FOREWORD

In 1956, the Venerable Buddhadasa Bhikkhu gave a series of lectures to a group of prospective judges, which were subsequently edited and arranged into what became The Handbook for Mankind.

Since then, the success of this small book has been astounding. Well over 100,000 copies have been printed in Thai, and the book still enjoys widespread popularity, more than three decades after the original talks. The reason for the "Handbook's" duration is clear: that the Venerable Buddhadasa offers fresh insights into a timeless Truth (Dhamma), in the direct and simple manner that characterizes all his teaching. The clarity of his insight brings the Dhamma to life, so that today, a new generation of readers, not yet born at the time of these talks, can find meaning in his words.

As a guide for newcomers to the Buddha-Dhamma (the Truth which the Buddha awakened to and subsequently taught), this book is an invaluable guide. In it are contained the essential teachings of Buddhism. The "Handbook" is especially useful for those who approach the Buddha's teaching, not as a subject for scholarly study, buy as a means to understand and ennoble their lives.

The Handbook for Mankind was originally published in English by the Sublime Life Mission, buy has long been out of print. With their permission, we have reprinted this book, making some corrections where necessary, buy leaving the text otherwise intact. Our thanks are due to Mr. Pun Chongprasoed, who first put this book together in Thai, and to all the people whose effort has made possible the reprinting of this book.

 

BIOGRAPHY

Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (Servant of the Buddha) went forth as a Bhikkhu (Buddhist monk) in 1926, at the age of twenty. After a few years of study in Bangkok, which convinced him "purity is not to be found in the big city," he was inspired to live close with nature in order to investigate the Buddha-Dhamma. Thus, he established Suan Mokkhabalarama (The Grove of the Power of Liberation) in 1932, near his hometown of Pum Riang (now in Chaiya District). At that time, it was the only forest Dhamma Center and one of the few places dedicated to vipassana meditation in Southern Thailand. Word of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, his work, and Suan Mokkh spread over the years so that they are easily described as "one of the most influential events of Buddhist history in Siam." Here, we can only mention some of the most interesting services he has rendered Buddhism.

Ajahn Buddhadasa worked painstakingly to establish and explain the correct and essential principles of what he called "pristine Buddhism," that is, the original realization of the Lord Buddha before it was buried under commentaries, ritualism, clerical politics, and the like. His work was based in extensive research of the Pali texts (Canon and commentary), especially of the Buddha's Discourses (Sutta Pitaka), followed by personal experiment and practice with these teachings. Then he taught whatever he could say truly quenches dukkha (dissatisfaction, suffering). His goal was to produce a complete set of references for present and future research and practice. His approach was always scientific, straight-forward, and practical.

Although his formal education only went as far as ninth grade and beginning Pali studies, he was given five Honorary Doctorates by Thai universities. His books, both written and transcribed from talks, fill a room at the National Library and influence all serious Thai Buddhists in Siam. Doctoral dissertations are still being written about him and his legacy. His books can be found in bookstores around the country and are favorites as gifts at cremations.

Progressive elements in Thai society, especially the young, were inspired by his teaching and selfless example. Since the 1960's, activists and thinkers in areas such as education, ecology, social welfare, and rural development have drawn upon his teaching and advice. Most of the monks involved in nature conservation and community development were inspired by him. He provided the link between the scriptural tradition and engaged Buddhist practice today.

After the founding of Suan Mokkh, he studied all schools of Buddhism, as well as the other major religious traditions. This interest was practical rather than scholarly. He sought to unite all genuinely religious people in order to work together to help, as he put it, "drag humanity out from under the power of materialism." This broadmindedness won him friends and students from around the world, including Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs.

His last project was to establish an International Dhamma Hermitage. This addition to Suan Mokkh is intended to provide facilities for:

Courses which introduce foreigners to the correct understanding of Buddhist principles and practice;
Meetings among Buddhists from around the world to establish and agree upon the "heart of Buddhism";
Meetings of leaders from all religions for the sake of making mutual good understanding and cooperating to drag the world out from under the tyranny of materialism.

He also left instructions for a small monastery in which foreign monks may train as Dhamma-duta (Dhamma missionaries). It now functions under the name "Daun Kiam" or Suan Atammayatarama.

