Our First Duty

In Buddhism, a person’s first duty is to cleanse him or her self of the mental defilements of greed, hatred and ignorance. 

The reason for doing this is not because of fear or desire to please some divine being, because if it were so, a person would be considered to be still lacking in wisdom. He or she would be only acting out of fear like the little child who behaves well because he or she is afraid of being punished for being naughty. 

Buddhists should act out of understanding and wisdom. They perform wholesome deeds because they realize that by so doing they develop their moral strength which provides the foundation for spiritual growth, leading to Liberation. In addition, they realize that their happiness and suffering are self-created through the operation of the Law of Karma. 

To minimize the occurrence of troubles and problems in their lives, they make the effort to refrain from doing evil. They perform good actions because they know that these will bring them peace and happiness. Since everyone seeks happiness in life, and since it is possible for each individual to provide the condition for happiness, then there is every reason to do good and avoid evil. 

Furthermore, the uprooting of mental defilements, the source of all anti-social acts, will bring great benefits to others in society. Therefore in helping oneself spiritually, one helps others to live peacefully.