Buddhist Spectrum

The Way of Buddhism

Premasara Epasinghe

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy founded in (C.528 BC) in India by Siddhartha Gautama. He was born at Lumbini, Nepal, in Central Asia, between India (S), and China (N). Buddhism is based on Four Noble Truths - existence is suffering; the cause of suffering is desire; the end of suffering comes with the achievement of Nirvana - or Bliss of Nibbana - Deathlessness.

To achieve Nirvana, you have to follow the Eightfold Path:

1. Right Views - Samma Ditti,

2. Right Resolve - Samma Sankappa,

3. Right Speech - Samma Vacha,

4. Right Action - Samma Kammantha,

5. Right Livelihood - Samma Ajiva,

6. Right Effort - Samma Vayama,

7. Right Mindfulness - Samma Sati,

8. Right Concentration - Samma Samadi.

There are no Gods in Buddhism. For example, Buddhists do not follow the Buddha, in the same way, as Christians follow Christ. The reason is Buddha is not a God. Indeed, he did not even claim that his teachings were unique. Buddha always said “Don’t take what I say. Try to analyse, see whether what I say makes sense, or not. If it does not make sense, discard it. If it does make sense, then pick it up - what a great free religion and philosophy? You have the Right to decide. There is no unseen god involved. How democratic and scientific? Today, there are six billion Buddhists in the world. Never, did the Dhammadhutas - Missionaries use any iniquitous unjust methods in spreading the Buddhist Doctrine. The only weapon they wielded was that of universal love and compassion, No decrying of other creeds ever existent in Buddhism.

Actions - Karma play a vital role in Buddhism and the most important concept. Buddhism believes in actions. If you performed good actions, you are rewarded; if you do evil deeds - evil doers, suffer either in this life or throughout its Samsaric journey. I give an example, a true incident happened in Polonnaruwa District. In Buddhism the first precept is refrain from Killing. There was a rich mudalali - a butcher. At his death bed, he suffered and they say he bellowed till he died. This is a strong message for all.

Taking an innocent life of even an animal, I presume no religion will endorse or approve. We all must practice loving kindness to all beings. Even animals have a Right to live. Just imagine, in cattle slaughter the pain inflicted to an animal. Can you like if some one cut your arm or a part of your body? You really suffer the pain. Great Mahatma Gandhi once said greatness of and morality of a nation can be judged by the way it treats its animals: “Poor creature cannot speak to the world and tell how they suffer?”

Buddhism is a worldwide religion. Its main divisions are Theravada - or Hinayana, in South East Asia, Mahayana in North Asia, Lamanism or Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet, and Zen in Japan.

Buddhism is a way of life. Buddha’s teaching points to truth. Buddhist philosophy can be followed by anyone in the universe. To avoid Evil, Do good, cleanse your mind. This is the gift of Buddhism. In Dhammapada it states - Sabbapapassa Akaranam

Kusalassa Upasampada

Sacchitta Pariyodapanam

Etam Buddhanu Sasanam

This stage is not only meant for Buddhists. It can be followed by all Religious in the world for peace and prosperity.

In this short life span - Mostly, less then 100 years, why should we do evil deeds and make someone suffer. We all must live together like one family. Of course, you have all the right to follow your beliefs. Do good deeds and make all beings. Happy. This is the greatest message, Buddha gave us.

Follow the Panchaseela (five precepts)

An in-depth study to Buddhism, shows, that the Buddhists are those belong to Sangha. I personally think Sangha means community. Of course, it denotes the monastic community. Buddhists are part of Sangha like Christians belong to church, Hindus to a kovil and Muslims to their mosques.

The most important aspect, belonging to the Buddhist community, is a commitment to live a life that cultivates the well-being and happiness by following Buddhist principles. I call members of the Sangha as our spiritual friends - guides - teachers.

What Buddhist hold most dear to their life are known as Three Jewels - Buddha - Dhamma Sangha. They are also known as the three refugees - the formal recitation of the three jewels is described as living for refuge.

Throughout our lives, we drift from one situation to another. We take refuge in mostly external things, hoping to find security and happiness. Take for an example, some take Refuge in money, drugs, sports, drama, art, music etc. The most important first step as Buddhist is to take refuge in Buddhist path to inner freedom. Of course, the worldwide common form of Buddhist declaration in taking refuge is to recite -

I go for refuge to Buddha

I go for refuge to Dhamma

I go for refuge to Sangha

As a doctor investigates an illness, diagnose and cures, Buddha investigates Human Situation. His teachings can be considered a Prescription. On one occasion he said “If someone is struck by an arrow, the first thing is that he is not going to find out who shot the arrow, but to remove it at its earliest and treat the wound. For example, there is no point in discussing who created the world? or how did it come into this world, just like finding out who shot the arrow.

