Does Enlightenment Automatically Make One Ethical?

Over the decades I’ve heard a disturbing number of stories about respected spiritual teachers who wind up becoming embroiled in scandals of one sort or another. These teachers are usually (but not always) men, and their failings usually (but not always) involve sex and/or alcohol, sometimes money.

I could rattle off a list of specific names here, but because I personally know students and disciples of some of these teachers, it’s not my intent here to upset people so I’ll refrain from that.

In some of these cases, the teachers in question strike me as quite possibly being enlightened, or at least highly advanced in their practice. I say that not just because of their impressive teachings, of course (since it’s not necessarily hard to fake that), but the general “vibe” of their bearing.

So, how is this even possible - that they could rise so high yet fall so far?

I think it illustrates the fact that enlightenment and morality don’t necessarily go hand in hand. That’s surprising to some, I know, but it’s something I’ve seen time and again.

Fact is, spiritual practice can in fact be undertaken almost completely apart from any ethical training or framework. A person can work on honing their awareness to a great extent, even to the point of accessing samadhi and higher states, in other words, and you would think that might automatically bring with it a certain empathy and compassion. Yet it’s not necessarily that simple.

Why? My own sense is it has to do with the fact that “enlightenment” is generally a higher-level state, an awakening of pure consciousness, whereas those aspects of personality concerned with matters like sex, money, and power tend to reside further down on the “ladder of consciousness,” as it were.

As a result, ascending to the top of that ladder doesn’t in itself guarantee someone will have balanced out or developed the lower rungs to any extent. A yogi in the Hindu tradition might well express this in terms of someone developing their Third Eye, or Ajna chakra, but not necessarily having developed their “heart chakra” energies to any extent, let alone having learned to control their lower chakra impulses.

I remember decades ago reading an article by a Buddhist writer about the seeming paradox of how some military officials in Japan during WWII previously had training in Zen Buddhism, yet could be so cruel and coldly strategic in their wartime treatment of captives and enemies. [1] What explains that, the author wondered?

He used that as an example of how those individuals may well have developed their capacity to focus with greater awareness on their actions and their mind, giving them a diamond-like precision and efficacy in whatever they did, but that training didn’t necessarily emphasize empathy and compassion, or provide a grounding in moral precepts. (To be clear, that’s by no means true of all Zen communities and teachers; for instance, the Zen center I studied at in upstate New York strongly emphasized integrating meditation practice with principles of compassion, among other things.)

The conclusion here is a fairly obvious one, as far as I’m concerned - namely, to be most effective, spiritual practice is best undertaken within a holistic framework. Rather than simply being concerned with becoming more aware and hyper-focused in the moment, or even with the attainment of Realization, it needs to incorporate other factors in service of a balanced life. That should include not just compassion and ethical behavior but measured control of one’s habits (eating, sex, drinking), maintaining physical health, developing one’s intellect along and critical thinking, working toward economic stability, cultivating social responsibility, or even spending time in nature.

In a word: balance.

Notes

1. I’ve been informed that the writer I heard was most likely Brian Daizen Victoria, author of the book Zen at War.

© 2026 Ray Grasse

Ray Grasse is a writer, photographer, and astrologer living in the American Midwest. He is author of ten books, including The Waking Dream, Under a Sacred Sky, and An Infinity of Gods. His websites are www.raygrasse.com and www.raygrassephotography.com.