Virtue as Refuge: A Reflection on a Dharma Talk

I beamed this morning as our car wound down through the fog and trees of the Missouri countryside toward the sleepy sanctuary that was our destination. My fiancee, her sister, and I would meet a friend of mine there, and we would spend the day among an unfamiliar culture and a mostly unfamiliar faith.

The Mid-America Buddhist Association (MABA) sprawls over sixty acres of secluded hillside, set back from the main road amidst trees and a beautiful pond full of waterlilies. A handful of Buddhist monastics work the grounds and keep the gorgeous area up for their weekly communal gatherings - gatherings that seemto me more like a family getting together than a worship service. Perhaps by virtue of the commitment required - being so secluded, the journey to MABA is quite a drive - or by the virtue of the small number of Buddhists in Missouri, the congregants arrive, chant, meditate, eat, and visit together over the course of three hours or more each Sunday. It's humbling, compared to many experiences I've had in parishes more familiar, where the congregation is too busy worrying about other business to enjoy the koinonia that could be theirs. A minute too long, and the congregation is unhappy and grumbling. I've even heard of one congregation that neglects the Gloria in the Mass because they think it takes too much time.

None of that is really the intent of this entry, however. The intent is to comment a bit on a talk that Venerable Kaizhao gave just after meditation, on the application of Dharma (essentially the Buddhist notion of "Gospel") in our daily lives. I was particularly struck, being heavily formed by the Thomistic theology of the Dominicans I study with, by the notion of Karma, specifically as refuge. Karma is essentially what Thomas speaks of when he talks of the relationship between virtue, vice, and habitus.

Karma can be roughly spoken of as the energy that forms the habitus from virtuous (or vicious) action. The action cultivates an energy that then returns to us - in the case of virtue, we cultivate peace and move toward Happiness. In the case of vice (also referred to as unwholesome action), we cultivate unhappiness. Venerable Kaizhao spoke of Karma as a refuge. This idea seemed intriguing and played at my imagination; I wondered,
what can I take from this notion?"

In Thomistic Anthropology, virtues reside in powers of the soul, and shape the power in which they reside. For example, Prudence resides in the Intellect, and prudent actions will shape the intellect so that it makes better decisions, and becomes more naturally prudent. A more prudent Intellect will more readily and easily guide the Will, which will help guide the Soul and the whole being of the person toward Happiness. To the contrary, vicious actions, imprudent, frivolous, hateful, and other types of actions, cultivate the opposite effect.

Virtue, then, is our refuge in that it provides our souls shelter from unhappiness. Unwholesome acts invite bad karma, inviting chaos and destruction into our shelter, casting our house (our souls) into disarray. We see this manifest in the disordered concupiscences of the Will and Sensitive Appetite, in the corruption of our imagination, and in the lack of prudence in our Intellect.

Venerable Kaizhou emphasized that these results are both public and private, and inescapable. I would add that these results are fostered not only large obvious acts of sin or virtue, but by the small things, the venial things as well. In a Catholic context, this is why the sacrament of Confession is so important, even for such things as venial sins - it cultivates a virtuous habitus by acknowledging and absolving even the peccadillos, so that all the small harms we may do to ourself and others are not stumbling blocks and obstacles in our den. Confession "cleans our house," so to speak, setting our soul aright so that our actions might be free and excellent, unhindered by the burden of sin, and ordered to their proper end: our Happiness, found only in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So, flee from sin, and cultivate virtue: pray, fast, give alms, partake in the sacramental life of the Church in all its fullness, both celebration and penance. This is the path to Happiness, our hope and our salvation.

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~jacob w torbeck