Aloka Journal

J18.01

Belittling Gautama Buddha’s achievements

Dr. Upul Wijayawardhana

If not for the conversion of Emperor Ashoka around 260 BCE, when the euphoria of the victory over the Kalingas was getting marred by regret over nearly 200,000 lives lost in the bitter war made him seek solace in Buddhism, Gautama Buddha would have been consigned to history over two millennia ago and His teachings lost for ever. Brahmins did their utmost to banish the Buddha, most likely because He rebelled against the caste system that gave the pride of place to them, even above the ruling classes. The other reason is Buddha’s rejection of a creator God and according to Sudhansu Bimal Barua (Bodhi Leaf 10, BPS; 2011) in one of the chapters of Ramayaoa it is stated:

"Yathahi corasatathāni Buddhas, tathāgata mnāstikama trabiddhi"

Which on translation is: "Buddha is like a thief. Know Tathāgata [Buddha] to be an atheist."

As they could not banish, by masterful trickery they submerged the Buddha as the ninth avatar of Vishnu and would have remained so, if not for Emperor Ashoka who made Buddhism the ‘religion’ of the future. It is our bounden duty to make it fit for the 21st century.

Any claim to fame regarding Buddhism by Sri Lanka is, again, entirely due to Emperor Ashoka who sent not only his eldest son Arahant Mahinda to establish Buddhism but also his daughter Bhikkhuni Sanghamitta who brought a sapling of the Bo tree and established Bhikkuni Sasana which died out in the eleventh century only to be re-established in 1996.

During a live telecast from Buddha-Gaya broadcast on Rupavahini on Vesak morning, Prof. J.B. Dissanayaka made the interesting observation that, for whatever reason, Emperor Ashoka sent his own children to Sri Lanka whereas he sent other Arahants to bigger countries like Burma and Thailand. Though both Mahawansa and Dipawansa confirm this, some Indologists like Prof. Hermann Oldenbergh and V.A. Smith doubt this on the basis that it is not mentioned in Ashoka’s Rock Edicts. I am inclined to depend on the scholarship of Prof. Dissanayaka than on Western Indologists. If not for the untiring efforts of Anagarika Dharmapala who, unfortunately, died a few months before his dream was realized, Buddhists would not have had access to Buddha-Gaya and many other places that played a pivotal role in the life of Gautama Buddha.

What made me ponder is a statement made by the Nayaka Thero, whose name I could not catch, who appeared on the same programme. He stated that all Buddhas were born in India and all of them attained enlightenment in Buddha-Gaya and all of them died at Kusinara. Further, he predicted that Maithri Buddha will also do the same. Is that not pre-determination? Though I do not subscribe to such beliefs, many Sri Lankan Buddhists believe it will be King Dutugemunu who will be Maithri Buddha. How will Indians treat a Sri Lankan king who defeated an Indian invader? Perhaps, he should expect harsher treatment than his predecessor. Even if Sri Lanka gets virtuous by the day through aeons, will it not be able to produce an Enlightened one as Buddhahood is apparently the preserve of our big brother?

Empress Wu of China (624 – 705 CE), the only empress who was ‘the Emperor of China’ thanks to ‘liberation’ by Buddhism, was responsible for one of the largest statues in the Longmen grottoes where more than 100,000 statues of the Buddha and his disciples are in 2345 caves. She called it Maitriya Buddha but the face is hers; fair enough, having got ‘liberation’ from Gautama Buddha to aspire to be the next Buddha, if there is one, but she has overlooked the male dominated Indo-centric predictors. It will be an interesting religious-academic exercise to make nominations for Maithri Buddha; I have a few suggestions of my own.

Forget the future; what about the past? If we accept that there were many Buddhas in the past, all of whom were born, enlightened, preached and died in India then we are accepting that it is cyclic and, more importantly, fixed. This reduces the position of Gautama Buddha to one who reinvents the wheel, of Dharma of course. To me, sticking to unproven and unprovable beliefs at the expense of what has been established, is an attempt, though unintended, to belittle the unparalleled achievements of Gautama Buddha. I am subject to challenge but my view is that stories created by the well-meaning to illustrate the difficulty of attaining enlightenment inadvertently diminish the achievements of Gautama Buddha. I am in total agreement with Nan (The Deeper Meaning of Vesak, Gathered Over the Years: Sunday Island, 22 May) that it was refreshing to watch Navin Gooneratna’s film ‘Siddhartha Gautama’ where he gave a deep meaning to renunciation, the widely believed version being used by some, in attempts at conversion, to portray Siddhartha as an uncaring father and irresponsible husband.

Is it not the time to shed stories told to evoke ‘shradda’ in the uneducated? I started studying medicine in 1959 and am yet to see a human new-born walk. Adding seven lotuses to it, makes it mystical but what Gautama Buddha expounded was not mysticism but realism; to live in the present mindfully. When there is so much of truth, science, in Buddhism why are some obsessed with stories, more fiction than fact? When I raised this issue during the Dhamma discussion at the Vesak celebrations of a British Vihara, the guest lecturer, a local professor, responded that it is ‘Folk Buddhism’ which he appreciates. I had to point out to him that I was born to ‘Folk Buddhism’ but have graduated to ‘Scientific Buddhism’. This was about twenty years ago and the committee of the temple have never invited me for a lecture or discussion since. Obviously, they prefer ‘Traditional Buddhism’ It was Rabindranath Tagore, the brightest star-ever of Indian culture, who said that the Buddha is the greatest human being ever born, a sentiment endorsed by many. The person I respect most is Gautama Buddha and in my retirement, while learning the core of his teachings, I am making an attempt to reconcile Dhamma with science. I am very pleased that my attempts as well as that of my friend Carlo Fonseka has evoked interesting responses; exactly what the Buddha wanted us to do, to indulge in intelligent discussion and analysis. Professor Shelton Gunaratne (The Island 29 May), who refers to me as "the boy from Matara who made good in the UK" which I consider a brotherly banter from a fellow Southerner, while stating that he disagrees with me has agreed with a lot I have stated in the past. I am very thankful to Bodhi Dhanapala for writing on our behalf (The Island 31 May) and to both of them for the excellent discussion from which I learned a lot. This is Buddhist discussion at its best and far removed from what I call ‘story telling of Folk Buddhism’

Gautama Buddha, the greatest original thinker, has earned my respect by empowering me too, to think. He had not constrained me with threats of eternal damnation neither bribed me to be ‘a good boy’; tactics oft adopted by religions of various hues. By turning the searchlight inwards, by His insightful analysis of mind, thoughts and consciousness, he had shown the path for contentment and detachment while extending compassion to all, a path to tread with conviction.

Long before scientists discovered dynamic flux, He taught us impermanence; the ever changing nature of things. He taught us the middle path, a path worth trading in all mundane matters too. I have used the stepwise approach of the Four Noble Truths in my profession with great success. He taught us cause and effect as well as dependent origination, long before scientists stated the concept of action and reaction. More than anything else, analysis of thoughts in Abhidhamma surpasses all the scientific knowledge gathered so far.

Insight Meditation, introduced by Gautama Buddha, has been transformed into multiple variations benefitting vast masses of humanity; treatment of mental illnesses to improving learning skills of children, even to changing the attitudes of criminals.

I can go on but it is not necessary. What I cannot comprehend is why we, Buddhists, belittle his achievements by being hooked on stories which deny his originality. Why discard substance and cling to rituals and stories? When anyone tells me that by not believing in these superficialities I am no longer a Buddhist, my reply is "I am a Gautamist". When I said this recently a very learned Buddhist told me that I will go to hell for my erroneous beliefs. Well, that is the price I am willing to pay for Gautama Buddha, if needed. As He taught, I should be able go through the torture of hell realizing that it is there but ‘I’ am not there to suffer.

03 06 2016 - The Island

J18.02

Buddha’s Dhamma Discourses and Present Practices - Part 1

Nihal Kiriella

Change is an immutable phenomena that encompasses all substances animate, inanimate physical and mental. According to historical records Buddha, Dhamma was brought to Sri Lanka by Arahat Mahinda at the initiation of his father Emperor Ashoka.

Dhamma discourses were then conducted by the Arahats or the enlightened priests. The sermons were based on personal experience of liberation, thus through absolute knowledge. Hence created an empathy among the audiences. Some of whom walked away as stream winners. In the latter period to this date most sermons are delivered by the unenlightened ones with no personal proficiency endowed to the Arahats. Thus the Dhamma disseminated was through speculative knowledge. The interpretation perhaps inadvertently overshadowed by the dispensers inter alia cultural and religious exposures. The purity of Dhamma was impaired. A significant impact may have come through the Buddhist clergy who had earlier been immersed in their respective religious traditions. To illustrate the bharmin bhikku who had acquired skill and knowledge of Vedic tradition may have found difficult to communicate the Buddha’s message. A message unheard before. (Annunusuthesu dhammesu) without perfecting the aimed liberation. Hence not void of the disseminator’s background. Thus impairment of Dhamma lead to rarity of enlightened one’s. Nirvana has now been limited to prayer and to the obituary material.

Dhamm as buddha delivered in Kalama Sutta explains that it is not mystical, mythical or supernatural orientation. On the contrary encouraged deliberation an discussion unambiguously. Discouraged accepting anything through faith. "Buddha was emphatic not to trust or believe anything simply because you have heard about it or it had come down from generation to generation. Do not believe because it is in your spiritual book or guide. Do not believe cause your teachers and elders have expressed it, observe, analyze, check whether it is logical and conforms to a proven theory. Further ensure that it is good and for the welfare of all. If you are so convinced accept and model your behaviour accordingly.

Lord Buddha – Kalama Sutta – Anguththara Nikaya

Buddhism frowns upon blind faith, it is a doctrine of cause and effect. Later on we will have a cursory discussion on Pattichcha Samuppadaya as it is the apex of Buddha Dhamma.

   Yo pathichcha samuppadanam passathi - So Dhammang passathi
   Yo Dhammang passathi - So mang passathi

   Should you perceive pattichcha samuppadadaya - You perceive Dhamma
   Should you perceive Dhamma you perceive me

In pristine Dhamma, one attains enlightenment or liberated wisdom through the practise of the Noble eightfold path. To overcome suffering in the sansaric journey. "Sandeshana" or discourses on accumulation must be listened to, to achieve "sung dittiko." This is critical to liberation. The general emphasis and focus now is for aspiring worldly pampering in the heavens and this world and at the end of the sermon Nirvana is reduced to all but a prayer.

Buddha having attained "Buddhahood" in the "expression of exultation" refered to as "Udana Vakkya" express as follows."Aneka jathi sansaran-saddha vissang anibissang – Gahakaraka Gavesanthi Dukkang Jathi punnang punnang – Gahakaraka dittosi punagehang nakahasing – Sabbha theva sukha bagga – gahakutang visankuthang visankarang gathan chittang thannahang kaya majjaga.

The meaning – Many lives I have spent accumulating Sung delighting in transient pleasures. Eventually realised that accumulation (sung) of (Raga, Dvesha, Moha) leads to thannha or intense acquisition which causes suffering over and over again. Hence all possessive accumulation (thanha) was irrevocably destroyed (and liberated).

The above was the (Vimukthi Magga) path to liberation expounded by Lord Buddha and delivery through overcoming accumulation is rarely explained in the Dhamma discourses. (Save by a few selected priest) thus liberation is denied to many.

Our intellectual capacity has not decimated but the course of Dhamma Sermons have changed.

It is surmised by some profound eminent scholar priests that the cause of denial of liberation is because of the corruption of Dhamma in Pali commentaries authored by Vedic proficient unenlightened (Puttagjana – Lay) Bhikkus though in appearance aspirant Buddhist clergy, in effect have failed to empty the Vessels of abuddhistic psyche. Subsequently the corrupt message was revered and adopted by their unenlightened local counterparts who had no exposure to pristine buddhism.

Notwithstanding the religious boundaries, cast, creed colour, all are exposed to the realities of nature, sickness old age death and perpetual fundamental transitoriness of all manifested tangibles, intangibles inclusive of our thought process. This was so before Buddha appeared on earth.

Buddhist doctrine plays no part in mystical or mythical traditions. These terms are ascribed to phenomena beyond our perception. Though Buddha did not deal on exploratory sciences upon enquiry, the Buddha dealt on some areas though his mission was exclusively to redeem us from suffering born of ignorance. Do we really understand Dukkha or suffering? We experience Dukkha when something sad or unacceptable happens, we are broken - down. It is caused by our ignorance of egotistic attachment. The depth of sadness is directly proportionate to the intensity of attachment. Notwithstanding the said fact if one continues to survive as in most instances the sadness is gradually healed. Generally the transitoriness applies if one has youth and strength may return to a normal life. Impermanence is embedded in the entire fabric of nature very few realized the futility of life and enter the path of renunciation. Often we return to (Sung) accumulation of attachment, aversion and delusion. The intensity however depends on the characteristics or sangathi of the person.

When Dukkha gradually erodes we return to our habit of attachment, aversion and delusion and pursuit of happiness. The happiness though seldom realized is an interlude between suffering. We find alternating modes of indulgence in multifarious activity. In the persistence of pursuit of happiness we accrue sangkara or egotistic accumulation suffering is looming while we engaged in physical thrills but are unmindful, cos’ of the prospect of enjoyment and oblivious to the experience of suffering.

Engaging in reading and listening to Dhamma without perception either through lack of motivation or solely for acquisition of knowledge bears no benefit. Further improper translation of Pali commentaries by Bhikkus from non buddhistic background led to misinterpretations of the original doctrine. Pali words have multiple meanings and the failure to select the right meaning led to a form of corruption of the original concept. For a considerable span of time local audiences were denied of the pristine Buddhism. This caused Buddha Sasana with few enlightened monks and devotees. Some profound monks are of opinion that Brahmin Buddhist clergy who were exposed and nurtured in Vedic traditions and scriptures made some inroads incorporating Vedic thoughts corrupting the Buddhist doctrine. Some learned eminent analytical monks with research background have collected factual data of corruption. Hence our inheritance is fraught with practices endowed with prayer, moving away from life changing strategies based on the doctrine of cause and effect. According studies made by eminent priest, revealed that there were several religious traditions which deals with path of liberation by suppressing attachment and aversion but devoid of dealing with (Moha) delusion. Hence their path to liberation is of Worldly nature leading to ecstasy of liberation which is of temporary phenomena and upon excusing accrued merit one retraces the steps to the lesser worlds. Buddha mastered all religious models then available in India and concluded that permanent redemption from suffering is not available in the said practices. The Buddha’s was to expunge Sung fully by completely eradicating attachment, aversion and delusion which is termed as samucheda prahanaya leading to unwavering libeation of Akkupa Chetho Vimukthiya or Nirvana. All defilements are completely eradicated including "Asava" brought forward from the past births. Asawa the defilements fermenting over many lives were put to a complete estoppel along with all residual defilements upon attaining Arahathhood.

It is noteworthy all pristine discourses were exclusively in Pali language however upon Vedic influence some Sanskrit words had found it’s way to the Buddhist lexicography and into the key aspect of the doctrine as thilakhana. The modern explanation of thilakhana uses the words " Anithya" or impermanence. In the original Pali texts the word used is "Anichcha" leading to dukka and to Anaththa .The etymological roots of Anichcha is derivation from the prefix ‘un’ + Ichcha. Ichcha means desire when prefixed by an means not as desired which leads to Dukkah or suffering. It is amply evident when one is faced with the undesired it leads to sadness or suffering and that is perfectly logical. Replacement of Anichcha with Anithya the Sanskrit word confuses the concept of Thilakhana. The meaning of Anithya is impermanence i.e. change / transitoriness. A change does not necessarily lead to suffering. Many an illustration could be given where change or impermanence leads to better circumstance. Assume a patient who suffers from a terminal illness gets healed, it denotes Anithya or change but it does not leads not suffering (Dukkha). Thus Anychcha is the appropriate term. The Anychcha also connotes another meaning as the opposite of Nichcha or permanence. Impermanence or transiency is a core aspect of the doctrine. Transiency is also used to explain "Sakkaya ditti" which denies the existence of "me and mine" syndrome. Everything is in a state of flux thus it is not the same person at the next moment. Universally all animate an inanimate conditioned realities are composed of "Rupa kalapa" which are atoms and the atoms are made on sub atomic particles and all are subject to Uthpada, Thithi, Banga to arise ? sustain ? destroy. Some subatomic particles destroy in nanoseconds. Hence, except for the purpose of convenience , nothing cannot be labeled as animate or otherwise. The only reason we cannot accept the rapid changing proposition owing to lack of visibility to the human eyes. A change how ever could be observed overtime as that of a child growth into adulthood. It is even more complex to understand a relationship when two or more connected subjects are on a continuous transformation. An excellent example was given by a priest where upon actual destruction of a star is not visible to the naked eye. eg. A star which is one light year away gets destroyed but appears to us on the earth as present. And our eyes could view the star. It is caused by the distance and time light takes to travel for our view. In fact when star is destroyed we yet see but we are seeing the history. So seeing should not lead to believing but even with the knowledge of it yet we believe otherwise. Thus we are beholden to the sense institutions and fail to see the reality. (Yathabutha Gnana Darshana) Buddhas first spoken words relates to accumulation (i.e. attachment, aversion and delusion) which he indulged in many a births resulted in continuity of suffering after brief spells of happiness alternated between joy and suffering. Having realized the cause he destroyed the recurrence by destroying the cause. The three fold defilements or thesung were completely eradicated. In response to a query by Upatissa Paribrajaka as to the teaching of his guru. Assaji Thera delivered the following stanza.

    "Ye dhamma hethupabawa - Thesung hetu thathagatho aha
    Thesung chayo nirodo - Evang vadi maha samano"

Continued below...

19 06 2016 - The Island

J18.03

Buddha’s Dhamma Discourses and Present Practices - Part 2

Nihal Kiriella

Upon comprehending the stanza Upatissa Paribrajaka attained sotha paththi the first step of the stream. The brief meaning of the stanza – it is a doctrine of cause an effect based on method of overcoming accumulation of thesung or attachment aversion and delusion.

Sangkara is the act of accumulation and perpetuation. Trapping occurs cos’ of the addictive properties accumulation propels, liquor, drugs all are known addictives so is the physical intimacy love of your children and in some instances properties etc. The delusion hides the imminence of suffering. Death spares non, everyone departs sooner or later leaving all treasured conditional realities. Including panchaskanda. One has to leave the body caringly looked after beautified by the beautician and dressed on branded product or even otherwise one has to make the exit.

We also have to leave all our loved ones indifferent one’s an the hated one’s to a another abode taking with us the Prathisandi Vignana along with acquired characteristics or sangathi which determined our next abode. Are you ready to leave? Buddha says you may not take the next breath. When we are physically strong and young death is a distance reality despite the caution issued by Buddha.

We are in a hunt for pleasures in various modes, the most potent attraction normally is the opposite sex. One enjoys even seeing an attractive man / woman whether the circumstances permit or not the inner tendency is to relish what it offers. The mind become possessed with creative imagination and penetrative eyes, ears etc. If one becomes intoxicated with the object of desire the defiled mined become busy accumulating in the midst one feels so ecstatic as of a floating experience. The intensity depends on habits (sangathi) and characteristics in sojourn of sungsara .The Buddha prescribed Abrahmachariya or abstinence if one is an aspirant.

Attachments are multifaceted if you see your child suddenly their arise a sense of possession. If they do not conform to our expectations, the lobha may turn to dvesha or aversion. This is caused by our failure to cultivate anichcha that nothing would remain as desired.

Practicing sila is to discipline oneself in reacting to defilements that flows through your sense institution (ayathana) constantly thoughts / chaithasika must be monitored and differentiated. Ideally before the thought occurs, be cautious to refrain from entertaining defiled thoughts. Thought is not an independent entity. It is your sense institution that activates it. Sangwara is to censor the arising of sung or attachment, aversion and delusion. To execute sung dittico is to be mindful of your thought process to arrest manifestation. Traditional sila or resolution to observe certain precepts for a day or more would not guarantee non intrusion of thoughts that may breach the precepts, to abide by the precepts without default one needs to be watchful of the mental process. There could be a tendency to react to external form or rupa, sounds (shabda), smell (ghanda), taste (rasa), could yield to touch (passa). The defiled mind may continuously be confused by the touch followed by feeling arising from the touch or sampassaja vedana . Consequently defiled vingnana stimulate attachment. Thought is a voluntary process our acquired habits or sangathi from the past birth or fermented defilements (asava), awaits to support such stimulation and we are trapped hook line and sinker. The importance of being mindful is a critical premiss. Nevertheless since it, set forth by our sense institutions, we cannot be absolve our responsibility for it, as at this moment, we are aspirants. It is the thrill that is derived from yielding must be over powered. You may fail time and again but the persistence, is critical it could even extend to our old age. When frailty sets in we loose the opportunity of controlling it. The consequences could be dire. The process liberation is in you. Nirvana, or liberation is now limited to a prayer and that too upon seeing Maithree Buddha after eons of time. Chunda Sukara who ran a piggery in the environs of Jethavana must have seen Buddha on a daily basis but he ended up in hell. Even when we observed (sil) precepts the intention should be to overcome accumulations forever. More over to discipline yourself to censor sung beyond the intended period, of sila hence we should attempt be devoid of sungkara. The persistent practice would bring us to the goal. The path is through listening to Dhamma (Suthamaya Gnana) from a Kalyana mitta i.e. a person who helps us to eliminate sung and help us in our upward journey. Lord Buddha is the greatest Kalyana mitta to us all. Consistence of monitoring the thought process is compelling to prevent the mind from being defiled. Such is the precursor Sung dittiko.

