- Buddhism
- A Method of Mind
Training
- Leonard Bullen
- Buddhist Publication Society
Bodhi Leaves BL 42
When you hear something about Buddhism in the daily news you
usually think of it having
a background of huge idols and yellow-robed monks, with a thick
atmosphere of incense
fumes. You never feel that there is anything in it for you,
except, maybe, an exotic
spectacle.
But is that all there is in Buddhism? Do the news photographers
take pictures of the
real Buddhism? Do the glossy magazines show you the fundamentals,
or only the externals?
Let us see, then, what Buddhism really is, Buddhism as it was
originally expounded and
as it still exists underneath the external trappings and
trimmings.
Although generally regarded as a religion, Buddhism is
basically a method of
cultivating the mind. It is true that, with its monastic tradition
and its emphasis on
ethical factors, it possesses many of the surface characteristics
that Westerners
associate with religion. However, it is not theistic, since it
affirms that the universe
is governed by impersonal laws and not by any creator-god; it has
no use for prayer, for
the Buddha was a teacher and not a god; and it regards devotion
not as a religious
obligation but as a means of expressing gratitude to its founder
and as a means of
self-development. Thus it is not a religion at all from these
points of view.
Again, Buddhism knows faith only in the sense of confidence in
the way recommended by
the Buddha. A Buddhist is not expected to have faith or to believe
in anything merely
because the Buddha said it, or because it is written in the
ancient books, or because it
has been handed down by tradition, or because others believe it.
He may, of course, agree
with himself to take the Buddha-doctrine as a working hypothesis
and to have confidence in
it; but he is not expected to accept anything unless his reason
accepts it. This does not
mean that everything can be demonstrated rationally, for many
points lie beyond the scope
of the intellect and can be cognized only by the development of
higher faculties. But the
fact remains that there is no need for blind acceptance of
anything in the
Buddha-doctrine.
Buddhism is a way of life based on the training of the mind.
Its one ultimate aim is to
show the way to complete liberation from suffering by the
attainment of the Unconditioned,
a state beyond the range of the normal untrained mind. Its
immediate aim is to strike at
the roots of suffering in everyday life.
All human activity is directed, either immediately or remotely,
towards the attainment
of happiness in some form or other; or, to express the same thing
in negative terms, all
human activity is directed towards liberation from some kind of
unsatisfactoriness or
dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction, then, can be regarded as the
starting point in human
activity, with happiness as its ultimate goal.
Dissatisfaction, the starting point in human activity, is also
the starting point in
Buddhism; and this point is expressed in the formula of the Four
Basic Statements, which
set out the fact of dissatisfaction, its cause, its cure, and the
method of its cure.
The First Basic Statement can be stated thus:
Dissatisfaction is Inescapable in En-self-ed
Life
In its original meaning, the word which is here rendered as
"dissatisfaction"
and which is often translated as "suffering" embraces the meanings
not only of
pain, sorrow, and displeasure, but also of everything that is
unsatisfactory, ranging from
acute physical pain and severe mental anguish to slight tiredness,
boredom, or mild
disappointment.
Sometimes the term is rendered as "dissatisfaction" or
"unsatisfactoriness"; in some contexts these are perhaps more
accurate, while at
other times the word "suffering" is more expressive. For this
reason we shall
use both "suffering" and "dissatisfaction" or
"unsatisfactoriness" according to context.
In some translations of the original texts it is stated that
birth is suffering,
sickness is suffering, old age is suffering, and pleasure is
suffering. In English, this
last statement fails to make sense; but if we restate it as
"pleasure is
unsatisfactory" it becomes more readily understandable, for all
pleasure is
impermanent and is eventually succeeded by its opposite, and from
this point of view at
least it is unsatisfactory.
Now the Buddha-doctrine teaches that dissatisfaction or
suffering is inescapable in
en-self-ed life; and the term "en-self-ed life" needs some
explanation. In
brief, the doctrine teaches that the self, considered as a fixed,
unchanging eternal soul,
has no reality.
