Aloka Journal

J25.01

Poson: The start of a socio-religious renaissance in Sri Lanka

Rupa Banduwardena

It is with great devotion that we, Sri Lankan Buddhists, celebrate Poson Poya that marks the arrival of a great compassionate teacher who had enormous loving kindness, Arahat Mahinda Thera, with the wonderful message of the Buddha. It is somewhat unfortunate that this year too we have to celebrate Poson from the confines of our homes due to the COVID pandemic. But this should not be an obstacle to reflecting on the greatness of this singular event.

Arahat Mahinda Thera and his companions - four Arahats - Ittiya, Uththiya, Sambhala, Bhaddhasaala and the novice monk Sumana and layperson Bhanduka, arrived here in the 236th year after the Parinibbana of the Buddha to establish Buddhasasana in Sri Lanka.

Using his special powers, Arahat Mahinda appeared in the presence of King Devanampiyatissa on top of the Mihintale Rock when the king was hunting deer with his retinue of 40000 people. Asking two sets of questions from the king which are commonly known as the ‘mango question’ and the ‘relations question’ to test the intelligence of the king, Arahat Mahinda Thera delivered the discourse on Chulla Haththi Padopama Sutta (Simile on the Foot of an Elephant). At the end of the discourse, the king and his retinue of 40000 people embraced the new teaching and took refuge in Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.

What is this Chulla Haththi Padopama Sutta? It is a Sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya (Middle-length Discourses of the Buddha of the Sutta Pitaka) that clearly explains the path to Nibbana, the ultimate goal of a Buddhist.

This Sutta comprises almost all the teachings of the Buddha, such as, the Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths.

It gives a clear understanding of the Triple Gem. It also gives us a clear understanding of how a follower recognises the Samma Sambuddha-hood of the Buddha by active involvement in the path trodden by Him.

A Samma Sambuddha realises the Truth by his own knowledge and makes others also realise the Truth. It is a Samma Sambuddha who could show us the way to the end of suffering but not ask anyone to follow him blindly. But it is when someone in whom Saddha (serene commitment to the practice of the Buddha’s teaching and trust in enlightened) has arisen pay homage, hear the teachings, remember the teachings, reflect on their meaning, and accept them after consideration. Then enthusiasm springs up and they make an effort, examine thoroughly, and persevere. They would be able to realise the Ultimate Truth, and see it with penetrating wisdom.

In Chulla Haththi Padopama Sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya, the Buddha gave the simile of the elephant’s footprint to understand the Dhamma step by step. Using an analogy of a skilled elephant-forester finding a big bull elephant, the Buddha explained the way a disciple should follow to find the Truth to a Brahmin named Janussoni who met the Buddha with a real desire to understand Buddha’s teachings.

A big bull elephant could be identified only by going to the place where it is lying, walking or standing. Likewise, in order to identify the Samma Sambuddha, one should necessarily go to Him in person.

The Buddha explained that if a person realises the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, the way to Nibbana as shown by the Buddhas, he or she could realise that the Buddha is enlightened and His Dhamma well discoursed and well observed by the Sangha.

Most Venerable Thapowanaye Rathana Thera of Minipura Amashanthi Thapowana Aranya Senasanaya in Pelwadiya, Ratnapura said that Buddhism offers the goal of Nibbana to those who need it, and is not forced on any. Those who prefer to achieve this goal are perfectly free to do so. “All four congregations - Bhikkus (Buddhist monks), Bhikkunis (Buddhist nuns), Upasaka (laymen) and Upasika (laywomen) can follow the teachings of the Buddha without any obstacle and they are expected to lead a useful life till the ultimate goal is achieved.” said the Ven. Thera. Ven. Rathana Thera further explained that Chulla Haththi Padopama Sutta gives a full description of a monk’s way of life and the utmost goal. So a Buddhist monk who puts on the saffron robes by abandoning his wealth and relatives should definitely practice the holy life, in all its purity. As it was mentioned by the Buddha in this Sutta, Buddhist monks cannot engage in politics or gardening.

“Having abandoned the destruction of life, he abstains from destroying life. He dwells with rod and sword lay down, conscientious, merciful, and compassionate for the welfare of all living beings. Having abandoned the taking of the not-given, he abstains from taking the not-given. He takes only what is given, accepts only what is given, lives not by stealth but by means of a pure mind. Having abandoned in celibacy, he lives a celibate life, living apart, refraining from coupling.........” (Chulla Haththi Padopama Sutta). Accordingly, Bhikkus and Dasa Sil Matha can be active in their own fields without invading their limits and lay followers can serve their religion, country and the world in their own way, guided by their Buddhist principles which mean that the Buddha has shown one way of life to Bhikkus and another to lay followers.

If a Buddhist observes five precepts, he or she would be able to gain many benefits during their lifetime. If they do not kill animals they can live a long life, and if they do not steal, they will never lose their wealth. Buddhists who apply noble qualities taught by the Buddha in their lives can live a happy life.

The Buddha has shown us the correct path to Nibbana and it is left for us to follow that path.

So while enjoying a happy family life, Buddhists can also develop wisdom which leads to the complete destruction of suffering and the realisation of Nibbana.

References: Dhamma sermon by the late Most Venerable Nauyane Ariyadhamma Thera, The Fruits of True Monkhood: Benefits of monk’s life by Dhammakaya series, Chulla Haththi Padopama Sutta Translated by Piya Tan, The Buddha and His Teachings by Most Ven Narada Maha Thera.

24 06 2021 - Daily News

J25.02

Rebirth As Expounded In Buddhism

Desamanya K.H.J. Wijayadasa

Rebirth is a fundamental tenet of Buddhism

As far as Buddhists are concerned, rebirth is not a mere theory but a fact verifiable by evidence and constitutes a fundamental tenet of Buddhism. It is on record that this belief in rebirth viewed as a transmigration or reincarnation was accepted by great philosophers such as Pythagoras and Plato. However, the Buddhist doctrine of rebirth is different from transmigration or reincarnation of other religions because Buddhism does not accept the existence of a transmigrating permanent soul created by god.

According to Buddhist teachings it is Kamma or Action that conditions rebirth. Past Kamma conditions the present birth and present Kamma in combination with past Kamma conditions the future. Thus the present is the off spring of the past and becomes in turn the parent of the future. The law of Kamma explains the incidence of suffering, the mystery of the so called fate and predestination of some religions and above all the inequality of mankind. Thus, to an ordinary Buddhist Kamma serves as a deterrent, while to an intellectual it serves as an incentive to do good. Interestingly, what constitutes Kamma are our thoughts, words and deeds. They pass from life to life exalting and degrading us in the course of our wanderings in Samsara.

Buddhist scholars are of the view that the Buddha is the greatest authority on rebirth. On the very night of his enlightenment, during the first watch, the Buddha had developed retro-cognitive knowledge which enabled him to read his past lives. During the second watch the Buddha with clairvoyant vision perceived beings disappearing from one state of existence and reappearing in another. In general discourses the Buddha clearly states that beings having done evil are after death, born in woeful states; and beings having done good are born in blissful states.

There are numerous instances of ordinary people in hypnotic states who have related experiences of their past lives. There are some unbelievable stories about the miraculous revelations of infant prodigies which have baffled many a scientist. It is an irrefutable fact that Kamma and Rebirth are two sides of the same coin. The concept of Kamma and Rebirth explicitly explains the inequality of mankind, the problem of endless suffering, the dissimilarities among children of the same family and above all, the arising of omniscient and super perfect spiritual teachers like the Buddhas who possess incomparable physical, mental and intellectual characteristics.

The Buddhist Doctrine of Rebirth

Professor K.N. Jayatillake, one of the greatest exponents of rebirth has not only proved beyond any reasonable doubt that rebirth is a distinct reality but also cleared several misconceptions woven around the Buddhist doctrine of rebirth and Kamma as expounded in the early texts of Theravada Buddhism. He has pointed out that rebirth or survival after death has its origin in the enlightenment of the Buddha itself and not in traditional Indian belief. By way of further clarification he has said that “it was on the night of his enlightenment that the Buddha acquired the capacity to know his past lives. It was when his mind was composed, clear, cleansed and without blemish, free from adventitious defilements, pliant and flexible, steadfast and undisturbed that he acquired the fabulous capacity to recall hundreds of thousands of prior lives and pre-history of the universe; going, back through immensely long periods of the expansions and contractions of the oscillating universe”.

This is the first item of knowledge which broke through the veil of ignorance (ayam pathama vijja). The second important item of knowledge (dutiya vijja) was obtained via the faculty of clairvoyance (dibba chakkhu) with which the Buddha was able to see among other things; the survival of beings in various states of existence, the operation of Kamma, galactic systems, clusters of galactic systems and the vast cosmos.

The Buddhist texts are emphatic regarding five states of existence; namely, lower world or niraya, animal world or tirachchana, spirit world or peta, human beings or manussa and higher beings or devas. Professor K.N. Jayatillake has stated that it is possible for a human being to be reborn as a spirit, come back to earth as a human being or go still higher and become a deity or deva. It is also possible to regress to animal or sub-human forms of existence. This happens not by any form of determinism or fatalism. According to Buddhism Kamma is only one of the five major causal laws. The other four are; physical laws, biological laws, psychological laws and laws pertaining to spiritual phenomena. Professor K.N. Jayatillake was of view that Kammic laws are tendencies rather than inevitable consequences.

Professor K.N. Jayatillake found enough material in the early Buddhist texts to show that the Buddhist doctrines of Kamma and Rebirth are not dogmas but were verifiable truths. For verification he relied on research studies of modern philosophers, psychologists and psychiatrists. He has critically reexamined their findings on memory and the relationship between mind and body. In order to find plausible evidence acceptable to modern society on rebirth he classified evidence into two groups namely experimental and spontaneous. Experimental evidence is factual testimony obtained by means of age regression under hypnosis and the like.

Spontaneous evidence emanated from revelations made by people who claimed to remember their previous lives. Of course, both types of evidence depended on memory. Another argument advanced in favour of rebirth is the presence in people of skills and talents obviously not acquired in the present life. After making a scholarly study of the scientific literature on memory and the mind-body relationship he concluded that “conscious mental and cognitive phenomena function in dependence on its physical bases”. On the mind and body relationship Professor K.N. Jayatillake made the following observations. “None of the modern findings with regard to the mind and its relation to the brain nor the assertions of modern brain physiologists in any way preclude the empirical possibility of survival after death; it is an open possibility to be proved or disproved in the light of evidence”.

The Buddhist doctrine of rebirth rests on the fact that each individual is a conflux of mind and body. There is no permanent entity here; no soul. There is only mind and body, a dynamic flux, energized by stimuli and material food without and thought food within. It is presumed that mind and body constitute a force. No force is ever lost. There is no reason to believe that the force manifested in each being as mind and body is ever lost. This force is changing every moment of our lives; however it is not lost at death. The vitalizing mind is merely reset. It is the resetting of this vital flux in fresh conditions which is rebirth. Thus, each individual reborn starts with a unique set of latent potentialities. These are the accumulated experiences of past births. This is why characters differ, endowments differ and fortunes vary.

Investigations and Research into Rebirth

Following on the revival and resurgence of Buddhism in the 19th century, scholars and scientists throughout the world have engaged themselves in investigations and research into the doctrine of rebirth as expounded in Buddhism. The first reported cases of rebirth were from India and Myanmar involving children who remembered their last lives as human beings. Fielding Hall a member of the Indian Civil Service had recorded several cases of rebirth in his “Soul of the People”. He had ample power and opportunity to verify the veracity of the cases which were brought to his attention. He had made personal investigations and was satisfied that these were genuine instances of memory of past lives.

Dr. Cassius A. Perera (later Bikkhu Kassapa) writing to the Ceylon Observer of Sunday October 10, 1937 had described the previous life story of a boy from Myanmar as follows. “This child, born to simple village parents, when three years old, revealed unusual mastery of Pali texts; and an ability to expound Buddhist psychology, rivaling that of learned elder monks. Gradually the Memory faded and he became a normal child with great aptitude for the study of Pali. He entered the Buddhist order early and at age eighteen won the first place for all Myanmar for scholarship in Buddhist psychology.

Dr. Cassius Perera has placed on record the story of a little girl in India who remembered her last life, the place where she dwelt, her husband and relatives of that life and other details of property and money matters. The case was investigated and its truth had been proved beyond doubt. Other than rebirth, there is no reasonable explanation for the existence of infant prodigies in diverse fields such as music, mathematics and letters. Dr. H.S.S. Nissanka’s case study on rebirth entitled “The girl who was Reborn” appeared in the Ceylon Daily News of November 23, 1965. Martin Wickremasinghe, scholar, novelist and rationalist reviewed this article and said that, “the theory of rebirth was just an animistic survival, inherited from the primitive pre-Buddhistic culture of India and Sri Lanka and that it is incompatible with the Buddhist doctrine of Anatta”.

Professor K.N. Jayatillake who championed the existence of rebirth entered into a lively debate with Martin Wickremasinghe which went on for more than three months in the Ceylon Daily News and made some astounding revelations on the mystery of rebirth.

Nibbana; the only way out of Rebirth

It is a fundamental tenet of Buddhism that mankind is eternally in the throes of suffering and sorrow. The world is beset with extreme poverty, desease and squalor. Pestilence comes in the most dramatic and disastrous form and style. While earthquakes, drought and famine wreak havoc, fire, flood and storm take toll. The so- called omnipotent power is in eternal slumber and does not intervene to prevent them or to minimize the impact. It is man’s skill and enterprise and man’s sacrifice and painfully wrested knowledge that fights these calamities. Other than Buddhism almost all religions consider this mayhem as God’s vengeance. The Buddhist sees this as a reign of natural law powered by unending cause and effect.

Consequently, birth follows death as surely as death follows birth. The Buddhist concept of deliverance is Nibbana, signifying escape from the ever recurring cycle of life and death; not merely escape from sin and hell. Nibbana is also explained as extinction of the forces of lust (lobha), hatred (dosa) and delusion (moha). Nibbana is also the ultimate achievement and the final goal of Buddhism. It is not something to be set down in print, nor is it a subject to be grasped by intellect alone. It is a super mundane state (lokuttara dhamma); to be realized only by intuitive wisdom.

It is indeed paradoxical that Nibbana; the ultimate goal of Buddhism is beyond the scope of logic. However, reflecting on the positive and negative aspects of life, the logical conclusion emerges that in contradistinction to a conditioned phenomenal existence, there must exist a sorrowless, deathless, non-conditioned state. When all forms of craving are eradicated reproductive Karmic forces cease to operate and one attains Nibbana by escaping the cycle of life and death.

22 08 2021 - The Island

J25.03

Right livelihood from Buddhist perspective

Dukkha (suffering) is an important concept in Buddhism. Life is suffering, suffering is real and almost universal. We live in a world that is full of suffering and sadness, either brought by nature or by ourselves.

The solution for the problem of Dukkha (suffering) in this world is the Noble eightfold path (Ariya-Atthangika-Magga) propounded by the Buddha. It is composed of eight categories or factors.
1. Right Understanding (Sammaditthi),
2. Right Thought (Sammasankappa),
3. Right Speech (Sammavaca),
4. Right Action (Sammakammanta),
5. Right Livelihood (Sammaajiva),
6. Right Effort (Sammavayama),
7. Right Mindfulness (Samma sati),
8. Right Concentration (Samma samadhi).

This path is unique to buddhism and is known as middle path as it avoids two extremes that is self-indulgence and self- mortification. They are interdependent and interrelated. This path falls into three groups. The first two paths listed in the Eightfold path described above refer to wisdom (panna), the middle three paths relate to virtue or morality (sila) the last three belong to concentration (Samadhi).

Referring to Eightfold path T.W. Rhys Davids, Founding President of the Pali Text Society of London, states thus:
“Buddhist or not Buddhist, I have examined every one of the great religious systems of the world, and in none of them found anything to surpass in beauty and comprehensiveness, the Noble Eightfold Path of the Buddha. I am content to shape my life according to that Path.” (Piyadassi Thero).

The Eightfold path which Buddha prescribed remains as pertinent today as they were more than 25000 years ago.

The Buddha realised everyone’s life includes an economic dimension and one has to engage in some kind of employment to sustain himself. That was the reason why he assigned an important place (fifth) to Right Livelihood in the numerical order of the Eightfold path.

As the major part of one’s daily life is taken up by one’s employment, the way one earns his or her livelihood has ethical and social implications either positive or negative.

As far as the Right Livelihood, in the Noble Eightfold is concerned, it should be stated that Lord Buddha has not expatiated much on it, but simply declared that a layman should not pursue certain trades which are considered to be morally and ethically wrong. For this purpose, he listed five trades which he considered to be inimical and harmful to the people and the society. They are trading in poison, trading in weapons, trading in meat, trading in intoxicants and trading in humans {diganikaya}.

However, these forbidden trades are the very trades that have increased phenomenally as a result of the free marketing forces and globalisation in the world today.

Although Buddha specifically mentioned these five trades, today there are a large number of trades which could be classified as unrighteous and immoral. When Buddha propounded Eightfold path, society consisted of predominately of farmers, herdsmen, and traders and the country was not developed as it is now and there were not many trades. That was why he confined himself to five trades and declared them to be immoral and unethical. Had Buddha lived today, the list of forbidden trades would have been vast. Although the list of forbidden trades has increased, fundamental notion the underlying the Right Livelihood, remains the same. That is one should not attempt to improve oneself materially regardless of the moral and ethical basis of economic life. Livelihood, based on good moral values, leads to happiness and one should be aware of the consequences of the way one earns his living.

The Noble Eightfold path is meant to be practised in one’s daily life as the teaching of the Buddha is more concerned with the practice of dhamma (doctrine) than with the intellectual knowledge.

In the pursuit of one’s livelihood, a person should not resort to trickery and dishonest means. Accumulation of wealth, through immoral, unrighteous and exploitative means, such as marketing of substandard products, harmful substances, misrepresenting the quality of the products, selling short weight, etc,. are widely prevalent in our society today. These practices are not in consonance with the essence encapsulated in the concept of Right Livelihood and they should be avoided by laymen, as they cause immense pain and suffering, to human beings.

These immoral practices may be materially rewarding and gratifying in the short run, but the consequences of such action will follow just as the wheel follows the hoofprint of the ox that draws the cart.

Therefore, one should make an honest effort to earn a living through righteous means.

In this connection, it should be stated when hundreds of thousands of people were dying and a large number of people were being thrown out of jobs as result of catastrophic pandemic that gripped the country, some unscrupulous traders and businessmen were making hay while the sun shines by marketing their products and other consumer items at unconscionable and extraordinary prices at the expense of the poor people. Today, many traders and businessmen are acquisitive and materialistic and think primarily in terms of material possessions and very few of them have any real understanding of the way morality works. When people misunderstand the nature of morality, they tend to do all the wrong things, thinking they are doing the right things. This tendency is widely prevalent now. They think that no repercussion will follow from their actions. Consequences of their actions will rebound back to them later in this very life or in some future life.

No doubt, material happiness is necessary for the achievement of spiritual happiness, but it should be achieved on the basis of moral ethical values.

In choosing an occupation too one has to be circumspect as the choice of wrong, occupation could impede one’s spiritual growth.

There is another side to Right Livelihood. One should endeavour to derive happiness by sharing honestly and righteously earned wealth with others, particularly, deserving impoverished people, on the basis of moral and ethical values. Right Livelihood is a concept that can be practised both by Buddhists as well as non-Buddhists. In brief, one’s means of livelihood should not bring harm and suffering to others.

18 11 2021 - The Island

J25.04

Path to deliverance from suffering

Dr. Justice Chandradasa Nanayakkara

The Buddha declared ‘the world is established on suffering, is founded on suffering’ (Dukke loko patititthhito). All problems in life bring about unsatisfactoriness as we attempt to put an end to them, they give rise to another. Solution of one problem leads to a another problem in many other diverse ways. We are constantly confronted with fresh problems in our daily life and problems go on incessantly and interminably. Such is the nature of suffering, and it is the universal characteristic of sentient existence. Suffering constantly appears and passes away only to reappear in other forms. Suffering and impermanence continually present challenges and people are faced with various life obstacles that are out of their control. Suffering can be either physical or psychological. Buddha declared everything subject to origination is subject also to dissolution”. The law of anicca or impermanent stipulates that all contingent existence is transitory. Nothing is in exact state it was in the previous instant and nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments. What is built eventually crumbles and fall, whoever is born will eventually die, and what comes together will eventually separate. Corona virus pandemic which is raging the whole world has brought in to sharp relief the fact of suffering. Dukka is inescapable and ubiquitous and it constitutes the first of the four Noble Truths in Buddhism. This does not mean every facet of life or every one of our experiences is miserable. Buddhism does acknowledge that life can be replete with pleasures and delights of various kinds. But they are ephemeral and impermanent.

