This Spiritual Life Is Not Lived for The Sake of Deceiving People

Monks, this spiritual life is not lived for the sake of deceiving people and persuading them; nor for the benefit of gain, honor, and praise; nor for the benefit of winning in debates; nor with the thought: 'Let the people know me thus.'

But rather, this spiritual life is lived for the sake of restraint, abandoning, freedom from strong feelings, and elimination.

(Reference: AN 4.25)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares that learning, reflecting, and practicing The Path to Enlightenment is not “for the benefit of gain, honor, and praise”, for “winning in debates”, nor for the conceited thought of letting people know how wise the mind has become.

As one learns and progresses on The Path to Enlightenment, there is an immeasurable amount of wisdom that one acquires. To progress to the highest Stage of Enlightenment one would need to eliminate the ego and any desire to show off one’s wisdom.

An Enlightened being is not going to seek material gain and benefits through the attainment of Enlightenment or through sharing The Teachings with Students. An Enlightened being will need to sustain their life through acquiring food, water, clothing, shelter, and medical care with the understanding that acquisition of monetary wealth and material possessions does not lead to lasting peacefulness or satisfaction of the mind. So, an Enlightened being would not have craving/desire/attachment for monetary wealth but would need income to support one’s life.

Through living a life of restraint and eliminating one’s cravings/desires/attachments, along with learning, reflecting, and practicing many other aspects of these Teachings, one can experience “freedom from strong feelings” and the “elimination” of discontentedness of mind.

An Enlightened mind would not be interested in “debate” or arguments but instead, find that discussions will result in wholesome outcomes. An Enlightened being fully knows the truth of The Natural Laws of Existence and does not have a desire to show off their wisdom through a debate or argument. They are not interested in convincing others of the wisdom they have acquired that led to their liberation of mind but instead, humbly and peacefully conduct their life in a way that does not cause any harm to others.

They are not interested in deceiving or persuading others, knowing that this would only result in unwholesome outcomes, so why do it?

Gotama Buddha is focusing Practitioner’s minds on “freedom from strong feelings” and the “elimination” of discontentedness rather than artificial and useless benefits.

Debating Buddhist Teachings - A Misunderstanding

There are many people who believe that Gotama Buddha provided instructions for his Students to “debate the teachings”.

There are countless translations of Teachings that use the word “debate” The Teachings and people are led to believe they should debate Buddhist Teachings.

There are even some traditions of Buddhist Teachings that pride themselves on debating The Teachings among each other or with other traditions of Buddhist Teachings.

I would like to suggest, that the translations using the word “debate” are not helpful to accomplish the goal of your own Enlightenment and the goal set out by Gotama Buddha for the entire world to experience Enlightenment.

We are now currently in the process of gradually accomplishing the objective for all of humanity to attain Enlightenment and I would like to offer a better solution for you to understand what Gotama Buddha was sharing that will lead to more effective development of Buddhist Teachings so that you and the entire world can attain Enlightenment.

The goal of Gotama Buddha is for you and the entire world to experience Enlightenment.

Enlightenment is a peaceful, calm, serene, and content mind with joy that no longer experiences discontent feelings such as sadness, anger, frustration, irritation, annoyance, guilt, shame, fears, boredom, loneliness, shyness, jealousy, resentment, anxiety, stress, etc. Enlightenment is a permanent mental state that is unshakable.

Let me explain more…

When human beings “debate”, this is typically conducted as an argument where there is a winner and a loser.

Debates are often intense as two sides with opposing views argue back and forth with those observing the debate judging who is the winner and who is the loser.

The word debate is commonly defined as: argue about a subject, especially in a formal manner. A competition in which teams of people, often students, discuss a subject and the team that is judged to make the best arguments win.

I would like to suggest to you that, two people or groups of people who are arguing about Buddhist teachings to determine who is the winner and who is the loser is missing the point and objective set out by Gotama Buddha on The Path to Enlightenment.

