of spiritual and, therefore, ethical practice is to transform and perfect the individual’s kun long. This is how we become better human beings.
As to what I mean by the term “spiritual revolution”, I trust that I have made it clear that a spiritual revolution entails an ethical revolution.
Dependent Origination and the Nature of Reality
There is often a gap between the way in which we perceive phenomena and the reality of a given situation – often a source of much unhappiness. This is especially true when we make judgments on the basis of a partial understanding, which
turns out not to be fully justified. Before considering what a spiritual and ethical revolution might consist in, let us therefore give some thought to the nature of reality itself.
When we consider the matter, we start to see that we cannot finally separate out any phenomena from the context of other phenomena. We can only really speak in terms of relationships.
When we consider reality itself we quickly become aware of its infinite complexity, and we realize that our habitual perception of it is often inadequate.
As a means to understanding this complexity, I find the concept of dependent origination (in Tibetan, ten del), articulated by the Madhyamika (Middle Way) school of Buddhist philosophy, to be particularly helpful. According to this, we can understand how things and events come to be in three different ways.
At the first level, the principle of cause and effect whereby all things and events arise in dependence on a complex web of interrelated causes and conditions, is invoked.
On the second level, ten del can be understood in terms of the mutual dependence which exists between parts and whole. Without parts, there can be no whole; without a whole, the concept of parts makes no sense. The idea of “whole” is predicated on parts, but these parts themselves must be considered to be wholes comprised of their own parts.
On the third level, all phenomena can be understood to be dependently originated because, when we analyze them, we find that, ultimately, they lack independent identity. This can be understood from the way in which we refer to certain phenomena.
If we take consciousness itself as the object of our investigation, although we tend to think of it in terms of something intrinsic and unchangeable, we find that it, too, is better understood in terms of dependent origination. This is because apart from individual perceptual, cognitive, and emotional experiences, it is difficult to posit an independently existing entity. Rather, consciousness is more like a construct which arises out of a spectrum of complex events.
If it is true that no object or phenomena, not even the “self”, exists inherently, should we then conclude that, ultimately, nothing exists at all? Or is the reality we perceive simply a projection of the mind, apart from which nothing exists? No. When we say that things and events can only be established in terms of their dependently originating nature, that they are without intrinsic reality, existence, or identity, we are not denying the existence of phenomena altogether. The “identitylessness” of phenomena points rather to the way in which things exist: not independently but in a sense interdependently. Far from undermining the notion of phenomenal reality, I believe the concept of dependent origination provides a robust framework within which to situate cause and effect, truth and falsity, identity and difference, harm and benefit. It is, therefore, quite wrong to infer from the idea any sort of nihilistic approach to reality. A simple nothingness, without any sense of an object being this and not that, is absolutely not my meaning.
Because our interests are inextricably linked, we are compelled to accept ethics as the indispensable interface between my desire to be happy and yours.
The Goal: “According to my experience, the principal characteristic of genuine happiness is peace: inner peace”
I have observed that we all naturally desire happiness and not to suffer. Let us consider the nature of happiness.
[…] placing too much hope in material development is a mistake. The problem is not materialism as such. Rather it is the underlying assumption that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone.
[The] human capacity for experiencing deeper levels of happiness also explains why such things as music and the arts offer a greater degree of happiness and satisfaction than merely acquiring material objects.
This is not to say that the pleasure we take in certain activities is somehow mistaken. But we must acknowledge that there can be no hope of gratifying the senses permanently. At best, the happiness we derive from eating a good meal can only last until the next time we are hungry. As one ancient Indian writer remarked: Indulging our senses and drinking salt water are alike: the more we partake, the more our desire and thirst grow.
When we act to fulfill our immediate desires without taking into account others’ interests, we undermine the possibility of lasting happiness.
We can all agree that the lack of certain things makes its attainment all the harder […] good health, friends, freedom in the sense of liberty to pursue happiness, prosperity.
According to my experience, the principal characteristic of genuine happiness is peace: inner peace.
