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The Ten Ways of Wholesome Action-Gil Fronsdal
The following talk was given by Gil Fronsdal at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on October 19, 2025. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.
The Ten Ways of Wholesome Action (link)
So last week I talked about the Eightfold Path with an emphasis that the Buddha's focus was on how we live our lives, not leaving our lives behind, but the manner in which we live our lives fully, completely, in a healthy way. And so he had these things called the Eightfold Path. The word that we translated as "fold," which is kind of for me an evocative metaphor in English, is literally "limb" in the ancient language, anga1, and it has a biological reference point. Like we have, I guess humans have four limbs, we sometimes say, and the Eightfold Path has eight limbs.
What I love about this is that the word for mindfulness in Pali also means "to remember." And in English, "to re-member" is one way of understanding it: to put the members back together, put all the pieces back together of who we are. It's very easy for humans to become dismembered, in a way, becoming detached or disassociated from whole parts of who they are. When we sit down to meditate, we're putting ourselves back together, gathering ourselves. The Pali word samadhi2, often translated as concentration, could literally mean gathering together or putting yourself together, putting all the members, gathering together.
In the Eightfold Path, the fourth step is what I call holistic action, or right action. The Buddha was considered back in his time a teacher of action, which sometimes you don't get that sense in the way that Buddhism is taught. Meditation seems almost like a withdrawal from being in the world and acting in the world; it's almost like a non-action. And sometimes people even emphasize this teaching because many people in the United States are way too busy in their mind, with too many things, always trying to accomplish things and do things and be someone for someone. It's such a relief to hear teachings on "just be, don't do, just be."
But the Buddha actually didn't really emphasize being; he emphasized doing. He was a teacher of action, but he was teaching a kind of action that pointed to peace, deep profound peace, not to being exhausted—the opposite, to be refreshed and renewed. A kind of action that is generative, that gives birth to a deep, generative inspiration within us, a transformation for how we live, how we act.
Sometimes Buddhism is taught as a teaching for transcendence, that we somehow transcend this world to leave it behind or have transcendent experiences that have nothing to do with this world. That's not what the Buddha taught. He taught a transformation; we get transformed somehow. And part of this transformation is this re-membering, becoming whole, so all of who we are is included.
There's another teaching around action that I want to do today that is called the steps of wholesome action. The word for steps is pada3. Pada is a wonderful, interesting word. In the way that Indo-European languages have the same origin, pada also means foot and footstep. When we use the word "pedestrian," we're using that "pod" word as it kind of came down to us. The constants have changed over time, so the 'p' became an 'f' for "foot." So, it's the 10 steps or 10 feet of action. I love this because it's how we walk this life. It's not about how we just sit around; it's how we walk, how we step. This is the walk to walk, again, in action.
He gives a list of 10 feet. There are eight limbs and 10 feet, 10 steps we can take. It's this biological reference point, this re-membering, bringing all together of who we are. Meditating, as I said, mindfulness is really to become not only embodied but even more embodied, where all of who we are—enheartened, enminded, inhumaned—all of it gets included. We really bring in everything of who we are so that we have a phenomenally sensitive intelligence or sensitive antenna within us. We can really feel and sense when we're off. We can really feel and sense the deeper messages that our whole system can offer us about what is healthy to do and what is unhealthy to do. When things are off and when things are right on. When something doesn't feel right here, when we feel like we're somehow harming our own integrity, our own authenticity, limiting ourselves in some unnecessary way, how we're adding stress and suffering. There's a kind of an acute sensitivity to the slightest movements of stress, so it doesn't sneak up on us until we have a migraine because we just barrel ahead with the stressful ways that are so easy for some of us to live in this modern world.
So we're cultivating this acute sensitivity that involves this transformation of where the information comes from for knowing what is healthy and not healthy. He has this teaching called the 10 courses of wholesome action. The word "courses" is the word pada, so the 10 steps, the 10 feet for healthy action, for wholesome action. The word "wholesome" is used rather than "right" and "wrong" or "good" and "bad" because it doesn't have quite the same moralistic tenor, like you're supposed to be very puritanical or something. Here, the word wholesome is almost a synonym for the word healthy. So, the 10 steps of healthy action in the world, how to live.
The Buddha uses this word "wholesome" a lot. And now that I've just said that to make a point, I'd like to use the word "good," and hopefully you'll let me get away with it. I'll say it both ways, but we're starting with "good" just for pedagogical reasons. The Buddha said, "If you were not capable of doing what is good, I wouldn't teach you. I wouldn't instruct you to do what's good. But you can do what's good. Therefore, I teach you, I instruct you: do what's good." I mean, that's a pretty clear teaching on action.
