23 Should You Be Good For Goodness’ Sake? Compassion is the root [beginning] of the Buddha path [the path to Buddhahood]. – The Treatise On Perfection Of Wisdom (Nagarjuna)
T
here is this adage… To ‘be good for goodness’ sake’; instead of being good for pleasing anyone human or ‘divine’, or only for personal benefit… which would make one’s goodness not so truly good in itself. However, if we are to be good only to be good, it does not make much sense, as it leads to no larger ultimate purpose. Why be good then? Because doing good for others does good for oneself and others, because it brings happiness. The truth is, when we do good, even if solely to help others, we inevitably, even if unintentionally and indirectly, end up helping ourselves too, as the practice of cultivating compassion is a key factor for advancing on the path towards True Happiness. To be more kind is to become more aligned to our true nature, the Buddha-nature within. Being good is therefore good for one and all. Is it selfish to do good for oneself, and not so much for others? As a start, we might do good partly or even entirely for ourselves, so as to create positive karma and avoid creating negative karma, for greater personal worldly happiness. This is natural, and the Buddha did encourage doing so for beginners. Such happiness can motivate and facilitate furthering of the spiritual life too, when used skilfully. However, the Buddha also urged the cultivation of the Four Immeasurables (loving-kindness, compassion, rejoice and equanimity) with wisdom for spiritual happiness – which 66
TDE6