Venerable Sir, once Right View is complete, what happens then?

When ‘Right View’ is complete, ‘Right Thought’ (sammā-sankappa)―sometimes also known as ‘Right Intention’―becomes complete. Right Thought means the three things known as ‘thoughts of harmlessness’ (avihiŋsā-sankappa), ‘thoughts of hatelessness’ (avyāpāda-sankappa) and ‘thoughts of letting go’ (nekkhamma-sankappa).

Harmlessness means you won’t inflict cruelty upon anyone. Here, cruelty isn’t just limited to physical assault, berating or killing. If somebody was harassed by you even with a word or gesture, it would be a cruelty. For those of you in employment or doing a business, to remain alert about thoughts of harmlessness would be immensely useful. In your occupation, suppose you delay performing your duty for the client that comes before you, or delay fulfilling the client’s requirement, or tell them to come back next week for a matter that could have been resolved today, or expect bribes. At that very instant itself revered-you veer away from thoughts of harmlessness. The very moment a salesman sells a low-quality product while making a fat profit, he turns his back on thoughts of harmlessness. The moment you neglect fulfilling your duty or responsibility towards someone who ought to receive your service, you diverge from Right Thought. Revered-you reflect wisely and see how much you veer away from thoughts of harmlessness during your working life. It may be that you’re unable to fulfil your client’s requirement within the permitted regulatory framework of your institution. But be skilful to make that unsatisfied client feel glad at least with a smile. The instant you make them happy with a smile you will have incorporated thoughts of harmlessness in your life. The genuine smile you wear before people who become helpless will help thoughts of harmlessness burgeon in you. Because of the intense competition in the passenger transport industry due to chasing money, on a given day those revered-people involved in that industry diverge from thoughts of harmlessness on a massive scale. Having recognized these human frailties, you had best turn your working life into one where thoughts of harmlessness flourish. Because of child servants, domestic servants, housemaids or security services some revered-folks stray away from thoughts of harmlessness all the time.

When you diverge from thoughts of harmlessness, diverging from thoughts of hatelessness comes about inevitably. Due to the busyness entailed in occupational life revered-you constantly give rise to anger, hatred, aversion. Another person’s gesture provokes anger in you. In the street, in a traffic jam, you constantly stray away from thoughts of hatelessness and burn with hate (vyāpāda). How many a time you get angry in domestic life because of the husband, wife, children or parents! In your occupational life and household life if you’re skilful to live preserving thoughts of hatelessness, you’ll be someone who always lives within Right Thought. [Whereas,] each moment you let hate or anger flare up in you, you’ll be someone who has diverged from the Noble Eightfold Path.

When the development of thoughts of harmlessness and hatelessness becomes lacking, the development of ‘thoughts of letting go’―nekkhamma-sankappa―inevitably becomes stunted. Nekkhamma means letting go.1 What is it that’s being let go of? One lets go of the unwholesome-roots greed, hatred, delusion, and takes refuge in greedlessness, hatelessness, and non-delusion.2 Each moment revered-you let minds of greed, hatred or delusion arise, you veer away from Right Thought. Cruelty and hate would be the red carpet that ushers unwholesome-roots in.

Buddha sets forth Right View and Right Thought as constituent steps relating to wisdom―paññā. So, it is absolutely essential that those who practise the path of the Dhamma correctly incorporate in their life the essence pertaining to both these steps. The strength gained by cultivating these two constituent parts strengthens the entire Noble Eightfold Path. [Then,] a thought devoid of cruelty, a thought devoid of hate or a thought of letting go you give rise to would indeed be Right Thought nourished by Right View.

Venerable Sir, how can we turn Right Thought into supermundane Right Thought (lokuttara sammā-sankappa)?

The Bhikkhu explained to you that Right Thought means thoughts of harmlessness, thoughts of hatelessness and thoughts of letting go. Now you think; what result do you get if you live within harmlessness, hatelessness, and letting go, throughout your whole life? A wholesome-saṅkhāra; Rebirth in a fortunate destination. Is that rebirth in a fortunate plane permanent or impermanent? Impermanent. In the past, though you had generated meditative absorptions (jhāna) of loving-kindness owing to harmlessness and hatelessness, those saṅkhāras simply became impermanent. Supposing you see this impermanence of saṅkhāras; supposing you refrain from becoming attached to those ephemeral saṅkhāras: there, the supermundane Right Thought develops in you. Live contemplating with wisdom the impermanence of the saṅkhāras you received as a result of cultivating Right Thought in the past.

1 The term nekkhamma means ‘renunciation’. It means both (1) ‘to forgo the desire for sensuous pleasures’ (i.e. freedom from sense-desire) and (2) ‘to go forth (into the homeless state of monkhood having left the household life)’. When contextualized, it can be understood to comprise both meanings―i.e. to release one’s grip on something, to stop holding on to something or somebody, to willingly stop having or doing something that you would like to have or do. To denote such meaning, ‘let go (of)’ and ‘forgo’ are considered to be the more adequate renderings.

2 The 3 unwholesome-roots are lobha (greed), dosa (hatred) and moha (delusion). The 3 wholesome-roots are alobha – ‘greedless’ (or having generosity); adosa – ‘devoid of hate’ (or having loving-kindness); and amoha – ‘undeluded’ (or having wisdom (paññā)).