Corrupt monks suffer

Many with a yellow robe on their necks are of evil disposition and uncontrolled. Evil doers on account of their evil deeds are born in a woeful state.
- Niraya Vagga - The Dhammapada

Learning from the Buddha

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi Excerpts from a talk at the Bodhi Monastery, USA

LEARNING: Nowadays, here in the United States, there is a great interest in Buddhism at many levels. Too often, however, practitioners and scholars are separated by a great gap, almost as if they were living in different worlds. Many who consider themselves Buddhist practitioners think of Buddhist practice simply as mediation, pursued in isolation from a broader understanding of the Dharma.

This sometimes leads to radically new interpretations of the teaching, which transform the Dharma into an ancient system of transpersonal psychotherapy or a mere "art of living", a way to live happily and peacefully here and now. This might be good as far as it goes, but a serious seeker will soon feel a shortness of vision, a lack of depth, when comparing this version of the teaching with the classical version.

On the other hand, in the secular universities, scholars undertake advanced research into Buddhist texts, culture, and history, attempting to understand Buddhism in purely objective terms as a cultural and historical phenomenon. This approach can provide us with a vast amount of knowledge about Buddhism, but it does not produce genuine insight into the truths the Buddha was trying to convey.

The defect in this approach is that it studies Buddhism in complete disregard of Buddhist faith and practice, the requisites of genuine insight. No doubt, from the academic point of view it is useful to acquire this knowledge, but if such knowledge doesn't have an impact on our lives, it is sterile and unproductive.

Thus, here in America, the current fascination with Buddhism has tended to split into two factions. On one side, there are practitioners who are earnest in their commitment to Buddhist practice but often lack a clear intellectual understanding of Buddhist principles.

Some even reject the study of the Dharma, calling it an entanglement in concepts and ideas. On the other side of the divide we find academic scholars who possess extensive factual knowledge about Buddhism, but lack faith in the Dharma and practical experience in walking the Buddhist path. In neither case is there a concern to actually "learn from the Buddha."

The union of study and practice

At Bodhi Monastery we stress the importance of bringing together faith, study and practice into harmonious balance. The guiding vision for this monastery comes from the work of Master Yin-shun, the foremost Chinese scholar-monk of modern times, who is still alive today in Taiwan at the age of 97. The work of Master Yin-shunis truly astounding and awe-inspiring.

It combines the most rigorous methods of historical and textual scholarship with bold insights into Buddhist doctrine and history, supported by a firm and unwavering commitment to the Buddhist spiritual path.

His many volumes of scholarly studies span the entire history of Buddhism, from its origins through its evolution in India to its subsequent development in China. The founder of Bodhi Monastery, Master jen-chun, is the most senior living pupil of Master Yin-shun and a remarkable person in his own right. Like his teacher, he combines a vast scholarly knowledge of Buddhism with the compassionate heart, deep insights, and great vows of one well advanced along the Bodhi Path.

To combine study and practice within the framework of Buddhist faith is an approach that resonates with the Buddhist tradition itself. Several formulations in the texts underscore the importance of bringing these two wings of the Buddhist path together into a healthy balance. One, found in the Suttas, says that when a person acquires faith, he or she should approach a teacher in order to learn the doctrine.

Having heard the doctrine, one retains it in mind; then one has to master it verbally to impress it firmly on the mind; then one examines the meaning to see how the teachings relate to one's own experience, how they apply to one's own life.

Finally, one strives to realise the teaching, and when one's practice matures, one directly sees the ultimate truth for oneself. A simpler scheme, found in the Buddhist commentaries, speaks of three main stages in the development along the path: study, practice, and realisation. One first studies the doctrine, then puts it into practice, and finally realises the truth.

Both these formulations suggest that Dharma study is the basis for practice and realisation. How much study is necessary will differ from person to person, and from one tradition to another. There can be no hard and fixed rules invariably applicable to everyone.

No doubt some people can practice effectively and achieve success with only minimal doctrinal knowledge. Others need more knowledge, while still others are naturally inclined to study the Dharma extensively and in depth. This may assist their own practice and make them more effective in teaching the Dharma to others.

Thus comprehensive knowledge of the Dharma, when supported by faith and connected with practice, is of value because it both broadens one's own understanding and also enhances one's effectiveness as a teacher. It also becomes an inspiring and elevating enterprise in its own right, opening one's eyes to the vastness and depth of the Dharma-realm.

Getting clear about our aim

Though we will learn from many teachers and speakers this week, ultimately we are learning from the Buddha Himself - for all the teachings we will study derive from the Buddha either directly or through the ongoing Buddhist tradition.

As we set about learning the Buddha's teachings together, it is good to bear in mind a saying of Master Yin-shun: "Our objective in learning the Buddha's teachings today should be the aim of the Buddha in spreading His teachings." The Buddha appeared in the world to lead other people out of their misery and suffering and to show them the way to the highest happiness and peace.

