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| Monday, 29 March 2004 |
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Few are the clear-sighted Blind is the world. Few are those who clearly see. As birds escape
from a net, few go to a blissful state. On understanding Satipatthana by Kingsley Heendeniya The Satipatthana Sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya [and the longer rendition in the Digha] is the major treatise on mindfulness. The Buddha taught it to bhikkhus at a town now located near modern Delhi. As he probably walked about 500 miles and did not intend to return, he composed and structured a comprehensive discourse on Dhamma making two remarkable statements as he began and ended it. He introduced it thus: 'Ekayano ayam bhikkhave maggo sattanam visuddhiya...' meaning 'this way, monks, leads only to the purification of beings...' often mis-translated as meaning 'the only way' or as 'the direct path'. The only way is the Eightfold Path and mindfulness or sati is the seventh factor of the path. At the end of the teaching, he assured that anyone practising it as instructed can expect one of two fruits: Nibbana or, if there is a trace of holding left, non-return (anagami phala) in 7 years to 7 days. Practicable by lay persons The Sutta confirms that jhana states are not essential to enter the path. It is therefore practicable by lay persons. But it is very difficult, as it requires a true understanding of basic Dhamma and indomitable striving. The Buddha chose four states of mindfulness for development that enclose the salience of the entire teaching. The technique taught is a good example of the indirect method of the Dhamma. There must be intense personal commitment to penetrate all together the meaning of anicca, dukkha and anatta but not explicitly mentioned in the Sutta. It is facile to regard the Sutta as a composition of 21 methods of bhavana. From consideration of limited space I shall have to assume that the reader is familiar with the contents of the Sutta. (I intend to write on it shortly in the Magga Series.) In Dhamma, mindfulness is practiced with only one intention - develop control of the body and mind through developing wisdom. Venerable Sariputta says, 'The purpose of wisdom, friend, is direct knowledge, its purpose is full understanding, its purpose is abandoning.' [M. 43] The Buddha says, 'All things have desire for their root, attention provides their being, contact their origin, feeling their meeting place, concentration confrontation with them, mindfulness control of them, and deliverance is their core.' [A. 8.83] The Satipatthana Sutta covers all of these concepts by yoking samadhi and vipassana meditation. Mindfulness, awareness, and insight The Sutta begins with a training scheme to develop mindfulness, awareness, and insight of the body as it actually is, through mindfulness of in and out breathing [anapanasati], mindfulness of the disposition of the body [iriyapatha] and awareness of actions of the body [sampajanna]. The corollary is development of insight into the true foulness of the body parts to overcome delight for the body, [patikualamanasikara]; insight of the true elemental composition of the body to understand anatta, [dhatumanasikara]; and impermanence of the body from an imaginary cemetery scene where parts of the body lie dismembered, [navassivathika]. It is the base line for development of mindfulness of feelings and contemplating the mind. Different potentialities 'And how, bhikkhus, does a bhikkhu abide contemplating feelings as feelings?' The Buddha now takes him through the full range of feelings from contact: worldly and unworldly pleasant, painful and neither, to develop insight of their arising and disappearance merely as feelings, unrelated to a self, and train to abide from not clinging to anything in the world through feelings. This is the backbone of the Sutta. Contemplating on and understanding feelings lead to the mind. 'Feeling, perception and consciousness are conjoined, not disjoined, and it is impossible to separate each from each in order to describe their different potentialities; for what one feels, that one perceives, and what one perceives, that one cognizes...' [M. 43]. Developing mindfulness and insight into the working of the mind is the hardest part of the exercise. It is about perceiving the mind affected and not affected by greed, aversion, delusion of a self; about the contracted, exalted, surpassed and liberated state of the mind, and the opposites states. This part of the training is to be practised when advanced and skilled in mindfulness and awareness. Five items For the fourth and last item, the Buddha made a classic summary selection of Dhamma. He recommended five items, generally translated as mind-objects: [1], the five hindrances to meditation [nivarana], [2] the five aggregates affected by holding [panc'upanakkhanda], [3] the six bases [salayatana], [4] the seven factors of enlightenment [bojjhanga], [5] the four noble truths [aryasacca]. In this section, the practitioner requires to have a correct understanding of basic things such as sankhara, namarupa, paticcasamuppada, vedana, sanna, vinnana, phassa, upadana as indeed to understand why contemplate on the body, feelings and mind. It draws together