The other way of saying it: "If you cannot do what is wholesome, I wouldn't instruct you in doing what is wholesome. But you can do what's wholesome, and therefore I instruct you: do what is wholesome." That's quite a strong statement that he makes, and it's a statement of a lot of confidence in what we're capable of doing and what it's worthwhile to do. It's worthwhile being sensitive and discerning about what we actually do in our life, so that what we do in our life nourishes us, supports us, is healthy for us, is wholesome, is beneficial, goes in a good direction for us, and has good consequences for us. This is what the Buddha kept focusing on over and over again. Not action that just makes us busy and stressed. You have enough to do on your to-do list, and now the Buddha gives you more. Luckily, it's not one more additional thing to do, in a sense. A lot of it has to do with how you do what you're doing. It's a guide that applies to all you're doing in your life. Look to understand what you're doing and how you do it so that it can be wholesome, so it can be enlivening, so it can be refreshing, so it can be nurturing for you.
Of course, it takes a lot of attention, a lot of being in the present moment and tracking this. Some of us have such important things to do that we don't have time to pay attention to ourselves. We don't have time to notice how we're feeling and what's happening because, you know, there's a long list to do. There are a lot of important things to be done. And whether you're feeling stressed or not, that can't be that important.
You can live without stress. If you couldn't, I wouldn't tell you. It is possible. And so it becomes second nature after a while, with this re-membering, coming together, gathering yourself together for this deeper sensitivity. After a while, it becomes second nature.
So then we come to these 10 steps, these 10 ways of having wholesome action and becoming really accomplished in these 10 steps. The word "accomplished" is kind of a rich word in the ancient language because the word that it translates also means happy, successful, a blessing, enjoyment. So it points to this attainment, in a sense, this accomplishment, which is a kind of difficult word, "to accomplish something," but it's to accomplish something that really brings happiness and delight and joy to your life. So becoming accomplished in these 10 skillful actions is not meant to just become busy, but a transformation into becoming a happy person.
If you can't be happy, I wouldn't teach you to be happy. But you can be happy. It is possible. Of course, you have so many important things to do that are more important than being happy. And happiness is overrated, and making more money is well-rated, whatever it is. There are all kinds of things we chase. But to have this deep settling into oneself and becoming gathered and whole, and a kind of a natural upwelling of well-being, a well-being that is not dependent on what's happening around you or what you acquire or the experiences that you pay for or don't pay for—it's a deep sense of well-being.
So, 10 of these kinds of actions. The point here in the teaching is not "do these actions," but rather, "consider when you're doing these kinds of things, do them with this deep sensitivity so that you become accomplished." The other word that's related to this word "accomplished" is the word "endowed." To become endowed is a really wonderful word. To become endowed means to be filled, and he uses the word "filled" a lot—be filled with these things, with happiness and well-being.
So, 10 steps. I'm going to go through the 10. I'll just list them. There are explanations associated with them. Most of them are defined by what you don't do, which is very interesting, but five of them have these positive corollaries, what you do do. And here you get some of the flavor of the values or the possibilities that these actions have for us.
This list, for the Buddha, is much more important than the list of the five precepts. The five precepts seemingly are not that important for the Buddha, at least in terms of how often he taught them. But a comparable list is this list here. Four of these things are four of the five precepts, but the context of them is very different because we're talking about these wholesome actions, these things that bring happiness and well-being.
So the first is, a wholesome thing to do is to abandon, to let go, to stop something. Oh no, these Buddhists one more time, they're like this party-pooping religion. "Don't do that. Let go of that. Abandon that." So, I apologize. But when you hear what it is you're supposed to abandon, you'll probably say, "You shouldn't have apologized."
Abandoning the killing of living beings. So, if you're doing that, cut it out. It's not wholesome. It's not happiness-producing. It doesn't make yourself complete and feel a sense of abundance within. If you're killing your neighbors, killing people who live in your land, if you're killing people anywhere in the world, it doesn't work. So the Buddha says, "Abandon it."
Abandon taking what is not given. Abandon stealing. I'm sorry for this, for those of you who are stealing, but the Buddha says, "Don't. Let go of that." In our sophisticated, complicated economic world that we live in, what is stealing? What is taking what is not given here?
Abandoning misconduct in sensual pleasures. The word here is misconduct in sensual, but it's mostly meant to be sexual pleasures, the way it's explained. So what goes undefined is what is appropriate conduct with our sexuality.
