Householder (Buddhism)

Translations of
householder
Pali gihin, gahattha,
gahapati
Sanskrit gṛhin, grihastha,
gṛhapati
Chinese 居士
Japanese 居士
Mon ဂရှ်
([həròh])
Sinhala si:ගිහි
Tibetan khyim-pa
Vietnamese Cư sĩ
Glossary of Buddhism

In English translations of Buddhist texts, householder denotes a variety of terms. Most broadly, it refers to any layperson, and most narrowly, to a wealthy and prestigious familial patriarch.[1] In contemporary Buddhist communities, householder is often used synonymously with laity, or non-monastics.

The Buddhist notion of householder is often contrasted with that of wandering ascetics (Pāḷi: samaṇa; Sanskrit: śramaṇa) and monastics (bhikkhu and bhikkhuni), who would not live (for extended periods) in a normal house and who would pursue freedom from attachments to houses and families.

Upāsakas and upāsikās, also called śrāvakas and śrāvikās - are householders and other laypersons who take refuge in the Three Jewels (the Buddha, the teachings and the community) and practice the Five Precepts. In southeast Asian communities, lay disciples also give alms to monks on their daily rounds and observe weekly uposatha days. In Buddhist thought, the cultivation of ethical conduct and dāna or "almsgiving" will themselves refine consciousness to such a level that rebirth in one of the lower heavens is likely even if there is no further "Noble" Buddhist practice (connected with the Supramundane goal of Nibbana, "Unbinding"). This level of attainment is viewed as a proper aim for laypersons.[2]

In some traditional Buddhist societies, such as in Burma and Thailand, people transition between householder and monk and back to householder with regularity and celebration as in the practice of shinbyu among the Bamar.[3] One of the evolving features of Buddhism in the West is the increasing dissolution of the traditional distinction between monastics and laity.

For all the diversity of Buddhist practices in the West, general trends in the recent transformations of Buddhist practice ... can be identified. These include an erosion of the distinction between professional and lay Buddhists; a decentralization of doctrinal authority; a diminished role for Buddhist monastics; an increasing spirit of egalitarianism; greater leadership roles for women; greater social activism; and, in many cases, an increasing emphasis on the psychological, as opposed to the purely religious, nature of practice.[4]

Theravada perspectives

In the Pāli canon, householders received diverse advice from the Buddha and his disciples.

Core householder practices include undertaking the Five Precepts and taking refuge in the Three Jewels. In addition, the canon nurtures the essential bond between householders and monastics still apparent today in southeast Asian communities.

Who is a householder?

In traditional Indian society, a householder (Sanskrit gṛhastin) is typically a settled adult male with a family. In the Pali canon, various Pali words have been translated into the English word "householder", including agārika, gahapati, gahattha and gihin.[5] Vocations most often associated with householders in the Pali canon are those of guild foreman, banker and merchant (Pali, seṭṭhi) but other vocations are mentioned such as farmer and carpenter.[6]Gombrich (2002, pp. 56–7) states:

Who were these people in terms of class or profession? In the Canon, most of them evidently own land, but they usually have labourers to do the physical work. Sometimes they are also in business. In fact, they illustrate how it is in the first instance wealth derived from agriculture which provides business capital. The average gahapati who gave material support to the Buddha and his Sangha thus seems to have been something like a gentleman farmer, perhaps with a town house. On the other hand, inscriptions in the western Deccan, where Buddhism flourished in the early centuries CE, use the term gahapati to refer to urban merchants. We must distinguish between reference and meaning: the meaning of gahapati is simple and unvarying, but the reference shifts with the social context.

Other people in the canon who are sometimes identified as "householders" in contemporary translations are simply those individuals who dwelt in a home or who had not renounced "home life" (Pali, agārasmā) for "homelessness" (Pali, anagāriya).

