02 the Basic Buddhist Teaching

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Lecture Two

The Basic Buddhist Teaching

1. Introduction

Unlike other religions, Buddhism never considers its teachings which are called Dharma as a divinedrevelation but merely as an instrument for mental training as it shows in the well known Buddhistsimile that the Dharma is similar to a raft for crossing over the stream of saṃsāra.

Hence the Buddhist teachings are not dogmas to be followed and practiced without questioning, buton the contrary, it encourages critical reflections and analytical understanding because it is onlythrough intuitive wisdom, ignorance, the root of all human bondage and sufferings, can be dispelled.The Buddha said, “The destruction of the cankers, monks, is for one who knows and sees, I say, notfor one who does not know and does not see.”1 “This freedom of thought” as Venerable Rahula said,“is necessary because, according to the Buddha, man’s emancipation depends on his own realizationof Truth, and not on the benevolent grace of a god or any external power as a reward for his obedient

good behaviour.”

Even the Buddha is neither a creator nor a saviour but only a teacher who guides his disciples and

followers to practice the Dharma he discovered and this Dharma is nothing but a way to realize truth.

It is in this sense that the Buddhist teachings are philosophy of life that serves as practical guides for

the sole purpose of eradication of human sufferings and they are not to satisfy intellectual curiosity

about metaphysical and ontological issues such as the beginnings of the universe and human race.

2. Dependent Arising

The doctrine of dependent arising or origination (Paḷi: Paticcasamupada, Skt: Pratītyasamutpāda) or

sometimes called causality is the central philosophy of Buddhism because all other philosophicalteachings such as the four noble truths, karma and rebirth, no-soul and impermanence are based onthis foundation. Hence it is said, “One who sees dependent origination sees the Dhamma, and one whosees the Dhamma sees dependent origination.”2 Thus, an insight into the doctrine of dependant arisingis an insight into the very heart of the Dhamma, the Buddhist teachings. This means that all Buddhistdoctrines pertaining to ontology, epistemology, psychology and ethics are all based on the principle ofdependant arising. The basic formula of dependent arising is found in the dialogues of the Buddhawith Sakuludayi, the ascetic, “When this exists, that comes to be; with the arising of this, that arises.When this does not exist, that does not come to be; with the cessation of this, that ceases.”3

According to the Buddhist tradition, the Buddha is only a discoverer as well as an expounder of this

truth, he is neither a creator nor an inventor of it. Therefore, “whether there is an arising of Tathāgatasor no arising of Tathāgatas, that element still persists, the stableness of the Dhamma, the fixed courseof the Dhamma, specific conditionality. A Tathāgata awakens to this and breaks through to it. Havingdone so, he explains it, teaches it, proclaims it, establishes it, discloses it, analyses it, elucidates it.”4 This statement refers to what is actually happening in the phenomena world which operatesuninterrupted and uncontrolled by any external agency or power of any sort. But it does not refer to anabstract structural principle called Dependent Arising which should be viewed as permanent oreverlasting.

1 The Connected Discourse of the Buddha (CDB), 553. Saṃyutta Nikāya II, 29 (SN 12.23). 2 The translation is adopted from Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Middle Discourse of the Buddha (MDB), 283. Majjhima Nikāya I,191.3 The translation is adopted from Bhikkhu Bodhi, MDB, 655. Majjhima Nikāya II, 32, Sutta No. 79 and III, 63, Sutta

No.115.4 Saṃyutta Nikāya II, 25 (S.12.20); CDB, i 550.


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The doctrine of dependent arising is also called the Middle Teaching because it rejects the twoextreme views of the human condition that have polarized reflective thought through the centuries:one is the metaphysical thesis of eternalism and the other extreme is annihilationism. The firstrepresents an extreme form of realism which asserts that everything exists absolutely and the secondan extreme form of nihilism, which asserts that absolutely nothing exists. Here the first represents amonistic view that everything is reducible to a common ground, some sort of self -substance and the

second the opposite pluralistic view that the whole of existence is resolvable into a concatenation ofdiscrete entities.

What the theory not intended to explain It should be understood that this theory does not try to explain how the universe started, the ultimate

beginning and it also makes no attempt to solve the riddle of an absolute origin of life becauseaccording to Buddhism, these two issues or questions are not immediately connected with the problemof human suffering and its eradication. The Buddha emphatically declared that “the first beginning ofexistence is something inconceivable.”5 Therefore, it is futile to search for Buddhist answers to theseissues because the Buddha refused to answer such metaphysical questions which are known as theunanswered questions in the Buddhist literature. It is equally futile to ask the question why the

Buddha did not answer it because the Buddha is a practical teacher and he was not interested inquestions that do not lead to any useful conclusions.

What the theory intends to explain

The theory of dependent arising explains the conditionality, or dependent nature, of all the manifoldmental and physical phenomena of existence; of everything that happens, be it in the realm of the

physical or the mental as Venerable Nyanaponika put it. In other words, the theory explains howthings work and proceed rather than how things are formulated and begin. It explains how the

phenomena in the world arise and disappear, particularly the process of human life.

