Getting the Message
The Buddha is famous for having refused to take a position on many of the controversial issues of his day, such as whether the cosmos is finite or infinite, eternal or not. In fact, many people—both in his time and in ours—have assumed that he didn”t take a firm position on any issue at all. Based on this assumption, some people have been exasperated with the Buddha, accusing him of being wishy‐washy and indecisive, while others have been pleased, praising him for being tolerant and refreshingly free from ideas of right and wrong.
Both reactions, however, are misinformed. The early texts report that a group of wanderers, in a discussion with one of the Buddha”s lay disciples, once accused the Buddha of not taking a position on any issue, and the disciple replied that they were mistaken. There was one issue on which the Buddha”s position was very clear: what kind of behavior is skillful, and what kind of behavior is not. When the disciple later reported the conversation to the Buddha, the Buddha approved of what he had said. The distinction between skillful and unskillful behavior lies at the basis of everything the Buddha taught. In making this distinction, the Buddha drew some very sharp lines:
“What is unskillful
Taking life is unskillful, taking what is not given... sexual misconduct... lying... abusive speech... pisive tale‐bearing... idle chatter is unskillful. Covetousness... ill will... wrong views are unskillful. These things are called unskillful….
“And what is skillful
Abstaining from taking life is skillful, abstaining from taking what is not given... from sexual misconduct... from lying... from abusive speech... from pisive tale‐bearing... abstaining from idle chatter is skillful. Lack of covetousness... lack of ill will... right views are skillful. These things are called skillful.”—MN 9
Killing is never skillful. Stealing, lying, and everything else in the first list are never skillful. When asked if there was anything whose killing he approved of, the Buddha answered that there was only one thing: anger. In no recorded instance did he approve of killing any living being at all. When one of his monks went to an executioner and told the man to kill his victims compassionately, with one blow, rather than torturing them, the Buddha expelled the monk from the Sangha, on the grounds that even the recommendation to kill compassionately is still a recommendation to kill—something he would never condone. If a monk was physically attacked, the Buddha allowed him to strike back in self‐defense, but never with the intention to kill. As he told the monks,
“Even if bandits were to carve you up savagely, limb by limb, with a two‐handled saw, he among you who let his heart get angered even at that would not be doing my bidding. Even then you should train yourselves: “Our minds will be unaffected and we will say no evil words. We will remain sympathetic, with a mind of good will, and with no inner hate. We will keep pervading these people with an awareness imbued with good will and, beginning with them, we will keep pervading the allencompassing world with an awareness imbued with good will—abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will.” That”s how you should train yourselves.”—MN 21
When formulating lay precepts based on his distinction between skillful and unskillful, the Buddha never made any allowances for ifs, ands, or buts. When you promise yourself to abstain from killing or stealing, the power of the promise lies in its universality. You won”t break your promise to yourself under any conditions at all. This is because this sort of unconditional promise is a powerful gift. Take, for instance, the first precept, against killing:
“There is the case where a disciple of…
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