Buddhism
A Method of Mind Training
Leonard Bullen
Buddhist Publication Society
Bodhi Leaves BL 42
When you hear something about Buddhism in the
daily news you usually think of it having a background of huge idols and
yellow-robed monks, with a thick atmosphere of incense fumes. You never feel
that there is anything in it for you, except, maybe, an exotic spectacle.
But is that all there is in Buddhism? Do the
news photographers take pictures of the real Buddhism? Do the
glossy magazines show you the fundamentals, or only the externals?
Let us see, then, what Buddhism really is,
Buddhism as it was originally expounded and as it still exists underneath the
external trappings and trimmings.
Although generally regarded as a religion,
Buddhism is basically a method of cultivating the mind. It is true that, with
its monastic tradition and its emphasis on ethical factors, it possesses many
of the surface characteristics that Westerners associate with religion.
However, it is not theistic, since it affirms that the universe is governed by
impersonal laws and not by any creator-god; it has no
use for prayer, for the Buddha was a teacher and not a god; and it regards
devotion not as a religious obligation but as a means of expressing gratitude
to its founder and as a means of self-development. Thus
it is not a religion at all from these points of view.
Again, Buddhism knows faith only in the sense
of confidence in the way recommended by the Buddha. A Buddhist is not expected
to have faith or to believe in anything merely because the Buddha said it, or
because it is written in the ancient books, or because it has been handed down
by tradition, or because others believe it. He may, of course, agree with
himself to take the Buddha-doctrine as a working hypothesis and to have
confidence in it; but he is not expected to accept anything unless his reason
accepts it. This does not mean that everything can be demonstrated rationally,
for many points lie beyond the scope of the intellect and can be cognized only by the development of higher faculties. But
the fact remains that there is no need for blind acceptance of anything in the
Buddha-doctrine.
Buddhism is a way of life based on the training
of the mind. Its one ultimate aim is to show the way to complete liberation from
suffering by the attainment of the Unconditioned, a state beyond the range of
the normal untrained mind. Its immediate aim is to strike at the roots of
suffering in everyday life.
All human activity is directed, either
immediately or remotely, towards the attainment of happiness in some form or
other; or, to express the same thing in negative terms, all human activity is
directed towards liberation from some kind of unsatisfactoriness or
dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction, then, can be regarded as the starting point
in human activity, with happiness as its ultimate goal.
Dissatisfaction, the starting point in human
activity, is also the starting point in Buddhism; and this point is expressed
in the formula of the Four Basic Statements, which set out the fact of
dissatisfaction, its cause, its cure, and the method of its cure.
The First Basic Statement can be stated thus:
Dissatisfaction is
Inescapable in En-self-ed Life
In its original meaning, the word which is here
rendered as "dissatisfaction" and which is often translated as
"suffering" embraces the meanings not only of pain, sorrow, and
displeasure, but also of everything that is unsatisfactory, ranging from acute
physical pain and severe mental anguish to slight tiredness, boredom, or mild
disappointment.
Sometimes the term is rendered as
"dissatisfaction" or "unsatisfactoriness"; in some contexts these are perhaps more accurate, while at other
times the word "suffering" is more expressive. For this reason we shall use both "suffering" and
"dissatisfaction" or "unsatisfactoriness" according to
context.
In some translations of the original texts it is stated that birth is suffering, sickness is
suffering, old age is suffering, and pleasure is suffering. In English, this
last statement fails to make sense; but if we restate it as "pleasure is
unsatisfactory" it becomes more readily understandable, for all pleasure
is impermanent and is eventually succeeded by its opposite, and from this point
of view at least it is unsatisfactory.
Now the Buddha-doctrine teaches that dissatisfaction or suffering is inescapable in en-self-ed life; and the term "en-self-ed
life" needs some explanation. In brief, the doctrine teaches that the
self, considered as a fixed, unchanging eternal soul, has no reality.