Householder ethics

While there is no formal "householder discipline" in the vinaya or "code of ethics", the Sigalovada Sutta (DN 31)[7] has been referred to as "the Vinaya of the householder" (gihi-vinaya).[8] This sutta includes:

Similarly, in the "Dhammika Sutta" (Sn 2.14),[9] the Buddha articulates the "layman's rule of conduct" (Pali, gahatthavatta),[10] as follows:

The Mahanama sūtra has been called the "locus classicus on the definition of upāsaka."[11] This sutra is preserved in five versions (two in Pali, three in Chinese) representing two different recensions, one in the Samyuktagama/Samyuttanikaya, the other in the Anguttaranikaya and in the Samyuktagama and further developed in the Abhidharmaskandha, one of the canonical books of the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma.[12] In this sutra the Buddha defines an upāsaka in terms of faith (śraddhā), morality (śīla), liberality (tyāga), and wisdom (prajñā), as follows:[13]

Some early schools, particularly the Sautrāntika, allowed for aparipūrṇa-upāsaka (partial lay vow holders), who took anywhere from one to four of the śīla observances.[14]

Other suttas in the canon likewise underline keeping the precepts, maintaining virtuous friends, homage to one's benefactors and earning one's wealth honestly.[15]

Elsewhere in the Sutta Pitaka the Buddha provides moral instruction to householders and their family members[16] on how to be good parents, spouses and children.[17]

Buddha's advice to Buddhist laywomen is contained mostly in the Anguttara Nikaya 8:49; IV 269-71. His advice was as follows:

The Buddha also gave advice on householders' financial matters. In the Anguttara Nikaya (4.61; II 65-68) it is said that the Buddha stated that there are four worthy ways in which to spend one's wealth:

Lay-monastic reciprocity

Some suttas suggest that Buddhist renunciates are best going it alone.[18] Many others celebrate and provide instruction for a vital reciprocity between householders and monastics. For instance, in the Khuddaka Nikaya,[19] the Buddha articulates that "brahmins and householders" (Pali, brāhmanagahapatikā) support monks by providing monks with robes, alms food, lodgings and medicine while monks teach brahmins and householders the Dhamma. In this sutta, the Buddha declares:

Householders & the homeless [monastics]
in mutual dependence
both reach the true Dhamma:
the unsurpassed safety from bondage.[20]

Householders & future lives

In the Pali canon, the pursuit of Nibbana (Skt: Nirvana) within this lifetime usually starts with giving up the householder life. This is due to the householder life's intrinsic attachments to a home, a spouse, children and the associated wealth necessary for maintaining the household.[21] Thus, instead of advising householders to relinquish these and all attachments as a prerequisite for the complete liberation from samsara in this lifetime, the Buddha instructed householders on how to achieve "well-being and happiness" (hita-sukha) in this and future lives in a spiritually meaningful way.

In Buddhism, a householder's spiritual path is often conceived of in terms of making merit (Pali: puñña). The primary bases for meritorious action in Buddhism are generosity (dāna), ethical conduct (sīla) and mental development (bhāvanā). Traditional Buddhist practices associated with such behaviors are summarized in the table below.

Lay Theravada Practices: For a Fortunate Rebirth
FAITH (Saddhā) GIVING (Dāna) VIRTUE (Sīla) MIND (Bhāvanā) DISCERNMENT (Paññā)

Buddha ·
Dhamma · Sangha

Charity ·
Almsgiving

5 Precepts ·
8 Precepts

Mettā ·
Vipassanā

4 Noble Truths ·
3 Characteristics

Based on: Dighajanu Sutta, Velama Sutta, Dhammika Sutta.

Householders & Nibbana

The Anguttara Nikaya (AN 6.119 and AN 6.120)[22] identifies 19 householders (gahapati)[23] who have "attained perfection" or, according to an alternate translation, "attained to certainty" (niṭṭhamgata) and "seen deathlessness, seen deathlessness with their own eyes" (amataddaso, amataṃ sacchikata).[24] These householders are endowed (samannāgato) with six things (chahi dhammehi):

While some interpret this passage to indicate that these householders have attained arhatship, others interpret it to mean they have attained at least "stream entry" (sotāpanna) but not final release.[26] The para-canonical Milinda Pañha adds:

