Santosa: Contentment

When monks and novices are ordained they are encouraged to begin with sense restraint, to guard their senses and be self-composed, to receive sense impressions mindfully. Mindfulness nurtures wisdom and understanding, preventing greed, hatred, and delusion from arising; the mind thus abides with wholesome states. This mindful reception of sense objects, and the prevention of unwholesome states from overpowering the mind, is seen as an adequate starting point of spiritual practice.

A third supporting principle is called santosa: contentment with the four requisites. In the monk’s life this refers to contentment with whatever robe, almsfood, dwelling, and medicine one may obtain—to be content with having enough of these requisites to survive and exist, to meet the basic needs of life.

When one has an adequate amount of these requisites, and one is not infatuated with consuming things, one can then devote one’s complete time, energy, and attention to self-development, to fulfilling one’s responsibilities, to engaging in work, and to cultivating wholesome and virtuous qualities. This is the true meaning of ‘contentment’ (santosa).

The essential principles of practice in regard to the four requisites are thus moderation in eating, sense restraint, and contentment. It is not just monastics who should practise these principles of training. Laypeople too should apply and benefit from them so that their personal lives and communities truly prosper and flourish.

This reflection by Venerable P.A. Payutto (Somdet Phra Buddhakosajarn) is an excerpt from the book True Education Begins with Wise Consumption, (pdf) pp. 1-2, translated from the Thai by Robin Moore.