Theravada Buddhism: The View of the Elders

Chapter 5 The Social Teachings of the Buddha

ChapTEr 5 The Social Teachings of the Buddha In the two previous chapters I discussed the basic teachings of the Buddha. Now I shall move on to the social teachings of the Buddha. One might form the impression that what will be discussed here is not the teaching proper but some sort of secondary aspect of it. The popular view among Western readers of Buddhism is that it does not contain any social teaching. For instance, the celebrated sociologist Max Weber was of the opinion that Buddhism, which is soteriological and meant for a monastic community, cannot have anything to do with worldly affairs. Therefore, whatever exists today as social teaching must have been added later, because in early Buddhism the householders were simply tolerated for their usefulness in maintaining the monastic community. It is not my intention here to develop lengthy arguments to prove that such opinions are wrong. I shall simply and clearly elaborate on some salient aspects of the social teachings of the Buddha. My earlier explanations have shown that the Buddha considered his “group” as fourfold, of which male and female householders represented a half. They formed an integral part of the community and shared the same goal of achieving freedom from suffering. But the path to this freedom, for the majority of householders, was not direct but roundabout. The well-known simile of colorful peacock and simple swan, referred to earlier, captures the essential difference: one group is colorful but slow and the other is simple but swift. For the colorful and slow, the Buddha spoke about, in addition to the final freedom , the happiness of worldly living, which included such aspects as social relations, duties, marriage, wealth, investment, and good gov- The Social Teachings of the Buddha 71 ernance. All these teachings are underpinned by one important basic assumption—namely, that household life is well within the scope of the overall nirvanic scheme of the Buddha. Both Here and Hereafter When instructing the householders1 the Buddha always referred to the present life as well as to the life to come. These contexts made it clear that what was meant by these two categories was economic and social well-being as well as the inner development of virtues. For example, once the Buddha spoke about three types of people, those who are blind in both eyes, those blind in one eye, and those who see from both eyes. The first sees neither his worldly advancement nor his inner development; the second sees only his worldly advancement ; whereas the third sees both, and is commended for this broad perspective. Addressing a wealthy householder called Dighajanu (The Gradual Discourses, vol. 8, p. 54), the Buddha further elaborated upon these two aspects. He taught four requirements conducive to the well-being of worldly life, namely, energy to initiate new ventures, protection of what is earned through such means, keeping good friends, and living a balanced life. He further pointed out four virtues to be developed for one’s inner happiness: trust in the Triple Gem, morality, generosity, and understanding. Although the Buddha identified the overall samsaric existence as marked by unsatisfactoriness, within such an existence, he claimed, both householders and those who had left household life could enjoy happiness. The happiness for householders is fourfold: happiness of ownership (wealth), happiness of consuming such wealth, happiness of being debtless, and happiness of being blameless. One can see, particularly in the fourth aspect that underscores the moral life, how the Buddha has combined both the outer and the inner aspects of life in his scheme for householders. An important element that emerges from this consideration is the attitude the Buddha held toward money and wealth and the ways and means of acquiring them. As we have already observed, the Buddha 1. It is only at a later stage that they were considered as “lay” followers. 72 thERAvADA BuDDhI SM agreed with the common social belief that owning wealth was good. He described how one should acquire it, namely, by working for it with hard labor (“wealth acquired by energetic striving, amassed by the strength of his arms, earned by the sweat of his brow . . .”). The Buddha immediately added to this that one must earn wealth through righteousness and by righteous means. It appears that he did not set a definitive upper limit for how much one should earn. He only established an ethical limit to the ways and...