No. 34
Over the past three decades
the world has been dramatically transformed in ways that none but a handful of
prophets and visionaries could have foreseen even a hundred years ago. From a
multitude of loosely connected nation-states it has quickly evolved into a
tightly knit global community linked together by rapid means of transportation
and instantaneous media of communication. Old barriers of space and time have
dropped away, confronting us with new vistas of self-understanding and forcing
us to recognize the hard truth that we all face a common human destiny. The
claims to special privilege of a particular people, nation, race, or religion
now sound hollow. As occupants of the same planetÞa
bright blue jewel suspended in the frigid blackness of infinite spaceÞwe either flourish together or perish together. In
the long run, between these two alternatives no middle ground is feasible.
But while our proud
technology has enabled us to split the atom and unscramble genetic codes, the
daily newspapers remind us that our mastery over the external world has not ushered in the utopia that we had so
confidently anticipated. To the contrary, the shrinking of global boundaries
has given rise to fresh problems of enormous scopeÞsocial,
political, and psychological problems so grave that they throw
into question the continued survival of our planet and our race. The problems
that challenge the global community today come in diverse shapes and sizes.
They include the depletion of the earth's natural resources and the
despoliation of the environment; regional tensions of ethnic and religious
character; the continuing spread of nuclear weapons; disregard for human
rights; the widening gap between the rich and the poor. While such problems
have been extensively discussed from social, political, and economic points of
view, they also cry out for critical examination from a religious viewpoint as
well.
A spiritually sensitive mind
would not look upon these problems as isolated phenomena to be treated by
piecemeal solutions but would insist on probing into unexplored areas for
hidden roots and subtle interconnections. From such a perspective, what is most
striking when we reflect upon our global ailments as a whole is their essentially
symptomatic character. Beneath their outward diversity they appear to be so
many manifestations of a common root, of a deep and hidden spiritual malignancy
infecting our social organism. This common root might be briefly characterized
as a stubborn insistence on placing short-term, narrowly considered
self-interests (including the interests of the limited social or ethnic groups
to which we happen to belong) above the long-range, vital good of the broader
human community. The multitude of social ills that assail us cannot be
adequately accounted for without bringing into view the powerful human drives
that lie behind them. And what is distinctive about these drives is that they
derive from a pernicious distortion in the functioning of the human mind which
sends us blindly in pursuit of factional, divisive, circumscribed ends even
when such pursuits threaten to be ultimately self-destructive.
The most valuable
contribution that the Buddha's teaching can make to helping us resolve the
great dilemmas facing us today is twofold: first, its uncompromisingly
realistic analysis of the psychological springs of human suffering,
and second, the ethically ennobling discipline it proposes as the solution. The
Buddha explains that the hidden springs of human suffering, in both the
personal and social dimensions of our lives, consist of three mental factors
called the unwholesome roots. These three rootsÞwhich
may be regarded as the three prongs of the ego-consciousnessÞare
greed, hatred, and delusion. The aim of the Buddhist spiritual path is to
gradually subdue these three evil roots by cultivating the mental factors that
are directly opposed to them. These are the three wholesome roots, namely:
non-greed, which is expressed as generosity, detachment, and contentment; non-hatred,
which becomes manifested as loving-kindness, compassion, patience, and
forgiveness; and non-delusion, which arises as wisdom, insight, and
understanding.
If we contemplate, in the
light of the Buddhist analysis, the dangers that hang over us in our globalized world order, it will become clear that they have
assumed such precarious proportions due to the unrestrained proliferation of
greed, hatred, and delusion as the basis of human conduct. It is not that these
dark forces of the mind were first awakened with the Industrial Revolution;
they have indeed been the deep springs of so much suffering and destructiveness
since time immemorial. But the one-sided development of humankindÞthe
development of outward control over nature, coupled with the almost complete
neglect of any attempts to achieve self-understandingÞhas
today given the unwholesome roots an awesome, unprecedented power that veers
ever closer to the catastrophic.