in a sweep a quintessence of Dhamma. Under each of the four sections, the Buddha offers seven options for contemplation to develop insight. For example: 1 contemplate feelings as feelings internally, or 2 externally, or 3 internally and externally, or 4 their arising factors, or 5 their vanishing factors, or 6 both arising and vanishing factors, or 7 contemplate to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and mindfulness of 'there is feeling'. The practitioner may choose any one option and stick to it throughout the exercise. Perhaps the best is the last one. Four satipatthana Elsewhere, in a comprehensive discourse only on anapanasati, the Buddha says that it fulfils the four satipatthana. In a finale to consolidate understanding the Sutta, the Buddha describes elsewhere the disappearance of Satipatthana. 'Bhikkhus, I shall expound to you the origin and the disappearance of the four Satipatthana. The body has nutriment (ahara) for its origin and it disappears with cessation of nutriment. Feeling has contact as their origin and disappears with the cessation of contact. Consciousness has namarupa for its origin and disappears with the cessation of namarupa. Mental objects have attention for their origin and ceases with the cessation of attention.' Note that it is adequate to know, understand and practise only the Satipatthana Sutta to enter the path here and now. Ten precepts as a sound basis for an ethical lifestyle by Ranga Chandrarathne The Ten Precepts which are, perhaps, the basis for leading a life according to the teachings of Buddhism, should be the basic tenants of a Buddhist's life. They are also served as guidelines that shape the life of a true Buddhist. As one's lifestyle expresses not only the attitude one has to the life, but also their collective expression in terms of skilful and unskilful attitudes, habits and behaviour patterns. In a traditional sense what we have learnt and practised as Ten Precepts are those with negative deeds or negation of actions. However it should not necessarily be so and instead of the negative Ten Precepts that we used to observe, we could observe their positive counterparts. Instead of "I undertake the item of training which consists in abstention of killing living beings" the first of the Ten Precepts, we could observe its positive precept "with deeds of loving-kindness I purify my body". Likewise we could observe the remaining precepts of the Ten Precepts in their positive sense. In a life of a Buddhist, what takes a primary place is not the lifestyle but the commitment to the Ten Precepts, which themselves are the expression of being a refuge (Sarana Yama) and the observance of Ten Precepts takes a secondary and lifestyle tertiary. Although the all positions are important in one's life, the second was important as an expression of the first, that is the observance of the Ten Precepts and the third as an expression of the second. Lifestyle open to criticism However one's lifestyle cannot be considered as an ethically neutral way of life without any modification in the pursuit of Enlightenment. For this reason, one's lifestyle is something that is open to criticism and one cannot, as a Buddhist, rebut criticism of such things as one's particular attitudes, beliefs, habits or behaviour with the indignant rejoinder such as. 'Oh, but that's my lifestyle', as though this at once placed the matter not only beyond criticism but beyond discussion. One of the main sources of confusion and misunderstanding, no doubt, the word's 'style'. In the context of the visual arts, one can speak of the baroque style and the rococo style without necessarily implying that one is better than the other. Similarly in the context of literary criticism one can speak of a plain style and an ornate style, and in the context of book production of the distinctive house styles of different publishers, without thereby implying the absolute superiority of one style over another. But one can speak of lifestyle in this way only to a limited extent. In other words, very few lifestyles are truly neutral in character. One can, indeed, speak of a rural lifestyle and an urban lifestyle without necessarily implying an ethical judgment, but one can hardly speak of the lifestyle of a slaughterer or of a prostitute, to take two quite extreme examples without considering oneself as a Buddhist, thereby implying a very definite ethical judgment indeed. Ten precepts as rules of training The term "Rules of Training" is used as an equivalent of the Sanskrit 'Sikaspadas' (Pali Sikkhapada). However one cannot take Ten Precepts as mere ethical principles that are to be learnt, but also as principles which have to be learnt, for example, from a teacher. They are the set of ethical principles according to which, as true Buddhists, we should strive to lead our lives. Teaching English to the bhikkus who join Overseas Buddhist Services It is an undeniable fact that the bhikkus who join Overseas Buddhist Services need a thorough knowledge in English language as much as they need to possess a knowledge in Buddha Dhamma. Yet, the knowledge of English among the bhikkus is poor and there is a dire need in educating those bhikkus who wish to dedicate their life in overseas Buddhist Services, disseminating Buddha Dhamma.