A similar facility for nuns, Thai and foreign, awaits the women who will make it happen. He called it Dhamma-Mata (Dhamma Mothers, those who give birth to others through Dhamma).

Ajarn Buddhadasa died in 1993 after a series of heart attacks and strokes that he kept bouncing back from in order to teach.

The final stroke occured as he was preparing notes for a talk to be given on his birthday in two days (27 May). Suan Mokkh carries on in the hearts and actions of all those who have been inspired and guided by his example and words. Suan Mokkh is not so much a physical place as it is the space of liberation that we all must discover in this very life.

 

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Rod Bucknell first became seriously interested in Buddhism in the mid -1960's, when, during a visit to Thailand, he was introduced to the techniques of insight meditation. After spending a year in various Thai meditation centers and monasteries, he took ordination as a Bhikkhu (monk) under the guidance of Ajahn Pannananda of Wat Cholapratan Rangsarit. He soon became interested also in the teachings of Ajahn Buddhadasa, and, recognizing their potential value to westerners, began translating some of the Ajahn's more important works into English. During the four years he spent in the Sangha, he translated altogether six works of varying length, usually in close consultation with the Ajahn in order to ensure accuracy in the rendering of key concepts. Despite his return to lay life, he maintains a close interest - both scholarly and practical - in Ajahn Buddhadasa's teachings, and has published several related articles in religious studies journals. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of Studies in Religion at the University of Queensland, Australia.

 

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LOOKING AT BUDDHISM

If we open any recent book on the origins of religion, we find that there is one point on which all authors are in agreement. They all agree in saying that religion arose in the world out of fear. Primitive forest-dwelling man feared thunder and lightning, darkness and storms, and various things about him that he was unable to understand or control. His method of avoiding the danger he saw in these phenomena was to demonstrate either humility and submission or homage and reverence, depending on which he felt was most appropriate. Later, as man's knowledge and understanding developed, this fear of the forces of nature changed into a fear of phenomena more difficult to apprehend. Religions based on deference to objects of fear such as natural phenomena, spirits and celestial beings, came to be looked down upon as unreasonable and ridiculous. And then man's fear became still more refined into a fear of suffering, suffering of the sort that cannot be alleviated by any material means. He came to fear the suffering inherent in birth, ageing, pain and death, the disappointment and hopelessness which arise out of desire, anger and stupidity, which no amount of power or wealth can relieve. Long ago in India, a country well provided with thinkers and investigators, intelligent people dispensed with all paying of homage to supernatural beings and started seeking instead the means of conquering birth, ageing, pain and death, the means of eliminating greed, hatred and delusion. Out of this search arose Buddhism, a higher religion based on insight, a means of conquering birth, ageing, pain and death, a method for destroying the mental defilements. Buddhism has its origins in fear of this last kind, just as do all religions based on intelligence The Buddha discovered how to conquer absolutely what man fears: he discovered a practical method, now called Buddhism for eliminating suffering.

"Buddhism" means "the Teaching of the Enlightened One." A Buddha is an enlightened individual, one who knows the truth about all things, one who knows just what is what, and so is capable of behaving appropriately with respect to all things. Buddhism is a religion based on intelligence, science and knowledge, whose purpose is the destruction of suffering and the source of suffering. All paying of homage to sacred objects by means of performing rites and rituals, making offerings or praying is not Buddhism. The Buddha rejected all this as foolish, ridiculous and unsound. He also rejected the celestial beings, then considered by certain groups to be the creator of things, and the deities supposed to dwell, one in each star in the sky. Thus we find that the Buddha made such statements as these:

"Knowledge, skill and ability are conducive to success and benefit and are auspicious omens, good in their own right regardless of the movements of the heavenly bodies. With the benefits gained from these qualities, one will completely outstrip those foolish people who just sit making their astrological calculations." And: "If the water in rivers (such as the Ganges) could really wash away sins and suffering, then the turtles, crabs, fish and shellfish living in those sacred rivers ought by now to be freed of their sins and sufferings too." And: "If a man could eliminate suffering by making offerings, paying homage and praying, there would be no one subject to suffering left in the world, because anyone at all can pay homage and pray. But since people are still subject to suffering while in the very act of making obeisance’s, paying homage and performing rites, this is clearly not the way to gain liberation."