In one of the discourses recorded in Anguttara Nikaya, the Buddha offers the following simile to explain the fleeting nature of human life. “Just as a dew drop on the tip of a blade of grass will quickly vanish at sunrise and will not last long, so too Brahmin, human life like a drop of dew, it is limited, brief and fleeting and it has much suffering, full of tribulation …. none who is born can escape death. Therefore, given the limited and fleeting nature of human life, it becomes important for Buddhists to tread the path leading to the deliverance from suffering.

In the first Noble truth, the Buddha defines the truth of dukka thus: “What monks, is the Noble Truth of Dukka? Birth is dukka, decay is dukka, death is dukka, sorrow, lamentation, pain displeasure and despair are dukka; union with the unpleasant dukka, separation from the pleasant dukka, not what one wants is dukka; in brief, the five aggregates of clinging are dukka. These monks, is the Noble Truth of Dukka”.

The solution for the aforesaid problems of dukka (unsatisfactoriness) of life is the Noble Eightfold Path propounded by Lord Buddha more than 2600 years ago. This is the only way to the cessation of suffering and also a vital step in emancipating ourselves from interminable cycle of rebirths.

It is said that this path leads to the cessation of dukka. This path consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, leads to the cessation of dukkha.

The eight factors of the paths are 1. Right Understanding (sammaditthi) 2. Right Thought (sammasankappa) 3. Right Speech (sammavacca). 4. Right Action (sammakammanta) 5. Right Livelihood (sammaajiva) Morality or Virtue Group sila 6. Right Effort, (sammavayama) 7. Right Mindfulness (samma sati) 8. Right concentration (samma samadhi).

These eight factors aim at promoting and perfecting the three essentials of Buddhist training and discipline. For the purpose for coherent and better understanding of the eight divisions of the path have been grouped according to under mentioned three heads.

The first two are classified as Wisdom (panna), the second three as Morality (sila) and the last three as Concentration (samadhi). These three stages in the Eightfold Path are encapsulated in a Buddhist stanza (sabba papassa akaranan – kusalassa upa sammapada – sacitta priyo dapanan – etan buddhanu sasanan). To ease from all evil to cultivate good to purify one’s mind that is the advice of all Buddhas.

The eight steps of the path are not expected to be realised in sequence, one after the other. Rather, they are considered a unity, an organic whole. They are interdependent and interrelated. All eight factors are preceded by the word “Right” classified as Right, which means perfect. It is a mode of transcendence and leads to the transcendence to arise, namely sotapanna sakadagami, anāgāmi and arahant. No doubt, it is a difficult feat to be achieved. The Noble Eightfold path is in effect the path to Nibbana., Which avoids the extreme of self-mortification that weakens the intellect and the extreme of self-indulgence that retards moral progress. Although it is generally spoken as a path to be treaded, in actual fact eight steps signify mental factors to be practised. All eight factors should converge simultaneously, each supporting other and reach a sufficient level of development to experience of sotapanna, sakadagame, anāgāmi or arahant. It is said the path proceeds from a lower state of purity to higher state and factors of the path should coalesce at a certain level of perfection. Path is not meant to be practiced a little each day.

According to Walpola Rahula, the divisions of the Noble Eightfold Path s should be developed more or less simultaneously, as far as possible according to the capacity of each individual. They are linked together and each helps the cultivation of the others.

As far as the Right Understanding in Wisdom group of the Noble Eightfold Path is concerned it is the understanding of things as they really are, particularly the clear comprehension of the Four Noble truths. The Right Understanding has been treated as the first step as an intuitive understanding as it provides the necessary motivation and impulse to start on the Eightfold Path. Importance of understanding in general sense can be seen from the Buddhas own statement.

“Do not be guided by hearsay or by tradition, legendary lore or what has come down in holy scriptures; nor on grounds of reason or logical inference; nor because of preconceived opinions or simple likelihood, nor because of a teacher’s authority. Only when you know for yourselves: these things are good and beneficial, are praised by the wise, and when taken up and carried out lead to welfare and happiness-then you should make them your own and live in accordance with them Anguttara Nikaya.”

Right Thought in the Wisdom group is threefold and it denotes the thoughts of selfless renunciation or detachment, thoughts of love and thoughts of non violence, which are extended to all beings. Cultivation of such thoughts enables a person to act accordingly at the appropriate time. One should practices benevolence and goodness in relation to indifferent people as well as those who are inimical or unfriendly. Persons should not entertain thoughts of selfish desire, ill will hatred and violence in all spheres of life whether individual, social or political.

Next group is Morality (Sila), based on love and compassion, in which are included three factors of the Noble Eightfold Path: namely Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood. (Nos. 3, 4 and 5 in the list).

Right speech means abstention (1) from telling lies, (2) from backbiting and slander and talk that may bring about hatred, enmity, disunity and disharmony among individuals or groups of people, (3) from harsh, rude, impolite, malicious and abusive language, and (4) from idle, useless and foolish babble and gossip. When one abstains from these forms of wrong and harmful speech one naturally has to speak the truth, has to use words that are friendly and benevolent, pleasant and gentle, meaningful and useful. One should not speak carelessly: speech should be at the right time and place. If one cannot say something useful, one should keep ‘noble silence’.

Right Action aims at promoting moral, honourable and peaceful conduct. It admonishes us that we should abstain from destroying life, from stealing, from dishonest dealings, from illegitimate sexual intercourse, and that we should also help others to lead a peaceful and honourable life in the right way.

As far as the Right Livelihood, in the Noble Eightfold is concerned, it should be stated that Lord Buddha has not expatiated much on it,. As the major part of one’s daily life is taken up by one’s employment, the way one earns his or her livelihood has ethical and social implications either positive or negative. Buddha simply declared that a layman should not pursue certain trades which are considered to be morally and ethically wrong. For this purpose, he listed five trades which he considered to be inimical and harmful to the people and the society. They are trading in poison, trading in weapons, trading in meat, trading in intoxicants and trading in humans (diganikaya).

However, these forbidden trades are the very ones that have increased phenomenally as a result of the free marketing forces and globalisation in the world today.

Next stage is concentration (samadhi) group which Embodies three other factors of Noble Eightfold Path namely Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

These three factors Right Effort, Right mindfulness, and Right Concentration constitute mental culture or concentration. Together these three steps encourage and enable one to be self-reliant attentive and calm. Right effort means undertaking our tasks with energy and vigor with a will to carry them through.

Right Effort (sammavayama) in general sense means cultivating positive attitude towards whatever we undertake to do. It means undertaking our tasks with enthusiasm and energy with a will to carry them through. In other words, if we fail to put effort into whatever we do, we cannot hope to succeed. But the effort must be controlled and balanced so that effort should not become too tense or too extreme. Similarly, it should not become too slack and not abandoned. Right effort (sammavayama) involves persevering four great efforts”. (1) The effort to avoid the arising of evil, unwholesome thoughts that have not arisen ye, by exercising right restraint of the senses and self-control, (2) the effort to overcome, to dispel quickly evil, unwholesome thoughts that have already arisen. (3) the effort to develop noble wholesome thoughts that have not yet arisen, (4) the effort to maintain noble, wholesome thoughts have already arisen Therefore, it is evident that the function of the right effort is to maintain constant endeavor and diligence in checking unhealthy thoughts, and to cultivate, promote and maintain wholesome and pure thoughts.

The second step of the Noble Eightfold Path that is embodied in the category of Concentration (mental development) is Right Mindfulness. Right Mindfulness is essential in our ordinary mundane activities. Mindfulness simply is awareness or attention avoiding a distracted and clouded state of mind.

It should be noted Right Mindfulness is the basis for all of the other components on the path. Unless one is mindful, there cannot be a right view, intention, speech, action livelihood, effort and concentration. Mindfulness is all about presence of mind and paying attention to what is happening in the present moment. Mindfulness leads to serenity, insight, deep concentration or wisdom. It does not lead to undirected unguarded thoughts. Right mindfulness is developing an accurate and precise awareness of the present moment unclouded by ideas beliefs, memories and expectations.

Right mindfulness is essential requirement in our daily life. Mindfulness simply is awareness or attention, avoiding a distracted and clouded state of mind. This would be necessary even in our ordinary mundane activities. For example, when a person is driving a vehicle, or crossing a busy street or doing some other task which requires attentiveness if one is unmindful of what one is doing there bound to be mishaps. It should stated that most of the majors traffic accidents that occur in Sri Lanka is due to lack of mindfulness. Therefore, practice of mindfulness plays an important role in our day today activities as enunciated in buddhism. The practice of mindfulness has been, developed to include four particular applications. They are application of mindfulness with regard to body (kayanupassana), (b) feelings or sensations (vedanupassana), (c) states of mind (cittanupassana) and (d) mental objects (dammanupassana). The discourse on “The Setting Forth of Mindfulness” (Satipatthana sutta) deals dials with it.

Right Concentration is the steady fixing of the mind on a single object to the exclusion of all others. This is call samadhi or one-pointedness of the mind. The practice of concentration helps us to maintain the mind in a state of balance. It also refers to the sphere of meditation, and specially to the four jana (absorption). Meditation in Buddhism is classified into two systems, concentration of mind (samatha) and insight (vipassana) of these two, concentration has the function of calming the mind.

According to Buddhism there are forty subjects of mediation which differ according to the temperaments of individuals.

It is said that before practising samadhi an aspirant should select carefully the subject of meditation. In the past, it was customary for aspirants who are bent on meditation to seek guidance of a competent teacher to choose suitable subject according to his temperament. - Ven. Naradha

J25.05

Rebirth in Buddhism

Dr. Justice Chandradasa Nanayakkara

The question of what happens after death naturally arises in the mind of thoughtful people, as we do not know what lies beyond death, because no one has ever returned to the living to recount his experiences life after death. Almost every religion across the world has a defined belief on what happens when a person dies, yet the question is still widely debated and discussed without any finality being reached on the issue. Most of the religious teachers from the earliest times, have been unanimous in affirming that life continues beyond the grave, but they differ widely on the question of what form and in what manner the survival takes place. Nevertheless, mankind continues to believe in some form of survival after death.

Regarding the question of survival after death, thinkers have generally followed one of two philosophical concepts. That is to say annihilationism and eternalism (in Buddhist, ucchedavada and sassatavada). First view is held by nihilists who claim that there is no life after death. They hold the view with the disintegration of the physical body the personality ceases to exist. This view accords with materialistic philosophy, which refuses to accept knowledge of mental conditionality. Those who hold the second view think that there is an abiding entity which exists forever and individual personality persists after death in a recognizable form as an entity called soul, spirit or self. This belief in some form or another is the basis of all theistic religions.

If you stick to the first view and deny that there is no continuity of life after death there would not be no moral law and vipaka (actions and results) operating in the universe enunciated by Lord Buddha and there would be no object in practicing self-restraint or endeavoring to free ourselves of the craving thanha which brings suffering in its wake. The cardinal teachings of the Buddha such as path to nibbana, Four Noble Truths and the eightfold path would be rendered nugatory and meaningless if death is followed by complete extinction. Similarly, those who believe eternalism which presupposes that individual personality persists after death in the form of soul or self as an enduring personality by means of transmigration is also rejected by Buddhism. This view runs counter to the very essence of Buddhism which denies existence of soul. This is the teaching of anatta doctrine, which distinguishes buddhism from other religions and marks it out from all other religious concepts.

In view of the virtual impossibility of establishing the truth of survival after death through empirical methods, question arises what is the attitude of science to this important and abstruse question which has baffled the minds of many people. Although, it is not possible to posit ‘rebirth’ as a scientific fact many men of science are of the opinion that mental, moral and physical inequalities can be accounted for on no other hypothesis than ‘rebirth’ hypothesis.

The idea of a cycle of birth and ‘rebirth’ is part of the teachings of the Lord Buddha. For many Buddhists death is not seen as an end, but rather as a continuation. Buddhists believe a person goes from life to life and see it another part of their long journey through samsara.

Buddhists do not regard ‘rebirth’ as a mere theory but as fact verifiable by evidence and it forms a fundamental tenet in Buddhism along with the concept of karma. Therefore, two principles-kamma and ‘rebirth’ are fundamental to understanding the teachings of Buddha. Kamma and ‘rebirth’ go in arm in arm. According to Buddhism there is no life after death or life before birth independent of kamma. Kamma is an immutable law of cause and effect, and we cannot avoid its consequences. Where there is kamma there must be ‘rebirth’. Most experiences in our present life are the results of our previous actions. Our actions of body, speech and mind (volitional activities) rebound back to us either in the present life or in some future life. It is the karma that conditions ‘rebirth’, past kamma conditions the present birth, the present kamma in combination with past kamma conditions the future. The present is the offspring of the past, and becomes in turn the parent of the future. For Buddhist death is not complete annihilation of a being though that particular life span ended, the force which hitherto actuated it is not destroyed. After death the life flux of man continues ad infinitum as long as there is ignorance and craving. Man will be able to put an end his repeated series of births by realizing nibbana, the complete annihilation of all forms of craving (Narada Thera).

The Buddhist doctrine of ‘rebirth’ should be differentiated from the theory of reincarnation, which implies transmigration of a soul and its invariable ‘rebirth’, as it is enunciated in Hinduism.

In his book What the Buddha Taught, Walpola Rahula Thera posed the question “if we can understand that in this life we can continue without a permanent, unchanging substance like self or soul, why can’t we understand that those forces themselves can continue without a self or soul behind them after the non-functioning of the body? ‘When this physical body is no more capable of functioning, energies do not die with it, but continue to take some other shape or form, which we call another life… physical and mental energies which constitute the so called being have within themselves the power to take a new form, and grow gradually and gather force to the full: King Milinda questioning venerable Nagasena asked: “Ven. Nagasena, does ‘rebirth’ take place without anything transmigrating? Yes, O king, ‘rebirth’ takes place without anything transmigrating? “Give me illustration, venerable Sir. Suppose, O king, a man were to light a light from light pray, would the one light have passed over to the other light? Nay, indeed, Ven. Sir. In exactly the same way, O king, does ‘rebirth’ take place without anything transmigrating."

In this connection, it should be mentioned the word ‘rebirth’ is not a satisfactory one, as it implies that there is something that after death takes on flesh again. It connotes transmigration of soul or other entity consequent to a death of a person. The Pali Word used in buddhism is arising or Phunabba.

As there is no soul or self in Buddhism, question arises if there is no soul or self what is there to be reborn. This has been most vexed question among many religious scholars. This has been a topic of debate for centuries. According to buddhism there is no enduring, substantial or independently existing entity that transmigrates from life to life instead there is simply an apparent continuity of momentary consciousness from one life time to the next that is imbued with impressions or traces (samskaras) of the actions one has committed in the past. For Buddhists everything is changing and nothing is permanent. So, when a person dies not he but his energies that shape him take a new form. New life is connected to previous life through kamma. There is rapid succession of thoughts throughout the life continuum.

The Buddha is our greatest authority on ‘rebirth. Therefore, for Buddhist no other evidence is necessary is prove ‘rebirth’.

On the very night of His enlightenment during the first watch, enlightenment, Buddhas mind travelled back through all of his unaccountable past lives. This was facilitated by the development of retro cognitive knowledge. Though his mind stretched back to countless eons he never saw a beginning to his past existence. He found no beginning and no end. He also saw all the beings in the universe being born, living dying and being reborn over and over again without end, all trapped in a web spun by their past actions. This process is the round of ‘rebirth’ known as samsara, which means wandering from life to life with no particular direction or purpose.

The Buddha before his enlightenment as bodhisattva was born in different forms of existence. As such Buddhist have a firm belief in many realms of existence, both above and below the human realm. Therefore, we can safely assume we all have lived through countless different lifetimes before being born in the world and our birth here as a human being is the result of predominantly good kamma we have committed in the past life. Those good kamma may have been done in many life times before, or more likely done in the previous life. Therefore, the quality of future births depends on the moral quality of our actions now.

In Dhammachackka Sutta too in his first discourse referring to second noble truth, Buddha declared this very craving is that leads to ‘rebirth’.

In ancient Greece philosophers like Empedocles and Pythagoras too taught the doctrine of ‘rebirth’ and Plato made it an important assumption in his philosophy, as pointed out by Ven Piyadassi Thera.

17 01 2022 - The Island

J25.06

The taste of freedom

Bhikkhu Bodhi

The clarion call of our present age is, without doubt, the call for freedom. Perhaps at no time in the past history of mankind so much as at present has the cry for freedom sounded so widely and so urgently, perhaps never before has it penetrated so deeply into the fabric of human existence.

In response to man’s quest for freedom, far-reaching changes have been wrought in almost every sphere of his activity — political, social, cultural and religious. The vast empires which once sprawled over the earth, engulfing like huge mythical sea-monsters the continents in their grasp, have crumbled away and disintegrated, as the peoples over whom they reigned have risen up to repossess their native lands — in the name of independence, liberty and self-rule.

Old political forms such as monarchy and oligarchy have given way to democracy — government by the people — because every man demands the right to contribute his voice to the direction of his collective life. Long-standing social institutions which kept man enthralled since before the dawn of history — slavery, serfdom, the caste-system — have now disappeared, or are rapidly disappearing, while accounts of liberation movements of one sort or another daily deck the headlines of our newspapers and crowd the pages of our popular journals.

The arts, too, bear testimony to this quest for greater freedom: free verse in poetry, abstract expression in painting, and atonal composition in music, are just a few of the innovations which have toppled restrictive traditional structures to give the artist open space in his drive for self-expression. Even religion has not been able to claim immunity from this expanding frontier of liberation. No longer can systems of belief and codes of conduct justify themselves, as in the past, on the grounds that they are commanded by God, sanctified by scripture, or prescribed by the priesthood. They must now be prepared to stand out in the open, shorn of their veils of sanctity, exposed to the critical thrust of the contemporary thinker who assumes himself the right to free inquiry and takes his own reason and experience for his court of final appeal. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of action have become the watchwords of our public life, freedom of thought and freedom of conscience the watchwords of our private life. In any form in which it obtains, freedom is guarded as our most precious possession, more valuable than life itself. “Give me liberty or give me death,” an American patriot exclaimed two hundred years ago. The succeeding centuries have echoed his demand.

As though in response to mankind’s call for wider frontiers of freedom, the Buddha offers to the world His Teaching, the Dhamma, as a pathway to liberation as applicable today as it was when first proclaimed twenty-five centuries ago.

“Just as in the great ocean there is but one taste — the taste of salt — so in this Doctrine and Discipline (dhammavinaya) there is but one taste — the taste of freedom”: with these words the Buddha vouches for the emancipating quality of His doctrine.

Whether one samples water taken from the surface of the ocean, or from its middling region, or from its depths, the taste of the water is in every case the same — the taste of salt. And again, whether one drinks but a thimble-full of ocean water, or a glass-full, or a bucket-full, the same salty taste is present throughout. Analogously with the Buddha’s Teaching, a single flavor — the flavor of freedom (vimuttirasa) — pervades the entire Doctrine and Discipline, from its beginning to its end, from its gentle surface to its unfathomable depths. Whether one samples the Dhamma at its more elementary level — in the practice of generosity and moral discipline, in acts of devotion and piety, in conduct governed by reverence, courtesy, and loving-kindness; or at its intermediate level — in the taintless supramundane knowledge and deliverance realized by the liberated saint, in every case the taste is the same — the taste of freedom.

If one practices the Dhamma to a limited extent, leading a house-hold life in accordance with righteous principles, then one experiences in return a limited measure of freedom; if one practices the Dhamma to a fuller extent, going forth into the homeless state of monkhood, dwelling in seclusion adorned with the virtues of a recluse, contemplating the rise and fall of all conditioned things, then one experiences a fuller measure of freedom; and if one practices the Dhamma to its consummation, realising in this present life the goal of final deliverance, then one experiences a freedom that is measureless.

