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Buddhist
Publication Society Newsletter Spring 1993 No. 23 |
The Guardians
of the World
Like the Roman god
Janus, every person faces simultaneously in two opposite directions. With one
face of our consciousness we gaze in upon ourselves and become aware of
ourselves as individuals motivated by a deep urge to avoid suffering and to
secure our own well-being and happiness. With the other face we gaze out upon
the world and discover that our lives are thoroughly relational, that we exist
as nodes in a vast net of relationships with other beings whose fate is tied
up with our own. Because of the relational structure of our existence, we are
engaged in a perpetual two-way interaction with the world: the influence of the
world presses in upon ourselves, shaping and altering our own attitudes and
dispositions, while our own attitudes and dispositions flow out into the
world, a force that affects the lives of others for better or for worse. This
seamless interconnection between the inner and outer domains acquires a
particular urgency for us today owing to the rampant deterioration in ethical
standards that sweeps across the globe. Such moral decline is as widespread in
those societies which enjoy a comfortable measure of stability and prosperity
as it is in those countries where poverty and desperation make moral infringements
an integral aspect of the struggle for survival. Of course we should not
indulge in pastel-coloured fantasies about the past, imagining that we lived in
a Garden of Eden until the invention of the steam engine. The driving forces
of the human heart have remained fairly constant through the ages, and the toll
they have taken in human misery surpasses calculation. But what we find today
is a strange paradox that would be interesting if it were not sinister: while
there appears to be a much wider verbal acknowledgement of the primacy of
moral and human values, there is at the same time more blatant disregard for
the lines of conduct such values imply. This undermining of traditional ethical
values is in part a result of the internationalization of commerce and the
global penetration of virtually all media of communication. Vested interests,
in quest of wider loops of power and expanding profits, mount a sustained campaign
aimed at exploiting our moral vulnerability. This campaign proceeds at full
pace, invading every nook and corner of our lives, with little regard for the
long-term consequences for the individual and society. The results are evident
in the problems that we face, problems that respect no national boundaries:
rising crime rates, spreading drug addiction, ecological devastation, child
labour and prostitution, smuggling and pornography, the decline of the family
as the unit of loving trust and moral education. The Buddha's
teaching at its core is a doctrine of liberation that provides us with the
tools for cutting through the fetters that keep us bound to this world of
suffering, the round of repeated births. Although the quest for liberation by
practice of the Dhamma depends on individual effort, this quest necessarily
takes place within a social environment and is thus subject to all the
influences, helpful or harmful, imposed upon us by that environment. The
Buddhist training unfolds in the three stages of morality, concentration and
wisdom, each the foundation for the other: purified moral conduct facilitates
the attainment of purified concentration, and the concentrated mind
facilitates the attainment of liberating wisdom. The basis of the entire
Buddhist training is thus purified conduct, and firm adherence to the code of
training rules one has undertaken—the Five Precepts in the case of a lay
Buddhist—is the necessary means for safeguarding the purity of one's conduct.
Living as we do in an era when we are provoked through every available channel
to deviate from the norms of rectitude, and when social unrest, economic
hardships, and political conflict further fuel volatile emotions, the need for
extra protection becomes especially imperative: protection for oneself,
protection for the world. The
Buddha points to two mental qualities as the underlying safeguards of
morality, thus as the protectors of both the individual and society as a whole.
These two qualities are called in Pali hiri
and ottappa. Hiri is an innate
sense of shame over moral transgression; ottappa
is moral dread, fear of the results of wrongdoing. The Buddha calls these
two states the bright guardians of the world (sukka lokapaalaa). He gives them this designation because as long
as these two states prevail in people's hearts the moral standards of the world
remain intact, while when their influence wanes the human world falls into
unabashed promiscuity and violence, becoming almost indistinguishable from the
animal realm (Itiv. 42). While
moral shame and fear of wrongdoing are united in the com-mon task of protecting
the mind from moral defilement, they differ in their individual characteristics
and modes of operation. Hiri, the
sense of shame, has an internal reference; it is rooted in self-respect and
induces us to shrink from wrongdoing out of a feeling of personal honour. Ottappa, fear of wrongdoing, has an
external orientation. It is the voice of conscience that warns us of the dire
consequences of moral transgression: blame and punishment by others, the
painful kammic results of evil deeds, the impediment to our desire for
liberation from suffering. Acariya Buddhaghosa illustrates the difference
between the two with the simile of an iron rod smeared with excrement at one
end and heated to a glow at the other end:' hiri
is like one's disgust at grabbing the rod in the place where it is smeared
with excrement, ottappa is like one's
fear of grabbing it in the place where it is red hot. In
the present-day world, with its secularization of all values, such notions as
shame and fear of wrong are bound to appear antiquated, relics from a
puritanical past when superstition and dogma manacled our rights to
uninhibited self-expression. Yet the Buddha's stress on the importance of hiri and ottappa was based on a deep insight into the different
potentialities of human nature. He saw that the path to deliverance is a
struggle against the current, and that if we are to unfold the mind's
capacities for wisdom, purity and peace, then we need to keep the powderkeg of
the defilements under the watchful eyes of diligent sentinels. The
project of self-cultivation, which the Buddha proclaims as the means to
liberation from suffering, requires that we keep a critical watch over the
movements of our minds, both on occasions when they motivate bodily and verbal
deeds and when they remain inwardly absorbed with their own preoccupations. To
exercise such self-scrutiny is an aspect of heedfulness (appamaada), which the Buddha states is the path to the Deathless.