The implications of the theory are as follows:1. Everything in this world is interdependent, therefore, nothing is permanent.2. Everything in this world is interrelated, therefore, nothing is independent.3. Everything in this world is relative, therefore, nothing is absolute. Hence, everything in this world is interdependent, interrelated and relative.

According to this theory, (1) there is no single cause leading to a single effect for any given phenomena. This also rejects the God creation of the universe and human beings. Therefore, there isutterly no place in Buddhist thought for the theory and concept of a single creator who rewards and

punishes the good and bad deeds of the creatures of his creation. There is also no permanenteverlasting substance that can be called a soul within the ever changing flux of psychical and physical

phenomena of a human being.

(2) There is no single cause leading to multiple effects and equally there are also no multiple causesleading to a single effect. Some Indian teachers both from the Brahmana and Sramana traditionstaught these theories, some taught that a single cause leads to multiple effects and some taught thatmultiple causes lead to a single effect. Buddhism rejects all these theories.

(3) According to Buddhism, it is always the fact that multiple causes lead to multiple effects in the phenomena world. The Buddha spoke of conditionality and according to whom, the entire world issubject to the law of cause and effect, in other words, action and reaction. We cannot think of anythingin this cosmos that is causeless and unconditioned. All social and personal issues and problems are

interconnected and interrelated. Thus the Buddhist theory of Dependent Arising rejects many ancientIndian causal theories which are considered as imperfect.

5 Saṃyutta Nkāya II, 178; English translation is adopted from the Kindred Sayings II, 118.


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(4) This theory also rejects the views that everything happens haphazardly. Pūraṇa Kassapa, one of thesix sramana teachers, held the theory that there is no cause and effect, everything happensfortuitously.6 The Buddha’s criticism to this theory is that it breaks the morality, the basis for a

peaceful society.

(5) Fatalism and determinism are also rejected. Fatalism and determinism are the same and both saythat human’s actions are determined or caused by any external force or forces. However, according tothe Buddhist theory of dependent arising, human’s actions depend on his own will, not on any externalcauses. So Buddhism rejects all forms of fortune telling because our future is not settled yet, and it islargely dependent on what we decide to do now and here. How can a fortune teller to tell your futureif the future is not fixed yet?

It is on this principle that the Buddha explained the process of the human life, the conditional arisingof all those mental and physical phenomena conventionally named as “living being,” or “individual,”or “person”. According to this theory, life is not an identity, it is a becoming. It is a flux of

psychological and physiological changes, a conflux of mind and body. Just as Bhikkhu Bodhi said,

“The ultimate purpose of the teaching on dependent origination is to expose the conditions that sustainthe round of rebirths, samsara, so as to show what must be done to gain release from the round.”7 The Buddha further explains the process of human life into twelve factors with an aim to illustrate thehuman bondage and his freedom. It is expounded in two orders by way of origination to explain thearising of suffering and by way of cessation to explain the ending of suffering.

Dependent on ignorance arises moral and immoral conditioning activities, dependent on conditioning

activities arises (relinking) consciousness, dependent on (relinking) consciousness arise mind and

matter, dependent on mind and matter arise the six spheres of sense, dependent on the six spheres of

sense arises contact, dependent on contact arises feeling, dependent on feeling arises craving,

dependent on craving arises grasping, dependent on grasping arises becoming, dependent on

becoming arises birth, dependent on birth arise decay, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, anddespair. Thus this whole mass of suffering arises.

Then the dependent arising is explained by way of cessation. With the cessation of ignorance,

conditioning activities cease, with the cessation of conditioning activities (relinking) consciousness

ceases, with the cessation of (relinking) consciousness, mind and matter cease, with the cessation of

mind and matter, the six spheres of sense cease, with the cessation of the six spheres of sense, contact

ceases, with the cessation of contact, feeling ceases, with the cessation of feeling, craving ceases, with

the cessation of craving, grasping ceases, with the cessation of grasping, becoming ceases, with the

cessation of becoming, birth ceases, with the cessation of birth, decay, death, sorrow, lamentation,

pain, grief, and despair cease. Such is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering.

However, one should not misunderstand or take ignorance as the Buddhist explanation of ultimate beginning or the first cause which is not discussed in the Buddhist literature as discussed above. Infact, the dependent arising with its twelve factors forms a circle. There is no beginning and no end toit. This method of dividing up the factors should not be misconstrued to mean that the factors aremutually exclusive, but they may rise together. So whenever there is ignorance, then craving and

clinging invariably come along; and whenever there is craving and clinging, then ignorance stands

behind them. It is the arising of ever changing conditions dependent on similar evanescent conditions.Here there is neither absolute non-existence nor absolute existence, only bare phenomena roll on.

6 CDB, 903. S 22. 60; PTS: iii 68. Pūraṇa Kassapa is described as holding the theory of inefficacy (akiriyavāda) in CDB995. S. 24:6; PTS: iii 209. 7 CDB, 517.


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3. Four Noble Truths

The four noble truths are the fundamental teaching of Buddhism and it is the Buddhist philosophy oflife. According to the Book of Discipline, the Buddha himself discovered and realized the four NobleTruths by his own intuitive knowledge at the foot of the Bodhi tree. Whether the Buddhas arise or notin this world these truths exist and it is a Buddha who reveals them to the deluded world. So the four

noble truths are the Buddhist analysis of life and its problems as well as the solutions to these problems.

