8 Buddhism

G. Vedaparayana

1.Introduction

Buddhism is one of the ancient religions which is also a philosophy. Siddartha or Goutama Buddha is the founder of Buddhism. He was born in a royal family of Kapilavastu, now in Nepal, situated at the foothills of the northern Himalayas in the sixth century B.C. His father was King Siddodhana and mother was Mayadevi who died a few days after giving birth to Siddartha. Prince Siddartha renounced the worldly life leaving behind his Kingdom, wife and son, Rahula. The sights of disease, old-age and death impressed him with the idea that the life-world is full of suffering. He became an ascetic, a care-free mendicant with a resolve to search for and discover the real source of all sufferings and the means of complete deliverance from sufferings. In his quest for enlightenment Siddartha approached many learned scholars and religious teachers. He studied the scriptures and practiced great austerities but nothing satisfied him. The extreme form of his ascetic life made him completely weak physically and mentally and pushed him to the verge of death. It eventually led him to adopt the path of moderation and intense meditation. He resorted with the iron will to a meditative mode of making his mind free from all disturbing thoughts and passions. It ultimately unraveled the mysteries of the human personality, the body mind complex. It also revealed to him the source of sorrow as well as the way of deliverance from it. Thus Siddartha became the Buddha the enlightened one, the Light of Asia. The Buddha attained parinirvana at the ripe of old age of eighty-two at kushinara in circa 483 B.C.

2. Buddhist Literature and Councils:

After the enlightenment Buddha taught his teachings through discourses and dialogues which were later on codified and classified into three baskets known as Tripitakas. These baskets are claimed to embody Buddha’s view on various issues as reported by his most intimate disciple in the four councils held after Buddha’s demise. The first Buddhist council was held at Rajagriha to establish the canon of the Vinaya, the Discipline of the order. Nearly a hundred years later, there arose a violent controversy on certain points of Vinaya, which led to the division of Buddhism into Sthviravādins and Mahasanghikas. The second Buddhist council was held at Vaisali to resolve the ten controversial points of the Vinaya. The third council was held by Ashoka at Pataliputra where the Pali cannon of the Doctrine of Elders (Sthaviravada) was compiled. Gradually Sthaviravāda was divided into eleven schools and the Mahasanghika into nine schools. Thus these twenty schools constitute the Hinayāna sect of Buddhism. Of the twenty schools of Hinayāna Sarvastivāda is the most important. And the fourth Buddhist council was held in the first or second century A.D. under the leadership of the king Kaniska to reconsider and compile the tenets of the Sarvastivāda school.

The three Pitakas of the Pali cannon of the Hinayāna are known as the Vinaya–Pitaka, Sutta–Pitaka and the Abhidhamma–Pitaka. The Vinaya deals mainly with the rules of conduct of the Buddhist order (Sangha). The Sutta–pitaka comprises Buddhas sermons and dialogues. It consists of five collections (Niyakas) known as Digha, Majjima, Anguttara, Samyutta and Khuddaka. And the Abhidhamma–Pitaka contains exposition of the philosophical doctrines relating to the physical, psychological and satoreological issues. The Tripitakas are in the Pali dialect in which Buddha taught his teachings. They constitute information regarding early Buddhist philosophy.

3. Buddhist Schools :

In course of time and as the followers increased in number some Buddhists felt that the Hinayāna did not present the real teachings of the Master and got separated by finding for themselves another school called Mahayana. The Hinayāna school the literature of which is Pali is claimed to be more orthodox and faithful to the teachings of Buddha It has flourished in the South Asian region of Sri Lanka, Mynmar, Malaya, Java etc. The Mahayana school the literature of which is in Sanskrit contains the writings of the scholars who interpreted Buddha’s original teachings to make them accessible to the multitudes of people. Being conservative the Hinayāna is called the little vessel of salvation, a small boat on which a person may cross the stream of sorrow and reach the shore of Nirvana. The Mahayana is a large vessel of salvation in which the multitudes would find room to reach the shore of Nirvana. Unlike the Hinayāna which confined Buddha’s teachings to the monks of the monastery, Mahayanists were earnest in their convictions and popularized the Buddha’s doctrines and made them available to a greater number of people. Although they admitted many mythical and some fantastic notions they succeeded in bringing to the people the moral truths of Buddha’s Philosophical teachings which are difficult to grasp by the laity. Mahayana flourished in the countries like China, Japan, Tibet, Korea and Mongolia. The Mahayana school gave birth to eight schools, making the total number of Buddhist schools to nearly thirty. However, depending on the epistemological and metaphysical questions relating to the knowing and nature of reality Buddhism has been divided into four main schools, namely, the representationists or critical realists (Sautrantikas), the direct realists (Vaibhāsikas), or the nihilists (śunyatavadins or Madhyamikas), and the subjective idealists (Vijňānavādins or Yogacāras). The first two schools belong to the Hinayāna and the second two to the Mahayana Buddhism.

