Practising Virtues in Life

by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Awaken: Venerable, you were here recently to conduct a retreat on lojong. Tell us more about it?

Venerable: Lojong is a Buddhist mind training practice introduced by a Bengali scholar into Tibet in the 11th century. It is very much cultivated in the tradition he introduced and is based on bodhicitta, the aspiration to attain enlightenment not for the sake of oneself but to liberate all others. It especially deals with how we can take difficult situations onto the path instead of getting all upset and depressed or angry when things don’t go the way we want them to go.

Through this practice, we accept that encountering difficult people and situations is actually a good teaching for us. We recognise that they are our great spiritual friends for they offer a good way for us to develop qualities like patience and compassion. We are grateful when difficult things happen as they enrich us spiritually for enlightenment. This is what lojong entails. Basically it is taking problems onto the path. Our obstacles turn into opportunity for spiritual growth.

Awaken: How can lojong help one in one’s family life and in the workplace?

Venerable: Instead of seeing family life and the workplace as obstacles for our practice, we recognise that these provide wonderful opportunities for us to develop many important qualities which are needed on the path. Without these family and work situations, we may not develop such qualities if we live in a quiet and unimposing environment. Thus, lojong is the most useful practice for everyday life and for those who are not spending all their time in retreat. The main lojong texts one can study and contemplate are the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation and The Seven Points of Mind Training and their various commentaries.

Awaken: Doing all that is virtuous, avoiding all that is non-virtuous and purifying the mind is the core teaching of Buddhism, regardless of the traditions. How can a lay Buddhist with his many secular responsibilities practise this firmly in his daily life?

Venerable: It is very important that a person realises that he does not compromise on virtues and non-virtues in his daily life. For instance, if one is a businessman, one has to be honest with one’s clients and customers and not resort to deceit in the name of profit. It may not make you a very successful businessman in the beginning. But to become a person of integrity is very important on the spiritual path. You cannot pretend to be virtuous on the one hand, and then start telling somebody that something is really good when it isn’t. Or when customers seek your advice, in order to close a deal, you give advice which will benefit yourself but is actually detrimental to them. Doing so, you would be living a life of hypocrisy basically.

The Buddha Himself had a number of disciples who were very successful businessmen. These disciples later also gained a high level of realisation, presumably while still remaining very successful in business. Nowadays, it is very useful for us to know that we are dealing with people with integrity, who are honest and will not mislead us. Hence Buddhists should undertake that as much as possible.

We have to recognise that the Buddhist path, besides being about meditation – as we have to tame the mind – is also about cultivating mindfulness in our day-to-day activities. We have to remember to centre ourselves as much as possible and bring ourselves back to the moment, by focusing on our breath and so forth.

Otherwise, Buddhism has no relevance; so why bother? But the beauty of Buddhism is anyone under any circumstances can practise its teachings. For instance, the people in prison practise Buddhism, and many are very sincere practitioners. They face so much confrontation that they know either they are going to go down or come out, so they practise really strongly, especially in cultivating compassion.

Awaken: The ten virtues and non-virtues are expounded in many texts. How can a lay Buddhist actively uphold them and have a greater understanding of them?

Venerable: Through doing it. Each of these virtues is intended to help us lead a life that is harmless – one that does no harm to others, and no harm to ourselves – and the only way to cultivate that is by doing it. It helps very much for people to formally receive the Five Precepts, because the act of committing to the precepts serves as a kind of barrier when non-virtuous intentions come up, such as “Oh, yes I shouldn't squash that ant because I took a precept not to kill.” One becomes more conscious. All of these precepts can be taken by anyone as they are guidelines how one can live as a decent human being. They are universal qualities of body, speech and mind which has nothing to do with what we wear, eat or our cultural values. If we called ourselves Buddhist, we certainly should try to uphold these basic precepts as best as we can.

Awaken: How can one actually maintain sanity in this world of madness?

Venerable: Well, you start by keeping the precepts. By taking them seriously, the best you can. By not compromising too much without being rigid and by taking care of your mind. Because behind all our deeds is our ‘mad monkey’ mind, and if we don’t tame the mad monkey, we will stay crazy.

Awaken: How can one live with confidence and without fear?

Venerable: By having integrity and recognising that whatever happens to us, we should make use of it on the path. Even when things go wrong. We can live with confidence and without fear by not thinking that things have to proceed the way we want them to go and if things turn out differently, then that’s bad. Actually, sometimes when things are different from the way we have planned could end up being more useful to us, for they help us to learn, grow and become strong spiritually. As we develop resilience, we have no fear and whatever comes along, we can deal with it. This is what lojong is about and why it is so important in this modern age.

If you say to people that in order for them to become good practitioners, they have to give up everything and go away and live in remote places, people despair. They will think, “I can’t do that and so my life is an obstacle to me. I will be a good practitioner if I don’t have my family, my work etc”. But this is not seeing things clearly. Meditation is only one aspect. In the Mahayana tradition, there are the Six Paramitas or Perfections, and meditation is one of them. The other qualities like generosity, ethical discipline, patience, diligent effort and understanding wisdom, can perhaps be better developed in our ordinary environment because this is where the challenges are.