The Buddha showed us the path and taught us the sign posts of obstacles. The path is the Dhamma. The path is clear but even the Buddha cannot hold our hands and walk the path. The aspirant has to do the walking all by himself we have been provided with the Dhamma superhighway by the Buddha himself. The obstacles to the highway are our own deliberate creation. The way is clear. We instead walking the highway and sit on the edge on a comfortable cushion and light lamps, hold incense light scented sticks, lie prostrate and pray and the defilements lie in ambush and prey on us.

Misguidance is given by a large number of priests too as they too are engaged in the same activity. This predicament was brought about by other religious intrusions. There are no prayers in Buddhism, we are the masters and the makers of our destiny. Follow the right guidance and you will be on the path to the liberation.

Buddha attained Nibbana under the Esathu Bo tree. He let go of all the accumulation (sung) and that was his offering to wisdom or Bodhi pooja. Our Bodhi pooja are with flowers, lamps, incense etc. to ward off negative planetary configuration. To overcome, personal problems though Buddha is no more under the tree. He finished his mission but empowered us but we have blind folded ourselves. Prayer is abuddhistic. We shall not opt to debate on the efficacy but one cannot obtain nirvana by prayer. That is not the Buddha’s path to liberation. Notwithstanding benefits, if any the prayer is accumulation and (sung) that will only delay our liberation.

As of now what is happening in the temple church or the kovil is the same. Even the Buddhist priests are engaged in such invocation and prayer. The dayakas or devotees as more appropriate, throng to the temple with large number of devalas. And that has becomes a good business model to generate income. Buddha taught us to let go, from Jethavana, Veluvana and Purvarama temples etc. We now go to the temple to grab or accumulate. It is a contrast and a contradiction to pristine Buddhism. The stream winners are a rarity. On examining the ground operations distortions are crystal clear. The reader can conclude whether we are on the path to liberation as propounded by Buddha.

The defined mind is stimulated through attachment and is in conflict at different levels. The Buddha has shown us clearly the negative activity of the sense institutions (ayathana) but we are succumbing through perverse un Buddhistic practices and rituals.

The purpose of an institution is to produce goods and services. The same happens when sense institutions (ayathana) are at work. Sense institutions team to produce numerous activities. If we decide we could identify the production process and stall it. May be our old habits (sangathi) are lurking in the background but we are in default with identification and elimination.

The Buddha taught us the way the defilements occur through Aviddya mula Pattichcha samuppadaya and the way to overcome the ongoing defilements process through Pattichcha samuppada. The doctrine is exhaustive and complex requires persistent solid effort to comprehend.

Initially some element of perception of Avidya mula Pattichcha samuppadaya is critical.

Let us examine the etymology of Pattichcha, Pati means binding and Ichcha means desire the Pattichcha means bound by desire Samuppadaya. Sung uppada or creation of accumulation of attachment, aversion and delusion thus Uppadaya is production of raga, dvesha, moha bounded by the desire. Even dvesha is created as one’s subconscious defiled mind is desirous of in being angry with a person or some act. It is the obverse side of the same coin. Both arise out of delusion. The ignorance lead us to be elated by transient worldly pleasure. Perhaps latching on to the memory of thrills experienced and still may grab should opportunity present itself.

Buddha has shown us the way to redeem by detailing the manner in which the sense institution activate.

When eyes desirously bind itself with an external form (rupa) it creates eye sense of the mind. (Vignana) When the three conjoins producing the touch (passa) thus the touch creates an empathetic feeling (sampassaja vedana). This occurs in all sense organs. When eyes bind with an external form (Rupa) in Magadi it expresses thus. "Chakkuncha Pattichcha Rupecha Uppajjathi chakku vingangan, thinan sangathi passo passa pachchaya vedana – vedana pachchaya thanha –thanha pachchaya upadana – upadana pachchaya bava" when eye sense contact a form (rupa) it begets eye mind sense, (chakku vingnana) the three causes the touch sense (passa) thus begets eye feelings, feelings begets attachments, attachments begets clinging, clinging begets karmic content. (karmabhava) The process is repeated in all sense institution. They also team up with each other. The process is initiated by binding with object of desire.

The Buddha prescribed the manner in which to comprehend the process through mental observation. Firstly observe the arising of the desire. (paringeiyya) then make a decision to overcome the defilement (parikkeiyya) shed the desire altogether (prahanaya) even if we observe a desire (Kamachchanda) could arise we must observe and negate it. Aversion to could arise should we meet undesirable people. The observation and decision to rectify is the prime mover of the process. Arising of sexual excitement is probably is the natures process for perpetuation and the need to feel loved and protected. Mind is normally in a vacuum, The input is made through sense institutions as we are inattentive. The defiled mind (vignana) crafts the defilements. Aversion too adopt the same method. Why does this happen? Because it is written in to our mental software says that it will give us pleasure thus the prerecorded instruction activate. A decision must be taken for selective deletion.

With repetitive attention (bhavitha bahulikatha) the programme could be restituted from dormancy and be deleted. Older the habit complex could be the deletion as the programme face intricacies as the source code had been deleted. That is when we realize it is a fermented defilements (asava) such defilements keep resurfacing and we may not be able to shed them completely for a long period. Persistent attention to overcome should continue, on brief meditative practices under a teacher. If we have unbridled sexuality an eminent priest recommends Viraganau passana meditation. Intense desire gives rise to sung and Viraganu passana will disengage empathy to the cause of suffering. There are a series of Vipassana meditation for each situation and a competent master exposed to pristine Buddhism will give us the right prescription. Until you go to a teacher you can resort some simpler techniques recommended in Dhamma. Such as employing gradual reduction of defilements through Kyaya’ Altenatively a further method is Viyaya that is to expend the defilements overtime. Assume if the person is dvesha type practice Metta to negate. Loba type could move into alobha before practicing chagaya or letting go without any expectation. The processes include viragaya nirodhaya. The constant watchfulness is required to observe the intrusion of defilements time and again to forestall forth with prior to empathetic accommodation. The last stage is patinissaggaya breaking all bonds and liberate. (muththi)

If we have mental capacity to understand the meanings of Dhamma and deeper interpretation (nirukthi) beyond being verbatim and commit unrelenting effort, the path will open with the prospect of becoming a stream winner in this life itself overcoming all setbacks.

The Buddha’s first words were "Aneka jathi sung (sung) sarang and the last, at the time of parinirvana was again on sung.

Vaya dhamma sankara Appamadena sung pahadetha "

The meaning is that all accumulation would be spent. Do not delay to comprehend sung.

We are now devoid of pristine message of Buddha on key aspects hence the Sung Pahadetha has been indicated as Sampadetha and interpreted as to accrue without delay. Buddha has never encourage us to accrue or produce.

For more meaningful discussion on sung the Doctrine of Pattichcha Samuppadaya must be discussed in detail. It is too exhaustive and suggest be discussed with a competent Buddhist priest. Largely the content of this article was acquired through the publications by eminenent priest and listening to Dhamma discussion.

The exposition of the Doctrine of Sung is a rarity in most Buddhist sermons. We must revert to pristine Buddhism if we are aspiring to attain higher levels.

May your efforts for the perception of Sila Samadi and Panga be fruitful. May the learned priest re-emerging the pristine Dhamma be protected.

May all beings be well and happy. Theruwan saranai!

nhkirilla@gmail.com

23 06 2016 - The Island

J18.04

From Views to Vision

Bhikkhu Bodhi

Buddha's teaching repeatedly cautions us about the dangers in clinging -- in clinging to possessions, clinging to pleasures, clinging to people, clinging to views. The Buddha sounds such words of warning because he discerns in clinging a potent cause of suffering, and he thus advises us that the price we must pay to arrive at the "far shore" of liberation is the relinquishment of every type of clinging. In a move that at first glance may even seem self-destructive on the part of a religious founder, the Buddha says that we should not cling even to his teachings, that even the wholesome principles of the Dhamma have to be treated like the makeshift raft used to carry us across the stream.

Such astringent words of advice can easily be misconstrued, and if misconstrued the consequences may be even bitterer than if we simply disregard them. One particular misinterpretation into which newcomers to the Dhamma (and some veterans too!) are especially prone to fall is to hold that the Buddha's counsel to transcend all views means that even the doctrines of Buddhism are ultimately of no vital importance. For these doctrines too, it is said, are merely views, intellectual constructs, filaments of thought, which may have been meaningful in the context of ancient Indian cosmology but have no binding claims on us today. After all, aren't the words and phrases of the Buddhist texts simply that -- words and phrases -- and aren't we admonished to get beyond words and phrases in order to arrive at direct experience, the only thing that really counts? And doesn't the Buddha enjoin us in the Kalama Sutta to judge things for ourselves and to let our own experience be the criterion for deciding what we will accept?

Such an approach to the Dhamma may be sweet to chew upon and easy to digest, but we also need to beware of its effect upon our total spiritual organism. Too often this kind of slippery reasoning provides simply a convenient excuse for adhering, at a subtle level of the mind, to ideas which are fundamentally antithetical to the Dhamma. We hang on to such ideas, not because they are truly edifying, but in order to protect ourselves from the radical challenge with which the Buddha's message confronts us. In effect, such claims, though apparently aimed at safeguarding living experience from the encroachment of stodgy intellectualism, may be in reality a clever intellectual ploy for refusing to examine cherished assumptions -- assumptions we cherish primarily because they shield deep-rooted desires we do not want to expose to the tonic influence of the Dhamma.

When we approach the Buddha's teachings, we should bear in mind that its vast array of doctrines has not been devised as elaborate exercises in philosophical sleight of hand. They are propounded because they constitute right view, and right view stands at the head of the Noble Eightfold Path, the chisel to be used to cut away the dross of wrong views and confused thoughts that impede the light of wisdom from illumining our minds. In the present-day world, far more than in the ancient Ganges Valley, wrong views have gained widespread currency and assumed more baneful forms than earlier epochs ever could have imagined. Today they are no longer the province of a few eccentric philosophers and their cliques. They have become, rather, a major determinant of cultural and social attitudes, a molder of the moral spirit of the age, a driving force behind economic empires and international relations. Under such circumstances, right view is our candle against the dark, our compass in the desert, our isle above the flood. Without a clear understanding of the truths enunciated by right view, and without a keen awareness of the areas where these truths collide with popular opinion, it is only too easy to stumble in the dark, to get stranded among the sand dunes, to be swept away from one's position above the deluge.

Both right view and wrong view, though cognitive in character, do not remain locked up in a purely cognitive space of their own. Our views exercise an enormously potent influence upon all areas of our lives, and the Buddha, in his genius, recognized this when he placed right view and wrong view respectively at the beginning of the good and evil pathways of life. Views flow out and interlock with the practical dimension of our lives at many levels: they determine our values; they give birth to our goals and aspirations and they guide our choices in morally difficult dilemmas. Wrong view promotes wrong intentions, wrong modes of conduct, leads us in pursuit of a deceptive type of freedom. It draws us towards the freedom of license, by which we feel justified in casting off moral restraint for the sake of satisfying transient but harmful impulses. Though we may then pride ourselves on our spontaneity and creativity, may convince ourselves that we have discovered our true individuality, one with clear sight will see that this freedom is only a more subtle bondage to the chains of craving and delusion.

Right view, even in its elementary form, as a recognition of the moral law of kamma, the capacity of our deeds to bring results, becomes our gentle guide towards true freedom. And when it matures into an accurate grasp of the three signs of existence, of dependent arising, of the Four Noble Truths, it then becomes our navigator up the mountain slope of final deliverance. It will lead us to right intentions, to virtuous conduct, to mental purification, and to the cloudless peak of unobstructed vision. Although we must eventually learn to let go of this guide in order to stand confidently on our own feet, without its astute eye and willing hand we would only meander in the foothills oblivious to the peak.

The attainment of right view is not simply a matter of assenting to a particular roster of doctrinal formulas or of skill in juggling an impressive array of cryptic Pali terms. The attainment of right view is at its core essentially a matter of understanding -- of understanding in a deeply personal way the vital truths of existence upon which our lives devolve. Right view aims at the big picture. It seeks to comprehend our place in the total scheme of things and to discern the laws that govern the unfolding of our lives for better or for worse. The ground of right view is the Perfect Enlightenment of the Buddha, and by striving to rectify our view we seek nothing less than to align our own understanding of the nature of existence with that of the Buddha's Enlightenment. Right view may begin with concepts and propositional knowledge but it does not end with them. Through study, deep reflection and meditative development it gradually becomes transmuted into wisdom, the wisdom of insight that can cut asunder the beginningless fetters of the mind.

(Courtesy: Buddhist Publication Society)

10 04 2017 - The Island

J18.05

A cry for clarification

As always, it is with a profound sense of respectful interest that I read and re-read Ven Bhikkhu Bodhi’s article titled ‘From Views to Vision’ in The Island of 10th April. He is the most authoritative and lucid exponent of Early Buddhist Teachings I am privileged to know personally. I write this to seek clarification of a particular confusion which arose in my mind consequent to reading his article.

At one point in the article, with a clarity that leaves nothing to be desired, Ven BB asks: "…doesn’t the Buddha enjoin us in the Kalama Sutta to judge things for ourselves and let our own experience be the criterion for deciding what we will accept?" Even as I found myself answering that seemingly innocent question with a resounding "yes", Ven BB hastened to warn with reference to the question that this "kind of slippery reasoning provides… a convenient excuse for adhering … to ideas which are fundamentally antithetical to the Dhamma…"

Earlier in the article, concerning the dangers inherent in clinging to possessions, pleasures, people and even views, Ven BB avers that the Buddha went so far as to declare that "we should not cling even to his teachings". Ven BB fears that such limitless freedom of thought granted to his followers may be "self-destructive" to the founder of Buddhism himself. The staggering truth, however, is that the Buddha did grant such freedom, and for me, that is precisely the compelling intellectual appeal of this unique Teacher. The enjoyment of such freedom does not inhibit me at all from accepting wholeheartedly his teaching that the three roots of suffering are greed, hatred and delusions, and that eliminating them will liberate me from suffering.

In that context, I should indeed be much obliged to any knowledgeable reader who would tell me what sort of "cherished assumptions" on the part of a follower of the Buddha might possibly interfere with the acceptance of the essentials of the Dhamma such as the Four Noble Truths, and the anathema (no soul) doctrine.

21 04 2017 - The Island

J18.06

The Buddha you never knew

Bhante Dhammika of Australia

An ancient sculpture depicting Maha Maya dreaming of a white elephant

According to the most ancient sources, several months after the Buddha passed away, 500 monks, all of them arahats, met together in Rajagaha and held what is usually called the First Council. The purpose of convening this council was to make sure that what the Buddha had taught during the previous 45 years would not be forgotten. The arahats and probably many others too, believed that the Buddha’s Dhamma was too precious, too important to be confused or forgotten. It had done so much for them, leading them to awakening (Bodhi), that they wanted to make sure that others, at that time and forever after, would have the chance of attaining the freedom and peace of Nirvana too. It is likely that the arahats did not preserve everything the Buddha had said, because he had said the same thing many times, but they did preserve what they believed to be the essentials. Although there is no specific record of it, it is clear that some information was added to the Tipitaka later. For example the Mathura Sutta, a discourse by Anarudha specifically says that it was delivered sometime after the Buddha’s passing. Some of the poems in the Theragatha and Therigatha were composed by monks and nuns at least two or three generations after the Buddha. The Vinaya includes an account of the Second Council which took place about a hundred years after the Buddha. But more than that, the language, style and contents of some books in the Kuddhaka Nikaya indicate that they may date from several hundred years after the Buddha. Although they are not attributed to the Buddha or his direct disciples these books are considered authoritative. However, we can say with a high degree of confidence that the core material in the Digha, Majjhima, Samyutta, and Anguttara Nikayas, and in books such as the Sutta Nipata, Dhammapada, UdanaItivuttaka, etc. accurately reflects what the Buddha taught. It is the earliest and most authentic record we have of the life and teaching of the Buddha. The arahats who participated in the First Council preserved what they thought was the essentials of the Buddha’s Dhamma.

Thus the Tipitaka is important for what it has in it, but it is also important for what it does not have in it. And what the Tipitaka does not have in it will probably surprise most Buddhists. In fact, it might shock them. In this article I will discuss, not what it says about the Buddha but on what it does not say about him.

Many Buddhists have only a rudimentary knowledge of the Dhamma. But even they probably know the main points of the Buddha’s life. Even many non-Buddhists know it. It is sketched in text books and encyclopaedias, it is celebrated in song and film, it is taught in thousands of dhampasalas, and incidents in it are depicted on temple walls and in Vesak cards. But what very few people know and what may astonish them is that almost none of the well-known and beloved incidents in the Buddha’s biography are not found in the Tipitaka. Here are some examples of this.

His Father
The Buddha’s father was Suddhodana, a name meaning "pure rice". It is always said that Suddhodanawas a king of the Sakyansand depictions of him always show him in regal attire, sometimes sitting on a throne or residing in a palace. Despite this, nowhere in the Tipitaka is the Buddha called a prince (raja kumara), is he or his father said to live in a palace, and only once in the whole of the Tipitaka is his father called raja, a word usually translated as king. In reality, in the 5th century BC the word raja almost certainly did not mean king in the sense the word is understood today, but a ruler. Even in the very places where one would expect the Buddha to refer to his father as a king he did not do so. For example, when asked by King Bimbisara about his family and his birth the Buddha simply replied that he was from a Sakyan family (Sutta Nipata 322-4).

It is know that the Sakyans had a body of men called "raja makers" (raja kattaro). It seems almost certain that this body elected someone to be their leader either for a set period or for as long as he had the confidence of the body. Therefore, it would be more correct to refer to Suddhodana as a chief rather than a king. Thus we can say that while the Buddha was almost certainly from a patrician or ruling class family he was not royalty. It is also worth noting that Suddhodana is only referred to twice in the whole of the Tipitaka, once in the Digha Nikaya and once in the Vinaya.

Maha Maya’s Dream
Just as everyone believes that the Buddha’s father was a king and he was a prince, they also believe that his mother dreamed of a white elephant around the time he was conceived. This may have happened, but if it did the arahats of the First Council did not mention it because it occurs nowhere in the Tipitaka.

Name
Throughout the Tipitaka the Buddha is referred to or addressed as Gotama, good Gotama or ascetic Gotama, as Tathagata, occasionally as Kinsman on the Sun (Adiccabhandu), a reference to the SakyanAdicca linage, and once as the Sakyan Sage (Sakyamuni). Gotama is a clan name meaning ‘best cow’ and reflects an earlier time in India when having many cattle was a measure of wealth and a source of pride. But interestingly, never once is the Buddha ever called Siddhattha Gotama. In fact, the name Siddhattha occurs nowhere in the Tipitaka. It may well have been his given name but it gets no mention in the earliest records.

Asita’s Prediction
According to the Sutta Nipata, when the devas told the hermit Asita that a special child had been born in Kalilavatthu he went there to see it. Suddhodana welcomed him and gave him the baby to hold. Being accomplished in the art of "signs and mantras" he examined the boy and proclaimed that he would attain complete awakening, reach "the ultimate purified vision" and proclaim the Truth "out of compassion of the many" (bahujamhitanukampa). Then tears welled up in Asita’s eyes. Noticing this and alarmed by it, Suddhodana asked him if he had foreseen some misfortune in the boy’s future. The sage replied that he was sad because he knew that he would pass away before this all happened and he would never witness it.

The later elaborations of this Asita story, and there are several of them, each more detailed than the earlier ones, often say that Asita predicted that the baby would become either a universal monarch (cakkavattin) or a fully enlightened sage (Buddha). This ‘either’‘or’prediction is not mentioned in the Tipitaka account.

Youth and Marriage
We are told that the young Gotama grew up into a virile and handsome young man. When the time came for him to be married he participated in a competition in the manly arts and won the hand of a charming young maiden named Yasodhara and the two were married. Of course there is nothing unbelievable about this story, it is exactly what would have been usual for a young man at that time, but it gets no mention in the Tipitaka. We know that Gotama was married because there is several references to his son Rahula. But the name Yasodhara does not occur even once in the Tipitaka. Gotama’s wife, whatever her name was, is only ever referred to as "Rahula’s mother" (Rahulamata).