To attain liberation, we first have to examine things closely in order to come to know and understand their true nature. Then we have to behave in a way appropriate to that true nature. This is the Buddhist teaching; this we must know and bear in mind. Buddhism has nothing to do with prostrating oneself and deferring to awesome things. It sets no store by rites and ceremonies such as making libations of holy water, or any externals whatsoever, spirits and celestial being included. On the contrary, it depends on reason and insight. Buddhism does not demand conjecture or supposition; it demands that we act in accordance with what our own insight reveals and not take anyone else's word for anything. If someone comes and tells us something, we must not believe him without question. We must listen to his statement and examine it. Then if we find it reasonable, we may accept it provisionally and set about trying to verify it for ourselves. This is a key feature of Buddhism, which distinguishes it sharply from other world religions.

Now a religion is a many-sided thing. Seen from one angle it has a certain appearance; seen from another angle, it has another. Many people look at religion from the wrong angle, and Buddhism is no exception. Different individuals looking at Buddhism with different mental attitudes are bound to get different views of it. Because each of us naturally has confidence in his own opinions, the truth for each of us coincides with our own particular understanding and point of view. Consequently, "the Truth" is not quite the same thing for different people. They all penetrate questions to varying depth by varying methods, and with varying degrees of intelligence A person does not recognize as true, according to his own ideas of the Truth, anything that lies beyond his own intelligence, knowledge and understanding. And even though he may outwardly go along with other people's ideas as to what is the truth, he knows in himself that it is not the truth as he himself sees it. Each person's conception of the truth may change and develop with the day by day increase in his degree of intelligence, knowledge and understanding, until such time as he arrives at the ultimate truth; and each of us has different ways of examining and testing before believing. So if Buddhism is viewed with differing degrees of intelligence, differing pictures of it will be seen, simply because it can be viewed from an aspect. As we have said, Buddhism is a practical method for liberating oneself from suffering by means of coming to realize as did the Buddha himself, the true nature of things. Now any religious text is bound to contain material which later people have found occasion to add to, and our Tripitaka is no exception. People in later ages have added sections based on then current ideas, either in order to boost people's confidence or out of excessive religious zeal. Regrettably even the rites and rituals which have developed and become mixed in with the religion are now accepted and recognized as Buddhism proper. Ceremonies, such as setting up trays of sweets and fruit as offerings to the "soul" of the Buddha in the same way as alms food is offered to a monk just do not fit in with Buddhist principles. Yet some groups consider this to be genuine Buddhist practice, teaching it as such and keeping to it very strictly.

Rites and ceremonies of this kind have become so numerous that they now completely obscure the real Buddhism and its original purpose. Take for example the procedure of becoming ordained a monk. There has come into existence the ceremony of making gifts to the newly ordained Bhikkhu Guests are invited to bring food and to watch proceedings, and as a result, there is much drunkenness and noise. Ceremonies are performed both at the temple and in the home. The new Bhikkhu later leaves the Order again only a few days after having been ordained, and may become an even stronger temple-hater than he was before. It must be borne in mind that there was none of this at the time of the Buddha. It is a later development. Ordination at the time of the Buddha meant simply, that some individual, who had obtained his parent's consent, renounced home and family. He was a person who was able to close accounts at home and go off to join the Buddha and the Order of Bhikkhus. On some convenient occasion he would go and be ordained, and perhaps not see his parents or family again for the rest of his life. Though some Bhikkhus might go back to visit their parents again on suitable occasions, this was rare. There does exist a rule permitting a Bhikkhu to go home when there is a good reason for doing so, but at the time of the Buddha this was not the done thing. Bhikkhus did not receive ordination with their parents in attendance nor did they celebrate the event as a great occasion, only to leave the Sangha again after just a few days, no better off than at first, as commonly happens in the present day.

