Developing Mental Health - A Reflection in the Afternoon of Life

Time and tide wait for no man. Once upon a time we were young. We were healthy, strong, and brimming with youthful confidence. It seems at that time that we can take on the world and there is nothing that we are not capable of doing. But then the years marched by so silently fast, many things happened in the meantime, and before we know it middle-age has caught up with us. We are no longer that young.

The youthful and naïve confidence that we once had is there no longer, replaced, hopefully, by confidence born of experience. But if recklessness was our way of life in those younger days, or if fortune was not on our side, regrets over the lost years or despair over what the future holds may now surface. At early middle-age, unless we are really unfortunate, we can still very well perform most of the physical and mental activities that we did when we were younger. But our health and strength are beginning to show the early signs of clear decline.

Skin and hairs begin to age at an accelerated pace. Eyesight begins the slow process of diminishing. We would soon, if we haven't already, be needing a pair of spectacles. Muscles and bones start to weaken. And unless we are still recklessly holding on to the delusion of youth, things such as regular exercise, healthy diet, regular sleeping hours, abstinence from drinking and smoking, have become necessities. At forties, or, for our era, even earlier than that, we begin to hear of people coming down with various kinds of ailments: Hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart diseases, even cancer. These are but some of the tell-tale signs that the sure process of aging is asserting itself.

Aging is a process that had been going on since the day we were born. But when we were young aging is not called aging. It is called growing up, maturing, the flowering of youth, or some other sugar coated expression like these. But whatever we choose to call it there is an undeniable process of change going on continuously since our birth, nay, since our conception in our mothers' womb. However, once we hit forties aging starts to become simply what it is: the process of getting old. At
forties we may still be relatively young but the slow march towards the grave has begun in earnest. As one teacher once put it, we have arrived in the afternoon of our life. And we may also add that evening is not too far away.

About Sila

A human-being or manussa is defined by ancient Buddhist teachers as one who possesses an elevated mind (manassa ussannatāya manussā). As such a human is the one being among all the creatures on this planet capable of profound thoughts and reflections. This capability gives humans the ability to differentiate the wholesome from the unwholesome, to tell right from wrong, and to recognise virtue as opposed to vice. It also arouses among humans the desire to cultivate virtues and to walk the path of righteousness.

Out of this desire comes sīla, a code of conduct to regulate one's actions, to keep them righteous, and to cultivate virtues. This code of conduct is based on the universal principle of morality, of what is wholesome and unwholesome, what is right and wrong. Sīla is a common human aspiration and is found in every human society as the ideal that separates humans from animals and that makes a human-being humane. It is in fact what constitutes basic human qualities. It lends refinement to our mind and therefore serves as the basis for human culture. Sīla is also a fundamental practice found in all the credible religious teachings of the world, including the teaching of the Buddha. It is a common denominator in all these teachings that identifies them as a good religion capable of serving as a reliable guide to acceptable human conduct.

In the Buddha's teaching, sīla is the basic fundamental practice that serves as the foundation for the spiritual path that leads to liberation of the mind from suffering.

“Bhikkhus, just as whatever strenuous work there are to be done, all are done based on the earth, established upon the earth, even so, based on sīla, established upon sīla, a bhikkhu develops and cultivates the Noble Eightfold Path.”

~ Saṃyutta-Nikāya, Maggasaṃyutta, Sutta 149

Since sīla is fundamental to our practice of Dhamma, it would be helpful for us to have a proper understanding of what exactly is sīla and what constitute its practice.