An educational institute in the Southern town of Matara, A. H. Godavitane Education Development Foundation at Matara Rahula Vidyalaya has given an impetus to this noble task by starting an English language course for bhikkus, who wish to join overseas Buddhist Services. At the inauguration ceremony of the course where many religious dignitaries and lay-persons congregated, professor Bellanvila Wimalarathana Thera who addressed the gathering made a few comments which deserve thought. "Irrespective of the country where one stays or one's status or position, one should respect our National Anthem" he said. Explaining the meaning of Buddhist Mission Services he said: "It does not in anyway mean converting a person to a religion or plan strategies compelling a person to that end, or to get profits in return." "Our bhikkus are rich in languages such as Pali and Sanskrit, but in the past, their Pirivena education has not provided them with the knowledge in the language of English. So, they have become alienated in a world which is developing fast. To overcome this situation this programme will be of immense benefit." Chief Sangha Nayaka of Southern Province and Chief Incumbent of Matara Manthinda Pirivena, Ven. Getamanne Dhammakeerthi stated that Godavitane who gave leadership to Matara Rahula College, as Principal of the school had potential for many innovations. The programme which started today, and the programmes to felicitate teachers, principals and health services based in Matara hospital earlier are excellent examples. The Maha Nayaka Thera said that he would render any assistance and guidance for noble services such as this without any hesitation. Former Minister for the well-being of those employed in foreign countries and Member of Parliament in Matara district, and President of A. H. Godavitane Education Development Foundation Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena stated that the Education Development Foundation spends a good sum of money annually for various activities of the Foundation which is Mr. Godavitane's personal wealth and it is the national responsibility of all of us to provide maximum service to the country and people. He expressed his gratitude to the active steering committee of the Foundation. Former Presidential Secretary Kusumsiri Balapatabendi in his speech stated that our Buddhist Doctrine would reach the world at large providing an opportunity for world religions prosperity which has been identified as a timely need by the State and it is essential to lend a hand for activities of this sort. The financial sponsor of the Foundation A. H. Godavitane said that this is one of the important religious requirements which he identified in foreign countries and launched this programme to fulfil this requirement and money for this programme is from him and the dedication of the bhikkus to achieve the aims of the programme is his only pleasure. He further stated that arrangements had been made to start the course in Colombo district on the 27th of March, in Vidyodaya Pirivena. Ven. Pandit Deniyaye Sirinanda, teacher of religion at Mahanama Maha Vidyalaya, Chief Incumbent of Kotikagoda Rajamaha Viharaya, Ven. Hakmana Dhammerathane thera, and Hon. Secretary of the Foundation. Mr. P. K. Hettiarachchi addressed the gathering at the inaugural session. Mayor of Matara, Nimal de Silva, Secretary of Education, Southern Province, C. D. Vidanapathirane, President of Y.M.B.A. Matara, Dr. Kularatne, Advocate Mr. Chandrakumara. Superintendent of Health Dr. Ekanayake and a large gathering of bhikkus and laymen attended the inaugural session and alms were offered to 100 bhikkus with atapirikara. The bases of contact from the Chabbisodhana Sutta There are six bases of interaction - U. Karunatilake |
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