Buddhism

MindfulnessMindfulness is the path to immortality.

Negligence is the path to death.The vigilant never die,

Whereas the negligent are the living dead.

...Rejoice in mindfulnessPaying heed to each step on the path.

These awakened ones,

Dedicated to meditation,Striving actively and vigorously,

Attain nirvana, the ultimate security...

BACKGROUND

• In moving from Buddha the man to Buddhism the religion, it is imperative that the later be seen against the background of the Hinduism out of which it grew.

• Buddhism in large measure was a religion of

reaction against Hindu perversions. Buddhism drew its lifeblood from Hinduism but against its prevailing corruption's Buddhism recoiled like a whiplash and hit back.

WHAT BUDDHISM IS NOT!

• Buddha preached a religion DEVOID OF AUTHORITY.

• Buddha preached a religion DEVOID OF RITUAL.• Buddha preached a religion that SKIRTED

SKEPTICISM.• Buddha preached a religion DEVOID OF

TRADITION.• Buddha preached a religion DEVOID OF THE

SUPERNATURAL

BUDDHISM: THE TEACHING

Buddhism is not a fundamentalist religion. Its teachings are not dogmas or articles of faith that have to be blindly accepted at the cost of suspending reason, critical judgment, common sense or experience. Their basic aim is to help us gain direct insight into the truth for ourselves. Knowledge is key to Buddhism.

THE BUDDHIST ATTITUDE OF MIND• THE BUDDHA WAS A TEACHER WHO DID NOT CLAIM TO BE OTHER THAN A HUMAN BEING,

PURE AND SIMPLE.

• A MAN AND ONLY A MAN CAN BECOME A BUDDHA. EVERY PERSON HAS WITHIN THE SELF THE POTENTIALITY OF BECOMING A BUDDHA, IF SHE/SHE WILLS IT AND ENDEAVORS. We call the Buddha a human par excellence. He was so perfect in his human-ness that he came to be regarded in later popular religion almost as super human.

He said: It is proper that you have doubt, that you have perplexity, for a doubt has arisen in a matter which is doubtful. Now look...do not be led by reports, or tradition or hearsay. Be not led by the authority of religious texts, nor by mere logic or inference, nor by considering appearances, nor by the delight in speculative opinions, nor by seeming possibilities, nor by the idea: "this is our teacher." ...When you know for ourselves that certain things are unwholesome and wrong and bad, then give them up....And when you know for yourselves that certain things are wholesome and good, then accept them and follow them.

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

The Four Noble Truths celebrate the Middle Way:

1. Duhkha (Pali = dukkha) exists.2. Duhkha has an identifiable causeSumudaya, the raising or origin of dukkha3. That cause may be terminated.Nirodha, the cessation of dukkha4. The means by which that cause may be terminated.Nagga, the way leading to the cessation of dukkha

THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH

• The First Noble Truth is that life is DUHKHA (Sanskrit) or DUKKHA, (Pali), usually translated suffering. It is called the Noble Truth of Suffering.

• The term dukkha has a deeper meaning. It includes ideas such as imperfection, impermanence, emptiness and insubstantiality. Dukkha names the pain that to some degree colors all finite existence.

THE EGO OR 'I'

The being, individual or the I are a combination of ever-changing physical and mental forces or energies, which may be divided into five groups or aggregates. The Buddha says: In short these five aggregates of attachment are dukkha. They are called the five skandhas or "heaps."

The Five Aggregates

Matter --- Sensation --- Distinctiveness or Recognition ---

Will --- Response --- Selfness Ways to think about the "I": • EARTH SINKING INTO WATER• FIRE SINKING INTO AIR• BODY MELTING OR BECOMING LIKE WAX• BODY AS AN ENERGY RIVER This is the beginning of an understanding of EGO or "I". If a person called Jill begins to analyze herself, looking for the core in which her Jillness resides, she will find a pattern of ever-changing phenomena--body, emotions, sensations, ideas, etc.--but none of these could be said to be the essential, eternal, and unchanging Jill. But even if in deep meditation Jill can find no solid basis for her idea of herself as a separate individual, the idea of "Jill" still works in terms of the common-sense conventions of the everyday world.

THE SECOND NOBLE TRUTH

• For the rift to be healed we need to know its cause, and the Second Noble Truth identifies it. The cause of life's dislocation is THRISHNA or Pali TANHA, usually translated as desire. It also means thirst.

• Buddha: It is this thirst which produces re-existence

and re-becoming, and which is bound up with passionate greed, and which finds fresh delight now here and now there, namely thirst for sense pleasures, thirst for existence and becoming, and thirst for non-existence.