At every level the flavor of the Teaching is of a single nature, the flavor of freedom. It is only the degree to which this flavor is enjoyed that differs, and the difference in degree is precisely proportional to the extent of one’s practice. Practice a little Dhamma and one reaps a little freedom, practice abundant Dhamma and one reaps abundant freedom. The Dhamma brings its own reward of freedom, always with the exactness of scientific law.

Since the Dhamma proposes to provide a freedom as complete and perfect as any the modern world might envisage, a fundamental congruence appears to obtain between man’s aspiration for expanding horizons of liberty and the possibilities he might realize through the practice of the Buddha’s teaching. Nevertheless, despite this concordance of ends, when our contemporaries first encounter the Dhamma they often find themselves confronted at the outset by one particular feature which, clashing with their familiar modes of thought, strikes them intellectually as a contradiction and emotionally as a stumbling block. This is the fact that while the Dhamma purports to be a pathway to liberation, a Teaching pervaded throughout by ‘the taste of freedom,’ it yet requires from its followers the practice of a regimen that seems the very antithesis of freedom — a regimen built upon discipline, restraint, and self-control. “On the one hand we seek freedom,” our contemporaries object, “and on the other we are told that to reach this freedom our deeds, words, and thoughts must be curbed and controlled.” What are we to make of this astonishing thesis the Buddha’s Teaching appears to advance: that to achieve freedom, freedom must be curtailed? Can freedom as an end really be achieved by means that involve the very denial of freedom?

The solution to this seeming paradox lies in the distinction between two kinds of freedom — between freedom as license and freedom as spiritual autonomy. Contemporary man, for the most part, identifies freedom with license. For him, freedom means the license to pursue undisturbed his impulses, passions and whims. To be free, he believes, he must be at liberty to do whatever he wants, to say whatever he wants and to think whatever he wants. Every restriction laid upon this license he sees as an encroachment upon his freedom; hence a practical regimen calling for restraint of deed, word, and thought, for discipline and self-control, strikes him as a form of bondage. But the freedom spoken of in the Buddha’s Teaching is not the same as license. The freedom to which the Buddha points is spiritual freedom — an inward autonomy of the mind which follows upon the destruction of the defilements, manifests itself in an emancipation from the mold of impulsive and compulsive patterns of behavior, and culminates in final deliverance from samsara, the round of repeated birth and death.

In contrast to license, spiritual freedom cannot be acquired by external means. It can only be attained inwardly, through a course of training requiring the renunciation of passion and impulse in the interest of a higher end.

The spiritual autonomy that emerges from this struggle is the ultimate triumph over all confinement and self-limitation; but the victory can never be achieved without conforming to the requirements of the contest — requirements that include restraint, control, discipline and, as the final price, the surrender of self-assertive desire.

In order to bring this notion of freedom into clearer focus, let us approach it via its opposite condition, the state of bondage, and begin by considering a case of extreme physical confinement. Suppose there is a man locked away in a prison, in a cell with dense stone walls and sturdy steel bars. He is tied to a chair — his wrists bound together by rope behind his back, his feet locked in shackles, his eyes covered by a blindfold and his mouth by a gag. Suppose that one day the rope is unfastened, the shackles loosened, the blindfold and gag removed. Now the man is at liberty to move about the cell, to stretch his limbs, to speak, and to see. But though at first he might imagine that he is free, it would not take him long to realize that true freedom is still as distant as the clear blue sky beyond the stoned and steel bars of his cell.

But suppose, next, that we release the man from prison, set him up as a middle-class householder, and restore to him his full body of rights as a citizen of the state. Now he can enjoy the social and political freedom he lacked as a prisoner; he can vote, work, and travel as he likes, can even hold public office. But there still remains — in the form of his responsibilities, his burden of duties, his limitations of power, pleasure, and prestige — a painful discrepancy between the freedom of mastery for which he might personally yearn, and the actuality of the situation which circumstances has doled out to him as his drearisome lot. So let us, as a further step, lift our man up from this middle-class routine, and install him, to his pleasant surprise upon the throne of a world monarch, a universal emperor exercising sovereignty over all the earth. Let us place him in a magnificent palace, surrounded by a hundred wives more beautiful than lotus-flowers, possessed of limitless resources of gold, land, and gems, endowed with the most sublime pleasures of the five senses. All power is his, all enjoyment, fame, glory, and wealth. He needs only express his will for it to be taken as command, need only utter a wish for it to be translated into deed. No obstruction to his freedom of license remains. But still the question stands: is he truly free? Let us consider the issue at a deeper level.

Three kinds of feelings have been pointed out by the Buddha: pleasant feeling, painful feeling, and neutral feeling, i.e., feeling which is neither pleasant nor painful. These three classes exhaust the totality of feeling, and one feeling of one class must be present on any given occasion of experience. Again, three mental factors have been singled out by the Buddha as the subjective counterparts of the three classes of feeling and described by him as anusaya, latent tendencies which have been lying dormant in the subconscious mental continua of sentient beings since beginningless time, always ready to crop up into a state of manifestation when an appropriate stimulus is encountered, and to subside again into the state of dormancy when the impact of the stimulus has worn off.

These three mental factors are lust (raga), repugnance (patigha), and ignorance (avijja), psychological equivalents of the unwholesome roots of greed (lobha), hatred (dosa), and delusion (moha). When a worldling, with a mind untrained in the higher course of mental discipline taught by the Buddha, experiences a pleasant feeling, then the latent tendency to lust springs up in response — a desire to possess and enjoy the object serving as stimulus for the pleasant feeling. When a worldling experiences a painful feeling, then the latent tendency to repugnance comes into play, an aversion toward the cause of the pain. And when a worldling experiences a neutral feeling, then the latent tendency to ignorance — present but recessive on occasions of lust and aversion — rises to prominence, shrouding the worldling’s consciousness in a cloak of dull apathy.

On whatever occasion the three latent tendencies to lust, repugnance, and ignorance are provoked by their corresponding feelings from their dormant condition into a state of activity, if a man does not make an effort to dispel them, does not strive to restrain, remove, and abandon them and bring them to nought, then they will persist in consciousness. If, as they persist in consciousness, he repeatedly yields to them, endorses them, and continues to cling to them, they will gather momentum, come to growth, and like a ball of flame flung upon a haystack, flare up from their initial phase as feeble impulses into powerful obsessions which usurp from a man his capacity for self-control. Then, even if a man be, like our hypothetical subject, an emperor over the earth, he is inwardly no longer his own master but a servant at the bidding of his own defilements of mind.

Under the dominance of lust, he is drawn to the pleasant, under the dominance of hate he is repelled by the painful, under the dominance of delusion he is confused by the neutral. He is bent up by happiness, bent down by sorrow, elated by gain, honor, and praise, dejected by loss, dishonor, and blame. Even though he perceives that a particular course of action can lead only to his harm, he is powerless to avoid it; even though he knows that an alternative course of action is clearly to his advantage, he is unable to pursue it. Swept on by the current of unabandoned defilements, he is driven from existence to existence through the ocean of samsara, with its waves of birth and death, its whirlpools of misery and despair. Outwardly, he may be a ruler over all the world, but in the court of consciousness he is still a prisoner. In terms of license he may be completely free, but in terms of spiritual autonomy he remains a victim of bondage in its most desperate form: bondage to the workings of a defiled mind.

Spiritual freedom, as the opposite of this condition of bondage, must therefore mean freedom from lust, hatred, and delusion. When lust, hatred, and delusion are abandoned in a man, cut off at the root so that they no longer remain even in latent form, then a man finds for himself a seat of autonomy from which he can never be dethroned, a position of mastery from which he can never be shaken. Even though he be a mendicant gathering his alms from house to house, he is still a king; even though he be locked behind bars of steel, he is inwardly free. He is now sovereign over his own mind, and as such over the whole universe; for nothing in the universe can take from him that deliverance of heart which is his inalienable possession. He dwells in the world among the things of the world, yet stands in perfect poise above the world’s ebb and flow. If pleasant objects come within range of his perception he does not yearn for them, if painful objects come into range he does not recoil from them. He looks upon both with equanimity and notes their rise and fall. Toward the pairs of opposites which keep the world in rotation he is without concern, the cycle of attraction and repulsion he has broken at its base. A lump of gold and a lump of clay are to his eyes the same; praise and scorn are to his ears empty sounds. He abides in the freedom he has won through long and disciplined effort. He is free from suffering, for with the defilements uprooted no more can sorrow or grief fall upon his heart; there remains only that perfect bliss unsullied by any trace of craving.

He is free from fear, from the chill of anxiety which even kings know in their palaces, protected by bodyguards inside and out. And he is free from disease, from the sickness of the passions vexing and feverish that tie the mind in knots, from the sickness of samsara with its rounds of defilement, action, and result. He passes his days in peace, pervading the world with a mind of boundless compassion, enjoying the bliss of emancipation, or teaching fellow way-farers the path he himself has followed to the goal, in the calm certain knowledge that for him the beginningless trail of repeated births and deaths has been brought to a close, that he has reached the pinnacle of holiness and effected the cessation of all future becoming.

In its fullness, the freedom to which the Buddha points as the goal of His Teaching can only be enjoyed by him who has made the realization of the goal a matter of his own living experience. But just as salt lends its taste to whatever food it is used to season, so does the taste of freedom pervade the entire range of the Doctrine and Discipline proclaimed by the Buddha, its beginning, its middle, and its end. Whatever our degree of progress may be in the practice of the Dhamma, to that extent may the taste of freedom be enjoyed. It must always be borne in mind, however, that true freedom — the inward autonomy of the mind — does not descend as a gift of grace. It can only be won by the practice of the path to freedom, the Noble Eightfold Path.

(Courtesy Access to Insight – BCBS Edition)

J25.07

Equanimity in Buddhism

Justice Dr. Chandradasa Nanayakkara

There are four sterling qualities, or attitudes, in Buddhism, which are collectively called Brahma-viharas in Pali. They are a) Loving-kindness or universal love (Metta) b) Compassion (Karuna) c) Sympathetic joy or appreciative joy (Muditha) d) Equanimity (Upekkha). Brahma-viharas, as positive virtues, can also be taken as subjects of meditation.

The word Brahma has been interpreted to mean excellent, lofty, sublime or noble, and vihara as states of living. Brahma-vihara therefore means sublime states and some call it divine states or divine abodes. These four attitudes are said to be excellent or sublime because they are the right or ideal way of conduct towards all living beings. They provide the answer to all situations arising from social contact, and conduce to noble living. They level social barriers, build harmonious communities, promote altruism, unity and brotherhood.

The four states of mind, love, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity are also known as the boundless states (Appamannyo) as they are virtues extended to all beings without exception, regardless of their caste, race, colour and creed. One who assiduously cultivates these four positive attitudes, by conduct and meditation, is said to become an equal of Brahma. Further, when these positive qualities become the dominant influence in a person’s mind it is said he will be reborn in congenial worlds after his death. The four sublime states are interrelated and interdependent.

Of the four sublime states Upekkha is one of the most difficult perfections to be practised by a layman who lives in today’s ill-balanced world with fluctuating fortunes. The etymological meaning of the term Upekkha (equanimity) is discerning rightly, viewing justly or looking impartially, without attachment or aversion, without favour or disfavour (Narada).

Upekkha is mental equipoise and not hedonic indifference or apathy, but rather mental imperturbability. Equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind, rooted in insight and it is not independent of mindfulness. A person who practises equanimity is undisturbed and unperturbed when touched by vicissitudes of life. The virtue and value of equanimity is extolled and advocated by a number of major religions in the world.

Life is not linear, it has its ups and downs. None of us can lead completely uneventful lives. Our life is in a state of flux. It is never static and is constantly subject to change.

There are two universal characteristics that upset the mental equipoise of man, they are attachments to the pleasurable and aversion to the non-pleasurable. It is only by developing equanimity that one is able to eliminate these two possible forces. In other words, equanimity helps us to free ourselves from both excessive attachment and excessive aversion.

All human beings have to undergo the eight vicissitudes of life (Attha Loka dhamma) in the course of their lives. That is gain and loss, good repute and ill repute, praise and censure, pain and pleasure. No one gets through life without experiencing these realities from time to time. These waves of emotion carry us up and pin us down. They are the common lot of humanity. Even great leaders and the virtuous are subject to these worldly conditions and this has been true throughout history. No doubt, equanimity demands a tremendous amount of determination and will power to maintain a balanced mind. Over time and with constant practice, equanimity becomes an effortless process and its practice becomes intuitive.

Looking at the world around us and looking into our own life, we observe how it continually moves between the two contrasts of worldly conditions. No doubt, it is hard to be undisturbed and unmoved when touched by this welter of experience. It is natural for a layman to respond to these worldly conditions with happiness and sorrow, delight and despair, disappointment and satisfaction, hope and disillusionment. But a man who cultivates equanimity is not moved or perturbed. Amidst the vicissitude of life, he is firm and unwavering and stands unmoved as a solid lock. Like a lotus that is unsoiled by the mud from which it springs, he lives unaffected by worldly temptation and vicissitudes of life. A person who cultivates equanimity understands the true nature of human life and its vagaries and sees things in their proper perspective. There will be less frustration for a person who has developed equanimity when things do not develop the way he wishes.

Equanimity has been described as “a state of mind that cannot be swayed by biases and preferences; an even mindedness in the face of every sort of experience regardless of whether pleasure (or) pain are present,” (B. Thanissaro. [1996]. Wings to Awakening: An Anthology from the Pali Canon. Dhamma Dana Publications). Equanimity as a mental state requires practice and manifests as “a balanced reaction to joy and misery,” (B. Bodhi. [2000]. A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma. BPS Pariyatti). It is simply a state of neutrality which “leans neither towards gladness nor dejection” (Bodhi, 2000). When unpleasant thoughts arise, one will not push them away with aversion and denial. Similarly, when pleasant thoughts arise, one will not grasp them or become over excited or addicted to them. It enables a person to interact with the world without reacting based on emotion and he will be free from being caught up in the play of emotion. Though we cannot control worldly unpleasant experiences in life we can control how we react to it.

Equanimity that should be rooted in insight, is the guiding and restraining power for the other three sublime states. What is the nature of the insight contemplated in equanimity? It is the clear understanding of how all these vicissitudes of life (Attha Loka dhamma) originate, and of our true nature. For this purpose, understanding the workings of Kamma or actions, would be necessary to cultivate equanimity.

We should understand that most of the experiences we undergo result from our own Kamma; our action in thought, word and deed, committed either in this life or past lives. In other words, most of the pleasant and unpleasant things we experience in this life represent the ripening of actions performed in past and the present life, because Kamma is an immutable law of cause and effect, we cannot avoid the consequences. We must accept them as our just rewards. Kamma means what we do, we become. We become that because we have acted in a certain way to set up those conditions. Although everything cannot be attributed to Kamma, most of the major experiences in life are the results of Kamma.

In the Anguttara Nikaya the Buddha addressing the monks said that these eight worldly conditions revolve around the world and the world revolves around these eight worldly conditions. In the Mahamangala Sutta the Buddha stated how an enlightened Arahant is unmoved by any of the worldly conditions, which he described as a great blessing, Phutthassa loka dhammehi, cittam yassa na kampati. Asokam virajam khemam. Etam mangala muttamam. A mind unshaken by worldly vicissitudes sorrows less.

18 12 2021 - The Island

J25.08

Filial piety in Buddhism

Dr. Justice Chandradasa Nanayakkara

Society consists of network of relationships which are mutually interdependent and interrelated. According to Sigalavoda Sutta the society is sustained by a network of interlocking relationships such as the relationship of parents and child, teacher and pupil, employer and employee and husband and wife etc. Members in these relationships are expected to fulfill their reciprocal duties and responsibilities in a spirit of kindness and sympathy. In the strong web of relationships, parents and child relationship is considered the most fundamental as it nurtures the physical emotional and social development of the child. Moreover, filial piety displayed by children towards their parents in the context of parents and child relationship is seen as the basis for an orderly harmonious society.

Filial piety and providing care for aging parents is not only considered a central virtue in many religions it was also deeply rooted and ingrained in many Asian cultures including Lankan. Traditional filial piety emphasises compliance, courtesy, manners and support to one’s parents and Children are deeply indebted to their parents. When a child is born it is unable to live even for a few days unassisted. It is the parents who look after and nurse him by providing him all the necessary care and attention until the child is grown up and is in a position to live without the help of others. The love and affection of parents towards their children is indescribable and boundless. Parents do everything within their power in the interests of their children. They spend sleepless nights and keep vigil at the bedside of their ailing children when they are afflicted with illnesses. Parents are even prepared to spend their entire wealth by forgoing their own comfort for the sake of their children. They wish to see their children prosper and live happily. When children are worried and sad, parents too are distressed and sad. Parents never stop worrying about their children even when they are all grown up have children of their own. Such is the parental love towards their children. It is self-sacrificing and selfless. No superior can equal parents not even any devas. They can be likened to God in human form. Their unconditional love cannot be found anywhere else in the universe.

Children learn various lessons under various teachers during their formative years, but the most important lessons such as how to talk, how to eat, how to clean themselves and how conduct themselves learn from their parents, for this reason, parents are known as first teachers (Braham and Pubbachariya).

In bringing up children parents apply essential meditation practices of Four Immeasurable minds (Brahma Vihara). Four immeasurables are Loving Kindness (Metta). Compassion (Karuna). Sympathetic Joy (Muditha), and Equanimity (Uppekka). Parents maintain these four excellent qualities towards their children at all times from the moment a child is conceived. Lord Buddha advised his adherents to honour their parents as Brahma Supreme God as parents have done much for their children.

The Buddha explained the greatness of parents thus. “Monks, Brahma is a term for mother and father. “worthy of offerings”. Because mother and father do much for their children, they bring them up, nourish them and introduce them to the world.”

When the Buddha was questioned as to who could be considered as the God. Buddha replied, “let your father and your mother be your Gods.” In the Katannu Suttas of Anguttara Nikaya, the Buddha said there were two persons whom men could not easily repay. They are your parents, even if you were to carry your mother on one shoulder and your father on the other shoulder for hundred years, and were to minister to them in every possible way by anointing, massaging, bathing, rubbing their limbs cleaning them of their urine and excrement or even one was to establish parents in absolute sovereignty as universal monarch (chakka catti raja). You cannot repay them.” From this it is clear, parents are the most amazing people children can find around the world for all the sacrifices they have made for them.

The practice of filial piety is good karma in the moral teaching of buddhism. It teaches its followers to pay their debts to parents by supporting and respecting them, actions that are considered to be great meritorious deeds or wholesome kamma in Buddhist moral teachings. Sigalovada Sutta which deals with the code of conduct for laity while enumerating five duties that should be performed by parents towards their children sets out following five duties that should be done by children towards their parents as a form of filial love. 1. Children should support their parents as they have been supported by them. It is one of the paramount duties of children. They should obey them and not displease, ill-treat disrespect them in any manner. They should attend to their needs when they are sick. 2. Children should do necessary duties by the parents. Children should understand what are the requirements and necessities of their parents. 3. Children should uphold the family tradition and lineage. It is important duty of children to continue the good work started by the parents. 4. Children should act in such a way as to be worthy of their inheritance. Whatever legacy or property they receive from their parents should be protected. 5. Children should offer alms in honour of their departed relatives. It is a noble duty and custom to remember and revere parents after their death. According to Buddhist teaching matricide and patricide are considered two of the five gravest karma the consequence of which could rebound in this very life.

When the Buddha on one occasion bowed respectfully at a pile of bones, which was lying on his path Bhikku Ananda questioned him as to why he bowed at the pile of bones. Lord Buddha replying said “from an inscrutable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating and wandering on. A being who had not been your mother at one time in the past is not easy to find, a being who had not been your father, your sister brother, your son and your daughter one time in the past is not easy to find. That is the reason why I bowed down.”

According to the Maha Mangala sutta, when deity from the celestial world requested the Lord Buddha to enumerate the great blessings that would lead to one’s success and welfare in the world, the Buddha while describing thirty-eight such blessings referred to support extended to one’s parents as a great blessing in following terms. Mata pittu Upatthanametam Mangalam uttam (supporting the mother and father is a great blessing).

In Dhammapada to the Buddha has disclosed being dutiful to one’s mother and father would bring happiness in this world (Sukka matteyya loke atho petteyyata suka). Which means “respect for one’s mother and father brings happiness.”

