Tiep Hien Preceipts – Deep Spring Center Transcript Archives

October 16, 2010 Saturday Evening, Venture Fourth

Tiep Hien Precepts

Barbara: The Tiep Hien precepts. Tiep means “to be in touch with”. Hien means “realizing” or “making it so, here and now”. These precepts ask us to be in touch with the mind and body here and now, and in this way to rediscover our true heart mind.

Toward the end of the Viet Nam war, Thich Nhat Hanh and people of other religions, not just Buddhists, not just Zen Buddhist, different denominations of Buddhism and people of other religions, came together to ask, can we create an order with a set of precepts we can follow that offer guidance for life? Not specifically Buddhist precepts, human precepts. And they spent a long time conversing and discussing.

I first met these precepts in about 1990, I guess, in Plum Village, Thich Nhat Hanh’s center in France. It was the winter retreat. The summer retreat there is pretty big but the winter retreat was small. I was there with a group of students, mostly American students, and Cassie. Many of you know Cassie. Her daughter was part of this group. They were taking a year after high school exploring different spiritual paths.

So they invited me to come for this week, I guess it was 10 days, and talk about meditation to the kids because the monks and nuns at Plum Village spoke Vietnamese. There were some translators, but helpful to have an American who understood meditation to give them some basics.

Toward the end of the winter retreat, it was a very beautiful affair, very, very moving, the last day or maybe the last day, they offered me to take these precepts with Thay, Thich Nhat Hanh, they call him Thay. And the whole monastic community were dressed in these beautiful yellow robes. There were maybe 4 or 5 of us taking the precepts so Thay invited us up. I remember it both with great delight and great pain because I had to kneel for about 45 minutes while Thay spoke in Vietnamese. And then somebody translated it into English but nobody signed so I had no idea what was being said. I couldn’t really participate. And it was very painful, being newly deaf and facing the deafness, and something I wanted so much to be able to do. And I couldn’t do, all I could do was kneel there on a hard floor. And my knees hurt and my back hurt. Breathing in, breathing out, releasing, trying to find the joy of the moment.

It was still a powerful experience. Then the head nun, who spoke English, I told her I was sad afterward, that I could not feel that I really had taken them, and she went over them with me. I wanted someone human to hear me take them.

I found them meaningful. I’ve revised the wording in very minor ways. Some of the revised wording, maybe in ’91 or ’92, at Friends meeting in Ann Arbor, after meeting for about a month we met for an hour each Sunday looking at these precepts and trying to find a way we could rephrase them in terms that felt consistent for us as Quakers, compatible for us as Quakers. This wording has a little bit of that revised wording in it. It has mostly, I’d say, 90% the original wording, some slight differences.

These are the life principles of the Order of Interbeing, so they’re not specific precepts. Let’s go over these and then see in what way we want to or don’t want to take them as precepts. Aaron will step in where it’s useful.

I’d like to, rather than my reading them, I’d like have one person read it, the next person read the reflection. Then a moment’s pause, time for the reflection…

(They read the precepts, ringing a bell between them and pausing for reflection)

Life Principles of the Order of Interbeing (Tip Hies Precepts)

(mildly revised for this class)

1. Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory or ideology. All systems of thought are guiding means, not absolute truth.

Am I attached to any ideology? Is this attachment lessening my ability to hear others?

2. Know that the knowledge you presently possess will change and is not changeless, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow-minded and bound to present views. Learn to practice non-attachment from views in order to be open to receive others’ viewpoints. Truth is found in life and not only in conceptual knowledge. Be ready to learn throughout your entire life and to observe reality in yourself and in the world at all times.

Do fear or attachment prevent me from learning and from hearing others? What is this fear about? Do I form opinions and take action based on the experiences of this moment or on old fears, experiences and biases?

3. Do not force others, including children, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrowness.

Do I respect the rights of others to find their own truths? Do I feel threatened by others’ differences? Can I offer my truth while leaving others free to reject it?

