[Buddha-l] Doxastic minimalism (was: flat earth?)

[Jackhat1 at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/18/2007 2:25:11 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
rhayes at unm.edu writes:

There  are several interpretations of what the fetter of attachment to good 
habit  (siila) and vows (bata) means. Lance Cousins can no doubt fill us in 
on  
others, but the one that sticks in my mind is one given by Buddhaghosa in  
his 
commentary to the sutta on the foundations of mindfulness. He says  that 
attachment to good habits and vows consists in being willing to  cultivate 
good habits or taking vows only after asking "What do I have to  gain by 
doing 
this?" The idea seems to be that when one has attained  stream-entry, then 
one 
cultivates virtue for its own sake, simply because  it is the right thing to 
do, rather than because she thinks she'll benefit  somehow from virtue and 
vows. This is one of the many ways in which  Buddhist ethics, as seen by 
Buddhaghosa, is quite like Aristotle's or the  Stoics' virtue ethics.


====
Here is what Buddhadasa Bhikkhus has to say about this.
 
 
>>The third fetter is  Superstition (Silabbatapraramasa) or attachment to 
rules and rituals  based on a misunderstanding of their real purpose. Essentially 
it is a misguided attachment to  certain things one does. Usually it has to 
do with doctrines and ceremonies. An  example of this is belief in magic and 
magical practices, which is blatantly  just superstition and occurs even among 
Buddhists. Practice based on the belief  that it will produce magical 
abilities, psychic powers and protective forces is  founded on false hopes and is 
irrational. Another example is the undertaking of  moral precepts (Five Precepts, 
etc.) or virtuous conduct. The real purpose of  this is to eliminate mental 
defilements; but if we believe that it will give  rise to miraculous powers which 
we shall then be able to use to eradicate the  defilements, we are in fact 
grasping and clinging, and so defeating our original  purpose. The practice is 
quite correct in itself, but if we misunderstand it and  cling to it 
irrationally, regarding it as something magical or sacred, then it  becomes pure 
superstition. Even taking upon oneself the moral precepts, if done  in the belief 
that it will lead to rebirth as a celestial being, is without a  doubt an example 
of attachment to rules and rituals and goes contrary to  Buddhist aims. Such 
beliefs contaminate otherwise virtuous conduct. The  objective of the Buddhist 
discipline is the elimination of the cruder  defilements of body and speech 
as a foundation for the progressive development  of concentration and insight. 
The objective is not rebirth in heaven. To have  such false motives is to soil 
and contaminate one's own morals with grasping and  clinging, with false 
ideas. Charity, or adherence to moral precepts, or  meditation practice, if 
carried out with a mistaken idea of their true  objective. inevitably will stray 
from the Buddhist path. Do understand that even  Buddhist practice associated 
with misunderstanding because craving has come in  and taken over, bringing the 
expectation of mystical powers, becomes  superstition instead. This applies to 
even the very small and trivial things  that most of us like to indulge in, 
such as ritual chanting, merit making and  the like. The ceremony of placing 
rice and trays of sweets before the Buddha's  image, if performed in the belief 
that it is an offering to the Buddha's  "spirit" and that he will be able to 
partake of it, is 100 percent certain to  produce effects precisely the opposite 
of what the devotee is hoping for.  Behavior that defeats its own true 
purpose is generally quite common in Buddhist  circles. It is foolish and irrational 
and results in practices originally  worthwhile and attractive becoming 
contaminated with the stupidity and ignorance  of the people performing them. This 
is what is meant by superstition. As we can  see, this defilement has its 
origins in delusion and misunderstanding. Most of  us have our own ingrown beliefs 
in mystical powers as a result of having been  misinformed and led astray by 
others. We need not go into any more detail here;  but though it may be rather 
disturbing, everyone ought to do some critical  self-examination along these 
lines.<< 
Jack



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