Ethical conduct indispensable for attaining enlightenment or Buddhahood

[Ajay0]

Ethical conduct in the form of right speech, right livelihood and right effort are considered to be vital practices leading to enlightenment in Buddhism or Buddhahood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path

https://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-buddhism/about-buddhism/buddha-s-basic-message/a-full-buddhist-life-the-eightfold-path/the-three-trainings

Ethical conduct is also emphasized in the religious philosophies of Hinduism, Jainism and Sufism for attaining enlightenment.

This itself is a refutation of the nihilist and existentialist premise that life is meaningless and all values and virtues are but abstract mental contrivances without any relevance of their own.

[Leo Gura]

What's needed is truthfulness.

Ethical conduct is a derivative of truthfulness.

[Ajay0]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

What's needed is truthfulness.

Ethical conduct is a derivative of truthfulness.

True indeed. 

The nihilist however, ignorant of the phenomenon of enlightenment, would consider truth to be a mental abstraction as well, considering chaos and randomness to be the essential feature of the multiverse or existence in general.

Rajini Menon is a modern enlightened sage who attained enlightenment by adhering to virtuous conduct and following her conscience.

I had created a thread on her in this regard over here...

https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/54125-female-enlightened-master-rajini-menon-on-attaining-enlightenment-by-virtuous-conduct/#comment-711667

The enlightened sage Anandamayi Ma had stated that atheists are capable of spiritual development and enlightenment provided there is adherence to ethical conduct.

 

Quote

 

Question: Suppose an atheist lives an ethical and righteous life. Is he on a lower level than a faithful devotee?

Ma Anandamayi : An ethical life purifies the mind. Even though one may have no faith in God, if one believes in some Superior Power or pursues a high ideal, this also will serve one's purpose. By living an ethical life, one progresses towards the realization of the Divine.

( Excerpt from the book 'That Compassionate Touch of Ma Anandamayee'  by Narayan Chaudhari )

 

Edited October 28 by Ajay0

[Ajay0]

'Wholesome virtuous behavior progressively leads to the foremost.'  - Buddha AN 10.1

Western philosophy and psychology, which is of recent origin, has not yet touched upon the phenomenon of enlightenment or Buddhahood , and this is why nihilism and other lopsided philosophies like existentialism were prominent in the west leading to an erroneous thought process and corresponding actions, considering all moral values to be abstractly contrived.

Nihilism is considered to be a philosophical cause for the world wars. Viktor Frankl, holocaust survivor and famous psychiatrist had this to say regarding the influence of nihilism...

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“If we present a man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. When we present man as an automaton of reflexes, as a mind-machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drives and reactions, as a mere product of instinct, heredity and environment, we feed the nihilism to which modern man is, in any case, prone.

I became acquainted with the last stage of that corruption in my second concentration camp, Auschwitz. The gas chambers of Auschwitz were the ultimate consequence of the theory that man is nothing but the product of heredity and environment; or as the Nazi liked to say, ‘of Blood and Soil.’ I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some Ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers.”- Viktor Frankl

 

 

In eastern philosophy on the other hand, moral values and virtues are considered to be valuable in expansion of consciousness (and destruction of karma) alongside meditation, awareness or total love and instrumental in attainment of enlightenment or Buddhahood.
 

Edited October 28 by Ajay0

[Leo Gura]

2 hours ago, Ajay0 said:

In eastern philosophy on the other hand, moral values and virtues are considered to be valuable in expansion of consciousness

It has nothing to do with the East. All religions emphasize moral behavior.

[Kairos]

@Leo Gura Isn't mortality just a survival tactic  ?

As Nietzsche said " Fear is the mother of morality" 

Also ,Leo!!!! Please answer my question I posted on u regarding Awakening and suffering I can't find any answer for that elsewhere .

Edited October 28 by Kairos

[Ajay0]

18 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

It has nothing to do with the East. All religions emphasize moral behavior.

Yeah, I suppose nihilism may have been a byproduct of the intellectual wave of scientific materialism and utilitarianism in the west in the past two centuries, which subjected everything including morals and ethics to the narrow analytic frameworks of scientific scrutiny and utility value.

[Ajay0]

17 hours ago, Kairos said:

@Leo Gura Isn't mortality just a survival tactic  ?

As Nietzsche said " Fear is the mother of morality" 

Full-fledged individuality will result in anarchy and chaos, with people doing as they fit without consideration for the other. External morality, brought about by well-thought and defined laws helps to ensure order and prevent the impinging of individual rights and liberty.

As Martin Luther King stated,  “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me and I think that is pretty important, also”.

Obviously love, and compassion as a state of consciousness manifesting as non-violence would amount to inner morality. If inner morality is lacking, external morality would have to obviously come in place through fear of law and punishment.

Morality, external and internal, also enables better self-discipline, focus and impulse control, necessary for curbing the natural inertia and restlesness of the mind, creating external and internal environments conducive to peace and coherent thought. The mind thus becomes an ideal instrument for philosophical enquiry and attaining self-knowledge.

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'Morality requires a certain degree of mental control as a prerequisite. You can’t follow any set of moral precepts without at least a little self-control, and if your mind is perpetually spinning like a fruit cylinder in a slot machine, self-control is highly unlikely. So mental culture has to come first.' ~ Henepola Gunaratana,

'Ethics lead to restraint of the lower self and thereby the mind is calmed. Through calmness of mind, discrimination dawns and one knows the Self. Without ethical perfection there is no spiritual progress.' ~ Swami Sivananda

 

Ethical discipline or morality , as per eastern philosophy,thus plays the role of exercises in disciplining the mind and calming it.

It is a calm and equanimous mind that has the best possibility of thinking coherently and correctly, and for gaining Self-knowlege and enlightenment.

When someone has good virtue, or sīla, they have better behavioral discipline. The Buddha taught that sīla is the foundation of all wholesome qualities. That means that if we develop good sīla, then it will be easy to develop other good qualities like samādhi (concentration) and paññā (wisdom). Thus moral conduct has value in reducing psychological suffering and increasing happiness and peace through wisdom.