The central core of every being is not an unchanging soul but a
life-current, an
ever-changing stream of energy which is never the same for two
consecutive seconds. The
self, considered as an eternal soul, therefore, is a delusion, and
when regarded from the
ultimate standpoint it has no reality; and it is only within this
delusion of selfhood
that ultimate suffering can exist. When the self-delusion is
finally transcended and the
final enlightenment is attained, the ultimate state which lies
beyond the relative
universe is reached. In this ultimate state, the Unconditioned,
suffering is extinguished;
but while any element of selfhood remains, even though it is a
delusion, suffering remains
potentially within it.
We must understand, then, that the First Basic Statement does
not mean that suffering
is inescapable; it means that suffering is inescapable in enselfed
life, or while the
delusion of selfhood remains.
We can now move on to the Second Basic Statement, which says:
The Origin of Dissatisfaction is Craving
If you fall on a slippery floor and suffer from bruises, you
say that the cause of your
suffering is the slippery floor. In an immediate sense you are
right, of course, and to
say that the cause of your bruises is craving fails to make sense.
But the Second Statement does not refer to individual cases or
to immediate causes. It
means that the integrating force that holds together the
life-current is self-centered
craving; for this life-current -- this self-delusion -- contains
in itself the conditions
for suffering, while the slippery floor is merely an occasion for
suffering.
It is obviously impossible, by the nature of the world we live
in, to cure suffering by
the removal of all the occasions for suffering; whereas it is
possible in Buddhism to
strike at its prime or fundamental cause. Therefore the Third
Basic Statement states:
Liberation May Be Achieved by Destroying
Craving
It is self-centered craving that holds together the forces
which comprise the
life-current, the stream of existence which we call the self; and
it is only with
self-delusion that unsatisfactoriness or suffering can exist. By
the destruction of that
which holds together the delusion of the self, the root cause of
suffering is also
destroyed.
The ultimate aim of Buddhist practice, then, is to annihilate
the self. This is where a
great deal of misunderstanding arises, and naturally so; but once
it is realized that to
annihilate the self is to annihilate a delusion, this
misunderstanding disappears. When
the delusion is removed, the reality appears; so that to destroy
delusion is to reveal the
reality. The reality cannot be discovered while the delusion of
self continues to obscure
it.
Now what is this reality which appears when the delusion is
removed? The ultimate
reality is the Unconditioned, called also the Unborn, the
Unoriginated, the Uncreated, and
the Uncompounded. We can, inadequately and not very accurately,
describe it as a positive
state of being. It is characterized by supreme bliss and complete
freedom from suffering
and is so utterly different from ordinary existence that no real
description of it can be
given. The Unconditioned can be indicated -- up to a point -- only
by stating what it is
not; for it is beyond words and beyond thought.
Hence, in the Buddhist texts, the Unconditioned is often
explained as the final
elimination' from one's own mind, of greed, hatred and delusion.
This, of course, also
implies the perfection of the opposite positive qualities of
selflessness,
loving-kindness, and wisdom.
The attainment of the Unconditioned is the ultimate aim of all
Buddhist practice, and
is the same as complete liberation from dissatisfaction or
suffering. This brings us to
the last of the Four Basic Statements:
The Way of Liberation Is the Noble Eightfold
Path
The eight factors of the path are these:
1. Right understanding, a knowledge of the true
nature of existence.
2. Right thought, thought free from sensuality,
ill-will and cruelty.
3. Right speech, speech without falsity, gossip,
harshness, and idle babble.
4. Right action, or the avoidance of killing, stealing
and adultery.
5. Right livelihood, an occupation that harms no
conscious living being.
6. Right effort, or the effort to destroy the
defilements of the mind and to
cultivate wholesome qualities.
7. Right mindfulness, the perfection of the normal
faculty of attention.
8. Right concentration, the cultivation of a
collected, focussed mind through
meditation.
Now you will see that in this Noble Eightfold Path there is
nothing of an essentially
religious nature; it is more a sort of moral psychology.