In the practice of self examination, the sense of shame and fear of wrongdoing
play a crucial role. The sense of shame spurs us to overcome unwholesome
mental states because we recognize that such states are blemishes on our
character. They detract from the inward loftiness of character to be fashioned
by the practice of the Dhamma, the stature of the ariyans or noble ones, who
shine resplendent like lotus flowers upon the lake of the world. Fear of
wrongdoing bids us to retreat from morally risky thoughts and actions because
we recognize that such deeds are seeds with the potency to yield fruits,
fruits that inevitably will be bitter. The Buddha asserts that whatever evil
arises springs from a lack of shame and fear of wrong, while all virtuous deeds
spring from the sense of shame and fear of wrong. By cultivating within ourselves
the qualities of moral shame and fear of wrongdoing we not only accelerate our
own progress along the path to deliverance, but also contribute our share
towards the protection of the world. Given the intricate interconnections that
hold between all living forms, to make the sense of shame and fear of wrong the
guardians of our own minds is to make ourselves guardians of the world. As the
roots of morality, these two qualities sustain the entire efficacy of the
Buddha's liberating path; as the safeguards of personal decency, they at the
same time preserve the dignity of the human race. Bhikkhu
Bodhi Publications
Recent
Releases
A Comprehensive Manual of Ahhidhamma. Bhikkhu Bodhi, General
Editor. The Abhidhamma is the Buddhist analysis of mind and mental processes, a
wide-ranging systemization of the Buddha's teaching that combines philosophy,
psychology and ethics into a unique and remarkable synthesis. For 800 years a
little treatise called the Ahhidhamntattha
Sartgaha (Manual of Abhidhamma) has served as the key to open this
treasure-store of Buddhist wisdom. The present volume offers an exact
translation of the Manual along with the Pali text and a detailed,
section-by-section explanatory guide by the Burmese Abhidhamma authority U
Rewata Dhamma and Bhikkhu Bodhi, designed to lead the modern reader through the
complexities of this ancient philosophical psychology. A long introduction
explains the basic principles of the Abhidhamma, while the book specially
features 48 charts and tables which represent the subject in a visually
accessible format. Hardback:
432 pages 140 mm x 214 mm U.S.
$20.00; SL Rs. 450 Order No. BP 304H Tranquillity & Insight: An Introduction
to the Oldest Form of Buddhist Meditation. Amadeo Sole-Leris. This widely acclaimed
book explains the methods of Buddhist meditation in a concise yet complete
account according to the oldest Buddhist tradition, that based on the Pali
Canon. While providing all the information necessary to proper understanding,
the stress is on the need for practice and personal commitment. "An
excellent reference book ... Will appeal to beginners and non-beginners
alike." (Buddhist Studies Review) Softback:
176 pages 140 mm x 214 mm U.S.
$8.50; SL Rs. 180 Order No. BP S 10S The Heart of Buddhist Meditation. Nyanaponika Thera. A
modern Buddhist classic translated into seven languages, The Heart of Buddhist Meditation has been an important bridge in
the spiritual encounter of East and West. With the combined powers of deep personal
insight and clear exposition, the author conveys the essential principles
making up the Buddha's way of mindfulness. "A work of unique importance
... written with great depth, extraordinary knowledge, deep humanity."
(Erich Fromm) (Not
for sale in U.S.A. In the U.S.A. order from Samuel Weisers Inc., P.O. Box 612,
York Beach, ME 03910, or from bookshops stocking books on Asian religions.) Softback:
224 pages 140 mm x 214 mm U.S.