Through the prevalence of
greed the world has become transformed into a global marketplace where human
beings are reduced to the status of consumers, even commodities, and where
materialistic desires are provoked at volatile intensities. Through the
prevalence of hatred, which is often kindled by competing interests governed by
greed, national and ethnic differences become the breeding ground of suspicion
and enmity, exploding in violence and destruction, in cruelty and brutality, in
endless cycles of revenge. Delusion sustains the other two unwholesome roots by
giving rise to false beliefs, dogmatic views, and philosophical ideologies
devised in order to promote and justify patterns of conduct motivated by greed
and hatred.
In the new era marked by the
triumph of the free-market economy the most pernicious delusion that hangs over
us is the belief that the path to human fulfilment
lies in the satisfaction of artificially induced desires. Such a project can
only provoke more and more greed leading to more and more reckless degrees of selfishness, and from the clash of self-seeking factions,
the result will necessarily be strife and violence. If there is any validity in
the Buddhist diagnosis of the human situation, the task incumbent on humankind
today is clear. The entire drive of contemporary civilization has been towards
the conquest and mastery of the external world. Science probes ever more deeply
into the hidden secrets of matter and life, while technology and industry join
hands to harness the discoveries of science for their practical applications.
No doubt science and technology have made appreciable contributions towards
alleviating human misery and have vastly improved the quality of our lives. Yet
because the human mind, the ultimate agent behind all the monumental
achievements of science, has pitifully neglected itself, our patterns of
perception, motivations, and drives still move in the same dark channels in
which they moved in earlier centuriesÞthe channels of
greed, hatred, and delusionÞonly now equipped with
more powerful instruments of destruction.
As long as we continue to
shirk the task of turning our attention within, towards the understanding and
mastery of our own minds, our impressive accomplishments in the external sphere
will fail to yield their proper fruits. While at one level they may make life
safer and more comfortable, at another they will spawn baneful consequences of
increasing severity and peril, even despite our best intentions. For the human
race to flourish in the global age, and to live together happily and peacefully
on this shrinking planet, the inescapable challenge facing us is that of coming
to understand and transform ourselves.
It is here that the Buddha's
Teaching becomes especially timely, even for those who are not prepared to
embrace the full range of Buddhist religious faith and philosophical doctrine.
In its diagnosis of greed, hatred, and delusion as the underlying causes of
human suffering, the Buddha-Dhamma enables us to see
the hidden roots of our private and collective predicaments. By defining a
practical path of training which helps us to remove what is harmful and to
foster the growth of what is beneficial, the Teaching offers us an effective
remedy for tackling the problems of the globe in the one place where they are
directly accessible to us: in our own minds. Because it places the burden of
responsibility for our redemption on ourselves,
calling for personal effort and energetic application to the taming of the
mind, the Buddha's Teaching will inevitably have a bitter edge. But by
providing an acute diagnosis of our illness and a precise path to deliverance,
it also offers us in this global era an elevating message of hope.
Bhikkhu Bodhi
The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dãgha Nikàya. Translated
from the Pàli by Maurice Walshe.
This book, a companion volume to our Middle Length Discourses, offers a
complete translation of the Dãgha Nikàya.
The thirty-four ßlong discoursesû
in this collection include some of the most important suttas
in the Pàli Canon: the Brahmajàla
on the sixty-two views, the Sàma¤¤aphala on the
gradual training, the Satipa~n~nhàna on the practice
of mindfulness, the Mahàparinibbàna on the Buddha's
demise. The translation, clear and readable, is introduced with a vivid account
of the Buddha's life and a short survey of his teachings. Three
volumes in one. (For sale in
Hardback: 648 pages 5.5" x 8.5"
A Treasury of Buddhist Stories: An Anthology from the Dhammapada Commentary. Translated from the Pàli by E.W. Burlingame. One of the most beloved
collections of Buddhist stories is that found in the commentary to the Dhammapada, which relates the background incidents that
underlie the Dhammapada verses. The present book is
an anthology of 56 of the most popular and memorable of these stories, compiled
from
Softback: 248 pages 6" x 9"
An Unentangled Knowing:
Lessons in Training the Mind. Upàsikà Kee
Nanayon. The author, one of the foremost woman Dhamma teachers in modern
Softback: 176 pages 6" x 9"
U.S. $10.00; SL
Rs.300 Order No. BP 515S
The Dhammapada: The Buddha's
Path of Wisdom.
Translated
by Acharya Buddharakkhita;
introduction by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
This handsome revised reprint of our classic Dhammapada
includes the Pàli text along with the translation.
