No regrets, then joy
Today, do one thing you will not need to regret, and notice what follows.
- Read · about 2 minutes
“Sir, what is the goal and benefit of skillful ethics?”“Ānanda, having no regrets is the goal and benefit of skillful ethics.”…So, Ānanda, the goal and benefit of skillful ethics is not having regrets.Joy is the goal and benefit of not having regrets.Rapture is the goal and benefit of joy.Tranquility is the goal and benefit of rapture.Bliss is the goal and benefit of tranquility.AN 11.1 · Kimatthiya Sutta · “What’s the Goal?” · tr. Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0)
From the text
Ānanda asks what the goal and benefit of skillful ethics is. The answer is having no regrets. Joy is then named as the benefit of having no regrets, rapture the benefit of joy, tranquility the benefit of rapture, and bliss the benefit of tranquility.
In everyday life
Ānanda, the one asking, wants to know what good conduct is for, and the answer is a chain that starts close to home. 'Skillful ethics' you can read here as good conduct, acting in ways you will not need to regret. Its first fruit is simply having no regrets: nothing to replay at night, nothing to hope no one finds out. From that comes joy, then rapture, a stronger gladness, then tranquility, a settling of body and mind, then bliss. You may have felt the first link already. A day with a small dishonesty in it sits differently from a clean one. Today's sit is about arriving, and one way to take this passage is that arriving is easier when nothing is nagging. Notice, as you settle, whether anything from yesterday is still pulling at you. Then give tomorrow's sit one less thing to carry.
- Sit · 3, 5 or 10 minutes
Arriving and Settling
Sit upright on a chair or cushion, hands resting in your lap. Read each cue as it appears; between cues you may close your eyes or lower your gaze.
- Live · during your day
Notice one moment today when you could say or do something you would later have to explain away. Choose the version that needs no explaining, then notice later whether anything is nagging at you.
- Reflect · this evening
Was there anything nagging at you by the end of today, and where did it come from?
Answer on paper, or in the app’s journal, which stays on your iPhone.