Wisdom
and Knowledge Series, post #14. Buddhism, post #10 (14.2.9):
I actually typed all this from a
book, I think?! ( Source: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/life-atmosphere/files ). Before the whole repost below, I will highlight a section of
it, which says something about the Buddha, and something else: The Buddha is the
supreme analytic philosopher; and, one who goes in quest of truth …:
(Under section 'Free Inquiry' in the
whole repost)
In Buddhism one is not asked to believe in anything without first knowing what
it is. Blind belief is condemned in the analytic teaching (vibhajjavada)
of the Buddha. In many ways the absolutely analytico-philosophic nature of the
Buddha is made clear.
Except for the Buddha, no teacher has appeared in the world possessed of this
quality in all its fullness. He is the supreme analytic philosopher. Here
"analytic philosopher" means one who states a thing after resolving
it into its various qualities, putting the qualities in proper order, making
everything plain. The Vimati Vinodani, a scholium to the Vinaya
Commentary, says that the analytical philosopher has the character of one who
states a thing after going into its details; he does not state things
unitarily, that is, regarding all things in the lump, but after dividing up
things according to their outstanding features, having made all matters
distinct, so that false opinions and doubts vanish and conventional and highest
truth (sammuti paramattha- sacca) can be understood. In the Sarattha-dipani,
also a scholium to the Vinaya Commentary, we find the following: "An
upholder of the analytic method is the Master, because he approaches not the
extremes of eternalism and nihilism, but teaches the middle way of dependent
arising."
As a skilful anatomist resolves a limb into tissues and tissues into cells, the
Buddha analyses all component things into their fundamental elements. Therefore
is he called the Vibhajjavadi, the Teacher of the Doctrine of Analysis.
The truth of the Dhamma can be grasped only through insight, never through blind
faith. One who goes in quest of truth is not satisfied with surface knowledge.
Such a one wants to delve deep and see what is beneath. That is the sort of
search encouraged in Buddhism. That type of search yields right understanding.
Now, the whole repost (Again, the source:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/life-atmosphere/files ):
The time
stamp of this version of text: 7:37 PM, March 8, 2005.
Note, I
have changed the note numbers in the text of the book, like this: whenever you see a number
surrounded on each side by three asterisks, it is a note number. For example,
***3*** would mean that for that text part, there is a note
number 3 (at the end of that chapter) dealing with it.
Text from
book:
The
Spectrum of Buddhism
Writings
of Piyadassi
Foreword
by Bhikkhu Bodhi
Reprinted
For Free Distribution By
The
Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation
--------------------------------------
First
Published 1991
(c)
Mahathera Piyadassi 1991
Permission
to reprint or to translate this book can be obtained from the author.
ISBN
955-9098-03-9
...
--------------------------------------
samyoga viyoganta
Meetings end in partings
To
My Departed Parents
My Esteemed Teachers
My Elder Brother, D. Munidasa
And to two kalyana mittas (Noble Dhamma Friends)
V.F. Gunaratna and R. Sri Pathmanathan
May this gift of the Dhamma redound to their
eternal happiness---Nibbana
--------------------------------------
Sabbadanam dhammadanam jinati
The Gift of the Dhamma (Truth) excels all other
gifts
MAY ALL BEINGS
UPWARD PATH BE SMOOTH, SURE AND STEADY!
--------------------------------------
5
Reflections on the Buddha-Word
Free
Inquiry
The
Buddha directs his disciples to the ways of discrimination and research. To
take anything on trust, is not the spirit of Buddhism. We find this dialogue
between the Master and his disciples:
"If now, knowing this and preserving this, would you say: 'We honour our
Master and through respect for him we respect what he teaches?'"
"No, Lord."
"That which you affirm, O disciples, is it not only that which you
yourselves have recognized, seen and grasped?"
"Yes, Lord."
And in conformity with this thoroughly correct attitude of true inquiry, it is
said in a Sanskrit Buddhist treatise on logic, Jnanasarasamuccaya, 31:
"As the wise test gold by burning, cutting and rubbing it (on a piece of
touchstone), so are you to accept my words after examining them and not merely
out of regard for me."
Once the Kalamas of Kesaputta approached the Buddha and said: "Sir,
certain recluses and brahmins come to Kesaputta. As to their own view, they
proclaim and expound it in full; but as to the view of others, they abuse it,
revile it, depreciate and cripple it. Moreover, sir, other recluses and
brahmins, on coming to Kesaputta, do likewise. When we listen to them, sir, we
have doubt and wavering as to which of these worthies is speaking truth and
which speaks falsehood."
Then the Master spoke thus:
"Yes,
Kalamas, right it is to doubt, to question what is doubtful and what is
not clear. In a doubtful matter wavering does arise."
"Be not misled by tradition, hearsay or mere logic or inference, or
after reflection on and approval of some theory, or out of respect for a
recluse. But Kalamas, when you know for yourselves: These things are
unprofitable, blameworthy, are censured by the wise; these things, when
performed and undertaken, conduce to loss and sorrow---then indeed reject them
Kalamas."