Abandoning false speech.
Abandoning malicious speech.
Abandoning harsh speech.
Abandoning gossip.
Those are the things to abandon. And then the next, it no longer says "abandon," but here it just describes how to be. I don't know why the switch is here, but with "abandon," all those are actions that we can see and hear. It's what we do with our body—killing is usually done physically—and what we do with our speech, which you can hear. One way of understanding that is that these are coarser actions than the mind, and maybe it's easier to track and be careful with what you actually do and say than what your mind thinks and intends. So here, there has to be some different kind of transformation that's more than just abandoning or not doing something. The wholesome action with the mind—because the activities of the mind are actions as well. This is part of the brilliance of the Buddha. Action is not only what we do physically and verbally but is also the activity of the mind that we can also track and take some responsibility for.
One is not covetous. Which means one does not covet the wealth and property of others in this way: "Oh, may what belongs to others be mine."
One's mind will be without ill will. So, no ill will.
Right view, right perspective, right understanding. The same as one of the factors of the Eightfold Path. Here it's the last one.
So those are the 10, but they're not just negative. Five of them include the positive.
For the first one, abandoning the killing of living beings: "One abstains from killing living beings with sticks and weapons laid aside. Gentle and kindly, one abides with care for all living beings." This capacity to want others to be well, want others to thrive, wants others to become healthy and healed. The sense of care. We're not supposed to use the word "empathy" anymore. I don't know if you know this, but you're not supposed to use it anymore. You see, empathy is a weakness of human beings that prevents them from treating others harshly and getting them out of our country. Can you believe it? So, be careful with empathy. We have to be careful with our words now. Can you believe that empathy is like a four-letter word in some circles? So, care. But "care" is a four-letter word, and I'll say it proudly. To care. And one of the primary ways we care in Buddhism is not to cause harm, radically, completely. There's nothing more fundamental in Buddhism. Don't deliberately harm anyone, including yourself. Human beings are precious, valuable, dignified, important. There's nothing in Buddhism that diminishes the value, the inherent worth of a human being. The whole premise of Buddhism is that each person is invaluable and that your well-being is being supported and guided. When the Buddha says you can do the good, you can do the wholesome, he's not saying that because you're supposed to behave right, but he's saying that because it's what brings happiness and well-being and joy. It is possible to feel happy and peaceful. So this idea of care and not harming is at the heart of all of these 10 skillful, wholesome actions.
For malicious speech: "One abstains from malicious speech, who does not repeat elsewhere what one has heard in order to divide people from each other." Imagine that. Malicious speech divides people. Don't speak in ways that divide people. "Thus one is one that reunites those who are divided, a promoter of friendships, who enjoys concord, rejoices in concord, delights in concord, a speaker of words that promote concord." So here we have a value that not only gathers ourselves together in a nice way, but we actually gather our fellow humans together in harmony, in unity, in some way through how we speak. To speak maliciously, to speak in ways that divide, that creates an enemy, that creates an "other" who is wrong—rather, we want to find a way to be inclusive. Even when someone has done something we might say is wrong, there is a way of speaking with that person that invites them back in. The restorative justice movement is a phenomenally wonderful movement. If you've witnessed or know anything about how it works, to watch a community come together around restorative justice and become whole again is something that won't happen if someone is sent automatically to prison first and foremost. Communities are not healed, individuals are not healed. So how do we unite? How do we come together with family, friends, everyone? How do we avoid perpetuating the divides?
Then, abandoning harsh speech: "One speaks such words as are gentle, pleasing to the ear and lovable, as go to the heart, are courteous, desired by many, and agreeable to many." I really like the expression here, "pleasing to the ear, go to the heart." So, it's not just what you say, but how you say it, the tone of voice in which you say it.
And then, abandoning gossip: "One speaks at the right time, speaks what is true, speaks about what is good, speaks on the dharma. One speaks at the right time such words as are worth recording, reasonable, moderate, and beneficial." That is how there are four kinds of verbal conduct, verbal action in accordance with the dharma. One of the joys I have about being in my role as a teacher is that sometimes people will start this practice of mindfulness and start noticing more what's happening to themselves and around them. They'll come to me with a problem, and I love this problem. It's a social problem, but still, I love it, even though I don't have a really good answer. They're at work. At work, the currency around the water cooler, the coffee machine, is gossip. "And I don't want to do it anymore. But that's how we connect. What am I supposed to do?" Isn't that great? I mean, I sympathize, I have empathy for the problem, but I love that someone has come to a transformation, a change where they don't want to speak in ways that are divisive, harsh, that are somehow problematic, talking behind people's backs. But rather, they talk about what's beneficial, what's good, and what's helpful. Imagine that when someone says, "Oh, all these people are talking behind your back," and you say, "Oh, that's great," because you trust them that they're just talking good things. They're speaking well. That's what they're about.
