Dec '25 • General discussion
No Guilt, No Shame
We're all responsible, but no one is to blame.
The moral theory of Buddhism is importantly different from that of Christianity. "Sin" is not an operative concept in Buddhism because there is no omnipotent deity to offend. If you behave badly, as the old cliche goes, you are only hurting yourself. And likely other people near you, physically or otherwise, but immoral conduct is not immoral because some sky daddy forbade it. Buddhism abjures metaphysics, focusing intently on what is right in front of us, and verifiably so. Buddhism focuses on concrete, real world harms.
The Buddhist path does begin with sila, or morality. The Buddha articulated five precepts that all humans should observe.
- Do not harm other beings.
- Do not steal.
- Do not lie or utter false, divisive speech.
- Refrain from irresponsible sexual activity.
- Avoid intoxicants.
We can call this the Hangover Rule. If you get drunk, you run the risk of harming other people, perhaps by driving under the influence, of stealing out of need or just hijinx, of lying or gossiping, and of having sex you shouldn't be having.
Regardless, you will have a hangover the next day, harming yourself.
You will also accumulate bad karma, which a lot of people think they understand but don't. More on karma in another post.
In Buddhism, this is all temporary. According to Christianity, if you "sin," the omnipotent deity who loves you will condemn you to eternal punishment.
The Buddha talked about very long periods of time that are functionally infinite from the perspective of a human lifetime, but he also stated that we have multiple lifetimes, with the only thread of continuity among them being our karma. Current you will not be aware of future you, but eventually you will awaken fully and exhaust the karma that keeps you coming back for more lifetimes. That was the key realization of the Buddha.
When the Buddha died, he died and will remain forever dead. But Ajahn Sumedho describes awakening as "the deathless." The body is the least interesting, important part of any human life. After the Buddha's body died, his subjectivity, his remaining karma, disappeared, to where we don't know.
There are theories. Insofar as Buddhism is consistent with physics, we can say that, given mass energy equivalence, the Buddha became energy. This is speculation and not terribly important.
Another way to put the point is to say that "the deathless" is also "the rebirthless." That is, the chief realization of the Buddha was to ensure he would have no more rebirths. We don't know what the other option is, but it doesn't matter. It is better than where we are right now, in a way no human language can describe and to an effectively infinite degree.
After his awakening, the Buddha was never tempted to go back to his status quo ante. He ate to keep his body alive and felt no desire for intoxicants or sex because he enjoyed a level of physical pleasure he never knew before awakening just by existing.
For our purposes, perhaps his most important claim was that awakened is actually our default state. We have just forgotten it, but we all have the capacity to recall it.
Awakening is possible for all sentient beings.
You can do this. I am doing it.
You only need a consistent meditation practice.
Awakening always happens now because now is the only moment we have access to.
Some people insist that no practice is necessary or useful because awakening is instantaneous. It undoubtedly is when it occurs, but obviously our accumulated forgetfulness prevents us from realizing it.
The Buddha was not wrong in teaching that morality is the necessary starting point from which meditation will lead to ultimate realization and awakening, if you meditate consistently.
Guilt and shame are not useful in this moral framework. They obviously don't work to prevent immoral conduct in general.
Pointing out the obvious, enlightened (!) self interest in avoiding self harm, linked to the physical and emotional pleasure of meditation is a far more effective, reliable approach to inculcating moral conduct among humans.
So behave yourself and meditate consistently.
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No Guilt, No Shame
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