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Starting Out Right

The virtues the Buddha taught to his own son
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Part 2 of 2

He starts Rahula with a don’t: “I will not tell a deliberate lie, even in jest.” As he points out, this is a rule that Rahula will have to train himself in. In other words, Rahula will have to be responsible for voluntarily taking on this rule, for sticking with it, and for detecting times when he’s failed to hold to it, so that he can learn what unskillful desires or passions might have made him want to break it.

At the same time, the Buddha is teaching Rahula virtue in terms of qualities of character, both explicitly and implicitly. The quality he mentions explicitly is shame—not the unhealthy shame that’s the opposite of pride but the healthy shame that’s the opposite of shamelessness. This is the shame that makes you want your behavior to look good in the eyes of people you respect. When you respect the right people—noble ones—this type of shame can take you far. It goes together with a sense of honor—that giving in to unskillful desires is beneath you.

Other qualities that are more implicit in these instructions include:

heedfulness in that Rahula should take the results of his actions seriously because they could cause harm if he’s not careful;

compassion in that he shouldn’t want to do harm to anyone, himself or others;

integrity in taking responsibility for any harm that he’s done. (Notice how often the word “I” appears in the questions that Rahula is supposed to ask himself. He’s being taught to acknowledge his agency in deciding which desires to act on and how best to do it.)

Finally, the Buddha is also teaching Rahula how to begin developing the four overriding determinations that he says culminate in awakening: discernment, truth, relinquishment, and calm.

• Rahula will learn truthfulness in his willingness to admit his mistakes.
• He’ll commit himself to relinquish any desires that would run counter to this training.
• Note that when Rahula is able to reflect on his actions and see that they have caused no harm, he is to take joy in that fact. That sense of joy is calming—the calm that comes from a life of virtue. This is a pattern that holds throughout the triple training. You don’t simply force yourself to become calm and equanimous regardless of events. You first have to find an inner sense of joy that comes from virtue, concentration, and discernment. That joy keeps your calm from becoming grudging or defeatist. Based on a sense of inner satisfaction, it’s a calm that’s expansive and strong.
• Above all, Rahula will be learning to develop his discernment through a process that the Buddha calls commitment and reflection. Rahula is to commit himself to acting as skillfully as he can, at the same time reflecting on:

the desire that motivates each action,
the action itself, and
its immediate and long-term results.

When he sees room for improvement, he commits himself further to making those improvements as best he can, using both his own determination to be skillful and ingenious in thinking up alternatives, and the wisdom and compassion of others who can help him attain that aim.

The discernment that the Buddha is recommending here begins by asking two questions: “What, when I do it, will lead to my long-term harm and suffering? What, when I do it, will lead to my long-term well-being and happiness?” In the discourse where the Buddha sets forth these questions (MN 135), he recommends requesting answers from people who are more advanced on the path. Here, however, Rahula is also being taught how to begin finding the answers for himself.

Big fires come from little ones.

This is the basic approach required in learning any skill, although here it’s applied to an especially high level of skill: putting an end to all suffering and stress. It’s the basic framework for all the steps in taking on the triple training. And it depends on what the Buddha observed about the mind: (1) It’s luminous in the sense that it can observe its own actions.

Words of the Buddha

Daily teachings of Buddha Dharma

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