But in the East as well as in the West people as a whole demand
external show of some
sort, and -- on the outside at least -- the non-essentials have
assumed more importance
than the essentials.
While some external features in the practice of Buddhism must
of necessity vary
according to environment, the essential and constant
characteristics of that practice are
summed up in the following outline of the Noble Eightfold Path,
the Middle Way between
harmful extremes, as taught by the Buddha.
Although it is convenient to speak of the various aspects of
the eightfold path as
eight steps, they are not to be regarded as separate steps, taken
one after another. On
the contrary, each one must be practiced along with the others,
and it might perhaps be
better to think of them as if they were eight parallel lanes
within the one road rather
than eight successive steps.
The first step of this path, right understanding, is primarily a
matter of seeing
things as they really are -- or at least trying to do so without
self-deceit or evasion.
In another sense, right understanding commences as an intellectual
appreciation of the
nature of existence, and as such it can be regarded as the
beginning of the path; but,
when the path has been followed to the end, this merely
intellectual appreciation is
supplanted by a direct and penetrating discernment of the
principles of the teaching first
accepted intellectually.
While right understanding can be regarded as the complete
understanding of the Buddha
doctrine, it is based on the recognition of three dominating
characteristics of the
relative universe, of the universe of time, form and matter. These
three characteristics
can briefly be set out in this way:
1. Impermanence: All things in the relative
universe are unceasingly changing.
2. Dissatisfaction: Some degree of suffering or
dissatisfaction is inherent in
en-selfed life, or in life within the limitations of the
relative universe and personal
experience.
3. Egolessness: No being -- no human being or any
other sort of being --
possesses a fixed, unchanging, eternal soul or self. Instead,
every being consists of an
ever-changing current of forces, an ever-changing flux of
material and mental phenomena,
like a river which is always moving and is never still for a
single second.
The self, then, is not a static entity but an ever-changing
flux. This dynamic concept
of existence is typical of deeper Buddhist thought; there is
nothing static in life, and
since it is ever-flowing you must learn to flow with it.
Another aspect of right understanding is the recognition that
the universe runs its
course on the basis of a strict sequence of cause and effect, or
of action and reaction, a
sequence just as invariable and just as exact in the mental or
moral realm as in the
physical. In accordance with this law of moral action and reaction
all morally good or
wholesome will actions eventually bring to the doer happiness at
some time, while
unwholesome or morally bad will-actions bring suffering to the
doer.
The effects of wholesome and unwholesome will-actions -- that
is to say, the happiness
and suffering that result from them -- do not generally follow
immediately; there is often
a considerable time-lag, for the resultant happiness and suffering
can arise only when
appropriate conditions are present. The results may not appear
within the present
lifetime. Thus at death there is normally a balance of "merit"
which has not yet
brought about its experience of happiness; and at the same time
there is also a balance of
"demerit" which has not yet given rise to the suffering which is
to be its
inevitable result.
After death, the body disintegrates, of course, but the
life-current continues, not in
the form of an unchanging soul, but in the form of an
ever-changing stream of energy.
Immediately after death a new being commences life to carry on
this life current; but the
new being is not necessarily a human being, and the instantaneous
rebirth may take place
on another plane of existence. But in any case, the new being is a
direct sequel to the
being that has just died.
Thus the new being becomes an uninterrupted continuation of the
old being, and the
life-current is unbroken. The new being inherits the balance of
merit built up by the old
being, and this balance of merit will inevitably bring happiness
at some future time. At
the same time, the new being inherits the old being's balance of
demerit, which will bring
suffering at some time in the future.
In effect, in the sense of continuity, the new being is the
same as the old being. In
just the same way -- that is, in the sense of continuity only --
an old man is the same as
the young man he once was, the young man is the same as the boy he
once was, and the boy
is the same as the baby he once was. But the identity of the old
man with the young man,
and with the boy, and with the baby, is due only to continuity;
there is no other
identity.