The logical sequence between the Four Noble Truths shows that the significance of each cannot beunderstood in a context from where the other three are excluded. Each assumes significance in relationto the other three. If the truth of suffering is sought to be understood in isolation from the rest, such anunderstanding will necessarily lead to the conclusion that Buddhism advocates a pessimistic view oflife.

The Four Noble Truths are: (1) Dukkha, suffering or unsatisfactoriness, (2) the arising or origin ofdukkha, (3) the cessation of dukkha, (4) the way leading to the cessation of dukkha.

The Buddha taught the four noble truths to his five disciples in the first sermon, “This, monks, is thenoble truth that is suffering. Birth is suffering; old age is suffering; illness is suffering; death is

suffering; sorrow and grief, physical and mental suffering, and disturbance are suffering. Association

with things not liked is suffering, separation from desired things is suffering; not getting what one

wants is suffering; in short, the five aggregates of grasping are suffering.”8 Although there lists manydifferent forms of suffering, both physical and psychological, but Buddhism mainly analyzes the last,

the grasping or attachment to the five aggregates. Elsewhere the Buddha distinctly defines dukkha asgrasping of the five aggregates: “O bhikkhus, what is dukkha? It should be said that it is the fiveaggregates of grasping or attachment.”9

So here why and how the five aggregates of grasping are said to be suffering? According to theBuddhist analysis of the empiric individuality, a person consists of five aggregates which are acombination of the ever -changing physical and mental forces or energies. They are the aggregate ofmatter, the aggregate of sensations or feelings, the aggregate of apperceptions, the aggregate of mentalformations, and the aggregate of consciousness. The first one is physical which serves as the basis forthe rest four which are psychological. It is called a sentient being or a human being when the fiveaggregates work together. In other words, the human personality can therefore be defined as their sumtotal.

These five aggregates are inseparably linked together working as a whole. There can be noconsciousness without a body; although there could be a body without consciousness, but it would not

be sentient. The five aggregates are interrelated, interdependent and interconnected to one anotherworking according to the laws of dependent arising. Thus they have the three distinctivecharacteristics of impermanence, no-self and suffering. This differs from the familiar concept of“body” and “soul”. The soul goes to somewhere either to enjoy or suffer leaving the body behind.

The five aggregates are all impermanent, all are constantly changing. (1) Each of the five such asmatter or consciousness is impermanent and (2) the combination of the five together is alsoimpermanent. They are not the same for two consecutive moments as they are in a flux of momentaryarising and disappearing.

8 CDB, 1844. PTS: S v.421. 9 CDB, 963. Dukkha Sutta, S iii.158.


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As the five aggregates are all impermanent, there is no unchanging substance in this process of humanlife. Hence there is nothing that can be called a permanent self or soul or individuality, or anythingthat can in reality be called ‘I’.

According to the Buddhist teaching, “whatever is impermanent is suffering, dukkha”. For theimpermanent nature of everything can but lead to one inescapable conclusion: suffering. This is the

true meaning of the Buddha’s words: “In brief the five Aggregates of Attachment are dukkha.’ Aseverything is impermanent, they cannot be made the basis of permanent happiness.

However, in the Buddhist definition of suffering it is not the five aggregates themselves, but the fiveaggregates of grasping that are characterized as suffering. Although the five aggregates in themselvesare not suffering, but they can be a source of suffering when they become objects of grasping. Thusthere is a clear distinction between the five aggregates on the one hand and the five aggregates ofgrasping, on the other.

Strictly speaking, what Buddhism calls the individual is not the five aggregates, but the fiveaggregates when they are grasped or appropriated. This explains why in the Buddhist definition of

suffering, the reference is made to the aggregates of grasping and not to the aggregates themselves.

The five aggregates of grasping takes place in our mind, because it is our mind that appreciates andgrasps the five aggregates. In short, dukkha can be explained as the problems in our lives. As long aswe grasp the five aggregates as ourselves so we have problems.

The so-called individual can thus be reduced to a causally conditioned process of grasping. And it isthis process of grasping that Buddhism describes as suffering. Hence the Buddhist conclusion is thatlife, at its very bottom or core, is characterized by suffering.

This process of grasping manifests itself in three ways: This is mine, this I am, and this is myself. Thefirst is due to craving; the second is due to conceit; and the third is due to the mistaken belief in a self -entity. It is through this process of three-fold self -identification that the idea of 'mine', 'I am' and 'myself' arises.

It is in this sense that Buddhism concentrates on the analysis of psychological problems rather than physical ones as the Sallatha Sutta of the Samyuttanikāya says,

Bhikkhus, when the instructed noble disciple is contacted by a painful feeling, he does not sorrow,

grieve, or lament; he does not weep beating his breast and become distraught. He feels one feeling-a

bodily one, not a mental one…… If he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it detached. If he feels a painful

feeling, he feels it detached. If he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he feels it detached .10

Thus, those who have liberated still feel bodily pain, but not mental pain. In Chinese Buddhism theoften used word is fanniao which means kleśa, the psychological problems we have.

