A Little Break

I've been rather busy lately and have done a bit of traveling recently...all of which means things have been slow here lately. I do, however, have quite a few things in the works as well as highlights from the 2009 Bodhi Monastery Dharma Retreat. Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

Dharma Dictionary: Kusala - कुसल

Introduction.

We humans love a good struggle. Titanic clashes between the dark villains of evil and the benevolent heroes of good are found in almost every aspect of the human experience. In nearly every major religion, the struggle between good and evil occupies a central place. If person is aligned with the good side, he or she will enjoy happiness, bliss, and peace. If, however, a person is on the bad side, he/she can expect things like pain, torment, and agony. It is certainly a very stark choice but, interestingly enough, one that is not at all prominent in the Buddha's teachings. The Buddha taught a rather different way of looking at the relationship between the negatives and positives in our lives. In contrast to the ubiquitous good versus evil motif, we are instead given the ideas kusala and akusala. In this thread, we'll focus on the word kusala.

According to the The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary (p. 223), kusala is defined as "skillful, cleaver, expert, and meritorious especially in a moral sense". The Sanskrit equivalent is kuśala and has the same meaning(s). Kusala can also be understood in terms of its opposite, akusala, meaning wrong, bad, improper, demerit, etc.

According to the Buddha, there are no divine laws laid down by a creator deity to be followed (Gooood!) or violated (eeEEEvuul!!). Instead, there is the idea of natural laws (one definition of the word 'dharma'). We can think of dharma in this context as meaning "Law of Nature" much like the laws of gravity or thermodynamics. How much sense would it make to call gravity "evil" or "good"? Gravity is simply part of the way the universe operates. It is not a conscious entity forcing apples to fall on our heads; it is only a description of one of the universe's many laws.

When we begin to seriously engage in spiritual practice, our minds become clearer and we become more aware of both our inner and outer worlds. With this increased awareness, we can more carefully observe how and why things work in the context of natural/spiritual laws (like karma for example). To use this knowledge in ways that are beneficial to ourselves and those around us is the essential idea behind kusala. If we perform deeds that bring harm to ourselves and those around us, this is considered akusala.

Thinking in terms of "good" vs. "evil" is not useful because, from the Buddha's perspective, no being is truly evil in the sense we normally use the word. Granted, there are people who have done, are doing, and will be do truly horrific things. We can and do label things like genocide and slavery as evil but a more accurate description would be unskillful, or akusula. Many might immediately object to describing something like slavery as simply "unskillful" but we also have to keep in mind that some actions are MUCH MORE unskillful than others. The consequences of murder for example, cannot compare to the consequences of spilling milk on a table.

Another reason the Buddha taught in terms of kusala/akusula is that when we get caught up in dividing the world into "good guys" and "bad guys", we generate tremendous negative qualities like hatred, aversion, and combativeness. As mentioned above, no being is fundamentally evil. In fact, the Buddhadharma teaches us that all beings possess Buddha Nature; the potential to awaken the perfected qualities of wisdom and compassion and blossom into a fully enlightened Buddha. Beings harm themselves and others because they are deluded and misguided, NOT because they are "bad seeds". In his classic treatise, "The Way of the Bodhisattva", the great master Shantideva expresses this idea, saying:

Although it is their sticks that hurt me,
I am angry at the ones who wield them, striking me.
But they in turn are driven by hatred;
Therefore it is with their hatred I should take offence.
Ch. 6, v. 41 (trans. by Padmakara Translation Group)

Finally, the idea of kusala is also a reminder of the preciousness of human life. To be reborn as human is a considered very auspicious because as humans, we are capable of making great spiritual progress. Buddhas are perfectly awakened HUMAN BEINGS. To be fortunate enough
to be born as a human means we engaged in many meritorious (kusala!) actions in previous lives. As humans, we are blessed with an opportunity to practice the Buddha's teachings and cultivate the qualities of the heart that can lead ourselves and those around us to liberation. A famous passage from The Dhammapada reminds us of this:

Just as from a heap of flowers,
Many garlands can be made,
So, you, with your mortal life,
Should do many skillful things.
Dhp Ch. 4, v. 53 (trans by. Gil Fronsdal)

What If?

What if I...got right into
My mind's velocity
What if I...finally discovered
The rules of eternity

Will you stop running? Will you stop hiding?
And looking for material things
Will you start searching...will you start seeking for
your immortal wings

What if I tell you
What we live for, what we die for
What if I tell you
That you will be born again

What if I tell you
What we live for, what we die for
What if I tell you
That you will be born again...and you will do
it all over again..and again, and again, and again

-Armin Van Buuren featuring Vera Ostrova

The King of all Trees

It is like a great regal tree growing in the rocks and sand of a
barren wilderness. When the roots get water, the branches, leaves,
flowers, and fruits will all flourish. The regal Bodhi-tree growing in
the wilderness of birth and death is the same. All living beings are
its roots; all Buddha’s and Bodhisattvas are its flowers and fruits.
By benefiting all beings with the water of great compassion, one can
realize the flowers and fruits of the Buddha’s and Bodhisattvas
wisdom. Why is this? It is because by benefiting living beings with
the water of great compassion, the Bodhisattvas can achieve supreme
perfect enlightenment; therefore, Bodhi belongs to living beings.
Without living beings, no Bodhisattva could achieve supreme, perfect
enlightenment.

-From Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's Ninth Vow,
Avatamsaka Sutra, Chapter 40

To Be of Use

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

-"To Be of Use" by Marge Piercy