In Anguttara nikaya Buddha mentioned the ways how to repay love, kindness, and gratitude to one’s parents thus “Oh, Bhikkhus, whoever encourages their faithless parents and settles and establishes them in morality, or whoever encourages their stingy parents and settle and establishes them in generosity, or whoever encourages their foolish parents, and settles and establishes them in wisdom such a person, in this way repays, more than repays what is due to their parents".

Three types of children have been identified in the Buddhist scriptures, they are children who are inferior to their parents in every respect (avajatha). Children who are on the same level with their parents (anujatha) and lastly children who excel their parents in every way (atijatha). Parents would be happy if the children would surpass them and would be unhappy if they fall below their expected standard.

It is a matter of immense regret and grief that with the western influence, urbanisation and fragmentation of family life more and more adult children are becoming insensitive to their moral obligations and evading them. Even the adult children who are capable of caring and looking after their feeble aging parents are leaving them in old age homes and run away from their moral obligations. Many elderly parents suffer violence, neglect, isolation on a daily basis at the hands of their children. A large number of elderly parents live all alone. While some who live alone have taken a conscious decision to do so, many others do this because of lack of option. They have been isolated, neglected, hounded out of the houses built by them at their own expense and housed in old age homes, because they are victims of fast eroding social values at the hands of their own children and society at large. Traditional Sri Lankan society cared and respected the old age and the wisdom, abilities and confidence that came with it.

Along with the growing number of elderly citizens in the country abuse and neglect of aged parents is bound to become a widespread issue in our society. Most children do not realise the amount of affection and care their parents have extended to them. They must realise parental love far greater than filial love.

Old parents should not feel abandoned by adult children they raise. Children could see how the relentless and inevitable change of time has taken its toll on their parents and it should serve as a lesson for them right before their own eyes. We must treat our aging parents just as we hope to be treated in the future, and care giving should living example to their own children and grandchildren. In the past adult children with their life partners used to take care of their parents out of goodness of their heart, as abdication of care giving responsibility, unlike the western societies was considered culturally and morally unacceptable.

Time was when ageing parents were taken care of by their adult children. There was a moral obligation to make sure their aging parents were cared for. It was considered a tenet of filial piety.

Ageing parents usually undergo pangs of loneliness and boredom, and, therefore, need companionship. There is always a tendency for aging parents to develop a pessimistic approach to life, which can be avoided if the adult children provide them with abundant love, care and empathy. They expect their children to sit with and talk to them about the happenings of their life in calm in a cordial manner in their twilight years.

Parents consider children are a great comfort in their old age. Therefore, we must treat our old parents with loving care. It should be remembered that parents gave every moment of their happiness for our comfort and joy. They have cared for us ever since we were infants. We never know the sacrifices they went through for us. We should not despise or repulse and we should not look at them as a burden but speak to them humbly and graciously. It is regrettable today children forget that the foundation of their life was built by parents.

Our parents showed us the world and in return we should not show them old aged homes. We will only realise their value when they are gone and see their empty chairs. When our parents are old and cannot take care of themselves it is our duty to pay back their love, efforts by serving them in every possible way, even at the cost of personal sacrifice.

Adult children should realise that ageing is a continuous and irreversible process. Everyone undergoes this phase of life at his own time and pace.

We should bear in mind that life is a cycle and one day roles will be switched, ageing parents may need you now, but day will come when you need your children as you grow old. Old age has been referred to as the most delicate period of life, and it is the time parent’s health problems become more obvious. It is also the time they need loving care and affection as they become, physically, emotionally weak at this time. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that children should be mindful of heir filial duties and take care of their frail and aging parents.

17 03 2022 - The Island

J25.09

Fundamentals of Theravada Buddhism - Pt.1

Compiled by Ishara Mudugamuwa

Venerable Watagoda Maggavihari Thera is a Theravada Buddhist monk born and ordained in Sri Lanka and he has completed 15 vassa of monastic life. Ven. Maggavihari Thera had his Samanera ordination in 2006 and Upasampada ordination in 2007. He received his ordination under the late Most Venerable Na Uyane Ariyadhamma Maha Thera.

Having lived and learned under the supervision of Ariyadhamma Maha Thera for six years, Ven. Maggavihari went to Myanmar in 2012 to further his studies on Theravada Buddhism at the International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University. There he earned both a BA and MA degrees while extensively studying Theravada Buddhism as preserved by the Burmese tradition. He started his teaching career as an Abhidhamma teacher in Nauyana Forest Monastery and continued to do so at ITBMU helping his fellow colleagues.

As a senior student, he taught Abidamma, Vipassana, Pali and Vinaya to a number of junior students at ITBMU. In addition, he has enormous experience with monastic life both in the Thai and Burmese traditions. As a practitioner, he spent some time at Wat Pah Nanachat practising and learning Thai Forest tradition, and he practised a few other meditation techniques such as Mahasi and Mogok during his stay in Myanmar.

Currently, Ven. Maggavihari Thera serves as the Vice President of the International Institute of Theravada, conducting online courses for both laity and monastics all around the world. His English medium course on the Fundamentals of Theravada Buddhism is highly praised by many who are interested in the subject.

After the Mahaparinibbana of the Buddha, his teachings spread over Asia and developed into 18 traditions by the time of Emperor Asoka. After two-and-a-half millennia, today we find three major Buddhist traditions called Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Theravada, which is known as the “teachings preserved by the elders,” is the earliest tradition and up to now, it has been subjected to some transformations and developments.

“When we represent the Theravada, it has a certain identity, that is its unique way of explaining the Buddha’s teachings. Before evaluating whether the Theravada explanation is correct or wrong one should first know what Theravada is. Only then are we able to evaluate or compare it with other traditions or with our own intellectual understanding. Therefore, first, we should know what the Theravada identity is. The way of teaching is not whether the Theravada tradition is correct or wrong. I feel that it is my duty to show what the tradition says. So it’s up to the readers to evaluate and judge whether Theravada teachings should be accepted or not,” Vice President of the International Institute of Theravada Venerable Watagoda Maggavihari Thera said.

History of Theravada tradition

All the Buddhist traditions start from the Buddha and the ultimate goal of all these traditions is Nibbana. The Buddha’s purpose was to liberate beings from suffering and his teachings were not confined only to the knowledge of philosophy but also to their practical application.

According to the Ven. Thera, after the Mahaparinibbana, different disciples started to interpret the doctrine in different ways. There were disputes and various arguments. So they started to move away from each other, not with enmity but with regard to philosophical knowledge. But the Buddha didn’t want this to happen. He wished the Sangha to be united always, not just while he was alive, but even after he had passed away.

As it was mentioned in the Samagama Sutta of Majjima Nikaya, after hearing of the great disorder and dispute among the followers of Mahaweera (Nigantanataputta) the Jain leader, upon his death, Venerable Ananda approached the Buddha about taking measures to ensure it does not happen in his Sangha after the Buddha passes on.

On being informed, the Buddha inquired from Ananda whether there existed any conflict among his disciples with reference to the fundamental Buddhist teachings. “What do you think, Ananda? These things that I have taught you after directly knowing them – that is, the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right kinds of striving, the four bases for spiritual power, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven enlightenment factors, the Noble Eightfold Path – do you see even two monks who make differing assertions about these things?” Ananda assured him that there were none with regard to the fundamental teachings. But he cautioned that some monks who lived with seeming deference towards the Buddha might, after his Parinibbana, create conflicts in the community about livelihood and about the disciplinary rules.

In the Samagama Sutta the Buddha has mentioned that the disputes regarding the Vinaya (disciplinary rules related to the monks) are minor with regard to the danger. He further mentioned that if there is a dispute regarding the Dhamma it is very harmful. It’s not only harmful to the monk or layperson, but also to the deities (Sadewa Manussanan). Because the human goes to the deities.

“A dispute about livelihood or about the Patimokkha would be trifling, Ananda. But should a dispute arise in the Sangha about the path or the way, such a dispute would be for the harm and unhappiness of many, for the loss, harm, and suffering of gods and humans.”
After the demise of the Buddha, centrifugal forces soon appeared and threatened the unity of the Sangha. The Buddha’s disciples began to divide into different schools based on either disciplinary or doctrinal facts.

The initial major division within the Sangha community happened approximately 100 years after the Mahaparinibbana; monks were divided into two groups. The division was triggered by a disagreement in ten disciplinary matters. Subsequently, while the two groups were disowning each other, disunities were rampant within each sect. Theravadins got divided within themselves and ended up being 12 separate schools by the Third Century BC. Theravadins, who were to be retained by the reign of King Asoka, were the remnant group of the main body of Theravadins after the internal divisions.

The Theravada Canon was sent beyond the borders of his great Mauryan Empire under royal patronage. Among the nine expeditions, the mission led to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) by Arahath Mahinda Thera became the most fruitful. The establishment of Mahavihara (the great monastery) is attributed to the efforts of Venerable Mahinda and the patronage and foresight of the Ceylonese King Devanampiyatissa.

Ven. Maggavihari Thera further said that the Mahavihara was considered the place where the Buddhist teachings, recognized in the Third Council, were preserved in their best form. It is considered the pivot of the Theravada tradition. Today, what remains as the Canon and the Commentaries of the Theravadins is that which was maintained and spread by the Sangha of the Mahavihara in Sri Lanka. Hence, it is more accurate to address the southern Buddhist tradition as the Tradition of Mahavihara of the Theravadins.

The Theravada tradition has the unique means of interpreting the Buddha’s teachings. Theravadins are talking about a doctrine called ‘Ultimacy’. According to The Theravada doctrine, there are certain natures that exist. Citta (consciousness), Cetasika (mental factors) and Rupa (matter) are the three main ultimate realities we experience in life. These three elements are considered as the very basics of life. There is another reality called Nibbana which is not related to life and it is the freedom from suffering that is going to happen.

According to the Theravada doctrine, consciousness is a certain act of cognizing an object. Both Citta and Cetasika are called mentalities since they are related to mental acts. We call them ‘Nama’ in Pali. According to the tradition, Cetasika can never appear alone and they all bind together. The tradition recognizes 52 types of mental factors. Conciseness is something that arises and vanishes but its generation continues.

The Theravada tradition heavily emphasizes the existence of ultimate realities, a few types of ultimate natures, and states. Of these, ultimate realities which are called Parramatta dhammas are momentary. Ultimacy explained in the tradition of Theravada is the very foundation upon which its entire doctrine is based.

The Noble Truth of suffering is the mundane (lokiya) ultimate reality that is impermanent, suffering and non-self. The continuation of these troublesome realities is caused by some of the ultimate natures and realities which fall under the Second Noble Truth. The ultimate state freed from suffering and causes of suffering is the Nibbana, the Third Noble Truth. What one has to develop and achieve in order to attain this blissful state, freed from all plight, are the wholesome realities and the supra-mundane (lokuttara) path which is also ultimate entity. Conditionality explained as paticcasamuppada is also about how non-self ultimate realities continue in generations life after life.

The theory of Ultimacy is also the ground for the wisdom in Vipassana (insight meditation) to grow. What one has to abandon is ignorance towards ultimate realities, natures and states. Ignorance that should be abandoned is also an ultimate nature (anusaya). Therefore, the theory of Ultimacy can be coined as the focal point around which the entire doctrine of Theravada circulates. The taxonomy of ultimate realties, natures and states are as follows.

Sankhata paramatthas are the realities (entities) that are conditioned (arising and sustaining due to other realities) and truly exist.

Out of them, paramattha dhammas are considered ultimate entities (but not things) and they are threefold. Citta (consciousness), Cetasika (mental factors that arise together with the consciousness; there are 52 types of cetasikas), Rupa (realities that make up matter (corporeality); there are 18 types of Rupas.) Citta and Cetasika are collectively called Nama and matter is called Rupa.

They arise having not being before. These realities arise in clusters. A cluster of Citta and Cetasikas are called a Cittuppada, whereas material clusters are called Rupakalapa. These reality-clusters, as soon as they arise, vanish. But their generation continues. It means when certain realities pass away, new realities arise continuing the generation. In the generation of Nama, a new Cittuppada arises only after the previous Cittuppada has passed away. In Rupa, the new Rupakalapas arise while the old Rupakalapas are still present.

Namas always arise focusing at an object. This object that is focused on by Citta and Cetasikas are called Arammaṇa. Namas never arise without cognizing an Arammaṇa. Therefore, Namas are called Sarammaṇa – realities that cognizes an object (literary – realities that are together with an object). Different Cittuppadas take different Arammaṇa. On the other hand, Rupas do not cognize any object, therefore are called Anarammaṇa – realities which do not cognize an object (literary – realities that are without objects).

Continuation of Nama and Rupa generations is considered as the suffering in Buddhism. As long as ignorance (avijja), craving (tanha) and kamma are present as latent forces (paramatthajatika) in someone, these two generations will continue from life to life. It means as long as ignorance, craving and kamma are uneradicated, a being is bound with the suffering that is supposed to occur in lives to come.

Life is a product of a kamma done in the past. It means, that after death, the generation of Nama and Rupa continues due to the power of a past kamma. If said precisely, kamma initiates a life by producing the first Cittuppada and Rupakalapas in the new life. After the initial Cittuppadas and Rupakalapas are produced by kamma, their generations continue due to various causes among which kamma plays a significant role. A life (generation of Nama and Rupa in one life) continues as long as the power of the kamma which gave the rebirth is not exhausted or prevented.

But not every Namarupa and every incident in one’s life is caused by kamma.

Kamma is capable in producing a new life only when avijjaa and tanḥa are not eradicated. When the above causes of suffering (avijja, tanha and kamma) are removed the suffering that is supposed to happen will cease without arising. It means the person becomes free from the suffering that was supposed to occur (anuppannadukkha).

This liberation from suffering (that would have occurred) is called Nibbana. It is an ultimate state. In order to attain the Nibbana by eradicating the causes of suffering one has to undertake the threefold practice – Sila (abstaining from evil deeds done with body and speech and performing good deeds), Samadhi (attaining high concentration by suppressing mental defilements) and Panna (understanding the true nature of life, it means Nama and Rupa, and also the Nibbana).

J25.10

Fundamentals of Theravada Buddhism - Part 2

Ultimacy (Paramattha) and Concepts (Atthapannatti)

The term Ultimacy (Paramattha) conveys the existing quality of ‘an existent’ (the nature of really exiting). Ultimacy explained in Buddhist teachings is something that can be observed. It is not something completely hidden. There was a Greek Philosopher called Anaximander. He suggested that everything in the world sprung out from a quality called Aperion. He suggested that every animate and inanimate thing sprung out from this nature and this is not observable or knowable in any means. According to him, ultimacy is something which is completely hidden and only can be imagined. But according to Theravadins the reality, ultimacy is something that can be known.

Paramatthas are empirically observable and are observed by every sentient being. They are predictable in both sensory level and intellectual level. According to the Theravada Tradition, what empirically observed are the paramattha dhammas. According to Theravada, the reality can be known in various mean. Some part of the ultimacy can be known through our five sense doors while some parts of reality can only be known by our conscious mind (mind door) and some parts of reality can be known with inference (anumana). Sammutinibbana is attained by certain means. Tadanga-, vikkhambhana-, samuccheda- and nissarana-nibbana are attained only through spiritual growth.

Nevertheless, when we experience the existent, our minds tend to consider them in other ways. These considerations are the concepts (atthapannatti) we construct in our minds, based on how the existents appear to us. Then the actual existents will be veiled by these mentally constructed concepts.

Atthapannatti are the objects synthesized by our minds while we experience the ultimacy. When we have an empirical experience in the beginning, we directedly experience the Ultimacy. For instance, colour is an ultimate reality (Though colour is a secondary quality according to physics, Theravada teachings recognize it as an ultimate nature). For instance, when we look at outside world, we see the colour. But while seeing various colours we sympathize or create certain ideas such as man, woman, tree, house and animal in our minds. These ideas are concepts (atthapannatti). We tend to believe that concepts are real, and we lead our lives based on this belief. If we want to go back and understand the true nature of the world, we have to mentally break down these concepts.

Ultimacy is covered by concepts. Breaking down concepts means mentally analyzing them. I think most of you have heard in some Buddhist discourses that if we want to understand the Ultimacy we have to break down the concepts. During the intellectual analysis, the finally reached natures (or datum) that cannot be further reduced into their constitutions are called parmatthas; in other words, nature that is not made out of any other substance is called paramattha.

Paramattha Dhammas are the irreducible natures of the empirical world. Aforementioned concepts are synthetically products of the mind. They are called atthapannatti. These concepts are liable for intellectual analysis. Whatever is subject to mental analysis cannot be an irreducible datum of cognition. That which is amenable to intellectual analysis is called atthapannatti and that which defies further analysis is called paramattha.

It should also be kept in mind that paramattha dhammas are not the irreducible natures of atthapannatti, they are natures by themselves. Owing to the way they appear to our mind, we tend to consider these paramattha dhammas as atthapannatti. Atthapannatti is not made out of paramattha dhammas, it is just an idea constructed in the mind considering the way paramattha dhammas appear to us.

The five senses are never sensitive to the concepts. They are only sensitive to the Ultimacy. The sound, the colour, the smell, the taste, the touch are all ultimate realities. Scientifically these qualities are secondary. Theravadins consider these as basic qualities. Therefore, according to Theravada what we experience through the five senses is a part of the true nature of the world. Upon that experience we create certain concepts like this is my self, this is my friend. If we want to go back to ultimacy and realize the truth, we have to break down the concepts. If we analyze the body, we first come to the understanding that it is a combination of few body parts. Then we divide the body parts further and come into certain particles. Even a particle can be intellectually divided into material qualities such as hardness, cohesion, heat and coldness and the bloating nature. Likewise, during a mental analysis we end up in ultimate realities.

We normally say that ultimacy is covered in concepts. But concept is something which was created in our mind. There is nothing called a concept in the outside world. Ultimacy in the Buddhist teachings is not something like a hidden reality explained in some Greek philosophers or certain philosophical doctrines. The world is constituted with ultimate realities. What we do in Vipassana meditation is when we encounter certain objects, we try to prevent our minds from synthesizing concepts out of those objects and strive to see them as ultimate natures. When a highly developed Vipassana yogi sees colours, he considers them as mere colours but not as a being or a person.

Existents advocated by Theravadins are independent of an observer. It means they are not mere objects of the mind which can be found only while someone cognizes or thinks about them. They do exist despite the fact that they are being observed or not.

There are four modes to verify a paramattha (an ultimate existent). Any nature that fits to be verified by means of any of the below four ways should be considered as ultimate.

Parinna –Parinna is the act of knowing the unique intrinsic natures such as hardness and heat and universal natures such as impermanence, nature of suffering and being a cause for suffering and non-selfness.

When a certain object is analyzed the final quality that is known through the mind which cannot be further reduced into components is called ‘an intrinsic nature’. Such irreducible natures known withparinna are not the natures of the object which was subject to scrutiny, rather they are natures by themselves.

If characteristics of arising and vanishing (aniccalakkhana), nature of begetting suffering (dukkhalakkhana) and nature of following the natural phenomenon (unable to be controlled) (anattalakkhana) are found in any object, it, too, is considered an ‘ultimate reality.’ These universal characteristics are found in nature only if they exist.

Bhavana – Bhavana is the act of developing certain natures intensifying their capacity (ability).

If the capacity of any nature can be developed, that nature is an existent. The reason is that to be developed, that nature should have a capacity in its ability and in order to have an ability it should exist in the first place.

Pahana – Pahana is the act of abandoning of certain natures by means of developing or arousing natures opposite to it or by removing their causes.

If a nature can be abandoned, it should exist in the first place. There is no possibility of abandoning something that does not exist.

Sacchikarana – Sacchikarana is the act of attaining an existing state with mind (mentalities) and body (corporeal realities)

What is attained is a state. If a certain state is attained, that state should be experienced either with body or mind. To be attained, the state should exist in the first place.

Classification of Paramattha

Mainly paramattha can be classified into two groups.

Sankhataparamattha (conditionedparamattha) - An existent that depends upon other existents for its existence is called a sankhataparamattha; such an existent either arises and persists or remains unabandoned due to other existents (conditions).

[It should be kept in mind that conditioned realities, i.e., sankhataparamattha, can be further classified into two groups as pure conditioned realities (suddha-sa?khataparamattha) and realties that are related to conditioned realties but not exactly conditioned realities (sankhatajatikaparamattha)].

