Sermon 7: The Three Forms of Restraint

Restraint in body are the wise,
Then in speech they are restrained,
Restrained in mind are the wise,
They indeed are perfectly restrained.

(Dhp. 234)

This is one of those wonderfully simple-looking verses from the Dhammapada, in which, however, all the training in Buddhism can be found.

In explaining this verse, for the increase of wisdom and awareness, a few important words occur but most important of all is the word "restrain."

There are two classes of people spoken about in our Dhamma; the first called 'the foolish' and the second known as the 'wise.' The foolish are not necessarily stupid but have this name because they cannot distinguish what is for their own and another's good, or how other actions are for the misery of both themselves and others. For this reason they are called fools, which is here used in a psychological way and has no meaning of abuse.

Now, fools lacking the power of moral discernment will also be lacking in this quality of restraint. As though drunks in charge of a train, which had been rushing along its tracks, should decide to keep going even when the tracks ended, though men of sober mind would know that certain destruction lay in such a course. Foolish people see no necessity for restraint and indeed may be given to praising 'having a good time.' And so they will go around with unrestrained bodies. What does this mean? Firstly, it may mean just that their bodily actions are rather wild or uncontrolled, so that their arms and legs are flung about in ungraceful ways and their faces contorted into strange grimaces. More important than this, however, is the undisciplined bodily actions illustrated by the breaking of the first three precepts.

You will remember, no doubt, that these are undertaken for control the body in destroying life, taking what is not given, and in wrong conduct in sexual pleasure. In each of these precepts, it is the body, which is the agent, or the doer, for these precepts are not broken by thinking about, or even by speaking about these things, but only by the use of the body. But what reason is there for keeping these precepts pure? It is a twofold reason applying to all the layman's precepts: first, the wise man looks into his own mind when he destroys life, takes what is not given or conduct himself wrongly in sexual pleasure--and what does he see?

The mind thoroughly disturbed and overspread by the mental strains. The roots of evil impel him to do these things and from doing them he has little or no peace and happiness. The wise man sees mental deterioration at the time when he has no bodily restraint and does evil with the body. He understands that it does not profit himself to be unrestrained.

If he has learnt a little Dhamma, he will know that intentional actions, or kamma, bring forth results for the doer; that the evil-doer receives only unhappiness from his evil, unrestrained actions, while the good man increases in happiness through constant practice of the good. So good conduct is as much to his own advantage in the present as it is in the future when he receives the desirable fruits of peace and happiness--and that future may be in this very life.

On the other hand, the foolish one neither knows nor cares about any of this but just scrabbles onwards throwing dust and dirt into his own face, though in this deluded way, in unrestrained conduct, he also hopes for happiness. The second reasons for keeping the precepts pure is that the wise man realizes that it is unrestrained, evil actions which give rise to all the social troubles to be seen everywhere in this world. Because people do not keep to the various excellent codes of moral conduct established by the founders of different religions, so every sort of turmoil is born in the world and multiplies, bringing with it exceedingly great suffering. But we must not blame all this on to 'those people' apart from ourselves, for we are those very people and it is our responsibility to conduct ourselves with such restraint that our precepts are not broken and others are not harmed.

In respect of ourselves, we keep the precepts because we see that it profits us--this is called having wisdom and in respect of others we keep the precepts because we do not wish them to suffer--and this is called compassion. So it is said by Lord Buddha: "Restrained in body are the wise."

Much of what has been said above will also apply to the next line: "Then in speech they are restrained." Here we remember the fourth precept, abstaining from false speech. This is amplified into four sorts of wrong speech in another list, where we find: speaking falsehoods, slandering, angry words, and idle chatter mentioned. Perhaps the fool sees no harm in these and there are plenty of people in this world who employ such sorts of speech.

But if we have taken upon ourselves any kind of moral training, including that of the Five Precepts for Buddhist lay people, then we must try to be among the wise and upon every occasion restrain our tongues from evil speech. Lord Buddha has compared the tongues in the mouth of a fool, to no axe, with which he cuts himself whenever he speaks wrongly, for the fruits of kamma which must be reaped by those with unrestrained tongues, will not be pleasant. And as for others, how much they suffer from these sorts of evil speech, which can even bring death and destruction to millions of people! So it is not surprising that it is said of the wise: "Then in speech they are restrained."

But it is further said: "Restrained in mind are the wise", and with this line we enter the realm of Buddhist mind-training, sometimes but vaguely called 'meditation.' With no restraint of the mind, a person just allows himself to think any thought coming into his head. He is adrift, as much at the mercy of powerful winds and currents, as the mariner in an open boat without oars or sail. The winds and currents of the mind are respectively, the mental stains and the fruits of kamma done in the past. Let us look at these 'winds', these mental stains, first. There are three great varieties of them called, Greed, Aversion and Delusion. The first, Greed, arises when there is a sense stimulus accompanied by pleasant feeling. As an example of this: a man who is not really hungry, sees in some food-shop, some particularly succulent morsel, which makes him feel 'I want that.' This is Greed at work in his heart. By the force of that wind of Greed, he may be blown into that shop, buy the delicacy and gorge himself with it--and then feel uncomfortably full and have to dose himself with digestion pills.

People are stimulated to Greed by different things according to their several natures--some food, some sex, some possessions, some family, some money, some with insubstantial things like fame or ideas. The wind of Aversion can also blow a breeze or a gale and vary from very slight dislike, to the depths of fury. Like Greed, one cannot say that it does the fool any good, and the wise man always tries to avoid it. It can never be justified and there is no such thing as 'righteous' anger. Delusion's airs are heavy, dense and lie upon the heart as though to smother it. One who drifts at the mercy of delusion would slowly revolve in circles and get nowhere-and understand nothing. These winds of mental stains guide to destruction the unrestrained person as much as the fruits of kamma done in the past.

When people do not understand that intentional actions have potential fruits, they do not know how to cope with some unexpected events. Suppose a man suddenly falls ill of a dire disease. If he knows nothing of kamma, perhaps he may lament his lot and actually impede his own recovery. While another who knows of kamma-fruits, may reflect that this may be the fruit of actions done by him in the past--and thus not allow himself to be at the mercy of these ocean currents of the heart. Buddhist mind-training is not a matter of occasionally sitting down in a quiet place and feeling holy, but of disciplining the mind with mental awareness while one goes about one's daily business. As with the mind the world is known, so with the mind we make the world we live in, according to what we decide to do. And we can make this our own world into a wonderful heaven for ourselves--and a heaven of happiness for others, if we are wise and have restraint in mind; or we can make a veritable hell, more terrible than any shown by artists or written of in books--this is the way of the foolish.

When restraint is perfected by us in each of these three spheres: body, speech and mind, why then, the ultimate goal of Nibbana can be said to be reached. By this threefold restraint, we can become cool, at peace with ourselves and with others. Thus it has been said by the Lord of Dhamma: "They indeed are perfectly restrained."

EVAM

Thus indeed it is