$9.50; SL Rs. 200 Order No. BP 5095 Back in Print
The Seven Stages of Purification and The
Insight Knowledges. Ven. Mahathera Matara Sri Ñaa.naraama. This is a book born of
wide and deep meditative experience, a guide to the progressive stages of
Buddhist meditation for those who have taken up the practice in full
earnestness. The book treats its subject not only with the author's great
erudition, but with the clarifying light of actual meditative experience. The
late author was one of the most respected meditation masters of present-day
Sri Lanka. Softback:
88 pages 140 mm x 214 mm U.S.
$5.00; SL Rs. 100 Order No. BP 506S The Discourse on the All-Embracing Net of
Views: The Brahmajala Sutta and its Commentaries. Translated by Bhikkhu
Bodhi. This is one of the Buddha's most important discourses, his
"all-embracing" critique of speculative views on the self and the
world, which are captured in a net of sixty-two cases. The inclusion of the massive
commentary and subcommentary allow for a close in-depth study of the work. Hardback:
350 pages 140 mm x 214 mm U.S.
$ 15.00; SL Rs. 280 Order No. BP 209H The Buddha's Words on Kantma. Four discourses from the
Majjhima Nikaaya translated by Bhikkhu
Ñaa.namoli. Contains the shorter and longer versions of the Analysis of Kamma
suttas and two other suttas, making known the Buddha's own words on the subject.
Softback: 48 pages 124 mm x 182 mm U.S. $ 2.50; SL Rs. 60 Order No. WH 248/249 The Four Sublime States. Nyanaponika
Thera. Contemplations on the four Brahma-vihara of universal love, compassion,
sympathetic joy and equanimity; a profound and poetic essay which explores
these qualities individually and in their complex inter-relationships. Softback:
32 pages 124 mm x 182 mm U.S.
$1.50; SL Rs. 30 Order No. WH 6 Price
Adjustments
The
following price changes are effective from 1 May 1993: The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga): from $50.00 to $40.00 Buddhist Dictionary: from $20.00 to
$15.00 Kamma and its Fruit: from $4.50 to $3.50 Analysis of the Pali Canon: from $4.50
to $3.50 Anguttara Nikaaya Anthology, Part
III: from $3.95 to $3.50 The Discourse on
Right View: from $3:95 to $3.50 Book Review
Buddhist and Freudian Psychology. 3rd Edition. Padmasiri
de Silva. Singapore University Press (Yusof Ishak House, Kent Ridge, Singapore
0511), 1992. 230 pp. HB U.S. $24.00; PB U.S. $18.00. This is a new edition,
unchanged except for the addition of one chapter, of a work originally
published in 1973. At the time, it was a very welcome contribution towards a
mutually instructive encounter between Buddhist and Western psychology. Though
chronologically not quite the first in the field, Buddhist and Freudian Psychology was undoubtedly a significant
pioneering effort, and achieved a usefully sharp focus by concentrating on the
Freudian and post Freudian mainstream of Western psychology. ' Today,
some 20 to 25 years later, many developments have taken place (in particular
Maslow's humanistic psychology, and the whole school of transpersonal
psychology) which make the original terms of Professor Padmasiri de Silva's
comparison seem perhaps unnecessarily restrictive. One wishes that the author
had taken the opportunity of a new edition to delve further into the
implications of his earlier research and, without for all that abandoning the
original framework, taken into account the lively developments that have taken
place in the meantime in the exploration of Buddhist psychology in Western
terms (e.g. to quote but two instances, Rune Johansson's suggestive The Dynamic Psychology of Early Buddhism, 1979,
and the rich trove of comparative analyses in the collection of essays by different
authors, edited by Nathan Katz in 1983 under the title Buddhist and Western Psychology). This
is not to say, however, that Buddhist and
Freudian Psychology cannot still be read with profit and pleasure as a
workmanlike source of information on important points of contact between the
two worlds. For the Buddhist material, the author concentrates on the oldest
formulations found in the Nikayas, drawing as required also on the later
systematic elaborations in the Abhidhamma. He then proceeds to compare a number
of basic aspects of the two systems, in order to investigate similarities and
differences. As he explains at the outset, the essential similarities
"which prompted this comparison of two great philosophies separated by
such a vast expanse of time" (p.3) are the basic humanism found in both
systems and their explicitly therapeutic purpose. These are confirmed by a
closer analysis, although Professor Padmasiri de Silva very properly makes the
essential distinction between the aim of adjustment to "normality"
(i.e. to the essentially misperceived world of samsaara) pursued not only by
Freudian but by all Western psychotherapies, with the recent exception of the
transpersonal school, and the soteriological purpose of the Buddha's
teaching—transcendence of saritsara altogether: "the Freudian goal was
limited ... to the translation of hysterical misery into everyday
unhappiness" (75), while in the Buddha's teaching "mental illness is
continued till the state of arahat is attained," and a mind can only be
called healthy "when all the selfish desires and passions are
extinguished, and the mind positively enjoys bliss and peace" (165). In
the new Chapter VI, however, ("The Freudian Search for the Ideal
Therapeutic Model: A Buddhist Perspective') the author qualifies this by