Young Gotama and the Goose
Surely the loveliest story told about the young Gotama, indeed one of the loveliest from any religious tradition, is the one about him, Devadatta and the goose. Once, while walking through a garden, young Gotama saw a goose fall from the sky with an arrow lodged in its wing. He gently nestled the bird in his lap, extracted the arrow and anointed the wound with oil and honey. Soon afterwards, his cousin Devadatta sent a message saying he had shot the bird and demanded its return to him. Gotama sent a reply saying: "If the goose was dead, I would return it forthwith but as it is still alive, you have no right to it." Devadatta sent a second message arguing that it was his skill that had downed the goose and as such, it belonged to him. Again, Gotama refused to give him the bird and asked that an assembly of wise men be called to settle the dispute. This was done and after discussing the matter for some time, the most senior of the wise men gave his opinion, saying: "The living belongs to he who cherishes and preserves life, not to he who tries to destroy life." The assembly agreed with this and Gotama was allowed to keep the goose. It is a great story! But where does it come from? It’s not in the Tipitaka, it’s not in the commentaries; it’s not in the sub-commentaries. In fact, it is not to be found in any Pali literature. It comes from a Mahayana text called the Abhinikramaa Sutra composed in around the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD, seven or eight hundred years after the Buddha. This work was translated into English and published in 1876. Some English-educated Sinhalese Buddhists must have read it, gradually it got incorporated into the popular understanding of the Buddha’s life. This is a good example of how legends grow and get absorbed into existing traditions, even in modern times.

Under the Jambu Tree
At some point during his youth the Buddha said that as he sat in the shade of a jambu tree (not the Sri Lankan jambu, but the Indian tree Syzygiumcumini) he spontaneously fell into the jhanic states. Years later, after giving up the practice of self-mortification, as he sat under the Bodhi tree he remembered this incident, he cultivated the jhanas again, and this helped him attain awakening. If you ask any child who attends a dhamapasala what the young Gotama was watching as he sat under the jambu tree they will tell you – he was watching his father doing the first ceremonial ploughing of the year, what in Sri Lanka used to be called the vapmangala. But the Buddha does not mention this at all, he merely says he was watching his "Sakyan father work". His father might have been weeding the fields, supervising the harvest or the chopping down trees, or a range of other tasks. So why did "work" get transformed into "ceremonial ploughing"? Because later tradition came to believe that Gotama’s father was a king and kings do not milk cows or supervise agricultural work. They do regal and ritually important things such as the first ceremonial ploughing of the year. This is a fascinating example where one legend (Suddhodana) was a king has required the creation of another (he was doing the ceremonial ploughing).

The Four Sights
Probably the most iconic story told about the Buddha’s life is the so-called Four Sights (cattunimitta). Supposedly as Gotama was driven through the streets of Kapilavatthu by his faithful charioteer Channa he encountered a man decrepit with age, a sick person, a dead body being taken for cremation and lastly a wandering ascetic, a monk. Having been sheltered from the ugly realities of life and never having seen such things before, he was profoundly shocked by them. It was this, so the story goes, that triggered Gotama’s determination to renounce his life of privilege and go in search of the state beyond aging, sickness and death. The Four Sights is a dramatic, powerful and poignant story and it is justly famous. It lends itself wonderfully to depiction in art. But sadly it does not come from the Tipitaka. There the Buddha merely says that it was contemplating the fact that he would be subject to old age, sickness and eventually death that motivated him to renounce the world.

Stealing away at Night
It is said that Gotama’s father confined him to a luxurious palace provided with every imaginable pleasure in order to pre-empt him of ever renouncing the world. But after Gotama decided that he would do exactly that he stole out of the palace in the dead of night so that no one would know, having one last look at his wife and new-born son as he went. Again, none of this appears in the Tipitaka. In fact, the Buddha distinctly says that he left his home "despite the weeping and wailing of my parents". This suggests that there was some sort of argument with his parents, and certainly that his leaving took place with their full knowledge, and probably during the daytime. We will look at one last detail thought to come from the Tipitaka but which actually does not.

The Bodhi Tree
All over the Buddhist world Bodhi trees are revered as being special because one of them, growing in Bodh Gaya, then known as Uruvela, sheltered the Buddha under its spreading boughs on the night he attained awakening. There are numerous stories about the Bodhi Tree and of course a branch of it was brought to Sri Lanka by Sanghamitta where it has been revered ever since. Considering the attention given to this tree one would expect it to find a special place in the Tipitaka. But it does not. Astonishingly, the Bodhi Tree only gets two brief mentions in the Tipitaka, once in the Digha Nikaya and once in the Udana (repeated in the Vinaya). Even the famous story about the Buddha sitting staring at the Bodhi Tree for a week without blinking is only to be found in the commentaries.

These examples, of which quite a few others could be added, leave the Buddha’s biography stripped of much that the average Buddhist is familiar with, and which is iconic. This does not mean that these events never happened or are not true. But if they did happen and were true, clearly the arahats of the First Council did not consider them significant enough to be remembered and included in the canon of sacred scriptures. But why? Why discard stories that are so meaningful and memorable, and illustrate aspects of the Dhamma in ways that make them understandable? One possible explanation is that these details were known but ignored. A much more likely explanation is that they are legends that grew up in the centuries after the Buddha’s passing and after the First Council. It seems that the arahats and other monks and nuns were deeply concerned with what the Buddha had to say about how to achieve awakening, but had little or no interest in his life before he became a monk.

This does not mean that these and the other wonderful stories about the Buddha’s life need to be dismissed as "just legends" and dismissed. They have added colour and drama to millions of sermons, they are a testament to the creative imagination of the ancient Buddhists, and they almost certainly came into being due to a devotional desire to know more about one of the most significant individual in history. But as Buddhism has to contend with modernity and alternative religions which seek to displace it, it is crucial that Buddhists know their religion better – know what is fact and what is tradition, what is reality and what is legend, and particularly what the Tipitaka actually says.

21 04 2017 - The Island

J18.07

Buddha you never knew: Continue discussion

Bandu de Silva

Ven. Dhammika of Australia who initiated this discussion and Dr. Chandre Dharmawardene, are two well known personalities for whom I have the highest regard for their scholarly writing. I met Ven. Dhammika in Sri Lanka at the Royal Asiatic Society several times when he was doing research there. Dr. Chandre and I have interacted quite a few times over matters of common interest.

In this case, Ven. Dhammika has surfaced several aspects relating to the Buddha’s life, which do not represent the commonly held tradition and portray a lesser elaborate presentation of the biography of the great personality of the Buddha, than found in the legendary tradition. What comes out is a presentation of the life of Buddha with the least elaboration.

Ven. Dhammika’s observations touch very important points as the Buddha’s life story is concerned. His argument is that the points he has raised have no support from the Tripitaka. In other words, though he does not specifically reject those aspects relating to the Buddha’s life, which are based on texts or tradition other than the Tripitaka, it leaves one wondering if these other aspects are additions made later. The Tripitaka meant here is the Pali Tripitaka of the Southern School and not other versions. For instance, the Duva, which is the Vinaya Pitaka of Tibet, contains other matters like Jatakas, Nidanas, and Avdanas.

To be more specific, Ven. Dhammika finds in the Tripitaka no support for the other claim that the Buddha was of royal origin. "Rajaputtako" (Prince) mentioned in the Tripitaka as an appellation, he interprets as "son of a chieftain". The idea of ‘Raja’ meaning a ‘King’ in the modern sense is a later development according to him. Today, in Nepal, people who bear the name Shakya belong to the clan of gold - smiths. This is to be verified, though I found it so. However, in a general comparative sense, along with Lichchavis and Malalas, Sakyas were a people who organized themselves into confederations as a system of governance, which, with its special characteristic, evenly matched the growing autocratic royal ascendancy in the Magadha valley. Buddha’s advice to the King of Magadha points to them being stronger than the others because of their organizational strength, such as frequent assembly, consultations and consensus upon which decisions were taken.

As for royal power enjoyed by Sakyas, the learned Bhikku seems to have been carried a step further.

Likewise, the father of the Buddha in the common tradition is also not found in the Tripitaka. Buddha’s own name as Bodisattva Siddhartha is also nowhere mentioned in the Tripitaka. The latter refers to him as "Gotama". Mahamaya Devi too does not find mention in the Tripitaka. [In Mahayana tradition, the ruler had two wives, Maya and Mahamaya. As the former bore no children he married Mahamaya who gave birth to the "Gotama"]. Mahamaya’s dream is not found in the Tripitaka. Nor is "Yasodhara" mentioned in Tripitaka. She is referred to there as "Rahula-mate".

Other important sections in the Buddha’s life story which are not found in the Tripitaka are, the reference to "Vap" Magula, Gotama taking up a Dhyana posture, the seven weeks at the Bodhi tree, the story of the Goose and the four sights. There may be others which Ven. Dhammika has not discussed. In short, the tradition has built up a fuller biography to fill the account from conception to death.

Ven. Dhammika concludes: "These examples, of which quite a few others could be added, leave the Buddha’s biography stripped of much that the average Buddhist is familiar with, and which is iconic. This does not mean that these events never happened or are not true. But if they did happen and were true, clearly the arahats of the First Council did not consider them significant enough to be remembered and included in the canon of sacred scriptures. But why? Why discard stories that are so meaningful and memorable, and illustrate aspects of the Dhamma in ways that make them understandable? One possible explanation is that these details were known but ignored. A much more likely explanation is that they are legends that grew up in the centuries after the Buddha’s passing and after the First Council. It seems that the arahats, and other monks and nuns, were deeply concerned with what the Buddha had to say about how to achieve awakening, but had little or no interest in his life before he became a monk."

As such, one could see that Ven. Dhammika does not totally reject these other stories because they do not appear in the Tripitaka but leaves room for speculation as to whether they formed part of the original story of the life of the Buddha. His overall inclination, however, seems not to accept them.

Chandre - Dharmawardhane’s critique

With my appreciation of the valuable information Chandre has furnished, I am constrained to say that I am not altogether happy about it as a "response". It is not really a response to the arguments submitted by Ven. Dhammika. A better strategy would have been to meet the argument that a mere mention in the Tripitaka alone would not justify trustworthiness. If he has tried to do so, it has not been done adequately. He says: "Clearly, when Bhante Dhammika finds many stories and anecdotes missing from the Tripitaka, it may be that they were simply not recorded at Alu Vihara because the monks who knew those parts by memory had already perished, or regarded those anecdotes as being less important than the main teaching. This is close to what Ven. Dhammika thought when he said "One possible explanation is that these details were known but ignored."

The trustworthiness of other traditions then rests on the acceptability of these other traditions. Though compiled many centuries later, the commentaries and other textual traditions could be based on some foundation and not mere traditions grown round the great personality. There is reason for that. Even in the Buddha’s time, divergence arose on points of Vinaya rules, as seen from the five objections raised by Venerable Devadatta. His original rules may not have been without reason, but Devadatta later came to be portrayed as an enemy of Buddha, as it led to the growth of a schism. One can also see how the tradition about the prince Gautama attaining Dhyana mentioned in the Tripitaka is elaborated in the tradition.

Ven. Dhammika has raised an interesting issue, solving which can help distinguish between the original Buddha legend and what has been added to it in due course. Let there be more discussion on it.

bandudes@gmail.com

26 04 2017 – The Island

J18.08

Death: What next?

Dr. Upul Wijayawardhana

Death is the only guarantee in life and, in fact, is the inevitable consequence. Birth is coupled with death but how apart they will be, depends on many factors including when and where you are born, more than anything else, as shown by life-expectancy tables. However, some die in the womb, some just after birth whereas, in the other extreme, some may survive more than a century. As to why, even those born in the same place at the same time, have differing life-spans is a difficult question to answer. We give explanations based on belief systems; for scientists it is a matter of chance, for believers in a creator it is the God’s will and for those who believe in Karmic forces it is the result of your past actions. Whatever it may be, the most difficult concept for us to grasp is our own immortality, perhaps, due to illusions created by attachment.

Some fear death, others face it bravely, yet others crave for it, sometimes ending life prematurely by volition. The one who jumps before a train does not realize, though it may be the end of agony for them, the misery it imparts on many others; the train driver as well as the paramedics, who have the painful task of gathering the pieces, will often have recurring nightmares; all the passengers will be delayed for hours, not only in that train but in many other trains that ply the route.

Sometime ago, there were frequent exchanges about the death penalty, even some ‘pious’ Buddhists advocating this extreme and inhumane punishment. Recent history shows that some executed ‘criminals’ have been pardoned posthumously: of what use is it to them? To me, the most convincing argument against capital punishment is that the wrongful execution of even one is not worth the price paid in the name of justice. There was a recent report that the State of Arkansas in USA has lined up eight executions in a row; the reason, the lethal injections were going out of date. Even worse was watching a programme on children who commit murder in USA which included a twelve-year old who shot a rough-sleeper, after kicking him, between his eyes.

The raging controversy in UK at the moment is ‘Assisted Suicide’. A sufferer from Motor Neurone Disease (MND, a progressive degenerative disease that leaves the patient paralysed and for which there is no treatment available yet)applied to court to obtain the right for his relatives to give him a lethal mixture of tablets at the time of his choosing, without the fear of prosecution, because he cannot do it himself. Though experts confirmed that he has less than six months to live, the courts refused his request; rightly so, because the British Parliament overwhelmingly defeated, only a few months ago, legislation to grant this right. If rich, he could have gone to Switzerland to end his life at the Dignitas Clinic but, unfortunately, he has to suffer till death gives him mercy. Those who support this decision will readily point out that Stephen Hawking has the same disease but not everyone with MND has the same stoic attitude and the brilliant mind of Stephen Hawking. The other concern expressed is that some may coax their elderly parents to do so for the sake of expedited inheritance.

Whatever the end is, we like to know ‘What happens next?’

As far as I can fathom, there are four possibilities:

    1. Nothing happens; death is the end.
    2. Afterlife in Eternity.
    3. Resurrection
    4. Rebirth or Reincarnation

The views about the possibilities are based on a mixture of science, religion, metaphysics and esotericism, some defining Western esotericism as "rejected knowledge" that is accepted neither by the scientific establishment nor by orthodox religious authorities.

NOTHING BEYOND

This is the view of most scientists as there is no convincing evidence to the contrary, most other explanations being based on faith. From two cells, one contributed by each parent, a body develops with differentiating organs, each specialising in its own vital function but the function of one, the brain, is not fully understood yet. The mind is an emergent function of the brain but what is the relationship of consciousness and brain, we do not know for sure. Is consciousness another dimension of mind or is it something universal that resides temporarily as long as the brain is alive?

Does the consciousness, modified over years by ones thoughts, escape at the time of death to reside in another body? Or, does it die with the death of the brain?

Is there a soul that escapes at the time of death? In fact, in 1901 Duncan MacDougall, a Pysician, tried to establish this by carefully weighing his dying patients. Though his results varied a lot, he estimated the soul to weigh around three quarters of an ounce (21grams) but no one has been able to replicate this, though a film titled ‘21 Grams’, referring to this, was made in 2003.

ETERNITY

Most who believe in a creator God believe in eternity. In the Abrahamic tradition, the dead go to a specific plane of existence after death, as determined by God, or other divine judgment, based on their actions or beliefs during life.

Some believe in a ‘Purgatory’ where the sins are washed off. Those who die in God’s grace though imperfect can have purification so that they too can go to heaven. This is more appealing as it gives everybody a chance.

There is another escape route: ‘Limbo’. Limbo is what happens to unbaptized but innocent souls, such as those of infants, virtuous individuals who lived before Jesus Christ was born on earth or those that die before baptism. They exist in neither Heaven nor Hell proper. Though they are not guilty of any personal sin they still bear the original sin. Therefore, they exist in a state of natural, but not supernatural, happiness, until the end of time.

RESURRECTION

Some believe in being resurrected just as one was just like what Jesus Christ did: Rising from the Dead. Whatever that may be, there is a widespread belief that there will be a resurrection, so much so that some do not want to be cremated and some do not consent for organ removal. Interestingly, even those who do not wish to donate organs on religious grounds do not mind receiving organs; that paradox is nothing but extreme selfishness.

REINCARNATION AND REBIRTH

Reincarnation implies transmigration of a soul from body to body which is different from rebirth though often these terms are, incorrectly, interchanged. Rebirth is the continuation of the mind/body interaction, which happens throughout life. A thought at the time of death (Chuthi Chitta) finds a new mind/body interaction with a new thought (Pratisandhi Chitta). While the rest of the five aggregates: form, sensations, perceptions and mental formations dissipate, consciousness persists. The stream of consciousness is thought to be the life force that continues.

There is some scientific data to suggest that rebirth may be a possibility. Prof Ian Stevenson, who worked for the University of Virginia, School of Medicine for fifty years and founded the Division on Perceptual Studies, doing extensive research on rebirth and near death experiences, was convinced that rebirth is a possibility. His successor, Bruce Greyson has contributed much to the field and his lecture ‘Consciousness Independent of the Brain’ is one I never get tired of watching as it is so intellectually stimulating. [youtube.com/watch?v=2aWM95RuMqU]

WHAT IS THERE AFTER DEATH?

It has to be nothing or rebirth, as there is some data to suggest that it is a possibility. I am still open-minded about this question but am convinced that the other two options are only for the faithful believers. However, at times I wonder whether the teachings of the Buddha support the concept of nothing beyond. The Buddha lived in an era when rituals to ensure a good reincarnation would have been practised widely. Therefore, just as he went against the prevailing attitudes like inequalities based on cast, he could well have gone against prevailing beliefs and meant Nirvana to be nothing beyond. If so, rebirth meant the continuous refreshing of mind/body interactions and mindfulness was the means for appreciating this. The fear of death, common to all living beings, cannot be overcome till complete detachment is achieved.

I am sure not many will agree with me on this and my apologies to those who disagree and are liable to think that I am arrogantly trying to reinterpret the Teachings of Gautama Buddha. Well, I am a simpleton with simple thoughts who likes simple explanations.

08 04 2017 - The Island

J18.09

Heeding the Buddha’s word in a world fast hurtling to disaster

Dr. Primrose Jayasinghe

Are you sitting comfortably? Perhaps not! Right now, the whole wide world is looking at the future with great trepidation. Is it going to continue as we know it, albeit with unceasing violence here and there, or is it going to continue to grumble and rumble into a full-blown world war III? There is no need to elaborate on the pain, sorrow and misery that will be inflicted on all living things wrenching them out of known existence into cataclysmic oblivion, by the sheer unleashing of such an extreme event.

Why would a third world war be conceivable? Grossly, because of dissatisfaction with ourselves – all the time ‘aspiring’ for more and more. This, we know as ‘thrushna’, or un-quenching greed, the root of all ‘un-satisfactoriness’ (for lack of a better term).Why does ‘greed’ arise? It arises because of ‘ignorance’- the inability to understand that everything on earth is ‘impermanent’, therefore nothing is of any importance, least of all to start a war. All the above factors: Greed (Thrushna or Thanha), ‘un-satisfactoriness’ (Dukkha), ‘ignorance’ (Avijja) and ‘impermanence’ (Anichcha) are all fundamentals in the Teaching of the Buddha.

The Buddha is the first explorer of ‘things’ both ‘within’ (ourselves) and ‘without’ (the universe). He found that there was nothing that is not impermanent. It follows from this, that all that is impermanent causes nothing but grief, suffering, sadness, sorrow, pain etc. – all meaning ‘Dukkha’ –the First Noble Truth as taught by the Buddha. This however is not readily understood by many. The Buddha says further, that all Dukkha must necessarily arise from ‘a cause or causes’, being ‘conditioned’ things – the Second Noble Truth or ‘Dukkha Samudaya Ariya Satta’. There is nothing that arises out of nothing.

When the causative factor is identified, it can be ‘removed or eliminated’ in order to alleviate Dukkha. This is the Third Noble Truth or Dukkha Niroda Ariya Satta. The Fourth Noble Truth explains the means through which this elimination can be made. This is the gist of The Four Noble Truths as described by the Buddha. These Four Noble Truths are unshakable and those who choose to follow the ‘path leading to the cessation of Dukkha’ (Dukkha Niradagamani Patipada) will be successful in eliminating sorrow of this existence and ‘forever’. One will wonder why the word forever is used here. The followers of the Buddha believe that this existence is not the beginning of ourselves and that we have existed a considerable number of times before. The Buddha himself has admitted that He has gone through various existences in numerable times, on His way to Enlightenment. It is up to us to make sure we relinquish this unending cycle of recurring birth and death, in this very existence, following the Fourth Noble Truth. Otherwise it may be too late.