4. Teachings of Buddha:

Buddha was primarily an ethical teacher and reformer who rejected metaphysical speculations. His concern is pointing the way of life that leads to liberation from suffering. He did not entertain the metaphysical questions such as whether the soul is different from, whether it survives death. Whether the world is finite or infinite, eternal or non-eternal, Does the Tathagatha live or not live, or both live and not live or neither live nor lot live again after death? The Buddha regarded these ten questions as indeterminate (avyakŗta or avyaktani in Pali), ethically unprofitable and refused to discuss or answer them. The questions are indeterminate for they lead us to uncertain and partial answers without sufficient evidence. The solutions resemble the conflicting one-sided accounts of an elephant given by different blind persons who can only touch and feel the different parts of elephant. Buddha referred to scores of such metaphysical views advanced by earlier thinkers and showed them that they were inadequate since they were based on uncertain sense experiences, cravings and hopes and fears. They should be avoided for they do not take the seeker nearer the goal. On the contrary they entangle the seeker in the speculative theories and take him or her far away from the liberation, from sufferings. One who indulges in raising metaphysical questions and seeking speculative answers is utterly foolish like the one who, with a poisonous arrow plunged into body, whiles away time on idle speculation regarding the identity of the maker and the shooter of the arrow, instead of trying to pull out the arrow immediately. Four noble truths, the noble eight fold path (the fourth noble truth), the doctrine of impermanence, dependent origination and no-soul constitute the essence of Buddhism.

4.1 The Four Noble Truths :

Buddha’s main concern is to enlighten people on the most important practical and moral questions relating to the problem of sorrow; its origin, cessation and the path leading to its cessation. The answers to the four questions constitute the essence of Buddha’s awakening which he wanted to share with his fellow-beings. Buddha’s four answers have come to be known as the Four Noble Truths (Catvari āryasatyani) They are: (1) Life in the world is full of suffering; (2) There is a cause of suffering. (3) It is possible to put an end to suffering. And (4) There is a path which leads to the ending of suffering. The four truths may be rendered in Sanskrit respectively as dukha, dukha–samudaya, dukhanirodha, and dukha–nirodha–marga.

The first truth says that life is full of pain and misery. Even the so-called pleasures are really fraught with suffering. The life from beginning to end is full of sorrow. Birth, disease, old age and death are the sources of sorrow. Losing what we like and having what we dislike is suffering. Loss of things, the kith and kin in sorrow. The physical and mental ailments are sources of sorrow. Meeting the undesirable and the separation from the cause suffering. Failure to obtain the expected and receiving the unexpected are sources of suffering. According to the Buddha, sufferings is not confined to the woes of human beings alone but encompasses the whole of existence, the sentient and the insentient beings. Even the Gods living in Heaven are not exempted from suffering. There is nothing at all but suffering in the whole Universe as we know it to be. To Buddha transitoriness is the ultimate criterion of suffering. Transitoriness means that everything is impermanent. And subject to annihilation. Logically and factually everything is subject to the law of transitoriness. There is nothing immortal about us or about anything in the world. Everything including our personality is subject to constant change and ultimate destruction.