And, due to their misunderstanding (i.e. unknowing of true reality) if they continue to argue attempting to determine a winner they are actually hindering and inhibiting their own Enlightenment.

Let me continue to explain further…

An Enlightened being has no craving or desire (mental longing with a strong eagerness) to “argue”. An Enlightened being knows that there are no benefits in two people intensely arguing back and forth.

An Enlightened being has no craving or desire (mental longing with a strong eagerness) to “win”.

An Enlightened being has no “arrogance or ego” to be classified as a “winner”.

An Enlightened being knows the goal of Gotama Buddha is for the entire world to attain Enlightenment, thus, it is not about a specific person winning but instead that we only “win” when we are all Enlightened and arguing does not lead to Enlightenment.

An Enlightened being is not interested in being distinguished as “the winner” but instead is interested in all of humanity winning as we are all gradually learning and practicing The Teachings progressing on The Path to Enlightenment so that “all beings” can experience Enlightenment.

To accomplish the goal of us “all winning”, I submit that we can and should “discuss” the teachings but not debate, argue, and attempt to determine a winner and a loser.

A discussion is very different than a debate.

A discussion is where two or more people come together to politely, kindly, friendly, and respectfully have a dialogue without arrogance and ego recognizing that they most likely do not have all the answers while being open to learning and understanding from others in the discussion.

A discussion is defined as: the action or process of talking about something in order to reach a decision or to exchange ideas.

Through peaceful and calm dialogue a discussion can lead to better understanding by all those who participate.

An open discussion where all involved are willing to share, listen, learn, understand, and admit another person’s opinion and view is wise can lead to improved understanding of The Teachings through an exchange of ideas.

And, a discussion can commence and continue even where there is disagreement and even finish with all people being polite, kind, friendly, and respectful to each other during and after the discussion. A discussion would involve not attempting to force another to be convinced of their opinion and view but instead share openly while being willing to understand another opinion and view through the exchange of ideas.

A debate where all parties are attempting to “win” can, therefore, oftentimes lead to intense arguments as craving and desire (longing with a strong eagerness) leads to hatred and anger (pushing people away potentially with hostility). A debate may not be able to maintain polite, kind, friendly, and respectful dialogue. A debate does not involve an exchange of ideas where all people are open to learning and understanding each other but instead, a debate is attempting to convince another side or an audience who is more intelligent and who has “won” which oftentimes involves arrogance and ego.

In this world where the goal is to eliminate hostility, hatred, anger, resentment, jealousy, and other discontent feelings for “all beings” along with eradicating arrogance and ego for beings to experience Enlightenment; a debate would not accomplish this goal.

The goal is not for one person or another to “win” but the goal is for us “all to win” and we only accomplish that goal when we are able to share, listen, learn, understand, and admit another person’s opinion and view is wise leading to improved understanding of The Teachings on this Path to Enlightenment.

So, I suggest you do not debate but instead that you have discussions. I suggest that you do not argue but instead that you have discussions. I suggest that you do not attempt to be the winner but instead that you consider that we have all won when we are successful at having discussions, dialogue, and sometimes disagreements politely, kindly, friendly, and with respect. I suggest that you consider that we have all “won” when the entire world has experienced Enlightenment through each individual choosing on their own to pursue and progress on The Path to Enlightenment.

Disagreements do not need to lead to hostility, hatred, anger, resentment, jealousy, and other discontent feelings with arrogance and ego where you push people away from you (i.e. aversion). The mind can be trained to disagree while having an exchange of ideas politely, kindly, friendly, and with respect.

But to do that, you need to learn, understand, and practice the true Teachings of Gotama Buddha with guidance from a Teacher so that you can come to understand debating provides us no benefit but discussions lead to the entire world liberating the mind experiencing Enlightenment.

May you have a wonderful day and may you experience the peaceful liberation of the mind taught by Gotama Buddha known as Enlightenment.