For instance, for the arising and persisting of eye-consciousness (cakkhuvinna?a) eye-sensitivity (cakkhuppasada) is a necessary condition, so eye-consciousness is a conditioned reality. Craving (tanha) remains unabandoned within sentient beings as long as ignorance (avijja) is not abandoned. Therefore, latent craving is a conditioned reality. Moreover, beings are bound to suffer with aggregates that are possible to occur in future as long as defilements are not abandoned. Hence, non-arisen aggregates are considered conditioned realities.

Asankhataparamattha (unconditionedparamattha) - An existent that does not depend upon other existents for its existence is called asankhataparamattha.

Sankhataparamattha are fourfold as
1. Paramattha Dhamma,
2. Uppadino Dhamma,
3. Paramatthajatika, and
4. Anuppanna Dhamma.

What are Paramattha Dhammas?

A reality that has an intrinsic nature and arises together with some other realities which also possess their own intrinsic natures is called a paramattha dhamma. Though paramatth dhamas arise in clusters, they are ‘separate entities.’

[This explanation was given by Venerable Ladi Sayadaw who lived in the late 19th Century and beginning of the 20th Century. But the fact is formed with information found in the Theravada Literature].

Here the adjective ‘separate’ conveys the meaning that a nature to be considered as a paramaththa dhamma it should possess a unique intrinsic characteristic and perform a unique function which distinguishes it from other natures with different intrinsic characteristics and functions. Moreover, a reality should also have its own arising different from other natures which bear the same intrinsic characteristic and function but arise in different clusters.

However, it should be noted that all the co-arising natures in the reality-cluster have the same ‘arising.’; of a cluster of natures that arise together, each nature does not have a separate individual ‘arising’ as they possess individual intrinsic characteristics.

To simplify this idea, realties in different clusters have different arisings even they possess the same intrinsic nature like pathavi (hardness) in to corporeal-clusters. Realities in the same realty-cluster are different from each other only in terms of their intrinsic nature, they all possess the same arising.

For instance, vinnana (consciousness) is a paramattha dhamma, because it has its own intrinsic nature of knowing an object and it arises together with cetasikas (mental factors) which also have their unique intrinsic natures. The intrinsic nature of vinnana is different from its associating cetasikas. Moreover, a single vinnana in a mental cluster has its own arising which is different from that of other vinnanas in different mental clusters.

Another example is pathavi (hardness). Pathavi has its own intrinsic characteristic of ‘hardness’ and it arises together with three other great elements of materiality, that is to say, apo (cohesion), tejo (heat) and vayo (pushing nature), which have their peculiar intrinsic characteristics. Moreover, pathavi which arises in a one single corporeal cluster has its unique arising which is different from that of pathavi arising in other corporeal clusters. Hence, pathavi is a paramattha dhamma.

However, in the Uppada Samyutta, the Buddha mentions about the separate arising of mentalities and corporeal elements. This does not mean that he advocated separate arising for mentalities or material realities which arise in the same group. As Venerable Ladi Sayadaw suggests, as an ox that belongs to a group of three people can be referred as ‘the ox of Tissa’, ‘the ox of Datta’ and ‘the ox of Mitta’ individually, in that same manner, it is possible to mention the arising of each mental and corporeal elements individually, but it does not indicate that mentalities that arise in a group have separate arisings.

Paramattha Dhammas are mainly twofold as nama (mentalities) and rupa (material realities).

Nama is again twofold as citta and cetasika

Citta, vinnana, mano or manasa (consciousness) which is a one type of mentality. Consciousness is explained to be 89 (or 121) in the Theravada Abhidhamma.

Cetasiaka are the mental factors that arise together with consciousness. They are 52 in number.

Rupa are the material realities. They are 18 in number. Ten anipphannarupas (material which are not concretely produced by causes) are not considered as ultimate realities in the Theravada Tradition.

Paramattha Dhammas are mere natures or qualities that are existent (that really exist). In the Theravada Tradition, they are not things or substances that consume a space and have a shape, like Electrons, Taos, Muons, Neutrinos or Quacks.

Each paramattha dhamma has its unique intrinsic nature or characteristic (lakkana) and unique function (kiccarasa). For instance, the characteristic of moha (ignorance) is the blindness or not knowing the actual nature of an object. The function of the moha is to cover the true nature of an object to the mind. Giving another example, the characteristic of pathavi is hardness, whereas, its function is becoming a surface like support for other associating material realities.

Sub-characteristics and sub-functions are also found, especially in mentalities.

Some cittas and cetasikas have a quality called kusala (wholesome nature), while some have the quality called akusala (unwholesome nature). It means, while all cittas has their basic characteristic of ‘knowing an object’; some cittas possess the characteristic of ‘wholesomeness’ (the nature being free from faults and suitable to be praised) and some unwholesomeness (the nature of being with faults and suitable to be dispraised). These two qualities of kusala and akusala can be said as secondary to the basic characteristics of citta (to know an object) and the cetasikas (their unique characteristics).

As another example for secondary functions, let’s look at ignorance, moha, and unwholesome mental factor. In addition to its basic function of covering the true nature of an object to the mind, moha also has the secondary functions of ‘fettering the beings to the round of rebirth’ (samyojanakicca), ‘following the mind stream when not removed by noble paths (anusayakicca) and ‘hindering the arising of wholesome minds’ (nivaranakicca), ‘defiling the mind’ (kilesanakicca) and ‘fully overwhelming the mind like a flood’ (oghakicca).

Aparamattha dhamma is not a thing that bears its intrinsic characteristic.

According to Theravada, there is no duality between the paramattha dhamma and its intrinsic nature; there is no dichotomy which distinguishes the reality from its nature, the bearer and the borne. A paramattha dhamma itself is the intrinsic characteristic. The usage, “hardness is the characteristic of pathavi” is for sole purpose of facilitating the grasp of the idea to be conveyed.

The idea of considering paramattha dhammas as existent can be verified with evidence fetched from the Canon itself.

In number of Suttas the Buddha mentions rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara and vinnana to be dukkha (natures that bring suffering). When it is mentioned in Suttas as “Rupamdukkham” and “Vedanadukkha” usage of similar nominal case endings in rupa and dukkha and vedana and dukkha suggests that the terms are in apposition. It means what is referred to by the term rupa is the same that is referred to by the word dukkha. The same should be understood with regard to the other two terms vedana and dukkha.

Then, in the Acelakassapa Sutta, when being questioned by Acelakassapa whether there is no dukkha “Kim nu kho, bho Gotama, natthidukkham?”, “Venerable Gotama, isn’t there dukkha?”, the Buddha gave a direct answer as “Na kho, Kassapa, natthidukkham. Atthikho, Kassapa, dukkham”, “Kassapa, it is not that there is no dukkha. There is, indeed, dukkha”.

It is flagrant that the Buddha advocated the existence of dukkha and, also, propounded that what he considered as dukkha are the five aggregates, which in turn leads to the notion that five aggregates do exist according to him. Five aggregates are the citta, cetasika and rupa (vedanakkhandha, sannakkhandha and sankharakkhandha constitute the cetasikas, whereas citta represents vinnanakkhanadha and rupa the rupakkhandha).

J25.11

Fundamentals of Theravada Buddhism - Part 3

Out of the fourfold Sankhata Paramatthas, Paramattha Dhammas are significant. The remaining three, Uppadino Dhamma (Uppadi-Dhamma), Paramatthajatika and Anuppanna Dhamma are certain states of Paramattha Dhammas. They are vital in understanding the phenomenon of samsara and the nature and attainment of Nirvana.

Uppadino Dhammas

When someone has done either a good or a bad deed (a kamma) its karmic energy implants into the mindstream of the doer and follows the mindstream. In other words, the karmic energy follows the doer of the deed. The Buddha uttered this phenomenon in the Dhammapada.

Na hi kammam katanpapan – sajjukhiram’vamuccati
Dahantam balamanveti – bhasmcchanno’vpavako

As the milk of a cow does not turn into curd as soon as it has been milked, the evil deed done by a fool follows him or her like blazing charcoal covered with ashes.

This karmic force or karmic energy is an ultimate nature (paramattha), but not designated as a paramattha dhamma since it has not come into the stages of genesis (uppada), persisting (thiti) and vanishing (bhanga).

Any kamma that has been done needs to find an opportunity (okasa) to produce its results. A kamma that has gained the opportunity to yield its results is called laddhokasakamma – ‘a karmic energy that has gained the opportunity’. In some places, it is also addressed as okasakatakamma – ‘a karmic energy that has made the opportunity [to give its results]’.

Resultant mentalities (Vipakacittas and cetasikas) and kamma-born matter (matter produced by kamma) that would arise as results of a kamma that has gained the opportunity are not considered as non-existents. It is owing to the fact that the cause of these resultant realities has already gained the opportunity to yield its outcomes (that is to say the resultant realities). As these resultant realities are going to arise, they are considered existing prior to their arising. Such unborn realities are called uppadino dhamma [uppadidhamma].

According to this notion, when a certain kamma has given a rebirth in a particular life, all the bhavangacittas (life-continuum) and the cuticitta (death-consciousness) that are bound to arise are considered existing even before they have arisen. This is one of the fundamental notions that the Buddha used in delivering the Potthapada Sutta.

Titthate’vasayan, potthapada, arupiattasannamyo, athaimassapurisassaannasannauppajjati, anna ca sannanirujjhati.

"Potthapada, while the immaterial self produced by perception exists, a different perception arises and vanishes to that person”.

The ‘immaterial self produced by perception’ referred in the sutta is the bhavangacitta of an arupa being (a being born in the immaterial realm). When another perception has arisen, the bhavangacitta has already vanished. But the Buddha considered the bhavanga existing, since when the new perception has passed away, a new bhavangacitta of similar nature will surely arise. The certainty of the arising of these new bhavangacittas is due to the fact that the kamma which produces them has already gained the opportunity. Therefore, bhavangacittas that are bound to arise are considered ‘existing.’

The existing nature of uppadino dhamma is their bounded nature to arise due to their cause (kamma) having gained the opportunity to yield the results. This nature of existing should not be mingled with the nature of having come into any of the three phases uppada (genesis), thiti (persisting) and bhanga (vanishing).

The resultant realities of a kamma that has gained the opportunity are named uppadino dhamma before their arising. However, when they have arisen, it means when they have come into the stages of genesis (uppada), persisting (thiti) and vanishing (bhanga), they are called paramattha dhammas.

These realities before their arising can be called anagata (future) realities considering their moment of arising and existing as paramattha dhammas in future. At the same time, when focusing on their nature of being a potency, that potency is not possible to be termed as atita (past), anagata (future) or paccuppanna (prezA fine example for the functioning of a laddhokasa kamma is the manifestation of threefold signs, i.e., kamma, kammanimitta and gatinimitta, at the proximity of death.

Moreover, a kamma that has gained the opportunity can sometimes be prevented from resulting. The stories of the father of Ven. Sona and King Dutthagamini Abhaya are fine examples for instances in which a laddhokasa kamma has been inhibited from giving its results.

A laddhokasa kamma can sometimes be prevented from yielding its results by being overcome by another kamma. Therefore, both these kammas and their results can be abandoned, hence fit to be designated as an ultimate nature.

Paramatthajatika

Paramatthajatika are the natures that do exist, but have not come into the stages of uppada, thiti or bhanga together with other realities. Therefore, they are not designated as paramattha dhammas.

They are potential natures that will arise as paramattha dhammas should the conditions gather. Some of these natures listed in the literature are: Anusaya (latent defilements), Vasana (potency of habits caused by defilements), Kammasatti (force of the kamma that remains after it vanishes), Kammasamangita (the karmic force which is capable of producing rebirths), Carita (force of the past kammas), Asaya (abode of the mind), and Adhimutta (inclination of the mind).

These natures exist associating the mental stream of beings. Here, associating the mindstream does not imply that they are connected with the mind like citta and cetasikas are connected with each other (nasampayuttabhavena). Moreover, while being potent, they cannot be observed as separate entities such as citta, cetasika and rupa.

According to the information found in the literature of Theravada, these potential realities cannot be directly observed by savakas. These natures are certain stages of some mentalities.

Natures mentioned above, at their stage of being a paramatthajatika do possess conspicuously different features from their stage of being paramatthadhammas, but within the tradition, they are not expressed as entirely different paramattha-realities from paramatthadhammas. In other words, paramatthajatika are certain stages of some mental paramatthadhammas. Therefore, paramatthajatikas are referred to with the same terminologies used for their respective paramatthadhammas. For example, according to the Theravadins, what arises as the mental factor called dosa is the same dosa which existed as a latent tendency.

Even a particular kammasatti is addressed with the name of the past kamma to which it belongs. It means the kammasatti of a kamma of killing (pauatipatakamma) is referred as a kamma of killing.

The existing nature of paramatthajatikas can be known by the effect they make upon the mindstream of beings. For instance, the effects of latent ignorance (anusayamoha) can be seen by the fact that they cause javanacetanas to be kammas that bear results in future. Vasanakilesa (potency of habits caused by defilements) present in arahants’ mindstream shapes some of their behaviours to be of certain manners as if done with unwholesome intentions. Kammasamangita coming forth to give rebirth influences the mind to be either wholesome or unwholesome presenting any of the three signs i.e., kamma, kammanimitta (sign of kamma) or gatinimitta (sign of the immediate destination).

Out of the group of paramatthajatikas, anusaya and vasana are considered existing as long as they are not eradicated by noble paths (vasana is eradicated by the noble path of a Sammasambuddha), whereas kammasamangita is taken as existing as long as it has the ability to produce rebirths due to the support of latent defilements.

The existing nature of latent defilements was clearly expressed in the Mahamalukyaputta Sutta in Majjhima Nikaya. There, the Buddha mentioned beings are bound to the sensual realm due to the existence of five strengthened latent unwholesome natures – self-view (sakkayaditthi), sceptical doubt (vicikiccha), adherence to wrong rights and rituals (silabbataparamasa), sensual desire (kamaraga) and anger (patigha). At the same time, he pointed out that advocating the defilements which arise in the mindstream (obsessive defilements/ pariyutthanakilesa) as the cause of bonding to the samsara would lead to the censure of adheres of other religious beliefs.

Paramatthajatikas are very similar to present (paccuppanna) realities, hence called paccuppannasamanna. Ven. Ledi Sayadaw suggests that these natures, during the stage of being a potency, depict close resemblance to paccuppanna realities, but should not be considered as exact paccupanna, because at that level they have not come into the stages of arising, persisting or vanishing. Hence are given the name paccuppannasamanna – similar to paccuppanna realities. Another reason to consider them as paccuppannasamanna should be their nature of affecting the mindstream greatly.

Most paramatthajatikas can be abandoned, hence falling into the category of ultimacy (paramattha-natures). For instance, latent defilements can be fully eradicated with noble paths and the kammasamangita (the ability of the kamma to give a rebirth) can be made infertile by eradicating its supporting causes, the latent ignorance and latent craving. However, when paramatthajatikas arise (come into the stages of uppada, thiti and bhanga) they are called paramatthadhammas. However, when paramatthajatikas arise (come into the stages of uppada, thiti and bhanga) they are called paramatthadhammas.

Anuppanna Dhamma

Anuppanna dhamma means realities that are possible to arise due to prevailing causes. These realities are not considered as not existing even before their arising, since they are bound to arise should the conditions prevail. For instance, the nama and rupa that are possible to happen in following lives due to the prevalence of uneradicated defilements and kamma in a certain mindstream are considered existing because the particular being is not freed from them. Such mind and matter that are bound to arise are called anuppanna realities within the Theravada tradition.

The existing nature of anuppanna realities of a particular living being should be understood by the fact that that being is not freed from those realities (realities that would arise). The existing nature of anuppanna realties has been clearly expressed in the NakhasikhaSutta. In the discourse, the Buddha gave a simile for the remnant and eradicated suffering of a stream-enterer (sotapanna). According to him, the suffering a sotapanna has eradicated is similar to the soil on the entire Earth while the quantity of suffering left in a stream-enterer, within the following seven lives as long as the remaining paths have not yet been attained, is like a lump of soil taken on to the Buddha’s nail. This simile clearly amounts to the idea that what the Buddha has considered as the noble truth of suffering is not only the miseries that have arisen but also the non-arisen large mass of suffering from which a being is not freed (non-arisen suffering). This non-arisen suffering is the nama and rupa that are supposed to arise if the conditions for their arising prevails. The existing nature of anuppanna realities should not be misunderstood with the existing nature of paramattha dhammas.

Anuppanna dhammas can be exhaustively classified into the following five groups.
1. Uppadinodhamma – Kamma-born realities that are supposed to arise due to their kammas have gained the opportunity to yield results.
2. Aladdhokasa-anuppanna-kammajadhamma – Non-arisen kamma-born realities of kammas that have not gained the opportunity to yield results.
3. Paccuppannabhava-appahina-akusaladhamma – Unwholesome realities of this life that are not eradicated and would arise if the conditions gather.
4. Paccuppannabhava-anupadinna-asnkilittha-anuppannadhamma – Non-kamma-born and undefiled (not akusala realities) realities that are supposed to arise in the present life; That means the wholesome (kusala) and functional(kiriya) minds and mental factors, mind-born matter (cittajarupa), heat-or-cold- born matter (utujarupa) and nutriment-born matter (aharajarupa) that can arise in the present life (but have not arisen yet).
5. Avasesa-anuppannadhamma – All non-arisen realities other than the above four groups. While attaining Nibbana by the eradication of defilements by noble paths, beings become freed from some of the above mentioned anuppanna realities.

If these realities arise, at that time, they are called paramattha dhammas. Before arising as paramattha dhammas, at the level of being a potential to arise in the future, these natures are neither called atita, nor anagata, nor did paccuppanna, since they do not fit to be designated so. But they are similar to future realities, hence called anagatasamanna.

In general, anuppanna dhamma covers all non-arisen realities. It even includes uppadino dhamma and paramatthajatika.

18 12 2021 - Daily News

J25.12

Fundamentals of Theravada Buddhism - Part 4

Asankhataparamattha

Realities that do not require the support of other realities for their existence are called asankhataparamattha. Asankhataparamatthas are states (avattha bhumi). These states do not have the characteristics of conditioned realities – sankhatalakkhana. They do not possess the three characteristics of jati (arising), jara (alternation during the state of persisting) and marana (vanishing), hence, are permanent, have existed forever and will exist forever. Moreover, they do not have the three stages of existence, uppada (arising), thiti (phase of persisting) and bhanga (vaya) (vanishing). Though these states do not have a persisting stage called thiti, they do exist (vijjamana).

The Buddha uttered the existence of the unconditioned state in the Tatiyanibbanapatisamyutta Sutta of Udana Pali.
“Atthi, bhikkhave, ajatam abhutam akatam asankhatam ...”

Monks, there is a reality that is not born, not happened, not done, not made out of causes (unconditioned) ...

Since they do not come into the three stages of uppada, thiti and bhanga, unconditioned states cannot be distinguished either as past (atita), present (paccuppanna) or future (anagata), hence are called kalamuttaka (time-freed) – a reality that has arisen and passed away is called atita (past), a reality that has arisen but has not passed away yet is called paccuppanna (present) and a reality that has not arisen yet is called anagata (future).

Another way of referring to these unconditioned states is as the cessation of the suffering that would have arisen had the condition prevailed. In this regard of being the cessation, these states are called Nibbana, ‘ceasing or cessation of the suffering.’ This is a cessation of the sufferings before its arising, hence called anuppadanirodha – ‘cessation of the non-arisen suffering’.

At the same time, Nibbana is the state of being freed from the suffering that would have been confronted had the causes prevailed; hence, Nibbana is called vimutti – ‘the liberation.’ As one abandons various types of suffering by attaining these unconditioned states either temporarily or permanently, they are also called pahana.

As late Rerukane Chandawimala Mahathera has put forth, there are five types of such states propounded in the Theravada tradition.

1. Sammutinibbana
2. Tadanganibbana, tadangavimutti or tadangappahana
3. Vikkhambhananibbana, vikkhambhanavimutti or vikkhambhanappahana
4. Samucchedanibbana, samucchedavimutti or samucchedappahana
5. Nissarananibbana, nissaranavimutti or nissaranappahana

Sammutinibbana is the temporary freedom from the sufferings of the world such as pain, fear, cruelty of others and sickness, which have not yet been confronted. This freedom of troubles was explained in the verse which Kisagotami the Sakyan princess uttered to the Bodhisattva on his last day in the household – “Nibbuta nuna sa mata …”.