The second noble truth says that there is the cause of suffering. Accordingly sorrow is not devoid of cause, since there is nothing which is acausal. Nothing comes out of nothing. The existence of every event depends upon nits causes and conditions. Everything in this world is conditioned relative and limited. Suffering is also a fact which must be a cause. It must arise depending on some causes and conditions. Like all other things, events and persons, suffering is also subject to, the causal principle of dependent origination of this being that arises, ‘the cause being present the suffering arises. Accordingly, in life suffering of old age and death (Jarā–maraņa) is there because birth (Jāti) is there. That is, birth is the cause or the condition for suffering arising out of old age and death. Birth also has its cause or condition, namely, the will to become (bhava) which again has its own cause, namely, mental clinging to or grasping (upādāna) the objects of the world which is in turn caused by our thirst or craving (tŗşņa) to enjoy objects of the senses-sights, sounds, etc. Thirst is caused by the previous sense experience tinged with pleasant feelings (vedana) which in turn is caused by contact (sparsa) which is impossible without six-sense organs of knowledge. (sadayatana) which are dependent for their existence on the mind-body organism (nama–rupa) which is our personality or the perceptible being. The personality or the mind-body complex is dependent on the condition or the cause preceding to it, namely, the initial consciousness of the embryo (vijňāna) which is the principle of life without which the personality would be a dead thing. That is, unless consciousness descends into the embryo the mind-body complex would be devoid of life. But even this consciousness is only the effect of the cause, namely, the impressions (samskāra) of our past existence. The impressions are the last state of the past life which initiate our present existence. They are the effects of all our past deeds which cause rebirth. But the impressions are not an independent phenomena but have their own cause, namely, ignorance which is the real cause of suffering. This is the causal chain of suffering. This is the causal chain of suffering with twelve links starting from suffering to ignorance. This is also called the dependent arising of suffering. It has also been designated by various epithets such as the twelve sources (dvadaśanidāna) the wheel of rebirth (bhava–cakra).

The third noble truth is the truth about the cessation of suffering. This truth is found again on the principle of dependent origination but in its reverse order. It means that because everything arises depending on some causes and conditions, therefore if these causes and conditions are removed, the effect also gets removed automatically. The second truth is also found on the principle that everything being conditioned and relative is necessarily momentary and what is momentary must perish. That which is born must die. And what is produced must also be destroyed. Buddha compares the arising and cessation of suffering to the burning and putting out the flame of a lamp. The lamp burns as long as there is supply of oil and it ceases to burn the moment oil is exhausted. Thus the cessation of suffering begins with cessation of ignorance which was the cause of impressions (samskāra). With the cessation of ignorance the impressions will cease to be; with the cessation of the consciousness he mind-body complex will cease to be; with the cessation of the mind-body complex, the six-senses will cease to be; with the sessation of the six sense organs the contact will cease to be; with the cessation of the contact, the sensation or pleasant feeling will cease to be; with the cessation of the sensation, thirst will cease to be; with the cessation of thirst, grasping will cease to be; with the cessation of grasping becoming will cease to be; with the cessation of becoming there will be the cessation of birth; with the cessation of birth, there will be the cessation of disease, old age and death; and with the cessation of disease, old age and death there will be the cessation of suffering. Thus the twelve linked cycle of the cessation of suffering comes to a stop.

The fourth and the last noble truth is the path leading to the cessation of suffering. This is called the noble eight fold path the practice of which puts an end to suffering. Mere knowledge of the truth of suffering, the causation and its cessation is not enough. It is necessary to go beyond the intellectual understanding of the network of suffering and actually realize the state of liberation (nirvāņa) from suffering. The eight fold path is the only way by which the seeker can cross the sea of suffering. The path is also known as the middle way which steers clear of the extremes of the life of indulgence in pleasures and the life of self-mortification

4.2 Eight-fold path:

The eight steps of the path are as follows: Right view (Samyak dŗşţi ), Right thought (Samyak sankalpa). Right speech (Samyak vāk) Right action, (Samyak carita), Right livelihood (Samyak Ajivana), Right effort (Samyak vyayāma), Right Mindfulness (Samyak sati) and Right concentration (Samyak Samādhi).

Right view means rejection of superstitions and irrational ideas about life and the world. It is the rejection of heresay and heretical views and incorrect method of understanding and elimination of suffering. It includes refutation of the extreme views of eternalism and annihilationiusm, self-indulgence self-mortification. Right view means right knowledge about the nature, origin and cessation of suffering. It is the comprehension of the four noble truths comprising the doctrine of no-self, impermanence and dependent arising of all phenomena.