Causes of suffering

The Buddhist emphasis on the universality of suffering could also be understood from the causes ofsuffering. One of the major causes of suffering is the self -centred desire which manifests itself inmany forms.

The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta says, “ It is the craving that produces renewal of beingaccompanied by enjoyment and lust, and enjoying this and that; in other words, craving for sensual

10 CDB, 1246-5. SN 36:6; S iv 208.


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desires, craving for being, craving for non-being .”11

The technical term for craving is tanha in Pali language. The Buddha said in the Fire Sermon that allis burning, the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are burning, burning with craving.12 “The imageof fire connotes all-consuming movement within the mind of a person, something hot, dangerous,

destructive, and potentially out of control. The implication is that craving in the form of lust and

hatred is a fire that inflames every aspect of a person – all the aggregates – and thus brings suffering inits wake.”13

However, craving is not the only cause in the Buddhist analysis of the causes of suffering, but one ofthe causes as discussed in the dependent arising because Buddhism always thinks of multiple causesleading to multiple effects. The twelvefold formula of dependent arising is a chain of causes andeffects and this ‘is the origin of this whole mass of suffering’. (M 927) But in this chain ignorance isthe key factor in consideration and it is ignorance that leads to craving and hatred which in turn lead to

more grasping and becoming.

Sometimes, the Buddha also gave three causes of suffering: craving, hatred and delusion which are all

psychological. Here delusion is equal to ignorance which is the root cause for craving and hatred. Butcraving and hatred lead to more ignorance as they defile the mind.

According to the Buddhist philosophy, ignorance means the lack of understanding of the four nobletruths and dependent arising. Hence, the ignorant person regards the impermanent as permanent, the

painful as pleasant, the soulless as soul, the impure as pure, and the unreal as real. Thus he entertains

wrong views and does wrong deeds which lead him to further suffering. Therefore in the Buddhist

analysis, the causes of suffering are found within us, not outside, and in the same way, the solutions to

suffering are also found within us.

4. The Concept of Nirvāṇa

Nirvāṇa or nibbāna is the third of the four noble truths, so it is the complete elimination and cessationof the main causes of dukkha, which are craving, hatred and ignorance. Therefore nirvāṇa is alsoknown by the term “Extinction of Craving, Extinction of Hatred, and Extinction of Ignorance”. Ifcraving is compared to a fire as in the Fire Sermon quoted above, then nirvāṇa is compared to a firegone out when the fuel is finished and no more fuel is added so it cannot be kindled again.

Nirvāṇa is always explained in negative terms in the Buddhist literatures because it is outside of ourordinary human experience as the human language is designed in such a way to express the humansensory experience.

Although nirvāṇa is described in negative terms but the experience of it is not negative but positiveand happy as the poems written by those who have liberated demonstrate in the two books of theTherāgata and the Therīgata.

Five ways to understand nirvāṇa

Since nirvāṇa is described in negative terms how can we understand it? So we can understand theBuddhist concept of nirvāṇa in the following five ways.

(1) From the moral point of view, nirvāṇa is the highest level of moral perfection, because it is the

11 CDB, 1844. 12 CDB, 1143. 13 Gowans, 128.


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highest form of cultivation of morality.

For one who has attained nirvāṇa, all unwholesome motivational roots such as greed, hatred, and

delusion have been fully eradicated with no possibility of their ever becoming active again.

As the noble eightfold path which leads to nirvāṇa starts with morality and it also ends with moral

perfection, so at the end of the practice, the person becomes a perfect person in morality as he or shenaturally leads a moral life.

In this sense, nirvāṇa is an ethical state, to be reached in this birth by ethical practices, contemplation

and insight. It is therefore not transcendental. The first and most important way to reach nirvāṇa is by

means of the eightfold Path, and all expressions which deal with the realisation of emancipation from

lust, hatred and delusion apply to practical habits and not to speculative thought.

(2) From the experiential point of view, nirvāṇa is the highest level of happiness, because all kinds ofsuffering are eliminated as a corollary in the formula of four noble truths. The Buddha taughtMāgandiya,

The greatest of all gains is health, Nibbāna is the greatest happiness,

The eightfold path is the best of paths,

For it leads safely to the Deathless.14

According to Buddhism, happiness is the peace of mind or tranquillity of mind in ordinary sense, freefrom all worries and troubles. The Buddha said, “Monks, I know not of any other single thing that

brings such happiness as the mind that is tamed, controlled, guarded and restrained. Such a mind

indeed brings great happiness.”15

However, the librated one is not free from physical pain but subject to physical discomfort, howeverthere is no emotional reaction to physical pain or psychological discomfort resulting from pain. Heexperiences physical pain without complaining, without self pity, without developing thoughts ofhatred towards others.

(3) From the point of knowledge, nirvāṇa is the highest level of wisdom. This is because the fourth ofthe four noble truths is the noble eightfold path which leads to the attainment of wisdom. According tothe Buddhist teaching, the ultimate cause of dukkha or suffering is ignorance and in order to destroyignorance, one has to attain wisdom, to see things as they really are.