Softback: 176 pages 4.8" x 7.2"
U.S.
$6.00; Rs.160 Order No. BP203S
The Heart of Buddhist
Meditation. Nyanaponika
Thera. The great classic on the
Buddha's Way of Mindfulness, 35 years in print. (Reprint)
Softback: 224 pages 5.5" x
8.5"
U.S.
$10.00; Rs.300 Order No.
BP 509S
In Preparation
Great Disciples of the Buddha. Ven. Nyanaponika
Thera & Hellmuth Hecker. This volume combines all past issues of our
Wheel titles in the ßLives of the Disciplesû
series.
Abhidhamma
Studies: Researches in Buddhist Psychology. Nyanaponika Thera. Bold and brilliant essays on the
foundations of the Abhidhamma philosophy.
Note: The above two books are to
be co-published with Wisdom Publications in the course of 1997 or early 1998.
The Seven
Contemplations of Insight. Ven. Màtara Sri aaàõàràma Mahàthera. A profound examination of the ßseven contemplationsû of
classical Buddhism and of the actual way they are experienced in the course of
meditation, by one of Sri Lanka's foremost meditation masters of recent times. Planned for early 1998.
A New
Buddhist Journal. Theravàda is a
new quarterly devoted entirely to the Theravàda
Buddhist tradition. The journal will publish articles which represent the Theravàda perspective on current social issues as well as a
wide range of material ranging from expository features to scholarly studies. Theravàda will be oriented to the lay reader, relevant,
engaged, and serious, but never dull. Submissions are welcome. For more
information contact: Theravàda, ßTerowaû,
RMB 213B, St. Arnaud, Vic. 3478,
Fragile
Palm Leaves Project.
The primary aim of this project is to collect palm-leaf and paper manuscripts
from antique markets in
Buddhism After Patriarchy. Rita M. Gross.
Buddhism After Patriarchy is symptomatic, I fear, of
much that is wrong with American Buddhism today. After a litany of stereotypes,
generalizations, and pop-psychology, Ms. Gross delivers a series of feminist ultimata for the ßrevalorizationû
of Buddhism to fit her own peculiar interests. Given her disregard for the
Buddha's stature as the supremely enlightened teacher, her superficial view of
the three characteristics, and her facile dismissal of the Sangha,
one is left wondering whether her religion is Buddhism or feminism.
Perhaps Ms. Gross could be
classed with the group which Harold Bloom (The Western Canon) has dubbed ßThe School of Resentment.û This
characterization includes those politically correct militants who reduce and
deconstruct according to their own particular agenda, whether Marxist,
historicist, Afrocentrist, or feminist. With its
singularly intolerant credo, this movement regards itself as the measure of all
things. Thoroughly Amerocentric herself, Ms. Gross
informs us that ßI most certainly am not content to
accept the status quo of gender arrangements in most of the Buddhist world. In
fact, if I had to be a Buddhist woman under the conditions that exist in most
parts of the Buddhist world, Buddhism would not be my religion of choiceû (p.135). Is the
Truth, tradition, and beauty
are not considerations for the resenting school. Ms. Gross's own agenda,
obviously, is gender and feminism, though she tries to forestall any criticism
of her position by appealing to Buddhism's traditional tolerance. When it
becomes obvious that her position is untenable, she appeals to the Buddha's
teachings on impermanence, claiming that ßcustom,
long-standing tradition, and even precedents set down by the historical Buddha
... should be understood to be subject to all-pervasive impermanenceû
(p.212).
Ms. Gross is quite candid
about her own difficulties in accepting her gender, in finding herself, and
adjusting to her society. But why should any Buddhist accept her demands to
radically change Buddhism ßso that we can `get it
right' this timeû (p.27)? Why should any Theravàda Buddhist (I will not speak for Mahàyànists or Tibetans) give her a hearing when she argues
that we must ßmandate gender equality to regard it as of utmost
importance, as a normative obligation for all Buddhists.û
Theravàda Buddhists regard it as a wonder and
blessing that the Sàsana has lasted this long for the
welfare of the world.
Ms. Gross even criticizes the
Buddha for having neglected his fair share of parenting responsibilities when
he abandoned his wife and new-born child to enter the homeless life (p.282).