"Now what do you think Kalamas? When greed, ill will and delusion arise
within a man, do they arise to his profit or to his loss?"
"To his loss, sir."
"Now, Kalamas, does not this man, being overcome by greed, ill will and
delusion, commit evil and mislead another to his loss and sorrow for a long
time?"
"He does, sir."
"Well then, Kalamas, what do you think? Are these things profitable, or
unprofitable?"
"Unprofitable, sir."
"Are they blameworthy or not?"
"Blameworthy, sir."
"Are they censured by the intelligent or not?"
"They are censured, sir."
"If performed and undertaken, do they conduce to loss and sorrow or
not?"
"They conduce to loss and sorrow, sir."
"So then, Kalamas, as to my words to you just now: 'Be not misled but when
you know for yourselves: These things are unprofitable and conduce to loss and
sorrow ... do you reject them,' such was my reason for uttering them."
"Kalamas, be not ... so misled. But when you know for yourselves: These
things are profitable, they are blameless, they are praised by the wise: these
things, when performed and undertaken, conduce to profit and happiness---then,
Kalamas, having undertaken them, abide therein."
"Now what do you think Kalamas? When freedom from greed, ill will and
delusion arise in a man, does it arise to his profit or his loss?"
"To his profit, sir."
"Does not this man, not overcome by greed, ill will and delusion,
refrain from evil and lead another into happiness?"
"He does, sir."
"Well then, Kalamas, what do you think? Are these things profitable or
unprofitable?"
"Profitable, sir."
"Are they blameworthy or not?"
"They are not, sir."
"Are they censured or praised by the wise?"
"They are praised, sir."
"When performed and undertaken, do they conduce to happiness or not?"
"They conduce to happiness, sir."
"So then, Kalamas, as to my words to you just now: 'Be not misled
... but when you know for yourselves: These things are profitable
... and conduce to happiness ... undertake them and abide
therein,' such was my reason for saying them" A. i, 188 Sutta 65; cf.
A. i, 66 and A. ii, Bhaddiya Sutta 193.
The reader will note that this discourse, Kalama Sutta, discourages dogmatism
and blind faith with a vigorous call for free investigation. Nevertheless he
should not hastily conclude that the Buddha was "a pragmatic empiricist
who dismisses all doctrine and faith, and whose Dhamma is simply a
freethinker's kit to truth which invites each one to accept and respect
whatever he likes." He should read with careful attention the last section
of the sutta in which the Buddha emphasizes the importance of the three root
causes of all evil: greed, ill will and delusion, and their opposites, the root
causes of all good: dispassion, good will and wisdom. "Thus this discourse
to the Kalamas offers an acid test for gaining confidence in the Dhamma as a
viable doctrine of deliverance."
For a fuller discussion of this sutta read the very illuminating essay: "A
Look at the Kalama Sutta" by Bhikkhu Bodhi appearing in the Buddhist
Publication Society Newsletter, Spring 1988, No.9.
Buddhism is free from compulsion and coercion and does not demand of the
follower blind faith. At the very outset the sceptic will be pleased to hear of
its call for investigation. Buddhism from beginning to end is open to all those
who have eyes to see and minds to understand.
Once when the Buddha was dwelling in a mango grove at Nalanda, Upali, a fervent
follower of Nigantha Nataputta (Jaina Mahavira), as requested by Mahavira,
approached the Buddha with the sole intention of debating with him and
defeating him in argument. The subject was the theory of kamma which both the
Buddha and Mahavira professed, although their views on it differed. At the end
of the very friendly discussion, Upali, convinced by the argument of the
Buddha, agreed with his views, and was ready to become a follower, a lay
disciple (upasaka). Nevertheless, cautioning him, the Buddha said:
"Of a truth, Upali, make a thorough investigation. It is good for
well-known men like yourself to make a thorough investigation." Upali,
however, became more satisfied and delighted with the Buddha for thus
cautioning him, and took refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha (the
Order). Though Upali became a Buddhist by conviction, the Buddha advised him to
respect and support his former teachers as he used to (Upali Sutta, M. 56).
Thus did the Buddha advocate the importance of freedom of thought and speech
and tolerance.
Following in the footsteps of the Master, the Buddhist Emperor Asoka, who
reigned in India in the third century B.C., declared in his Rock Edict XII:
"One should not honour only one's own
religion and condemn the religions of others, but one should honour others'
religions for this or that reason. So doing, one helps one's own religion to
grow and renders service to the religions of others too. In acting otherwise
one digs the grave of one's own religion and also does harm to other religions.
Whosoever honours his own religion and condemns other religions, does so indeed
through devotion to his own religon, thinking: 'I will glorify my own
religion.' But on the contrary, in so doing he injures his own religion more
gravely. So concord, indeed, is commendable: Let all listen, and be willing to
listen to the doctrines professed by others."