It is in this sense that nirvāṇa is also defined as the attainment of knowledge. The Rāsiya Sutta of theSamyuttanikāya says, the noble eightfold path “leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment,to nibbāna.”16 This knowledge is the true vision of things as they truly are so it is an insight into thenature of the phenomenal reality.

According to Buddhism the five aggregates represent the totality of our experience, the totality ofconditioned experiences. This means that the knowledge of things as they truly are refers theknowledge of the five aggregates as the Parijānanasutta of the Samyuttanikāya informs us that it isonly through full comprehension of the five aggregates that one is cable of destroying suffering.17

14 MLDB: 613. M i 508. It is also found in the counterpart sutra in the Chinese Madhyamāgama. (CBETA, T01, no. 26, p.672, b23-24) 15 Anguttaranikaya: Adanta Suttas: Untamed: AN 1.31-40; PTS: A i 5; Gradual Sayings, I 4. 16 Saṃyuttanikāya, iv 331. CDB 1350.17 CDB: 1140-42.


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Thus this knowledge is the final awakening to the true nature of the world of our own sensoryexperience, but not the knowledge of a higher reality. According to Buddhism, when one attains thehighest knowledge he sees the same phenomenal reality, our own world of experience, but thedifference is this: he sees it in the true sense, he sees things as they truly are. So what takes placewhen Nibbāna is attained is not a change in the nature of reality, but a change in our perspective of thenature of reality.

(4) From the psychological point of view, nirvāṇa is the highest level of mental emancipation, thefreedom of our mind, because all the polluting factors that restrict and restrain the mind such as selfishdesire, hatred, ignorance, conceit, pride, so on and so forth are eliminated, so the mind is pure andhealthy. It is full of universal love, compassion, kindness, sympathy, understanding and tolerance.

Negative emotions restrict an individual's psychological freedom; therefore greed, hatred, and

ignorance are described as poisons in the Buddhist literature because they circumscribe an individual's

freedom. Greed, hatred, and ignorance are roots of unwholesome mental states which fetter the

individual within saṃsāra. So when all these bad mental elements are removed, our mind becomestruly free.

(5) From the point of ultimate reality, nirvāṇa is the highest truth. The Dhatu-vibhanga Sutta of the Majjhimanikāya says:

His deliverence, being founded upon truth, is unshakable. For that is false, monks, which has a

deceptive nature, and that is true which has an undeceptive nature -- Nibbāna. Therefore, a monk possessing [this truth] possesses the supreme foundation of truth. For this, monk, is the supreme noble

truth, namely Nibbāna , which has an undeceptive nature.18

When one attains nibbāna, one realizes the truth of life, one understand things as they truly are, thethree characteristics of life: impermanence, suffering and no-self.

Nirvāṇa in this life According to the Buddhist teaching, this kind of nirvāṇa is realizable in this world and in this life if it

is mature.

The Dhammakathika Sutta of the Saṃyuttanikāya says: “ If through revulsion towards aging-and-death, through its fading away and cessation, one is liberated by nonclinging, one is fit to be called a

bhikkhu who has attained nibbāna in this very life.”19

“ If through revulsion towards ignorance, through its fading away and cessation, one is liberated bynonclinging, one is fit to be called a bhikkhu who has attained nibbāna in this very life.”20

This nirvāṇa can be attained in this world now and here. The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta of the

Majjhimanikāya says,

Let alone half a month, bhikkhus. If whoever should develop these four foundations of mindfulness in

such a way for seven days, one of two fruits could be expected for him: either final knowledge here

and now, or if there is a trace of clinging left, non-return.21

The Bodhirājakumāra Sutta (No. 85) of the Majjhimanikāya says,

18 M.iii.245; CDB: 1093. 19 CDB: 545. S ii.18.20 CDB: 545. S ii.18.21 MDB: 155. M I, 63.


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Let alone one day and night, prince. When a bhikkhu who possesses these five factors of striving finds

a Tathagata to discipline him, then being instructed in the evening, he might arrive at distinction in

the morning; being instructed in the morning, he might arrive at distinction in the evening .22

5. Noble Eightfold Path

The fourth of the four noble truths is the noble eightfold path which is also called the middle path

because it is not a compromise but transcends the two extremes in practice, two misguided attempts to

gain release from suffering.

One extreme is the indulgence in sense pleasures by gratifying desires which gives enjoyment but not

happiness because enjoyment or pleasure is gross, transitory, and devoid of deep contentment. The

Buddha recognized that sensual desire can exercise a tight grip over the minds of human beings, and

he was keenly aware of how ardently attached people become to the pleasures of the senses. Thus the

Buddha describes the indulgence in sense pleasures as “low, common, worldly, ignoble, not leading to

the goal.”

The noble eightfold path avoids the extreme of sensual indulgence by its recognition of the futility of

desire and its stress on renunciation. Desire and sensuality, far from being means to happiness, are

springs of suffering to be abandoned as the requisite of deliverance.