As the Buddha’s teaching goes, the term ‘existence’ is designated to mean a ‘stop gap’ in a whole series of existences, taking various physical forms, depending on the gravity of the contributory factors that result in unending ‘rebirth’, until the final goals on the ‘path leading to the cessation of dukkha’ are reached. A world war, needless to say, will see to the end of peaceful living for such achievements. As the Buddha predicted there will be an irretrievable decline in His Ministry in due course, when greed and ignorance will prevail among humanity. Society is destined to collapse following the chaos after such catastrophic events, as is so obviously visible in the countries so far affected. None of this is of benefit for the human race. To the credit of Buddhist nations, no wars have been fought on religious grounds and we could only hope that the ripples of impending radical wars will not change the status quo.

It is useful to mention here that the term ‘The Buddha’ denotes a title for ‘The Enlightened One’. All Buddhas preach the same, as the knowledge each One acquires at Buddhahood is the same, being the ‘reality’ that exists in the universe – both ‘within’ and ‘without’.‘Reality’ does not change with time. The current era is that of Gauthamathe Buddha, who was born 623 BCE. The Four Noble Truths were expounded as His first sermon of Gauthama the Buddha, about 2600 years ago and whose teaching is still being followed. No discrepancy exists between His teaching and the discoveries in science despite the vast expanse of time between the two.

The second sermon explains Anatta, the absence of ‘self’. In an ‘impermanent’ body, a permanent ‘self’ that migrates from body to body during ‘rebirth’, is not rationally acceptable. This leads us to the complex issue of Anatta which denotes that which moves between births is ‘not necessarily “the individual”, yet not another’. Thus the student of Buddhist Teaching will need some degree of disciplined scientific thinking to understand this doctrine. If one has at least a little basic knowledge of science, then it is easier for one to build up on that knowledge to understand the facts. It is known that even the smallest particle such as the atom, is not really a permanent entity but consists of electronic particles which are only packets of energy in constant motion. Between these smallest of particles, we know that there is still ‘nothing’- nothing but space. So what talk of the presence of a ‘self’? If one can comprehend that there is no one as ‘I’ in existence, then why be enraged with or envious of, any other person or persons? Similarly, why be lustful of things? What’s to be gained for oneself from such conduct? Just mental and physical ill health. For general wellbeing and ultimate emancipation, the Buddha prescribes the following three things, i.e. refraining from and non-indulgence in:
1) Lust and desire (raga); 2) Rage and anger (dvesha); 3) Envy and ignorance (moha)

Would this not be the perfect prescription for world peace if everybody adheres to this advice?

May all beings be well and happy!

sundaytimes.lk/170507

J18.10

Newtonian science and Buddhist phenomenology

Prof. emeritus Shelton A. Gunaratne
Minnesota State University Moorhead

We claim that Buddhism provides the most accurate and secular view of the galactic nature of our multiverse that no hominid can physically penetrate in a single life-span (bhavcakra). The Jatakas tell us that it took Gautama Buddha some 550 life-spans as an organism in both human and animal namarupa form to understand the nature of cyclic existence that enabled him to sum up the three characteristics of existence as an ongoing circular activity of unsatisfactoriness / suffering (dukkha), impermanence / inconstancy (anicca), and ‘no selfness’ / insubstantiality (anatta). He summarized the crux of Buddhism inhis Four Noble Truths--- dukkha produced by the structural coupling of mind and body, samudaya (origin of dukkha), nirodha (cessation of dukkha), and magga (the pathway to end dukkha). Because he saw hominids as composites of the constantly changing Five Aggregates, he saw no actor behind any action. This Buddhist theory of cyclic existence crudely resembles the evolutionary autopoietic network theory of organismic biology, new physics, deep ecology and cognitive science than the mechanistic divine theory of Newtonian science (Hallowell 2009). Hallowell points out that because a large part of human communication takes place through human created communication technologies and media, it is important to try to understand how all of this communication can affect human consciousness and how different configurations of communication technologies result in different outcomes in consciousness in different individual humans and in turn how this informs social and cultural formations and evolution (Hallowell 2009: 154).

If we accept the position that ‘communication’ covered every aspect of cyclic existence (samsara) going back to the time when planetary life emerged from the first bacterial cell, we have to concede that without ‘communication,’ the formation of life would have been impossible for the vesicles/bubbles to evolve into DNA, proteins and the genetic code in the primeval oceans.

Gunaratne (2010, 2015) has already illustrated how the nonlinear dynamics of complex systems illustrated in the paticca samuppada (PS)/dependent co-arising paradigm, show the operational dynamics of Buddhist phenomenology. This paradigm could, we believe, serve as an optional meta-model for understanding communication dynamics considering the limitations of the dominant Newtonian-Cartesian paradigm still widely used by communication researchers. Classical science glosses over part-whole/system-environment relationships, presumes a world of distinct dependent and independent variables, venerates objectivity and measurability/testability, disregards nonlinearity, and pays little regard to the Four Noble Truths and its tripartite concomitant marks of cyclic existence.

Whereas the Newtonian paradigm reflects the Cartesian matter-mind duality thereby placing emphasis on [measurable] matter, including the brain, at the expense of [immeasurable] mind, the PS paradigm emphasizes both mind and matter (namarupa). The PS paradigm holistically examines the interconnectedness of all living systems by illustrating the nonlinear interactions of the Five [interdependent] Aggregates (whereof all beings and things are composites) to explain the arising of unsatisfactoriness reflected in becoming, birth, and decrepitude-and death through the conditioning of desire/greed and attachment/clinging. The Five Aggregates contain all the elements that enable communication, which marks the beginning of life.

Capra and Luisi’s (2014) systems view of evolution is an extension of the dependent co-arising (PS or paticca samuppada) paradigm. Communication researchers could/should redefine their field to cover the evolution of life on the planet. The PS paradigm absorbs the interconnection, interdependence and interaction of all living and nonliving phenomena represented in the form of 12 links (nidanas) marking the life-cycle (bhavcakra) of an organism/hominid: ignorance, disposition/intentional action, consciousness, mind-and-matter, sense gates, contact, sensation, desire, attachment, becoming, birth, aging-and death. Buddhist phenomenology asserts that it is the nonlinear network of these interdependent links that continuously processes/conditions the life-cycle of each hominid (each structure of the Five Aggregates. Because the literature elaborating on the dynamics of the PS paradigm is already available (Gunaratne et al. 2015, Gunaratne 2008, 2010, 2015), we do not think it is necessary to explain it again here.

Suffice to point out that a paradigm shift must start with a redefinition of the meaning of communication thereby expanding its scope to all stages of cyclic existence, and by innovatively tracing its development from the early stages of prebiotic time to the digital era using the horizontally integrative macrohistory approach initiated by Fernand Braudel (1958). To achieve this goal, we should discard Descartes’ unreal distinction between mind and matter, which precipitated the split between ‘science’ and philosophy in the seventeenth century. Communication can become instrumental in re-uniting science and philosophy and make it absolutely clear that science alone cannot explain the mysteries of the universe without the assistance of philosophy. Science has shown its mettle in exploring matter. Phenomenology has been far more successful in exploring mental/cognitive processes. Inasmuch as cognitive science has proved the embodiment of mind in the 1990s (Maturana & Varela 1998; Varela, Maturana & Uribe 1974; Gunaratne 2005: 52-53; Capra & Luisi 2014: 255-274), Buddhist/Dharmic meditative practices (Gunaratana 2002) have spread all over the world.

The turn toward mindfulness is likely to diminish the communication scholars’ reification of the nomothetic approach of the physical sciences at the expense of the field’s much closer affinity with the idiographic approach. The Kantian term nomothetic literally means ‘proposition of the law’ (Greek derivation) and is used in philosophy, psychology, and law with differing meanings. The idiographic approach relates to a more singular case as is done in case studies (Wikipedia). The emphasis on separate parts caused the fragmentation of communication/journalism studies into ‘traditions’ without establishing their systemic relationships and interconnections because each ‘tradition’ was deemed to be independent/atomistic.

As Capra and Luisi (2014: 22) point out the very core of Cartesian philosophy contained the belief in the certainty of scientific knowledge, which contradicts the modern view that there can be no absolute scientific truth (Kuhn (1962). Buddha also made the same point in the sixth century BCE in the now widely cited Kalama Sutta:

Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another's seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, ‘The monk is our teacher.’ Kalamas, when you yourselves know: ‘These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,’ enter on and abide in them. (Soma Thera 1994)

The Buddha’s phenomenological view of life is unique because it defies both the claim of classical science and of Abrahamic religions to be the sources of truth/reality. Buddha, in contrast, based his Dhamma on training the embodied mind to discipline the Five Aggregates of lust and passing his findings on to others to test their veracity by exercising their own power of the mind. Thus, the Buddhist Dhamma is not a ‘doctrine’ imposed on hominids as the divine revelations of an almighty God but as guidelines to be ‘tested’ by each composite of the Five Aggregates by using three-fold samadhi (concentration) dimension of the Middle Path—Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration (Gunaratne et al. 2015). Moreover, Buddhism’s definition of the two-fold panna (wisdom) dimension of the Middle Path—Right Understanding/View and Right Thought/Intention---emphasizes both accumulated knowledge (anubodha) and penetration (pativedha) involving thoughts of loving kindness, renunciation, and non-violence. Thus, unlike science, Buddhism says that gentleness, giving and harmlessness are part of wisdom.

Descartes believed that the key to the universe was its mathematical structure and, therefore, science was synonymous with mathematics. Because he thought mathematics was the language of nature, he applied numerical relations to geometrical figures to correlate algebra and geometry. His grand scheme led to the widespread use of reductionism –reducing all physical phenomena to mathematical relationships—a practice that the subsequent social/behavioral ‘sciences’ (like economics) also adopted because Descartes extended his mechanistic view of matter to living organisms. The weaknesses of Cartesian reductionism became apparent when life scientists began treating living organisms as machines.

Another faulty assumption of Cartesian philosophy that has failed to be resolved even today is the question of mind-body duality. Descartes’ celebrated statement ‘Cogito,

ergo sum’ (I think, and therefore I exist) established a distinction between mind and body in Western scientific thinking that placed the realm of mind above that of matter/body. Capra and Luisi (2014: 25) explain that Descartes ‘saw no purpose, life, or spirituality in matter. Nature worked according to mechanical laws, and everything in the material world could be explained in terms of the arrangement of its parts.’ Thus, he was instrumental in changing the holistic/organic view of the world; and the cultural/spiritual/religious restraints associated with it disappeared as the mechanization of science proceeded. Life sciences (like biology) ‘successfully’ applied reductionism until well into the late last century that marked the emergence of organismic biology.

However, it was Newton who ‘developed a comprehensive mathematical formulation of the mechanistic view of nature, and thus accomplished a grand synthesis of the works of Copernicus and Kepler, Bacon, Galileo, and Descartes’ (Capra & Luisi 2014: 26). His differential calculus method outsmarted the mathematical techniques of all his contemporaries. He formulated general laws of proper mixture of Bacon’s empirical, inductive method and Descartes’ rational, deductive method to ascertain reliable theory. Newton envisaged that all physical phenomena took place independently in the three-dimensional absolute space of Euclidean geometry. The elements that moved in this absolute space and time were indestructible homogeneous material particles, which made up all matter. The forces of gravity caused the motion of all particles, and he explained the different types of matter in terms of dense packing of atoms. Newton’s equations of motion were presented as fixed laws. In his view, God created the original particles and the forces between them, as well as the fundamental laws of motion. That done, God set the universe to activate like a perfect machine/computer precisely following the divinely determined ‘program.’

Thus, the classical Cartesian-Newtonian paradigm had an (Abrahamic) religious component or bias built into it with Descartes’ placing the mind in the higher realm, and Newton synthesizing the mind-body duality as a given. Since the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science has been able to prove the embodiment of the mind in the t1990s (Damacio 1994), the reductionist/ atomistic/positivist approach is facing a formidable challenge to adjust itself in the Digital Era to accommodate phenomenology, as well as the new findings of quantum physics, organic biology, and thermodynamics, Darwin’s biological evolution theory, embodiment of the mind, and cognition as the process of life, structural coupling, and the dialectical relationship between science and spirituality/faith/ religion/mysticism. Neurologist Damacio (1996: 118 and 226) argues that it is wrong to think that only minds think. The body and our emotions indubitably play key roles in our thinking and in our rational decision-making. This explicates that ‘the body ... contributes a content that is part and parcel of the proves that workings of the normal mind', it follows that 'the mind is embodied, not just embrained.’ Damacio’s theory stresses 'the crucial role of feeling in navigating the endless stream of life's personal decisions.... The intuitive signals that guide us in these moments come in the form of limbic-driven surges from the viscera that Damasio calls ‘somatic markers’ - literally, gut feelings.’ Listening to your gut reactions, 'the somatic marker...may lead you to reject, immediately, the negative course of action and thus...allows you to choose from among fewer alternatives '

How much of Buddhism or Daoism that Descartes and Newton had absorbed, we will never know. If they had a grasp of the crux of Buddhism and Daoism they would have seen the parallels between creation in the Abrahamic religions incorporated in the teleological worldview of the Middle Ages and the organic holistic view of Aristotelian philosophy that preceded it.

Descartes revered the mind, res cogitans (the thinking thing), associated with the humanities, and res extensa (the extended thing), associated with the natural sciences.

[This essay is a section of a longer paper presented on behalf of the writer by his wife Yoke-Sim Gunaratne at the annual conference of the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) at the University of Leicester on July 28, 2016.]

02 11 2016 – The Island

J18.11

Newtonian Science and Buddhist Phenomenology: Another view

Chandre Dharmawardana, Ottawa, Canada

Professor Shelton Gunaratne, writing from Moorehead, Minnesota (Island, 2-11-2016) has made some strong claims about Newtonian science, communication science and Buddhist Phenomenology. Since similar claims are often made in the popular press, I beg to present a different opinion, which is in fact the main-stream view of most practicing scientists as far as I know.

Dr. Gunaratne, and many other writers make statements in the popular press about the "linearity" of the "Newtonian-Cartesian-Paradigm", that classical science "glosses over part-whole/system-environment relationships" and that it is "reductionist", and not "holistic". Prof. Gunaratne says that "the PS (Pattichcha Samuthpada) paradigm holistically examines the interconnectedness of all living systems by illustrating the nonlinear interactions of the Five [interdependent] Aggregates.

Eng. Asoka Abeygunawardena, a JHU activist and engineer, writing under the title "Wither the Toxin Free Nation" (24-09-2016, Island) asserts that "The scientific basis of holism is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. (Holism) rejects the idea of studying components to understand the whole as scientifically untenable ... Reductionism maintains that changes in nature are linear but holism understands that it is cyclic and that nature exists in a state of dynamic equilibrium".

I claim no expertise on Buddhist "Phenomenology" except for growing up within a Buddhist culture and having been a President of the Vidyodaya University which started as a "Buddhist" university, and having personally known many Buddhist scholars like Ven. Walpola Rahula in Sri Lanka and in France, and other scholars in USA. Hence I know enough of Buddhism to contend that there is no concept of heresy in Buddhism, and that each person has to understand it according to one's individual ability and culture, aided by instructions from the "Elders", as emphasized in "Ehi passiko". Ven. Walpola Rahula regarded the mind as an organ (an "indriya", or faculty) that has arisen out of the brain, in agreement with the position taken in the Visuddhi Magga by Ven. Buddhagosa. Instead of such issues, here I will concentrate mostly on what Dr. Gunaratne has said about Newtonian science and modern science.

Of course, it is impossible to answer all these issues in a short article. I tried to answer many such questions in a nearly 600-page book entitled "A physicist's view of matter and Mind" (World Scientific, 2013). Some of that material is readily available in a more preliminary form at the website. As these questions interest many others, we examine the issues raised by Dr. Gunaratne.

Newtonian science, and its modern progeny which is quantum physics, have been my disciplines of research and teaching for over four decades. Communication science too has become part of these disciplines since Claude Shannon at Bell labs, and his successors like Rolf Landauer (at IBM) quantitatively linked communication science to concepts like Entropy and Quantum Information. Digital representation of all sensory inputs to an extent well beyond the cognitive capacity of human perception is available today, as seen in high-definition TV and virtual reality. We have even gone beyond binary bits to qubits. The sixth sense, namely intuition, is also used by scientists and formalized into the power of mathematics. Mathematics is NOT merely an extension of logic, but something more, as established by the failure of the program of Russell and Whitehead, and the emergence of Goedel's theorem.

Let us first take this claim that Newtonian Physics, or the Cartesian Paradigm, is linear. None of these writers has ever told us in what respect (i.e., in what variable), it is supposed to be linear. Since Dr. Gunaratne writes from a Buddhist perspective, he will grant the universality of change - everything is a variable. In Science, microscopic changes in any variable are known as a "differentials". The laws of physics (i.e., of all science) are equations among these differentials. Such "differential equations" found in Newtonian physics are NOT linear. That is why water flowing quietly along a river can become full of eddies, form waves and even tsunamis. There are not only orderly processes, but also chaotic processes in nature. Not only do we have cyclic processes, but also fractals and other complex structures, which all follow from the differential equations of Newton. So what is this "linearity" that Dr. Gunaratne talks of? Why does Eng. Abeygunawardena think that "reductionist" Newtonian science is linear while "holisms" are cyclic? If holisms are simply limited to circular processes, it would make them useless for anything.

There are a lot of misconceptions about holisms and reductionisms. If you have to study a drop of water, an ingot of Uranium, or an earthworm, what is the difference in practice between studying any of them "holistically", and by "reductionism"? A scientist studying water will break it down and find that it is made up of two atoms of hydrogen, and one atom of oxygen. But scientists do NOT say that water is just the SUM of one oxygen and two hydrogens. Water is the sum of one oxygen, two hydrogens AND the interactions (i.e., force fields) among the atoms. Given the components, and their force fields, everything about water can be predicted and confirmed by observation. In science the whole is equal to the parts and their interactions.

Can Dr. Gunaratne say what additional "holistic" properties are found in water, that scientists cannot predict using the fact that water is made up of two H atoms, and one O atom and their Coulomb interactions? The same method works for more complex systems. We even know the complete "brain circuitry" of the earthworm (thanks to Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner and his team) and we can effectively predict its behavior. Biology is within the ambit of physics. The study of the "brain circuitry" of the sea slug (by Nobel Laureate Eric Kendall and his team), a primitive creature with a small number of neurons, enabled neuroscientists to produce a successful drug for Schizophrenia, and also understand how human memory works.

We already noted that Newtonian-Cartesian science is highly nonlinear. In fact, the dynamical laws of Newton (which govern most phenomena relevant to human activities) lead to what are known as Hamilton-Jacobi equations, which are extremely non-linear in the relevant variables. So there is no basis to the claim that Newtonian science is "linear". On the other hand, the laws of the new physics based on the Quantum theory use differential equations which are linear. Hence it is the new physics which is a linear theory! Also, its predictions are valid only in a statistical sense! God (i.e., laws of nature) does play dice, to the consternation of Einstein! And yet, popular writers never seem to attack modern physics, because they believe, after having read Fritjof Capra, Henry Stapp or others, that the "individual mind" can once again "take control". They think that the "new physics" allows them a place for anything from eastern mysticism to new-age revelations. These "interpretations" are highly popular with the public, and are often supported by misquotes from Einstein or Schrodinger, taken out of context. Van Kampen, a famous Dutch physicist and student of the foundations of science has called it the "Scandal of Physics Popularizations" that pander to the public hunger for the supernatural.

05 11 2016 - The Island

J18.12

Bhikkhus belittling Buddhism

Dr. Upul Wijayawardhana

English language is at its best when written, French when spoken, Hindi when sung but we, the Sinhalese are very lucky in that our language is all that and more. It is full of wisecracks but with deep meaning, one of which is "vetath niyarath goyam Kaanam, kaata kiyamuda ema amaaruwa"; roughly translated as ‘If the fence and the bund devour the paddy crop, to who can we complain?’ This, unfortunately, is the predicament Buddhists are in at the moment, as the guardians of the ‘Sasana’ Bhikkhus are acting in a way that discredits the Noble Path laid for us by Gautama Buddha. I hasten to add, it is the behaviour of a tiny minority that reflects badly on the entire‘ Sangha Sasana’ and wish to pay tribute to all those great monks, who have strived through generations, to preserve in pristine form the teachings of the Buddha. It pains immensely to write a critique on a group that we, laymen, are to revere and respect, but as the Buddha stated, what matters is the intention. My intention is not to discredit or insult but to evoke a discussion, with a view to ensuring that the great message of Gautama Buddha, one of compassion, tolerance, peace and understanding would influence a world that is boiling with conflict, hatred, intolerance teetering on another ‘Great War’.

Political and ‘activist’ Bhikkhus

Due to the proliferation of social media, the ridiculous and objectionable behaviour of some Bhikkhus is there for all to see. I get sick to the marrow watching these video clips and so would be anyone clicking on these. Some call them ‘thugs in robes’ and there may be a truth in it but we cannot just disregard it as such. True, it is always the minority rights and majority responsibilities that the do-gooders in foreign funded NGOs always refer to, forgetting the vital importance of majority rights and minority responsibilities. Though these activists may have a legitimate reason for protest, those who don ‘yellow robes’ should protest in a way fitting to the path they have chosen; violence in deed, words or, for that matter, even in thoughts is against the teachings of the leader they have opted to follow. Not that I am trying to justify violence by laymen but we cannot ignore the fact that, at times, force is needed to quell violence but Bhikkhus should not be a party to it. We do not wish to have a Bhikkhu Corp. in our army!

