Recently I have been reading the book The Buddha’s Teachings on Prosperity by Bhikku Basnagoda Rahula. Published in 2008, this book by a Sri Lankan monk who now teaches at a university in Texas compiles and summarizes the Buddha’s teachings for laypeople. For those who are familiar with the Pali canon of Buddhism these are excerpted from the “Short Discourses.” From the time of the Buddha, the Buddhist sangha has always been composed of four classes of people: monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen.
I have often made note of the fact that throughout Buddhist history the literate scribes who wrote down the teachings, generation after generation, were almost entirely monks. Most of the current generation of non-ethnic Buddhists first found their way to Buddhism through books—in the early days from D. T. Suzuki’s Essays in Zen Buddhism and the various writings of Alan Watts. Now there are over 10,000 books on Buddhism in English; but most of them still derive primarily from these monkish teachings. Monks wrote down the teachings that were of interest to them, but in every generation it has been Buddhism’s laypeople who have supported the monks and the institutions that have kept the teachings alive.
For those who think that Buddhism is just about meditation and enlightenment, the book Buddhist Teachings on Prosperity will be an eye-opener. It talks directly to laypeople about topics that would be of interest to them: making money, achieving wealth, maintaining a wholesome marriage and family, raising children, succeeding socially—even sexuality and conflict!
In the West, today most Buddhist meditators—even the majority of Buddhist teachers—are laypeople with spouses, partners and perhaps children. As we grow older—the ostensible subject of this blog—we grow older as laypeople. Our worries are about money, health, sexuality, relationship, career, and family. If we ever thought that Buddhism was only a world-renouncing, monkish based teaching that laypeople can only dimly emulate, we should study this book.
The Buddha was one of the world’s first great humanists. He believed in kindness, in harmonious relationships, and in a society and a culture based on these principles. Meditation is the source practice that brings these principles to life inside each of us, but the point of a human life is to live it completely, in all its tragedy and glory.
More on this subject next time!
Thanks for this important corrective to the idea that monastic practice is the Buddhist “gold standard.” (I guess using the term “gold standard” reflects my respect for lay practice.)
Thanks for this Lew. I’d like to see if I can get a copy of the book.
A little different spin on Buddhism – thanks Lew.
Thank you for taking up this subject. As I thnk you know, it is dear to my heart. I hope that we shall be able to open this up for serious and lengthy conversation. I believe people have been hurt by the belief that a pure practice does not include practical life considerations that allow one to stand on one’s own two feet in the secular world.
If only more than 54 people could hear this.
“Aging as Spiritual Practice” – sounds like an invitation to allow the farts and wheezes of old age to rise to the realm of wonder and mystery. Narratives might include journeys of redemption, acceptance, kindness and love. All heartfelt and potentially beneficial. Take a fart story for example. If a fart story is to have good effect it is best set in a public arena where stillness and a sober demeanor are expected. Sesshin is a good example. The fart itself or series of farts should be loud and explosive. The Roshi should be in the zendo at the time and would make a public comment about the mutually shared experience. The Roshi: “Shikantaza is only the wind in the trees, only the sound of the bell, only the smell of flatulence – endlessly pure throughout the whole universe.”
A few people will find that they tears come to their eyes at the sound of these words (especially those near the source of the mystery).