The other extreme is the practice of self-mortification, the attempt to gain liberation by afflicting the

body. This practice may be motivated by genuine aspiration for deliverance, but it is guided by a

wrong view that “the body is the cause of bondage, when the real source of trouble lies in the mind — the mind obsessed by greed, aversion, and delusion.”23 To rid the mind of these defilements theaffliction of the body is not only useless but self-defeating, for it is the impairment of a necessary

instrument. Thus the Buddha describes this second extreme as " painful, ignoble, not leading to the goal."

The Buddhist renunciation does not mean physical renunciation, but psychological one. Because thecauses of human suffering is within the human mind not outside. This idea is very well brought out inthe Anguttaranikāya as follows:

In passionate purpose lays man’s sense desire,

the world’s gain glitters are not sense desire,

in passionate purpose lays man’s sense desire,

the world’s gain glitters as they abide,

but the wise men hold desire, therefore, in check .24

So what the Buddha wanted to convey is that the manifold objects in the external world do notconstitute our craving. What constitute our craving is the lustful intention, lustful desire within us, notthings themselves, but lustful desire towards them.

22 M, I, 95-96: Bodhi: 707-8. “if a monk (bhikkhu) has the following five factors of striving, (1) faith in the Tathāgata’s enlightenment, (2) free from illness and affliction, (3) honest and sincere, (4) energetic in abandoning unwholesome statesand in undertaking wholesome states, (5) wisdom regarding to rise and disappearance, he can attain enlightenment in a

day.”23 Bodhi 1994: 15. 24 Gradual Saying 291. A. iii, 411. The same saying is also found in the Nasantisutta of the Samyuttanikāya, Mrs RhysDavids translated it as “The manifold objects in the world— This in itself is not desires of sense. Lustful intention is man’ssense-desire. That manifold of objects doth endure; The will thereto the wise exterminate.” (S:1.34; PTS: S I 22, trans. I32) (Bodhi: CDB: 111) and also in Chinese Saṃyuktāgama Sutra No. 752 (CBETA, T02, no. 99, p. 198, c27-p. 199, a12).


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So the true renunciation is not completely withdrawn from the world physically, but the cultivation of particular attitude of mind within us. So mental culture is not based on the suppression of senses, butto develop the senses to see the phenomena as they truly are.

That’s why the Buddha returned to the world after enlightenment and he even advised his disciples togo and preach his teachings when there were sixty arahant disciples around him.

Therefore, the practice of renunciation does not entail the tormenting of the body. It consists in mental

training, and for this the body must be fit, a sturdy support for the inward work. A sound mind is in a

sound body. Thus the body is to be looked after well, kept in good health, while the mental faculties

are trained to generate the liberating wisdom.

The Noble Eightfold Path “gives rise to vision, gives rise to knowledge, and leads to peace, to directknowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna.”25 The noble eightfold path is the whole of Buddhisttraining leading one to perfection both mentally and morally. This training can be summarized as:

“To abstain from all evil, to cultivate the good, and to purify one's mind — this is the teaching of the

Buddhas.” ( Dhammapada 183).

The noble eightfold path consists of eight factors as follows:

Division Eightfold Path factors

Wisdom1. Right understanding or view

2. Right intention or thought

Ethical conduct

3. Right speech

4. Right action

5. Right livelihood

Meditation6. Right effort7. Right mindfulness

8. Right concentration

The eight factors are not step by step training but they are components of training and thus should be

practiced simultaneously as they are interdependent and interrelated. The eight factors are usuallydivided into three groups: (i) the moral discipline including right speech, right action, and right

livelihood; (ii) the meditation including right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration; and

(iii) the wisdom including right thought and right view.

The moral discipline which is based on the universal love and compassion for all living beings istraining in verbal and physical behaviors and it aims at promoting a happy and harmonious life bothfor the individual and for society. Moral discipline is indispensable for mental training, meditation, themain practice of Buddhism, which aims at cleansing the mind of impurities and disturbances andcultivating such qualities as concentration, awareness, intelligence, etc. Thus meditation will lead

finally to enlightenment, the attainment of highest wisdom which sees the nature of things as they are. The Buddhist concept of wisdom is the perfection in both morality and intelligence so it is differentfrom what ordinarily we understand as wisdom as it includes only intelligence. It is in this sense thatthe Buddhist training aims at the perfection of man in two qualities that should be developed equally:compassion and intelligence. In other words, the noble eightfold path leads one to the attainment ofwisdom that dispels ignorance, the root of human life’s problem. As the Buddha says: “The element of

ignorance is indeed a powerful element.”

26

25 CDB ii 1843. SN 56.11; PTS: S v 420. Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. 26 CDB: 637. S ii 153; SN 14:13.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sltp/SN_V_utf8.html#pts.420http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sltp/SN_V_utf8.html#pts.420


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Significance of the noble eightfold path

1) In the Noble Eightfold Path, you do not find any prayer, ritual formalism or worship, ceremony. Soit can be accepted and practiced by all people without changing their life style and belief.

There is no mention of faith which is the foundation for other religions in the world. In other words,faith is no so important in Buddhism as it serves only at the beginning. Once when the practitioner progresses, faith is not necessary.

There is even no mention of rebirth in the noble eightfold path. This means that even in this life itself,the practice of the noble eightfold path is meaningful. In other words, even for those do not believe innext life, the practice of the noble eightfold path is useful.