4. Open your eyes to the suffering around you. Be aware of the existence of suffering in the life of the world. Find ways to be with those who are suffering by all means including personal contact and visits, images, sounds. By doing so, awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world.

Do I avoid the reality of suffering in the world? Am I afraid of suffering? If so, can I not judge myself for my fear but allow my own fear to connect me with the world’s suffering? Can I deepen my resolve to be present with the suffering around me and work to alleviate it?

5. As long as there is hunger in the world, avoid the accumulation of wealth. Live simply and share time, energy and material resources with those who are in need. Avoid taking as the aim of your life fame, profit, wealth or sensual pleasure.

Do I live as simply as I am able? Can I watch grasping in myself without judgment of the fear from which it arises, but with clear seeing that frees me from reactivity to fear?

6. Avoid maintaining anger or hatred within. As soon as anger or hatred arise, practice meditation on compassion in order to deeply understand the persons who have caused anger or hatred. Learn to look at other beings with eyes of compassion (meaning with a deep feeling of sharing the suffering of another, together with the giving of aid or support or showing of mercy.)

Do I hold on to my anger, hatred or any strong emotion? Do I use my anger protect myself from some deeper fear or pain? If I was not angry right now, what might I be feeling?

7. Stay in touch with yourself within your surroundings. Do not lose yourself through dispersion. Learn to use tools such as working with the breath to regain composure of body and mind, to deepen mindfulness, and to develop concentration and understanding.

Have I developed tools that allow me to stay in this moment, with the feelings of this moment, in a gentle, non-judgmental way?

8. Make every effort to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small. Avoid speaking words that can create discord and cause the community to break.

Do I hold a grudge? Why? How can I better nurture forgiveness, communication and harmony?

9. Come to understand truthfulness. Do not say untruthful things for the sake of personal interest or to impress people. Avoid words that cause division and hatred. Do not spread news that you do not know to be certain. Do not criticize or condemn things that you are not sure of. Always speak truthfully and constructively. Have the courage to speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may threaten your own safety.

Do I use words as weapons? Before I speak, do I understand why I wish to speak?

10. Avoid using religious communities for personal gain or profit, or to transform your religious community into a political party. A religious community, however, should take a clear stand against oppression and injustice, and should strive to change the situation without engaging in partisan politics.

Do I misuse my religious /spiritual community, forcing my own views upon the community in any way?

11. Avoid vocations that are harmful to humans and nature. Avoid investing in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation which helps to realize the ideal of compassion.

Do I offer harm to others through my work? Does my work offer me opportunities to serve in meaningful ways? Does it allow me to live my deepest values, or conflict with those values?

12. Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war.

In what ways can I live with less harm to all beings?

13. Possess nothing that should belong to others. Respect the property of others. Prevent others from enriching themselves from the suffering of humans or other beings.

In what ways do I take that which is not mine? Do I take more than my share? Can I become more mindful of when, why and how this happens?

14. Respect your body. Learn not to mistreat it but to handle it with care. Do not look on your body only as an instrument. Sexual expression should happen with love and commitment. In sexual relationships, be aware of future suffering that may be caused. To preserve the happiness of others, respect the rights and commitments of others. Be fully aware of the responsibility of bringing new lives into the world. Meditate on the world into which you are bringing new beings.

Do I abuse my body by intake of harmful substance? Do I neglect my body? Can I learn to be more aware and caring in the acts and expressions of the physical body? Do I use my body responsibly in connection with others?

*****

Barbara: You probably recognize many of these from the Deep Spring precepts that we use. We’ve taken the precepts that we use from here. Aaron would like to talk.

Aaron: My blessings and love. I am Aaron. Why do we take precepts? They are not a vow, “I will not, Thou shalt not,” they are a reminder. They serve as guidelines and inspiration. They help you to know what to do.

