The Seven Heavenly Virtues

[Alexander]

Another short article shared here from the collection of writings, Alexandria.

One of my interests is medieval history. Studying this time period has had an interesting result for me, in that it has acquainted me with the idea of the "Seven Heavenly Virtues."

Back in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church taught these as qualities for people to cultivate if they sought a heavenly rebirth. They taught these virtues as antidotes to their corresponding vices, the more famous "Seven Deadly Sins."

We don't think much about these seven virtues today, but I feel that is our loss. As I think these virtues are of great utility, and that by meditating on them we find that they are genuinely good and worth pursuing.

I think that life teaches that the seven vices lead to misery or states of pain, while the virtues lead to peace or states of joy. The virtues promote health, well being, and good relationships with others. They also help spiritual seekers detach themselves from the world, matter, and form, becoming more selfless and less bound to the physical. So, I thought I would briefly reflect on these virtues and vices here.

The Seven Deadly Sins
1 Gluttony - This vice means overindulgence in food and drink. We definitely see how it destroys the body with obesity or with cirrhosis of the liver. In a more general sense it could refer to "gluttony" about anything: seeking ultimate fulfillment in the world of matter, which is impossible. This vice is founded on the idea that the inner emptiness we feel as human beings can be remedied by overindulgence, when it can't be.

2 Greed - The avaricious acquisition of wealth. This vice means having a worldview that sees money or property as the highest end - of seeing physical possessions as the highest reality. Christ says that "one cannot serve both God and Mammon" and that one should not "hoard one's possessions in barns on the earth." The big problem I find with this one is it sees physical reality as "real" or the "highest reality" possible for human beings. It is only possible to be greedy if one believes this, and on reflection that just isn't true.

3 Lust - Excessive sexual indulgence. Here I think a problem for us today is the legacy of this vice being exploited by the puritans. Appropriate sexual expression is absolutely healthy and natural to human beings; this "vice" doesn't mean you deny your animal nature but simply counsels you avoid turning it into a vice like gluttony. "Lust" means thinking sexual gratification can be ultimately satisfying, but similar to gluttony this is untrue.

4 Sloth - Listlessness or laziness. The medieval definition called it acedia or "spiritual sloth": not working diligently on one's salvation. I think in regard to this vice there is a balance to be made... for example, I think of the story of "Martha and Mary." Martha worked all day in the house while Mary was idling with Christ. Christ praised Mary for her apparent idleness, which is supposed to be the surprising message of the story. I think the lesson here is that life requires a balance of the two - both work and rest - and that wisdom means practicing both simultaneously.

5 Anger - This is one that takes many years of work but it is a major one. If one pays attention to whenever anger arises, it is possible to see where it comes from, drop it, and let it go. It is also possible to see if it is righteous anger or not. I think we often feel we can express our anger because it is an emotion that arises in us, thus we feel it is legitimate... but, often anger is an expression of our egoism, pusillanimity, and insecurity. When it is an expression of one of those things, it becomes a vice.

6 Envy - Envy and malice go hand in hand, and they generally mean wishing ill to others or resenting the happiness of others. Here I feel equanimity, good will, benevolence, compassion, and sympathetic joy are all qualities that should be cultivated instead. I feel that this vice mires one in sickness, negativity, and ugliness, and one reaps those states as a result of it.

7 Pride - Excessive belief in oneself or one's abilities, overconfidence in one's knowledge, delusional beliefs, and so forth. Here I always think of the "pale blue dot" of Carl Sagan. All of humanity is a small nothing in the face of the cosmos - a small blue pebble, the Earth, in the vastness of space. That can seem very frightening on the one hand, to admit we are so small, but I feel it can also be deeply comforting and peaceful. As if one embraces humility, you can see we are a part of a vast, divine cosmos.