In Buddhism one is not asked to believe in anything without first knowing what
it is. Blind belief is condemned in the analytic teaching (vibhajjavada)
of the Buddha. In many ways the absolutely analytico-philosophic nature of the
Buddha is made clear.
Except for the Buddha, no teacher has appeared in the world possessed of this
quality in all its fullness. He is the supreme analytic philosopher. Here
"analytic philosopher" means one who states a thing after resolving
it into its various qualities, putting the qualities in proper order, making
everything plain. The Vimati Vinodani, a scholium to the Vinaya
Commentary, says that the analytical philosopher has the character of one who
states a thing after going into its details; he does not state things
unitarily, that is, regarding all things in the lump, but after dividing up
things according to their outstanding features, having made all matters
distinct, so that false opinions and doubts vanish and conventional and highest
truth (sammuti paramattha- sacca) can be understood. In the Sarattha-dipani,
also a scholium to the Vinaya Commentary, we find the following: "An
upholder of the analytic method is the Master, because he approaches not the
extremes of eternalism and nihilism, but teaches the middle way of dependent
arising."
As a skilful anatomist resolves a limb into tissues and tissues into cells, the
Buddha analyses all component things into their fundamental elements. Therefore
is he called the Vibhajjavadi, the Teacher of the Doctrine of Analysis.
The truth of the Dhamma can be grasped only through insight, never through
blind faith. One who goes in quest of truth is not satisfied with surface
knowledge. Such a one wants to delve deep and see what is beneath. That is the
sort of search encouraged in Buddhism. That type of search yields right
understanding.
Even as blind belief is contrary to the spirit of the Buddha-word, praying and
petitioning to an imaginary external agency is against the Buddhist way of
life. The Buddha, the wisest and the purest of beings, in his all comprehensive
survey of the universe found that the concept of a supreme deity or ruler is
mere illusion. It is fear in man enmeshed in ignorance which creates the idea
of an omniscient, omnipotent external agency, and, once that idea is created,
men move in awe of the child of their own fear and work untold harm to
themselves.
The highest worship is that paid to the best of men, those great and daring
spirits who have, with their wide and penetrating grasp of reality, wiped out
ignorance, the worst of stains, the crowning corruption of all our madness, and
rooted out all passion. The men who saw truth are our true helpers, but
Buddhists do not pray to them. Buddhists only revere the revealers of truth for
having pointed out the way to happiness. Happiness is what one must achieve for
oneself; no one else can make one better or worse.
Man must be left alone to look after himself and his latent powers. Let him
learn to stand alone. The thought that another raises him from lower to higher
levels and saves him, tends to make man indolent and weak. This kind of
thinking degrades a man. "Dependence on an external power has generally
meant a surrender of human effort." Thus did the Buddha exhort his
followers to acquire self-reliance. None can give us true peace, but only we
ourselves; others may help us indirectly, but deliverance from suffering must
be wrought out by each one for himself or herself.
Psychology reveals that infinite possibilities are latent in man, and it must
be man's endeavour to develop and unfold these possibilities. Each individual
should make the exertion necessary for his or her emancipation. None on earth
or in heaven can grant deliverance to another who merely begs for it. In one's
own hand lies the power to mould one's life.
"Pray not! the darkness will not brighten! Ask
Nought from the Silence, for it cannot speak!
Vex not your mournful minds with pious pains!
Ah! Brothers, Sisters! seek
Nought from the helpless gods by gift and hymn!
Nor bribe with blood, nor feed with fruits and cakes;
Within yourselves deliverance must be sought,
Each man his prison makes."
Light
of Asia, Sir Edwin Arnold.
"What really moves people to believe in God is not any intellectual
argument at all. Most people believe in God because they have been taught from
early infancey to do it, and this is the main reason.
"Then I think that the most powerful reason is the wish for safety, a sort
of feeling that there is a big brother who will look after you. That plays a
very profound part in influencing peoples' desire for a belief in God."
Bertrand Russell.
Moral
Causation
Religion
is something to be approached by reasoning and reflection. If, after a thorough
study, a teaching appeals to one's heart and mind, let one adopt its principles
in the conduct of life. It is foolish to try to follow a creed when one is
dissatisfied with it on reasonable grounds. One must be upright. One must be
true to oneself and others. Self-deception leads to mental conflict and
unhappiness. None has the right to tamper with the freedom of another in the
choice of a religion. Freedom of thought is the birthright of every individual.
It is wrong to force one out of the way of life which accords with one's
outlook and character, spiritual inclinations and tendencies. Compulsion in
every form is bad. It is coercion of the blackest kind to make a man gulp down
beliefs for which he has no relish. Such forced feeding cannot be good for
anybody, anywhere.
A man must be allowed to grow in that way which will bring out his best. Any
regimentation of thought is direct interference with that unfolding of the
spirit. A Buddhist considers such interference as intolerance of the worst
kind.
Purification comes not from an external agency, and self-purification can only
come to one who is free to think out his own problems without let or hindrance.