Right thought is thinking without ill-will, anger and hatred. It is without desire covetousness and greed. It is free from worldly pursuits and full of compassion and loving kindness. Right thinking includes pure and good thoughts which are conducive for the well-being of all. The first two steps, namely, right view and right thought constitute the wisdom (prajňā) part of the eight fold path.

Right speech is that which is devoid of lying, double talk, tale bearing, gossip, and chatter, malicious and careless language. It means abstaining from back baiting, vain and unbeneficial talk. It means speaking only the truth and remaining steadfast in truth and trustworthy. It means speaking relevant words, not words of dissention and division, not out of context. It also means speaking to unite and make people happy and peaceful. It also means speaking the language that is conducive for the attainment of nirvana.

Right action means right behavior of restraining form stealing, lust and violence. It is abstaining from taking what is not given, indulgence in sensual pleasures and killing. It also means being content, chaste, generous and avoiding intoxicants, entertainments, rituals, gambling of all kinds.

Right livelihood means living a life of righteousness and purity. It is living a life that is conducive to the well-being of oneself and others. It is abstaining from wrong means of livelihood like the sale of arms, intoxicants, perfumes, fortune telling, reciting spells to control evil spirits, black magic. Right speech, right action and right livelihood constitute the virtue (sīla) part of the eight-fold path.

Right effort means strong resolve to adhere to the practice of the eight fold path till the final goal is reached. It is following the path steadfastly and diligently from moment to moment. The effort to tread the path should be sustained and without deviation or distraction. The vision of the goal should always be clear and strong. Right effort means striving to adopt only the good habits and thoughts that are conducive for the attainment of nirvaņa.

Right mindfulness means steadfast awareness of everything that is going on ’within’ and ‘without’. It means insightful meditation of observing with full concentration. It means diligent attention of one’s thoughts, feelings and the entire body-mind complex. It is observing meticulously one’s sensations and actions while performing them, right mindfulness includes keeping one’s mind steadfastly on the truths of the dharma, such as the impermanent and soulless nature of all phenomena. Right mindfulness keeps the seeker away from greed, hatred and delusion.

Lastly, right concentration means meditation of focusing one’s attention on the mind. It is a process of purging the mind of its defilement which takes place in four stages of meditation. The first stage is detachment from sensual objects which give delightful satisfaction and bliss. The second stage is the avoidance of discursive thought which leads to tranquility and oneness of the mind. The third stage is experiencing of equanimity with clear awareness and delight. And in the fourth and final stage of intense concentration (Samādhi) there is complete equanimity without any sense of pleasure or pain, joy or grief. This is the state of nirvana, the state of perfection or enlightenment which is beyond the delusion of attachment and detachment, greed and aversion. It signifies complete deliverance from sorrow. The last three steps constitute the concentration (Samādhi) part of the eight-fold path, for they together contribute to the attainment of nirvaņa.

4.3 Doctrine  of Impermanence or Universal change.

According to Buddhism everything is transitory and subject to change and decay. As everything originates from some causes, conditions, it disappears when they cease to be. Whatever has a beginning also has an end. So nothing is permanent or everlasting. Everything will perish and that which is high will be laid low, where nothing is, there will be parting. Where there is birth there will be death. This is called the doctrine of impermanence envisaged by the Buddha. His followers have developed it into a theory of momentariness (kşanika–vāda) which not only means that things are causal and conditional co-productions but also that things exist for a partless moment only. According to this theory the criterion of the existence (satta) of a thing is its capacity to produce some effect (arthakriyakaritva–lakşanam). A non-existent thing, like a hare’s horn, cannot produce any effect. It is because things are not permanent and non-changing but impermanent and changing from moment to moment. That they are able to produce their effects which also last for a moment.

