Ethics and the Way

This Kwoon is dedicated to the facilitating of the goal to become an excellent being.

Ethics is a large field of study with many interpretations over the time span of civilization. In the Threefold Lotus Kwoon, ethics is simply defined as the behaviour of man. However, ethics is no simple task.

If we are to understand with clarity, the nature of our behaviour, we must first become aware of our actions. This sounds simple enough, but the reality is that few of us truly observe our actions and instead observe others' behaviour to determine how we should act, think, or speak. This is a very unfocused, undirected way of meandering through life. The result is a life which wanders through fads,influences, and often feels victimized by the environment or others. This victimization is what most religions, corporations, and governments capitalize on to gain our camaraderie and devotion in the bid for our money, time, control and ultimately our spirit itself!

So, to observe one's self would seem to be of primary importance. But, how to set about doing it? For thousands of years, scholars of all cultures from nomadic man to "modern" have set their considerable skills and lifetimes to analyze and decipher this puzzle. How is it, that the only species on the planet capable of self analysis and self perception should have such difficulty in observing its own actions to understand and to control and guide its own nature? The unfortunate answer for many is that human life is some sort of mistake! That human life is to be suffered at the hands of other, exterior, mysterious forces that act on us without our knowledge and foster internal battles of the mind as we struggle through our victimized lives! This is truly disgusting!

Human life is the most precious of all phenomena! All life is precious! And just as the stream feeds into the river which feeds into the sea, just as the fox is both prey and predator, just as the planets orbit within galaxies and the universe itself is in constant motion, so too is life in the natural order of all things. There simply are no accidents in the universe. Both Science and Philosophy have proven this by observation and by experimentation for thousands of years. Those who chose to ignore this fact are either cowards or so deficient in mind that they cannot fathom the truth that their body already knows.

To be an excellent being is to know and accept one's place in the wondrous order of the universe of life. All one need do is to listen to one's inherent nature.

This is the starting point in our mission and the foundation of all ethics. Because we are all manifest of three aspects of life, we must clarify or purify these three aspects within ourselves in order to achieve understanding and develop our listening skills. The three aspects that constitute human life are, Body, Mind, and Spirit.

Body represents all our physical attributes and senses. In order that we may know ourselves completely, we must be in total awareness and control of our bodies physically and in our basic sense perceptions. This is where the Chi gong (Energy Work), Tai Chi Chuan (sinue metamorphosis), and fundamental teachings of martial arts stances and movements work to integrate and train each and every organ, muscle and bone in our bodies to work in harmony by un-consealing the voices in the body and honing our senses to achive more sensitive and acute perception.

The Mind integrates the harmonies of the physical body and senses. Training the mind's cognitive and perceptive skills to interpret the signals of the nervous system to command the physical body throughout the course of its training integrates perception with one's identity and valuation of the physical body. It is paramount then, that the mind be carefully trained and nurtured to perform its tasks with diligence, clarity, and honesty. For a mind driven by delusion can be most destructive to a body.

As we integrate the body and mind training to become fully self aware, we invariably gain tremendous knowledge of the world and others around us. This is due to the inseparability of being and environment. Once one's universe becomes knowable, then and only then does the nature of the universe of others and the universe which contains all become fathomable in correct relation to one's self. It is at this point the true spirituality, clear understanding, and the love and respect for life make themselves known.

This is the threefold way, and the only goal of a truly fulfilled and happy life in awe, and responsible.

In the pursuit of the above goals provisional ethics are adopted in the form of rules and conventions of behaviour which may at first seem ritualistic or provincial. The truth however is that these rules and conventions are part of the training of the mind and body in preparation for the enlightenment to come.

As the Buddha taught the path to enlightenment and our innate Buddha Nature is to follow the Eightfold Path:

1. Right Views.
2. Right Thinking.
3. Right Speach.
4. Right Action.
5. Right Way of Life.
6. Right Endeavor.
7. Right Mindfulness.
8. Right Meditation.

To follow the eightfold path is impossible without first integrating the body, mind, and spirit. Without proper training, our minds, deluded by ego, will constantly work at odds with our bodies and our life itself.

This is stated in the Buddhist teaching of the Four Nobel Truths:

1. All existence is suffering.
2. All Suffering is caused by selfish cravings.
3. Erradication of all selfish cravings brings about ceasation of all suffering and leads to nirvana.
4. The way of ceasing all selfish cravings to extinguish all suffering is the Eightfold Path.