These types of questions will not tend to edification. What essentially matters is to tread the Path of Buddhism, that should lead you to a Transformation in self, a cautious refining of both thoughts and action. Buddhism is a philosophy. It is a scientific religion and great scientists like Albert Einstein, philosophers like Bertrond Russel - the free thinkers. Erudite scholars like Pandit Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr Sarvapalli Radakrishna paid the glowing tribute to Buddhism.

At the heart of Buddhism ethical practice are the Five Precepts - Abstain from killing living beings, taking thinks not freely given, sexual misconduct, false speech, abstain from intoxicating drinks and drugs causing heedlessness. They are not commandments. They can be considered as essential minister, prescriptions.

One should find things for yourself. The cure can be prescribed by the “specialist doctor. But the patient must administer it and see that it works. Then there is the Ten Precepts (Dasa sil) and Eight Precepts (Ata sil). It brings joy leads to peace. Minimises greed, hate, delusion. Buddhism leads to calmness, mental freedom to decrease worldly Entanglements. This is Dhamma (Truth), this is the Ethical life, and this is the Enlightened Ones Message. In Buddhism compassion (Karuna) and wisdom (Panna) are inseparable.

There are so much spent on external matters. For example, space travel. But there is a big area of inner space to explore, meditation, purification of mind is necessary to achieve it.

Siddhartha Gautama, attained enlightenment (Bodhi) under a Pipel Tree, Bodhgaya. It is an awakening where Buddha extinguished in the realm of the ignorance that fetters us samsara.

The Bliss of Nibbana means “to extinguish.” Nirvana is not a place. It is not heaven. The Buddha related a Parable reacting to a Reft. It is a difficult journey to cross. There are many obstacles to cross. Only a person who crossed knows what he came across. Only a person who crossed the stream will know it once it is crossed. Only when you achieve Nirvana you will know the Bliss of Nibbana.

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Constituents of Enlightenment, a Buddhist perspective

Dr Senarath Tennakoon

For evading and overcoming the sufferings in Samsara the only and unique path open is to proceed towards the attainment of the Supreme Bliss, Nibbana. Non-mundane wisdom is a sine qua non in this approach and this is referred to as Bodhi in Buddhism. The literal meaning of Bodhi is understanding. But in Buddhism it is connected with non-mundane insightful knowledge. The constituents of Bodhi are referred to as Bodhipakkhiya dhamma. These ingredients of these phenomena (dhamma), lead to the attainment of the Buddhahood (Gamage, 2003).

The practice of these phenomena too proceeds towards the actualization of sambodhi (enlightenment) and Nibbana. There are seven broad categories. In each category there are constituents and when all constituents are totaled there are altogether 37 constituents. These categories and constituents deserve epistemological insightful study and interpretation for understanding their significant functional roles towards realizing Enlightenment (Bodhi). The development of Mindfulness (sati) is very essential and there are four foundations for practicing mindfulness which are known as Cattaro Sattipattana. The four are, Kayanupassana (mindfulness in regard to the body), Vedanupassana (mindfulness about feelings), Cittanupassana (mindfulness of consciousness) and Dhammanupassana (mindfulness of ideas/phenomena). These four foundations are essentially designed to carry out meditation according to the needs of the different individuals with different characters. A popular method of meditation is anapanasati which is essentially to be mindful of the breathing process. Normally we are unaware that we are engaged in the act of respiration. During anapana sati we consciously focus on it and we feel the in and out passage of air currents through the organs of respiration and one could focus at any point in the process.

The second category is Fourfold Right Effort or Cattaro Sammappadana. Persistent – never ending endeavour is required to purify the mind from defilements (klesha). There are four types of Right Effort. One has to leave out or reject or erase the readily arisen unwholesome states of mind (klesha). One should prevent the genesis of unwholesome mental states. Thirdly one should stimulate the mind towards wholesome mental states to arise. Fourthly, the readily existing wholesome mental states should be allowed to exist without perishing. In essence the Cittaro Sammappadhana is directed at maintaining a healthy, wholesome and pristine mental poise devoid of defilements.

The third category is called ‘Cattaro Iddi-pada’ or the four bases or supports for reaping successful benefits of meditation. There are four kinds. Firstly there should be a great desire or motivation (Chandiddipado). Secondly, there should be a persistent effort (Viriddipado).

Thirdly, one needs to be fully conscious of the practice for success (Cittiddipado). Fourthly, one should be continuously observant (Vimansiddipado) and investigate the practice of meditation.