All people are naturally averse to misery and suffering, all naturally desire happiness and peace. So why can't we achieve this on our own, by following the inclination of our own minds? Why do we have to learn this from the Buddha? The reason is that our own minds are clouded over with ignorance and defilements; our own ideas are "upside down and inside out".

Thus, though we all wish to be happy, too often we find ourselves agitated and miserable. We create a lot of suffering for ourselves, and we inflict a lot of suffering on others.

Though his perfect wisdom, the Buddha understood, precisely and thoroughly, the causes and conditions that lead to suffering and happiness. Out of his great compassion, for forty-five years he taught these causes and conditions extensively to the world, so that people could understand what course of action are to be avoided and what course of action are to be pursued.

Thus our ultimate objective in learning the Buddha's teachings should be to learn how to distinguish the ways that are harmful and destructive from the ways that are helpful and beneficial; the ways that lead to suffering from the ways that lead to happiness and peace.

We should do so with a twofold aim; first, to make progress towards our own liberation from suffering, and second to enable us to contribute most effectively towards the welfare of others. This fulfils what is called "the twofold good," one's own good and the good of others.

In learning the Buddha's teachings, we have to learn to apply them to our own life situation. Many of the teachings that we meet in the early Suttas were addressed to monastics, people who had renounced the world to devote their time fully to the practice of the way.

I think it would be a mistake for lay people to dismiss such teachings as irrelevant to their lives, for these teachings point out the ultimate goal at which all followers of the Buddha should aim and the practice needed to realise that goal. But it would also be a mistake for lay people to think that they can only practice the Dharma properly by imitating the practice of monks and nuns.

I believe that during his preaching rounds the Buddha must have given many more teachings to his lay disciples than are recorded in the texts. Although these may have been lost, we can extract the main principles form the teachings that have been preserved. It is not enough merely to repeat these teachings in the words used to record them.

We have to see how we can practice them today, in our own life situations. In doing so, we need to steer a middle course between two extremes: one is rigid conservatism, adhering stiffly and thoughtlessly to the old formulations without concern to understand their underlying reasons; the other is excessive revisionism, which bends the teachings too freely to adapt them to present conditions.

A healthy approach to the Dharma would recognise that the doctrine itself is subject to the two laws of impermanence and conditionality. Formulations must change with the inevitable changes inhuman thought and social conditions, yet they must always remain faithful to the fundamental principals of the Dharma, so far as we can determine them from the texts.

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'All Dhammas are on fire' - Part II

Dr. Ron Wijewantha

Continued from October 04, 2006

Mind or Nama: There are four components or aggregates comprising the mind. But at the fundamental level they are simply four processes in constant interaction with one another. These are: sensation or feeling (vedana), perception, sense-impressions (sanna), reaction or cognitive activities (sankhara) and consciousness (vinana).

We need to also constantly keep in mind the universal characteristics of the human condition, namely anicca (impermanence) - dhukkha (suffering) and anatta (no permanent self), and the human legacy of greed (loba), hatred (dosa) and moha (delusion/illusion/confusion).

For, human-kind is subject to the latter three characteristics because they are 'part of a package' which it had inherited during the evolutionary journey from unicellular organisms to what it is at present, - complex human beings.

It is also only by understanding, comprehending and acknowledging the omnipresence of greed, hatred and confusion, that we can truly understand human behaviour, and what motivates human beings to either reach the highest pinnacle of mundane existence in the case of 'untaught' lay-persons, or to attain Liberation in the case of the spiritually inclined.

For lay persons to understand the contents of the fire-sermon, they should proceed stepwise as follows:-

There is the first step where any person who listens or reads the suttas can understand their superficial meaning. This is called sutamaya-panna.

The next step is to understand the deeper meaning, which can be gained by analyzing and reflecting on the suttas. For this purpose one would often seek additional relevant information from other sources.

This is known as cintamaya-panna. Finally, there is the knowledge or insight that arises when a person contemplates and reflects on the topic after absorbing all the information at the two previous levels of understanding. He then turns them over in his mind leading to experiential knowledge. This is bhavanamaya-panna, which can be quantified as experiential wisdom leading to Liberation, which is Nibbana.

It should nevertheless be remembered that the first two levels of panna will always continue to play a very important role, for it is these two types of wisdom that directs the mind to the third.

The three types of wisdom in fact are like the three legs of a stool. Take away one leg and the stool will collapse.

It is wisdom through meditation that will finally help a meditator to eradicate all impurities, particularly the three root causes of sorrow and the wandering in sansara - loba, dosa, and moha, thereby opening one's mind to direct wisdom.