Everything in the universe changes from day to day and from
moment to moment, so that
every being at this moment is a slightly different being from that
of the moment before;
the only identity is due to continuity. In the same way, the being
that is reborn is
different from the previous one that died; but the identity due to
continuity remains as
before.
These teachings are basic to the Buddha-doctrine -- the
illusory nature of the self,
the law of action and reaction in the moral sphere, and the
rebirth of the life-forces --
but there is no need for anyone to accept anything that does not
appeal to his reason.
Acceptance of any particular teaching is unimportant; what is
important is the continual
effort to see things as they really are, without self-deceit or
evasion.
So much for a brief outline of the doctrine under the heading
of right understanding.
The second step, right thought or aim, is a matter of freeing the
intellectual faculties
from adverse emotional factors, such as sensuality, ill-will, and
cruelty, which render
wise and unbiased decisions impossible.
Right speech, right action, and right livelihood together make
up the moral section of
the path, their function being to keep the defilements of the mind
under control and to
prevent them from reaching adverse expression. These defilements,
however, cannot be
completely eradicated by morality alone, and the other steps of
the path must be applied
to cleanse the mind completely of its defilements.
Now in the next step -- right effort -- we enter the sphere of
practical psychology,
for right effort in this context means effort of will. In other
words, the sixth step of
the path is self-discipline, the training of the will in order to
prevent and overcome
those states of mind that retard development, and to arouse and
cultivate those that bring
about mental progress.
The seventh step of the path is also one of practical
psychology; this is the step
called right mindfulness, and it consists of the fullest possible
development of the
ordinary faculty of attention. It is largely by the development of
attention -- expanded
and intensified awareness -- that the mind can eventually become
capable of discerning
things as they really are.
The primary function of the, seventh step, right mindfulness,
is to develop an
increasing awareness of the unreality of the self. However, it
functions also by
continually improving the normal faculty of attention, thus
equipping the mind better to
meet the problems and stresses of the workaday world.
In the Buddha-way, mindfulness consists of developing the
faculty of attention so as to
produce a constant awareness of all thoughts that arise, all words
that are spoken, and
all actions that are done, with a view to keeping them free from
self-interest, from
emotional bias, and from self-delusion.
Right mindfulness has many applications in the sphere of
everyday activities. For
example, it can be employed to bring about a sharpened awareness, a
clear comprehension,
of the motives of these activities, and this clear comprehension
of motive is extremely
important.
In right concentration, the last of the eight steps, the
cultivation of higher
mind-states -- up to the meditative absorptions -- is undertaken,
and these higher
mind-states serve to unify, purity, and strengthen the mind for
the achievement of
liberating insight.
In this ultimate achievement the delusion of selfhood, with its
craving and suffering,
is transcended and extinguished.
This penetrating insight is the ultimate goal of all Buddhist
practices, and with it
comes a direct insight into the true nature of life, culminating
in realization of the
Unconditioned. While the Unconditioned is the extinction of self,
it is nevertheless not
mere non-existence or annihilation, for the extinction of self is
nothing but the
extinction of a delusion. Every description of the Unconditioned
must fail, for it lies
not only beyond words but beyond even thought; and the only way to
know it is to follow
the Noble Eightfold Path to its end.
This, then, is the original Buddhism; this is the Buddhism of
the Noble Eightfold Path,
of the path that leads from the bondage of self to liberating
insight into reality.
About the Author
Leonard A. Bullen was one of the pioneers of the Buddhist
movement in Australia. He was
the first president of the Buddhist Society of Victoria when it
was established in 1953
and one of the first office-bearers of the executive committee of
the Buddhist Federation
of Australia. He was also a co-editors of the Buddhist journal Metta.
He passed
away in 1984 at the age of 76.
His other publications issued by BPS are A Technique of
Living (Wheel No.
226/230) and "Action and Reaction in Buddhist Teaching" in Kamma
and Its
Fruit (Wheel No. 221/224).
http://world.std.com/~metta/lib/bps/leaves/bl042.html