Five mental faculties (Pancha Indriyani) exert a leading part in the process. For building in confidence the Saddhiindriyam is responsible. Virindriyam looks after the effort or energy required for it. Satindriyam is concerned with consciousness. The fourth is Samadhindriam, that investigates the outcome of fruitful meditation. The fifth is insight (Pannindrium).

The fifth ingredient is given the name Pancha Balani or the five Powers. Mental power is fivefold and these powers dispel unwholesome emotional obstructive powers. Confidence/Faith (Saddha-balam), Effort (Viriya balam), Mindfulness (Sati-balam), Concentrations (Samadhi-balam), and Panna-balam (insight) are the five powers of the secure mind that need be cultivated and strengthened for spiritual development. Only when these powers become unshakable (akampiya), that the attainment of the four supreme paths (ariyamagga) or the stages of awakening, takes place (Nanaponika, 1998).

The devotee who practices meditation for the realization of supreme bliss (Nibbana) is also called Bodhi and he should be equipped with seven factors of Englightenment (Satta Bojjanga). These seven are Mindfulness (Satti-sambojjhango).

Realization (Dhammavicaya-sambojjango), Supreme Effort (Viriya-sambojjango), Joy at the realization of truth (Piti-sambojjango), Tranquility that accompanies insight (Passandi-sumbbojjango), Concentration (Samadhi-sumbbojjango) and Mental Equipoise (Uppekkha-sambojjango) respectively. It is interesting to note that in the ‘Milinda Panna’, monk Nagasena advised King Milindu on the seven factors of Enlightenment (Satta Bojjanga). He expressed these factors in metaphorical language comparing it to a garland of gems. (Bojjanga ratnamalassa-uttahanthi sadavaka kamantan-ratnan vo pilandata). The seven and the last ingredient is none other than the Noble Eightfold Path which consists of, Right Understanding (Samma-ditti), Right Thinking (Samma-sankappa), Right Speech (Samma-vaca), Right Action (Samma-kammantha), Right Livelihood (Samma-aajivo), Right Effort (Samma-vayamo), Right-Mindfulness (Samma-sati) and Right Concentration (Samma-samadi).

The persistent application of these seven processes equipped with the 37 factors or constituents is a process of physical and mental purification proceeding from the conditioned level (the world) to the unconditioned level (Nibbana), that is from mundane to the non mundane/supra mundane level (Lokuttara or Ariya level). The devotee would pass through the four stages like stream entry (sotapanna) stage, once returning stage (Sacradagami), Non returning stage (Anagami) and finally the arathship stage (Path Stage of Perfection) by way of getting rid of defilements from the mind.

In the shape of a circle

Venerable Ajahn Chah Translated from the Thai: Thanissaro Bhikkhu

When it comes to the Dhamma, we have to understand that our opinions are one thing; the Dhamma is something else.

As for the practice, start out by establishing your powers of endurance and then contemplate. Contemplate your activities, your comings and goings. Contemplate what you’re up to. Whatever arises, the Buddha has us know all around. Whatever direction things come in from, he has us know all around. If we know all around, whatever comes at us from this way, we see it. Whatever comes at us from that way, we see it. Right we know. Wrong we know. Happy we know. Glad we know. We know all around.

But our minds, when they contemplate, aren’t yet all around. We know just this side but leave that side wide open. It’s like putting a fence around a field or a house but it doesn’t go all around. If we put it up just on this side, thieves will come in that side, the side that the fence hasn’t gone around. Why is that? We haven’t closed the gate. Our fence isn’t yet good. It’s normal that they’ll have to come through that opening. So we contemplate again, adding more fence, closing things off, continually.

Putting up a fence means establishing mindfulness and always being alert. If we do this, the Dhamma won’t go anywhere else. It’ll come right here. Good and bad, the Dhamma we should see and should know, will arise right here.

As for whatever we don’t need to know, we let it go for the time being. We don’t waste our time with the logs we aren’t yet strong enough to lift. Wait until we have a tractor or a ten-wheel truck before trying to move them. Focus for the time being just on the things you can lift. Keep at it, using your powers of endurance, bit by bit.

If you stick with this steadily, your happy moods and sad moods, your desirable moods and undesirable moods, will all come in right there. That’s when you get to watch them.

Your moods and preoccupations are one thing; the mind is something else. They’re two different kinds of things. Usually when a mood hits, one that we like, we go running after it. If it’s one we don’t like, we turn our backs on it. When this is the case, we don’t see our own mind. We just keep running after our moods. The mood is the mood; the mind is the mind. You have to separate them out to see what the mind is like, what the mood is like.

