Lesson 12

Buddhist Living
 Who is a lay
Buddhist?
He is one who has a deep, steady confidence
and faith in the Buddha, who believes, studies
and practises the Dhamma and who cherishes
the Sangha.
He follows Though living
the Five in a world of
Precepts desires, a
and tries to Buddhist
help others avoids
keep them. becoming
He takes attached to
refuge in such desires
the Buddha, for he knows
Dhamma such things
and Sangha. are
The Mirror of
Happiness
To strengthen the faith in the
Buddha-Dhamma, a lay
follower should realise that
true happiness lies within his
own mind.
By following the Way taught
This happiness,
by the Buddha, hewhencanit is
radiated
experienceon this
others,
peacewilland
multiply in the minds of others
happiness.
and will then be reflected back
to
Thehim again.
mind of faith is pure and
gentle, always patient and
enduring, never arguing,
never causing suffering to
others but always pondering
Daily Observance of a
Buddhist
Buddhists usually keep an altar in the
most prominent part of the house. A
Buddha image is placed in the centre
of the altar along with an incense
burner, a flower vase and two candle
The Buddha image is given the highest
stands.
seat in the room with nothing above
it, and is never treated as ornaments.
The Buddha image is treated with
reverence.
In the morning and evening, the
Buddhist offer flowers, light candles
and burn the incense sticks. The
buddhist then pay reverence by bowing
three times (the first time to the
Buddha; the second time to the
Dhamma; the third time to the
Sangha).
 A Buddhist
Home
When there is love in the home, the home will
always be filled with happiness and laughter.
But if there is discord, the home will be
wrecked with sorrows.
When discord arises within one’s family, one
should not blame others but should examine
one’s own mind and follow the right path.
Parents and
children
The Buddha taught that it is very difficult for a
son to repay his parents for their love and
kindness, even if he could carry his father on his
right shoulder and his mother on his left for a
hundred years.
The only way to repay the great debt is to lead
one’s parents to the Buddha’s teachings and
persuade them to follow the Path.

The Buddha’s blessings abide in the home where

parents are held in respect and esteem. A child
should honour his parents and do for them all that
he is supposed to do.

Parents should, in turn, do five things for their

children – avoid doing evil; set examples by
doing good deeds; give them an education;
arrange for their marriage and let them inherit the
family wealth at a proper time.
Husband and
Wife
The Buddha said that there are four types of
homes:

Male ghost lives Male ghost lives

with a female with a goddest.
ghost.

God lives with a God lives with a

female ghost. goddest.
Husband and
Wife
A home where both
partners do all good
deeds is the ideal
Buddhist home. It is
where members live
according to Buddhist
principles such that it
generates an
atmosphere of
A husband should treat happiness, love,
his wife with peace
respect,
courtesy and fidelity. Aand
wifeharmony.
should take
pains with her housekeeping, manage the
servants wisely and not waste her husband’s
income.
 Use of
Wealth
A man should use his income in
the following manner:
• Invest his
money
• Spend on his daily
expenses
• Share some of it with his
family, friends and relatives
• Save some for emergency

The Buddha also taught that one should lead a

balanced life and live within one’s means,
being neither too extravagant nor too stingy.
One should not indulge in vice activities that
can dissipate one’s wealth.
Relationship With
Others
Teacher &
Pupil
A pupil should always rise when
his teacher enters, wait upon him,
follow his instructions well, not
neglect an offering for him and
listen respectfully to his teaching.
A teacher should act rightly
before a pupil and set a good
example for him. He should
correctly pass on to him the
teachings he has learned; he
should use good methods and try
to prepare the pupil for honours;
and he should not forget to
Relationship With
Others
Master and
Servant
A master should observe five things:
• Assign work that is suitable for the
•
servant’s abilities
Give him proper compensation
• Care for him when he is in ill health
• Share pleasant things with him
• Give him needed rest
A servant should observe five things:
• Get up in the morning before the master
• Go to bed after the master
• Should always be honest
• Take pains to do his work well
• Try not to bring discredit to his master’s
name
Relationship With
Others
Friends
The ones
whom he
should not
The ones whom associate
he should are those
associate are who are
A man should those who are greedy,
associate with helpful, willing clever
the wise and to share talkers,
not the fools. happiness and flatters and
He should suffering, give wasters.
recognise good advice
among his and have a
acquaintances sympathetic
heart.
 A Layman’s
Happiness
Buddhism does not consider material welfare as
an end in itself: it is only a means to achieve a
higher purpose for man’s happiness.