Others may help if one is ready to receive such help or seeks it. The highest
happiness is attained only through self-knowledge, self-realization,
self-awakening to the truth. One must put forth the appropriate effort and
break the shackles that have kept one long in bondage and get at freedom from
sorrow by unremitting self-exertion, and not through the mediation of another.
Buddhist monks are not priests who perform rites of sacrifice. They do not
administer sacraments and pronounce absolution. An ideal bhikkhu cannot and
does not stand as an intermediary between humanity and supernatural powers; for
Buddhism teaches that each individual, whether layman or monk, is solely
responsible for his own liberation. Hence, there is no need to win the favour
of a mediating priest.
"By ourselves is evil done,
By ourselves we pain endure,
By ourselves we cease from wrong,
By ourselves we become pure,
No one saves us but ourselves,
No one can and no one may;
We ourselves must walk the Path,
Buddhas only show the way."
It was the Buddha, who for the first time in the world's history, taught that
deliverance could be attained without a saviour. By precept and example, he was
an exponent of the strenuous life. "Work out your deliverance with
mindfulness" (appamadena sampadetha) are the last words of the
Master.
Each living being is his or her own creator; no other creator do we see in the
world beyond our own action. By our action we make our character, personality,
individuality. We are all self-made. Therefore does the Buddha say that
"we are heirs of our own deeds, bearers of our own deeds, our deeds are
the womb out of which we spring," (M. 135) and through our deeds alone we
must change for the better, remake ourselves and win liberation from ill. How
can it be otherwise? If we, through our ignorance and our passions, in the long
night of samsaric wandering had not shaped ourselves, how could there be such
difference and dissimilarity between living beings as we see in the world
today?
The teaching of moral causation (kamma), which is the one and only
reasonable explanation for the mass of suffering called the world, cannot be
overthrown. All explanations of sentient existence, excepting moral causation,
are fully unsatisfactory, for they do not take into account the real function
of the intangible, nevertheless, deciding factor of mentality (nama) in
the process of becoming (bhava). But when one sees sentient life as the
working, principally, of causality in its hidden aspect of conscious process,
then one comes to know and grasp the fount of life as ignorance; and the
countless forms of sentience as expressions of the drive of many-coloured
passion which urges all from life to life, arising and bursting asunder as
bubbles in the vast sea of samsara. Then one comes to cognize the
meaning of moral causation through the phenomenon of rebecoming, rebirth: we
are reaping what we have sown in the past; some of our reapings, we know, we
have even sown in this life. In the self same way, our actions here mould our
hereafter and thus we begin to understand our position in this mysterious
universe. It should, however, be remembered that according to Buddhism, not
everything that occurs is due to past action or kamma.
Therefore we do not hasten to blame or praise a Deva or a specially graced
person for the ills we suffer and the good we experience. No, not even the
Buddha could redeem us from samsara's bond. Each individual should make
the exertion necessary for his emancipation. In our own human hands lies the
power to mould our lives. Others may lend us a helping hand indirectly, but
deliverance from suffering must be wrought out and fashioned by each one for
himself upon the anvil of his own actions.
We believe that:
"Whatever a man does, the same he in himself will find;
The good man good; and evil he that evil has designed;
And so our deeds are all like seeds, and bring forth fruit in kind."
We see a reign of natural law, unending cause and effect and naught else ruling
the universe. The whole world is subject to the law of cause and effect. The
entire world is governed and controlled by this unending cause and effect, in
other words, action and reaction.
Inner
Culture
Man is an everchanging process of mind and body and the most important element
in this process is the mind. The control of the mind is the heart of the
Buddha's teaching. Happiness has to be found and perfection wrought through the
mental element in us, our consciousness. But so long as consciousness is
soiled, nothing worthy can be achieved there. Hence the Buddha stressed mental
purity as the source, essential condition of true happiness and deliverance
from suffering. Often did the Master exhort his disciples thus: "Search
yourselves," and "Tame your minds" (D. 16).
Exhorted by a single utterance of the Master many a man changed his life
entirely. Buddhist books are full of instances where sudden transformations
took place after some brief indication like the following:
"Channel-makers lead flood waters,
Arrow-makers shape the lethal shafts,
Carpenters bend wood and naught besides.
Wise men discipline themselves." Dhp.80
The guarding of the self from actions of greed, and training it to the
performance of actions freed from greed, that is selfless action, is the way to
happiness and true weal in the doctrine of the Buddha.
Two important discourses of the Buddha (D. 25; M.22) clearly tell us why the
Buddha teaches the Dhamma, the doctrine. Let us listen to him:
1.
The Blessed One is enlightened. He teaches the Dhamma for enlightenment (of
others).
2.
He is self-controlled. He teaches the Dhamma for control (of others).
3.
He is calmed. He teaches the Dhamma for calm (of others).
4.
Having crossed over (the ogha, the tide of taints), he teaches the
Dhamma for the crossing over (of others).