4.4 The Doctrine of Dependent origination.

According to Buddhism there is a universal and spontaneous law of causation which conditions the appearance of all events and things mental and physical. This law dhamma works automatically without the aim of any conscious agent. According to it, whenever a particular event (the cause) appears, it is followed by another particular event (the effect). The existence of anything is conditional and dependent on a cause. Nothing happens fortuitously or by chance. This is called the theory of dependent origination (Pratityasamutpāda ). It is also the middle way (Madhyamapratipat), for it avoids the extreme sides eternalism and annihilationism or nihilism Eternalism means that there is (some reality, which exists eternally, absolutely and independently of any condition. Annihilationism means that something existing will be totally annihilated or ceases to be. But according to the middle way everything we perceive possesses an existence that is dependent on something else. It also means that the thing in turn does not perish totally but leaves some effect while perishing. The principle of dependent origination avoids the metaphysical issues of the origin and ending of things. it only talks about the natural appearance of things governed by the principle —‘That being thus, this comes to be’ or ‘ from coming to be of that, this arises’. And conversely, it also implies’ that being absent, this does not happen’ or ’from the cessation of that, this ceases’. The Buddha regarded the principle of dependent origination as profound for it gives the solution of the problem of misery by clearly explaining the origin and cessation of misery. Failure to understand this principle is the cause of all our sorrow arising out of the attachment (rāga), hatred (dveśa) and delution (moha). This theory has many sided- implications and so the Buddha says that one who understands it understands the dhamma. The Buddhist theory of karma is only an aspect of this theory. It says that the present existence of an individual is the effect of its past and its future would be the effect of its present existence. The present is the effect of our past actions and the future state would be the effect of our present actions. This is he law of karma or the law of causation.

4.5 The doctrine of no-self (Anātma)

According to Buddha change and impermanence is a universal law. Everything, living and non-living, including human being is subject to this law. So it is only an illusion to believe that there is in human being an abiding substance called the soul (ātman), which persists through the changes of the body. The soul is believed to be eternal existing before the birth and death of our body, and migrates from one body to another. Being consist with his theory of conditioned existence and universal change, Buddha denies existence of such a soul. Nevertheless Buddha does not deny the ‘continuity of the stream’ of successive states which compose our personality and life in general. Life, including our personality, is an unbroken series of states each of these states depends on the condition just preceding xxx and gives rise to the one just succeeding it. The continuity life-series is based on a causal connection running through the different states. Buddha explains the phenomena of continuity with the metaphor of the flame of lamp. The flame of each moment is dependent on its own conditions. The flame of each moment is different from the flame of another moment which has its own conditions. Yet there is an unbroken succession of the different flames. Although different from one another, each flame lights or causes another flame. So they are causally connected. So also the end state of this life may cause the beginning of the next life. Rebirth is therefore not a transmigration of some soul to another body. Buddha thus replaces the conception of an abiding self by that of an unbroken stream of consciousness. Buddha says that believing in the existence of a soul-substance is like the delusion of falling in love with the most beautiful maiden who has never been seen or known. It is also like building a staircase for mounting a palace which has never been seen. Human being is only a conventional name for a collection of different constituents, namely the, the material body (kāya), the immaterial mind (citta or manas) just as a chariot is a collection of wheels, axles, shafts, etc. from a psychological point of view, human being as a whole is analyzable into a collection of five groups (paňca–skandas) of changing elements, namely, (1) form (rupa) consisting of the different factors which we perceive in this body having form, (2) feelings (vedana)of pleasure, pain and indifference, (3) perception (sanjňa) which includes understanding and naming, (4) predispositions or tendencies or impressions (samsara) generated by past experiences, and (5) consciousness itself (vijňana) the latter four called nama. Thus the existence of the human person depends on the collection of these five factors. The personality gets dissolved when the collection breaks up and the soul or the ego denotes nothing more than this collection.

6. Summary

Thus Buddhism is one of the most ancient and unorthodox religions of the world. It was born in India but went outside and spread in other parts of the world. It is an atheistic religion of reason and meditation. Its doctrines of no-self, dependent origination, impermanence, are not only scientific but also pragmatic. The doctrine of the four noble truths has been recognized as an effective means of attaining freedom from sorrow. The eightfold path which is also known as the middle way has both metaphysical and moral implications; it steers clear of the extreme views about the reality as well as the extreme ways of moral practice.

Web links

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism
• http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism
• http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/5minbud.htm
• http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396577/obo-9780195396577-0016.xml
• http://buddhism.about.com/
• http://www.uri.org/kids/world_budd_basi.htm
• http://www.patheos.com/Library/Buddhism