All this presenting of gifts to newly ordained Bhikkhus, this performing of ceremonies, including all sorts of celebration - this we are foolish enough to call Buddhism! Furthermore we choose to make much of it, thinking nothing of spending all our own money, or other people's on account of it. This "Neo-Buddhism" is so widespread as to be almost universal. The Dhamma, the genuine teaching that once was paramount has become so overlaid by ceremonial that the whole objective of Buddhism has been obscured, falsified and changed. Ordination, for instance, has become a face-saving gambit for young men whom people have been pointing at for never having been ordained, or a prerequisite to finding a wife (as having been a monk is considered a sign of maturity), or is done with some other kind of ulterior motive. In some places an ordination is regarded as an opportunity for collecting money for which job there are always people on hand to help. It is one way of getting rich. Even this they call Buddhism! And anyone who goes and criticizes this is considered to be ignorant of Buddhism or opposed to it.

Another example is the presentation of kathina cloth The Buddha's original intention was to have cloth for robes given to all the Bhikkhus simultaneously so that they could sew it together themselves with a minimum loss of time. If there was only one robe, it was allocated to some Bhikkhu not necessarily the most senior one, whom the group considered worthy of using that role or in need of it, and was presented to him in the name of the entire order. The Buddha's intention was to avoid any Bhikkhu’s having a high opinion of himself. On that day everyone, regardless of rank, had to humble himself and be one of the crowd. Everyone had to lend a hand cutting and sewing the cloth, boiling tree pith to make the dye, and whatever else was involved in getting the robes ready and finished the same day. Making the cloth into robes was a co-operative effort. That is how the Buddha intended it to be, an event not necessarily involving lay people at all. But nowadays it has become an affair involving ceremony, fun and games, loud laughter and money seeking. It is just a picnic and is devoid of all the desirable results originally intended.

This sort of thing is a tumor, which has developed in Buddhism and thrived. The tumor takes hundreds of different forms too numerous to name. It is a dangerous, malignant growth, which by degrees has completely overlaid and obscured the good material, the real pith of Buddhism, and quite disfigured it. One result of this has been the arising of many sects, some large, some insignificant, as off-shoots from the original religion. Some sects have even become involved in sensuality. It is essential that we always discriminate in order to recognize what is the real, original Buddhism. We must not foolishly grasp at the outer shell, or become so attached to the various rituals and ceremonies that the real objective becomes quite lost to view. The real practice of Buddhism is based on purification of conduct by way of body and speech, followed by purification of the mind, which in its turn leads to insight and right understanding. Don't go thinking that such and such is Buddhism just because everyone says it is. The tumor has been spreading constantly since the day the Buddha died, expanding in all directions right up to the present day, so that it is now quite sizeable. The tumor in Buddhism must not be misidentified as Buddhism itself. It is also wrong for of other religions to come and point at these shameful disgraceful growths as being Buddhism. It is unjust, because these things are not Buddhism at all; they are excrescence. Those of us interested in furthering Buddhism, whether as a foothold for all people, or for our own private well-being, must know how to get hold of the true essence of Buddhism and not just grab at some worthless outgrowth. Now even the genuine Buddhism is many-sided, a fact which may lead to a false grasp of true meaning. For instance, if looked at from the point of view of a moral philosopher, Buddhism is seen to be a religion of morality. There is talk of merit and demerit, good and evil, honesty, gratitude, harmony, open-heartedness and much more besides. The Tripitaka is full of moral teachings. Many newcomers to Buddhism approach it from this angle and are attracted to it on this account.

A more profound aspect is Buddhism as Truth, as the deep hidden truth lying below the surface and invisible to the ordinary man. To see this truth is to know intellectual emptiness of all things; the transience, un-satisfactoriness and non-selfhood of all things; to know intellectually the nature of suffering, of the complete elimination of suffering and of the way to attain the complete elimination of suffering; to perceive these in terms of absolute truth, the kind that changes and which everyone ought to know. This is Buddhism as Truth.

Buddhism as Religion is Buddhism as a system of practice based on morality, concentration and insight, and culminating in liberating insight; a system which when practiced to completion enables one to break free from suffering. This is Buddhism as Religion.

Then there is Buddhism as Psychology, as it is presented to us in the third section of the Tripitaka, where the nature of the mind is described in remarkable detail. Buddhist psychology is a source of interest and astonishment to students of the mind even in the present day. It is far more detailed and profound than present day psychological knowledge.

