Householder’s Vinaya_4 – A Householder's Vinaya

This same principle of try, try again applies to Home Retreat and the notion of a Householder’s vinaya. When we set our intentions for the retreat, when we make our schedule, when we live our lives during retreat, we are training ourselves with a forgiving heart in the knowledge that there is no one size fits all for what we are doing. We are not perfect in our Wisdom. There is only the intention and our actions that are steering us towards greater continuity of wholesomeness. Part of this intention is not only the practical necessity to create a vinaya for ourselves but, also, how to hold it, exercise it, and try to perfect it. Like the Precepts, our householder’s vinaya are training goals supported by an attitude of kindness and forgiveness, which is just as important as the unflinching commitment towards a determined wholesome outcome.

In every way possible, the yogi on Home Retreat gives special emphasis to all forms of communication and to any situation that presents choices or the opportunity for proliferation of mind (papañca)

to arise. Communications in this case include speaking, reading, writing, and visual and volitional auditory impressions (TV, computer, email, smartphone use, news, radio, music, wandering glances, etc.). The yogi should not watch just her/his participation in these activities, but even how, when, and why she/he chooses or by habit finds the mind engaged in them.

When we combine Right Intention (sammā-sankappa), Right Investigation, and Right Effort, we create a wholesome mental environment that doesn’t just allow us to experiment in new ways but actually obliges the mind to move towards wholesomeness. When a wholesome mental environment exists, there is more opportunity to pause and reflect using sampajañña before any speech or any action starts. This pattern of mind conditions continuity of intention towards a deeper wholesomeness. With strong wholesome intention the mind/heart naturally begins to move towards skillful action which further supports a heart/mind unfettered by unwholesomeness. A continuous loop is created.

This same principle of try, try again applies to Home Retreat and the notion of a Householder’s vinaya. When we set our intentions for the retreat, when we make our schedule, when we live our lives during retreat, we are training ourselves with a forgiving heart in the knowledge that there is no one size fits all for what we are doing. We are not perfect in our Wisdom. There is only the intention and our actions that are steering us towards greater continuity of wholesomeness. Part of this intention is not only the practical necessity to create a vinaya for ourselves but, also, how to hold it, exercise it, and try to perfect it. Like the Precepts, our householder’s vinaya are training goals supported by an attitude of kindness and forgiveness, which is just as important as the unflinching commitment towards a determined wholesome outcome.

In every way possible, the yogi on Home Retreat gives special emphasis to all forms of communication and to any situation that presents choices or the opportunity for proliferation of mind (papanca) to arise. Communications in this case include speaking, reading, writing, and visual and volitional auditory impressions (TV, computer, email, smartphone use, news, radio, music, wandering glances, etc.). The yogi should not watch just her/his participation in these activities, but even how, when, and why she/he chooses or by habit finds the mind engaged in them.

When we combine Right Intention (sammā-sankappa), Right Investigation, and Right Effort, we create a wholesome mental environment that doesn’t just allow us to experiment in new ways but actually obliges the mind to move towards wholesomeness. When a wholesome mental environment exists, there is more opportunity to pause and reflect using sampajañña before any speech or any action starts. This pattern of mind conditions continuity of intention towards a deeper wholesomeness. With strong wholesome intention the mind/heart naturally begins to move towards skillful action which further supports a heart/mind unfettered by unwholesomeness. A continuous loop is created.

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Glossary

Virtue, Morality (sīla): Is a mode of mind and volition manifested in speech or bodily actions. Karma. It is the foundation of the whole Buddhist practice, and therewith the first of the Three kinds of Training that forms the 3-fold division of the 8-fold path, i.e., morality, concentration, and wisdom. Buddhist Dictionary, Nyanatiloka.

Wisdom (pañña): ‘Understanding, Knowledge, Wisdom, Insight,’ comprise a very wide field. The specific Buddhist Knowledge or wisdom, however, as part of the Noble Eightfold Path to deliverance is Insight, i.e., that intuitive knowledge which brings about the four stages of Holiness and the realization of Nibbānna, and which consists of the penetration of the Impermanency, Misery, and Impersonality of all forms of existence. Buddhist Dictionary, Nyanatiloka.

Papañca: Complication; proliferation, objectification: The tendency of the mind to proliferate issues.

Right Intention (sammā-sankappa): The Noble Eightfold Path. Bhikkhu Bodhi. Chapter Three.

Abbreviations in footnotes: AN: Aṅguttara Nikāya, DN: Dingha Nikāya, MN: Majjhima Nikāya, SN: Saṃyutta Nikāya