5.
Having attained Nibbana (by quenching the fire of defilements, parinibbuto),
he teaches the Dhamma for Nibbana (of others).
The Dhamma, the Buddha's Doctrine, is not for mere appreciation or for mere
possessing it as some property. The Buddha has clearly pointed out that the
Dhamma is a means for crossing over the ocean of suffering, the ocean of samsara
or repeated existence, and for reaching the safe and secure shore of the
Deathless Nibbana. The Dhamma is like a raft to ford across a stretch of water.
(See below p. 237.)
It is only when the mind is not allowed to kick over the traces and is kept to
the right road of orderly progress that it becomes useful for its individual
possessor and for society. A disorderly mind is of the nature of a debit both
to its owner and to others. All the havoc in the world is wrought by men who
have not learned the way of mind-control and physical balance and poise.
Therefore, the Buddha says:
"Whatever
a foe to a foe may do---
The wrathful to the wrathful---
The
ill-directed heart can do it worse." Dhp.42
Rank, caste, colour, wealth and power connot make a man a person of value to
the world. Only his character makes a man great and worthy of honour.
"Character is what comes out when life is lived under stress of purposeful
and skilful activity. Just as a diamond is carbon which has been subjected to
severe pressure, so life which is lived out under intense and continued
spiritual exertion produces the jewel, character." It is character that
illumines wisdom (apadana sobhini panna).
Man today is the result of millions of repetitions of thoughts and acts. He is
not ready-made; he becomes and is still becoming. His character is
predetermined by his own choice. The thought, the act which he chooses, that by
habit, he becomes.
"Radiant is the mind at birth, and it is soiled only by adventitious
defilements (pabhassaramidam bhikkhave cittam, tam ca kho agantukehi
upakkilesehi upakkilittham)," says the Buddha. And others, basing
their ideas on the Buddha-word, say the same thing in other words: "By
nature living beings are gentle, but adventitious ills defile them."
By systematic attention and thought about the things that one meets with in
everyday life, by controlling one's evil inclinations and by curbing the
impulses, one can keep the mind from being soiled. Hard it is to give up what
lures and holds us in thrall; and hard it is to exorcise the evil spirits that
haunt the human heart in the shape of unwholesome thoughts. These evils are the
manifestations of lust, hate and ignorance---lobha, dosa, and moha, the
threefold army of Death (Mara). Until one attains to the very crest of purity
by constant training of the mind, one cannot defeat these hosts completely. The
mere abandoning of outward things, fasting and so forth, do not tend to purify
a man, these things do not make a man holy and harmless. Self-mortification is
one extreme which the Master in his first proclamation of the Dhamma cast off
as wrong, and so also did he reject sensual indulgence, calling it ignoble.
Avoiding these two extremes, the Buddha revealed to the world the Middle Way---Majjhima
Patipada---which leads a person to peace, enlightenment and Nibbana (upasamaya,
sambodhaya nibbanaya).
Spinoza wrote:"The things which commonly happen in life, and are esteemed
among men as the highest good, can be reduced to these three, riches, fame and
lust, and by these the mind is so distracted that it can scarcely think of any
other good."
Man's passions are disturbing. The lust of blinded beings has brought about
hatred and all other sufferings. The enemy of the whole world is lust through
which all evils come to living beings. This lust, when obstructed by some
cause, is transformed into wrath. And man falls into the net which he himself
has made of his passion for pleasure, like the spider into its own web. But by
training in virtuous conduct, development of calm, and getting at the light of
truth, the wise pass on cutting the bonds. The wise consider him who has
conquered himself through the uprooting of the passions higher than he who has
conquered a thousand thousands in battle.
Refraining from intoxicants and becoming heedful, establishing themselves in
patience and purity, the wise train their minds. The calm attitude at all times
shows a man of culture. It is not too hard a task for a man to be calm when all
things round him are favourable. But to be composed of mind in the midst of
unfavourable circumstances is hard, and it is this difficult thing that is
worth doing; for by such control one builds up strength of character.
Control of self is the key to happiness. It is the king among virtues. It is
the force behind all true achievement. The movements of a person void of
control are purposeless and unsettled. And such a one indulging in sensuous
pleasures is like the greedy woodpecker who comes to dire disease on the coarse
wild plantain.
A sage of old has said:
"If
one ponders on objects of the sense, there springs
Attraction; from attraction grows desire;
Desire flames to fierce passion; passion breeds
Recklessness; then the memory all betrayed
Lets noble purpose go, and saps the mind,
Till purpose, mind and man are all undone."
It is owing to the lack of control that in our mind arise conflicts of diverse
kinds. And if conflicts are to be eliminated, we must give less rein to
longings and inclinations and endeavour to live the life self-governed and
pure.
"All too often we are so much in bondage to the senses, to material
things, we live so exclusively in the material world, that we fail to contact
the power within. We should, however, learn to withdraw to the inner realities.