The plunge of Bhikkhus to politics, sometime ago, had been an unmitigated disaster which brought them to disrepute, putting them on par with the crooked politicians we are blessed with. Though, when colonialism was pervading over us, suppressing our liberties, traditions and erasing our culture, Bhikkhus were requested to be political, times have changed. This is a different era where politics should be left to politicians, however bad they are, and Bhikkhus should look after religion. I am reminded of a story my father told me. A leading Bhikkhu from the Amarapura sect approached Dudley Senanayaka, when he was Prime Minister, and told him that he would switch support provided a politician from his caste was made a minister. Dudley has replied in beautiful Sinhala to the effect that ‘Sir, please leave politics to me and you look after religion’

Caste and Bhikkhus

There is no need for me to go into great detail on this issue as my article ‘Does caste matter?’ (The Island, November 19) explained the unholy alliance of caste and Nikayas but wish to reiterate how much the Buddha suffered by his principled stand. Brahmins were so enraged by the Buddha’s denunciation of the caste system, as it threatened their falsely acquired privileged position, they did everything in their power to supress the message of the Buddha. There were many attempts to discredit the Buddha. They did not stop at that but insulted him. The Buddha preached against the caste system and is it not utterly hypocritical that the Bhikkhus in Sri Lanka still have not given up the caste based Nikaya system?

Bana for sale

It is no secret that ‘Bana Preachings’ have become big business, some Bhikkhuseven charging direct while others charge for the sound system which has to accompany them. It was Venerable Walpola Rahula who first pointed out that even giving a ‘Pirikara’ after a ‘Bana Preaching’ demeaned a great act: Dhamma Dana. He refused to accept any ‘Pirikaras’ much to the annoyance of many other priests. In his monumental work "Sathyodaya", he states; "It is a great sin to make Buddha Dhamma a money spinner. It is an insult to the Buddha to send a collection tray round while the ‘Bana Preaching’ is going on. It has come to a situation where the poor cannot afford the Dhamma. What a shame is this?" (p 27-28)

Bogus ‘Arahats’

Even a bigger danger to Buddhism, in my humble opinion, comes from a self-declared ‘Arahat’ who is out on a campaign of self-aggrandisement. Compounding the problem is the abundance of gullible ‘Dayakayas’. There can be no better illustration of human frailty than the story of this Bhikkhu. Having had a graduate education before donning the yellow robes, he was very quick to learn the Dhamma and earned a great reputation as a preacher. Lacking wisdom, though full of knowledge, his ego started expanding and assumed gigantic proportions. Having convinced himself that he has attained ‘Arahathood’, he changed the name to that of a ‘Bodhisattva’ in Mahayana tradition, meaning ‘Universal Worthy’.

With increasing ‘attainment’, opulence increased and his birthday party, widely seen in social media, is a disgrace to Buddhism. In an interview broadcast on ‘Derana’ he tried to justify all this without answering direct, like a politician, incisive questions posed by the interviewer in a remarkably tempered and respectful manner. I could not continue to watch it any longer when he made a statement, to justify his opulence, to the effect that Buddhas are no beggars and a previous Buddha walked about with sandals encrusted with gems. And guess what? Those sandals were gifted by Gautama Buddha when he was a ‘Bodhisattva’!

The latest turn of this saga is reported in ‘LankaCnews’ (November 16) which has a number of photographs of this priest’s statue, which he has got built in his own temple, with rays emanating from the head, giving the impression of ‘Budu-res’ and an alter at the feet for devotees to offer flowers. Each photograph carries a superimposed title ‘The golden statue of the Enlightened Thero’. He tries to give the impression that he is Buddha now and, perhaps, is regretting the fact that he called himself an ‘Arahat’, sometime ago. Therefore, he cannot call himself Buddha as that will be a paradox: a double ‘Enlightenment’!

Gautama Buddha foresaw situations like this and in ‘Annabyakarana Sutta (The Discourse on the Question of Final Knowledge: Anguttara Nikaya, 5.2.5.3) warns how arrogance causes one to take one’s learning and opinion as the final truth, misleading one even to declare that one is a Arahat . The Sutta states:

"Bhikkhus, there are these five declarations of final knowledge. What are they?

   (1) One declares final knowledge because of one's dullness and stupidity;
   (2) One declares final knowledge because one has evil desires and is motivated by desire;
   (3) One declares final knowledge because one is mad and mentally deranged;
   (4) One declares final knowledge because one overrates oneself; and
   (5) One correctly declares final knowledge."

I will leave it to the readers to decide where he belongs but am sure it is not (5).

There are enough divisions in Buddhism already and if cults like this too emerge, it will be the beginning of the end. Even this, the Buddha foresaw and in ‘Tathiyasaddhammasammosa Sutta’ (Third on the Confusion of the Teaching: Anguttara Nikaya, 5.4.1.5) mentions the five things that lead to confusion and disappearance of His Teachings.

    (1) "Here, the Bhikkhus learn discourses that have been badly acquired, with badly set down words and phrases. When the words and phrases are badly set down, the meaning is badly interpreted".

   (2) "Again, the Bhikkhus are difficult to correct and possess qualities that make them difficult to correct. They are impatient and do not accept instruction respectfully".

   (3) "Again, those Bhikkhus who are learned, heirs to the heritage, experts on the Dhamma, experts on the discipline, experts on the outlines, do not respectfully teach the discourses to others. When they have passed away, the discourses are cut off at the root, left without anyone to preserve them".

   (4) "Again, the elder bhikkhus are luxurious and lax, leaders in backsliding, discarding the duty of solitude; they do not arouse energy for the attainment of the as-yet-unattained, for the achievement of the-as-yet-unachieved, for the realization of the as-yet-unrealized. [Those in] the next generation follow their example. They, too, become luxurious and lax, leaders in backsliding, discarding the duty of solitude; they, too, do not arouse energy for the attainment of the as-yet-unattained, for the achievement of the as-yet-unachieved, for the realization of the as-yet-unrealized".

   (5) "Again, there is a schism in the Sahgha, and when there is a schism in the Sahgha there are mutual insults, mutual reviling, mutual disparagement, and mutual rejection. Then those without confidence do not gain confidence, while some of those with confidence change their minds".

"These are the five things that lead to the decline and disappearance of the good Dhamma."

As the Buddha pointed out there is nothing permanent, the world will end one day; His Dhamma will also end one day, but it is incumbent upon us to do our best not to accelerate the inevitable. Even more important is for the Bhikkhus to realize this and am sure all Buddhists will join me in respectfully requesting them to do so.

30 11 2016 – The Island

J18.13

From the past to the future

Dr. Upul Wijayawardhana

Hindsight may be the best sight, provided you learn lessons from the past, but if the ‘retrospectoscope’ has no clear lens, but one tinted with prejudice, it serves no purpose. Scientists have shown that we, rather our minds, remember things the way we want, than how it actually happened. When a group of people who were involved in an incident, that was recorded, were requested to recollect, months or years later, they had differing recollections; their memories deviating from the actual recording. However, it was over 2600 years ago, that Gautama Buddha proclaimed this fact when he stated that the world is what each individual perceives. He considered the mind to be the ‘sixth’ sense and described in detail how the impulses from the five senses interacted with the mind to form our view of the world. He went a step further and taught us how to be unbiased observers; the practice of mindfulness. The driver, who has the responsibility of manoeuvring windy roads in inclement weather, has no time to admire the view but the passenger has all the time to immerse in the unfolding magnificent vista. The Buddha wanted us to be the passenger but we have a never-ending desire to be the driver. That is why we all are biased and I am no exception.

I never hesitated to engage in the ongoing debate over what ‘True Buddhism’ is but admit my views may be influenced by my own prejudices as rightly pointed out by the much respected ‘senior columnist’, Mr. Tissa Devendra in his thought provoking piece ‘Beggism, Gautamism and popular Buddhism’ (The Island, 16 August). I have been a great admirer of his writings, based on his vast experience as a distinguished public servant and am amazed he writes so succinctly though he is a decade older than I am. It clearly goes to show that we ‘seniors’ are not grumpy old men or women, but ones with spirits full till death. Well, that is another story and I am deviating.

Let me reassure Mr. Devendra, and all the readers, that I meant no irreverence when I referred to the core teachings of Gautama Buddha as ‘Gautamism’; just the opposite, out of great respect and reverence, as I have stated on many previous occasions. I agree with him that ‘Beggism’, the term used by Prof. Marasinghe probably to drive home a point, was too harsh and that is why I substituted the term ‘Buddhaghosism’ in my article (The Island, 13 August). I can also reassure that I am no "elitist Sinhala Buddhist"; I remain a ‘godaya’ from Godagama, Matara and still wear the sarong at home, listen to Sinhala music not to operatic music and never been to a ball-room though I may have done an occasional Baila!

Mr. Devendra assumes very incorrectly that "No whiff of popular Buddhist practices sullies their sterile surroundings". Far from it, all the popular practices are there in UK though I cannot speak for what happens in other countries. Our Bhikkus and the Dayakayas behave just the same way as they do in Sri Lanka; there are divisions leading sometimes even to court battles, there are multiple Chief Sangha Nayakas, some accepting British Honours and at least one temple even has a Devale. We have Bodhi Poojas, Katina ceremonies with processions, Vesak celebrations with mini-pandals, Poson, Esala celebrations etc. With my family, I take part in all these rituals but not get involved in the politics of the Temples and avoid Temple with Devales. In Nottingham, we are very fortunate to have an excellent Dhamma and Meditation teacher in Ven. Teldeniyaye Amitha, who travels widely, conducting non-religious Meditation classes in Gloucester and Grantham, attended largely by non-Buddhists.

I have at no stage attempted to slander ‘popular’ Buddhism, stating facts as I perceive, and am in full agreement with Mr. Devendra’s concluding remarks: "I reiterate my conviction that Buddhism has flourished in this Dharma Dipa of Sri Lanka; for over two millennia, thanks to the 'beliefs' and popular practices of the common Sinhala people. Let us not consider them as a lesser, ignorant, superstitious breed but, instead, honour for keeping our country Buddhist." But, what about the future?

Look into the past

Gautama Buddha travelled all over India, perhaps outside too, for 45 years preaching the Dhamma he realized, to one and all irrespective of their status. He must have repeated things on many occasions, so much so that Ven. Ananda, his constant attendant, could memorise all his teachings, to be recited at the first Sangayana held in Rajagaha shortly after the Parinibbana. From then onwards, the teachings of the Buddha was carried through the oral tradition till the third Sangayana, during Emperor Ashoka’s time, when some transcription had taken place though putting the entire Pali Canon to writing did not take place till the Fourth Sangayana held in AluVihara, in first century BCE. Unfortunately, the manuscripts do not exist denying us the honour of being the repository for Buddha’s original teachings.

The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are considered to be the Gandharan Manuscripts written in first century CE, on Birch bark and stored in clay jars, found in Western Pakistan. About eighty fragments are preserved in the British Library and is supposed to include, among other things, the Dhammapada and Khaggavisana (Rhinoceros) Sutta, which extolls the virtues of a Pachcheka-Buddha. Listening to Ven. Amitha, explaining this sutta to us as a part of the Katina Dhamma discussion programme, I was wondering whether the Buddha was telling us what virtues we all should cultivate.

Our son, though not that keen on rituals, is keen on the crux of the Dhamma and kept on asking why the Buddha did not put down his words in writing till a young priest, then residing in Leicester Vihara, gave this explanation in beautiful Sinhala which roughly translates as: "Budu Hamuduruwo was not interested in an egoistic endeavour but was keen to personally deliver his message to as many as possible. That is why he devoted his time incessantly travelling all over". This satisfactory explanation led to a lengthy Dhamma discussion lasting nearly two hours though the intended visit was for a short ritual!

According to Prof. Marasingha (The Island, 3 & 10 August) Ven. Buddhaghosa introduced Puja and Vandana to Buddhism and my inference is that this may be for one of two reasons:

1. To subjugate Buddhism to Hinduism and Jainism.
2. To make Buddhism more attractive to ‘ordinary’ people.

Though Prof. Marasinghe believes it is the former, it looks as if the latter worked, as explained by Mr. Devendra, and the law of unintended consequences seems to have triumphed. Though purists may argue that the introduction of Puja and Vandana adulterated Buddhism, it served more than one purpose. Not only did it preserve Buddhism, may be in an adulterated way, but also enriched our culture, a culture which is intimately twined with Buddhist practices. The resultant artistry created edifices which we can be justly proud of. As mentioned in my article ‘From Ritual to Spiritual’ (The Island, 20 June 2015), of the 80 tallest structures built before the 20th century four are from Sri Lanka and of the 10 tallest man-made structures in the ancient world two were from Sri Lanka; Ruwanweliseya (92meters) built by King Dutugemunu in 140 BCE and Jetawanaramaya (122 meters), built by King Mahasena in 3rd century AD which was surpassed only by the two Great Pyramids of Giza.

The present

Unfortunately, our era is characterised by increasing ritualism. We are heading towards extreme ritualization and try to beat each other at Poojas and Vandanas. There are widely prevalent practises which I cannot recollect from my childhood.

Atavisi Buddha Pooja: We have started worshipping 28 Buddhas whose existence is mere hearsay or speculation. I would have disregarded it as harmless but when I heard that all Buddhas are born, preach and die in India and Maitriya Buddha would do the same, I no longer could consider it harmless and wrote the article ‘Belittling Gautama Buddha’s achievements’ (The Island, 4 June 2016) wherein I stated ‘What I cannot comprehend is why we, Buddhists, belittle his achievements by being hooked on stories which deny his originality. Why discard substance and cling to rituals and stories? When anyone tells me that by not believing in these superficialities I am no longer a Buddhist, my reply is "I am a Gautamist".’

Though I would like to take credit for the term ‘Gautamism’, I am afraid I cannot as it had been used before by Rudolph Draaisma, a Dutch Thermodynamics engineer who worked in Cambodia and died in March 2015. In an article published in November 2009 in the website, articlesfactory.com, he states: "The worldly name of the Buddha was Sidhattha Gautama. Part of his profound teachings became the religion of Buddhism, the larger part of which is derived from Hinduism. Gautamism is my term for the Original Teachings that has nothing to do with religion, but with "Suffering and No Suffering" only. "I presume, his assertion that large parts of Buddhism is derived from Hinduism may be a result of the Buddhaghosa interpretation.

Bodhi Pooja: While paying homage to the Bo tree during an act of worship prior to a Bana preaching or Dhamma discussion is perfectly acceptable, the present practice of ritualistic pooja is music theatre and gives the impression that we are trying to copy church services.

The latest craze is birthday bashes for priests. How can there be any justification for the Dana brimming with opulence for the birthday of a self-appointed arahant? Why not have a simple ceremony and spend the rest to build houses for the poor or for that matter build latrines in poor temples where priests have to retire to the forest for the natural needs. Yes, there are temples like that still in Sri Lanka, in the 21st century!

Are we not going to extremes? What has happened to the Middle-Path of Gautama Buddha?

The future

We are now in a totally different world where our young generations are exposed to the products of the communication revolution. True, some religions try to ensure survival by promoting extremism, misleading the youth through the media. Religions and politicians try to control us by using fear as a weapon.

But, we are ‘blessed’ as we follow a ‘religion’ that encourages questioning. We have not punished scientists for original thought. We have not punished discoverers whose discoveries went against religious beliefs. Unfortunately, we have not made the best use of the liberties at our disposal.

Whatever we, Sinhala Buddhists, do or do not do, Mindfulness, the greatest contribution of Gautama Buddha to our world is already spreading far and wide, so much so, unfortunately, it has become a fashion and a big business. There are huge opportunities for us to do scientific research on mindfulness and this, in my view, is best way of getting youth involvement.

Is it not the time to reduce ritual and concentrate on the science and philosophy of Buddhism?

20 08 2016 - The Island

J18.14

Religion: Need for an open mind

Dr. Upul Wijayawardhana

'How blinding religion can be’ was the thought that sprung to my mind when I watched an interesting video on YouTube; the reactions of a group of Geologists and Palaeontologists who decided, for a bit of tongue-in-cheek relaxation after a tiring day at a scientific meeting, to visit the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, USA. They were in for a great shock, to say the least! It is questionable whether the Creation Museum could be called a museum at all, being more like a Creation Theme Park built on a 7000 Square Kilometre site at a cost of US$ 27 million and opened in May 2007. It is run by the Answers in Genesis organization and promotes the Young Earth Creationist explanation of the origin of the Universe, based on a literal interpretation of Genesis in the Bible. The scientists showed amusement and annoyance in equal measure and I laughed my guts out when they showed the image of Noah’s Ark with humans and dinosaurs boarding together!

Mother earth is ancient, around 4.5 billion years old. There is a ‘small’ gap of 65 million years between us and dinosaurs. These are facts established by science. No surprise therefore, for the comment "It's sort of a monument to scientific illiteracy, isn't it?" from Jerry Lipps, Professor of Geology, Palaeontology and Evolution at the University of California, Berkley. According to ‘phys.org’ website, Lisa Park, Professor of Palaeontology at the University of Akron cried at one point, as she walked a hallway full of flashing images of war, famine and natural disasters which the museum blames on belief in evolution.

Difference between religion and science

Beliefs in religion, is an act of faith and views hardly ever change. In science acceptance is only after verification and opinions are not fixed; when new data emerges views change. The best example is gravity and the universe; Sir Isaac Newton’s concept of gravity and the three laws of motion he formulated held sway for over three centuries and his masterpiece ‘Principia Mathematica’, published in 1687, is considered by many to be the foundation of modern science. As the knowledge of the Universe expanded, some aspects could not be explained and led, in 1915, to Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. Around the same time Niels Bohr laid the foundation for the Quantum Theory and most scientist are of the opinion that these two theories explain the behaviour of all structures in our universe.

Things once considered ‘Acts of God’ are now known to be physical phenomena. The unfortunate earthquake that happened in the early hours of Wednesday 24th that almost flattened two mountainous towns in Italy, 100km north-east of Rome, killing more than 250, would have been considered an act of god before scientists worked out the cause of earthquakes. We now know that it is due to the movement of tectonic plates and, further, realise we are at the mercy of Mother Earth than any god. Small Pox which, not so long ago, killed millions the world over is now eradicated. We used to call illnesses caused by Pox viruses ‘Deiyangelede’ implying that they are a curse from gods. Scientists worked out that the cause is not a curse but a virus and thanks to the pioneering work by the eighteenth century English country doctor, Edward Jenner, vaccination came to being and a killer was eradicated. True, religion may give some comfort at times of distress but it is science that saves millions.

Is Buddhism a religion?

As there is no ingrained belief system and there is no concept of a creator God, Buddhism cannot be identified as a religion but on an expanded definition it is included as a religion. In my humble opinion it is the greatest dis-service done to a great philosophy which was the beginning of scientific thought, as I have pointed out in my previous articles.

In my attempts to highlight the unique achievements of Gautama Buddha, I called myself a ‘Gautamist’, an action which has irked some including Mr. P.S. Mahawatte (Buddhism- the correct interpretation, The Island 24 August) who expresses his astonishment. I am no scholar; a Cardiologist whose thoughts concentrated only on the heart during his working life but since retirement, started thinking of the mind. Thanks to the World Wide Web, invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee who gifted it to the world rather than patenting it, I have been able to listen to Abhidhamma discussions by learned monks like Venerable Tittagalle Anadasiri which amazed me. I realised that Gautama Buddha’s analysis of the mind and thoughts were far superior to that of any scientist. The more I realised the value of the Dhamma, the more I realised how Buddhism has been distorted, tainted and submerged and that prompted me to write a number of articles (Belittling Gautama Buddha’s achievements, The Island, 4 June 2016; Gautama Buddha: Unbelievable stories, The Island, 9 July 2016; Where do we begin?, The Island, 6 August 2016; Gautamism or Buddhaghosism?, The Island, 13 August 2016 & From the past to the future, The island, 20 August 2016) I am delighted that these have stimulated debate and look forwards to further valuable contributions from Mr. Mahawatte.

Mr. Mahawatte questions whether in my medical career I had seen virgin births and resurrections. I do not believe in virgin births as it is not a scientific possibility, though I must confess I have encountered pregnant ladies who claimed they were virgins but definitely were not! Having taken part in many attempts at resuscitation, some successfully, I suppose resurrection of sort is a possibility but not as defined in religious terms. What happened to Jesus Christ, a person whom I respect greatly as a revolutionary who spread compassion and espoused the causes of the underprivileged, after crucifixion has been subject to much debate and there are plausible scientific explanations. Determining death is not as easy as many think; there are many instances recorded, of dead, certified by doctors, coming alive!

