[Buddha-l] Ethics and the four way test

[Evelyn Ruut]

Message: 3
Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 22:01:52 +0200
From: Michel Clasquin <clasqm at mweb.co.za>
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Ethics

"It seems pretty hard to pass all four tests! What are your guidelines if 
you can only make 3 out of 4? Do you deliberately use the evasion 
because it satisfies more criteria than the other two, or is there a de 
facto hierarchy of criteria in which #1 trumps all three of the others?

Sometimes it is necessary to say things that are unpleasant and that 
will end up making you unpopular. And sometimes it may be necessary to 
bend the truth to the advantage of a greater good. Ethics is slippery, 
not something that can be captured in a few simple rules."


Hello Michel and fellow list members,

Yes of course you are right.   The four way test is merely a tool to help one decide what is the best course of action and to find a way to cut through the views and agendas and more mean spirited motivations human beings are subject to.  If you take the time to apply the four way test to something you intend to do or say, it usually gives you time to give it a second thought before saying or doing something you will regret later on.

The golden rule is also a guideline.  You can play around mentally with that one too.  Supposing you had a person who was masochistic or in some way mentally ill in having no self-value.   Treating others the way they would treat themselves might be very unacceptable to the other person.   That doesn't make it worthless though, I still think it is one of the best.

Likewise how about the ten commandments?   All of these are guidelines, but the commandments, these seem as though they are meant to be taken as solid rules written in stone.....:-)   Somehow, I find a lot of them are too literal for my taste, but they are obviously good guidelines and a lot of people take them as absolutes.   Consider though that the same being who commanded people not to kill, also told them to make war on the residents of the land they wanted.   Presumably this involved some killing.  So apparently these were flexible too at times.

So the Golden rule, the Ten Commandments (and maybe the Four way test too) are all good examples of the best attempts of human beings to find a way to be kinder to others in an easy format. 

The Buddha said:

"If it is not truthful and not helpful, don't say it.

If it is truthful and not helpful, don't say it.

If it is not truthful and helpful, don't say it.

If it is both truthful and helpful, wait for the right time."



If you ask me, that seems rather a lot like the four way test.   Gives you just enough pause to study what you were going to say before you do any real damage....:-)




Best Regards,

Evelyn
 
"Since everything is but an apparition, perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst into laughter."    –Longchenpa
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