"...[F]or a householder who has attained arahantship: either, that very day, he goes forth into homelessness or he attains final Nibbāna. That day is not able to pass without one or other of these events taking place." (Miln. VII, 2)[27]

In the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta (MN 71 / M I.483) the Buddha is asked by the ascetic Vacchagotta "is there any householder who, without abandoning the fetter of householdship, on the dissolution of the body has made an end to suffering?" The Buddha replied "there is no householder who, without abandoning the fetter of householdship, on the dissolution of the body has made an end to suffering." [28]

Attaining the state of anāgāmi or "non-returner" is portrayed in the early texts as the ideal goal for laity.[29]

Prominent householders in the Pali canon

The following are examples of individuals who are explicitly identified as a "householder" in multiple suttas:

Other individuals who are not explicitly identified in the suttas as "householder" but who, by the aforementioned broader criteria, might be considered a householder include:

Mahayana perspectives

The Sigalovada Sutta has a parallel Chinese text.[34] There are few differences between the Pali and Chinese versions. Further discussion of householder duties is found in the fourteenth chapter of the Sutra on Upasaka Precepts.[35]

Dogen recommended that householders meditate at least five minutes each day.[36]

In the Zen tradition, Vimalakīrti and Páng Yùn were prominent householders/laypersons who achieved enlightenment.

Vajrayana perspectives

The Vajrayana tradition has produced many prominent householders including Marpa Lotsawa, Dromtön, the heart son of Atiśa, and Padmasambhava. to mention a few.

The ngagpa (Wylie: sngags pa . feminine ngagma, Wylie: sngags ma ) is an ordained Tantric practitioner, sometimes a householder with certain vows (dependent upon lama and lineage) that make them the householder equivalent of a monk or nun. The path of a ngakpa is a rigorous discipline whereby one "enjoys the sense-fields' as a part of one's practice. A practitioner utilizes the whole of the phenomenal world as one's path. Marrying, raising children, working jobs, leisure, art, play etc. are all means to realize the enlightened state or rigpa, non-dual awareness. As such, we can see the prominence of householders in the Vajrayana tradition. One can, however, be a householder without taking the vows of a ngagpa. Simply holding the five precepts, bodhisattva vows and the tantric vows while practising diligently can result in enlightenment.

Contemporary Buddhist householder practices

Below common contemporary lay Buddhist practices are summarized. Some of these practices — such as taking Refuge and meditating — are common to all major schools. Other practices — such as taking the Eight Precepts or the Bodhisattva Vows — are not pan-Buddhist.

Theravada practices

For Theravada Buddhists, the following are practiced on a daily and weekly basis:

Daily practice: prostrations to the Triple Gem, taking refuge in the Triple Gem, taking the Five Precepts, chanting other verses, meditating, giving and sharing (Pali: dana).

Special day practices (Uposatha): practicing the Eight Precepts, studying Buddhist scriptures, visiting and supporting Buddhist monks, visiting and supporting Buddhist monasteries.

Other practices: undertaking a pilgrimage.

Mahayana practices

Daily practices: Prostrations to the Triple Gem, taking refuge in the Triple Gem, taking the Five Precepts, chanting sutras and the names of buddhas/bodhisattvas, meditating, cultivating compassion and bodhichitta, recitation of mantras.

Special day practices: Upholding the eight precepts, listening to teachings, supporting Sangha, repentance, performing offering ceremonies to sentient beings

Other practices: Bodhisattva vows, going on a retreat.

Vajrayana practices

Daily practices: Prostrations, refuge, cultivating compassion and bodhicitta, bodhisattva vows, tantric vows (if applicable), meditation in the form of Tantric sādhanās (if applicable), purification techniques, recitation of mantras

Special day practices: Eight precepts, listening to teachings, offering ceremonies.

Other practices: Studying texts, receiving initiations and personal practice instructions from the teacher.