Her priorities are clear when she states: ßBecause
patriarchal religions will not rid themselves of their patriarchy,
a feminist who wishes to remain within that tradition must take nothing on
faith and test everything. Ultimately, this includes the beloved heart of
Buddhist lifeÞits emphasis on meditative and
spiritual disciplines, an emphasis which sometimes seems extreme and one-sidedû (p.282).
Ms. Gross makes the claim
that ßrighteousnessû does not easily enter into
Buddhist discussions of social ethics, and she argues that Buddhism must enrich
itself by importing ßa concern for righteousnessû from the Judeo-Christian tradition. What she
fails to recognize is that ßdhamma,û in an ethical
context, means precisely righteousness or justice, and that ßdhammaû
in this sense has functioned as the main pillar of Buddhist social and ethical
ideals from its very inception. Hence the need she feels to import this concern
from elsewhere is gratuitous.
For Ms. Gross old age,
sickness, and death are not major problems. Her understanding of suffering
seems restricted to the domination of women by men: ßIs
life so counterproductive,û
she asks, ßthat one must so rigorously struggle to
make one's energies flow in contrary directions? Is death so intractable?û (p.282). According to Ms. Gross, feminist Buddhism
will see that ßlife conditions are fundamentally sane
and satisfactory.û The point of spiritual discipline
and of Buddhism, she feels, ßis to be able to let
ourselves be fully human,û and to find ßfreedom within the worldû
(pp.284-85).
It seems inconceivable for a
Buddhist to claim that ßfreedom from rebirth [does] not seem to be relevant,û but this is what Ms.
Gross does (p.288). Her conclusion goes even further, rejecting the Buddha's
liberation in Nibbàna as the goal in favour of a new alternative: ßTo
become sane, to live in community with each other and our earth, is to
experience freedom within the worldÞthe mutual goal
of feminism and of (post-patriarchal) Buddhismû
(p.288).
Ms. Gross has misunderstood
the Buddha's Teaching and the role of the Sangha, yet
she has assumed for herself the role of reinterpreting that Teaching according
to her personal and professional feminist needs. This is not an inconsequential
matter but one that could be quite detrimental to the still fragile American
Buddhism. I hope that this egregious book will not mislead other Westerners
into dismissing the true Dhamma or placing demands on
the Teacher. We can use the Buddha's analogy of stubbornly refusing to allow a
surgeon to extract a poisoned arrown until the
identity (and gender bias) of the archer is known. Long before the irrelevant
issues which Ms. Gross raises could be resolved, the victim would be dead.
Living the holy life does not
depend on class, caste, colour, nationality,
language, or gender. We need to attend to what is connected with the goal, what
is conducive to letting go, to giving up, to stilling, to higher knowledge, to
awakening, and to Nibbàna. It would be a pity if an
interested person were deterred by this book from investigating for himself or
herself the Truth taught by the Buddha.
Visakha Kawasaki
Visakha Kawasaki, an American national, teaches English in
Sutta:
Reminder: When the meditator's insight into the three characteristics of
conditioned phenomena is fully matured, the knowledge of the supramundane path arises penetrating the Four Noble Truths.
In his first sermon, The
Setting in Motion of the Wheel of the Dhamma, the
Buddha states that each of the Four Noble Truths must be penetrated in its own
particular way. The truths are not merely facts. Each noble truth poses a task,
a function that for the disciple in training is a challenge to be met, for the arahant an achievement that has been fulfilled. The
practice of Dhamma is the active endeavour
to fulfil these four tasks. When the practice is
complete, the four tasks have been accomplished and then nothing more remains
to be done.
The Pàli
Commentaries explain that while these four tasks are performed partly and
imperfectly in the preliminary stages of practice, the supramundane
path performs them all impeccably at a single moment. The path consciousness
takes as its object Nibbàna, the unconditioned
element. At the very moment that it penetrates the unconditioned by way of
object (àrammaõato)
it also penetrates the other three truths by way of function (kiccato) each in
accordance with its own nature.
The first noble truth is the
truth of suffering (dukkha-sacca).