A close friend who is a senior Buddhist nun, who lives with many precepts, talks about when she’s in a situation, she doesn’t have to think about, “What should I do?” An ordained monastic does not carry food with them, a sandwich in a backpack for the next day. So she’s going to travel and someone says, “Would you like me to make you a sandwich?”, she doesn’t have to think about it, “Well, I’m going to be traveling. How will I get food? What will I eat? But I’m not supposed to,” just, “I’ve given a promise. I’ve stated my intention to follow this precept. That means I’m going to have to trust my life and climb on this airplane trusting that somewhere at the other end somebody is going to offer me food.”

It’s a wonderful way to live. It invites faith. When anger arises, one doesn’t have to think about, “Can I maintain this anger? Is it righteous anger that should be maintained?”, one has taken a precept to release anger as much as is possible, not to hold onto it. One doesn’t then have to think about, “What should I do?” but “How do I best do this? What invites my faith so that I can fly without food or money? What invites me to release the anger?”

If you take these precepts, we word them the way they are worded, just, “I undertake the precept.” I undertake the precept to not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, etc. I undertake the precept to know, to understand that the knowledge I presently possess will change, etc. So we phrase it in that way, “I undertake the precept.”

If you break a precept you are not a sinner, you are not going to go to Hell because you’ve broken a precept. Rather, you create your own inner concern that acknowledges, “I am having a hard time with this precept. I need to be more mindful about it. I need to understand why it’s so challenging to me.” And it becomes your practice.

This is really no different than the mussar practice you did last year. In a sense you are undertaking the, I would not call them precepts but you are undertaking the intention to watch stinginess and generosity, patience and impatience, humility and either pride or low self-esteem. Just to watch them and try to bring yourself into balance more. So these precepts work in much the same way.

I find them a very beautiful guide for living. I’m going to invite anyone who wishes to take them with me. You may say them silently or aloud, as you wish. I will read through them without the reflection and invite those who wish to say them aloud with me to do so. We’ll simply read through the 14 precepts.

Before we do this I’d like to take a little time for any questions you may have about them. Are there any that don’t resonate as truth for you?

Q: #4, opening your eyes to the suffering.

Aaron: “Open your eyes to the suffering around you.”

Q: I kind of avoid watching the news and movies that have violence.

Aaron: So you avoid movies and news with violence.

Q: I just wonder about your comments on that, if that’s against the precepts.

Aaron: I don’t think so. It’s one thing to harden your heart against suffering, it’s another to say, “Oh, let’s see who is being killed on the news tonight.” Some people when they see an accident or a fire truck, they follow the fire truck. “Oh, let’s see the house burning down.” They want that excitement, that drama. Other people note it and in their heart they hold a prayer for whoever may be suffering, keeping the heart open. It would be against the precept to avoid it and say, “Oh, just a fire truck. That doesn’t involve me.”

Q: I recently had an experience. I hadn’t been eating meat. I had an epiphany, (I felt the) suffering of all the creatures I’d been eating. And felt a revulsion and remorse, and haven’t eaten meat since. This precept #12, seems like that would be included (inaudible). Somebody has to kill the animal that I eat.

Aaron: When you eat a carrot, somebody has pulled the carrot out of the ground by its roots and killed it. If it’s not been cooked, you’ve peeled it, washed it, and you’re chewing it. The nature of the human animal is that it must kill in order to survive. I know there are live food diets, that you can live simply on nuts, those foods that replenish themselves. My sense is that’s not an entirely healthy diet for most humans, just to live on fruit and nuts. Even if you simply drink milk, are you depriving a calf of that milk?

For me the intention is the important thing. I have lived in lifetimes of very strict diet, not taking in any food that demands killing, be it a vegetable, pulling the lettuce out of the ground and killing it, killing a fish, I’ve lived in those lifetimes. I’ve lived in lifetimes in which the being I was was a hunter whose main staple of diet was meat. I’ve learned to give great praise and gratitude to whatever I eat with the idea that it lives on in me, and the purer my consciousness, the more I can transform the consciousness of that I have taken into me. So I bless it with my own intention to live my life well, in service, with love, and I offer gratitude.

