Dhamma of Variation

Kingsley HEENDENIYA

Budda’s words: Recently, a friend sent me an e-mail he called ‘fantastic’ that I shared with others. It is computer wizardry by a lady professor I think in astrophysics (Laduwahetty) displaying in Technicolour, movement and sound, of what is purported to be the macrocosm of galaxies, planets, cities, in space and in mathematical time; and by retrogression to the uniform micro-cosmos of electrons, protons, chromosomes, cells etc., concluding in bewilderment to ask: Who are we? What are we doing here? From where did we come? - questions asked from the Buddha 2500 years ago. I thought of discussing this from a different perspective.

I sometimes watch on satellite TV, excellent true-life programmes on ‘Animal Planet’ and I have been struck by an amazing observation.

The programme shows lions, elephants, zebra, wolves, tigers, leopards, bears, deer, antelope, monkeys, penguins, birds, fish, crocodiles and so on in their natural habitats in herds, packs and shoals going about their business of living, mostly foraging, eating and in doing nothing.

When you see thousands of penguins huddled for warmth on the ice, jostling a little bit, what is striking is that they all look the same and they all agree to sit and stare.

In short, within a group of any animal species, there is little variation in size, colour, shape, hearing, smell, taste, touch, feeling, perception, intention, ideas, contact and attention unlike among humans.

This uniformity is maintained in the sub-classes of a species say among worker ants, bees, wasps and their soldiers who live kamikaze lives for their king and queen.

Humans, of whatever race and colour, wherever they may be, conversely, exhibit tremendous variation in anthropomorphic and all characteristics, visible, tangible, excitable etc unlike the ‘fantastic’ things in the in-experiential putative world of Prof. Laduwahetty.

For example, no one has seen an electron. Why is this? Variability in the world is a problem of humans, for humans. It has consequences in every aspect of human life affecting health, food, education, environment, weather, economics, employment, politics and so on.

Mathematicians in particular attempt to make sense of this chaos, and with their theories of probability make predictions within the only possible range of 0 denoting the impossible and 1 assuring certainty -often getting it wrong both ways!

This is frustrating for instance, medical advancement in determining etiology, diagnosis, investigation, treatment and understanding so called ‘multifactorial’ diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis, cancer because of two things.

There is no such thing as an ‘All or None’ law and all relevant variables, if any, are probably unknown.

You may now ask me: What has all this got to do with the Teaching of the Buddha? So let me tell, albeit briefly. He described this (‘explained’) - not however of physical things - in three simple words: Sabbe satta aharatthitika meaning ‘all beings are maintained by nutriment’.

He defined ‘nutriment’ in such an all-inclusive way no doctor or nutrition-expert would even think about.

In this Dhamma, there are four things that are essential for the support of living beings - human and animal - and for maintenance of beings that have come to be.

They are kabalinkahara (physical food), phassa (contact), cetana (intention) and vinnana (consciousness). These four things cover every aspect of growth, aging, decay, disease and behaviour dependent and necessarily conditioned by matter, feelings, perceptions, intentions, imaginations and ideas.

They are derived from his definition of his ‘world’ of living beings: This world, internally and externally (since nobody lives in vacuum), of body and mind, is that which is perceived by the five senses and the mind, together with their respective percepts of sights, sounds, odours, tastes, tangibles, images/ideas to explain or describe every conceivable variation in humans, and the far less in ants, lions, sprats and all creatures. Think about it. Do you see why wild animals live in relative harmony, and change when domesticated?

So what? Every situation, modality, disposition, dilemma, pertinence, displacement and ecology of sentient existence is covered in the Teaching of the Buddha, if only one would read and understand his genius.

There is no space - in the limit I have set myself - to give an exposition of his three words I have quoted and explain the content of its detailed meaning. I shall leave it to reader to find out for him. It is sufficient to say that these three words in fact are regarded as a summary of the Teaching.

The point is that it leads one to a highly valued asset in Dhamma: dispassion (viraga) from controlling desire and craving. When I watch a buffalo in a muddy pool, harmless, watching the world go by in sanguinary delight, quizzical and content, in equanimity and poise, chewing and mulling his resurgent nutriment, I wish I could live like that!