When my fellow Buddhists question these, I remind them that we too are guilty of believing in improbabilities. Do I believe that Price Siddhartha walked seven steps on lotuses after birth and uttered a stanza? Definitely not, but does it matter? Not at all; what is important to me is His message, the Dhamma.

Do I believe in past Buddhas? Again, no, as there is no evidence that life existed before the Big Bang. Do I believe in a future Buddha? Though there are many stories about a Maithriya Buddha, to be born, I cannot convince myself as I do not believe in pre-determination. My only Buddha is Siddhartha Gautama, the most intelligent and the most compassionate human being ever born. He was a revolutionary who preached equality and fought against the cast system rampant then but, unfortunately, still exists.

Brahamins were livid with his teachings, as it challenged their superior status-quo and did their best, to a great extent successfully, to submerge His Dhamma. He was philosopher and psychologist. He built on the prevalent meditative practices, advancing from Samatha to Vipassana; His gift to Humanity.

Rebirth

Mr. Mahawatte states: "When studying this abstruse Dhamma, the only fact that we have to accept on the authority of the Buddha is Rebirth". Does that not go against what Gautama Buddha advised us to do in Kalama Sutta? He wanted us to investigate and convince ourselves. If we accept on the basis that it was supposed to have been said by the Buddha, it then becomes an act of faith, reducing Buddhism to the status of just another religion. As for me, I keep an open mind about rebirth. There is some evidence but not enough to convince; so, I keep on searching. By doing so, I am following the advice of the Buddha.

05 09 2016 - The Island

J18.15

Jesus and the Buddha – Kindred spirits or poles apart?

Bhante Dhammika of Australia

The Buddha and Jesus were probably the two most influential religious figures in history. Their teachings have had a profound and positive effect on the cultures which adopted them. Until recently the followers of both generally claimed that their religion was unique and had little in common with all others. The Catholic Encyclopedia itemizes a range of criticism of Buddhism, this being but one. "Another fatal defect of Buddhism is its false pessimism. A strong and healthy mind revolts against the morbid view that life is not worth living …Buddhism stands condemned by the voice of nature the dominant tone of which is hope and joy… The highest ambition of Buddhism is to destroy that perfection by bringing all living beings to the unconscious repose of Nirvana. Buddhism is thus guilty of a capital crime against nature, and in consequence does injustice to the individual."

Nowadays, assessment couched in such language tends to be viewed with unease by many people. Today, if anything, the emphasis has moved to what some might consider as the opposite extreme - that the two religions are in complete harmony with each other and that the Buddha would have nodded in agreement when he heard the Gospel, and Jesus would done the same after listening to the Dhamma. Today, in some circles at least, "All religions are the same" is the new norm. It has become something of a hobby of writers to comb through the Bible and Buddhist sources to find sayings of the Buddha and Jesus that are similar, usually in order to prove that they both taught the same thing, or sometimes to show that Christianity was influenced by contact with Buddhism. The more well-known example of this is the beautifully produced and designed ‘Jesus & Buddha: The Parallel Sayings’ by Marcus Borg and Jack Kornfield, ‘Two Masters One Message’ by Roy Amore, and Jessica Durham-Gonder’s strictly light-weight ‘Jesus, Buddha and Love’.

As a former Christian and a Buddhist for 40 years I am perplexed by the conclusion of books like these, for several reasons. Firstly, it seems to me that you only have to read the teachings of both great teachers to see that in many respects they start from different standpoints, make different assumptions and proceed in different directions, and thus such conclusions, while perhaps comforting, do not fit well with the facts. Secondly, they may hide or obscure the unique insights that both men may have contributed to humanity’s collective thought, ethics and spirituality. And lastly, if the only way we can tolerate other faiths is to try to convince ourselves that they are really exactly the same as our own, then that tolerance is built of shaky foundations. Hopefully, we should be mature enough to see differences and be respectful of them nonetheless, to accept that some people see things differently from how we do.

So, would the Buddha and Jesus have been kindred spirits or would they have been poles apart? Let us examine some of the evidence. A good place to start would be the two men’s lives. Both men became homeless, wandering teachers and both were skilled in using parables and stories to make their ideas understandable. The Buddha saw himself as the most recent in a line of enlightened Buddhas and Jesus believed himself to be a successor of the great Jewish prophets of old. They each attracted a band of disciples and sent them forth to spread their teachings. Both men had disciples towards whom they were particularly fond; Jesus, the unnamed young man he is said to have loved (John 21:20) and the Buddha his cousin Ananda. The unnamed disciple lent his head on Jesus’ lap during the Last Supper, and Ananda lent against the door post sobbing when he realized that the Buddha was dying. Seeing Ananda’s grief he called for him to come and proceeded to comforted him with these words. "For many a day you have been in the Tathagata’s presence with loving acts of body, with loving acts of speech and with loving acts of mind." Both these relationships underline the often overlooked fact that being a Samma Sambuddha or a Messiah need not cancel out emotional closeness.

Interestingly, the Buddha and Jesus shared a similar fate after their deaths in that both were eventually deified. On discovering that a certain monk was entranced by his physical appearance, the Buddha admonished him: "Why do you want to see this dirty body of mine? See the Dhamma and you will see me." Despite this, some participants in the Third Council asserted that the Buddha was so perfect that even his faeces was fragrant-smelling. The early Mahayana Lotus Sutra, (circa 1st century CE) claimed that the Buddha had existed since the beginning of time! When someone addressed Jesus as "good teacher" he immediately corrected them: "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone" (Luke 18,19). He also said: "The Father is greater than I." (John 14:28), a clear contrast between himself and God. Despite such pronouncements, within 20 years of Jesus’ death St. Paul was already claiming that Jesus was God incarnate. Whether Jesus actually made this claim himself is open to question, at least amongst biblical scholars, who point out that only in the latest Gospel, that of John, is Jesus reported to have said that he was divine. Apparently, he thought it unnecessary to mention his divinity to Matthew, Mark and Luke.

But, other aspects of the two men’s life, mission and influence differ. The Buddha was from a patrician family while Jesus was born into humble circumstances. Jesus never married; Prince Siddhartha, who became the Buddha, was a husband for at least two decades and a father if only briefly. Although the Buddha taught everyone, his message resonated most with the scholars and intellectuals of the day. Jesus directed his message mainly to simple folk who he exhorted to become "like little children" (Matthew 18: 3). The Buddha gave no special attention to his own clan and taught all clans, castes and classes. Jesus believed he "was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel" (Matthew 10,5-6; 15, 24), God’s chosen people. Jesus’ Gospel was at odds with that of the Jewish priests, and indeed he was at odds with them on a personal level too. To their faces he called them "evil", "hypocrites" and "a brood of vipers" (Matthew 23:33), not exactly words designed to build bridges. And sometimes his anger manifest itself physically, as when he threw the money-changers out of the Temple. The Buddha often contrasted his Dhamma with that of the Brahmans, the Hindu priests, but he was ready to engage them in friendly conversation and his criticism of them was usually measured and restrained. Only once did he use harsh language, when Devadatta tried to take over the Sangha and the Buddha called him "a wretch who should be coughed out like spittle" (khelapakassa). The Buddha lived in a time of relative peace and steered clear of politics, whereas Jesus’ mission was inextricably mixed up with the volatile politics of the day. Consequently, Jesus’ teaching, whether intended or not, provoked the religious and political powers and as a result he ended up being executed only two or perhaps three years into his ministry. The Buddha’s teaching certainly challenged the status quo but not in a way that provoked a crackdown, and he died peacefully at the age of 80.

There is no information whatsoever about Jesus’ appearance. He is usually portrayed as decidedly Western, bearded and with long hair. He was of course Semitic (Arabesque) and given St. Paul’s comment that "even Nature tells you that long hair on a man is a disgrace" (1 Corinthians 11:14) he almost certainly wore his hair short. He was called "sin-bearer" (1 Peter 2:24) and was equated with the "virdolorum", the Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53,3). Given this, it is not surprising that many early Christian sources claim that Jesus never smiled. Except in Gandhara sculpture (2nd to 5th century CE) the Buddha has usually been depicted in a stylized manner rather than realistically. Even today in depictions of his Parinirvana he is always shown looking 25 or 30 at most, despite the fact that we know that he was an old man when he passed away.

But, tradition aside, the Tipitaka provides a great deal of interesting information about the Buddha’s physical appearance. In the Vinaya we are told that the Buddha was four finger-breadths taller than his strikingly handsome and younger half-brother Nanda, who was often mistaken for him from a distance. According to the Buddha’s own comment in the Majjhima Nikaya when young, before his renunciation, he had long black hair and a beard. Although statues of him always show the Buddha with hair, this is an iconographic convention and not historically accurate. After his renunciation, like all other monks, he "cut off his hair and beard" and there is no reason to doubt that he shaved his scalp and face regular as did all monks. All sources agree that the Buddha was particularly good-looking. The Sonanda described him as "handsome, of fine appearance, pleasant to see, with a good complexion and a beautiful form and countenance". These natural good looks were further enhanced by his deep inner calm. Another witness, Dona, said that he was "beautiful, inspiring confidence, calm, composed, with the dignity and presence of a perfectly tamed elephant". Concerning his complexion another observer noted: "It is wonderful, truly marvellous how serene is the good Gotama’s presence, how clear and radiant is his complexion. Just as golden jujube fruit in the autumn is clear and radiant, so too is the good Gotama’s complexion." However, like everyone else, the Buddha’s appearance declined with age. Ananda described him in old age like this: "The Lord’s complexion is no longer pure and bright, his limbs are flabby and wrinkled, his body is stooped, and his faculties have changed." In the last months of his life the Buddha said of himself: "I am now old, aged, worn out, one who has traversed life’s path. Being about eighty, I am approaching the end of my life. Just as an old cart can only be kept going by being patched up, so too my Body can only be kept going by being patched up."

Jesus’ and the Buddha’s teaching methods help to give us at least a glimpse into their respective personalities and backgrounds. Thirty three parables attributed to Jesus in the Gospels, not counting what are sometimes called proverbial expressions. Some of these are extremely creative and memorable. They are in fact one of the most celebrated parts of Jesus’ message. It is not clear if anyone has ever counted the parables the Buddha used but certainly there are at least several hundred, many of them as ingenious, relevant and memorable as those of Jesus. There are however interesting differences between the two. For example, Jesus’ parables are almost completely devoid of humour as are all his teaching. Some of the Buddha’s parables by contrast are specifically meant to raise a smile, if not a slight chuckle. An example of this would be when he said that trying to attain enlightenment without having right understanding would be like trying to get milk by pulling a cow’s horn rather than its teat. This is a good example of the well-known technique of creating a humorous effect by bringing together two related but incongruous things. There are other interesting contrast. Most of Jesus’ parables are drawn from peasant life; farming, baking, weeding, carpentry, fruit trees and crops, faithful servants, vineyard workers, a shepherd searching for a lost sheep, a poor woman trying to find an almost worthless coin, fishermen pulling their nets, etc. Such parables are indicative of Jesus’ humble background and would have been particularly meaningful to humble people. The Buddha’s parables reflect a wide knowledge of almost every aspect of life, from the highest to the most humble.

It is noticeable how often he used parables with a royal theme; the education of a prince, the administering of justice, the workings of a royal kitchen, the king’s chariot, the state elephant etc. No doubt this reflects the Buddha’s patrician background and education. But, just as many parables show a keen observation of the lives and labours of ordinary folk. In one discourse he compared the disciplining and purifying of the mind with the process of extracting gold from ore; panning it, separating it from sand and grit, smelting it and then working the metal; the accuracy of the details given show that the Buddha must have been familiar with such work. Others of the Buddha’s parables include elements of nature; plants and animals and their behaviour, no doubt reflecting the amount of time he spent in forest solitude.

There are numerous pronouncements of the Buddha and Jesus on morality that say the same thing although in different words. For example Dhammapada verse 394 says: "You fool! What is the use of your matted hair and your goat skin garment? There is a tangle on the inside and you clean the outside", while Luke 11:39-40 says: "You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people!" Again, Sutta Nipata verse 242 says: "Hurting, killing, cutting and binding, stealing, lying, cheating and tricking, twisting the scriptures and committing adultery; this makes one impure, not the eating of meat", while Matthew 15:19-20 says: "For out of the heart come evil, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony and slander. These are what make a man unclean; not eating with unwashed hands." There are even sayings where the two men use almost identical words for the same idea. For example, Jesus said: "No one has greater love than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) and the Buddha said: "A loving friend (mittasuhada) will even give his life or his friend" (Digha Nikaya III, 187).

Some Christian commentators have pointed out what they see as a certain narrowness in the Buddha’s Dhamma; e.g. specifically that it is mainly relevant to those who renounce the world, and that attaining Nirvana is very difficult. Some have even dubbed it a "life-denying" teaching. But a more careful reading of the Gospel shows that Jesus taught very similar things, although sometimes in more robust language than the Buddha did. "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own life - he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14,26); "Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life" (Matthew 19,29); "But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it" (Matthew 7,14). And some of his pronouncements could certainly qualify to be called "life-denying". For example: "Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12,25); "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them" (1 John 2,15).

Despite these and other similarities there are dramatic differences between the Dhamma and the Gospel, and none more so than those concerning the nature of the Absolute of each. Jesus believed in a divine creator god and the Buddha did not. Jesus saw God as distinctly personal and human-like deity who intervened in people’s lives and responded to their prayer. He sometimes even addressed God as "Abba", meaning "father", suggesting a familial relationship with him. For the Buddha, the Absolute was a non-anthropomorphic "Unborn, Un-become, Unmade, Un-constructed." Following from this, Jesus prayed, projecting his requests outward to God while the Buddha meditated, directing his attention inward to his mind. For Jesus, humanity purpose was to be reborn in heaven into the presence of God; for the Buddha a heavenly rebirth was an end decidedly inferior to Nirvana. He said that a monk "should be disgusted, repelled and turned off" (attiyeyyatha, harayeyyatha, jiguccheyyatha) by the idea of practicing the Noble Eightfold Path for the purpose of being reborn in heaven. For the Buddha Nirvana was the transcending of all states of existence, even heavenly ones.

The Buddha tacitly accepted the existence of the supreme deity Brahma (sometimes also called Isvara) while denying almost every one of his attributes, thus rendering him meaningless in the spiritual domain. For him, it was not faith that led to liberation but mental clarity and understanding. However, the Buddha was prepared to admit that Brahma was primarily a benign being, filled with love and compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity, something Jesus would have agreed with. But, even there the two men’s understanding differed. Jesus’ God could have also have a terrifying aspect and he gave this stark warning about God: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell" (Matthew 10,28).

The recognition of this other side of God’s nature influenced how Jesus saw one’s state in the afterlife. For him heaven was glory and closeness to God, but hell was a place of eternal punishment, "a blazing furnace where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:42). The Buddha affirmed the reality of hell too but with significant differences from what Jesus envisaged. A person was not condemned to hell as a result of a judgment made by an external agent (i.e. God or angles acting on his behalf); rather individuals created a hellish destiny for themselves by how they had thought, spoken and acted. For Jesus, a rejection of his Gospel and its offer of salvation guaranteed damnation for eternity. For the Buddha it is not unwavering faith in and undivided allegiance to a deity but morally flawed behaviour that created hell. All good people, no matter what their religion, could have a happy rebirth.

In several places in the scriptures, but particularly in the 22nd discourse of the Anguttara Nikaya’s Book of Threes, the Buddha affirmed that even if a person has never heard of him or his Dhamma they could still attain "the sure course" (okkamatiniyama) leading to enlightenment. This understanding gave Buddhism a universalist outlook and has had a positive influence on the attitude Buddhists have generally taken towards those of other religions. Just as importantly, for the Buddha hell was not eternal but a self-created unpleasant interlude, even if it be a very long interlude.

And what did Jesus and the Buddha have to say that might be relevant to the claim that all religions are the same or that they all lead to the same goal even though each knows it by a different name? It seems unarguable that Jesus believed that there was one and only one way to salvation, the way he taught. "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14,6). Someone once actually asked the Buddha if "all ascetics and brahmans teach the same doctrine, practice the same discipline, want the same thing, and quest for the same goal?" and he replied: "No, they do not. The world is made up of many and diverse elements and as such being the case beings adhere to one or another of these various things. Whatever they adhere to they become obsessed with and then assert ‘This alone is true and everything else is false.’ And therefore they do not teach the same doctrine, practice the same discipline, want the same thing, and quest for the same goal" (Sakkapanha Sutta).

Thus a deeper look at these two great teachers, the Buddha and Jesus, reveals intriguing similarities and distinct differences, commonalities and contrasts, both of which need to be acknowledged if we genuinely want to understand them, their teachings and the religions they founded.

But beyond doctrinal similarities and differences, is there anything Buddhists and Christians, indeed people of good-will of any faith, can agree on? I think there is. We would probably all agree that hatred, divisions, recriminations and mutual suspicion are bad for everyone concerned. I think we would all agree that mercy, kindness, forgiveness and good-neighbourliness are beneficial for all concerned. And both the Gospels and the Dhamma contain ample exhortations to shun the first and embrace the second. Could we not all agree with these words? "Renouncing ill-will and hatred, one should abide with a mind of kindly compassion for all living beings and purify the mind of that ill-will and hatred… Giving up the taking of life, and laying aside the stick and the sword, one should abide with care, kindness and compassion for all living beings." (Digha Nikaya I:63) "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen." (1 John 4:20).

05 10 2016 – The Island

J18.16

Vesak Trilogy:

The Birth, the Enlightenment and Nirvana of Gautama the Buddha

Morning had broken. The dawn the world and the heavens had for epochs waited to break upon the land, had finally come to pass.

And on that Vesak full moon day 2640 years ago, in the year 623BC, the rising sun sheds its tender early morn light to reveal the scene of a royal litter emerging from the gates of Kapilavasthu, the capital of the Shakyas, in northern India.

At the centre of this royal convoy, borne upon a golden palanquin, sits the queen of the domain. She is accompanied by her sister and a host of royal attendants. With the blessings of her husband the king, she is leaving the gates of his kingdom, embarked upon a journey to her parents’ palace in Devadaha. Heavy with child, Queen Mahamaya is going home for her confinement to bear a son to her husband King Suddhodana and provide an heir to his royal throne.

As the royal litter progresses upon its charted path at a sedate pace so as not to jolt the expectant mother and cause any untoward happening, the Queen reflects on the extraordinary events that had occurred in the months recently past. The failure to bear a child for many years had been the subject of vicious social comments and snide court gossip. Her barrenness was taken as an omen to the terrible fate that awaited the royal kingdom and, though none dared to express it in her presence, she knew they privately ostracized her for it. Perhaps even the king, though so kind, gentle and loving, bore some ill will, secretly and unconsciously deep in his heart; and it had caused her pain to think that she was the source of his unspoken grief over her inability to conceive. And then, just when she had resigned herself to a life of sorrow, there came the dream.

Ah, yes, how vividly she remembered that dream — the dream she had had nearly a year ago. She had dreamt that she had been carried forth by the four world deities to the tableland of the Himalayas. There the wives of the four world guardians had welcomed her and taken her to the Lake Mansarovar. In its cool, clear and refreshing waters they had bathed her and then dressed her in a robe of exquisite beauty and decked her with gold ornaments and garlanded her with sweet smelling flowers of divine scent.

Then, through the distant hazy mist that engulfed the plateau, she saw approaching her, a white silvery elephant of magnificent appearance, which walked with measured steps and noble bearing. It circled her thrice; and then, with a salutation with its raised trunk, entered her soul. When she awoke, she had related the dream to the king who immediately summoned the royal astrologers to interpret its import. They prophesied that the queen was destined to give birth to a son who will do his father proud. “He will be,” they proclaimed, “A ruler not only of this province but of the world. An emperor whose empire will be forever.”

Even as she recalled those words now, Mahamaya experiences a sudden surge of tears break out from her eyes and cascade down her cheeks, the same surge of joyous emotion she had felt that day hearing the astrologers proclaim the greatness her son was destined to achieve. As she brushes her tears away with her hand, she also recalls how she had asked them, not in disdain but whimsically, “but will not death steal the spoils of any empire?” and how, and with what confidence, they had replied, “Nay, while death will indeed rob the accumulation of wealth and power, it is impotent in the face of the eternal. Your son, may not rule with arms which is but fleeting but conquer, with his philosophical doctrine, the souls of all mankind which is eternal.”

THE BIRTH: In the shade of a sprawling sal tree at Lumbini Park, Queen Mahamaya gives birth to Siddhartha 2640 years ago

The queen cannot but help let a smile light her face, as she remembers how the king had not been amused to hear this part of the sages’ prophecy. The king would have none of that. Not for his son to become another wondering fakir babbling stanzas from the Upanishads when he had a kingdom to overlord, administer and to defend as any noble Kshatriyan, the warrior caste, was duty bound to do.

