Maybe my question seems silly and absurd, but let me give you some context:
It’s been like a year since I started this journey, and I won’t regret it ever. But, there’s something that demotivates me a little bit, and that is the idea of perfection.
I could see in the EBT that the idea of bringing to perfection the training of the noble ones is highly praised, in contrast with the drawbacks of lay life. I understand that there’re drawbacks on being part of lay life, and that renunciates live more at ease; but the thing is that **I can’t be perfect (at least not now…).
**
I’m just a normal guy who enjoys sense pleasures (like eating a good snack, watching a good football game, and so on), and whenever I encounter the idea of bringing to perfection the training of the mind, I feel like somebody is prohibiting me of doing that, enjoying sense pleasures; of course, that “somebody” is nobody else but myself (or the assumption of a “self”).
I’m still commited to this path, and I’ll make most of it to the best of my current will; but I still wanted to take this out of my chest and learn something new from you regarding this topic.
Now that you’re in context, let me ask you again this question: is it okay to not be perfect? Looking forward to hear your answers.
With much metta, Javier.
(Edit note): I’m aware that the Buddha taught us to make a balance (neither too indulgent nor too extremist), but because I read in the EBT the idea of “bringing to perfection”, I felt that way.
Last information to include (I think I haven’t shared this with you yet): my main source to read the suttas is “In the Buddha’s Words” by Bhikkhu Boddhi; I understood that this source is mainly introductory for those who read the EBT for the first time. If I’m wrong on that, please correct me. Thanks.
Can you still enjoy football even if you are probably not ever, yourself, going to be a world cup winning player? Sure!
Can you still practice the Buddha’s teachings even if you may not become an arahant in this life? Absolutely!
It’s not a perfect metaphor. But this issue is core to Buddhist practice. I think non-converts get this without much effort. But if one is coming to Buddhism fresh, then one naturally wonders how to practice knowing (or at least suspecting) that one may not reach the highest level.
The answer is really simple. We do the best we can.
And at the same time we have a happy heart knowing that we are at least on the side of a team that may one day win the world cup. (OK, the metaphor really isn’t great, but maybe it’s good enough, lol)
Well, whether it’s okay or not, it’s where we’re at. And the way to perfection includes acceptance of the way things are. “It’s like this.”
One of the most amazing things about the Dhamma is that the Vinaya gives us a clear picture of what faults are more serious and which are more refined, what things we should work on first, and what things are okay to work on later. So, we don’t have to feel overwhelmed. We just work on whatever step of the gradual path we’re on and have faith that it’s leading in the right direction, towards a beautiful end.
That’s a great question, and it’s really important. Instead of seeing “bringing to perfection the training” as something we finish and move on from, think of it as a lifelong journey. We strive to act with wisdom and follow the Buddha’s teachings in everything we do. Every time we live life that way, we’re already succeeding at perfecting our training.
Also, it’s important to think about our situations and vows. There’s no need to try to live like a bhikkhu, even though it’s wonderful to look up to great examples. The Buddha taught differently to different people, helping laypeople with their everyday lives and guiding renunciates with their spiritual path.
The middle way between indulgence and self-mortification that the Buddha taught was practicing the noble eightfold path. There are eight factors all of them equally important. When you have fully understood the eightfold path then you will be a perfected one. Until then you are still in training.
If everyone was perfect, there would be no need to practice the N8FP. The fact that the Buddha taught the Middle Way and we’re practicing it answers your question.
Good news!
Also, it may help to let go of framing this in abstract concepts like “Perfection” and to undertake the more practical understanding of gradually cultivating wholesome/skillful intentions and actions, while letting go of unwholesome ones, (as in Right Effort). This, combined with the other aspects of the N8FP, is grounded in direct experience and offers a practical way to reduce and eventually extinguish the defilements.
And SN 43.12 And what is the unconditioned?
Maybe you are already perfect. You are at the perfect place in time for you. You are practicing and having these types of questions. This is perfect…right?
"They would be devoted to practicing serenity and discernment at the right time. " Thag 10.6
I also struggled with how to deal with perfection. Maybe modernity is marked by abstracts where seeking personal perfection is indistinguishable from obsession. On the other hand, most of the ancients were craftsmen where tolerating faults speaks of questionable integrity.
Probably, how modern psychiatry deals with OCD is a case in point. People who are obsessed with some kind of abstract purity are taught to tolerate these thoughts, and in some cases, they are advised to actively seek impurity to break the ritualistic cycle. This is at odds with right effort for example, so different times beget different techniques.
I love that the Buddha made a point to reassure us that the Noble Eightfold Path is a gradual path, that perfection takes time. One part that helps me as a lay person, is Right Livelihood. By making good sila choices in my work, I’m making progress.
Formerly, monks, before I myself was enlightened with the perfect wisdom, … I used generally to spend my time in this way of living (the concentration on inbreathing and outbreathing). As I generally lived in this way, neither my body nor my eyes were fatigued, and my mind was freed from the āsavas (the defilements).
(SN 54.8, tr. PTS vol V p 281; parentheticals added)
… if the wanderers who hold other views should thus question you:
‘Friends, in what way of life does Gotama the recluse generally spend the rainy season?’ thus questioned, thus should ye make reply to those wanderers holding other views: ‘Friends, the Exalted One generally spends his time during the rainy season in the intent concentration on in-breathing and out-breathing.’
… (One) who would rightly use the words ‘noble way, best of ways,
the Realized One’s way of life’ would rightly do so in calling by this name
the intent concentration on in-breathing and out-breathing…”
(SN 54.11; tr. PTS vol V p 289; “noble” for “Ariyan”, “Realized One” for “Tathāgata”)
You could give that a try (Anapanasati). Of the intent concentration, Gautama said:
… if cultivated and made much of, (the mindfulness of inbreathing and outbreathing) is something peaceful and choice, something perfect in itself, and a pleasant way of living too.
(SN 54.9, tr. Pali Text Society SN V p 285; parenthetical paraphrases original)
Paradoxically, you are perfect in your imperfection. Perfection is simply ‘being as you are’.
I also think it is wise to abandon, if you hold it, the idea that progress is out of reach for the householder. One should strive despite the environment: striving is what leads to realisation. Use any perceived draw back as a challenge, a hurdle, for you to overcome.
Infatuation with sensory desires, the key word being infatuation, is a clinging based relationship to X-desire which perpetuates suffering. We cannot be anything other than what we are.
A wholesome desire or wish that is not rooted in infatuation or craving does not create suffering. The infatuation and craving spoke about is a compulsion which leads to one burning their hand.
There is conscious holding on and letting go. Then there is ignorant, infatuation based, clinging and aversion.
