Discipline and Its Limits

Tiger Woods, who is a self-professing Buddhist, said in his serial infidelity he had stoppped following the dictates of his religion and instead had indulged himself in the easy temptations of fame and fortune. After his highly scripted mea culpa, another follower of the noble Eightfold Path spoke up.

The Dalai Lama agreed with the superstar golfer's assessment, commenting that Buddhism preaches self-discipline and an awareness of the consequences of one's actions, values on which Woods had turned his back.

As another mere mortal only too aware of my own susceptibility to temptation, I wonder whether Eldrick Woods has yet grasped his true predicament and its solution. His answer, perhaps Buddhism's as well, to his loss of discipline is the application of more discipline.

It's a bit more complicated than that, of course. Buddhism, an offshoot of Hinduism, tries to steer a “Middle Way” for devotees between indulgence and asceticism. Buddhists do this through the disciplined adoption of right views, goals, speech, conduct, lifestyle, efforts, awareness, and concentration. These disciplines Woods now says he will return to, and, for all I know, he will succeed.

But is Eldrick Woods getting his act together the end of the story? I think not. Discipline will not erase the memory of his horrible acts and the even worse attitude that led to them. Discipline will not heal the emotional scars of his wife, children, and the women he used for his own pleasure. Discipline will not take away the lies, the lost oppportunities. It will not rebuild his reputation (though it may help). Discipline, advocated by Buddhism and all the world's religions, will not buy forgiveness. Nor will it vanquish the demons (real or self-made) that pushed him down his disastrous path.

They say time heals all wounds, but I wonder. I think, rather, it covers them over, only to have them re-erupt when we least expect it. After the careful application of discipline, the pain will remain, the pus will continue oozing. The guilt, which Woods freely acknowledges now, will continue.

There's more. Woods has flouted his own standards, yes. But he has violated something more. If there is a Law that tells us that we are not to do what he did (and most of us in our more honest moments would acknowledge that there is), then we have to face the very real possibility that there is a Lawgiver.

Is Woods's newfound discipline enough to win this Lawgiver's pardon? Or is something more required? Look at it this way: Is good behavior on Death Row enough to win a condemned man's release?

Seen in this light, journalist Brit Hume's suggestion that Eldrick Woods might consider availing himself of the redemption freely offered in Christ makes a lot of sense. Doing so requires not discipline but humility, for Woods and for the rest of us.