By withdrawing into the silence, we can learn to overcome the weaknesses and
limitations of ordinary experience. Unless we do this, life lacks meaning,
purpose, drive and inspiration."
No amount of logic and argument on the perfecting of life leads us to our
desired goal. No amount of speculation brings us one inch nearer to our aim.
But each act of genuine renunciation of, and detachment from, the objects that
incite passion, that lead us deeper into the night of ignorance, and enslave us
with their lure, takes us goalwards, blisswards, peacewards.
There is nothing vague in the teaching of the Buddha. Knowing evil as evil and
good as good, why need one hesitate to avoid the bad and tread the good path?
According to the insight of the Buddhist he can do nothing but cultivate good
and avoid ill. For the Buddhists the doing of good is ineluctable, if he has
understood their Master's teaching:
Sabba
papassa akaranam
Kusalassa
upasampada
Sacitta
pariyodapanam
Etam
Buddhanasasanam.
"To
put aside each ill of old,
To
leave no noble deed undone,
To
cleanse the mind---in these behold
The
teaching of the Enlightened One." Dhp. v, 183
Everyone, however, can win the victory, if he chooses. We cannot all be great
statesmen, artists or philosophers, but what is more important, at any rate for
us, we can all, if we choose, be good men.
Often our attempts to reach perfection are not crowned with success. But
failure does not matter so long as we are sincere in our attempts, pure in our
motives, and strive again and again without stopping. None reaches the summit
of a hill at once. One rises by degrees. Like the skilful smith who blows away
the dross in gold bit by bit, man must try to purge his life of its impurities
(Dhp. 239). A child learns to stand and walk gradually and with difficulty. So,
too, have all great ones, in the march to perfection, moved from stage to
stage, through repeated failures to final success.
The path pointed out by the Buddha for inner growth and development is
meditation's path. It is the way of careful cultivation of the mind so as to
produce the choice fruit of unalloyed happiness, and supreme rest from the
turmoil of life. It is the path of constant heedfulness in all our actions.
Watchfulness and complete awareness, these bring meditation to fulfilment. Who
is mindful and aware of himself at all times is already at the gates of the
Deathless---Nibbana.
--------------------------------------
11
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment
(Satta Bojjhanga)
The
Tipitaka, the Buddhist Pali Canon, is replete with references to the factors of
enlightenment expounded by the Enlightened One on different occasions under
different circumstances. In the Book of the Kindred Sayings, V (Samyutta
Nikaya, Maha Vagga) we find a special section under the title Bojjhanga
Samyutta wherein the Buddha discourses on the bojjhangas in diverse
ways. In this section we read a series of three discourses or sermons which
have been recited by Buddhists ever since the time of the Buddha as a
protection (paritta or pirit) against pain, disease and
adversity, etc.
The term "bojjhanga" is composed of bodhi + anga.
"Bodhi" denotes enlightenment, to be exact, insight concerned
with the realization of the Four Noble Truths; namely: the Noble Truth of
Suffering; the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering; the Noble Truth of the
Cessation of Suffering, and the Noble Truth of the Path leading to the
Cessation of Suffering. "Anga" means factors or limbs. Bodhi
+ anga (bojjhanga), therefore, means the factors of
enlightenment, or the factors for insight, wisdom.
"Bojjhanga! Bojjhanga! is the saying, Lord. Pray, Lord, how far is
this name applicable?" queried a monk of the Buddha. "Bodhaya
samvattantiti kho bhikkhu tasma Bhojjhanga ti vuccati." "They
conduce to enlightenment, monk, that is why they are so called," was the
succinct reply of the Master.***1***
Further says the Buddha, "Just as, monks, in a peaked house all rafters,
whatsoever go together to the peak, slope to the peak, join in the peak, and of
them all the peak is reckoned chief, even so monks, the monk who cultivates and
makes much of the seven factors of enlightenment, slopes to Nibbana, inclines
to Nibbana, tends to Nibbana."***2***
The seven factors are:
1. Mindfulness (sati),
2. Keen investigation of the Dhamma (dhammavicaya),***3***
3. Energy (viriya),
4. Rapture or happiness (piti),
5. Calm (passaddhi),
6. Concentration (samadhi) and
7.
Equanimity
(upekkha).
For the benefit of the reader one of the discourses on the bojjhangas
may be mentioned here. It begins: "Thus I heard. At one time the Buddha
was living at Rajagaha, at Veluvana, the Bamboo Grove, in the Squirrels'
Feeding-ground. At that time the Venerable Maha Kassapa, who was living in
Pipphali Cave, was sick, stricken with a severe illness.
Then the Buddha, rising from his solitude at eventide, visited the Ven. Maha
Kassapa, took his seat, and spoke to the Ven. Maha Kassapa in this way:
"Well, Kassapa, how is it with you? Are you bearing up; are you enduring?
Do your pains lessen or increase? Are there signs of your pains lessening and
not increasing?"
"No, Lord, I am not bearing up. I am not enduring. The pain is very great.