And then, one's mind is without ill will. Rather, one has these wishes: "May others be free of enmity, affliction, and anxiety. May they live happily." So one of the healthy actions, wholesome actions that's good for us, brings happiness, a sense of well-being, a sense of joy, endowed with a healthy attitude, is to wish others well. Not because it's a "should," because then it's just adding something to our life, but to be so gathered together, so centered, so present here for ourselves that you recognize welling up from inside is the wish for the well-being of others. Some people will have that naturally in certain settings. If someone hands you a newborn baby, it's hard not to wish them well. Some people have to resort to their puppies to have that feeling, to wish them well, this kind of welling up of something beautiful.
So these values of care, unification, goodwill, speaking things that are good for the heart to hear—the idea is to live in ways that are good for ourselves and good for the world, that are wholesome. The Buddha was a teacher of action. Action that comes from having re-membered, brought together all of who we are into a wonderful whole. All of us included, no parts left out, so that we have the sensitivity to recognize a natural place within that drives or inspires this kind of wholesome action. It's not about a rule that you're supposed to follow. It's about discovering something that's a beautiful, profound thing, which here is represented by the word "wholesome," represented by the word "happy," represented by the word "care." We have within us these capacities.
The transformation of Buddhism is not really a transformation to become someone different than who you are in a conventional kind. Maybe conventionally you can say that you're different, but rather, it's becoming who you're meant to be when you're whole. To be able to drop the ways that we live divided in ourselves, disassociated from ourselves, caught in motivations, caught in desires, caught in fears, caught in resentments that are not good for ourselves or others. To really find this other way of being. It's more a path of transformation in Buddhism than a path of transcendence.
And what I love about this idea of steps—these are the 10 steps, the 10 actions—is that you have to walk them. It's not a means to an end. It's a means that accomplishes the end. Each time you don't lie, you accomplish. Each time you don't kill, you accomplish. Each time you don't steal, you accomplish. So, chances are all of you are very accomplished because probably since you woke up this morning, you probably haven't killed or stolen, engaged in sexual misconduct, or lied. Chances are. Celebrate that. Appreciate that.
Be really wise about the mind streams, the ruminations you have in your mind that are the opposite of celebrating and appreciating. The mind streams that maybe have resentment or fear or criticism or feelings of inadequacy—all of them represent ways in which we are not opening up to the whole of who we are. May you become whole and recognize how there are activities you can do that are part of this whole.
So those are my thoughts this morning.
Q&A
We have five minutes before the end. If you have any questions, comments, or testimonials you'd like to say.
Questioner 1: I have a question about how to interact with someone who, let's just say, you have a neighbor or something like this, and there's been some acrimony or some kind of discontent. And you understand that they are acting in a way which is, quote unquote, unfair to you, goes against things you already agreed to, or various things. And you have to continue interacting with this neighbor, and you want to feel like you're doing something good or right by them, but it also is not fair to you if you continue agreeing to accept their ways of behaving which are not in your interest. How does one reconcile this? And let's just say they're not interested in hearing your point of view or coming to some kind of resolution. How does one then conduct oneself to feel like we are being fair to ourselves and yet try to keep some peace?
Gil Fronsdal: Yeah. So these kinds of real-life situations like that are so contextual that I'd have to hear all the details to really understand what's best. So I apologize if what I'm about to say doesn't quite fit what you're talking about. But yeah, there are times when people behave in ways that are harmful to us, or wrong or stressful, but they're not available at all to process it, to talk about it. Sometimes with neighbors, you call in neighborhood mediation. Different cities have mediation services where they come and offer to help with things like that with neighbors that are so hard.
But let's say there's no way of communicating, no bridge to the person. Then the first thing for a practitioner like us is to really sit with the feelings, the emotions, be with it all. And be present in a kind way to yourself, a caring way for yourself. Be present for all the difficult feelings that come up: the hurt, the way it triggers maybe old wounds, the way that it brings up fear. To really practice with it, breathe with it, know it, and see if you can both find a wise way of being with that so it doesn't limit you. It might still be there, but you're not going to be hindered by it, or in a way that heals it enough.