  Lay Buddhist practices by school
  Theravada Mahayana Vajrayana
D
E
V
O
T
I
O
N
A
L		 Prostrations daily dokusan[37] daily
Chanting daily regularly[38] regularly
Take Refuge daily daily daily
P
R
E
C
E
P
T
S		 Five Precepts daily[39] daily daily
Eight Precepts Uposatha Uposatha
(sometimes)		 Uposatha
Bodhisattva vows — daily daily
Meditation vipassanā,
samatha,
mettā		 samatha,
vipassanā,
zazen,
shikantaza,
kōan,
nianfo,
mantras		 samatha,
vipassanā,
tonglen, compassion,
tantric visualisations,
mantras, include tantric mantras
Study scriptures Uposatha dependent upon tradition regularly
Support monastics Uposatha regularly regularly
Pilgrimage several sites[40] varies varies

See also

Notes

Note 1: gahapati is given as "upper middle class", see The winds of change, Himanshu P. Ray, Delhi 1994, p. 20

  1. ↑ In regards to the narrower definition of what today is often translated from the Pali Canon as "householder," see, for instance, the description of gṛhaspati in Nattier (2003), pp. 22-25. For more information, see Note 3 below.
  2. ↑ Stewart McFarlane in Peter Harvey, ed., Buddhism. Continuum, 2001, pages 195-196.
  3. ↑ In Buckley (2007), a BBC News article describing Burma's monks, the subheading includes: "...even those who do not choose to become a 'career monk' usually enter the orders for short periods of their lives...." In addition, the article's initial source is a BBC Burmese service professional who mentions that during his adult life he himself entered monastic life three times, each time for a few weeks.
  4. ↑ Alan Wallace (2002). Prebish, Charles S., ed. Westward dharma : Buddhism beyond Asia (PDF). Berkeley [u.a.]: University of California Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-520-22625-9.
  5. ↑ The Pali Text Society's (PTS) "Pali-English Dictionary" provides the following definitions for these various householder-related Pali words (listed alphabetically below):
    • agārika - "having a house..., householder, layman," juxtaposed with anagārika. Similarly, agārikā is translated as "housewife." (PTS, 1921-25, p. 3, entry for agārika.)
    • gahapati - "the possessor of a house, the head of the household, pater familias," often with a social status similar to high-ranking personages (Pali, khattiyā) and brahmins, suggesting comfort and wealth; may be used as a form of address comparable to "Sir." (PTS, 1921-25, p. 248, entry for gahapati.) See also Buddhadatta, 2002, p. 96, where "gaha-ttha" is defined as "a layman; householder" and "gaha-pati" is defined as "master of a house"; and, Nattier (2003), pp. 22-25, which provides contextual information to support its conclusion: "The word gṛhapati [Sanskrit for the Pali gahapati] is thus not an indicator of simple householder status but rather of significant social and financial standing, and it would have been applied only to a relatively limited segment of the lay Buddhist population."
    • gahattha - "a householder, one who leads the life of a layman." (PTS, 1921-25, p. 247, entry for gaha with mention of use with the suffix -ttha.)
    • gihin - "a householder, one who leads a domestic life, a layman." (PTS, 1921-25, p. 251, entry for gihin.)
    In the Pali canon, these terms for "householder" can be combined with some other appellations. For instance, in the Sāleyyaka Sutta (MN 41), the Buddha is addressed by sāleyyakā brāhmana-gahapatikā which, for instance, is translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi (2005, p. 156) as "brahmin householders of Sālā." Within the Pali canon, there is a "Householder section" (Gahapativagga) in the following nikayas:
  6. ↑ See PTS (1921–25) entries for "Gahapati" (p. 248; retrieved 2008-02-16 at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.1:1:1150.pali) and "Seṭṭhi" (p. 722; retrieved 2008-02-16 at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.4:1:416.pali).
  7. ↑ DN 31 is translated in Narada (1996).