So far as the conditions of inner peace are concerned, one of the most important is our basic attitude – how we relate to external circumstances. […] this is thus our first consideration in any discussion on developing inner peace.
Shantideva once observed that while we have no hope of finding enough leather to cover the earth so that we never prick our feet on a thorn, actually we do not need to. As he went on to observe, enough to cover the soles of our feet will suffice. In other words, while we cannot always change our external situation to suit us, we can change our attitude.
The other major source of inner peace, and thus of genuine happiness, is, of course, the actions we undertake in our pursuit of happiness […] and altruism is an essential component of those actions which lead to genuine happiness.
There is thus an important distinction to be made between what we might call ethical and spiritual acts. An ethical act is one where we refrain from causing harm to others experience or expectation of happiness. Spiritual acts we can describe in terms of those qualities mentioned earlier of love, compassion, patience, forgiveness, humility, tolerance, and so on which presume some level of concern for others’ well-being.
Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others’ actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others’ activities. For this reason, it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others. Nor is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic actions bring about happiness, but they also lessen our experience of suffering. Here I am not suggesting that the individual whose actions are motivated by the wish to bring others’ happiness necessarily meets with less misfortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old age, and mishaps of one sort or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our internal peace—anxiety, frustration, disappointment—are definitely less. In our concern for others, we worry less about ourselves. When we worry less about ourselves, the experience of our own suffering is less intense.
What does this tell us? Firstly, because our every action has a universal dimension, a potential impact on others’ happiness, ethics are necessary as a means to ensure that we do not harm others. Secondly, it tells us that genuine happiness consists in those spiritual qualities of love and compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, humility, and so on. It is these which provide happiness both for ourselves and others.
The Supreme Emotion: The human capacity for empathy: “the inability to bear sight of another’s sufferings”
Despite the body of opinion suggesting that human nature is basically aggressive and competitive, my own view is that our appreciation for affection and love is so profound that it begins even before our birth.
The fact that we can indeed enhance our capacity for empathy becomes obvious when we consider its nature. We experience it mainly as a feeling. And, as we all know, to a greater or lesser extent we can not only restrain our feelings through reasoning, but we can enhance them in the same way. Our desire for objects—perhaps a new car—is enhanced by our turning it over and over in our imagination. Similarly, when, as it were, we direct our mental faculties onto our feelings of empathy, we find that not only can we enhance them, but we can transform them into love and compassion itself.
As such, our innate capacity for empathy is the source of that most precious of all human qualities, which in Tibetan we call nying je. Now while generally translated simply as “compassion,” the term nyingje has a wealth of meaning that is difficult to convey succinctly, though the ideas it contains are universally understood. It connotes love, affection, kindness, gentleness, generosity of spirit, and warm-heartedness. It is also used as a term of both sympathy and of endearment. On the other hand, it does not imply “pity” as the word compassion may. There is no sense of condescension. On the contrary nying je denotes a feeling of connection with others, reflecting its origins in empathy.
Although it is clear from this description that nying je, or love and compassion, is understood as an emotion, it belongs to that category of emotions which have a more developed cognitive component. Some emotions, such as fear of poverty, have this more developed cognitive component. We can thus understand nying je in terms of a combination of empathy and reason. We can think of empathy as the characteristic of a very honest person; reason as that of someone who is very practical.
This suggests that by means of sustained reflection on, and familiarization with, compassion, through rehearsal and practice we can develop our innate ability to connect with others, a fact which is of supreme importance given the approach to ethics I have described. The more we develop compassion, the more genuinely ethical our conduct will be.
Having concern for others breaks down the very harrier which inhibits healthy interaction with others. […] To the extent that we are able to open this inner door, we experience a sense of liberation from our habitual preoccupation with self. Paradoxically, we find this gives rise to strong feelings of confidence.
ETHICS AND THE INDIVIDUAL
The Ethics of Restrain: “what inhibits compassion is the lack of inner restraint”
The undisciplined mind is like an elephant. If left to blunder around out of control, it will wreak havoc. […] By this I do not mean to suggest that the mind (lo) is inherently destructive. If, for instance, hatefulness were an unchangeable characteristic of consciousness, then consciousness must always be hateful. Clearly this is not the case. There is an important distinction to be made between consciousness as such and the thoughts and emotions it experiences.
