Welfare and Peacefulness in This Present Life

‘Venerable Sir, we are Householders enjoying sensual pleasures, living at home in a house full of children. We use sandalwood from Kāsi; we wear garlands, scents, and ointments; we receive gold and silver. Let The Perfectly Enlightened One teach us The Teachings in a way that will lead to our welfare and peacefulness in this present life and in future lives.’

There are, Byagghapajja, these four things that lead to the welfare and peacefulness of a Householder in this present life.

What four?

(1) Accomplishment in initiative,

(2) accomplishment in protection,

(3) wholesome friendship,

(4) and balanced living.

Accomplishment in Initiative

And what is accomplishment in initiative?

Here, whatever may be the means by which a Householder earns his living — whether by farming, trade, raising cattle, archery, government service, or some other craft — he is skillful and diligent; he possesses sound and wise decision making about it in order to carry out and arrange it properly.

This is called accomplishment in initiative.

Accomplishment in Protection

And what is accomplishment in protection?

Here, a Householder sets up protection and guard over the wealth he has acquired by initiative and energy, amassed by the strength of his arms, earned by the sweat of his brow, righteous wealth righteously gained, thinking: How can I prevent Kings and thieves from taking it, fire from burning it, floods from sweeping it off, and displeasing heirs from taking it?

This is called accomplishment in protection.

Wholesome Friendship

And what is wholesome friendship?

Here, in whatever village or town a Householder lives, he associates with Householders or their sons — whether young but of mature virtue, or old and of mature virtue — who are accomplished in confidence, virtuous behavior (moral conduct), generosity, and wisdom; he converses with them and engages in discussions with them.

To the extent that they are accomplished in confidence, he emulates them with respect to their accomplishment in confidence; to the extent that they are accomplished in virtuous behavior (moral conduct), he emulates them with respect to their accomplishment in virtuous behavior; to the extent that they are accomplished in generosity, he emulates them with their accomplishment in generosity; to the extent that they are accomplished in wisdom, he emulates them with respect to their accomplishment in wisdom.

This is called wholesome friendship.

Balanced Living

And what is balanced living?

Here, a Householder knows his income and expenditures and leads a balanced life, neither too extravagant nor too frugal, (aware): In this way my income will exceed my expenditures rather than the reverse. Just as an appraiser or his apprentice, holding up a scale, knows:

By so much it has dipped down, by so much it has gone up so a Householder knows his income and expenditures and leads a balanced life, neither too extravagant nor too frugal, (aware): In this way my income will exceed my expenditures rather than the reverse.

If this Householder has a small income but lives luxuriously, others would say of him: This Householder eats his wealth just like an eater of figs.

But if he has a large income but lives sparingly, others would say of him: This Householder may even starve himself.

But it is called balanced living when a Householder knows his income and expenditures and leads a balanced life, neither too extravagant nor too frugal, (aware): In this way my income will exceed my expenditures rather than the reverse.

This is called balanced living.

These are the four things that lead to the welfare and peacefulness of a Householder in this very life.

(Reference: AN 8.54)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares “four things that lead to the welfare and peacefulness of a Householder in this present life”.

The Buddha’s clear and direct Teaching here provides Household Practitioners four (4) aspects of life that when understood and practiced will lead to a peaceful life.

(1) First, “accomplishment in initiative” is The Buddha’s guidance in being proficient and capable to perform our professional duties. Whatever profession we choose, The Buddha advises that we should aspire to be “skillful and diligent; he possesses sound and wise decision making about it in order to carry out and arrange it properly”. A Practitioner who practices in this way will develop a wholesome professional reputation leading to improved results in their professional life with increased opportunities for advancement or growth of your business.

If we are complacent or lacking the knowledge needed to perform the profession of our choice, we will find that life is much more difficult in that we will not be well suited to provide valuable products or services that are beneficial to others. This can cause fear and uncertainty in the mind where a Practitioner will struggle to provide life sustaining resources of food, water, clothing, shelter, and medical care for themselves and their family.

Developing and maintaining knowledge and wisdom of one’s profession and then applying dedication with energy and effort to perform quality work can help a Practitioner feel a sense of purpose and goodness in their community. A Practitioner will know that they are doing their work and doing it well resting easy knowing that their wise decision making at work will lead to stability and wholesome outcomes eliminating any fear of being unable to support their life and the life of those who rely on us for support.

(2) Second, “accomplishment in protection” Gotama Buddha encourages us to ensure we have protected our wealth from events that could significantly affect our wealth or growth of wealth. Disasters such as fire and floods could wipe away one’s wealth should they not have adequate protection. In today’s society, this might include properly allocating wealth towards institutions that are capable of overseeing one’s wealth and helping it to grow. This might include a bank, financial institution, insurance, safety deposit vaults, or other ways to protect one’s wealth.

Protecting one’s wealth from Kings could be looked upon as ensuring one has made proper decisions towards allocating money based on government laws to pay one’s fair share of taxes. Should a Practitioner choose not to allocate wealth towards the support of government services, the community would gradually crumble creating an environment that is not supportive of continued growth for humanity.

Protecting one’s wealth from thieves would be to ensure there are safeguards in place that a thief would be unable to wipe out one’s wealth through stealing. During Gotama Buddha’s lifetime, life was very basic compared to today’s standards. It would not be uncommon for someone to store their money in their home and for a thief to potentially cause a family ruin through stealing their accumulated money stored in just one central location. Today, we have many ways to ensure that one is well protected from scams and thieves who are looking to steal from you and your family. When one has applied good practices to protect one’s wealth, the mind can reside peaceful knowing that a thief is unable to wipe out your family’s savings.