The Seven Heavenly Virtues
1 Temperance - Balance; particularly in regard to food and drink, but more generally in regard to everything. Here I think of Gurdjieff who once said that "'sin' is anything that is not necessary." I always liked this quote of his. I think about it from time to time. I always ask myself, "what is necessary?" For example, how much do I need to eat right now? Or drink? What sorts of clothes do I need? What transportation do I need to get to work? What kind of shelter is necessary for me? And so forth.

2 Charity - Not to be stingy but generous; to give of one's possessions or time to others. I think this virtue, charity, is a supernatural one if rightly practiced. I feel it can only be fully followed if one believes (or knows) the unreality of the physical world. Then it becomes like nothing for one to practice it. If one struggles with charity, then one is still fettered to form and matter. I think this is also why Christ told the rich man to "give away all he had and follow him." That is a great spiritual formula. Simply doing that act causes a powerful transformation of the self.

3 Chastity - Here again it is not in the puritanical sense of the term, but sexual expression in moderation, without it turning into a vice or a practice that is harmful to others.

4 Industry - Or diligence. The same as the above; embracing the "Martha and Mary" of simultaneous work and rest.

5 Patience - When one has overcome anger and replaced it with reason, one has patience.

6 Kindness - The remedy to the earlier vice. Being benevolent or good willed toward others; not being negative or jealous. Cultivating a positive mental state and kind intentions.

7 Humility - Self-criticism, reflection, and playing down one's abilities and proficiencies. I feel humility is the greatest remedy to delusion. Properly cultivated, it leads to the "divine wisdom" of Socrates.

Final Thoughts
The last thought I had on this topic was the comparison to be made with Eastern religion. In Buddhism, for example, there is the teaching of the "brahma viharas" or “divine abodes.” These seem to be a teaching that originated from the brahmins of India who lived before the Buddha. But, when Siddhartha began his ministry he incorporated it into his own teaching.

These "brahma viharas" were four mental qualities the Buddha said would lead inevitably to a positive rebirth. They are benevolence, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. I find it interesting how similar these are to the above Christian virtues.

Certainly, these are universal prescriptions, and if the practice of cultivating these virtues is taken seriously, it can lead to extraordinary results.

[Jhanananda]

If you examine the web page on the Great Western Vehicle website Virtue, Understanding What is a Wholesome State you will see

It did not seem to be enough for either Siddharta Gotama nor for Patañjali to suggest one should simply erase unwholesome qualities from one's psyche, without replacing them with wholesome ones.  Thus both mystics recommend the cultivation of "wholesome" mental qualities.

The 'Four Boundless States', or 'Houses of God' were the Buddha's idea of wholesome mental states. While the list of unwholesome states in Buddhism only matches partially with the Afflictions in Yoga, nonetheless both Siddhartha Gautama and Patañjali suggested identical wholesome qualities, which are friendship (metta), compassion (karuna), sympathetic joy (mudita) and equanimity (upekkha) (please see below).

Who came up with the list first is a hard question to answer because written literature was not common until after 65BC, so we do not know who came first with these ideas, but it is my opinion that Siddhartha Gautama came before Patañjali.  We know Siddhartha Gautama predated Jesus by 250 years, and it is my opinion that Jesus was most certainly deeply influenced by Buddhism, and may very well have been consciously bringing Buddhist principles to the Jewish people of Judea, and later Persia after surviving his crucifixion.

The concepts of the 7 deadly sins and the Seven Heavenly Virtues comes from pre-Christian pagan ideas, which probably have their origins in the hindrances and heavenly abodes of Buddhism, but nonetheless are beneficial ideas, and were thus embraced by early Christians who came from Paganism before they embraced Christianity. 

These virtues are also referred to in Christianity as the "fruits of the holy spirit." according to Galatians 5:22-23 of the Epistle:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

The fruit of the holy spirit is contrasted with the works of the flesh which immediately precede it in this chapter.

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I agree that we find these virtues represented in the world religions and are thus deep commonly held concepts that surely have their origins in prehistory.

[Tad]

Jhanananda,

thank you for sharing excellent analysis of this topic and historical developments. Very interesting to read. 

[Jhanananda]

You are welcome,  Tad