According to Thānissaro Bhikku, between the oppositional extremes of determinism and total free will, the Buddha characteristically promoted a middle path. Bhikku’s firm stance—which he puts forth in his essay “Did the Buddha Teach Free Will?”—sheds light on the empowering role mindfulness plays in our quest for happiness.
Given that the eightfold path out of suffering presented by the Buddha requires dedicated practice, the Buddha clearly didn’t believe that our experiences are entirely predetermined. But we don’t have total free will, either, because the results of our past actions impact our present circumstances and the options that are available to us. Thus, our present choices and their skillfulness impact the future, too.
The Buddha took this issue so seriously that he sought out teachers to argue with if they taught determinism or the chaos of total freedom.
The Buddha’s alternative to both ideas
The Buddha’s alternative teaching, as described by Bhikku (a Therevada Buddhist monk himself), is a causal principle where your present experience is a combination of your old karma, your present intentions and the result(s) of present intentions.
Your present intentions determine whether the mind does or doesn’t suffer at any given moment, and there lies an opportunity for freedom. Past karma shapes your current situation and the actions you can take that either will or won’t come with good results.
This is a backdrop against which your present actions can propel you in a particular direction. The wider the range of skills is that you bring to your present actions, the more freedom you’ll gain in knowing how to move through life skillfully and bring about the best possible outcomes.
The purpose of Buddhist practice is to expand the range of skills you have in the present moment. For example, three qualities the Buddha recommended bringing to the practice of mindfulness lead to enhanced concentration and discernment:
- Alertness: The ability to be clearly aware of what you’re doing while you’re doing it, along with noticing the results of those actions.
- Mindfulness: The ability to keep in mind the lessons you’ve learned from Dharma instructions, as well as understanding whether what you’ve learned is or isn’t beneficial based on your past actions.
- Ardency: The wholehearted desire to act as skillfully as you can in every moment.
According to Bhikku, when you develop these qualities, you collect a wealth of knowledge as to what works and what doesn’t when it comes to attaining freedom from suffering.
As you learn to avoid being overcome by pleasure or pain (by maintaining focus in meditation in the presence of intense pleasure, and by comprehending pain to the point of not suffering from it) you become like an expert cook who can make a delicious dish out of whatever good or bad things appear in the pantry of your life.
The Buddha’s teachings can help all of us
I’m not anywhere close to that level yet, but Bhikku’s descriptions of how we can make the best use of free will by maintaining sharp, closely monitored attention in the present moment—while simultaneously being aware of how our current choices will affect the future—really resonated with me.
Recently, I was chided at work for a careless mistake I’d made while daydreaming, and I felt bad for a while after that! Developing the quality of alertness will help me keep track of my mental and physical actions, though, so I can help myself prevent regrettable mistakes and sharpen a tool in my Dharma toolkit at the same time.
The Buddha’s teachings offer a detailed roadmap for each of us on our quest for long-lasting happiness, as well as extensive guidance on the development of the skills, such as mindfulness, that are conducive to our growth. Our lives are the training grounds on which we’re able to hone these skills by noticing what works and what doesn’t.
By stepping wholeheartedly into awareness, we can enable ourselves to act skillfully and break out of limiting habitual behaviour, which will benefit our current state of being and the quality of our futures.
Looking for more information on these topics? You can read “Did the Buddha Teach Free Will?” and other essays by Bhikku for free here.
image: truthseeker08