pointing out that for Freud, as well as for some of his followers, analysis is
to be regarded "as both therapeutic transformation and growth of
self-knowledge" (174), and that Freud himself was keenly aware of the
"pathology of normalcy" (174), so that for him "the medical aim
is thus in substance a spiritual aim" (180). He sees here a point of
convergence with an Eastern, particularly a Buddhist perspective, and refers to
two other illuminating studies of Freudian psychotherapy from a Buddhist
perspective (Erich Fromm's "Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis" and
David Levin's "Approaches to Psychotherapy: Freud, Jung and Tibetan
Buddhism," both in The Metaphors of
Consciousness (1981), ed. by
R.S. Valle). In the original five chapters, the author compares the concept of
mind and the theory of motivation in Freud and Buddhism, stressing what they
have in common as dynamic psychologies with a profound interest in "the
complex interplay of forces both at the conscious and the unconscious
level" (3t). In particular, he finds instructive parallels in the nature
and contents of unconscious motives ("the points of similarity between
the threefold desires of early Buddhism (kama-,
bhava- and vibhava-ta.nhaa) and
the libido, ego and the death instinct are very significant," p.73), and
asserts as "our basic thesis that there is a concept of the Unconscious in
early Buddhism" (p.49). This is illustrated by reference to early Buddhist
psychological terms such as ariusayas (proclivities
or latent tendencies), aasavas (taints
or cankers) and asampajaano
mano-sankhaaras (mental dispositions of which one is unaware), as well as
to the later, abhidhammic concept of bhavanga
(life continuum, or stream of existence flowing below the level of ordinary
consciousness). Finally,
an appendix (reprinted from an article published in the Ceylon Journal of the Humanities) investigates the possible indirect
influence of Buddhism on Freud's psychological thinking through the
intermediary of Schopenhauer's philosophy. Professor
Padmasiri de Silva's study is primarily in the nature of a preliminary mapping
out of territory to be explored in depth subsequently, and one hopes that he
will, at some future time, follow up his suggestive adumbrations in greater
detail. Amadeo
Sole-Leris Notes and News
Staff Veterans Retire. Recently several of our
veteran staff members retired after long periods of service to the BPS. One
was Mr. T.B. Naranpanawe who joined us in 1987 as Administrative Secretary and
later assumed as well the post of Treasurer. Coming to the BPS
from a background of highly responsible positions in the civil service, he
brought to his work an admirable combination of dedication and diligence.
Other staff members who retired recently after long periods of dedicated
service: Mr. Norman Alahakoon (20 years), Mr. Rajah Weerakoon (9 years), Mr.
P.D. Ampitiya (6 years), Mr. W. Jinadasa (32 years). We wish them all a happy
and peaceful retirement, and many more years of good health. BPS Cover Wins Award. We are happy to announce that our printer, Karunaratne & Sons
Ltd., was awarded the first prize for the Best Book Cover for 1992 by the Sri
Lankan Association of Printers for the cover of our new edition of Bhikkhu
Ñaa.namoli's Life of the Buddha. The
splendid photograph of the Buddha image on the cover is the work of Roland
Wildgruber of Buddha-Haus, Germany. The Buddha & His Teachings in
Vietnamese. The
Buddhist Relief Mission, an organization dedicated to supporting the Buddha
Sasana worldwide, each year has chosen to print for free distribution a book
for an endangered Buddhist community. For 1993 they have decided to reprint the
Vietnamese translation of Ven. Narada Thera's The Buddha and His Teachings, to be distributed freely to Vietnamese
Buddhist communities around the world. Those wishing to contribute may write
(specifying the purpose of the donation) to: Buddhist Relief Mission, 266-27
Ozuku-cho, Kashihara-shi, Naraken 634, Japan. Guidelines to
Sutta Study
The
Buddha opened his famous Fire Sermon with the startling declaration "All
is burning," which we discussed in the previous installment of this
series. The rest of his discourse is woven upon a framework which can be
reduced to three questions: (1) What is the all that is burning? (2) What is
the fire that consumes the all? (3) What is the consequence of seeing all as
burning? We will now address these questions in turn. (1)
What is the "all" that is burning? The "all" that is
burning is the entire cognitive apparatus of human experience, beginning with
the six spheres of sense. It comprises the six sense bases, the six corresponding
sense objects, the six types of consciousness, the six types of contact, and
the six types of feeling. The
six sense bases are the sense faculties of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and
mind. According to the analytical method of the Abhidhamma, each of the five
physical sense bases refers, not to the gross visible organ designated by the
same name, but to a subtle type of sensitive substance (pasada-rupa) which has the unique function of responding to, or
"picking up," the appropriate sense object. Thus the physical
eyes—the two delicately structured balls of tissue and fluids—are called the
"composite eye" (sasamhhaara-cakkhu),
while the eye base, the actual sense base or faculty of sight, is called
"eye sensitivity" (cakkhu-pasaada).