There is a sign not of the pains lessening, but of their increasing."
"Kassapa, these seven factors of enlightenment are well expounded by me,
cultivated and much developed by me, and when cultivated and much developed
they conduce to full realization, perfect wisdom, to Nibbana. What are the
seven?
"Mindfulness. This O, Kassapa, is well expounded by me, cultivated and
much developed by me, and when cultivated and much developed, it conduces to
full realization, perfect wisdom, to Nibbana. Investigation of the Dhamma ...
Energy ... Rapture ... Calm ... Concentration ... Equanimity."
"These seven factors of enlightenment, verily, Kassapa, are well expounded
by me, cultivated and much developed by me, and when cultivated and much
developed, they conduce to full realization, perfect wisdom, to Nibbana."
"Verily, O Blessed One, they are factors of enlightenment! Verily, O
Welcome One, they are factors of enlightenment!" uttered Maha Kassapa.
Thus spoke the Buddha, and the Venerable Maha Kassapa rejoicing, welcomed the
utterances of the Worthy One. And the Venerable Maha Kassapa rose from that
illness. There and then that ailment of the Venerable Maha Kassapa vanished.***4***
Another discourse (Maha Cunda Bojjhanga Sutta) of the three mentioned above
reveals that once the Buddha himself was ill, and the Venerable Maha Cunda
recited the bojjhangas, factors of enlightenment, and that the Buddha's
grievous illness vanished.***5***
Our mind tremendously and profoundly influences and affects the body. If
allowed to function viciously and entertain unwholesome and harmful thoughts,
mind can cause disaster, and even kill a being; but mind also can cure a sick
body. When concentrated on thoughts with right understanding, the effects mind
can produce are immense.
"Mind not only makes sick, it also cures. An optimistic patient has more
chance of getting well than a patient who is worried and unhappy. The recorded
instances of faith healing include cases in which even organic diseases were
cured almost instantaneously."***6***
Buddhism (Buddhadhamma) is the teaching of enlightenment. One who is
keen on attaining enlightenment should first know clearly the impediments that
block the path to enlightenment.
Life, according to the right understanding of a Buddha is suffering and that
suffering is based on ignorance or avijja. Ignorance is the experiencing
of that which is unworthy of experiencing, namely evil. Further it is the
non-perception of the conglomerate nature of the aggregates (khandanam
rasattham); non-perception of sense-organ and sense object in their
respective and objective natures (ayatananam ayatanattham);
non-perception of the emptiness or the relativity of the elements (dhatunam
sunnattham); non-perception of the dominant nature of the sense-controlling
faculties (indriyanam adhipatittham); non-perception of the thusness---the
infallibility of the Four Noble Truths (saccanam tathattham). And the
five hindrances (panca nivaranani) are the nutriment of (or condition
for) this ignorance. They are called hindrances because they completely close
in, cut off and obstruct. They hinder the understanding of the way to release
from suffering. These five hindrances are: sensuality (kamacchanda); ill
will (vyapada); obduracy of mind and mental factors (thina-middha);
restlessness and flurry (uddhacca-kukkucca), and doubt (vicikiccha).
And what is the nutriment of these hindrances? The three evil modes of life (tini
duccaritani): bodily, vocal, and mental wrongdoing. This threefold
nutriment is in turn nourished by non-restraint of the senses (indriya
asamvaro) which is explained by the commentator as the admittance of lust
and hate into the six sense organs of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind (cakkadinam
channam indriyanam ragapatighappavesanam).
The nutriment of non-restraint is shown to be lack of mindfulness and of clear
comprehension (asati asampajanna). In the context of nutriment, the
drifting away of the object (dhamma)---the lapsing of the knowledge of
the lakkhanas or characteristics of the existence of impermanence,
suffering and voidness of self (anicca, dukkha and anatta) from
the mind, and forgetfulness of the true nature of things are the reasons for
non-restraint. It is when one does not bear in mind the transiency and the
other characteristics of things that one allows oneself all sorts of vocal and
physical liberties and gives rein to full thought imagery of an unskilful kind.
Lack of clear comprehension is lack of these four: clear comprehension of
purpose (sattha sampajanna); of suitability (sappaya sampajanna);
of resort (gocara sampajanna); and of non-delusion (asammoha
sampajanna). When one does actions, when one does a thing without a right
purpose, when one looks at things or does actions which do not help the growth
of the good, when one does things inimical to improvement, when one forgets the
Dhamma which is the true resort of one who strives, when one deludedly lays
hold of things believing them to be pleasant, beautiful, permanent and
substantial, when one behaves thus, then too non-restraint is nourished.