THE THIRD NOBLE TRUTHThe Third Noble Truth follows logically from the Second. If the cause of life's dislocation is selfish craving, its cure lies in the overcoming of such craving. If we could be released from the narrow limits of self-interest into the vast expanse of universal life, we would be relieved of our torment. There is emancipation, liberation, freedom from suffering, from the continuity of dukkha. There is a method: a way or path that can be traveled to ultimate freedom.

The Buddha said:

• Abstain from all unwholesome deeds,• perform wholesome ones,• purify your mind --• this is the teaching of enlightened persons.

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH (1 of 2)• IMAGE: Throwing rites and faith to the wind, he asked what is

causing these abnormal symptoms? Where is the seat of the infection? What is always present when suffering is present, and absent when suffering is absent? The answer was given in the Second Noble Truth: the cause of life's dislocation is tanha, or the desire for private fulfillment. What, then of the prognosis? The third Noble Truth is hopeful: the disease can be cured by overcoming the egoistic drive for separate existence. This brings us to the prescription; how is this overcoming to be accomplished? The Fourth Noble Truth provides the answer--the Eightfold Path.

• The Eightfold Path is the course of treatment.

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH (2 of 2)I The Training of Wisdom

1. RIGHT VIEWS / right understanding2. RIGHT INTENT / right thought or RIGHT UNDERSTANDING II Morality or THE VALUE OF MORAL PRACTICE 3. RIGHT SPEECH4. RIGHT CONDUCT / right action5. RIGHT LIVELIHOOD6. RIGHT EFFORT III Meditation 7. RIGHT MINDFULNESS OR AWARENESS8. RIGHT CONCENTRATION

THE THREE MARKS OF EXISTENCE

1. Duhkha / Pali, dukkha -- unsatisfactoriness2. Anitya / Pali, anicca -- impermanence3. Anatman / Pali, anatta -- not self

KARMA (PALI = KAMMA)

Karma is the seed from which vipeka "fruit" develops. Linguistically karma means action; specifically it refers to willed actions of body, speech and mind. All such actions, baring alone those of a Buddha or arhat, produce subtle seeds which in time will spawn further consequences. These will be wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral according to the nature of the original action.

REBIRTH

Closely linked to the notion of karma is that of rebirth, not to be confused with reincarnation, which is the view that there is a soul or subtle essence imprinted with an enduring personal stamp that transmigrates or commutes from body to body down through the eons. Buddhism rejects this view. What it does admit is CAUSAL CONNECTION between one life and another.

DEATH

The exact way in which at physical death karmic accumulations condition a new life is a complex matter. What is considered to be of vital importance is the person's state of mind in their final moments.

DEPENDENT ORIGINATION (PRATITYA-SAMUTPADA; PALI = PATICCA-SAMUPPADA)

If Buddhism makes no appeal to the idea of a creator God and if things are not self-creating, how do phenomena arise? The answer is that they arise do so as the result of preceding causes and in turn become the causes of future phenomena themselves. All phenomena are thus strictly dependent, condition and relative. In the case of humans and other sentient beings, a circular chain reaction consisting of twelve conditioned and conditioning "links" generates one complete life cycle: 1. Ignorance gives rise to2. Volitional action, which in turn gives rise to3. Conditioned consciousness, which in turn gives rise to4. Name-and form, which in turn gives rise to5. The six bases, i.e., the five senses and mind, which in turn gives rise to6. Sense impressions (contact), which in turn gives rise to7. Feelings, which in turn gives rise to8. Desire or craving, which in turn gives rise to9. Attachment, which in turn gives rise to10. Becoming (the life- or rebirth process), which in turn gives rise to11. Birth (or rebirth), which in turn gives rise to12. Old age, death--grief, lamentation, illness, sorrow, and despair. The final link is circularity connected with a new beginning, thus one life-cycle leads inexorably to another. This is samsara as depicted in the Buddhist world-view: the fearful cosmic roundabout upon which myriad suffering beings are trapped for vast eons of time.

THE WHEEL OF LIFE (BHAVACHAKRA) (1 of 2)

The way in which beings are locked into endless cycles is graphically depicted in the great Buddhist image of the Wheel of Life. The wheel itself is held by Yama, the terrifying Lord of Death, who is actually devouring it with his fangs, leaving us in no doubt that in the Buddhist view to be caught on this vicious cycle is a supremely wretched plight. The various links in the chain of dependent origination are symbolically represented by twelve small images set along the outer rim. Moving in a clockwise direction from the top they are: 1. A blind man--ignorance: the inability to see the truth.2. A potter--action. with the raw materials of clay and water, the potter creates a new pot on his particular kind of wheel.3. A monkey--conditioned consciousness. A monkey is skittish, wayward, virtually impossible to control. It blindly grasps one breath after another as it swings through the trees. so is a consciousness restless with karmic urges.4. Three men in a boat--the boat is the vehicle that carries the men across the stream; similarly, the body is the vehicle that carries us--or more precisely, our karmic inheritance--through the world. 5. Houses with doors and windows--the openings are the "sense doors" through which sense data passes.6. Lovers--they signify the contact of sense organ and the sense-data that creates sense-impressions.7. A man whose eye is pierced by an arrow--the feelings that arise from sense impressions are so strong that they partially blind us. We thus cannot see the true way but stumble on into desire.8. A man drinking--desire is a kind of insatiable thirst. If the thirst is for alcoholic drink, then it leads to intoxication: it seems to promise all kinds of delights and fulfillments, though in actual fact it must move us on one more notch around the wheel.