The king had flared. “Religion is for the Brahmins,” he had declared with scorn. “Let them use the monopoly they enjoy having sole access to God. But no son of mine is going to be a hermit, a beggar, parroting lines from the Rig Vedas in return for a measly bowl of alms. My soon to be born son is a Kshatriyan, a warrior born of noble blood, born to be king, born to rule in the self-same manner of his ancestors. In the manner his caste dictates and Kshatriyan honour demands. I will see that my son will follow in the path of his ancestors”; and – little knowing that the path of the Prince’s ancestors lay in the way where twenty seven others had trod eons before – had contemptuously dismissed his royal astrologers from his presence.

Absorbed in the recollection of those happy moments that had followed her dream and the confirmation that soon came that she was pregnant with child – confirmation that she was not condemned to a life of barrenness but was fertile to bear the king a son and heir – Queen Mahamaya proceeds on her journey to Devadaha to her parents’ palace to give birth to the royal child. Out of a sudden whim, she draws the curtains in her palanquin aside and glances out to take in the passing scene and fresh air. What beholds her eye moves her. The royal litter is passing the beautiful tranquil Lumbini Park.

The Birth of Siddhartha

The park’s serenity and its natural beauty which appears akin to the divine grove of Cittalatha, stirs in the queen a strong desire to break journey and to pause there for rest: and she orders the litter to stop and alights from her palanquin. She strolls with her sister and attendants the broad acres of the lush and verdant park; and comes across a sprawling sal tree, where she reclines under its placid soothing shade. A gentle breeze flutters, the leaves rustle and she suddenly sees a branch of the sal tree swoop to the earth until it almost touches the ground.

Drawn by some inexplicable, invisible force, she grasps the bough and is lifted by its upward return and the sudden movement causes her to experience the first pangs of imminent labour. With curtains hastily drawn around her, with one hand clutching the sal bough in direct touch with nature, the other clasping her loving sister Prajapathi’s hand, within cloistered cool and selected privacy, she gives birth to her son. Thus was the Prince born. Amidst the windblown flow of nature. Amidst the song of birds, amidst the sounds of nature. Amidst the scene of beauty, flushed with greenery. A prince of noble royal blood, born not in the ornate and artificial confines of stately palaces but by the wayside, beneath the leafy shade of a sprawling sal tree, born in nature, alike nature’s beings on earth.

Whether Siddhartha, having drawn his first breath in the unspoiled open air and having witnessed his first view of the world in nature’s unsullied splendour, instinctively possessed a strong affinity with nature for life, none can tell or ever know. But considering that all the important events in his life occurred in the open air, perhaps it can safely be said, that his birth on that full moon day in the month of Vesak in that shady sal grove, firmly bonded him to live his life in nature’s arms and to be allured by her irresistible devotional charms.

The royal litter turns round and heads home with a royal addition in the queen’s palanquin. News of his arrival on earth had already preceded the arrival of the new born prince at the Kapilavasthu kingdom gates and he is welcomed with pageantry and mass affection by the multitude. They see in him their future king, their saviour, the blossom of their future hopes and promise, the defender of their faith and the guardian of their wellbeing. Destiny had delivered their prince to their doorstep; and, in that infant bundle of joy, they see reposed the future custodian of their calm and comfort.

No sooner is the prince safely ensconced in his bassinet, an old and revered sage comes to see the new born. From the 32 auspicious marks on the infant’s body, he discerns the signs of greatness and predicts, “He will gain an insight to the cause of universal woe and will marshal the minds of mankind and lead them to seek liberation from the siege of sorrow. Today we have no answer, no way out from sorrow’s web that has entrapped us all. He will show the way out; and for epochs to come, as long as his teachings exist, man will not stand forlorn."

But, in the midst of great rejoicing in the city over the Prince’s birth, there comes death which strikes at the very heart of the royal palace.

Four days after his birth, the great naming ceremony takes place; and the Prince is named Siddhartha, the All Knowing One. But then, in the midst of gaiety, the royal household is plunged in despair as Queen Mahamaya suddenly takes ill. And as her condition worsens, the king and the queen’s sister keep vigil at her bedside, absorbed in prayer.

How could it be, they asks themselves, that after such a seemingly painless delivery, that she should succumb to the scythe of sickness? How could the full force of untrammeled joy be trampled in the dust in so short a time and turn to naught the unbridled bliss of the royal household? Was this the meaning of the world, the meaning of life, the humour of the Gods whose blessings were but fleeting, who gave in jest only to cruelly snatch it away?

And was the Prince the cause? Was he, the bringer of life and hope to the Palace, also the harbinger of death and doom? The exuberance, with which his arrival was greeted, only five days before, is now replaced with despondency and gloom. And the unspoken word lingers and spreads from the palace walls, beyond the moat, onto the streets and into alleys, filling every nook and cranny of the land. Is he the cause? Is he the curse? Had the euphoria his arrival had ignited, cast an evil eye on the royal household? Had his birth lifted the veil of gloom only to bring the curtains crashing down in mourning? Would sorrow be forever branded on his brow? Would he, for the rest of his life, carry with him the bowl of woe as his trademark and taint the world with sorrow’s stain? Was he bad news?

There were no answers they could find to explain the sudden sad turn of events and the tragedy unfolding before them. The queen’s condition deteriorates rapidly and she realises the end is drawing near. On her death bed she turns to her sister and implores her to be the mother she can now never be to her infant son. She says: "My dear sister, I entrust my son to your care, to nurse him, to protect him, to love and bring him up in the same manner of a mother, so that, though I will not be there to tend, he will not be left bereft of a mother’s love. Bring him up as your own. Promise me he will not feel even by an iota the absence of a mother’s arms and love.”

Then, with tears in her eyes, she turns to her sire, the King and asks his forgiveness. She says, “If I failed you, I failed only once and it is now for I perforce must leave you helpless with a new born son without a mother to care for him and I beg you to forgive my unalterable fate. Now the time has arrived and I must take your leave for I can hear the gods calling me to return and I can see a host of angels waiting with their silver chariots to bear me back from whence I came from. Farewell, my love, and may the Gods bless you.”

Seven days after Siddhartha was born, the shadow of sorrow falls upon his cradle; and he lays there in the dark, a motherless child.

Days before the city had been enraptured with joy celebrating the birth of a son and heir to their king. Now it is engulfed in sorrow, mourning the sudden demise of their beloved queen. And though they question the unfairness of it all and curse the fickleness of fate, neither the king nor any seer nor anyone else in the world can find answer or understand the vicissitudes of life and what lies at its core and knows not the way out from sorrow’s fort.

It wasn’t surprising that they could not fathom the cause of their grief nor know of the solution. Throughout the long history of the world, there had been at various times Buddhas born on earth to show mankind release from suffering. But even as they had preached the impermanence of all things, their teachings, too, had vanished in the course of time and in the year 623BC, the world lay barren of their philosophies and man wandered naked in ignorance, wondering why his life seemed so accursed.

Now the time had come for another Buddha – the 28th – to be born, not to redeem mankind for Buddhas are not saviours but only teachers – Tathagatas who only show the way. Attendant with happiness and yet flanked by sorrow, Siddhartha had been born on earth to fill the void.

But the seed was sown to set man free in countless births before: When as a shipwrecked soul on stormy sea, he bore his mother to shore. And listening to her grasping breath, choked with passion, salvaged from death, heard then her voice implore: Merit thou earned surpasses none: May thou be a Buddha, my son.

Five hundred fifty births distilled that will within his core; to realise truth and see fulfilled a mother’s wish on shore; and though his soul changed birth by birth, steadfast remained his role on earth to find the core of woe: To transcend karma’s iron clasp and free mankind from sorrow’s grasp.

Merit earned in earlier births, the riches he did gain; now stood poised to blossom on earth, to cleanse the karmic stain; His flesh, his life, his blood, his eyes had he, in selfless sacrifice, bestowed to those in pain to rendezvous with destiny, and end sojourns through eternity.

And on that Vesak full moon morn 2640 years ago, not only the world but the heavens too resounded with delight. For a Buddha born on earth they knew would heaven and earth enlight. For men and gods are both subject to fates that deal without respect woe to the meek and might: To rid the seed of incessant death, all exulted Siddhartha’s advent.

For epochs to come, none will stand forlorn; This comes to pass when a Buddha is born.

THE ENLIGHTENMENT: On a full moon night in the month of Vesakha, Siddhartha, finally shedding the world’s ignorance, attains supreme bliss as Buddha

Night Siddhartha became Buddha

Over two thousand five hundred years ago in the far off plains of Northern India, a royal prince of the realm renounces his worldly life and embarks upon an unknown path in an unknown quest to find an unknown treasure that would reveal why all life dances on a razor blade, why all life weep, why all life decay and why all life die. He knows the answer lies not in ornate halls, in coffers within guarded walls or hidden in the humblest hamlets or submerged in poverty’s sewers.

Sorrow shadows the rich, the poor, the young, the old, the healthy and the sick alike and all beings born are subject to this iron law from which no perceivable end, no way out appears to exist. But he knows there must be, there has to be the path to deliverance; and he determines to find it. And he knows it lies in the way of the abode less ascetic.

His search for the truth, free from the clangs of domestic chains, free from the trappings of power, free from frivolous mundane pains and free for the soul to flower takes six long arduous years which brings him to the brink of death when he realises that extreme penance like extreme pleasure will not enable him to transcend karma’s iron clasp and free mankind from sorrow’s grasp and that the path lay in the middle way.

It is a full moon day in the month of Vaisakha. It is his thirty fifth birthday. Soon the evening gives way to night. He is seated under the sacred tree of wisdom, the Peepal tree under which he had sat all day determined never to rise until he had gained the ultimate. As moonlit beams stream through leaves to shed a warm glow, a breeze blows and brings a drizzle of flowers from surrounding trees. And then a gentle rain softly falls. He notices it and wonders why it is not falling on him. He looks over his head and sees the hood of a giant cobra shielding him from the rain, protecting him from the elements. The lotus is about to blossom and he sits poised in meditation on the threshold of discovery.

The hours pass but for Siddhartha time stands still. He is absorbed with his surroundings With every breath he takes he takes in the subtle rustle of the wind, the soothing ripple of the stream, the sweet smell of the earth until nature becomes one with him. He enters the First Watch. From the depths of his consciousness he feels a deep stirring. The demons within him rise. They appear incarnate before his eyes, the living creatures of life’s torments. And then the storm breaks. The assault begins in earnest. From all sides the demons strike but his aura exudes a powerful shield. Then Mara, the God of the Underworld makes his entrance in a chariot drawn by his ghouls. In sonorous voice he warns Siddhartha, “Turn back. None can threaten my kingdom built on man’s insatiable greed.” Mara unleashes his forces. The demons multiply and attack but fail to penetrate the armour of his concentration. Finally Mara retreats. And Siddhartha realises Mara was his own creation; the overlord of his consciousness. He enters the Second watch.

With Mara defeated his consort Maya rises to challenge Siddhartha. Maya of a thousand dances, Maya the great deceiver, Maya, the bewitching seductress. She takes up the gauntlet. This is her forte. She sends in the dancing girls. Mara’s demons now transform into beautiful damsels, their pouting breasts tightly clasped, the full round hips swirl in motion as they advance to break his concentration. He sees them taking shape, becoming more and more beautiful as they near. The music of the past rings in his ears. He feels their hands caressing his body, enticing him with their seductive allures but they fail to move him. His mind remains unshaken. He defeats Maya and her girls.

He now enters the state of Samadhi. He enters into another dimension. The dimension of space. Time and space converge; the past, present and future merge into a single entity. And he sees his past births flashing before his eyes. He enters the second state and sees how all life repeats the cycle of rebirth. Born only to perish and in death to be reborn again.

He enters the third state. And he dwells on the obstacles that prevent man from realising the way out of this cycle of woe. The five hindrances namely lust, anger, languor, restlessness and doubt that springs from a lack of understanding of the nature of the world. And he dwells on seven factors to realise clear vision: mindfulness, true inquiry, energy, relaxation, concentration, equanimity and joy to transcend the melancholy and gloom of the mind.

Then with joy he enters the fourth state: Higher consciousness. He begins to meditate on the law of cause and effect and realises that whatever being or thing, if it has within the nature of arising, it also has within its own seed, the nature of its own cessation. The answer lay not in an external power but within the core of oneself.

Absorbed thus in the nature of things his body starts to emit colours. Blue from his mind, yellow from his flesh, red from his blood and orange from his nerves and bones. There he sits under the Bodhi, rapt in meditation, in serene calmness, radiating from within a whole spectrum of colours with a giant cobra standing guard. Mara he had defeated. Maya he had vanquished but enlightenment still eludes him. One more barrier remains, the greatest obstacle of all had to be overcome. And then there dawns perception. The final chain he has to shed is his own ignorance, his own ego. It is ignorance that lay at the core of all suffering. Ignorance, the root of all ills.

As the heavens resound with delight, as the Gods bow in reverence, and as the earth wraps in enchantment, Siddhartha attains the supreme state of tranquility; the quintessence of bliss. He gains Enlightenment. And as twenty seven others have done before him, he becomes a Buddha.

THE GREAT PASSING AWAY: In Kusinara the Buddha bids the world farewell forever, never to return and enters into the supreme state of Nirvana

Night the Buddha attained Nirvana: The last days of a long samsaric journey

Night was falling. And even as the morning star must meet its evening doom, even as all life must end in death, what was true for all beings on earth was inevitably coming true for the mortal frame of Gautama the Buddha. The house, karmic action had erected birth after birth throughout the samsaric journey, now stood poised to fall and would not be built again.

And as his disciples peered into the gloom of the dying light on that full moon night of Vesak, they could scare forbear to brood in dread what luminosity now lay left to illumine the gathering dark in a world bereft of a Buddha. They had known it was coming three months earlier when the Buddha had chosen to announce it publicly at Capala Ceitya near Vesali, though the Enlightened One had known of its approach much earlier. With his two chief disciples Venerable Sariputta and Moggalana predeceasing him as had his son Venerable Rahula and wife Yasodhara, the Buddha, now in his eightieth year, had described himself as ‘a worn out cart.’

It was time, he decided, to leave Rajagaha where he was then residing; and embark on his last journey restating what he had preached for forty five years. The final destination was not to be the great cities of Savatthi or Benares but the little known hamlet of Kusinara.

The journey is long and arduous. Travelling with his closest disciple the Venerable Ananda, it takes him through Ambalattikka and Nalanda to Pataligama. From there he proceeds to Kotigama and then to Nanda. He passes from village to village, from town to town sojourning briefly at each place to expound the essence of his Dhamma to the communities of Bhikkhus; and reaches Vesali where he retires with his retinue to the Mango Grove of Ambapali, the beautiful courtesan.

Knowing Ambapali to be a potential Arahant, he preaches the Dhamma and edifies her on the path to enlightenment. It’s the onset of the rainy season; and the Buddha decides to spend his retreat – his forty fifth and last – in the village of Beluva in Vesali. He tells his closest disciple, ‘Come, Ananda, let us proceed to Beluva,” and they proceed thither.

But with the rains, come the pains. It comes in sharp, short shocks, pointed arrows from the illness which has taken hold. Tormented by these relentless pangs of deadly pains, and with his body wracked by the severe disease and made weak, he realises the end is fast approaching.

But there is still some work of noble note to be done before he can bid final farewell. It will not be fitting if he came to his final passing away without addressing his disciples and clearing the last vestiges of doubt they may have. And so he resolves to suppress his illness by his superhuman strength of will and resolves to maintain his life course and live on. Thus is the illness flayed and he makes an astounding recovery.

Then the Blessed One takes his bowl and proceeds to Vesali for his alms. On his return, he tells Ananda, “Come Ananda, take a mat and let us spend the day at the Capala Ceitya.” They reach the shrine of Capala and sit down. And then the Buddha tells Ananda, “Whosoever, Ananda, has brought to perfection the four constituents of psychic power could, if he so desired, remain throughout a world-period or until the end of it. The Tathagata, Ananda, has done so. Therefore the Tathagata could, if he so desired, remain throughout a world-period or until the end of it.”

But Ananda’s mind is dominated at that moment by Mara. He does not beseech the Buddha to remain for the lasting good of the world, but remains silent. The message is lost on him.

The Buddha repeats it for the second time. But Ananda remains silent. The repeats it for the third and final time but still Ananda stays silent. The significance of the moment eludes him. The opportunity to invite the Buddha to remain on earth for an eon for the lasting good of all mankind flies.

Then once Ananda had gone, Mara approaches the Buddha. He says, “The time has come for the Parinibbana of the Lord.” But the Buddha answers, “Do not trouble yourself. Three months hence the Tathagata will utterly pass away.” Thus here at Capala Ceitya the Buddha renounces his will to live.

When Ananda returns, the Buddha tells him of his decision. Ananda recalls what the Buddha had told him earlier and realises his folly of having remained silent. He now beseeches the Buddha to remain, but the Buddha cuts him short and says, “Enough, Ananda, do not entreat the Tathagata, for the time is past, For if you had done so earlier, Ananda, twice the Tathagata might have declined, but the third time he would have consented.”

Thereafter he asks Ananda to summon all the Bhikkhus in the surrounding area of Vesali and, after impressing upon them the truths he had preached, namely, the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four constituents of psychic power, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven factors of enlightenment, and the Noble Eightfold Path, he publicly announces that three months hence the Tathagata will utterly pass away.”

He then leaves Vesali and proceeds on his journey to Kusinara, passing through Bhandagama, Hatthigama, Ambagama, Jambugama and Bhoganagara giving counsel to the Bhikkhus at every place until he reaches Pava. Here he is served his last meal and then falls violently ill with dysentery. The pains come and, though extremely weak and severely ill, he determines to walk the final lap of his journey to Kusinara, six miles away.

Owing to his illness the Buddha is compelled to sit and rest in 25 places. At one such spot, a traveller sees the serenity of the Buddha and, so moved by the sight, gifts the Buddha a golden robe. As Ananda adorns the Buddha with it, the dazzling robe of burnished gold loses its splendor for the Buddha’ complexion becomes exceedingly radiant. Noticing Ananda’s astonishment at this transformation, the Buddha tells him: “Ananda, on two occasions the Tathagata’s skin becomes clear and extremely radiant. One is on the night the Tathagata attains Buddhahood. The other is on the night the Tathagata passes away and attains Nirvana”. He then pronounces he would pass away on the third watch of the night on that day.

The Buddha arrives in Kusinara and heads to the Sala Grove of the Mallas. There between twin Sala trees he lies down on the couch Ananda has prepared for him. He lies on his right side with his head to the north, with one leg resting on the other. Though in pain, he remains with perfect composure, mindful and self possessed.

Soon the Gods descend on the Sal Grove to express their grief, so great in number that not a spot is there that could be pricked with the tip of a hair that is not filled with powerful deities, lamenting “too soon has the Blessed One come to his Parinibbana, too soon will the Eye of the World vanish from sight”.

He then proceeds to explain to Ananda variant salient points of the Dhamma, then addresses the Bhikkhus and asks them to question him as to any doubts they may have on the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. But all remain silent harbouring no doubt or perplexity. He makes his final exhortation that if anyone thinks they have no master any longer and wonder who their master shall be, they should not ponder over such thoughts. He says: “The Dhamma and the Discipline which I have proclaimed and made known shall be your Master, when I am gone.”

Then the Tathagata states his last words: “All compounded things are subject to change and decay. Strive on with diligence,” and enters the first ecstasy. Then rising from the first, he enters the second ecstasy, then the third and fourth. Rising from the fourth ecstasy, he enters the sphere of infinite space, then infinite consciousness then nothingness, the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception. Then rising from that sphere, he attains the cessation of perception and feeling.

Seeing this, Ananda believes the Buddha had passed away and begins to grieve but is told by the Venerable Anuruddha, that the Buddha has entered the state of cessation of perception and feeling and that he has not passed away.

Then the Buddha rises from the state of cessation of perception and feeling and enters the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception, then, in reverse order, enters nothingness, then infinite consciousness, infinite space, then the fourth ecstasy, the third, the second and then the first. The he rises from the first ecstasy, the second, the third and then the fourth. And finally rising from the fourth ecstasy, the Buddha immediately passes away in the third watch of the night; and attains that indescribable state of permanent bliss, the supreme state of Nirvana.

sundaytimes.lk/170507

J18.17

Self-transformation

Bhikkhu Bodhi

It is perhaps symptomatic of the "fallen" nature of the ordinary human condition that few of us pass the full extent of our lives comfortably reconciled to our natural selves. Even in the midst of prosperity and success, grinding notes of discontent trouble our days and disturbing dreams come to haunt our sleep. As long as our eyes remain coated with dust we incline to locate the cause of our discontent outside ourselves -- in spouse, neighbor or job, in implacable fate or fluky chance. But when the dust drops off and our eyes open, we soon find that the real cause lies within.