As when we’re sitting here still: We feel at ease. But if someone comes along and insults us, we go running after the mood. We’ve left our spot. The mind that gets deluded by the mood goes running after the mood. We become a moody person, a person who panders to his moods.

You have to understand that all your moods are lies. There’s nothing true to them at all. They’re far from the Buddha’s teachings. All they can do is lie to us about everything of every sort. The Buddha taught us to meditate to see their truth — the truth of the world.

The world is our moods, our preoccupations. Our preoccupations are the world. If we aren’t acquainted with the Dhamma, aren’t acquainted with the mind, aren’t acquainted with our preoccupations, we grab onto the mind and its preoccupations and get them all mixed up. “Whew! My mind feels no ease.” It’s like you have many minds, and they’re all in a turmoil. Actually, that’s not the case. You don’t have many minds. You have many moods and preoccupations. We’re not acquainted with our own mind, so we keep running after our preoccupations. If you sit meditating like that, things just keep running along in that way.

The Buddha taught us to look at things right there, right where they arise. When they arise, they don’t stay. They disband. They disband and then they arise. When they arise, they disband — but we don’t want them to be that way. When the mind is quiet, we want it to keep on being quiet. We don’t want it to get stirred up. We want to be at our ease. Our views are in opposition to the truth. The Buddha taught us first to see these things all around, from all sides. Only then will the mind really be quiet and still. As long as we don’t know these things, as long as we don’t understand our moods, we become a moody person. We lay claim to our moods. This turns into stubbornness and pride.

When we see this happening, the Buddha tells us to turn our attention to contemplating right there: “This kind of thinking is thinking; this kind of knowing is knowing; when things are like this, they’re like this.” Tell yourself that these things simply follow their own nature. This is what moods are like. This is what the mind is like. When this is the way things are, what can you do to be at your ease? What can you do to be at your ease? Well, just contemplate right there.

We don’t want things to be like that: That’s the reason for our discomfort. No matter where you go to run away from these things, they’re still just like that. So we should understand that these things are just the way they are, that’s all. That’s the truth. To put it simply, that’s the Buddha, but we don’t see him there. We think it’s Devadatta, not the Buddha at all. The inconstancy of the Dhamma — inconstancy, stress, and not-self: There’s nothing wrong with these things. They’re just the way they are. We place too many labels and intentions on them. When you can see that happening, it’s really good.

To put in simple terms: Suppose that when you sit in concentration today the mind is still. You think to yourself, “Mmm. This is really nice.” Just sitting there, you feel at ease. This keeps up for two or three days. “Mmm. I really like this.” Then the next day when you sit down to meditate, it’s like sitting on a red ants’ nest. You can’t stay seated. Nothing works. You’re all upset. You ask yourself, “Why isn’t it like the other day? Why was it so comfortable then?” You can’t stop thinking about the other day. You want it to be like the other day. Right there is where you’re deluded. Preoccupations change. They’re not constant or sure; they’re not stable. They just keep following their nature. The Buddha taught us to see that that’s the way they are. Whatever arises is just old stuff coming back. There’s nothing to it, but we fix labels and make rules about things: “This I like. This I don’t like.” Whatever we like makes us happy — happy because of our delusion: happy because of our delusion, not happy because it’s right.

When the mind is quiet, the Buddha tells us not to be intoxicated by it. When it’s distracted, he tells us not to be intoxicated by it. Things happen in all kinds of ways. There’s addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. That’s how we can calculate numbers, but we want there to be just multiplication so that we can have lots of everything. We want to do away with addition, do away with subtraction, do away with division — and our calculations will all be stupid. If we had nothing but multiplication, would we have any space to put everything? If that’s how we think, we’ll stay in a turmoil. The Buddha said that that sort of thinking has no discernment.

Stillness of mind — tranquility — comes from being far away from preoccupations. If you don’t hear much of anything, the mind settles down and is still. To get this kind of stillness, you have to go off into seclusion, to a place that’s quiet and still. If you can get away from your preoccupations, not seeing this, not knowing about that, the mind can settle down. But that’s like a disease, a disease like cancer. There’s a swelling but it doesn’t yet hurt. It’s not yet tormenting us, it doesn’t yet hurt, so we seem to be well — as if there were no defilements in the mind.

That’s what the mind is like at times like that. As long as you stay there, it’s quiet. But when it comes out to look at sights and hear sounds, that’s the end of it. It’s not at its ease anymore. How can you keep on staying alone like that so as not to see sights, hear sounds, smell aromas, taste flavors, or touch tactile sensations? Where can you go? There’s no place in the world like that at all.

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To be Continued