Basic Buddhist Teachings Lecture Notes PDF

CCCH9018: Lecture Two The Basic Buddhist Teachings Dr. Guang Xing  1. Introduction Buddhist Teaching = Dharma NOT divined revelation, Dharma = an instrument for mental training like a raft. Dharma = Raft Dharma  Divined Revelation  The well kno...

CCCH9018: Lecture Two The Basic Buddhist Teachings Dr. Guang Xing  1. Introduction Buddhist Teaching = Dharma NOT divined revelation, Dharma = an instrument for mental training like a raft. Dharma = Raft Dharma  Divined Revelation  The well known Bhikkhu Bodhi rightly says, “The Buddha offered his teaching, called the Dhamma (Sanskrit Dharma), not as a set of doctrines demanding belief but as a body of principles and practices that sustain human beings in their quest for happiness and spiritual freedom. At its heart lies a system of training that leads to insight and the overcoming of suffering.” Principles and Practices for human happiness  Buddhism: critical reflections and analytical understanding. Intuitive wisdom cuts ignorance “The destruction of the cankers, monks, is for one who knows and sees, I say, not for one who does not know and does not see.” Freedom of thought is necessary for realization of Truth. not on the benevolent grace of a god or any external power as a reward for his obedient good behavior.” The Buddha is a teacher, who discovered the dependent arising. Dharma = a way to realize truth. all powerful mighty being Buddhism encourages critical thinking. According to Joe Y. F Lau, “Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally about what to do or what to believe. It includes the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking.” “to think clearly and rationally” = reflection “about what to do or what to believe” = making decisions “how to make use of information to solve problems”, A critical thinker is able to deduce consequences from what he knows, and he knows how to make use of information to solve problems, and to seek relevant sources of information to inform himself. Buddhism teaches people to analyze the human conditions and try to find the solutions to life’s problems in order to achieve happiness. Right understanding is the key.  2. Dependent Arising The doctrine of dependent arising = The central philosophy of Buddhism All other philosophical teachings such as the four noble truths, karma and rebirth, no-soul and impermanence are based on this foundation. Hence it is said, “One who sees dependent origination sees the Dhamma, and one who sees the Dhamma sees dependent origination.” “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.”  The doctrine of dependent arising = the Middle Teaching it rejects the two extreme views of the human condition, encourages rational thinking: Two extremes = the metaphysical thesis of eternalism and the annihilationism. metaphysical thesis of the Middle Teaching annihilationism eternalism an extreme form of realism which asserts an extreme form of nihilism, which asserts that everything exists absolutely that absolutely nothing exists 1. The first Represents a religious view that everything is reducible to a common ground, some sort of self-substance, like soul and god. 2. The second the opposite pluralistic view that the whole of existence is resolvable into a concatenation of discrete entities. What the theory intends to explain: This theory does not try to explain (1) how the universe started, the ultimate beginning and (2) the absolute origin of life on earth. It explains the conditionality, or dependent nature of all the manifold mental and physical phenomena of existence. The theory explains how things work and proceed rather than how things are formulated and begin. It explains particularly the process of human life.  The implications of the theory are as follows: permanent x 1. Everything in this world is interdependent, therefore, nothing is permanent. inter- dependent independent x 2. Everything in this world is interrelated, therefore, nothing is independent. inter- related absolute x 3. Everything in this world is relative, therefore, nothing is absolute. relative Hence, everything in this world is interdependent, interrelated and relative. The theory of Dependent Arising informs us the following things. multiple causes single multiple single cause causes cause multiple multiple single single effects effects effect effect Everything Strict Everything happens by determinism happens without Fatalism chance a cause  This theory mainly explains human life. Life is not an entity, it is a becoming, a process. Re/Birth Life It is a flux of psychological and physiological changes, samsara a conflux of mind and body. Death Bhikkhu Bodhi said, “The ultimate purpose of the teaching on dependent origination is to expose the conditions that sustain the round of rebirths, samsara, so as to show what must be done to gain release from the round.” Twelve factors to illustrate the human bondage and his freedom. It is expounded in two orders by way of origination to explain the arising of suffering and by way of cessation to explain the ending of suffering. Dependent decay - death ignorance 無明 Conditioning Arising activities 老死愁悲 行 苦憂惱 (relinking) birth conscious- ness 生 識 mind and becoming matter 有 repeated cycle of births 名色 six grasping spheres of sense 取 六入 craving contact 愛 feeling 觸 受  Ignorance NOT ultimate beginning or the first cause. In fact, the dependent arising with its twelve factors forms a circle. There is no beginning and no end to it. The 12 factors are mutually exclusive, but they may rise together. Ignorance arises, then craving and clinging invariably come along; and whenever there is craving and clinging, then ignorance stands behind them. There is neither absolute non-existence nor absolute existence, only bare phenomena roll on.  3. Four Noble Truths The four noble truths = Buddhist philosophy of human life. The Buddha himself discovered and realized the four Noble Truths by his own intuitive knowledge. The Buddhas discovered these four truths, it is not his invention. The four noble truths are the Buddhist analysis of life and its problems as well as the solutions to these problems.  