Householder (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. 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 and monastics, who would not live 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 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. This level of attainment is viewed as a proper aim for laypersons.
In some traditional Buddhist societies, such as in Myanmar 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 people. One of the evolving features of Buddhism in the West is the increasing dissolution of the traditional distinction between monastics and laity.
Theravada perspectives
In the Pāli Canon, householders received diverse advice and instructions from the Buddha and his noble disciples.Core householder practices include undertaking the Five Precepts and taking refuge in the Triple Gem, leading an ethical livelihood and practicing generosity. In addition, the canon nurtures the essential spiritual bond between householders and monastics still apparent today in Southeast Asian communities.
Who is a householder?
In traditional Indian society, a householder 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.Vocations most often associated with householders in the Pali canon are those of guild foreman, banker and merchant but other vocations are mentioned such as farmer and carpenter. Gombrich 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" for "homelessness".
Householder ethics
While there is no formal "householder discipline" in the vinaya or "code of ethics", the Sigalovada Sutta has been referred to as "the Vinaya of the householder". This sutta includes:- an enumeration of the Five Precepts
- an analysis of good-hearted friends
- a description of respectful actions for one's parents, teachers, spouse, friends, workers and religious guides.
- the Five Precepts
- the Five Precepts for Uposatha days
- support of one's parents
- engaging in fair business.
- "One produces a deep thought of faith toward the Tathagata and is established in faith. He never lacks faith or is evil towards śramaṇas, brāhmaṇas, or deva, or māra, or brahmā. This is called the faith of an upāsaka."
- "Not to kill, not to steal, not to seduce, not to lie, and not to drink liquor, etc. This is called the morality of an upāsaka".
- "It is a rule for an upāsaka that he should abandon stinginess. As for all living beings, without exception, stinginess, and envy are destroyed by him. Therefore, his mind should be devoid of stinginess and envy, and he should produce thoughts of liberality and personally donate, tirelessly. This is called 'possessed of liberality.'"
- "An upāsaka knows suffering according to reality, knows the collection of suffering according to reality, knows the extinction of suffering according to reality, and knows the path to the extinction of suffering according to reality. He understands with certainty. This is called 'possessed of wisdom.'"
Other suttas in the canon likewise underline keeping the precepts, maintaining virtuous friends, homage to one's benefactors and earning one's wealth honestly.
Elsewhere in the Sutta Pitaka the Buddha provides moral instruction to householders and their family members on how to be good parents, spouses and children.
Buddha's advice to Buddhist laywomen is contained mostly in the Anguttara Nikaya 8:49; IV 269-71. His advice was as follows:
- Be capable at one's work
- Work with diligence and skill
- Manage domestic help skillfully and treat them fairly
- Perform household duties efficiently
- Be hospitable to one's husband's parents and friends
- Be faithful to one's husband; protect and invest family earnings
- Discharge responsibilities lovingly and conscientiously; accomplish faith
- Accomplish moral discipline
- Practise generosity
- Cultivate wisdom.
- On the everyday maintenance of the happiness of oneself and one's family ;
- On providing insurance ;
- By making offerings to relatives, guests, ancestors, the ruler and the devas ;
- By providing alms to monks and nuns who are devoted to the attainment of nibbana. In the Digha Nikaya the Buddha is said to have advised Sigala, a young man, that he should spend one fourth of his income on daily expenses, invest half in his business and put aside one fourth as insurance against an emergency.
Lay-monastic reciprocity
Some suttas suggest that Buddhist renunciates are best going it alone. Many others celebrate and provide instruction for a vital reciprocity between householders and monastics. For instance, in the Khuddaka Nikaya, the Buddha articulates that "brahmins and householders" 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 and future lives
In the Pali canon, the pursuit of Nibbana 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. 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" 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. The primary bases for meritorious action in Buddhism are generosity, ethical conduct and mental development. Practices associated with such behaviors are:
- Saddhā
- *Three jewels
- Dāna
- *Almsgiving
- Śīla
- *Five precepts
- *Eight precepts
- Bhāvanā
- *Mettā
- *Vipassanā
- Paññā
- *Four Noble Truths
- *Three marks of existence
Householders and Nibbana
The Anguttara Nikaya identifies 19 householders who have "attained perfection" or, according to an alternate translation, "attained to certainty" and "seen deathlessness, seen deathlessness with their own eyes". These householders are endowed with six things :- unwavering faith in the Buddha
- unwavering faith in the Dhamma
- unwavering faith in the Sangha
- noble moral discipline
- noble knowledge or wisdom
- noble release
In the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta 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."
Attaining the state of anāgāmi or "non-returner" is portrayed in the early texts as the ideal goal for laity.
Prominent householders in the Pali canon
The following are examples of individuals who are explicitly identified as a "householder" in multiple suttas:Anathapindika, is referenced for instance in AN 1.14.249 as "the householder Sudatta, the foremost lay devotee."Citta, referenced for instance in AN 1.14.250 as "the householder for explaining the Teaching." In SN 17.23, Citta is one of two male lay disciples identified for emulation by the Buddha.Hatthaka of Alavi, one of the foremost lay male disciples of the Buddha, he is one of two male lay disciples identified for emulation by the Buddha.Nakulapita and Nakulamata, referenced for instance in AN 1.14.257 and AN 1.14.266, respectively, as "the best confident" and the foremost "for undivided pleasantness."Visakha, very generous and wise female lay-disciple of the Buddha who, by listening frequently to Dhamma, and became a Stream-winner.- Khujjuttarā a servant to a queen of Kosambi and a very learned laywoman who could recite the suttas and teach other ladies of the court.
Mahayana perspectives
The Sigalovada Sutta has a parallel Chinese text. 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.Dogen recommended that householders meditate at least five minutes each day.
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.The ngagpa is an ordained Tantric practitioner, sometimes a householder with certain vows 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.