A Question

[the swagman]

Please some enlightenment.

I recently saw a tv program from Australia concerning how people live after committing a serious sin. (I wish I had watched all of it now) These people were the drivers in serious road accidents resulting in the death of a human. Some completely accidental, some under the influence, sure, some through no fault of their own.

When meditating we are instructed to remove the defilements, the kilesa's, to focus our mind on a single point, and by meditating clear our mind to achieve wisdom, which leads to morality, which stems from concentration.

This results in a calmer, more spontaneous way of living, surpressing desire, want, greed, leaving us freer to enjoy the moment.

Fine.

My question is 'In Buddhism how does one deal with the guilt, shame (perhaps) of knowing you have committed a serious sin?

Desire, want, greed, are all a perception of what we want in the future, whereas guilt, sin, etc was done in the past. Does one just forget it ever happened? Or does one do good deeds hoping that it will balance up the ledger if you like?

What does the BUddha say?

[sabaijai]

When meditating we are instructed to remove the defilements, the kilesa's, to focus our mind on a single point, and by meditating clear our mind to achieve wisdom, which leads to morality, which stems from concentration.

kilesa : 'Defilement' — lobha (passion), dosa (aversion), and moha (delusion) in their various forms, which include such things as greed, malevolence, anger, rancor, hypocrisy, arrogance, envy, miserliness, dishonesty, boastfulness, obstinacy, violence, pride, conceit, intoxication, and complacency. [from Access to Insight's Glossary of Pali and Buddhist Terms]

In Theravada Buddhism one can't remove the kilesa directly, they fall away as wisdom develops. Nor does one meditate to 'clear one's mind' rather to understand the mind-world/nama-rupa matrix.

My question is 'In Buddhism how does one deal with the guilt, shame (perhaps) of knowing you have committed a serious sin?

By understanding how kamma works.

Any action (kamma) performed in the past is finished, and all that is left is for one to reap the result (vipaka). That can't be avoided, so there is no use in dwelling on one's past kamma.

In your example of accidental death, lack of intention to kill is crucial. There is no akusala vipaka (unwholesome result) where there has been kusala kamma (wholesome action) or kusala citta (wholesome thought).

Wise practioners would not waste precious time regretting the past but rather work on refining their intentions in the present moment so as not to perform akusala kamma (unwholesome action) now or in the future.

One of the Buddha's most penetrating discoveries is that our intentions are the main factors shaping our lives and that they can be mastered as a skill. If we subject them to the same qualities of mindfulness, persistence, and discernment involved in developing any skill, we can perfect them to the point where they will lead to no regrets or damaging results in any given situation; ultimately, they can lead us to the truest possible happiness. To train our intentions in this way, though, requires a deep level of self-awareness. Why is that? If you look carefully at the reasons for our disillusionment with good intentions, you'll find that they all come down to delusion: delusion in how we formulate our intentions, delusion in how we perceive our intentions, and delusion in how we attend to their results. As the Buddha tells us, delusion is one of the three main roots for unskillful mental habits, the other two being greed and aversion. These unskillful roots lie entangled with skillful roots — states of mind that are free of greed, aversion, and delusion — in the soil of the untrained heart. If we can't isolate and dig up the unskillful roots, we can never be fully sure of our intentions. Even when a skillful intention seems foremost in the mind, the unskillful roots can quickly send up shoots that blind us as to what's actually going on.

from The Road to Nibbana Is Paved with Good Intentions

[suegha]

From a Christian perspective Rom 4.15 "And where there is no law there is no transgression (sin)."

So where in Buddhism is the law that defines sin? Or is it just self perception?

[sabaijai]

From a Christian perspective Rom 4.15 "And where there is no law there is no transgression (sin)."

In Buddhism one might paraphrase this aphorism as 'Where there is no ignorance there is no transgression (akusula kamma or unwholesome/unskilful action).'

So where in Buddhism is the law that defines sin? Or is it just self perception?

The only law in Buddhism is the law of cause and effect. Wholesome/skilful actions and thought produce wholesome results and vice versa. The results don't wait till Judgement Day, they appear whenever conditions are ripe.

From What Buddhists Believe, by K.Sri Dhammananda:

In Buddhism, actions are merely termed as unskillful or unwholesome, not as sinful.

Buddhists do not regard man as sinful by nature of 'in rebellion against god'. Every human being is a person of great worth who has within himself a vast store of good as well as evil habits. The good in a person is always waiting for a suitable opportunity to flower and to ripen. Remember the saying, 'There is so much that is good in the worst of us and so much that is bad in the best of us.'

Buddhism teaches that everyone is responsible for his own good and bad deeds, and that each individual can mould his own destiny. Says the Buddha, 'These evil deeds were only done by you, not by your parents, friends, or relatives; and you yourself will reap the painful results.'(Dhammapada 165)

Man's sorrow is his own making and is not handed down by an original sin of a mythical primeval ancestor. Buddhists do not accept the belief that this world is merely a place of trial and testing. This world can be made a place where we can attain the highest perfection. And perfection is synonymous with happiness.

To the Buddha, man was not an experiment in life created by somebody which can be done away with when unwanted. If a sin could be forgiven, people might take advantage and commit more and more sins. The Buddhist has no reason to believe that the sinner can escape the consequences by the grace of an external power. If a man thrusts his hand into a furnace, his hand will be burnt, and all the prayer in the world will not remove the scars. The same is with the man who walks into the fires of evil action. The Buddha's approach to the problems of suffering is not imaginary, speculative or metaphysical, but essentially empirical.

To the Buddhists, sin is unskillful or unwholesome action--Akusala Kamma--which creates Papa, the downfall of man. The wicked man is an ignorant man. He needs instruction more than he needs punishment and condemnation. He is not regarded as violating god's will or as a person who must beg for divine mercy and forgiveness. He needs only guidance for his enlightenment.

All that is necessary is for someone to help him use his reason to realize that he is responsible for his wrong action and that he must pay for the consequences. Therefore the belief in confession is foreign to Buddhism.

The purpose of the Buddha's appearance in this world is not to wash away the sins committed by human beings nor to punish or to destroy the wicked people, but to make the people understand how foolish it is to commit evil and to point out the reaction of such evil deeds.

Consequently there are no commandments in Buddhism, since no one can command another for his spiritual upliftment. The Buddha has encouraged us to develop and use our understanding. He has shown us the path for our liberation from suffering. The [ethical] precepts that we undertake to observe are not commandments: they are observed voluntarily.

[suegha]

Very interesting. Any more thoughts?

[Guest endure]

Very interesting. Any more thoughts?

Here's the whole book (online) that sabaijai just quoted from. Worth a read!

http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/...ananda/main.htm