When we discover how deeply the cause of our unhappiness is lodged in the mind, the realization dawns that cosmetic changes will not be anywhere near enough, that a fundamental internal transformation is required. This desire for a transformed personality, for the emergence of a new man from the ashes of the old, is one of the perennial lures of the human heart. From ancient times it has been a potent wellspring of the spiritual quest, and even in the secular, life-affirming culture of our own cosmopolitan age this longing has not totally disappeared.

While such concepts as redemption, salvation and deliverance may no longer characterize the transformation that is sought, the urge for a radical reshaping of the personality persists as strong as ever, appearing in guises that are compatible with the secular worldview. Where previously this urge sought fulfillment in the temple, ashram and monastery, it now resorts to new venues: the office of the psychoanalyst, the weekend workshop, the panoply of newly spawned therapies and cults. However, despite the change of scene and conceptual framework, the basic pattern remains the same. Disgruntled with the ruts of our ingrained habits, we long to exchange all that is dense and constrictive in our personalities for a new, lighter, freer mode of being.

Self-transformation is also a fundamental goal of the Buddha's teaching, an essential part of his program for liberation from suffering. The Dhamma was never intended for those who are already perfect saints. It is addressed to fallible human beings beset with all the shortcomings typical of unpolished human nature: conduct that is fickle and impulsive, minds that are tainted by greed, anger and selfishness, views that are distorted and habits that lead to harm for oneself and others. The purpose of the teaching is to transform such people -- ourselves -- into "accomplished ones": into those whose every action is pure, whose minds are calm and composed, whose wisdom has fathomed the deepest truths and whose conduct is always marked by a compassionate concern for others and for the welfare of the world.

Between these two poles of the teaching -- the flawed and knotted personality that we bring with us as raw material into the training, and the fully liberated personality that emerges in the end -- there lies a gradual process of self-transformation governed by highly specific guidelines. This transformation is effected by the twin aspects of the path: abandoning (pahana), the removal from the mind of all that is harmful and unwholesome, and development (bhavana), the cultivation of qualities that are wholesome, pure and purifying.

What distinguishes the Buddha's program for self-transformation from the multitude of other systems proposing a similar end is the contribution made by another principle with which it is invariably conjoined. This is the principle of self-transcendence, the endeavor to relinquish all attempts to establish a sense of solid personal identity. In the Buddhist training the aim of transforming the personality must be complemented by a parallel effort to overcome all identification with the elements that constitute our phenomenal being. The teaching of anatta or not-self is not so much a philosophical thesis calling for intellectual assent as a prescription for self-transcendence. It maintains that our ongoing attempt to establish a sense of identity by taking our personalities to be "I" and "mine" is in actuality a project born out of clinging, a project that at the same time lies at the root of our suffering. If, therefore, we seek to be free from suffering, we cannot stop with the transformation of the personality into some sublime and elevated mode as the final goal. What is needed, rather, is a transformation that brings about the removal of clinging, and with it, the removal of all tendencies to self-affirmation.

It is important to stress this transcendent aspect of the Dhamma because, in our own time when "immanent" secular values are ascendant, the temptation is great to let this aspect drop out of sight. If we assume that the worth of a practice consists solely in its ability to yield concrete this-worldly results, we may incline to view the Dhamma simply as a means of refining and healing the divided personality, leading in the end to a renewed affirmation of our mundane selves and our situation in the world. Such an approach, however, would ignore the Buddha's insistence that all the elements of our personal existence are impermanent, unsatisfactory and not self, and his counsel that we should learn to distance ourselves from such things and ultimately to discard them.

In the proper practice of the Dhamma both principles, that of self-transformation and that of self-transcendence, are equally crucial. The principle of self-transformation alone is blind, leading at best to an ennobled personality but not to a liberated one. The principle of self-transcendence alone is barren, leading to a cold ascetic withdrawal devoid of the potential for enlightenment. It is only when these two complementary principles work in harmony, blended and balanced in the course of training, that they can bridge the gap between the actual and ideal and bring to a fruitful conclusion the quest for the end of suffering.

Of the two principles, that of self-transcendence claims primacy both at the beginning of the path and at the end. For it is this principle that gives direction to the process of self-transformation, revealing the goal towards which a transformation of the personality should lead and the nature of the changes required to bring the goal within our reach. However, the Buddhist path is not a perpendicular ascent to be scaled with picks, ropes and studded boots, but a step-by-step training which unfolds in a natural progression. Thus the abrupt challenge of self-transcendence -- the relinquishing of all points of attachment -- is met and mastered by the gradual process of self-transformation. By moral discipline, mental purification and the development of insight, we advance by stages from our original condition of bondage to the domain of untrammeled freedom. (Courtesy: Buddhist Publication Society)

10 05 2017 – The Island

J18.18

The First Marvel - The three great wonders on earth

Mervyn Samarakoon

The three great wonders on earth, the great celebrations of mankind are the birth, attainment of perfection and parinirvana of the Incomparable One among men and gods, the fully enlightened Buddha.

On the days the memorable events and the collateral incidents occurred, the multitude of world systems inanimate as they are, thundered and shook in boundless acknowledgement of their profundity. The supernormal happenings associated with the first occurrence itself, birth of Prince Siddharta, befitted the effort and sacrifice of an individual who strove for faultlessness from the era of Deepankara Buddha far too long for one to fathom, except a Buddha Himself.

Thenceforth, he roamed the habitats of the universe for million upon millions of years but never did he fall among denizens of the dark (avichi) nor in the four named ghost realms. Even when born low, never was he born as a lowly insect. As a human, never a blind man, a deaf and dumb mute, an imbecile, a woman or a hermaphrodite - Nidhanakatha. When he appeared among heavenly beings, it was never on the plane of the conscious-less (asangna) or on a pure abode (sudassa).

Eight conditions are prerequisite for a Boddhisatta to attain Buddhahood - birth as a human being, manhood, good fortune to behold the sight of a Buddha, bhikkhuhood, an abundance of wholesome qualities, a great desire to attain Buddhahood, adequate merit to reach arahanthood in that birth itself and willingness to sacrifice his life to a Buddha. A Bodhisatta is accomplished in several absolute perfections (parami). His dana paramitha never falls short of sacrificing his own life for another (Sasa Jataka). His degree of forgiveness does not reach an end when his life is robbed of him. (Shanthivadi Jataka). Neither does his total truthfulness nor his steadfast determination (Magapakkha Jataka). He fears no one and no one him (Sama Jataka). Save a Buddha Himself, none can surpass his absolute equanimity (Lomahansa Jataka). Being mundane, improprieties may occur, but he wouldn’t utter a falsehood even if he is done to death. Why? He is on an unfailing journey in search of truth. The times he abandoned kingdoms fell in his lap in favour of paramitha of renunciation (Nekkhamma) are countless. Development of wisdom reached its very summit. So was the enormity of his effort.

Fulfilling these perfections to the letter, he makes his final appearance in the human world as king Vessantara where he makes the ultimate sacrifice of them all - forsaking his wife and children in favour of his avowed goal. That moment the feelingless, emotionless great Earth devoid of whatever sentiment shuddered seven times. At the end of his lifespan Boddhisatta is born in Thusitha deva world, the penultimate appearance of his as god or man or any other.

The world knows of three great commotions, Kalpa, Buddha and Chakravarthi. Gods of the kamavacara deva worlds descend upon earth in horrible disguise and move about with tearful eyes, lowered heads, disheveled hair to announce the end of the world many hundred thousand years later with the drying of the oceans and the earth ending up in a ball of fire. They invoke people to extend meththa, karuna, muditha to others, to care for the mother and father and respect elders. It is the kalpa commotion.

The second commotion is when they make the joyful announcement of the arrival of a ‘Sarvagna’ Buddha in a thousand years. The third is the appearance of a wheel-turning monarch. On hearing the Buddha commotion heavenly beings of a hundred thousand world systems come together to remind Bodhisatta in Thusitha that time is ripe for dawn of Buddhahood among humans. He does not directly commit himself to the suggestion, but examines whether the five preconditions are present, the time, country, specific district, particular caste and life span of the intended mother.

A Buddha necessarily arises when human life is between a hundred and hundred thousand years, for a shorter period implies beings with advanced defilements, and when lives are extraordinarily long notions of old age, impermanence and death remain obscure and remote. Buddha Dhamma is beyond the grasp of both groups. The chosen land of Buddhas is India, specifically the mid district. All Buddhas, Pacceca Buddhas, chief disciples, the eighty great disciples and chakravarthi kings make their appearance in it. A Buddha is always born into a royal or brahmin family, a rule of the world. The rule prevalent now is the former.

The prospective mother Queen Mahamaya’s lifespan was right, ten months and seven days at the extreme. A mother of a Buddha ceases to be fond of men or of intoxicants. Fulfilling perfections (parami) for ten thousand kalpas, she abides by the five precepts from birth.

On this particular day, Boddhisatta whilst being surrounded by heavenly beings in the spectacular Nandana garden of the Thusitha world, instantly exited from it and conceived in the womb of Queen Mahamaya. It was the celebration of Esala at Kapilawastu. The queen had bathed in perfumed water in the morning, offered a ‘maha dana’ costing a forty thousand, had had her breakfast, observed the eight precepts and entered the gaily furnished chamber where she fell asleep, as if awaiting the momentous occasion.

The unparalleled event in human history was conveyed to her in a fitting manner. She dreamt a wondrous dream where she was carried with her bed to the Himalayas by the four Guardian Gods of the world, bathed in Anothaptha lake to cleanse her of the impurities of the human world, dressed her in heavenly garb and placed on a golden bed when Bodhisatta in the form of a white elephant perambulated her thrice and entered her body from the right side on ‘Uturusal Nekatha’.

Instantly, the universe erupted in uncontrollable spasms of joy and a brilliant radiance spread across the entire cosmos. The deaf began to hear and the blind could see. The dumb spoke and cripples walked. Fires in the hells died out. Constant hunger of the ghost worlds disappeared, so did the animals’ ever present fear. The sick were cured; people spoke kind words to each other. Elephants trumpeted and horses neighed in melodious harmony. Mild winds swept across the earth, rains fell out of season. Birds stopped flying and the rivers flowing. Blossoms sprang from the four corners of the earth. Heavenly music was heard in the skies and sweet fragrance of flowers drifted over entire galaxies- thirty two such mystical happenings in all (Apadanattakatha).

From the moment of conception the mother is protected by four ‘devaputtas’. Her tiredness disappeared. The womb in which a Bodhisatta lives is likened to a chetiya. No other being can conceive in it, so seven days from his birth the mother necessarily passes away to appear in the Thusitha world. Women deliver children seated or while reclining in less or more than ten months of gestation, not so the mother of a Boddhisatta who always delivers the child while standing, again a norm of the world. Instantly four Maha Brahmas receive the newborn on to a golden mesh and announce a son of great omnipotence in born to the queen. The newborn isn’t smeared in excreta and other impurities but rather bears the appearance of an erudite preacher descending from his hallowed seat of preaching.

He was handed to the four Guardian Gods of the world by the Maha Brahmas who is turn placed him in the hands of the people present. He stepped down from their hands and took seven steps in the northern direction in the midst of unprecedented celebrations amongst gods in the heavens and humans on Earth, to pronounce as do all Buddhas-to-be the immortal stanza ‘Aggo Hamasmi...’ proclaiming unsurpassed eminence and uniqueness in the world as well as banishment of renewed existence for all time. It wasn’t the first occasion Boddhisatta spoke at birth, he did so twice before as Mahoshada Panditha and as Vessantara - miracles of all time.

On the same day several other phenomena occurred, the births of Rahula’s queen mother, ministers Channa and Kaludai, Kanthaka the regal horse later devaputta, Bodhi tree and the appearance of four stupendous treasures beneath the earth’s surface. Bodhisatta thus born in Lumbini sal grove was taken back to Kapilavattu in great procession. A marvelous incident here gives an inkling of the state of mental and spiritual development of certain beings when a Samma Sambuddha , makes his appearance on earth.

Kaladevala aka Asitha the ascetic, a close associate of King Suddhodana was the possessor of eight absorptions of find material and immaterial spheres (Ashta Samapaththi). This particular day he was spending his mid-day siesta in the Thavathimsa deva world, a customary practice of his, when he observed the heavenly inhabitants engaged in joyous celebrations on a hitherto unknown scale. On inquiry, the gods told him of the birth of a son to king Suddodhana, of impending Buddhahood under the bo tree, setting in motion the Wheel of the Law (dhammachakka) and their absolute good fortune to witness His astounding glory and to hear His sublime Dhamma.

Instantly the ascetic descended on the king’s palace and when the king attempted to take Boddhisatta in his arms worship him, miraculously his feet came to rest on his turban, whereupon the mighty ascetic worshipped the child Bodhisatta. The king followed suit. Asitha had the capacity to see forty kalpas into the past and forty kalpas beyond and saw that the child was definitely destined for Buddhahood. Peering into his own life, he began to shed tears as he saw he would not live to see the amazing event, neither would he see another hundred or thousand Buddhas of the future since he would be gaining upon death, a formless existence (Arupa Bhava) of incomprehensible duration. On considering his relatives he visualized his nephew Nalaka of sufficient merit to meet and to benefit from a Samma Sambuddha.

He went upto him, made him abandon an inheritance of eight hundred and seventy million and ordained him then and there with instructions to seek out the Buddha after 35 years. He did exactly as was told, lived a solitary life in the Himalayas for 35 years, learned from the Blessed One on the very first meeting itself, the rigorous ‘moneiya’ discipline of spending not more than one night in a single place, a samsaric aspiration of his. He passed into parinirvana after a brief seven months of Arahanthood. The singularly exceptional bhikkhu earned the sacred honour of becoming the first disciple in the name of our Gautama Buddha.

Glad tidings the visitors from the heavens brought many centuries ago did indeed come true.

07 05 2017 – Sunday Island

J18.19

Buddhism - a religion, a philosophy or a way of life?

Chandra Wickramasinghe

This is indeed a challenging poser that may have led to intellectual discourse following the passing away (Nirvana) of the Buddha. The Buddha always underscored the primacy of the Mind in pronouncing unequivocally that "The Mind is All". The heavy psychological underpinnings of the Abhi Dhamma may have themselves led to debates, analysis and interpretations. These are likely to have further led to different views being expressed on contentious issues, based on individual perceptions of such issues.

The human Mind is a Universe of its own. The experiential knowledge acquired by humans over the centuries is infinitesimal, compared to what the human mind is capable of acquiring. Before Enlightenment, Siddharta Gauthama was able to develop his mind through prolonged and disciplined meditation. On achieving Buddhahood, the Buddha proclaimed that He was the ‘All Enlightened One’, conveying to the world that He was now totally free of all attachments and defilements that bind one down to the mundane and that He was now All Knowing and perfectly ‘Enlightened’. It is acknowledged by scientists that the human mind could be developed through long and disciplined meditative silences ,to break through the Third and the Fourth dimension thereby transcending the barriers of the temporal and the spatial and venturing into the astral plane. Time and Space are man made barriers which in the words Emmanuel Kant are "Empirically real and transcendentally ideal".

The gods and deities and the accompanying rituals that later virtually became a part of popular Buddhist worship, perhaps helped to reinforce the faith and belief ordinary votaries had in Buddhism, by providing much needed solace and emotional stability to them, particularly in times of emotional crises like personal losses and tragedies such as family bereavements etc. The emphasis on the Mind and the deep psychological processes that have to be followed in developing the Mind have perhaps made certain open minded, intellectual types to treat Buddhism as a high philosophical discourse rather than a religion, Such people are inclined to treat the Dhamma more as a challenging intellectual discourse than as a system of religious prescriptions to be scrupulously followed to achieve the end objective laid down.

All Great Religious Teachers laid down moral and ethical codes for their adherents to follow and lead a good family and community life. Their clear endeavour was to make people better human beings.

There are also some who are Buddhists by birth, who are eclectic and open minded and would like to call themselves ‘free thinkers’. They are inclined to treat Buddhism as a way of life and profess to practice Buddhism by confining themselves to certain moral codes and ethical norms of their own individual choice which they fervently believe would make them lead better lives than the so called practicing Buddhists. Some would even airily say that they are not attracted by any Nirvanic bliss, as they feel strongly that life is just "Pulvis et umbra sumus" - (Dust and shadow) and death only means that the body disintegrates and reverts back to basic matter –atoms and molecules. They even cite the Kalama Sutra to justify their position by saying that in this Sutra, the Buddha encouraged people not to accept anything ‘prima facie’, but to have an enquiring mind by questioning the validity even of beliefs, hallowed by faith and tradition and to think wisely and decide what should be accepted and what should be rejected.

There is however, no gainsaying that even a person following his own moral code and ethical norms and who eschews evil and does what is conventionally and morally acceptable, would be a good human being, concerned about the family well being and the welfare of the community and the larger society.

The essence of what the Buddha preached could be encapsulated in the word ‘Transience’. All corporeal things come into being and pass away. This is the inexorable law of Impermanence which is 'in reum natura’ (in the nature of things). It reflects the striking Heraclitean adage – ‘Panta rhei’ (all things are in a state of flux). The Buddha preached that Sorrow is immanent in Life and if one is to escape the ever recurring karmic cycle of birth and death, one has to follow the path laid down by Him. To be rid of sorrow and suffering, one has to understand initially, the Four Noble Truths viz. 1) Suffering 2) The cause of suffering 3) The cessation of suffering and 4) The path leading to the cessation of suffering. The Buddha made it clear that anyone can attain Enlightenment and attain Nirvana if he/she followed the Path laid down by Him. The fact that the Buddha spelt out clearly the path to Enlightenment and Nirvana, enabled votaries to have faith in the Dhamma and follow the path prescribed by Him, to escape the karmic cycle of birth and death. This would unequivocally point to Buddhism being quite definitively, a Religion where release from the karmic cycle, could be secured by votaries, only if they followed the Path laid down by the Buddha.

10 05 2017 – The Island

J18.20

Parallels between Buddha and Heraclitus

Shelton A. Gunaratne, Professor emeritus, MSUM

Addressing the Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland on July 17, 1910, Edmund Mills asserted that Heraclitus (535- 475 BCE) and Buddha (563-483 BCE) were contemporaries for about 44 years. Both were born into the aristocratic families but renounced their possessions quite early to search for the truth.

Mills found parallels between the Buddha’s doctrine and Heraclitus’ philosophy even though they lived 4,000 miles apart—a very long distance in their days. Both were spiritual and came up with ideas that were radically different ideas for their times. Buddha differed from the Brahmans as much as Heraclitus differed from Eleatics.

Mills attributed the similarity of ides between the two to telepathic communication for Buddha himself claimed he possessed telepathic power in Samanna Phala Sutta.

Mills said that the most important point in the whole Heraclitic doctrine was about change (anicca). Just as the Buddha thought out for himself a really new and original position, so Heraclitus faced his predecessors, and denied one of their fundamental postulates: that change is an illusion. He declared change to be the great reality.

Buddha and Heraclitus agree: Everything flows; nothing stands still. You cannot come down twice to the same stream, --and everything is a stream. We can only call it "same" as a convenience of speech. Nothing escapes the universal law of flux.

What prompted me to read Mills’ 1910 speech (published in The Buddhist Review, Vol. 11, pp. 269-279) was C.S. Fernando’s letter to The Island editor published on Sept. 28 under the heading "Buddhism: Religion, philosophy or science?"

Fernando asserts that Prince Siddhartha "had used and refined the then existing theories of some of the contemporary Greek philosophers like Heraclitus of Ephesus," as confirmed by H.G. Wells.

In subordinating Buddhist phenomenology to early Greek philosophy, Fernando also cites John Burnet who says that Pythagoras (570-495 BCE), another contemporary of the Buddha, expressed himself as a man who has most effectually realized himself from the "wheel of birth" (bhavacakra), through "purifications."

On the basis of such evidence, Fernando concludes that the Buddha’s "Four Noble Truths" and the "Noble Eightfold Path" appear to be a refinement of the early Greek theories. This statement shows that Fernando is confused about Buddhism for it appears that he is unaware that the fourth Noble Truth is the Noble Eightfold Path.

Now, let us get back to Mills. He says that the Buddhist interest in Heraclitus centers in his synthesis of concepts:

Contraries, or, as we should term them now, "correlatives," constantly appear in Buddhist literature. Time and eternity, existence and non-existence, finite and infinite, subject and object, cause and effect, are some of the familiar instances. But the Buddha barely considers their synthesis. More important to him is it to demonstrate that all are illusions of selfhood, and cease to be in question at all as selfhood is vanquished. And so he reaches a transcendent height never attained by any other teacher. He sees the counter-position to all these correlates, - itself the final, unrelated correlate, Nibbana, - the crown of the "right effort" of mankind.

30 09 2016 – The Island

17 ~ End of Aloka Journal Page 18 ~ 19

“I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act;
but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future,
concentrate the mind on the present moment.
The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”

Buddha

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