In the sutta under discussion, the superficial meaning of the Buddha's message does not appear to be very complicated. In which case, why are we not yet enlightened after reading an contemplating on this sutta? The inevitable conclusion is that there is a much deeper meaning in the "Fire-sermon." Therefore to discern and unravel the Buddha's terse words, we need to go for further inspiration to another related sutta. It is the Mahasalayatanika sutta (Mn 111) in which the Buddha explains:

"Knowing and seeing the eye, monks, as it really is, knowing and seeing forms as they really are, knowing and seeing eye-consciousness as it really is, knowing and seeing eye-contact as it really is, and knowing and seeing whatever feeling - pleasant, unpleasant, or neither pleasant or unpleasant - arises dependent on eye-contact as it really is, one gets not attached to the eye, gets not attached to forms, gets not attached to eye-consciousness, gets not attached to eye-contact, and gets not attached even to that feeling that arises dependent on eye-contact. And for him as he abides unattached, unfettered, not infatuated, contemplating the peril (in the eye, ear, etc.) the five aggregate of grasping go on to future diminution.

That craving which makes for re-becoming... decreases in him."

This brings us to the fundamental reason why people remain in samsara. It is because they are ignorant (avijja) of the basic principles of life underlying their very existence. They have no experiential knowledge that both they as well as all sentient beings are subject to impermanence (anicca), suffering or distress (dukkha) and the lack a permanent unchanging self or 'I' (anatta).

The Buddha has told us that the best way to eradicate these defilements, is through meditative-insight wisdom (vipassana-bhavana-nana). This is the spiritual evolution that the Buddha consistently preached to His monks and lay-followers.

Practical advice for the experienced vipassana meditators: The basic advice then is for the dedicated vipassana meditators to realize experientially that it is by getting rid of all clinging and the 'underlying tendencies' inherent in all five aggregates comprising the body and mind, that a person could achieve liberation.

He should then set about freeing himself of the taints or 'asava' and thereby attain Nibbana. Understanding and comprehending with bhavanamaya panna the Fire-sermon, once one has achieved full samadhi or upacara-samadhi, provides the key to unlocking the portals to the Ariya states.

This is why it is necessary for the dedicated meditator to first develop his mindfulness to a suitable level. He should then develop the Brahma vihara of loving kindness, compassion, non-envious, joy and equanimity. This would make him a suitable receptacle for insight development and understanding.

The meditator could now commence meditating on ana-pana sati (in-out breathing with mindfulness). As an experienced meditator he would soon reach ekaggata or one-pointedness of mind, and achieve tranquillity and peacefulness leading to upacara-samadhi, (which is a state of calm, and a degree of concentration just short of entry to the jhanas) or to Samadhi itself.

He would then dwell in this un-agitated state of mind till he feels it is time to come out of it. When he now comes out of this tranquil state there is full mindfulness and clear comprehension or sati-sampajanna.

He would now focus on the "Fire-sermon", and contemplate and reflect on what he has so far observed. Insight wisdom will now arise. He now sees that in the supramundane sense, there is no real person or "I" involved in the seeing.

And that what are cognized by the senses are only formations subject to causes and conditions. His mind now lets go of the very idea that the aggregates, are substantial and permanent, and he comes to the realization that they are subject to the three unchangeable fundamental truths of appearing, momentarily existing and dying - uppada, thiti and bhanga.

To facilitate further discussions, it is useful to picture as a whole, the eighteen factors mentioned by the Buddha in His sermon.

Contemplating the eighteen 'elements' (frequently referred to in Mahayana texts as "the eighteen rivers flowing through one's body"), and focusing one's attention on the fact that they are impermanent and constantly subject to change, even from moment to moment, helps to dispel the notion that an abiding subject underlies the changing contents of experience.

It also shows how experience consists of different types of consciousness, each of which is conditioned, arisen in dependence on its own specific sense faculty and object.

The meditator should now be able to see that the six internal and external sense bases provide a perspective on the totality of experience quite different from, but nevertheless complementary to the perspective provided by the aggregates as a whole.

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Beauty and transience

A Courtesan,
of stunning beauty,
Journeys with her half
princely son,
to meet the Buddha

She thought, she was free,
freer than other women
who were tied to the household
Freedom, for fulfillment
of the desired,
or freedom, from the desired,
the Buddha gently inquired ?
The answer was written
in her eyes
a gaze full of beauty and
suffering

With tenderness and concern,
the Buddha met her gaze,
with no wanting or
embarrassment,
without those twin signposts,
of attachment or repulsion

He spoke to her of earthly beauty,
dependent on the beholder,
it's fading away,
even as a lotus enfolds,
and sinks into the muddy waters,
from whence it emerged

With gladness she arose
having, glimpsed the joys
of noble living,
and took her first halting steps,
along that noble pathway
known only to a few
of immense courage and wisdom.

Arjuna

The courtesan Ambapali had a son Jivaka by a King Bimbisara, at that time she was in love with him, unfortunately the king thought it inappropriate to make her a member of the Royal court. Ambapali, discarded the traditional householders life and became a courtesan, who chose with care her companions.

Later she became a Buddhist lay-follower, after listening to the Buddha; and her son Jivaka followed his mother's example. Jivaka did medical studies and a famous physician and later became the Buddha's chief physician.