And once it heals enough, you can do the next step that is emphasized in Buddhism, and that is, can you cultivate goodwill for this person? Is there some way of understanding them, seeing them, sensing them that doesn't condone what they've done? You're being careful with them now, you're cautious with them, but you're not carrying resentment, you're not carrying anger. That underneath it all, you really want the best for them. But you probably want to do that privately. That's good for you to do that. Finding the goodwill, the metta, is a way of helping to heal the way that some of these difficulties kind of work on our hearts. Some people say, "They don't deserve my metta." You deserve to be kind. It's really good for you. Don't sacrifice yourself. Don't harm yourself. Then you're adding a second arrow. Then you're helping your enemy if you're harming yourself, too. So, clean it up if you can.
And then the third thing is, figure out a way to be generous to the person. Maybe just say, "How are you?" or "Hi," even though they don't talk to you. Just smile and say hi and, "Nice weather." Just have an open, kind way. And if you can, give them a gift, give them a season's greeting card, or just do small things. Sometimes that begins to melt people, and they begin to see your humanity. Some people are only unkind and taking care of themselves only and discounting everyone else because they're afraid, or they feel a scarcity, or they have their own challenges. And to feel someone being kind can make a difference. And if it doesn't help at all, at least you've done a good thing for yourself. Is that okay?
Questioner 2: It's really related to the previous question, which is about harsh speech being pleasing to the ear and heart. There are sometimes you have to discuss things, not just people but out in the world, that it seems like the choice is either saying nothing, or lying, or harsh speech if you're trying to be pleasing to the ear. I'm confused about how you can be truthful and pleasing to the ear when you're talking about, say, difficulties in the world.
Gil Fronsdal: Yeah. But that's why we have to do a lot of work on ourselves, so we're not caught in our anger or our hurt or our frustrations or our fear. That's not an easy place to come to. But we have to have really done our own inner work, really deeply, because if not, then it's really hard. We're acting on impulse. We're acting with all this pressure of our reactivity. So there's a lot of deep inner work that has to happen so that if you absolutely have to speak, you learn the art, you learn the skill, you become talented in how you speak.
There was a neighbor here on this street who, when we were doing renovations in the building, there was a lot of sound, banging and stuff. The neighbor was furious at all the sound coming from here with the banging and skill saws and stuff. So he came over and came up to my office upstairs and was just letting me have it. It was this intense anger. So I just listened and listened. It took a while. Maybe I'm kind of a tall guy, so maybe it's easier for me not to be afraid, but I wasn't particularly afraid. There was another IMC person watching too. So I just listened until somehow there was a pause, and I said to this person, I think in a kind way—I wasn't afraid, I wasn't harsh, I wasn't attacking the person, I wasn't saying, "This is crazy what you're doing. We have to do our work here. Get off our property." I said, "You know, when you talk this way to me, I get afraid." As soon as I said that, he just relaxed. You could see his muscles, his tension, his shoulders, everything dropped. And he apologized and left.
That was a great response. I said it in a way that, I don't know if it was good for the heart or pleasing, but it certainly was not harsh and difficult. I just matter-of-factly said the effect it had on me. "This makes me afraid." I wasn't attacking him. I wasn't being harsh to him. I wasn't trying to force him to stop. I said, "No, this made me afraid." And there was something about him seeing his impact and realizing what he was doing that changed it. We can learn over time how to speak wisely. So, it can be done in kind ways even when it involves a really big "no." "No, you can't do that."
Questioner 2: I was thinking more of the deportations, how to discuss the deportations in a way that's pleasing to the ear.
Gil Fronsdal: Discuss it with other people being deported or discussing it with the ICE officers who are deporting you?
Questioner 2: Just talking to a friend who has a different point of view, or who even has the same point of view.
Gil Fronsdal: So then the question with using non-harsh speech... a few things we do in this practice. One is, it's really helpful to understand what are you trying to accomplish? What are you trying to do with how you speak? So if you're speaking harshly, angrily, what's the purpose of that? What benefit are you trying to get from that? Is that really going to be helpful? We should be talking about things like this. Is there a better way to talk about it? Is there a more useful way for you, for your heart, for the world? Because harsh speech divides. And it may be your friend, and one of the sad things is when people bond over gossip, they bond over having a shared enemy and shared anger. That's really sad. Let's bond over what's best in our hearts. Let's find commonality in ways that support the growth of a good society, not a divided one. So, I think that you have right there in your conversation with your friend the answer to all of our problems. Thank you.