The Four Noble Truths are: (1) Dukkha, suffering or unsatisfactoriness, (2) the arising or origin of dukkha, (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 the noble 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.”  Why and how the five aggregates of grasping are said to be suffering? Five aggregates, a combination of the ever-changing physical and mental forces or energies. (1) The aggregate of matter, (2) the aggregate of sensations or feelings, (3) the aggregate of apperceptions, (4) the aggregate of mental formations, and (5) the aggregate of consciousness. sensations or consciousness feelings matter mental apperceptions formations 1. The five aggregates = interrelated, interdependent and interconnected. 2. Working according to the laws of dependent arising. 3. Three characteristics: impermanence, no-self and suffering. The five aggregates are all impermanent, constantly changing. (1) Each of the five such as matter or consciousness is impermanent and (2) the combination of the five together is also impermanent. They are NOT the same for two consecutive moments as they are in a flux of momentary arising and disappearing. Hence NO permanent self or soul. “Whatever is impermanent is suffering, unstisfactory, dukkha”, Buddha said. “In brief the five Aggregates of Attachment are dukkha”. The five aggregates of attachment takes place in our mind. In short, dukkha can be explained as the problems in our lives. As long as we grasp the five aggregates as ourselves so we have problems.  This process of grasping manifests itself in three ways: - this is mine: due to craving - this I am: due to conceit - this is myself: 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 'my self' arises. Modern Psychology: “I” is a mental construction. Causes of Suffering Self-centred desire is the main and direct cause. The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta says, “It is the craving that produces renewal of being accompanied by enjoyment and lust, and enjoying this and that; in other words, craving for sensual desires, craving for being, craving for non-being.” The Buddha said in the Fire Sermon that all is burning, the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are burning, burning with craving. “The image of 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 in its wake.”  Craving is not the only cause in the Buddhist analysis of the causes of suffering, but one of the causes, multiple causes leading to multiple effects. Ignorance is the key factor. it is ignorance that leads to craving and hatred which in turn lead to more grasping and becoming. 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. But craving and hatred lead to more ignorance as they defile the mind.  Ignorance ≠ lack of knowledge, but lack of understanding of the four noble truths and dependent arising. The four noble truths and dependent arising are the Buddhist analysis of human life. Ignorant person entertains wrong views and does wrong deeds which lead him to further suffering. 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 涅盤,the third noble truths, so it is the complete elimination and cessation of the main causes of dukkha, which are craving, hatred and ignorance. Nirvāṇa = “Extinction of Craving, Extinction of Hatred, and Extinction of Ignorance.” Nirvāṇa is compared to a fire gone out when the fuel is finished and no more fuel is added so it cannot be kindled again. Five ways to understand nirvāṇa 1) From the moral point of view, nirvāṇa is the highest level of moral perfection, because it is the 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. - The first and most important way to reach nirvāṇa is by means of the eightfold Path, and all expressions which deal with the realization of emancipation from lust, hatred and delusion apply to practical habits and not to speculative thought. do the work yourself building habit ethical state 2) From the experiential point of view, nirvāṇa is the highest level of happiness, because all kinds of suffering are eliminated as a corollary in the formula of four noble truths. The Buddha taught Māgandiya, 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. According to Buddhism, happiness is the peace of mind or tranquillity of mind in ordinary sense, free from 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.” 3) From the point of knowledge, nirvāṇa is the highest level of wisdom. Noble Eightfold Path leads to the attainment of wisdom. Ignorance is the ultimate cause of dukkha or suffering. Wisdom is the tool to destroy ignorance. This knowledge = the final awakening to the true nature of the world of our own sensory experience, but NOT the knowledge of a higher reality. One who attains the highest knowledge sees the same phenomenal reality, our own world of experience, but the difference is this: he sees it in the true sense, he sees things as they truly are. So what takes place when Nibbāna is attained is not a change in the nature of reality, but a change in our perspective of the nature of reality. 