I have found when that is the attitude, it doesn’t really matter whether I am eating meat or not because I’m not doing it with a grasping sense of me, “I’m better than this cow or this fish so I can eat them. They don’t eat me, I’m better.” There’s no attitude of that sort, there’s just deep respect, gratitude, and a sense of passing on the blessing, commitment to passing on the blessing that their energy has given me. To offer that energy back out to others.

Each being will have their own view about what they eat, and I am not going to dispute that one view is better than another. Only, do know that whatever you eat, it’s not what you eat but how you eat it that’s important.

Q: I have 2 questions. In my life I feel overcommitted, very busy. Some of these seem overwhelming and impossible for me to accomplish. The 12^th precept, “Find whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war.” If I took that apart, it would mean I would be starting a peace organization and doing everything I could to stop the war in Afghanistan. Or, you know, stop the death penalty. So I don’t know, and similarly I think it was #4 “Find ways to be with those who are suffering by all means including personal contact, visits, images, and sounds.” I would be in the hospital visiting sick people, I would be visiting old folks’ homes. “Whatever means possible,” both of these, and #10 also…

So I struggle because I don’t want to commit to something that’s that unending and expansive when I know I don’t have the time in my life to devote myself 100% to each one of these. Does that make sense?

Aaron: I think the important word here is “possible” and how we interpret “possible”. We talked today about service to self being just as important as service to others. It is not possible to do everything and still to survive with reasonable physical, mental, and emotional health. Possible then becomes not a hard and fast, “I should do more, I should do more, it’s never enough,” because it will never be enough. Possible becomes “within appropriate balance for me, to take care of myself and the world.”

We came to this with responsibility and humility in the mussar program. To be responsible does not mean you can be responsible for everything; that’s a lot of ego. And the opposite of that, to say, “I can’t be responsible for anything,” that’s a lot of ego. But true responsibility takes a center position, is able to be responsible equally to one’s self and one’s surroundings. Taking care of everything with an open heart and constantly readjusting to appropriate balance. If it said, “By whatever means” without the word “possible,” it would be different.

Q: Can we perhaps add the words, “I undertake the precept with appropriate balance to…”

Aaron: To which precept?

Q: All of them.

Aaron: If you feel you need to add the word, you’re free to add the word. These are not hard and fast statements, they’re flexible. You can change them as you need to. Ask yourself whether the wording is needed or whether the intention for the word is sufficient. If the word is needed, by all means add it.

Q: My second question is related to that. For example, #5, “As long as there is hunger in the world, avoid the accumulation of wealth.” I need to save for my retirement. I need to focus on accumulating wealth. I can accept the rest of this but I can’t take the precept not to accumulate wealth. So can I leave phrases out? …

Aaron: Child, this is like the Mussar program. Finding a balance, finding a place that’s sensible for you.

Barbara tells a wonderful story of, on a long retreat, watching any grasping and feelings of self-centeredness that came up, and asking for guidance, how to release that. And Baba came to her in her meditation and said to her, “Give away everything.” Give away everything?!

So she loves Baba and she will do what he asks, but she wanted to make sure she understood this. She said, “Baba, do you mean I have to give away my car? My computer? My house?” He said, “No, those are tools. They’re useful tools for your life.” Your retirement account is also useful to you. Give away ego. Give away fear. Give away the fear that says, “Here is somebody collecting for a viable charity. Let’s see, I could give 75 cents. Could I really not give $5 instead? What’s preventing me giving $5?” We’re not saying $50 or $500, what’s preventing me from giving $5 instead of 2 quarters? Letting go of fear.

So this is what I see this precept is about. “Avoid the accumulation of wealth” means avoid the grasping energy that feels, “There will never be enough. I’m not safe, I need more, I need more, I need more.” And when that energy comes, work skillfully with it in the various ways that are helpful.

But no, you don’t have to give away your home. You don’t have to give away your pension. By maintaining your home and your pension, you are avoiding being a burden on others. You are being responsible.

But for those who have enough money in their pension that they can give a little bit more in whatever charitable ways they wish, consider it. It should never come from a place of force, “I should,” but from an open heart that says, “This is what feels right to me in this situation.”