It is eye sensitivity that registers forms and thereby serves as the door
through which the visible world floods into awareness. Each
of the other physical sense bases is also to be understood to refer to a type
of sensitivity. The ear base is the material substance that is sensitive to
sounds; the nose base the substance that is sensitive to smells; the tongue
base the substance that is sensitive to tastes; the body base the substance
that is sensitive to tangibles. The mind base (manaayatana), unlike the other five bases, is not a physical
substance; it is not the material organ (brain and nervous system) which
serves as the support for consciousness. While the mind base is never
explicitly identified in the Suttas, the Commentaries maintain that the mind
base refers to the aggregate of consciousness as a whole. However, when mind (mano) is specified as a condition in
dependence upon which mind-consciousness arises, the term "mind" is
then understood in a more restricted sense as the mind door (manodvaara), which is then identified
as the bhavanga, the passive stream
of subliminal consciousness out of which active processes of cognition emerge.
The Buddha states that all six sense faculties and their respective objects are
burning. In
dependence on the sense faculty and object, there arises a corresponding type
of consciousness. In dependence on the eye and forms, eye-consciousness arises;
in dependence on the ear and sounds, earconsciousness; ... in dependence on
the mind and mental objects, mind-consciousness arises. Consciousness is
defined as the cognizing, or knowing, of an object. It is not a knowing self,
an enduring self-luminous subject which abides in its own identity. Consciousness
is an event, an act, which lights up its object, and the apparent persistence
of consciousness is explained as a sequence of fleeting acts of consciousness,
each of extremely brief duration. Each
of the five kinds of sense consciousness is tied to a particular sense door and
object. Eye-consciousness, for instance, necessarily occurs through the eye
door and its function is to see forms. In contrast to the five types of sense
consciousness, mind-consciousness is not restricted to a particular door and
object. Mind-consciousness can arise through any of the sense doors and can
take any kind of sense object; it also arises through its own particular door,
the mind door, and takes its own particular class of objects. Mind-consciousness
cognizes visible form, for example, when one compares two colours to determine
which is more suitable for painting a room, sound when one hears a sequence of
notes as a melody, taste when one sips a little tea to see if it has enough
sugar, etc. Mind-consciousness also has access to a wide range of objects which
are not of a sensuous nature at all. These objects are called dhamma (often translated by the
non-committal "mental objects") and comprise everything that can be
known apart from the five kinds of sense objects. Of the six classes of
consciousness, the Buddha says that they too are burning. The
"coming together" of consciousness, its sense base, and the object is
called contact (phassa). Contact is a
mental factor (cetasika), the mental
factor that initiates the entire act of knowing the object. The "coming
together" of its three components might be understood as the encounter
between consciougness and its object mediated by the sense faculty. It must be
borne in mind, however, that the particular act of consciousness which cognizes
the object introduced by contact does not temporally precede the occurrence of
contact. The two phenomena—consciousness and contact—arise simultaneously in a
relationship of mutual dependence: contact supports consciousness and
consciousness supports contact. Contact is of six kinds named after the sense
base through which it arises: eyecontact, ear-contact, nose-contact,
tongue-contact, body-contact, mind-contact. All these types of contact, the
Buddha says, are burning. Contact
in turn gives rise to feeling (vedanaa). Feeling
is the affective mode in which the object is experienced, the "tone"
or quality of the experience. Feeling is often divided into six types in accordance
with the type of contact that serves as its source. There is feeling born of
eye-contact, feeling born of ear-contact, ... feeling born of mind-contact. But
feeling can also be classified in terms of its affective quality. It then
becomes threefold: it may be pleasant, it may be painful, or it may be neutral,
i.e. neither painful nor pleasant. Feelings of all three kinds can arise at
each of the six sense doors, yielding eighteen types of feeling in all. All
these types of feeling too, the Buddha declares, are burning. Thus
the answer to our first question, "What is the `all' that is burning?"
is that the all of cognitive experience—the six types of consciousness along
with their objects, doors, and concomitant contact and feeling—is the all that
is burning. (to
be continued)
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