Tadanganibbana is the temporary cessation of certain defilements or temporary freedom from certain defilements due to the arising of opposite wholesome mentalities. It is the calm state the mind stream attains while developing wholesome qualities. This sort of Nibbana has been discussed in the Tadanganibbana Sutta of Anguttara Nikaya and Sallekha Sutta of Majjhima Nikaya. This Nibbana is attained by suppressing various defilements with wholesome qualities which are opposite to them, hence called tadanganibbana – “tena tena angena nibbanam tadanganibbanam”.

The term tadangappahanacan also be used to refer to this state. Vikkhambhananibbana is the temporary cessation or temporary freedom from defilements that have been strongly suppressed by mundane absorption (lokiyajjhana) and jhana - factors and various perceptions (sanna) of lower lokiyajjhanas that have been abandoned by higher jhanas. This sort of Nibbana has been referred in the Navakanipata of the Anguttara Nikaya with the terms sanditthikanibbana, nibbana, parinibbana, tadanganibbana and ditthadhammanibbana. A synonym for this nibbana is vikkhambhanappahana.

Samucchedanibbana is the permanent cessation or permanent freedom from defilements that have been eradicated by noble paths. Cessation of defilements happening due to noble paths is the same Nibbana that has been praised by Buddhas. Thus, it is stated in the commentary of Itivuttaka – “Yo ragakkhayo’ti ragassa khinakaro abhavo accantamanuppado”– “That which is called ragakkhaya is the nature of being exhausted, absence, and permanent non-arising of lust”. Samucchedanibbana can be referred as samucchedappahana as well.

Nissarananibbana is the liberation from all sorts of conditioned realities. It is also the cessation of non-arisen aggregates and of the non-arisen defilements. It is also referred with the term nissaranappahana. In terms of realities, samucchedanibbana and nissarananibbana are identical.

Anipphannarupa

There are four major causes that produce matter – kamma, citta (mind together with mental factors), utu (the element of tejo) and oja (the nutriment element). Matters that are directly produced by any of the above causes are called nipphannarupa (concretely produced matter). There are a few material attributes explained in the doctrine of Theravadins as matter, but are not concretely produced by any of the four causes. They are called anipphannarupas (corporeality not concretely produced by any of the four major causes).

Anipphannarupas are not considered as paramattha dhammas. Still, they cannot be termed as concepts (pannatti) as well. Anipphannarupas are related to concretely produced matter (nipphannarupa) in certain ways.

1. Akasadhatu (paricchedarupa) – This is the gap between two rupakalapas (tiniest clusters of matter); avoid region that delimits and separates groups of corporeal clusters; Also, it is the limit or boarder of a kalapa which separates one kalapa from another
2. Kayavinnatti – Bodily intimation.
3. Vacivinnatti – Verbal intimation.
4. Rupassalahuta – Lightness of four great elements which arises due to mentalities, elements of tejo and nutriment. This lightness is just a mode of the four elements. When this mode is present, a person can feel as his body is light.
5. Rupassamuduta – Malleability of four great elements which arises due to mentalities, elements of tejo and nutriment. This softness is just a mode of the four elements. When this mode is present, a person can move his limbs more easily.
6. Rupassakammannata – Wieldiness of four great elements which arises due to mentalities, elements of tejo and nutriment. This wieldiness is just a mode of the four elements. When this mode is present, a person can work effectively.
7. Upacaya – Initial genesis of matter (in corporeal clusters – rupakalapas) in a material process.
8. Santati – Repeated genesis of matter (in corporeal clusters – rupakalapas) in a material process.
9. Jarata – Aging or maturating of matter (in corporeal clusters – rupakalapas)
10. Aniccata – Breaking up or vanishing of matter (in corporeal clusters – rupakalapas)

Ekacce Paccaya Satti (Forces of Certain Causes)

Paccaya Satti is the ability of a cause to produce or support its effects. A cause and its ability in producing or supporting its effects are not identical. Ability of a cause to support its effect is an attribute of the cause distinguished from the cause itself. However, in some places of the doctrine, a cause and its ability have been considered identical since the ability cannot be found apart from the cause it is related to.

There are few causal forces which can be understood as existing even after the vanishing of the causes they belong to.
1. Anantara Paccaya Satti
2. Asevanapaccayasatti
3. Pakatupanissayapaccayasatti

Anantara Paccaya Satti

Anantara Paccaya is the mental cluster that has passed away having supported the arising of the immediately preceding mental cluster. A mental cluster arises from the edge of an already existing mental stream. Mentalities cannot arise unconnected to an already existing generation of minds. All mentalities in a mental cluster perform the act of cognizing an object. This immaterial act of cognition has a momentum-like speed which known asarammanaggahanavega. Though the act of cognition vanishes its momentum-like speed does not cease immediately. The speed disappears only after having supported another act of cognition. Arising of another act of cognition means arising of another mental cluster. This momentum-like speed of the immediately preceding mental cluster which causes the arising of the immediately proceeding mental cluster is called the anantara paccaya satti.

There are two occasions during which the mind stream of a living being shall cease temporarily. That is during a life in the Brahma world called asannasatta and while a noble being has entered the attainment of cessation called nirodhasamapatti. According to Theravada teachings, the death consciousness in the life before an asannasatta birth and the rebirth consciousness in the life following an asannasatta death are related with the anantarapaccayasatti. It means the momentum-like speed of the death consciousness in the life before an asannasatta birth ceases only after having caused thearising of the rebirth consciousness in the life after an asannasatta death. The same phenomenon should be understood with regard to the relationship between the final consciousness (nevasannanasannayatanakusalacitta or kiriyacitta) before entering the attainment of cessation and the initial consciousness (arahatta or anagamiphalacitta) while emerging from the attainment of cessation.

Asevanapaccayasatti

There are fifty-five types of mental clusters that are powerful over other remaining mental clusters. These mentalities are called javanacittuppada. Special power of javana mentalities is called the javanasatti. Javanasatti of wholesome (kusala), unwholesome (akusala) and functional (kiriya)javanacittuppadas passes into immediately following javana mentalities and intensifies their strength. Therefore, the javanasatti is also called asevanapaccayasatti. It means even after a cluster of javana mentalities ceases its javanasatti remains and causes the arising of the immediately following cluster of javana mentalities with higher level of strength. As a result, the immediately following javana mentalities become more powerful than previous javana mentalities.

However, due to the working of the law of impermanence within a mental process, after the fourth javanacittuppada, the strength of javanacittuppadas starts to drop down. The javanasatti of the final javanacittuppada in a mind process (cittavithi) does not strengthen the following non-javanacittuppada.

Pakatupanissayapaccayasatti

Pakatupanissayapaccaya is normally rendered into English as realities that become the ‘strong necessary support’ for thearising of other mentalities. There are various aspects of these conditioning realities. Here the attention is given only to mental realities that act as habitual support for the arising of similar mentalities. When certain wholesome, unwholesome or functional mental clusters arise they leave behind a certain habitual impact within the mind stream. This impact causes the arising of similar mentalities in future. A similar impact is left behind when the mind takes a certain object very well with strong attention. As a result, the mind stream tends to regularly move towards that well-known object. It means mental clusters happen to arise taking the object that has been known with higher attention. This habitual impact laid down by wholesome, unwholesome and functional mentalities within a mind stream is called pakatupanissayapaccayasatti.

All the foregone paccaya forces do exist apart from the pacayas to whom they belong. These forces should not be designated as paramattha dhammas as they are not separate entities with rising and vanishing. At the same time, they are not concepts synthesized by the mind as well.

Three Universal Characteristics

There are three characteristics common to all conditioned realities (sankhataparamatthadhammas). They are called ‘the universal characteristics related to conditioned realities.’ Universal characteristics are phenomena (dhammata), not realities. The three are as below.

1. Aniccalakkhana –nature of a conditioned reality to vanish having arisen due to causes (conditions)
2. Dukkhalakkhana –nature of conditioned realities to beget mental and physical
suffering
3. Anattalakkhana – uncontrollable nature of conditioned realities or the nature of conditioned realities due to which they do not behave according to the wish of a person.

A point worthy paying attention here is the difference between intrinsic characteristics and universal characteristics of conditioned realities. Reality and its intrinsic characteristic are identical. It means the intrinsic characteristic of a reality is the reality itself. There is no duality between the characteristic and the reality. However, universal characteristics are not identical with the reality they are related to.

Though universal characteristics cannot be found apart from conditioned realities in terms of ultimacy they are different from each other.

For instance, the intrinsic nature of pathavi is hardness. In the ultimate sense hardness is pathavi.

But the aniccalakkhana of pathavi, it means its nature of vanishing having arisen is not identical with pathavi. The intrinsic nature of vedana is to taste the flavour of an object. In the ultimate sense, the act of tasting the flavour of an object itself is vedana. But the dukkhalakkhana of vedana, that is to say, the vedana’s nature of begetting mental and physical suffering is not identical with feeling.

Though these universal characteristics are not identical with the realities they are related to they cannot be found apart from realities. Aniccalakkhana, dukkhalakkhana and anattalakkhana are not realities (dhamma) but phenomena (dhammata).

On the other hand, the terms anicca, dukkha and anatta are used to refer to realities, not to phenomena. Relationship of a reality and its universal characteristics should be understood as follows.

1. Anicca and aniccalakkhana refer to two different meanings. A reality that undergoes the phenomenon of aniccalakkhana is called anicca.
2. Dukkha and dukkhalakkhana refer to two different meanings. A reality that undergoes the phenomenon of dukkhalakkhana is called dukkha.
3. Anatta and anattalakkhana refer to two different meanings. A reality that undergoes the phenomenon of anattalakkhana is called anatta.

17 01 2022 - Daily News

J25.13

Fundamentals of Theravada Buddhism - Part 5

Gati/ Bhava/ Bhumi - According to Theravada tradition, we can observe three specific definitions for Gati.

The states of life

1. Kamma-born realities that arise in the life of a certain being.
According to Theravada, a living being can be reduced to a generation of nama and rupa that has occurred as a result of a past kamma. Realities in a life can be divided into two main categories: realities that are directly produced by kamma (kamma-born realities) and those that are not directly produced by kamma. The term gati specifically refers to kamma-born realities.

Kamma-born realities play a pivotal role in the life of a living being. All sorts of consciousness (except that of beings born in arupa realms) arise associating a group of kamma-born matter called vatthurupas. Generation of bhavanga consciousness (stream of life-continuum consciousness) facilitates the unbroken continuation of the mind stream (citta santati) within one life.

2. The land or the space where a being related to a particular realm is born into.
The second definition of gati is the area or realm where certain beings are born. This is also referred to as sanjatigati. For instance, Mother Earth is the sanjatigati of humans and sanjatigatis of various deities, according to Theravada, are located in the sky at specific distances from the Earth.

3. As a phenomenon or a state.
The third definition of gati can be named as a phenomenon due to which beings who are born in a certain realm happen to possess unique physical and mental attributes and capacities different from beings of other realms.

Beings who are born in a particular realm share similar characteristics. For instance, humans generally possess the characteristic of higher intelligence, animals have the three common qualities of eating, sleeping and having sex and beings of tusita realm are said to be dwelling with immense joy. While the body of brahmas in the three first-jhana realms are different from each other, all brahmas in each higher realm possess similar physical figures. Possession of certain shared mental and physical traits by beings who are born into a particular realm suggest postulating a phenomenon which affects the 31 realms. This phenomenon is called yoniniyama.

For instance, the main activities of animals, according to Buddha, are eating, sleeping and having sex. Being animals, they cannot achieve intellectual development. Even if they do, there will always be limitations. In contrast, generally, humans possess sharp minds. They can do various types of wholesome and unwholesome deeds and the strength of these deeds are higher than those of animals. That is the reason why, according to the tradition, even if an animal kills its parents, that deed of killing is not counted as an anantariyakamma.

On the other hand, when a human kills his or her parents, the same act is considered an ananthariyakamma. The distinction lies between the difference of sharpness and bluntness of human and animal minds respectfully.

It is also mentioned that the human mind is even sharper than that of divine beings. But in terms of the swiftness of knowledge, deities surpass humans. Capacities and abilities of the mind of the same being (conventionally) who is wandering in the round of rebirths (samsara) dramatically fluctuate due to the realm he or she is born into. Even a great Bodhisattva’s mind is sharper when he is born as a human rather than a deity or an animal.

There are five types of gatis mentioned in the Theravada tradition.
1. Niraya – hell
2. Tiracchana - animal kingdom
3. Peta - hungry ghosts’ realm (They greatly suffer due to the evil deeds did in their past lives)
4. Manussa - human realm
5. Deva – realm of deities and brahmas

The Commentary on Digha Nikaya quotes Venerable Mahasiva: “Kammanhi yoniyam khipati, yonisiddha ime satta nana vanna honti” – “The kamma directs (puts/ throws) beings into the yoni. The yoni makes the beings to be of various appearances and capacities”. This statement suggests a state called “yoni” which determines the commonly-shared appearance and capacities of beings in a particular realm.

The ultimate nature of the third aspect of gati can be verified with the information found within the tradition. On one hand, within the Theravada literature, the number of realms is exclusively defined as 31. On the other hand, the nature of kamma (cetana) can vary within a large swath of capacity and energy based on the diversity of its associating mentalities, effects of the past habits (asevana and upanissaya) and the nature of latent defilements (anusaya). When given the fact that immensely diverse kammas can lead to cause rebirths only in 31 planes of existence, what comes to the surface is a phenomenon of uniformity. It means, as for the tradition, whatever kammas living beings will do, despite its extremely high diversity, all of them will be born only within the 31 planes. There will be no 32nd type of existence.

This idea can be compared with the quantum phenomenon associated with electrons and their shells. Areas where electrons can be found are called electron shells. An electron jumps from one shell to another when its energy increases or decreases.

Regardless of the amount of energy increased or decreased, an electron can only be found in any of the shells related to that particular atom (number of shells in an atom is determined by the number of protons it has).

An electron is never found in between shells. In the same manner, regardless of the diversity of kamma, beings are only born within the 31 planes of existence. As there is an ultimate quality to be named as an electron shell owing to the charge of protons, there should be, from the Theravada standpoint, some state that can be coined as gati.

Therefore, it seems that gati, in this sense, can also be termed as a state apart from being a phenomenon. Venerable Mahasiva referred to this state or phenomenon as yoni.

16 02 2022 - Daily News

J25.14

Fundamentals of Theravada Buddhism - Part 6

Ajatakasa (Space) and Rupaparicchedokasa (Gap between Kalapas)

Space, ajatakasa is infinite and has no temporal beginning or end according to Theravada explanations. It is the empty space where all conditioned realities are located. This idea contradicts with the latest theory of Big History according to which the Universe originated with the Big Bang. Both Time and Space, which is called Space-time, according to Einstein, occurred with it. However, as Theravadins concern, space has no beginning nor end.

Within the Theravada, ajatakasa is not considered as an ultimate reality, but Paramatthadipani states that it appears to be something that exists. According to the commentary on Kathavatthu,ajatakasa is a concept (atthapannatti).

Is Ajatakasa a concept? Can it not be the mere absence of physical objects? If there is no space, conditioned realities would not have the opportunity to arise. If we focus on rupas, one kalapa will not be able to occur in a location that has been occupied by another kalapa. For a kalapa to occur there should be a free space. That space which facilitates the arising of conditioned realities is called the ajatakasa. Ajatakasa has to be something that has been existing prior to conditioned realities. In this regard, it is not a mere object synthesized by mind looking into the gaps between physical objects.

If Ajatakasa is an atthapannatti (concept), following questions can be raised?

* First, on which basis do we observe empty space? It is not easy to postulate such a phenomenon based on which we may observe empty space as a mentally synthesized object (pannatti).
* Second, if ajatakasa is a concept how could it be that space above and under the mother Earth is considered infinite in the Dhammasangani commentary? The Commentary Dhammasangani mentions the space above and under Earth to be infinite.
* Third, if ajatakasa is not existing physical objects are constant as there cannot be any gap between kalapas. Is it accurate to consider so? It is very clear that physical objects are not constant, and they do have gaps between each other.
* Fourth, how could the phenomenon of proportional increase of pressure with the reduction of volume of a body of air which has a constant number of particles be explained, if space is just a conceptual object synthesized by mind? If space is merely a concept, such an increase of pressure would not be possible.

Evidence, within the tradition, supports the claim for ajatakasa to be something existing. Therefore, some Theravada scholars such as late Most Ven. Rerukane Chandawimale Thera has considered ajatakasa to be existing even the commentary on Kathavatthu has mentioned it to be a concept. But the Thera has stated that ajatakasa has not been considered as a paramatthadhamma within the Theravada tradition. That is mainly due to the fact that it does not arise together with conditioned realities.

If ajatakasa exists, can it be termed an asankhatadhamma? According to the above explanation, if ajatakasa does not have a beginning and if its existence can be known with wisdom, it seems like it can be termed as an unconditioned (asankhata) reality. It is true that ajatakasa does not have a beginning or an end, but it is not the freedom from the suffering that has not arisen yet but was possible to arise.

Hence, it does not suit to be termed as asankhata. Kathavatthu has rejected the idea of another Buddhist sect which considered ajatakasa to be an asankhata reality.

Another difference between Nibbana and ajatakasa is that the latter does not have the capacity to become an object of reason (arammanupanissaya paccaya) for noble paths to eradicate defilements like the prior.

Looking into all these information, it seems that it is not a fault to coin ajatakasa as an existing unconditioned reality which is different from Nibbanas. Sarvastivadins, another Buddhist sect, consider ajatakasa to be an unconditioned reality.

Akasadhatu, Rupaparicchedokasa and Paricchedarupa

Rupakalapas normally appear with gaps between them. It is the infinite space that has already existed. However, instead of calling this gap the ajatakasa, Theravadins name it as rupaparicchedokasa. Akasadhatu and paricchedarupa are synonyms for rupaparicchedokasa.

One understands the limitation of a kalapa due to this empty space which surrounds it.

Sometimes, rupakalapas appear in contact with each other. In such cases, there is no special gap between kalapas. Though kalapas are touching each other, they still have their own independent existence without merging into a single unit. In other words, each kalapa has its own border. This border is also referred as rupaparicchedokasa, akasadhatu and paricchedarupa.

Rupaparicchedokasa, akasadhatu and paricchedarupa are not concretely produced matter, hence falls into the category of anipphannarupas.

Compiled by Ishara Mudugamuwa

17 03 2022 - Daily News

J25.15

To Comprehend Suffering

Ajahn Suwat

Survey your body. Survey your mind. You’ve been practicing meditation continuously, so even if your mind isn’t yet quiet, even though it hasn’t reached a level of concentration as solid as you’d like it to be, meditation is still a skillful activity in terms of developing conviction, developing persistence. At the very least it will give results on the sensory level, making you an intelligent person, at the same time developing the perfections of your character on into the future. So try not to get discouraged. Don’t let yourself think that you haven’t seen any results from your meditation. When you come right down to it, what do you want from your meditation? You meditate to make the mind quiet, and the mind becomes quiet from letting go. That’s what the meditation is: letting go. If you meditate in order to “get” something, that’s craving, the cause of suffering. Meditation isn’t an affair of craving. The Dhamma is already here, so all we have to do is study it so that we’ll know the truth. The truth isn’t something new. It’s something that’s been here from time immemorial.

All the Buddhas of the past have awakened to this very same Dhamma, this very same truth. Even though the cosmos has changed from one aeon to another, the Dhamma hasn’t changed along with the cosmos. No matter which aeon a particular Buddha was born in, he awakened to the same old truth. He taught the same old truth. The same Dhamma, the same truth, is always right here all the time. It’s simply that we don’t recognize it. We haven’t studied it down to its elemental properties. All I ask is that you be intent on studying it. The truth is always the truth. It’s always present.

The truth the Buddha taught starts with the principle that stress-and-suffering is a truth. Do you have any stress and suffering? Examine yourself carefully. Is there any stress and suffering within you? Or is there none at all? As long as there’s suffering within you, the truth of the noble truths taught by the Buddha is still there. When you’re mindful to keep your eye on the suffering appearing within you, you’re studying the truth in line with what it actually is.

