Vet Judy

In yogic tradition there is what is called the Eight Limbed Path. In Buddhism there is the Noble Eightfold Path. Both these paths are writings on how to live your life to transform suffering into peace, joy, and enlightenment.

One of the limbs of the yogic path is the YAMA’s. It refers to 5 moral restraints: non violence (Ahisma), truthfulness (Satya), non stealing (Asteya), moderation (Brahmacarya) and non hoarding (Aparigraha).

Right View is the Budhist teaching that refers to the ability to distinguish between the wholesome and unwholesome seeds within us. The gist of this is to identify all the wholesome seeds within us and water those seeds. We cannot rid ourselves of unwholesome seeds within us, we can just cease to water them.

The overlap between these two teachings is interesting and complimentary. In Buddha’s teaching, if you act in unwholesome ways you will not be happy. In other words if you water the seeds of anger, violence, hostility, lying, stealing, hoarding, cravings, or gluttony, you will not be happy. In the yogic tradition, the path to contentment is partially achieved through the practice of the 5 moral constraints which is essentially the same as nuturing the wholesome seed within us and not watering the unwholesome seeds.

The part I find most fascinating is that perception is believed to be the heart of discontentment. This is the method we all use to justify “WHY” we do not observe the five moral restraints.

Buddha advised that we not be fooled by what we perceive. “Where there is perception, there is deception.” Most of our own suffering is from the deception. The first question Buddha suggests we ask is “AM I SURE?” Byron Katie’s “THE WORK” also focuses on the letting go of our firmly held perceptions but asking four questions. The first question here is “Is it true?”. The second is “Can you absolutely know that it is true?”

At the root of our perceptions is our cravings, our afflictions, our worry, our wrong views etc. It is easy to see why our perceptions lead to a great deal of suffering in our lives and leads us away from the practice of right view or the practice of the Yama’s.

In previous blogs I have discusses the Yama’s of Ahisma and Satya. This third Yama involves non stealing. The vast majority of us, if we look deeply, have a lot of work to do here. Most of us don’t outrightly thieve, so we figure we are in the clear. A closer look my provide some illumination.

Have you any items in your possession which were borrowed and never returned, or taken from companies you work for because they had more money than you and wouldn’t notice anyway. Unreturned library books that got lost in the woodwork, cutting corners on tax returns, fudging the numbers a little, claiming a personal meal or two are all examples.

What about spending unproductive time at work, a few minutes here and there, or for that matter what about days where you billed or were paid, but weren’t productive really? These are all forms of stealing. Have you ever grabbed the last peice of cake out of the fridge before someone else took it, even though you weren’t hungry? I have to admit to some on these things myself.

This brings us to the deeper level of the understanding of Asteya (non stealing) which is the fear of not having enough. The idea that if we leave things up to the universe, we will not get what we need. This scarcity conciousness is based on perceptions that override our ability to see things that way they really are in this moment. 

When the abstention from stealing is firmly established, precious jewels will come.

The Sutras of Yoga

Just the practice of this Yama alone can bring you face to face with your own scarcity consciousness and how that perception keeps you from living in right view of the Eightfold Noble Path or practicing the Yogic Eight Limb Path.

 The concepts discussed here are discussed in a few of my favorite books listed here:

Meditations From the Mat: Rolf Gates amd Katrina Kenison

The Heart of Buddha’s Teaching: Thich Nhat Hanh

Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life:  Byron Katie