2) The noble eightfold path lies its emphasis on human effort for liberation, not on the power of anoutside supernatural agent because it is a practice of self -discipline in body, speech and mind, self -development and self - purification.

So it is a path starting from moral practice leading to the realization of ultimate reality, to completefreedom, happiness and peace through moral, spiritual and intellectual perfection.

3) The Noble Eightfold Path is to be followed by all those who work for their happiness, it is a way oflife to be followed, practiced, and developed by each and every individual.

4) The Noble Eightfold Path is both a means as well as an end as it starts with moral training and endsup with moral perfection. Two factors are achieved when one follows the path: right knowledge andright liberation.

5) The Noble Eightfold Path begins with right view because, according to the Buddha, nothing is moredangerous than wrong view.

The Buddha himself says that he sees no single factor so responsible for the arising of unwholesome

states of mind as wrong view, and no factor so helpful for the arising of wholesome states of mind as

right view.27

What is the right view? Sariputta explains in the Sammaditthi Sutta: “When, friends, a noble discipleunderstands the unwholesome, the root of the unwholesome, the wholesome, and the root of the

wholesome, in that way he is one of right view, whose view is straight, who has perfect confidence in

the Dhamma, and has arrived at this true Dhamma.”28

Here the wholesome refers to the Ten Kusala Dhamma (the ten virtues) and the unwholesome refers tothe opposite, while the root of unwholesome is greed, hatred and delusion, the root of wholesome isnon-greed, non-hatred and non-delusion.

6) Dogmatic attachment to any view is wrong. Although right view is good, but attachment to rightview is also condemned by the Buddha, because dogmatic attachment to any view may lead one tosuffering.

Because a view is only a guideline to action, even the Buddhist teaching is only like a raft. That’s why

the Buddha says that he does not hold any view.27 A i 28. The Gradual Sayings, i 27-28. NDB: 116-117.28 M iii 178-79.


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The Buddha says in the Sallekha Sutta, “we shall not misapprehend according to individual views norhold on to them tenaciously, but shall discard them with ease — thus effacement can be done.”29

6. Karma and Rebirth

First let us look at the definition of karma given in the early Buddhist literature. In the Anguttaranikāya, one of the five collections of Buddhist teachings, we find this saying of the Buddha:

“ I declare, O Monks, that volition is Kamma. Having willed one acts through body, speech andthought .”30

(1) The word karma or kamma literally means “action” or “doing”, but in the Buddhist theory ofkarma it does not mean any action, it is only the volitional action. Involuntary, unintentional orunconscious actions, though technically deeds, do not constitute karma, because volition, the mostimportant factor in determining karma, is absent. Karma or action is performed in three ways, by themind, speech and body.

(2) The Buddhist theory of karma is the theory of cause and effect, action and reaction. As volition can be morally good or bad so karma also can be morally good or bad. Thus, good volitional actions produce good effects or fruits and vise versa.

The nature of karma is determined by its motives. According to the Buddhism, any action motivated by desire or attachment, hate or aversion and ignorance or confusion is morally bad andunwholesome. On the other hand, any action is motivated by the absence of greed, hatred andignorance is morally good and wholesome.

(3) Karma is a law in itself which operates according to the principle of dependent arising. There is nointervention of any external, independent ruling agency or power. Even the Buddha is neither a creatornor the controller of karma. The Buddhist doctrine of kamma thus places ultimate responsibility forhuman destiny in our own hands. It reveals to us how our ethical choices and actions can become

either a cause of pain and bondage or a means to spiritual freedom.

(4) Karma is similar to the natural law, but not exactly the same, so karma cannot be interpreted as tit

for tat as the Lonaphala Sutta says,

Monks, for anyone who says, 'In whatever way a person makes kamma, that is how it is experienced,'

there is no living of the religious life, there is no opportunity for the right ending of suffering. But for

anyone who says, 'When a person makes kamma to be felt in such & such a way, that is how its result

is experienced,' there is the living of the religious life, there is the opportunity for the right ending of

suffering.

In the case of a person who has not properly cultivated his character, mind, intellect … even a trifling

evil deed leads him to a lower destiny. On the other hand, in the case of a person of opposite (good)

character, the consequences of such trifling acts are experienced in this very life and sometimes may

not appear at all .31

(5) Karma does not necessarily mean only past actions, it embraces both past and present deeds.Hence, in one sense, we are the result of what we were, we will be the result of what we are. In

29 M i 43. Sutta No.8, Sallekha Sutta. 30 The Gradual Sayings, iii 294. (A iii 415, Nibbedhika Sutta-A Penetrative Discourse).31

The translation is adopted from the Book of Gradual Sayings i. 227. NDB: 331-332. (PTS: A i 249, Pali Text: A 3.99)


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another sense, we are not totally the result of what we were, we will not absolutely be the result ofwhat we are.

In the Buddhist scriptures, the present action (karma) is more emphasized because past actions arealso done and we cannot change them. It is the present actions that contribute to build our future life.It is in this sense that every moment we are creating our future. Every moment then we must be careful .

For instance, a criminal today may be a saint tomorrow, a good person yesterday may be a vicious onetoday.