But in addition to pointing out the truth of suffering, the Buddha also taught the path to the end of suffering. This, too, is a truth. The Buddha has guaranteed that when we develop it in full measure, we’ll gain release from stress and suffering. It’s not the case that suffering is the only truth, that we have to lie buried in stress and suffering. The Buddha found a way out of suffering, like an intelligent doctor who not only understands diseases but also knows a miraculous medicine to cure them.

This is why the truth of the path is so important, for many, many people who have put it into practice have gotten results. The truth of the path is something we put into practice to gain release from suffering — as we chanted just now:

Ye dukkhaṁ nappajānāti, - Those who don’t discern suffering,
Atho dukkhassa sambhavaṁ - suffering’s cause …
Tanca maggaṁ na jānāti - who don’t understand the path,
Dukkhūpasamagāminaṁ - the way to the stilling of suffering …
Te ve jāti-jarūpagā - they’ll return to birth and aging again.

If we don’t comprehend suffering and the way to the end of suffering, we’ll have to experience birth, aging, and death, which are the causes not only of suffering but also of the craving leading to more suffering.

We should take joy in the fact that we have all the noble truths we need. We have suffering, and the path to the end of suffering doesn’t lie far away. When we look into the texts, we find that the Buddha and his noble disciples didn’t practice anything far away. They purified the actions of their bodies and minds. They did this by knowing their own bodies and minds in line with what they actually were. When we don’t know our own bodies and minds as they actually are, that’s a cause of suffering. When we practice knowing our own bodies, our own minds, as they actually are, that’s the path to release from suffering. Aside from this, there’s no path at all.

We already have a body. We already have a mind — this knowing property. So we take this knowing property and put it to use by studying the body in line with its three characteristics: aniccatā, inconstancy; dukkhatā, stressfulness; and anattatā, not-selfness. Inconstancy and stressfulness lie on the side of suffering and its cause. We have to study things that are inconstant in order to see who they are, who’s responsible for them, who really owns them. This issue of inconstancy is really important. Rūpaṁ aniccaṁ: form is inconstant. Who owns the form? Rūpaṁ dukkhaṁ: form is stressful. Who’s on the receiving end of the stress? Stress is something that has to depend on causes and conditions in order to arise. It doesn’t come on its own. Just like sound: we have to depend on contact in order to hear it. If there’s no contact, we won’t know where there’s any sound. In the same way, stress depends on contact. If there’s no contact, we won’t know where there’s any stress. If stress and suffering were able to burn us all on their own, the Buddha would never have been able to gain release from them. There would be no way for us to practice, for no matter what, suffering would keep on burning us all on its own. But the fact of the matter is that when we practice, we can gain relief from suffering, because suffering isn’t built into the mind, it’s not built into this knowing property. It has to depend on contact through the sense media in order for it to arise.

This is why sages study the truth. As when we chant:

Ayaṁ kho me kāyo, - This body of mine,
Uddhaṁ pādatalā - from the soles of the feet on up,
Adho kesamatthakā - from the crown of the head on down,
Taca-pariyanto - surrounded by skin.

Within this body we have all five aggregates: form, feeling, perception, thought-fabrications, and consciousness. Form is the coarsest of the aggregates, for we can touch it with our hand and see it with our eyes. As for feeling, perception, thought-fabrications, and consciousness, they’re mental phenomena. Even though we can’t touch them with the body, we can still know them and experience them. For instance, we constantly have feelings of pleasure, pain, or neither pleasure nor pain. Perception: we remember things and label them. Thought-fabrication creates thoughts, and consciousness notices things. We all notice things, label them, fabricate thoughts about them, and experience pleasure and pain because of them.

The primary issue is the form of the body. The Buddha taught us to study it in order to know the noble truths in both form and mental phenomena. When he taught that birth is suffering, aging is suffering, death is suffering, he was referring to the birth, aging, and death right here at the form where the five aggregates meet — this form we already have. And yet most of us don’t like to reflect on the truth of these things. We think that birth is pleasurable. We get pleasure and stress all confused. It’s because we don’t realize the truth of these things that we don’t search for a way out. The Buddha, however, knew this truth, which was why he practiced contemplating it. He tested to see if birth is pleasurable by noticing if the mind could stay quiet with birth: “Are there any pains? Anything disturbing the mind? And what’s paining and disturbing the mind aside from the birth, the arising of things?” It’s because of the birth of the body that we have to keep finding food for it, requisites to keep it going. Greed, anger, and delusion arise because of birth. And once there’s birth, there’s aging, deterioration, wearing down, wearing down all the time. Whatever we get runs out, runs out every day, wears down every day.

The Buddha awakened to the truth that birth isn’t pleasurable at all. The only pleasure is when, if we get hungry, we eat enough to make the hunger go away for a little while. But soon we get hungry again. When we get hot out in the sun, we take cover in the shade to cool down a bit, but then we start feeling hot again. When we get tired, we rest. But then if we lie down for a long time, we start feeling stiff. If we walk for a long time, we get weary. When this is the way things are, the mind can’t find any peace or rest. It gets disturbed and gives rise to defilement because of birth. And that’s not the end of it. Once birth takes place, it’s followed by aging and deterioration. No matter how much you look after the body, it won’t stay with you. In the end, it all falls apart. And once it dies, there’s no one who can stay in charge of it. If we come to our senses only at that point, and realize only when it’s already dead that it has to die, it’s too late to do anything about it.

But if we gain conviction in these truths now in the present before death comes, we won’t be complacent about our youth or life. If we can be mindful at all times that death is inevitable, that — even though we may be as strong as a bull elephant — a disease could come along at any time and oppress us to the point where we can’t even sit up, can’t do anything to help ourselves: when we realize this, we’re said not to be complacent in our health. Then we can act in ways truly benefiting ourselves, providing us with the refuge we’ll need when we can no longer take refuge in our youth, health, or life. Wherever you look in the body you see it wearing down. Wherever you look you see diseases. Wherever you look you see things that are unclean. Nothing at all in the body is really strong or lasting. When you see this clearly, you’ll no longer be fooled into clinging to it. You can analyze the body into its parts and see that they’re all inconstant, stressful, and not-self. When you develop clear insight into not-self, you’ll be able to shake free of stress and inconstancy. That’s because inconstancy is a not-self affair; stress is a not-self affair. They’re not our affairs. So what do we hope to gain by letting ourselves struggle and get defiled over them?

This is why the noble ones, when they see these truths, call them the dangers in the cycles of saṁsāra. You have to understand what’s meant by the term, “cycle.” There’s the cycle of defilement, the cycle of action, and the cycle of the results of action.

The cycle of defilement is the ignorance that makes the mind stupid and defiled. These defilements are the cause of stress, suffering, and danger.

Then there’s the cycle of action. Any actions we do under the influence of defilement keep us spinning in the cycle, acting sometimes in skillful ways, sometimes in unskillful ones. Even skillful actions can lead to delusion, you know. When we experience good sights, sounds, status, or wealth as a result of our skillful actions, we can turn unskillful, careless, and complacent, because we get deluded into investing our sense of self in those things. When they start changing against our desires, we grow frustrated and start acting in evil ways. When they leave us, we act in unskillful ways. This causes the cycle of action in terms of both our physical and verbal acts.

When we act in ways that are unskillful, this causes the cycle of results to be painful. When we experience this pain and suffering, the mind becomes defiled. Our vision gets obscured because the suffering overcomes us. This gives rise to anger as well as to greed for the things we want, and this starts the cycle of defilement again.

For this reason, if we can comprehend suffering as part of this cycle, we can block the cycle of defilement that would give rise to new cycles of action and results. So let’s study the truth of suffering so that we can cut these cycles through discernment in the form of right view, which is a factor of the noble path. Let’s foster and strengthen the path by knowing the suffering in birth, aging, illness, and death. When we comprehend suffering for what it actually is, we don’t have to worry about the cause of suffering, for how can it arise when we see the drawbacks of its results? Once true knowledge has arisen, how can ignorance arise?

It’s as when we’re in the darkness. If we try to run around tearing down the darkness, it can’t be torn down. If we try to run around snatching away the darkness, it can’t be snatched away. The darkness can’t be dispersed by us. It has to be dispersed by light. When we light a fire, the darkness disappears on its own. The same with ignorance: it can’t be dispersed through our thinking. It has to be dispersed through clear-seeing discernment. Once we give rise to discernment, the cause of suffering disappears on its own, without our having to get involved with it.

So try to give rise to clear-seeing discernment in full measure, and you’ll gain release from suffering without a doubt. Be really intent.
That’s enough for now. Keep on meditating.

18 11 2021 - Daily News

J25.16

How to Meet Evil With Good

Acharya Buddharakkhita

In the realm of spirituality, “tit for tat,” very much a norm in the world, never works. It is only by a positive response that spiritual progress is possible. If one is reproached, even manhandled, and one reacts with resentment, one would certainly fail either to achieve a purposive result for oneself or to win over the opponent. But if one endures the reproach and responds with good will, then one can win over the offending person as well as effect a significant triumph over oneself, making progress on the onward path to spiritual liberation. An outlook that fosters a positive response to every negative move thus becomes imperative to any serious seeker of truth. It is essential, therefore, that a meditator should assiduously strive to cultivate a positive attitude leading to the conquest of evil by good.

The Buddha, in a masterly discourse entitled “The Parable of the Saw,” makes this point amply clear. The Buddha exhorts the monk Phagguna: “Phagguna, if anyone were to reproach you right to your face... give you a blow with the hand, or hit you with a clod of earth, or with a stick, or with a sword, even then you should abandon those urges and thoughts which are worldly (i.e., the normal way of the world — tit for tat). There, Phagguna, you should train yourself thus: ‘Neither shall my mind be affected by this, nor shall I give vent to evil words; but I shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and I shall not give in to hatred.’”

So that the point will go straight home, the Buddha recounts a delightful story of the mistress Vedehika, which is again supported by several analogies: the great earth, empty space, the river Ganges, and the catskin bag.

To emphasize this philosophy of positive approach, the Buddha further tells the monks that even if bandits were to sever them limb by limb with a double-handled saw, they should not give way to hatred but must develop thoughts of boundless love towards the bandits as well as the entire world.

The monks, it is said, were greatly inspired as they heard this philosophy of positive response.

The Sutta

“Phagguna, if anyone were to reproach you right to your face, even then you should abandon those urges and thoughts which are worldly. There, Phagguna, you should train yourself thus: ‘Neither shall my mind be affected by this, nor shall I give vent to evil words; but I shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and I shall not give in to hatred.’ This is how, Phagguna, you should train yourself.

“Phagguna, if anyone were to give you a blow with the hand, or hit you with a clod of earth, or with a stick, or with a sword, even then you should abandon those urges and thoughts which are worldly. There, Phagguna, you should train yourself thus: ‘Neither shall my mind be affected by this, nor shall I give vent to evil words; but I shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and I shall not give in to hatred.’ This is how, Phagguna, you should train yourself.

The Story of the Mistress Vedehika

“In the past, monks, in this very Savatthi, there was a mistress, Vedehika by name. And, monks, this good reputation had spread about the mistress Vedehika: ‘The mistress Vedehika is gentle, the mistress Vedehika is meek, the mistress Vedehika is calm.’ Now, monks, the mistress Vedehika had a maid-servant, Kali by name, who was able, energetic and very methodical in her work. Then, monks, it occurred to Kali, the maid-servant: ‘This good reputation has spread about my lady: “The mistress Vedehika is gentle, the mistress Vedehika is meek, the mistress Vedehika is calm.” Could it be that my lady does have anger within her which she does not show, or could it be that she does not have anger? Or is it because I am methodical in my job that my lady, though she does have anger within, does not show it, and not because she does not have anger? Why don’t I test my lady?’

“Thus, monks, the maid-servant Kali got up late the next morning. And, monks, the mistress Vedehika told this to the maid-servant Kali: ‘Hey, you Kali!’ — ‘What is it, lady?’ — ‘Why did you get up so late?’ — ‘Oh, that is nothing, lady.’ — ‘What! That is nothing, indeed! You bad maid-servant, you got up late!’ Angry and displeased, she frowned.

“Then, monks, it occurred to Kali the maid-servant: ‘Though she does have anger within, my lady does not show it; it is not that she does not have anger. It is because I am methodical in my job that, though she does have anger within, my lady does not show it, and not because she does not have anger. Why don’t I test my lady further?’

“Now, monks, Kali the maid-servant got up even later than before. Then, monks, the mistress Vedehika told the maid-servant Kali: ‘Hey, you Kali!’ — ‘What is it, lady?’ — ‘Why did you get up even later than before?’ — ‘Oh, that is nothing, lady.’ — ‘What! That is nothing, indeed! You bad maid-servant, you got up even later than before!’ Angry and displeased, she gave vent to her displeasure.

“Then, monks, it occurred to the maid-servant Kali: ‘Though she does have anger within, my lady does not show it; it is not that she does not have anger. It is because I am methodical in my job that, though she does have anger within, my lady does not show it, and not because she does not have anger. Why don’t I test my lady further?’

“And, monks, the maid-servant Kali got up even later than before. Then, monks, the mistress Vedehika told the maid-servant Kali: ‘Hey, you Kali!’ — ‘What is it, lady?’ — ‘Why did you get up so late?’ — ‘Oh, that is nothing, lady.’ — ‘What! That is nothing, indeed! You bad maid-servant, you got up so late!’ And angry and displeased, she hit her on the head with the door-bar. And this injured her head.

“Now, monks, the maid-servant Kali, with her head injured and blood oozing, went about among the neighbors, shouting: ‘Look, sirs, at the deed of the gentle one! Look, sirs, at the deed of the meek one! Look, sirs, at the deed of the calm one! How can she, saying to her own maid-servant, “You got up late today,” angry and displeased, having taken a door-bar, give me a blow on the head and injure my head?’

“And then, monks, this ill-repute spread thereafter about the mistress Vedehika: ‘The mistress Vedehika is violent, the mistress Vedehika is arrogant, the mistress Vedehika is not calm.’

“In the same way, monks, some monk here is very gentle, very meek, and very calm, so long as disagreeable ways of speech do not assail him; but when disagreeable ways of speech do assail the monk, it is then that the monk is to be judged whether he is ‘gentle,’ ‘meek,’ or ‘calm.’ Monks, I do not call that monk ‘dutiful,’ who is dutiful on account of the requisites he gets, i.e., the robe, almsfood, lodging and medicaments, whereby he falls into pseudo-dutifulness. And why? For, monks, when that monk fails to get the requisites of the robe, almsfood, lodging and medicaments, he ceases to be dutiful, and is not in keeping with the norms of dutifulness. But, monks, whichever monk out of reverence for the Teaching, out of respect for the Teaching, out of dedication to the Teaching, showing honor to the Teaching, and giving regard to the Teaching, comes to be dutiful and is in keeping with the norms of dutifulness, him do I consider as dutiful. Therefore, monks, you should consider: ‘Only out of reverence for the Teaching, out of respect for the Teaching, out of dedication to the Teaching, showing honor to the Teaching, and giving regard to the Teaching, shall we become dutiful, shall we be in keeping with the norms of dutifulness.’ Thus, indeed, monks, you should train yourselves.

Positive Response of Love

“Monks, there are these five modes of speech which people might use when speaking to you — speech that is timely or untimely, true or false, gentle or harsh, with a good or a harmful motive, and with a loving heart or hostility.

“Monks, some might speak to you using speech that is timely or untimely; monks, some might speak to you according to truth or falsely; monks, some might speak to you gently or harshly; monks, some might speak to you with a good motive or with a harmful motive; monks, some might speak to you with a loving heart or with hostility. On all occasions, monks, you should train yourselves thus: ‘Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to that very person, making him as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.’ It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves.

The Great Earth

“Suppose, monks, a person were to come to you, holding a hoe and a basket and he were to say: ‘I shall make this great earth earthless.’ Then he would strew the earth here and there, spit here and there, and urinate here and there, and would say:’ ‘Be earthless, be earthless.’ What do you think, monks, would this person render this great earth earthless?”

“No, indeed not, most venerable sir.”

“And why?”

“Because this great earth, most venerable sir, is deep and without measure. It cannot possibly be turned earthless. On the contrary, that person would only reap weariness and frustration.”

“In the same way, monks, others may use these five modes of speech when speaking to you — speech that is timely or untimely, true or false, gentle or harsh, with a good or a harmful motive, and with a loving heart or hostility. In this way, monks, you should train yourselves: ‘Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to that very person, making him as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.’ It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves.

Empty Space

“Suppose, monks, a person were to approach you, carrying paints of lacquer, turmeric, indigo or carmine, and he were to say: ‘I will draw this picture, I will make this painting appear on this empty space.’ What do you think, monks, could he make this painting appear on empty space?”

“No, indeed not, most venerable sir.”

“And why not?”

“Because this empty space, most venerable sir, is formless and invisible. He cannot possibly draw a picture or make a painting appear on this empty space. On the contrary, that person will only reap weariness and frustration.”

“In the same way, monks, others may use these five modes of speech when speaking to you — speech that is timely or untimely, true or false, gentle or harsh, with a good or a harmful motive, and with a loving heart or hostility. In this way, monks, you should train yourselves: ‘Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to that very person, making him as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.’ It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves.

The River Ganges

“Suppose, monks, a person were to come holding a burning grass-torch, and he were to say: ‘With this burning grass-torch I shall set fire to and scorch this river Ganges.’ What do you think, monks, could that person set fire to and scorch the river Ganges with a grass-torch?”

“No, indeed not, most venerable sir.”

“And why not?”

“Because, most venerable sir, the river Ganges is deep and without measure. It is not possible to set fire to and scorch the river Ganges with a burning grass-torch. On the contrary, that person will only reap weariness and frustration.”

“In the same way, monks, others may use these five modes of speech when speaking to you — speech that is timely or untimely, true or false, gentle or harsh, with a good or a harmful motive, and with a loving heart or hostility. In this way, monks, you should train yourselves: ‘Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to that very person, making him as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.’ It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves.

The Catskin Bag

“Suppose, monks, there was a supple and silky leather bag made of catskin that had been beaten, tanned, cured and fully processed, and made completely free of all creases and wrinkles. Then a man were to come with a stick or mallet and say, ‘With this stick or mallet I shall make creases and wrinkles in this supple and silky catskin bag which has been beaten, tanned, cured and fully processed, and made free of creases and wrinkles.’ What do you think, monks, could that person with a stick or mallet make creases and wrinkles in that supple and silky catskin bag which has been beaten, tanned, cured and fully processed, and made free of creases and wrinkles?”

“No, indeed not, most venerable sir.”

“And why not?”

“Because, most venerable sir, that supple and silky leather bag made of catskin has been beaten, tanned, cured and fully processed, and made free of creases and wrinkles. It is not possible to make creases and wrinkles in it with a stick or mallet. On the contrary, he will only reap weariness and frustration.”

“In the same way, monks, others may use these five modes of speech when speaking to you — speech that is timely or untimely, true or false, gentle or harsh, with a good or a harmful motive, and with a loving heart or hostility. In this way, monks, you should train yourselves: ‘Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to that very person, making him as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.’ It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves.

The Parable of the Saw

“Monks, even if bandits were to savagely sever you, limb by limb, with a double-handled saw, even then, whoever of you harbors ill will at heart would not be upholding my Teaching. Monks, even in such a situation you should train yourselves thus: ‘Neither shall our minds be affected by this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live projecting thoughts of universal love to those very persons, making them as well as the whole world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.’ It is in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves.

“Monks, if you should keep this instruction on the Parable of the Saw constantly in mind, do you see any mode of speech, subtle or gross, that you could not endure?”

“No, Lord.”

“Therefore, monks, you should keep this instruction on the Parable of the Saw constantly in mind. That will conduce to your well-being and happiness for long indeed.”

That is what the Blessed One said. Delighted, those monks acclaimed the Teaching of the Blessed One.