The central core of every being is not an
unchanging soul but a life-current, an ever-changing stream of energy which is
never the same for two consecutive seconds. The self, considered as an eternal
soul, therefore, is a delusion, and when regarded from the ultimate standpoint
it has no reality; and it is only within this delusion of selfhood that
ultimate suffering can exist. When the self-delusion is finally transcended and
the final enlightenment is attained, the ultimate state which lies beyond the
relative universe is reached. In this ultimate state, the Unconditioned,
suffering is extinguished; but while any element of selfhood remains, even
though it is a delusion, suffering remains potentially within it.
We must understand, then, that the First Basic
Statement does not mean that suffering is inescapable; it means that suffering
is inescapable in enselfed life, or while the
delusion of selfhood remains.
We can now move on to the Second Basic
Statement, which says:
The Origin of
Dissatisfaction is Craving
If you fall on a slippery floor and suffer from
bruises, you say that the cause of your suffering is the slippery floor. In an
immediate sense you are right, of course, and to say that the cause of your
bruises is craving fails to make sense.
But the Second Statement does not refer to
individual cases or to immediate causes. It means that the integrating force
that holds together the life-current is self-centered craving; for this
life-current -- this self-delusion -- contains in itself the
conditions for suffering, while the slippery floor is merely an occasion for
suffering.
It is obviously impossible, by the nature of
the world we live in, to cure suffering by the removal of all the occasions for
suffering; whereas it is possible in Buddhism to strike at its prime or
fundamental cause. Therefore the Third Basic Statement
states:
Liberation May Be
Achieved by Destroying Craving
It is self-centered craving that holds together
the forces which comprise the life-current, the stream of existence which we
call the self; and it is only with self-delusion that unsatisfactoriness or
suffering can exist. By the destruction of that which holds together the
delusion of the self, the root cause of suffering is also destroyed.
The ultimate aim of
Buddhist practice, then, is to annihilate the self. This is where a great deal
of misunderstanding arises, and naturally so; but once it is realized that to
annihilate the self is to annihilate a delusion, this misunderstanding
disappears. When the delusion is removed, the reality appears; so that to
destroy delusion is to reveal the reality. The reality cannot be discovered while the delusion of self
continues to obscure it.
Now what is this reality which appears when the
delusion is removed? The ultimate reality is the Unconditioned, called also the
Unborn, the Unoriginated, the Uncreated, and the Uncompounded. We can,
inadequately and not very accurately, describe it as a positive state of being.
It is characterized by supreme bliss and complete freedom from suffering and is
so utterly different from ordinary existence that no real description of it can
be given. The Unconditioned can be indicated -- up to a point -- only by stating
what it is not; for it is beyond words and beyond thought.
Hence, in the Buddhist texts, the Unconditioned
is often explained as the final elimination' from one's own mind, of greed,
hatred and delusion. This, of course, also implies the perfection of the
opposite positive qualities of selflessness, loving-kindness, and wisdom.
The attainment of the Unconditioned is the ultimate aim of all Buddhist practice, and
is the same as complete liberation from dissatisfaction or suffering. This
brings us to the last of the Four Basic Statements:
The Way of Liberation
Is the Noble Eightfold Path
The eight factors of the path are these:
1. Right understanding, a knowledge of the
true nature of existence.
2. Right thought, thought free from
sensuality, ill-will and cruelty.
3. Right speech, speech without falsity,
gossip, harshness, and idle babble.
4. Right action, or the avoidance of
killing, stealing and adultery.
5. Right livelihood, an occupation that
harms no conscious living being.
6. Right effort, or the effort to destroy
the defilements of the mind and to cultivate wholesome qualities.
7. Right mindfulness, the perfection of the
normal faculty of attention.
8. Right concentration, the cultivation of a
collected, focussed mind through meditation.
Now you will see that in this Noble Eightfold
Path there is nothing of an essentially religious nature; it is more a sort of
moral psychology.