And below this lack of mindfulness and clear comprehension, lies unsystematic
attention (ayoniso manasikara). Unsystematic attention is attention that
is off the right course. That is taking the impermanent as permanent; the
painful as pleasure; the soulless as a soul; the bad as good or the repulsive
as beautiful. The constant rolling on, wandering that is samsara is
rooted in unsystematic thinking. When unsystematic thinking increases, it
fulfils two things: nescience and lust for becoming. Ignorance being present,
the origination of the entire mass of suffering comes to be. Thus a person who
is a shallow thinker, like a ship drifting at the wind's will, like a herd of
cattle swept into the whirlpools of a river, like an ox yoked to a
wheel-contraption, goes on revolving in the cycle of existence, samsara.
And it is said that imperfect confidence (assaddhiyam) in the Buddha,
the Dhamma and the Sangha is the condition which develops unsystematic
thinking, and imperfect confidence is due to nonhearing of the true law, the
Dhamma (asaddhammasavanam). Finally, one does not hear the Dhamma
through lack of contact with the wise, through not consorting with the good (asappurisasamsevo).
Thus want of kalyana mittata, good friendship, appears to be the basic
reason for the ills of the world. And conversely the basis and nutriment of all
good is shown to be good friendship. That furnishes one with the food of the
sublime Dhamma which in turn produces confidence in the Triple Gem (Tiniratanani),
the Tri Ratana,---the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. When one has
confidence in the Triple Gem, there come into existence profound or systematic
thinking, mindfulness and clear comprehension, restraint of the senses, the
three good modes of life, the four arousings of mindfulness, the seven factors
of enlightenment, and deliverance through wisdom, one after another in due
order.***7***
...
IV
The fourth enlightenment factor is rapture or happiness (piti). This too
is a mental property (cetasika) and is a quality which suffuses both the
body and mind. The man lacking in this quality cannot proceed along the path to
enlightenment. There will arise in him sullen indifference to the Dhamma, an
aversion to the practice of meditation, and morbid manifestations. It is,
therefore, very necessary that a man striving to attain enlightenment and final
deliverance from the fetters of samsara, that repeated wandering, should
endeavour to cultivate the all important factor of happiness. No one can bestow
on another the gift of happiness; each one has to build it up by effort,
reflection and concentrated activity. As happiness is a thing of the mind it
should be sought not in external and material things though they may in a small
way be instrumental.
...
Notes:
1.
S. v, 72.
2. Kindred
Sayings, v. p. 63.
3. "Dhamma"
is a multisignificant term. Here it means mind and matter (nama-rupa); dhammavicaya
is the investigation or analysis of this conflux of mind and body, and all
component and conditioned things.
4.
S. v, 81.
5.
S. v, 81.
6.
Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means (London, 1946), p. 259.
7. Sammoha
Vinodani.
8. Satipatthana
Sutta, M. 10 or D. 22.See The Foundations of Mindfulness, trans.
by Nyanasatta (Kandy: BPS) Wheel 19.
9.
D. 16 / II. 156.
10. Satipatthana
Commentary.
11. Sagathaka
Vagga, Samyutta Nikaya.
12. Dhp.
v, 32.
13. A.
iv, 232.
14.
M. 38 / I. 245.
15.
Jnanasara - Samuccaya, p. 31.
16. Dhp.
v, 374.
17. A.
iv, 232.
18. D.
16 / II. 100.
19. A.
ii, 14-15.
20. For
a detailed study read. The Removal of Distracting Thoughts, trans. by
Soma Thera (Kandy: BPS). See also above p.254
21. Dhp.
v, 280.
22.
Dhp. v, 200.
23. Devas
are deities.
24. Dhp.
vv, 33-36.
25.
D. 25 / III. 541.
26.
Uraga Jataka, 354.
27.
Dhp.v, 216.
28. M. 27.
29.
M. 30 / I. 205.
30.
Dhp. v, 83.
31. Translation
by Kassapa Thera.
32. Psalms
of the Brethren (Theragatha), v, 947.
--------------------------------------
Abbreviations
A.
Books: All
references to Pali texts and commentaries are to editions of the PTS.
A.
Anguttara-nikaya (number of the volume and page marked)
AA.
Anguttara-nikaya Atthakatha (commentary)
D.
Digha-nikaya
Dhp.
Dhammapada (number of the verse marked)
DhpA.
Dhammapada Attahakatha (commentary)
Iti.
Itivuttaka
M.
Majjhima-nikaya
Miln. Milindapanha
Pd.
Paramatthadipani, Commentary to the Therigatha
Ps.
Psalms of the Sisters
S.
Samyutta-nikaya
Sn.
Sutta-nipata
Thag. Theragatha
Ud. Udana
Vin. Vinaya
Pitaka (text)
Vism.
Visuddhimagga
B.
Terms
A.C. After
Christ
Com.
Commentary
Nikaya A
collection of suttas or discourses in Pali
n.
Footnote
BPS
Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka
PTS
Pali Text Society of London
Sutta
A sermon or discourse of the Buddha or his disciples recorded in the Canonical
Texts
Thera
The word Thera is a title meaning Elder, given to a monk who has attained ten
years standing in the Order (one who has observed ten vassa or rainy
seasons). Mahathera, a great Elder, one with more than twenty years' standing
(See p. 361).