20 10 2021 - Daily News

J25.17

Dhamma’s Way of Life

K.K.S. Perera

Dhamma is a very simple procedure, which is taking place everywhere and every moment in every being, which anybody can comprehend as soon as it is uncovered of the veil of mystery in which it was encircled by the attitude, thinking and way of life.
– Engels: “Dialectics of Nature”

‘Ata Maha Kusal’: [Eight Great Merits]
Traditionally, there are eight Great Meritorious Deeds: they are-
1. Offering Kathina
2. Offering of the eight monastic requisites - Ata Pirikara
3. Offering dwellings to Bhikkus – Avasa Dana
4. Offering Dana to Bhikkus with Buddha in mind – Sanghika Dana
5. Writing and distribution of Dhamma books
6. Donating land to temples
7. Building Buddha statues
8. Building bathrooms and toilets in temples

Ill, the rainy season’s last Poya is significant, also for many other reasons; the announcement of the future Buddhahood of Maitree Bodhisatva, The three Jatila Brothers, Uruwela. Nadi and Gaya Kassapa who lived in a hermitage by the side of river Neranja entering the Buddhist Sasana. The laying of the foundation to construct the first stupa, Thuparama dagoba in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka where the right canine tooth, [the Dakunu Aku Datuwa] relic was treasured on an Ill poya day. the commencement of Buddhist Missionary activity by the first Sixty Arahaths, "Devahaona" or Ascendency to heaven by Buddha, passing away of one of the two Chief Disciples, Arhant Sariputta [the Dharmasenapathi],—all taking place on Ill Full Moon.

At the end of the Vas Period, Buddha addressed the Sixty Arahats thus:[Buddha observed Vas-Rainy Retreat season, at Isipatanaramaya in Benares]. ‘Charata Bhikkae, Charikan, Bahujana Hitaya, Bahujana Sukhaya, Lokanukampaya Attaya Hitana Sukhaya Devamanussanam, Ma Ekena Deva Agamitta Desetha Bhikkave Dhamman Adikarayanam Puriyosana, Kalyanam Pariyosana Kayanan Satthan Sakyanjawan Kevala Paripunnan Parisudaan Brahamachariyam Pakasetha. Oh! Bhikkus, for the happiness of the Many, for the Welfare of the many, through compassion to the world, go ye forth, and spread Buddha Doctrine for the benefit of Devas, and Human Beings.

However, things have changed, even from the situation that existed five decades ago. Except for a negligible number of poor temples where the most deprived live in the remote, our Monks have enough robes. They do not walk from village to village; they take the bus, and some living in towns are using luxury cars. Do we have to be buried in the past or move with times? This goes to demonstrate that, with a vision and a longing for innovation, changes to practices can be made, to make them precious and practical.

The Heart-Healthy Sutra

Buddha once addresses his Chief Disciple, Sariyuth saying, “Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Shariputra, all dharmas are emptiness. There is no birth and no cessation. There is no impurity and no purity. They transcend falsity and attain complete nirvana. Feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. All phenomena are emptiness. In emptiness, there are no sense objects, sense organs, or sensory awareness. Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear”.

The passing away of Arhant Sariputta, Senior Disciple occurred on Ill Poya day. A week before the occurrence, he visited his much-loved mother, in the village Nalaka, in the Magadha Province. She did not believe in the Triple Gem, but in a different faith called Brahminism. Sariputta Thera’s humility was another exceptional feature of his personality. When Rahula the seven-year-old novice warned him noticing his robe touching the ground, Ven. Sariputta stood before the little one and turned towards the Buddha’s monastery and with connected palms, said: “Sadhu, Sadhu” in recognition of the little one's action. Regarded as the chief disciple of Shakyamuni Buddha who leads in insight, Arhant Sariputta passed away after the triumphant mission while the Buddha was still alive.

Twenty-five centuries ago there were no permanent abodes, temples or monasteries. The Buddha and all his disciples, travelled by foot, from city to city and village to village, teaching the Dhamma, receiving alms on rounds and sleeping under trees and caves. They did this persistently for eight months of the year but were badly hampered during the monsoon rains and severe downpours that lasted for about four months. Buddha realised that monks need a rest. Walking during this time cause plants to sprout to get trampled and minute animals like worms that come out in the rain are crushed and killed. Unlike now monks then possessed only one robe which they could not expose to bad weather under the downpour. Considering the above facts Buddha agreed on the Vas, or Rainy Retreat. It was Anathapindika who built the first monastery for Buddha in observing Vas. "There are no reservations that for Buddhists, Katina, the formal offering of the Katina robe at the end of the ‘Vas’, or Rains Retreat, is one of the most significant rituals and a festivity second only to Wesak. The Katina puja is held between ‘Wap poya’ (October) and ‘Ill poya’ (November) days. It is a tradition closely practised for generations and considered by many to be the foremost great meritorious act, a concept that is disputed. The more vital question is whether it applies to the modern-day? Surely, perception ought to take the place of our theoretical thinking. The unconditioned mind can be connected with an insightful mind. Life is not so very easy and people must have the strength and the capability not to be caught in the pressure of unevenness. To find out for oneself what is correct, all influence must end. There is no ‘good’ conditioning or ‘bad’ conditioning; there is only freedom from all conditioning. There are all sorts of things in life. Life is like the deep sea, which is vastly deep, having huge currents and is crowded with all kinds of life. To recognize yourself you need not comprehend a book, go to a cleric, to any psychologist.

The whole possessions are within you. In this light all accomplishments take place. There is no ‘how’, no arrangement, and no observation. One has to see, not through the eyes of a special being. As a mirror reproduces all things held facing it, so when one’s mind-mirror is calm, one will be able to see a reproduction in it the true quality of oneself and the other one’s intellect can discover what is true only when it is enlightened from all conditioning, not when it merely repeats certain words or quotes the books called scriptures. Such a mind is not free. It is only the free mind that can be imaginative and it can be creative only when it is unlocked, free from conditioning like the following of a blueprint, a principle, or a ritual set up by an organized faith. It is only the free mind that can find out or observe the truth of something. One has to ascertain it every instant of the day as one is living; and it is called mindfulness, the only meditation that one can achieve Nibbana.

The vital presumption or animating force in Dhamma is clarified in the texts as," easily understood; completely understandable or comprehensible as explained by the Buddha, to be self-realized, everlasting, inviting research, study and exploration; to be realized by each one for himself".

18 11 2021 - Daily News

J25.18

Skilled engagement of Right Speech

Bhikkhu Nanamoli

Right Speech is the third of the eight path factors in the Noble Eightfold Path, and belongs to the virtue division of the path.

The definition...
“And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech.”
— SN 45.8

Five keys to right speech...
“Monks, a statement endowed with five factors is well-spoken, not ill-spoken. It is blameless & unfaulted by knowledgeable people. Which five?
“It is spoken at the right time. It is spoken in truth. It is spoken affectionately. It is spoken beneficially. It is spoken with a mind of good-will.”
— AN 5.198

The danger in lying...
“For the person who transgresses in one thing, I tell you, there is no evil deed that is not to be done. Which one thing? This: telling a deliberate lie.”
The person who lies, who transgress in this one thing, transcending concern for the world beyond: there’s no evil he might not do.
— Iti 25

Speak only words that do no harm...
“One should speak only that word by which one would not torment oneself nor harm others. That word is indeed well spoken.
“One should speak only pleasant words, words which are acceptable (to others). What one speaks without bringing evils to others is pleasant.”
— Thag 21

Self-purification through well-chosen speech...

“And how is one made pure in four ways by verbal action?"

“There is the case where a certain person, abandoning false speech, abstains from false speech. When he has been called to a town meeting, a group meeting, a gathering of his relatives, his guild, or of the royalty, if he is asked as a witness, ‘Come & tell, good man, what you know’: If he doesn’t know, he says, ‘I don’t know.’ If he does know, he says, ‘I know.’ If he hasn’t seen, he says, ‘I haven’t seen.’ If he has seen, he says, ‘I have seen.’ Thus he doesn’t consciously tell a lie for his own sake, for the sake of another, or for the sake of any reward. Abandoning false speech, he abstains from false speech. He speaks the truth, holds to the truth, is firm, reliable, no deceiver of the world.

“Abandoning divisive speech he abstains from divisive speech. What he has heard here he does not tell there to break those people apart from these people here. What he has heard there he does not tell here to break these people apart from those people there. Thus reconciling those who have broken apart or cementing those who are united, he loves concord, delights in concord, enjoys concord, speaks things that create concord.

“Abandoning abusive speech, he abstains from abusive speech. He speaks words that are soothing to the ear, that are affectionate, that go to the heart, that are polite, appealing & pleasing to people at large."

“Abandoning idle chatter, he abstains from idle chatter. He speaks in season, speaks what is factual, what is in accordance with the goal, the Dhamma, & the Vinaya. He speaks words worth treasuring, seasonable, reasonable, circumscribed, connected with the goal.
“This is how one is made pure in four ways by verbal action.”
— AN 10.176

Its relation to the other factors of the path...

“And how is right view the forerunner? One discerns wrong speech as wrong speech, and right speech as right speech. And what is wrong speech? Lying, divisive tale-bearing, abusive speech, & idle chatter. This is wrong speech...

“One tries to abandon wrong speech & to enter into right speech: This is one’s right effort. One is mindful to abandon wrong speech & to enter & remain in right speech: This is one’s right mindfulness. Thus these three qualities — right view, right effort, & right mindfulness — run & circle around right speech.”
— MN 117

The criteria for deciding what is worth saying...
[1] “In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be unfactual, untrue, unbeneficial (or: not connected with the goal), unendearing & disagreeable to others, he does not say them.
[2] “In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, unbeneficial, unendearing & disagreeable to others, he does not say them.
[3] “In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, beneficial, but unendearing & disagreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time for saying them.
[4] “In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be unfactual, untrue, unbeneficial, but endearing & agreeable to others, he does not say them.
[5] “In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, unbeneficial, but endearing & agreeable to others, he does not say them.
[6] “In the case of words that the Tathagata knows to be factual, true, beneficial, and endearing & agreeable to others, he has a sense of the proper time for saying them. Why is that? Because the Tathagata has sympathy for living beings.”
— MN 58

Speak only the speech, that neither torments self, nor does harm to others.
That speech is truly well spoken.
Speak only endearing speech, speech that is welcomed.
Speech when it brings no evil to others is pleasant.
— SN 3.3

18 11 2021 - Daily News

J25.19

Kesi Sutta: To Kesi the Horse-trainer

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Then Kesi the horsetrainer went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him: "You, Kesi, are a trained man, a trainer of tamable horses. And how do you train a tamable horse?"

"Lord, I train a tamable horse [sometimes] with gentleness, [sometimes] with harshness, [sometimes] with both gentleness & harshness."

"And if a tamable horse doesn't submit either to a mild training or to a harsh training or to a mild & harsh training, Kesi, what do you do?"

"If a tamable horse doesn't submit either to a mild training or to a harsh training or to a mild and harsh training, lord, then I kill it. Why is that? [I think:] 'Don't let this be a disgrace to my lineage of teachers.' But the Blessed One, lord, is the unexcelled trainer of tamable people. How do you train a tamable person?"

"Kesi, I train a tamable person [sometimes] with gentleness, [sometimes] with harshness, [sometimes] with both gentleness & harshness.

"In using gentleness, [I teach:] 'Such is good bodily conduct. Such is the result of good bodily conduct. Such is good verbal conduct. Such is the result of good verbal conduct. Such is good mental conduct. Such is the result of good mental conduct. Such are the devas. Such are human beings.' "In using harshness, [I teach:] 'Such is bodily misconduct. Such is the result of bodily misconduct. Such is verbal misconduct. Such is the result of verbal misconduct. Such is mental misconduct. Such is the result of mental misconduct. Such is hell. Such is the animal womb. Such the realm of the hungry shades.'

"In using gentleness & harshness, [I teach:] 'Such is good bodily conduct. Such is the result of good bodily conduct. Such is bodily misconduct. Such is the result of bodily misconduct. Such is good verbal conduct. Such is the result of good verbal conduct. Such is verbal misconduct. Such is the result of verbal misconduct. Such is good mental conduct. Such is the result of good mental conduct. Such is mental misconduct. Such is the result of mental misconduct. Such are the devas. Such are human beings. Such is hell. Such is the animal womb. Such the realm of the hungry shades.'"

"And if a tamable person doesn't submit either to a mild training or to a harsh training or to a mild & harsh training, what do you do?"

"If a tamable person doesn't submit either to a mild training or to a harsh training or to a mild & harsh training, then I kill him, Kesi."

"But it's not proper for our Blessed One to take life! And yet the Blessed One just said, 'I kill him, Kesi.'"

"It is true, Kesi, that it's not proper for a Tathagata to take life. But if a tamable person doesn't submit either to a mild training or to a harsh training or to a mild & harsh training, then the Tathagata doesn't regard him as being worth speaking to or admonishing. His knowledgeable fellows in the holy life don't regard him as being worth speaking to or admonishing. This is what it means to be totally destroyed in the Doctrine & Discipline, when the Tathagata doesn't regard one as being worth speaking to or admonishing, and one's knowledgeable fellows in the holy life don't regard one as being worth speaking to or admonishing."

"Yes, lord, wouldn't one be totally destroyed if the Tathagata doesn't regard one as being worth speaking to or admonishing, and one's knowledgeable fellows in the holy life don't regard one as being worth speaking to or admonishing!

"Magnificent, lord! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has the Blessed One — through many lines of reasoning — made the Dhamma clear. I go to the Blessed One for refuge, to the Dhamma, and to the community of monks. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge, from this day forward, for life."

18 12 2021 - Daily News

J25.20

Tradition time-tested

K.K.S. Perera

Dhamma is simple and easy to comprehend. We can’t alter the past but have clear control over the future if one can proceed with skill and accuracy in the present instant. Dhamma is a very simple process, it takes place universally and every day in every individual, which anybody can comprehend as soon as it is exposed to the veil of mystery in which it was surrounded by philosophy, doctrines and rituals. Mindfulness, bare attention and awareness of the moment, parting the past behind and not brooding of the future will take the disciple on to the right path.

Navam Poya is of special significance due to some landmark incidents that took place on this day.

The first Buddhist Council, (Sanghayana) was held on Navam Poya Day. A “Brahmin of Magadha who resembled the Buddha in physical appearance, entered the Buddhist Order. After the passing away of the Buddha, he and senior Arhant, Mahakassapa Thera [who became an Arahant after associating with the Buddha for only eight days,] presided over the first Buddhist Council. The appointment of the two chief disciples, [Aggarasavakas] Sariputta and Moggallana Theras took place on Navam Poya Day. Sariputta Thera was named “Darmasenadhipati”, an esteemed position, while Moggallana Thera as the “Dharma Purohita”.

While initially, the Buddha himself ordained the aspirants of asceticism, he introduced the principle of delegation as the Sangha community grew in numbers, and called for the members of the Sangha to ordain the candidates. The first congregation was held at Veluvanaramaya, in Rajagaha, on Navam full moon Day. Also on Navam Full Moon Day, Ven Sariputta attained Arahantship by listening to “Vedana Pariggaha Sutta” explained by the Buddha to Dighanaka, Buddha delivered a sermon on Ovada Prathimoksha also on a Navam Poya Day, to the Chief disciples Moggallana and Sariputta Theras.

Ordinary world affairs

Having established three such councils held at different times, Buddhism in India decayed and never survived as a living tradition; that is why they do not have this tradition significantly practised there now, though it is not totally absent. The Buddhist traditions were invented to explore ethical and spiritual rather than ordinary world affairs, and that’s why they did not develop in the style of the western tradition. It completely vanished gradually in India, though; we in Sri Lanka still stick to the spirit of this critical tradition. Even an average Buddhist do not hesitate to question and even disapprove of the message of the Nayake priest or his decision and the sermonizing. Erudite bhikkhus boldly condemn many unacceptable practices of Buddhism, and both the learned and the ordinary people do freely condemn some of the modern temple observances. For the conservation of stability and advancement of the society, and even in a family, proper practice is very essential. But a fixed tradition, at the same time, would become evil, like decomposition that prevent growth and will little by little demolish a nation.

We can avoid such decay, and at the same time avert the disturbing consequences if we can restore the critical theory of tradition and convention presented to us by Buddhism. This we see in Europe, as a result of the complete rejection of religious institutions by the intellectuals.

Understanding the truth, necessitates that we take nothing for granted; that we acknowledge nothing on faith or belief. Question about ourselves, and practice with diligence and truthfulness. Challenge our most basic viewpoints and convictions, even those we may have about the Dhamma itself; a spirit of questioning, a spirit of critical examination— that is what Buddha emphasized in the Kalama sutra.

Vegetarians are wired differently from ‘animal eaters’ and are much more moved by distress in any form. Daniel Rowes of ‘Psychology Today’ wrote about a recent study that shows that compassion is what actually separates vegetarians and meat-eaters. It was based on the observation that vegetarians and vegans tend to base their conclusions to avoid animal products on ethical grounds. There was another study done in 2008 that observed 54 per cent of American vegetarians cited animal welfare as the main reason they gave up ting animals. The Italian researchers wanted to determine if the empathy vegetarians and vegans extend towards animals applied to humans as well. In short, was knowledge and kindness part of the man’s genetic structure or was it simply an interest.

Empathy-related brain areas

To test this, 20 meat-eaters, 19 vegetarians and 21 vegans were placed in an MRI machine, while researchers looked at the ‘activation’ of different brain areas as subjects view a series of pictures. Some of the pictures were of natural landscapes, while others showed scenes of torture, mutilation, death, and so on involving both animals and humans. Researchers monitored the neurological reactions to the pictures. The main finding of this study is that, compared to meat-eaters, vegetarians show higher activation of empathy-related brain areas when observing scenes of suffering; whether it be animal or human suffering.

According to psychologists learning to be less empathic towards animals is considered a step towards maturity in our society. And that results in the decrease of empathy towards fellow humans as well. ‘Scientific American’ recently wrote about a study of college students showing that today’s young people are 40 per cent less empathetic than college kids 30 years ago.

Fortunately, vegetarians cannot, because of their different brain wiring, learn to drop compassion from their minds. It’s important to highlight that the Italian study shows vegetarians to be more empathic to both animals and humans because many in the animal welfare community have been accused of caring more about animals than people. The link between empathy for animals and empathy for humans should come as no surprise. But that is not the only way in which vegetarians and meat-eaters are different. The Daily Telegraph reports that Mensa an elite society for people with high IQ has more than its share of vegetarians. While Australia has only 400,000 vegetarians, the Australian Mensa has so many that it has started a monthly magazine called ‘Vegetarian Life’ for its members.

Just as scientists have seen that meditation lights up parts of the brain that have been dark before becoming vegetarian would open up pathways of thought that have been unused before. As the body becomes cleaner and more in tune with its real nature, the brain becomes sharper and is easier to use.

Modern psychoanalysts

Dhamma is simple and easy to comprehend. We can’t alter the past but have clear control over the future if one can proceed with skill and accuracy in the present instant. Dhamma is a very simple process, it takes place universally and every day in every individual, which anybody can comprehend as soon as it is exposed to the veil of mystery in which it was surrounded by philosophy, doctrines and rituals. Mindfulness, bare attention and awareness of the moment, parting the past behind and not brooding of the future will take the disciple on to the right path. Prof. Rhys Davis once stated that he scrutinised every one of the great religions and in none of them did he discover anything to outshine, in exquisiteness and depth, the teachings of the Buddha, and that he is delighted to shape his life according to the principles. The father of modern science, Albert Einstein, declared that he is not a religious being, but if he were one he would be a follower of the Buddha.

One of the foremost and significant teachings of Buddha is Mindfulness. It has filtered into an established tradition that even modern psychoanalysts have acknowledged. The Buddha declared that it was vital to cultivate the right mindfulness in all facets of life to examine things as they are. He encouraged intense contemplation and awareness of all things through the four fundamentals of mindfulness: they are, Contemplation of the body, of feeling, of states of mind and phenomena. Mindfulness is about accepting the moment with openness and imagination in every experience. Through right mindfulness, one can liberate oneself from passions.

If you are paying attention now with all your being, with your mind, with your brain, with your nerves, with all your energy; listening, without comparing, not opposing, not accepting, but really with total awareness: then there is no being who is observing, who is listening? See an image devoid of the interference of thought. It is the observer who produces fear, the observer is the centre of thought, it is the ‘Me’, the ‘I’, the ‘Self’, the Ego; the observer is the sensor.

16 02 2022 - Daily News

24 ~ End of Aloka Journal Page 25 ~ 26

Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes. Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law. Whatever precious jewel there is in the heavenly worlds, there is nothing comparable to one who is Awakened. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves. Buddha

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