4) From the psychological point of view, nirvāṇa is the highest level of mental emancipation, the freedom of our mind. All the polluting factors that restrict and restrain the mind such as selfish desire, hatred, ignorance, conceit, pride, so on and so forth are eliminated, so the mind is pure and healthy. It is full of universal love, compassion, kindness, sympathy, understanding and tolerance. Negative emotions restrict an individual's psychological freedom. Greed, hatred, and ignorance = poisons of mind in the Buddhist literature. 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 becomes truly free. 5) From the point of ultimate reality, nirvāṇa is the highest truth. The Dhātu-vibhaṅga Sutta says: His deliverance, 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. When one attains nibbāna, one realizes the truth of life, One understands the three characteristics of life: impermanence, suffering and no-self.  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.” “If through revulsion towards ignorance, 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.”  5. Noble Eightfold Path The noble eightfold path = the middle path in practice as it transcends the two extremes in practice, two misguided attempts to gain release from suffering. the middle path indulgence in sense pleasures practice of self-mortification  One extreme = the indulgence in sense pleasures. One recognizes the futility of desire and its stress on renunciation. Desire and sensuality are springs of suffering to be abandoned as the requisite of deliverance. Other extreme = 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.”  The Buddhist renunciation = psychological one. The manifold objects in the external world do not constitute our craving. What constitute our craving is the lustful intention, lustful desire within us, not things themselves, but lustful desire towards them. The true renunciation is not completely withdrawn from the world physically, but the cultivation of particular attitude of mind within us. So mental cultivation is not based on the suppression of senses, but to develop the senses to a higher level to see the phenomena as they truly are.  The Noble Eightfold Path “gives rise to vision, gives rise to knowledge, and leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna.” The Noble eightfold path = whole of Buddhist training. 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 1. Right understanding or view Wisdom 2. Right intention or thought 3. Right speech Ethical conduct 4. Right action 5. Right livelihood 6. Right effort Meditation 7. Right mindfulness 8. Right concentration The eight factors of the Path should be practiced together. The Mahācattārīsaka Sutta says that (1) right view, (2) right effort and (3) right mindfulness these three present in the first five factors in practice. As right effort and right mindfulness are part of meditation so we can say that meditation presents in all Buddhist practices. Meditation in the Buddhist sense is concentration of mind in whatever you do or work.  The moral discipline based on the universal love and compassion for all living beings. The moral discipline = a training in verbal and physical behaviors and it aims at promoting a happy and harmonious life both for the individual and for society. Thus meditation will lead finally to enlightenment, the attainment of highest wisdom which sees the nature of things as they are. Two qualities: compassion and wisdom. In other words, the noble eightfold path leads one to the attainment of wisdom that dispels ignorance, the root of human life’s problem. As the Buddha says: “The element of ignorance is indeed a powerful element.” Significance of the Noble Eightfold Path 1) No faith, prayer, ritual formalism or worship, ceremony. So it can be accepted and practiced by all people without changing their life style and belief. 2) Emphasis on human effort for liberation, not on the power of an outside supernatural agent because it is a practice of self-discipline in body, speech and mind, self-development and self-purification. self-discipline: body, speech, mind 3) The Noble Eightfold Path is a way of life to be followed by all those who work for their happiness. It should 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 ends up with moral perfection. MORAL Two factors are achieved when one follows the path: right knowledge and right liberation. TRAINING 5) The Noble Eightfold Path begins with right view because, according to the Buddha, nothing is more dangerous than wrong view. right view  What is the right view? Sariputta explains in the Sammaditthi Sutta: “When, friends, a noble disciple understands 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.” unwholesome wholesome opposite to Ten Kusala Dhamma the ten virtues (the ten virtues) greed non-greed hatred root non-hatred delusion non-delusion 6) Dogmatic attachment to any view is wrong. Although right view is good, but attachment to right view is also condemned by the Buddha, because dogmatic attachment to any view may lead one to suffering. - Because a view is only a guideline to action, even the Buddhist teachings are only like a raft. That’s why the Buddha says that he does not hold any view. - The Buddha says in the Sallekha Sutta, “we shall not misapprehend according to individual views nor hold on to them tenaciously, but shall discard them with ease — thus effacement can be done.”  