Buddhist Priorities in a Modern Era

SPOCK: [being a Vulcan] means to adopt a philosophy, a way of life, which is logical and beneficial.

Star Trek, “Journey to Babel” (s2ep10), Stardate 3842.3

Recently, while I was doing some soul-searching, I found this very helpful article online by Dr. Jacqueline Stone. The article is an overview of how different Japanese-Buddhist monks of the Kamakura Period (12th-14th century), the same monks who founded important Buddhist sects we see today, addressed the concept of Dharma Decline. The site requires registration, but it’s free and easy. The article is worth a read if you are curious about the topic.

In any case, I found this great quote in Dr Stone’s article:

“The Zen sect regards the precepts as being of first priority,” he [Eisai] wrote. And, “By means of the precepts, meditation and wisdom are brought forth.”

Eisai (栄西, 1141 – 1215) also known as Myōan Eisai (明菴栄西) is the original founder of the Rinzai Zen-sect in Japan (more on its convoluted history here), and isn’t someone I really talk about much, but he was one of the founders of this “new” Kamakura-era Buddhism.

Anyhow, this quote really struck me.

In my limited experience, I rarely heard the importance of precepts from Western Zen sources, or that they are the basis for other Zen practice. That’s not to say it’s not there, but it often seemed to get lost in the message of Zen mysticism.

Bluntly speaking, precepts aren’t sexy like mindfulness, koan riddles, or meditation.

And yet, Eisai is taking a more traditional, conservative standpoint and reiterating that one should not put the cart before the horse. This is not limited to Eisai, by the way: the 19th century Soto-Zen text for lay-followers, the Shushogi, stressed the importance of the precepts, reflection on one’s actions, and practicing kindness, patience and generosity whenever possible.

But if you’re familiar with Zen, this might seem odd. Isn’t Zen all about meditation, being in the moment and so on?

Consider the Marvel movie Ant-Man (2015). In the movie the villain, a bald tech-CEO who bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain CEO and founder,¹ brags to a coworker about some deep thoughts he had during “morning meditation”. This is not far from the mark: many ambitious people use meditation and mindfulness as a way to get what they want, not what it’s intended for. If a person can’t regulate their day to day conduct towards others, meditation will not avail them.

Put another way: a rotten person might meditate, but a person who follows the precepts is probably not a rotten person.²

Further, this focus on the precepts fosters mindfulness because one is monitoring their own actions, etc. It has concrete impact on one’s sense of self-worth, one’s relationships with others, and leads to greater peace of mind, even when not meditating. So, there’s a clear benefit, both short-term and also long-term to taking up the precepts first, and then letting other disciplines and practices extend from it.

Finally, upholding the precepts is something any Buddhist can do, regardless of background or circumstances. It is very accessible, beneficial (just like Spock says), and opens many doors to Buddhist practice.

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

P.S. I’ll cover this issue of precepts in more detail later, but TL;DR both Rinzai and Soto Zen both encourage people to take up the Ten Bodhisattva Precepts specifically.

¹ Played by the excellent Corey Stoll.

² Put another way: watch your temper, and don’t be a dick.