Certain material requisites are necessary to create

conditions favourable to spiritual happiness.

The Buddha said that four things are conducive to a man’s

happiness in this world:

Be skillful, efficient, earnest and energetic

in the profession and should know it well.
Protect his income earned
righteously.
Should have good friends who are faithful,
learned, virtuous, liberal and intelligent,
who will help him along the right path away
from evil.
Should live within his means
 A Layman’s Happiness
The Buddha further said that the following four virtues
are conducive to a man’s happiness hereafter:
Should observe
the Five
Precepts (Sila)
Sila

Should have Should

faith and practise
Saddha Caga
confidence in charity,
moral, generosity
spiritual and without
intellectual attachment
values Panna and craving
(Saddha) for his wealth
Should develop (Caga)
wisdom which leads
to the complete
destruction of
 A Layman’s
Happiness
At one time the Buddha told Anathapindika, the
millionaire, about the four kinds of happiness of a
laymen.
H The fourth happiness is to live a
A faultless, and a pure life without
P committing evil in thought, word or
P Thedeed.
third is to be free from debts.
I The second is spending that wealth
N liberally on himself, his family, friends
E and relatives andison meritorious deeds.
S The first happiness to enjoy economic
S security acquired through righteous means.
The Buddha considered economic welfare as important for
a man’s happiness, but He did not recognise mere
material progress as true advancement if devoid of a
spiritual and moral foundation. He said that economic and
material happiness is not worth one sixteen part of the
Noble Eightfold Path
Journey to
Enlightenment
Ways of
practice
The seeker of enlightenment

Wisdom
must understand and follow the
3 ways of practice:
1. Discipline for practical
behaviour (Sila)
Every man
should:
• Follow the precepts for
Concentration

good behaviour
• Control his mind and body;
and guard the gates of the
five
• Besenses
afraid of performing
even a trifling evil
• Practise only good deeds.
Moralit
y
Noble Eightfold Path
Journey to
Enlightenment
Ways of
practice

Wisdom
2. Right concentration of the
mind (Samadhi)
Every man
should:
• Dispel greedy and evil
desires from his mind as
quickly as they
mindarise
Concentration

• Hold his pure and

tranquil
3. Wisdom (Pana)
Every man should
understand and patiently
accept the Four Noble
Moralit
y Truths.
Four Sublime
States
Four sublime states of mind that a seeker
should cherish:
Metta - loving Karuna -
kindness compassion
Mudita - Upekkha -
sympathetic joy equanimity
One can remove anger by cherishing
loving-kindness.
One can remove cruelty by
compassion.
One can remove jealousy by sympathetic
joy.
One can remove the habit of
discriminating enemies and friends by an
equanimous mind.
With care one may cherish these four
sublime states and may get rid of greed,
anger, suffering, but it is not an easy
 Enlightenme
nt
The journey to enlightenment
is a long journey and the
seeker cannot expect to
remove worldly desires
today, remove attachments
and evil desires tomorrow
The seeker must be patient in
and to attain Enlightenment
the cultivation. If
the day after.
Enlightenment is easy to
gain, we need not have the
Buddha to show us the Way.
As the Blessed One said to
the bhikkhus before His
passing away, "Behold now,
bhikkhus, I exhort you: All
compounded things are
May your dhamma path be
smooth and may you be
blessed by the Triple Gem
always.
“Hard is it to be born a man;
hard is the life of mortals.
Hard is it to gain the opportunity
of hearing the Sublime Truth,
and hard to encounter is the
arising of the Buddhas.”
Dhammapada 182
The gift of Dhamma excels all gifts
the taste of Dhamma excels all taste,
the delight in dhamma excels all delights,
The Craving-Freed vanquishes all suffering.
- Dhammapada verse 354

End of Lesson 12