The happiness of blamelessness
Today, do one right thing when no one is watching, and notice how it sits with you.
- Read · about 2 minutes
“Householder, these four kinds of happiness can be earned by a layperson who enjoys sensual pleasures, depending on time and occasion.…The happiness of ownership, using wealth, debtlessness, and blamelessness.…And what is the happiness of blamelessness?It’s when a noble disciple has blameless conduct by way of body, speech, and mind.When he reflects on this, he’s filled with pleasure and happiness.This is called ‘the happiness of blamelessness’.…Discerning clearly, a clever person knowsboth kinds of happiness:the other kind is not worth a sixteenth partof the happiness of blamelessness.”AN 4.62 · “Debtlessness” · tr. Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0)
From the text
The passage names four kinds of happiness available to a layperson: ownership, using wealth, being free of debt, and blamelessness. Blamelessness is described as blameless conduct in body, speech, and mind, which brings pleasure and happiness when reflected on. The closing lines say the other kind of happiness is not worth a sixteenth part of this one.
In everyday life
This is a teaching addressed to a householder, a layperson enjoying ordinary pleasures, and it does not ask him to give those up. It counts real, ordinary satisfactions: having things of your own, using them, owing nothing. Then it adds a fourth that is different in kind. Blamelessness is not about having anything. It is the feeling, when you look back over how you acted, of finding nothing you need to hide. 'Noble disciple' you can read here as someone practicing this teaching. The text's ranking is striking: the other kind of happiness is not worth a sixteenth of this one. Recall a day when you were honest at some cost, and a day when you got away with something. Which one sits easier now? Today's sit with the breath gives you a few minutes to feel your own conscience without noise. Then act, once, in a way you will be glad to remember.
- Sit · 3, 5 or 10 minutes
Breath Awareness
Sit comfortably upright, hands in your lap or on your knees. After reading a cue, you may close your eyes and rest with the breath until the next one appears.
- Live · during your day
Do one small right thing today that no one will notice, such as returning something you borrowed or being exact about a number when fudging it would be easy. Afterwards, notice how it sits in your body.
- Reflect · this evening
What did the ease of a clear conscience feel like today, if you noticed it?
Answer on paper, or in the app’s journal, which stays on your iPhone.