Protecting one’s wealth from displeasing heirs might include ensuring one has a will that documents what should and should not happen to your wealth upon death while ensuring your relatives are well aware of how you have allocated your wealth upon your death. Through clear communication in a written will and communicating with relatives prior to death, there will be no surprises upon your death and your wealth will not meet with hotly contested legal battles after your death. Through a properly formed will and thorough communication, a Practitioner can ensure a family is not divided and separated based on surprises at the time of death.

(3) Third, The Buddha provides guidance throughout his Teachings to cultivate “wholesome friendships”. As you may have observed in life, when you are involved in wholesome activities with wholesome people, you will be influenced positively and have a tendency to make wiser and more wholesome decisions. To progress towards Enlightenment experiencing improved benefits to the condition of the mind and in your life, cultivating relationships with wholesome friends and associates is highly beneficial. Through having wholesome friends, a Practitioner will find life more smooth and easy as there will be support, motivation, and encouragement along The Path to Enlightenment and in daily life.

While Gotama Buddha focuses his Teachings at various times on helping you to understand that you will benefit from having wholesome friends, this Teaching focuses on cultivating wisdom from people in the community.

In modern society, all too often, the new generation may not appreciate the knowledge and insight accessible to us through observing elders in our communities and consulting them during challenges we may face. A fast paced lifestyle may not take the time to sit and speak with elders or view them as having wisdom that could be beneficial to your life.

In this Teaching, The Buddha guides Practitioners to engage with young and old members of one’s community “who are accomplished in confidence, virtuous behavior, generosity, and wisdom”. Through this interaction and discussion, a Practitioner can learn better ways of life and develop wholesome relationships.

Gotama Buddha encourages us to emulate and respect others’ confidence in his Teachings. Being “accomplished in confidence” is to have well developed confidence that he is a Perfectly Enlightened Buddha, confidence in his Teachings, and confidence in his Community of Practitioners. An individual who is accomplished in confidence will then decide on their own to learn, reflect, and practice these Teachings to improve the condition of the mind and their life through the attainment of Enlightenment. Lacking confidence, one would have no interest in pursuing The Path to Enlightenment or have the ability to progress to Enlightenment without well developed and accomplished confidence in The Buddha, The Teachings, and The Community.

Rather than choosing any friends that come your way, The Buddha encourages one to select friends who are accomplished in confidence, virtuous behavior (moral conduct), generosity, and wisdom looking to emulate these qualities in one’s own life practice because these are the same qualities that will lead to wise wholesome decisions resulting in wholesome outcomes to extinguish all unwholesome Kamma leading to Enlightenment.

It is through our own wise decisions towards wholesome activities that one fully extinguishes all unwholesome Kamma production producing only wholesome results to attain Enlightenment. And, you will find that making wise decisions to cultivate relationships with wholesome friends where you are influenced in wholesome ways and have role models to emulate their “accomplishment in confidence, virtuous behavior (moral conduct), generosity, and wisdom” will lead to your welfare and peacefulness in this present life.

(4) Fourth, The Buddha provides guidance on “balanced living” helping Household Practitioners understand that “the middle way” for managing one’s income and expenses is to ensure that one’s expenses do not exceed their income.

Should a Practitioner choose to live life in such a way that their expenses do exceed their income, this would cause significant struggles and hardships in life as one would find themselves continually sinking into debt due to the mind’s craving/desire/attachment to live a life beyond their ability of what they can afford.

The Natural Law of Kamma teaches us that we are always experiencing the results of our own decisions through cause and effect or action and result. The result of living a balanced life through well managed finances means that one can be comfortable experiencing peace from choosing not to accumulate debt as there will be no pressure from financial burdens.

Should a Practitioner currently be in debt or living life where their expenses exceed their income, it would be wise to work towards eliminating all debt and lowering their expenses through living a balanced life as described by The Buddha.

Craving/desire/attachment, attempting to fulfill endless “wants”, is very expensive. Training the mind to eliminate the constant obsession to fulfill one’s desires, which never lead to lasting satisfaction, can drastically improve your ability to live a comfortable and stress free life. Through the elimination of craving/desire/attachment, a Practitioner can focus on eliminating excessive expenditures while focusing on providing for your life sustaining needs such as food, water, clothing, shelter, and medical care.

To bring your expenses down and into balance, there may need to be an extended period of compromise and doing without while you gradually adjust the financial variables that will bring more stability of mind knowing that there is not constant debt accumulation.

If a Practitioner’s financial obligations are exceeding their income, this will create undue stress and burden that is a result of our own decisions. But just like one’s own decisions lead to debt accumulation, it will require wise decision making to eliminate debt and choose to live a balanced financial life. Doing so will result in the wholesome outcome of having eliminated stress and anxiety related to financial obligations bringing the mind more stability and calmness.

As a Practitioner observes their life practice is currently not developed in a way that is most conducive to The Natural Law of Kamma described in this and countless other Teachings from The Buddha, you can gradually adjust your decisions to ensure more beneficial outcomes.

Learning these Teachings is to become aware of what leads to wholesome results in one’s life. Reflecting on these Teachings from The Buddha, one can observe that his wisdom was quite profound and would lead to wholesome results. Implementing his Teachings in practice, a Practitioner can observe the truth for themselves discovering and acquiring the wisdom of these Teachings to support a wholesome life having eliminated 100% of all discontent feelings where the mind is peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy - permanently.

How one chooses to manage their life and life choices directly affects the condition of one’s own mind and their life. Making wise decisions is the cornerstone of The Path to Enlightenment and it is The Buddha’s Teachings that will guide you in how to make wiser and wiser decisions for your own life.

When and if you choose to learn, reflect, and practice these Teachings is a personal choice for each individual Practitioner. Through your own determination, dedication, and diligence, you will see the truth for yourself.