This observation, that emotion and consciousness are not the same thing, tells us that we do not have to be controlled by emotions. Prior to our every action, there must be a mental and emotional event to which we are more or less free to respond, although, needless to say, until we have learned to discipline our mind, we will have difficulty in exercising this freedom. Again, how we respond to these events and experiences is moreover that which determines the moral content of our acts, generally speaking. In simple terms, this means that if we do so positively, keeping others’ interests before us, our acts will be positive. If we respond negatively, neglecting others, our acts will be negative and unethical.
The Ethics of Virtue: “we need to cultivate and reinforce our positive qualities; our basic human, or spiritual, qualities”
We cannot stop at restraint. Though it may prevent us from performing any grossly negative misdeeds, mere restraint is insufficient if we are to attain that happiness which is characterized by inner peace. In order to transform ourselves—our habits and dispositions—so that our actions are compassionate, it is necessary to develop what we might call an ethic of virtue. As well as refraining from negative thoughts and emotions, we need to cultivate and reinforce our positive qualities. What are these positive qualities? Our basic human, or spiritual, qualities.
After compassion (nying je) itself, the chief of these is what in Tibetan we call sö pa. Once again, we have a term which appears to have no ready equivalent in other languages, though the ideas it conveys are universal. Often, sö pa is translated simply as “patience,” though its literal meaning is “able to bear or “able to withstand.” But the word also carries a notion of resolution. It thus denotes a deliberate response (as opposed to an unreasoned reaction) to the strong negative thoughts and emotions that tend to arise when we encounter harm. As such, sö pa is what provides us with the strength to resist suffering and protects us from losing compassion even for those who would harm us.
If we wish to overcome the unwholesome states which arise when negative thoughts and emotions are allowed to develop, cultivating virtue should not be seen as separate from restraining our response to afflictive emotion. They go hand in hand. This is why ethical discipline cannot be confined either to mere restraint or to mere affirmation of positive qualities.
Happiness arises from virtuous causes. If we truly desire to be happy, there is no other way to proceed but by way of virtue: it is the method by which happiness is achieved. And, we might add, that the basis of virtue, its ground, is ethical discipline.
The Ethics of Compassion: “Ethically wholesome actions arise naturally in the context of compassion”
We noted earlier that all the world’s major religions stress the importance of cultivating love and compassion. In the Buddhist philosophical tradition, different levels of attainment are described. At a basic level, compassion (nying je) is understood mainly in terms of empathy—our ability to enter into and, to some extent, share others’ suffering. But we—and perhaps others—believe that this can be developed to such a degree that not only does our compassion arise without any effort, but it is unconditional, undifferentiated, and universal in scope. A feeling of intimacy toward all other sentient beings, including of course those who would harm us, is generated, which is likened in the literature to the love a mother has for her only child.
But this sense of equanimity toward all others is not seen as an end in itself. Rather, it is seen as the springboard to a love still greater. Because our capacity for empathy is innate, and because the ability to reason is also an innate faculty, compassion shares the characteristics of consciousness itself. The potential we have to develop it is therefore stable and continuous.
When we enhance our sensitivity toward others’ suffering through deliberately opening ourselves up to it, it is believed that we can gradually extend out compassion to the point where the individual feels so moved by even the subtlest suffering of others that they come to have an overwhelming sense of responsibility toward those others. This causes the one who is compassionate to dedicate themselves entirely to helping others overcome both their suffering and the causes of their suffering. In Tibetan, this ultimate level of attainment is called nying je chenmo, literally “great compassion.”
Now I am not suggesting that each individual must attain these advanced states of spiritual development in order to lead an ethically wholesome life. I have described nying je chenmo not because it is a precondition of ethical conduct but rather because I believe that pushing the logic of compassion to the highest level can act as a powerful inspiration. If we can keep the aspiration to develop nying je chenmo, or great compassion, as an ideal, it will naturally have a significant impact on our outlook.