Ram Dass talks about, he had a class that he gave in New York City years ago before his stroke, on homelessness. It was held I think at a big church or university and it was offered freely. So people would come in, people who were registered for the class, and street people would come in. Word spread among the street people and they would come in. So they were sitting in on the class.

He asked people in the class that week, as the assignment, to befriend a street person. Don’t just drop money in their hands, talk to them. Find out who they are. Find out what they really need. Talk to them.

One woman reported, as she began to talk to this man who she had passed daily for months, dropping 25, 50 cents in his hat, she began to really look at him. Where does he sleep? What does he eat? And she saw, if I really want to extend this I would have to invite him home with me. Do I invite him home just for the night, or for the weekend, or to live? Where do I set the boundaries? How do I take care of myself as well as take care of him?

This is not about finding easy answers, it’s about raising questions so that your heart may begin to search out the answers.

Q: That’s a very helpful way to reframe it, that this is about asking questions versus committing to some path of behavior.

Aaron: But the statement of it and taking the precept, “I undertake the precept to…” calls it to your attention when you walk by that street person and try to avert your gaze. You’ve taken a precept and you’re going to be honest with yourself, you’ve got to look at him. Who is he? What are his needs? In what way are you keeping him in the gutter, or is he keeping himself in the gutter? In what way can you support him, or in what ways might your support of him do more harm than good? Prevent him from learning to take care of himself?

When Barbara was young, after college she lived in New York City in an area called The Bower, lower east side. Her apartment was on the “lower east side”. Her studio was half a block from the, I guess it’s an infamous street called The Bowery. Many flophouses there, people passed out on the streets. It was a low rent district. It’s what she could afford to rent a studio.

Her studio was a storefront. It had a small alcove before the door, the tenement building above it hung out and provided a small shelter. In the morning she would find bodies passed out in that alcove. It was a place where they had a little bit of shelter from the weather. She saw how her heart hardened as she stepped over the bodies, unlocked her door, stepped inside and bolted the door. She asked herself, “What do I need to do? I can’t feed, house, and clothe them all. What do I do?”

She began to make a big pot of coffee every morning. Paper cups, a little bit of milk and sugar, and she would carry the coffee just to a little table she put in that alcove outside the door, and let it be known people were free to take it. She would only make one pot a day. She wasn’t going to constantly spend the day making new pots of coffee. But it was there. To what degree was that just a means to assuage her conscience? Certainly it did some real good. And yet she started to see it was just a way out of feeling guilty.

Then she set on another idea and it worked better for her. There were 5 floors of tenement, very poor tenement above her, mostly Puerto Rican. Kids would come to her door and ask, “What are you doing?” And she’d say, “I’m making sculpture.” So she got a big bin of clay much like the terra cotta she had for you this summer, and after school she opened her door to these neighborhood children. They did not come by the hundreds but maybe 5 to 10 of them on any given day, many of the same children day after day, and she formed a relationship with them. She could hear then, of course.

She taught them what she knew about making sculpture. She just invited them in to listen to their stories, befriended them. And some of them loved making sculpture and were quite talented. She didn’t know what became of them in the long run but it gave them a new skill and some confidence in themselves and perhaps helped those children stay off the street and avoid drugs and other pitfalls of their lives. She could not take care of the hundreds and thousands of drunken men and women on the Bowery but she could help and support a handful of youngsters. This was what she could do, this was what was possible.

You just have to honest with yourself. Is what I’m doing just a means to salve my conscience? Am I using it as a way to avoid really looking at the suffering? Am I pushing myself too hard so that I will burn out? That’s another way of avoiding suffering. Am I finding a balance that’s skillful and wholesome?

It’s interesting that every other storefront on that block was robbed many times. Barbara’s was robbed just once. Immediately when it was robbed somebody called her and said, “Somebody just broke your window.” By the time she got there, some of the young people in the neighborhood were already boarding up her broken glass window. When you give, people give back.