III. The Department of Building & Development
This department is another important area, in that it works for the convenience of the Saṅgha through improving, repairing, and maintaining the physical surroundings in which we live. To be specific, its duties are to build and repair, inspect and maintain our dwellings or monasteries so that they will qualify as senāsana-sappāya – comfortable, amenable places for contemplatives to stay.
Meditating monks by and large tend to have fixed notions about this area, believing that to sponsor or do construction work for the sake of Buddhists at large is to devote oneself to merely material concerns, and that such work thus shouldn’t be done. Some even believe that work of this sort closes off the paths and fruitions leading to nibbāna. Nevertheless, these people have not gone beyond the material benefits they criticize. For this reason, we should examine the area of building and development to see whether or not it is appropriate and accords with the Vinaya.
I would like to divide the duties in this area into two sorts, in line with the two major duties that those who are ordained should take an interest in –
A. The duty of study (gantha-dhura): Those monks who are gāmavāsī, or village dwellers, are responsible for improving, repairing, and developing the places in which they live, for the sake of the common good of Buddhists at large. When building, they should have a sense of scale, order, and beauty so that their buildings will fit in with their physical surroundings. For example, monks’ quarters, restrooms, meeting halls, and ordination halls should be arranged, in so far as possible, in an orderly way, in keeping with their functions. Once built, they should be kept clean and in repair so as to contribute to the beauty of their surroundings. If anything is lacking, and one is in a position to search for it by proper means, then obtain and maintain it in a righteous manner for the sake of one’s own convenience and that of the group. All of these activities form a part of the duty of study: improving and developing the place in which we live.
B. The duty of meditation (vipassanā-dhura): This refers to those monks termed araññavāsī, or forest dwellers, who search for secluded areas appropriate for meditation, such as those mentioned in the Pali: under the shade of a tree; in a secluded dwelling; under a lean-to, far from settled areas; in a quiet tower; under an over-hanging rock; in a cave; in a forest; in a cemetery; or in a deserted building. One should learn how to select such a place appropriate for one’s need and how to keep it clean and neat for the sake of one’s convenience as a meditator while living there. This is ‘building and development’ in the forest: Observing the protocols of the Vinaya in caring for one’s dwelling, improving and maintaining order in one’s surroundings – and improving oneself while living there. This is building and development on the external level, one sign of a person who knows how to maintain himself in physical seclusion.
As for internal building and development, one should build a shelter for the mind: vihāra-dhamma, a home for the heart. One should foster magga, the path to one’s home; and phala, the goodness that arises in the heart as a result. The shelter along the way is Right Concentration: the first, second, third, and fourth jhāna. These four jhānas are the true shelter for those who are ordained.
Once we have been ordained as contemplatives, we should realize that we come under this particular department and so should perform our duties properly. But by and large we don’t understand the true aims of the various departments and so grope around in external matters, without building or developing any internal qualities that can give the heart shelter. When the heart has no internal quality as its shelter, it will go living outside, building and helping only other people. If the heart is entangled with external matters, then after death it will be reborn attached to physical objects and possessions. Those who are attached to their monasteries will be reborn there as guardian spirits. Those who are attached to their quarters, their ordination halls, their meeting halls, their bodies, will be reborn right there. This is called sensual clinging: Whatever object we cling to, there we will be reborn. For example, there is a story told in the Dhammapada Commentary of a monk who received a robe that gave him great satisfaction and of which he became very possessive. When he died he was reborn as a louse right there in the robe, all because he had no inner quality as a dwelling for the heart.
So for our building and development to go beyond physical objects, we should build and repair a shelter for the heart. Only then will we be qualified to take on external duties – and in performing our duties, we should be careful not to let our inner home become overgrown with the weeds of defilement, or to let the termites of the hindrances eat into it. Don’t let vermin, lizards, or lice – character flaws (mala) – take up residence inside. Roof the home of the heart – jhāna – with restraint of the senses so that the fires of passion, aversion, and delusion don’t burn it down.
To purify the principles of our conduct (sīla) is to clear and grade our property. To give rise to jhāna is to build a home for ourselves. To develop discernment within the mind is to light our home. We will then be safe both while we stay and when we go. When we are able to do this, it will lead to the true prosperity of the religion.
This is what it means to observe our duties in the area of building and development.