(6) Many people misunderstand karma as an occult power or as an inescapable fate. If karma is fatethen it is like determinism or fatalism. However, karma is neither because the future of our life is not

determined as we are now still creating our future.

(7) In the working of karma its most important factor is the mind. All our words and deeds are colored by the mind or consciousness we experience at such particular moments. As the Citta Sutta says:The world is led around by mind;

By mind it’s dragged here and there.

Mind is the one thing that has All under its control .32

If one speaks or acts with a wicked mind, pain follows one as the wheel, the hoof of the draught -ox."" If

one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows one as the shadow that never departs.33

That is why, as discussed above, the Buddhist training aims at the cleansing the mind of impurities onone hand and cultivating good mental qualities on the other.

So according to Buddhism human behaviors are conditioned by causes and it is followed by correlatedconsequences. This correlation between action and its consequence constitutes the doctrine of karmain Buddhism.

Vipāka

The correlated consequences of action (karma) are called vipāka which means fruit in Buddhism.

As karma is action so vipāka is its consequence or result. Karma may be ethically good or bad, soVipāka, fruit, is also ethically good or bad. Karma is mental, so Vipāka too is mental; it is experiencedas happiness or bliss, unhappiness or misery according to the nature of the karma seed.

As we sow, so we reap somewhere and sometime, in this life or in a future birth. What we reap todayis what we have sown either in the present or in the past.

The Samyuttanikāya states:Whatever sort of seed is sown,

That is the sort of fruit one reaps:

The doer of good reaps good;

The doer of evil reaps evil.

By you, dear, has the seed been sown;

Thus you will experience the fruit .34

32 CDB: 130. (S.1.62. Cittasutta – Mind).33 Dhammapada, verse No.1&2. 34 CDB: 328. (S. i. 227; PTS trans. i 293)


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The fruits or consequences of karma are many different kinds dependent on the nature of karma andrebirth is the most important fruit of karma. At the moment just preceding death, the death-proximatekamma may take the form of a reflex of some good or bad deeds performed during the dying person’slife. This determines the nature of the linking consciousness that serves as a condition to next birth.

Thus, the accumulation of good karma in life ensures one a good rebirth.

As Buddhism does not accept the concept of an eternal soul as an agent of performance, then who isthe performer of karma? Who reaps the fruit of karma? In answering these subtle questions, the fifthcentury commentator Buddhaghosa wrote in the Visuddhimagga, (the Path to Purification):

No doer of the deeds is found,

No one who ever reaps their fruits;

Empty phenomena roll on:

This only is the correct view.

As discussed above, according to the Buddhist analysis of a human being or an individual, it is only acombination of the five aggregates and there is no permanent self or soul within or outside to control

and dictate. Hence volition or will is itself the doer, feeling is itself the reaper of the fruits of action.Apart from these pure mental states there is none to sow and none to reap as life itself is an everchanging flux and behind this flux there is nothing serving as an agent. Everything is a process and inthis process there is no eternal and unchanging substance.

King Milinda questioned the Venerable Nāgasena, “Where, Venerable Sir, is Kamma?”

Nāgasena said, “ Kamma is not said to be stored somewhere in this fleeting consciousness or in anyother part of the body. But dependent on mind and matter it rests manifesting itself at the opportune

moment, just as mangoes are not said to be stored somewhere in the mango tree, but dependent on the

mango tree they lie, springing up in due season.”

In conclusion, the basic Buddhist teachings concentrate on the analysis of life, how life goes on fromone birth to another, how our ethical behaviors affect our life, our life’s problems and their causes andsolutions. The practical aim of this teaching is to lead one to attain wisdom through practice calledthree trainings: morality, concentration and wisdom, because as the root cause of our life’s problems isignorance so wisdom is the only solution. Nirvana is nothing but wisdom with which one can seethings as they truly are.

Reference A = Aṅguttaranikāya. 2000. Oxford: the Pali Text Society (PTS). Reprint.

Bhikkhu Bodhi. 1994. The Noble Eightfold Path, The Way to the End of Suffering . First edition 1984 published as WheelPublication No. 308/311, Second edition (revised) 1994 Buddhist Publication Society.

CDB = Bhikkhu Bodhi. 2000. (trans.) The Connected Discourse of the Buddha, A Translation of the Saṃyuta Nikāya.Boston: Wisdom Publication.

Gowans, Christopher. 2003. Philosophy of the Buddha, London and New York: Routledge.

M = Majjima Nikāya. 2000. Oxford: the Pali Text Society. Reprint.

MLDB = Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi. 1995. (trans.) The Middle Length Discourse of the Buddha, A NewTranslation of the Majjima Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publication.

NDB = Bhikkhu Bodhi. 2012. (trans.) The Numerical Discourse of the Buddha, A Translation of the Aṅguttara Nikāya .Boston: Wisdom Publication.

Rahula, Walpora. 2000. What the Buddha Taught . London and New York:S = Saṃyutanikāya. 2000. Oxford: the Pali Text Society. Reprint.

Woodward, F. L. 2000. (trans.) The Book of Gradual Sayings, Vol. I. Oxford: The Pali Text Society.

02 the Basic Buddhist Teaching

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