9. A monkey clinging to a fruit tree--the monkey, symbol of the wayward, desire-ridden mind, has here found a suitable object of desire and has latched onto it. Actually it doesn't look too happy; now is it apparently enjoying the fruit; it is just clinging on.10. A pregnant woman--the clinging has clearly created an embryo; a new life is on the way.11. Woman giving birth--the new life arrives, but in due course of time it will inexorably lead to.12. An old man--he carries a burden, the weight of all the ills that beset human life; and he seems to be walking toward that lake--signifying death, dissolution--from which the blind man in the next panel (the first of the sequence) just seems to have emerged.

THE WHEEL OF LIFE (BHAVACHAKRA) (2 of 2)

Thus the gyre rolls on. There are wheels within wheels. Inside the outer frienze and comprising the main body of the wheel, are five sections (in some versions six) in which are depicted the various realms into which rebirth is possible. Below there are the lower realms: those of the hungry ghosts (pretas) of the animals and the hell realm where the damned languish. Above, on the other hand, are the realms of human beings, of titans (asuras) and of the gods (devas). Inside this cosmic section of the Wheel of Life is a smaller ring in which beings can be seen falling into lower births and then climbing up into higher ones, only to fall again, and again...

THE THREE FIRES (OR POISONS) At the very center of the wheel we see three animals: a cock, a pig, and a snake. These represent a teaching known as the three fires or three poisons. The animals symbolize three fundamental vices that keep the wheel in spin: 1. the pig--ignorance / moha or Pali, moha2. the cock--greed, lust, craving / raga or Pali both raga and lobha3. the snake--hatred, anger, aggression / dvesha or Pali dosa All three are shown either eating each other or vomiting each other up, illustrating the endless cycles of blind compulsion in which those under their power are caught. Greed, hatred and delusion power the Wheel of Life. All three fires can initiate each other.

THE HINDRANCES (NIVARANA)

The following five factors are regarded as major obstructions to the development of concentration and so to penetration of ultimate truth:

1. Sensual desire -- abhidya; Pali, kamacchunda2. Ill will -- pardosha; Pali, vayapada3. Sloth and torpor -- stayana and middha; Pali, thina-middha4. Restlessness and worry -- anuddhatya and kaukritya; Pali, uddhacca-kukkuacca5. Doubt -- vichikitsa; Pali, vicikiccha

THE FETTERS (SAMYOJANA) THIS TEACHING ENUMERATES THE TEN FACTORS THAT BIND INDIVIDUALS TO SAMSARIC EXISTENCE: 1. Belief in personality -- drishti; Pali, ditthi2. Skepticism -- vichikitsa; Pali, vicikiccha3. Attachment to rules and rituals -- Pali, silabbata-paramasa4. Sensuous craving -- kama-raga5. Ill will -- Pali, vyapada6. Craving for material existence -- rupa-raga7. Craving for non-material existence -- arupa-raga8. Conceit -- mana9. Restlessness -- Pali, udhacca10. Ignorance -- avidya; Pali, avijja Of special note here is that craving for any form of existence whatsoever, even existence in one of the subtle formless levels of the higher dhyanas, is an impediment to liberation, as is attachment to rules and rituals. These "mind-forged manacles" must be broken if development is to take place and freedom be won.

THE PERFECTION'S (PARAMITA)These are the noble qualities that the practitioner actively cultivates during the course of his/her pursuit of buddhahood. They are with Pali equivalents: 1. Generosity / dana2. Morality / sila3. Renunciation / nekkhamma4. Wisdom / panna5. Energy / viriya6. Patience / khanti7. Truthfulness / sacca8. Determination / adhitthana9. Loving-kindness / metta10. Equanimity / upekkha

Life Within the Sangha From the first, the Sangha--the orders of monks and nuns--have occupied a special place in Buddhism. While the Buddha was alive, he established the Sangha so that people could devote themselves fully to the Middle Way. Novices are taught ten precepts or rules. They are. 1. To refrain from taking life2. To refrain from stealing3. To refrain from sexual activity4. To refrain from lying5. To refrain from intoxicating substances6. To refrain from eating after midday7. To refrain from the use of perfumes and personal adornment8. To refrain from seeing public entertainment9. To refrain from grand beds10. To refrain from accepting gold and silver