The Need for Discernment: “we need to consider an ethical situation in light of the ‘union of skillful means and insight’”
So far as the ethical character of a given action is concerned…the overriding question concerns the individual’s spiritual state, their overall state of heart and mind [kun long] in the moment of action.
How are we to apply this principle of non-harming when confronted with an ethical dilemma? This is where our critical and imaginative powers come in…we need to consider an ethical situation in light of the ‘union of skillful means and insight’.
“Skillful means” can be understood in terms of the efforts we make to ensure that our deeds are motivated by compassion. “Insight” refers to our critical faculties and how, in response to the different factors involved, we adjust the ideal of non-harming to the context of the situation. We could call it the faculty of wise discernment.
Exercising our critical faculties in the ethical realm entails taking responsibility both for our acts and for their underlying motives. If we do not take responsibility for our motives, whether positive or negative, the potential for harm is much greater. As we have seen, negative emotions are the source of unethical behavior. Each act affects not only the people closest to us but also our colleagues, friends, community, and, ultimately, the world.
ETHICS AND SOCIETY
Universal Responsibility: “it is essential that we cultivate a sense of what I call universal responsibility”
When we neglect others’ well-being and ignore the universal dimension of our actions, it is inevitable that we will come to see our interests as separate from theirs. We will overlook the fundamental oneness of the human family.
Cultivating contentment is crucial to maintaining peaceful coexistence. Lack of contentment—which really comes down to greed—sows the seed of envy and aggressive competitiveness, and leads to a culture of excessive materialism.
In particular, lack of contentment is the source of damage to our natural environment and, thereby, of harm to others.
This is one of the reasons why I believe that the culture of perpetual economic growth needs to be questioned.
Universal responsibility also leads us to commitment to the principle of honesty. We are honest when our actions are what they seem to be…appearance and reality synchronize.
The question of justice is also closely connected both with universal responsibility and the question of honesty. Justice entails a requirement to act when we become aware of injustice.
In addition to developing a sense of universal responsibility, we need actually to be responsible people. Until we put our principles into practice, they remain just that.
The future of the world is in the hands of our children. Therefore, if we wish to bring about a more compassionate—and therefore fairer society—it is essential that we educate our children to be responsible, caring human beings.
If we had to choose between learning and virtue, the latter is definitely more valuable. The good heart which is the fruit of virtue is by itself a great benefit to humanity. Mere knowledge is not. How, though, are we to teach morality to our children? I have a sense that, in general, modern educational systems neglect discussion of ethical matters. This is probably not intentional so much as a by-product of historical reality. Secular educational systems were developed at a time when religious institutions were still highly influential throughout society. Because ethical and human values were and still are generally held to fall within the scope of religion, it was assumed that this aspect of a child’s education would be looked after through his or her religious upbringing. This worked well enough until the influence of religion began to decline. Although the need is still there, it is not being met. Therefore, we must find some other way of showing children that basic human values are important. And we must also help them to develop these values.
Ultimately, of course, the importance of concern for others is learned not from words but from actions: the example we set. This is why the family environment itself is such a vital component in a child’s upbringing.
FINAL APPEAL
If you cannot, for whatever reason, be of help to others, at least don’t harm them. Consider yourself a tourist. Think of the world as it is seen from space, so small and insignificant yet so beautiful. Could there really be anything to be gained from harming others during our stay here? Is it not preferable, and more reasonable, to relax and enjoy ourselves quietly, just as if we were visiting a different neighborhood? Therefore, if in the midst of your enjoyment of the world you have a moment, try to help in however small a way those who are downtrodden and those who, for whatever reason, cannot or do not help themselves. Try not to turn away from those whose appearance is disturbing, from the ragged and unwell. Try never to think of them as inferior to yourself. If you can, try not even to think of yourself as better than the humblest beggar. You will look the same in your grave.
To close with, I would like to share a short prayer which gives me great inspiration in my quest to benefit others:
May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.