This truth, the Buddha says, must be fully understood (pari¤¤eyya); thus the task it
imposes is full understanding (pari¤¤a). The object of full understanding is personality (sakkàya), the
compound of five aggregates, the mental and material phenomena that comprise
our existence. The path consciousness, unlike insight-wisdom (vipassana-pa¤¤à),
does not take the five aggregates as object; its object, rather, is the
unconditioned element. Yet, at the same time that the path arises
realizing Nibbàna, it illuminates the true nature of
conditioned reality with a degree of clarity that insight-wisdom cannot
emulate. When the mind penetrates that which lies beyond impermanence and
suffering, it also fully fathoms the impermanency, unsatisfactoriness,
and emptiness inherent in the five aggregates. Hence the act of realizing Nibbàna simultaneously performs the function of fully
understanding the five aggregates, the truth of suffering.
The truth of the origin of
suffering (samudaya-sacca)
is craving (taõhà).
When the path arises it eliminates a particular
sediment of craving as well as a cluster of secondary defilements associated
with craving. Whereas in the preliminary stage of practice the defilements may
be suspended temporarily through the cultivation of calm or insight, with the
attainment of the path the corresponding set of defilements is cut off
permanently right at the very root. Hence the function of the path in regard to
the second noble truth is abandonment (pahàna)Þnot
just temporary abandonment, but permanent abandonment by eradication (samuccheda-pahàna).
The truth of the cessation of
suffering (nirodha-sacca)
is Nibbàna, the cessation of suffering. The function
of the path regarding the third noble truth is realization (sacchikaraõa), which means seeing
directly, in so clear and powerful a way that the experience is almost
physical. Thus in the suttas the Buddha describes
this experience by the expression: ßhe realizes with
the body the supreme truth and sees it by piercing it through with wisdomû (MN 70; I 480).
Finally, in regard to the
fourth noble truth, the truth of the path (magga-sacca), the supramundane path consciousness performs the function of
development (bhàvanà).
The attainment of the first path-experience brings into being (bhàveti) the
eight factors of the truly noble Eightfold Path, and subsequent practice
strengthens and nurtures these eight factors until they are strong enough to
extricate all defilements root and branch.
Although the gradual training
normally extends over time and involves a sequential attainment of the four
paths and their corresponding fruitsÞof stream-entry,
once-returning, non-returning, and arahantshipÞin the
Kandaraka Sutta the Buddha
shows the entire process synoptically. He compresses all four stages into one
attainment of knowledge, which he calls ßthe
knowledge of the destruction of the taintsû (àsavakkhaya¤àõa).
In
the previous instalment of this series we quoted the
first part of the formula for this knowledge (see NL No. 33). The passage
continues:
When he knows and sees thus,
his mind is liberated from the taint of sensual desire, from the taint of
becoming, and from the taint of ignorance. When it is liberated, there comes
the knowledge: ßIt is liberated.û
He understands: ßBirth is destroyed, the holy life
has been lived, what had to be done has been done,
there is no more coming back to this world.û
This statement shows that the
knowledge of the Four Noble Truths is not a mere acquisition of objective
information but an experience of internal transformation that extends to the
deepest level of one's being. The most fundamental group of defilements at the
base of our minds is the set of three taints (àsava) described in the sutta: the taint of sensual desire (kàmàsava), the taint of craving
for becoming (bhavàsava),
and the taint of ignorance (avijjàsava). As the disciple sees and knows the four truths,
that knowledge simultaneously expunges the defilements, and when the process of
knowledge is complete the eradication of defilements is also complete: the
three main corruptions of attitude and understanding that had driven us on
through the beginningless round of becoming are
eliminated. Hence, when the final path has accomplished its fourfold task, the
disciple, now an arahant or taint-destroyer (khãõàsava), boldly roars
his lion's roar: ßDestroyed is birthû
With this the Buddha brings
to an end his exposition of the gradual training. Concluding the discourse, he
returns to the theme with which his exposition began, i.e., the question: ßWhat is the highest type of personÞthe
one who torments neither himself nor others?û Now,
having shown the arahant, the liberated one, he can
provide the answer: ßThis is called the kind of
person who does not torment himself or pursue the practice of torturing
himself, and who does not torment others or pursue the practice of torturing othersÞthe one who, since he torments neither himself nor
others, is here and now hungerless, extinguished and
cooled, and abides experiencing bliss, having himself become holy.û