  8. ↑ This epithet is attributed to Buddhaghosa in Narada (1995) and is referenced in Bodhi (2005), p. 109; Hinüber (2000), p. 31; and Law (1932-33), p. 85, n. 1.
  9. ↑ Ireland (1983).
  10. ↑ PTS, p. 247, under the entry for "gaha (1)"
  11. ↑ "Indian Views of the Buddhist Laity: Precepts and Upāsaka Status" by Giulio Agostini. PhD dissertation. Berkeley: 2004 pg 6
  12. ↑ "Indian Views of the Buddhist Laity: Precepts and Upāsaka Status" by Giulio Agostini. PhD dissertation. Berkeley: 2004 pg 6
  13. ↑ "Indian Views of the Buddhist Laity: Precepts and Upāsaka Status" by Giulio Agostini. PhD dissertation. Berkeley: 2004 pg 7
  14. ↑ "Indian Views of the Buddhist Laity: Precepts and Upāsaka Status" by Giulio Agostini. PhD dissertation. Berkeley: 2004 pg 7
  15. ↑ See, for instance, the Dighajanu Sutta.
  16. ↑ For example, in DN 31, the Buddha addresses "Sigalaka the householder's son" (Bodhi, 2005, pp. 116-8).
  17. ↑ See, for instance, additional examples in Narada (1995) and in Bodhi (2005)'s chapter, "The Happiness Visible in this Present Life," pp. 107-142.
  18. ↑ For instance, the Rhinoceros Sutta (Snp 1.3) (Thanissaro, 1997) has the frequent cautionary refrain: "wander alone like a rhinoceros."
  19. ↑ Itivuttaka 4.8 (Thanissaro, 2001).
  20. ↑ Thanissaro (2001).
  21. ↑ For instance, a recurrent refrain attributed to the Buddha in the nikāyas is:
    "Household life is crowded and dusty; life gone forth is wide open. It is not easy, while living in a home, to lead the holy life utterly perfect and pure as a polished shell." (MN 36, "The Greater Discourse to Saccaka," trans. Ñāṇamoli & Bodhi, 2001, p. 335, para. 12.)
    In Pali:
    Abbhokāso pabbajjā. Nayidaṃ sukaraṃ agāraṃ ajjhāvasatā ekantaparipuṇṇaṃ ekantaparisuddhaṃ saṃkhalikhitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ carituṃ.
    This refrain is also found in DN 4, DN 6, MN 27, MN 38, MN 51, MN 60, MN 76, MN 79, MN 94, MN 100, MN 101, MN 125, SN 4.1.11, SN 11.1.6, AN 4.4.5.8, and AN 10.2.5.9. More poetically, one finds in the Muni Sutta (Sn 1.12), verse 14 (trans. Thanissaro, 1996):
    As the crested,
    blue-necked peacock,
    when flying,
    never matches
    the wild goose
    in speed:
    Even so the householder
    never keeps up with the monk,
    the sage secluded,
    doing jhana
    in the forest.
  22. ↑ In an on-line English-language Sinhalese Tipitaka, these suttas are identified as AN 6.12.3 and 6.12.4 respectively, and are available at http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/4Anguttara-Nikaya/Anguttara4/6-chakkanipata/012-samannavaggo-e.html. An on-line Pali-language version of these Sinhalese suttas, identified as AN 6.2.17 through 6.2.34 (with a separate verse for each gahapati), are available at http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/4Anguttara-Nikaya/Anguttara4/6-chakkanipata/012-samannavaggo-p.html. In the PTS edition of the tipitaka, these passages are identified as A.iii, 450-51.
  23. ↑ Nyanaponika & Hecker (2003), p. 365, state that AN 6.120 refers to 21 "eminent lay disciples." The actual Pali text itself explicitly identifies 18 householders (gahapati) and three lay disciples (upasaka; see also, savaka); nonetheless, many of these identified householders are also identified as "foremost" (agga) lay disciples in AN 1.14. Tangentially, Bodhi (2005), p. 226, notes that a lay disciple is able to achieve the state of nonreturner but is not able to achieve arahantship unless upon death or, after realizing such, they immediately become monastics.
  24. ↑ See, for instance, Bodhi's translation of Samyutta Nikaya, chapter 43, where amata ("deathlessness" or "the deathless") and nibbana are synonyms (Bodhi, 2005, pp. 364-5).
  25. ↑ These first three objects of faith — the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha — are known in Buddhism as the Three Jewels. In the Pali Canon, in general, sangha (without an explicit modifier or other contextual information) can refer to either the community of monks (see Sangha) or the community of noble disciples (see sravaka and arhat).
