Tesshin used his talk this week to contemplate a personal issue of ethics.  The situation arose when his wife mentioned that many of her friends are obtaining the Covid vaccine even though they are not in an eligible group.  Tesshin brought this situation up in his interfaith clergy group.  The debate quickly moved to the status of the clergy themselves.  Are they essential workers and should they be vaccinated sooner or later?

 

On the one hand the clergy are essential because they need to give comfort to the sick, preside over marriages and funerals, lead services, and support their communities.  Needless to say, they cannot do this effectively until they are vaccinated.  Tesshin could not get away, however, from his Bodhisattva vow which exhorts us to help all beings before helping ourselves.  So should the clergy be working to get others vaccinated and focus less on their own situation?  As with many issues in ethics, there is no clear or simple answer.

 

Tesshin commented that these two issues are really the same.  What makes someone essential?  A father is essential to his family and a priest is essential to their community.  So, maybe not all of the wife’s friends are in the wrong and perhaps not all the clergy are as essential as they claim.  Who really is essential and who goes first when vaccine is still scarce?  Tesshin mentioned that difficult questions like this is why it is so important to have spiritual and philosophical training.  There is no elegant mathematical equation to perfectly solve issues like this.  

 

To make things a bit more complicated, there are also other people who are lying about their condition or their essential nature in order to ‘jump the line.’  For instance, they may say that they have a heart condition when they do not.  They may claim to have a public facing position when in reality, they have been working from home for the past year.  One may quickly assume that these people are clearly and completely in the wrong.  After all, we have a person who should wait pushing to the front of the line denying a legitimately vulnerable person the vaccine.  However, even here it is not an open and shut case!  What happens if someone cannot make their appointment and the vaccine dose will expire – should someone who would not normally qualify be given the dose?  Would it be better to give the dose to the liar than to simply throw it away to make a point?

 

So, from an ethical point of view – how do we decide?  Tesshin stated that it is all about intention!  If the priest’s intention is to protect the self, we have an unethical situation even if the result is good for the community.  The healthy father who is caring for an elderly mother and is worried sick that he may transmit the virus to her is on a stronger footing ethically – even if he lied about his condition.  

 

Understanding intention is where our practice can really help.  Once we have mastered the mind, we can look deeply into our intentions and clarify them.  If we can do this, then we have a chance to make ethical decisions.  We practice this every day.  We know through deep meditation what is skillful and not skillful.  We understand that we don’t always do what is skillful, but we have the presence of mind to know the difference.  This is the difference.  There is nothing worse in a spiritual life than self-delusion!

 

Tesshin wrapped up by reminding us that ethical decisions are never easy and clear cut, however once we train the mind to be calm and see reality as it really is, we can start making better decisions for ourselves, our family, and our communities.