Samsarictravelling Blog: 14.2.9 Wisdom and Knowledge Series, post #14. Buddhism, post #10: Some text from 'The Spectrum of Buddhism: Writings of Piyadassi': The Buddha is the supreme analytic philosopher; one who goes in quest of truth …; etc.

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

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First Published 1991

Permission to reprint or to translate this book can be obtained from the author.

ISBN 955-9098-03-9

...

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samyoga viyoganta

Meetings end in partings

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

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Sabbadanam dhammadanam jinati

The Gift of the Dhamma (Truth) excels all other gifts

MAY ALL BEINGS

UPWARD PATH BE SMOOTH, SURE AND STEADY!

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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."

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.

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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***

...

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.

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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).

Samsarictravelling Blog

Wednesday, 28 February 2018

14.2.9 Wisdom and Knowledge Series, post #14. Buddhism, post #10: Some text from 'The Spectrum of Buddhism: Writings of Piyadassi': The Buddha is the supreme analytic philosopher; one who goes in quest of truth …; etc.

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