The Dharma is the guide. Just as Professor Rupert Gethin points out that “On the contrary, the message is precisely that help is at hand in the form of the Buddha's teachings and of those who have followed and are following the path. Moreover, from a Buddhist perspective, the sense that one is forever and absolutely on one's own must rest in part on a self delusion from which one can be eventually released by the Buddha's teachings.” John Ross Carter has put it, there is no need of a saviour not because suffering humanity is its own saviour, but because of the efficacy of Dharma when made the integral basis of one's life. (Gethin 1998: 69)  6. Karma and Rebirth Definition of Karma: the Buddha said: “I declare, O Monks, that volition is Kamma. Having willed one acts through body, speech and thought.” body mind speech will 1) The word karma or kamma = “action” or “doing”, Only the volitional and intentional action. Karma or action is performed in three ways, by the mind, speech and body. 2) Karma: the theory of cause and effect, action and reaction. The nature of karma is determined by its motives. - Unwholesome karma -- any action motivated by desire or attachment, hate or aversion and ignorance or confusion. - Wholesome karma -- any action motivated by generosity, compassion and wisdom. 3) Karma operates on the principle of dependent arising. No external intervention of any. The Buddha is neither a creator nor the controller of karma. Only you yourself can change your own karma. You are ultimate responsible for your own life. 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. We can always change our life for better. Even a criminal still can change his life and become an enlightened person. (1) arise right views and (2) he practice loving kindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity to help others. Then his bad karma may produce small fruits or even without fruits. Our present kamma, if sufficiently powerful, can nullify the possible results of past deeds. “The past gives us certain tendencies and latencies. It is for us to fashion them how we will.” 4) Karma is NOT tit for tat, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Therefore, karma is similar to the natural law, but not exactly the same, so karma cannot be interpreted as a tooth for a tooth. The Buddha said, 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. 5) Karma embraces both past and present deeds. It emphasizes on the present intentional action. Every moment we are creating our future. Each and every moment we must be careful. Weather also influences our physical conditions. That is why we get sick when it is either too hot or too cold. 6) Misunderstand: Karma = determinism or fatalism. Volition changes every moment so our life in future also changes. 7) No all our feelings are caused by karma and in fact. Weather influences our physical conditions. That is why we get sick when the weather becomes either too cold or too hot. The Sīvaka Sutta says, “(1) Some feelings arise here originating from bile disorders … (2) originating from phlegm disorders... (3) originating from wind disorders... (4) originating from an imbalance [of the above three]... (5) produced by change of climate... (6) produced by careless behaviour... (7) caused by assault... (8) produced as the result of kamma: that some feelings arise here produced as the result of kamma one can know for oneself, and that is considered to be true in the world.” 8) Mind is the most important factor in the theory of karma. Volition is karma, volition is a mental factor. All our words and deeds are colored by the mind or consciousness we experience at such particular moments. Buddhist training aims at (1) cleansing the mind of impurities and (2) cultivating good mental qualities. cultivating good mental cleansing qualities the mind of impurities Vipāka Vipāka means fruits. It is correlated consequences of action (karma). As karma is action so vipāka is its consequence or result. Karma may be ethically good or bad, so Vipāka, fruit, is also ethically good or bad. Karma is mental, so Vipāka too is mental. It is experienced as happiness or bliss, unhappiness or misery according to the nature of the karma seed. 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. Rebirth is a major consequences of karma At the moment just preceding death, the death-proximate kamma may take the form of a reflex of some good or bad deeds performed during the dying person’s life. 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. 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 any other 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.”  Conclusion The basic Buddhist teachings ≠ No god or gods are mentioned. But only the analysis of human life, how life goes on from one birth to another, how our ethical behaviors affect our life, our life’s problems and their causes and solutions. The practical aim is to attain happiness through a practice called three trainings: morality, concentration and wisdom. with which ignorance, the root cause of our life’s problems can be eradicated. So Nirvana is nothing but happiness that we can experience here and now. Q and A