  26. ↑ See, for instance, Robinson & Johnson (1970/1982), p. 41:
    The early teaching admitted that laypersons could attain the first three degrees of sainthood (stream-winner, once-returner, and non-returner); but whether they could become arhants was a disputed point. The Buddha reportedly declared that he took no categorical stand, that with the laity as with the monks it is conduct that counts. The Sūtras list twenty lay followers who attained the highest goal without ever becoming monks. Their case, though, is rarer than that of monks becoming arhants, and the household life is not considered propitious for the highest attainment.
    For an example of an alternate view, see Mendis (2001, p. 185, n. 64):
    A famous passage at A.iii, 450-51 is often held to provide evidence for lay persons attaining arahantship and continuing to remain as householders, but such an interpretation is erroneous, based on mistaking the expression niṭṭhaṅgata to mean 'attained the goal,' when it actually means 'attained to certainty' and signifies a stream-enterer or one at some other grade of noble attainment short of arhatship.
  27. ↑ Mendis (2001), p. 119. Mendis (2001), p. 185, n. 64, further notes:
    This statement is not found as such in the canonical texts, but the idea it expresses seems to be based on the few instances recorded in the Suttas of lay persons attaining arahantship. In such cases the lay person either immediately seeks admission into the Order, as in the case of Yasa (Vin.i,17) or is a householder on the verge of death, as in the case mentioned at S.V,410...."
  28. ↑ The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya. Bhikkhu Ñanamola and Bhikkhu Bodhi pg. 588
  29. ↑ Sarah Shaw, author of Buddhist Meditation: An Anthology of Texts from the Pāli Canon. Routledge, 2006. [www.vesakday.net/vesak50/article/pdf_file/13_Buddhist_%20Meditation_Practices_West.pdf], page 8.
  30. ↑ In an on-line English-language Sinhalese Tipitaka, see http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/4Anguttara-Nikaya/Anguttara1/1-ekanipata/014-Etadaggapali-e.html. Also see, Nyanaponika & Hecker (2003), pp. 337-62.
  31. ↑ In an on-line English-language Sinhalese Tipitaka, see http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/4Anguttara-Nikaya/Anguttara1/1-ekanipata/014-Etadaggapali-e.html. Also see, Nyanaponika & Hecker (2003), pp. 365-72.
  32. ↑ Bodhi (2000), p. 688. This sutta is entitled, "Only Son," and in it the Buddha states:
    "A faithful female lay follower, rightly imploring her only son, dear and beloved, might implore him thus: 'Dear, you should become like Citta the householder and Hatthaka of Alavaka — for this is the standard and criterion for my male disciples who are lay followers...."
  33. ↑ Also see AN 4.55 in Bodhi (2005), pp. 121-2, 433 n. 3. Note that, technically, Nakulapita is identified as the "householder" and, his spouse, Nakulamata as the "householder's wife."
  34. ↑ "Taisho Tripitaka Vol. 1, No. 1, Sutra 16 (佛說長阿含第二分善生經第十二)".
  35. ↑ "Taisho Tripitaka Vol. T24, No. 1488 (優婆塞戒經)".
  36. ↑ http://www.aszc.org/abbot/2000_Sept.html
  37. ↑ Kapleau (1989), p. 191.
  38. ↑ Daily chanting among Mahayana Buddhists can be found, for instance, among Nichiren and Pure Land practitioners.
  39. ↑ Examples in the Pali canon where the Buddha extols the practice of the Five Precepts included in the Dhammika Sutta and in the Sigalovada Sutta.
  40. ↑ In the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, the Buddha states that devotees can do pilgrimages to his birthplace, the place of his awakening, the place of his first teaching and the place of his death. Other sites have also been traditionally recognized by Theravada practitioners.

References

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