But in the East as well as in the West people
as a whole demand external show of some sort, and -- on the outside at least --
the non-essentials have assumed more importance than the essentials.
While some external features in the practice of
Buddhism must of necessity vary according to
environment, the essential and constant characteristics of that practice are
summed up in the following outline of the Noble Eightfold Path, the Middle Way
between harmful extremes, as taught by the Buddha.
Although it is convenient to speak of the
various aspects of the eightfold path as eight steps, they are not to be
regarded as separate steps, taken one after another. On the contrary, each one
must be practiced along with the others, and it might perhaps be better to
think of them as if they were eight parallel lanes within the one road rather
than eight successive steps.
The first step of this path, right
understanding, is primarily a matter of seeing things as they really are -- or
at least trying to do so without self-deceit or evasion. In another sense,
right understanding commences as an intellectual appreciation of the nature of
existence, and as such it can be regarded as the beginning of the path; but,
when the path has been followed to the end, this merely intellectual
appreciation is supplanted by a direct and penetrating discernment of the
principles of the teaching first accepted intellectually.
While right understanding can be regarded as
the complete understanding of the Buddha doctrine, it is based on the
recognition of three dominating characteristics of the relative universe, of
the universe of time, form and matter. These three characteristics can briefly
be set out in this way:
1. Impermanence: All things in the relative
universe are unceasingly changing.
2. Dissatisfaction: Some degree of suffering
or dissatisfaction is inherent in en-selfed
life, or in life within the limitations of the relative universe and personal
experience.
3. Egolessness: No
being -- no human being or any other sort of being -- possesses a fixed,
unchanging, eternal soul or self. Instead, every being consists of an
ever-changing current of forces, an ever-changing flux of material and mental
phenomena, like a river which is always moving and is never still for a single
second.
The self, then, is not a static entity but an
ever-changing flux. This dynamic concept of existence is typical of deeper
Buddhist thought; there is nothing static in life, and since it is ever-flowing you must learn to flow with it.
Another aspect of right understanding is the
recognition that the universe runs its course on the basis of
a strict sequence of cause and effect, or of action and reaction, a sequence
just as invariable and just as exact in the mental or moral realm as in the
physical. In accordance with this law of moral action and reaction all morally
good or wholesome will actions eventually bring to the
doer happiness at some time, while unwholesome or morally bad will-actions
bring suffering to the doer.
The effects of wholesome and unwholesome
will-actions -- that is to say, the happiness and suffering that result from
them -- do not generally follow immediately; there is often a considerable time-lag, for the resultant happiness and suffering can
arise only when appropriate conditions are present. The results may not appear
within the present lifetime. Thus at death there is
normally a balance of "merit" which has not yet brought about its
experience of happiness; and at the same time there is also a balance of
"demerit" which has not yet given rise to the suffering which is to
be its inevitable result.
After death, the body disintegrates, of course,
but the life-current continues, not in the form of an unchanging soul, but in
the form of an ever-changing stream of energy. Immediately after death a new
being commences life to carry on this life current; but the new being is not
necessarily a human being, and the instantaneous rebirth may take place on
another plane of existence. But in any case, the new being is a direct sequel
to the being that has just died.
Thus the new being becomes an uninterrupted
continuation of the old being, and the life-current is unbroken. The new being
inherits the balance of merit built up by the old being, and this balance of
merit will inevitably bring happiness at some future time. At the same time,
the new being inherits the old being's balance of demerit,
which will bring suffering at some time in the future.
In effect, in the sense of continuity, the new
being is the same as the old being. In just the same way -- that is, in the
sense of continuity only -- an old man is the same as the young man he once
was, the young man is the same as the boy he once was, and the boy is the same
as the baby he once was. But the identity of the old man with the young man,
and with the boy, and with the baby, is due only to continuity; there is no
other identity.
Everything in the universe changes from day to
day and from moment to moment, so that every being at this moment is a slightly
different being from that of the moment before; the only identity is due to
continuity. In the same way, the being that is reborn is different from the
previous one that died; but the identity due to continuity remains as before.
These teachings are basic to the
Buddha-doctrine -- the illusory nature of the self, the law of action and
reaction in the moral sphere, and the rebirth of the life-forces -- but there
is no need for anyone to accept anything that does not appeal to his reason.
Acceptance of any particular teaching is unimportant;
what is important is the continual effort to see things as they really are,
without self-deceit or evasion.
So much for a brief outline of the doctrine
under the heading of right understanding. The second step, right thought or
aim, is a matter of freeing the intellectual faculties from adverse emotional
factors, such as sensuality, ill-will, and cruelty, which render wise and
unbiased decisions impossible.
Right speech, right action, and right
livelihood together make up the moral section of the path, their function being
to keep the defilements of the mind under control and to prevent them from
reaching adverse expression. These defilements, however, cannot be completely
eradicated by morality alone, and the other steps of the path must be applied
to cleanse the mind completely of its defilements.
Now in the next step -- right effort -- we
enter the sphere of practical psychology, for right effort in this context
means effort of will. In other words, the sixth step of the path is
self-discipline, the training of the will in order to
prevent and overcome those states of mind that retard development, and to
arouse and cultivate those that bring about mental progress.
The seventh step of the path is also one of
practical psychology; this is the step called right mindfulness, and it
consists of the fullest possible development of the ordinary faculty of
attention. It is largely by the development of attention -- expanded and
intensified awareness -- that the mind can eventually become capable of
discerning things as they really are.
The primary function of the,
seventh step, right mindfulness, is to develop an increasing awareness of the
unreality of the self. However, it functions also by continually improving the
normal faculty of attention, thus equipping the mind better to meet the
problems and stresses of the workaday world.
In the Buddha-way, mindfulness consists of
developing the faculty of attention so as to produce a constant awareness of
all thoughts that arise, all words that are spoken, and all actions that are
done, with a view to keeping them free from self-interest, from emotional bias,
and from self-delusion.
Right mindfulness has many applications in the
sphere of everyday activities. For example, it can be employed to bring about a
sharpened awareness, a clear comprehension, of the motives of these activities,
and this clear comprehension of motive is extremely important.
In right concentration, the last of the eight
steps, the cultivation of higher mind-states -- up to the meditative
absorptions -- is undertaken, and these higher mind-states serve to unify,
purity, and strengthen the mind for the achievement of liberating insight.
In this ultimate achievement the delusion of
selfhood, with its craving and suffering, is transcended and extinguished.
This penetrating insight is the ultimate goal of all Buddhist practices, and with it comes a
direct insight into the true nature of life, culminating in realization of the
Unconditioned. While the Unconditioned is the extinction of self, it is
nevertheless not mere non-existence or annihilation, for the extinction of self
is nothing but the extinction of a delusion. Every description of the
Unconditioned must fail, for it lies not only beyond words but beyond even thought; and the only way to know it is to follow the Noble
Eightfold Path to its end.
This, then, is the original Buddhism; this is
the Buddhism of the Noble Eightfold Path, of the path that leads from the
bondage of self to liberating insight into reality.
About the Author
Leonard A. Bullen was one of the pioneers of
the Buddhist movement in Australia. He was the first president of the Buddhist
Society of Victoria when it was established in 1953 and one of the first
office-bearers of the executive committee of the Buddhist Federation of
Australia. He was also a co-editors of the Buddhist
journal Metta. He passed away in 1984 at the age
of 76.
His other publications issued by BPS are A
Technique of Living (Wheel No. 226/230) and "Action and Reaction
in Buddhist Teaching" in Kamma and Its Fruit (Wheel No.
221/224).
http://world.std.com/~metta/lib/bps/leaves/bl042.html