Another aspect is Buddhism as Philosophy. Philosophical knowledge can be clearly seen by means of reasoned logical proofs but cannot be demonstrated experimentally. It contrasts with science, which is knowledge resulting from seeing something clearly, with our eyes, or through physical experimentation and proof, or even with the "inner eye" of intuition. Profound knowledge such as that of emptiness is just philosophy for a person who has not yet penetrated to the truth, and science for another who has done so, such as a fully enlightened individual, or arahant, who has seen it clearly, intuitively. Many aspects of Buddhism, in particular the Four Noble Truths, are scientific in so far as they can be verified by clear experimental proof using introspection. For anyone equipped with awareness and interested in studying and carrying out research, the cause - effect relationships are there just as in science. Buddhism is not just something obscure and vague, not just philosophy, as are man-made subjects.

Some look on Buddhism as Culture. Anyone with a high regard for culture finds many aspects of Buddhist practice which are common to all cultures and also many that are characteristically Buddhist and far better and higher than anything in other cultures.

Of all these various aspects, the one a real Buddhist ought to take most interest in is Buddhism as Religion. We ought to look on Buddhism as a direct practical method for gaining knowledge of the true nature of things, knowledge which makes it possible to give up every form of grasping and clinging, of stupidity and infatuation, and become completely independent of things. To do this is to penetrate to the essence of Buddhism. Buddhism considered in this aspect is far more useful than Buddhism considered as mere morality, or as truth which is simply profound knowledge and not really practical; and more useful than Buddhism considered as philosophy, as something to be enjoyed as an object of speculation and argument of no value in the giving up of the mental defilements; and certainly more useful than Buddhism considered simply as culture, as attractive behavior, noteworthy from the sociological viewpoint.

At the very least, everyone ought to consider Buddhism as Art, as the Art of Living - in other words, as skill and competence in being a human being, living in a way that is exemplary and praiseworthy, which so impresses others that they automatically wish to emulate it. What we have to do is to cultivate the "Three Luster’s," firstly developing moral purity, training the mind to be tranquil and steady and fit to its job, and finally developing such an abundance of wisdom and clear insight into the nature of all things that those things are no longer able to give rise to suffering. When anyone's life has these Three Luster’s, he can be considered to have mastered the art of living. Westerners are extremely interested in Buddhism as the Art of Living, and discuss this aspect more than any other. Penetrating so far into the real essence of Buddhism that we are able to take it as our guide to living induces spiritual good cheer and joy, dispersing depression and disillusionment. It also dispels fears, such as the fear that the complete giving up of spiritual defilements would make life dry and dreary and utterly devoid of flavor, or the fear that complete freedom from craving would make all thought and action impossible, whereas in reality a person who organizes his life in accordance with the Buddhist Art of Living is victor over all the things about him. Regardless of whether these things be animals, people, possessions, or anything else, and regardless of whether they enter that person's consciousness by way of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind, they will enter as losers, unable to becloud, defile, or perturb him. The winning of victory over all things is genuine bliss.

Buddha-Dhamma will enrapture a mind that has developed a taste for it. It can be considered an indispensable form of nourishment too. True, a person still controlled by the defilements continues to desire nourishment by way of the eye, ear, nose, tongue and body and goes in search of it as suits his nature. But there is another part of him, something deeper, that does not demand that sort of nourishment. It is the free or pure element in his mind. It wishes the joy and delight of spiritual nourishment, starting with the delight that results from moral purity. It is the source of contentment for fully enlightened individuals, who possess such tranquility of mind that defilements cannot disturb them, who possess clear insight into the true nature of all things and have no ambitions with regard to any of them. They are, so to speak, able to sit down without being obliged to run hither and yon like those people to whom the Buddha applied the simile "smoke by night, fire by day."

"Smoke by night" refers to sleeplessness, restlessness. A sufferer from this complaint lies all night with hand on brow, planning on going after this and that, working out how to get money, how to get rich quickly and get the various things he desires. His mind is full of "smoke." All he can do is lie there until morning, when he can get up and go running off in obedience to the wishes of the "smoke" he has been holding back all night. This fervent activity is what the Buddha referred to as "fire by day." These are the symptoms of a mind that has not achieved tranquility, a mind that has been deprived of spiritual nourishment. It is a pathological hunger and thirst induced by the defilement called craving. All night long the victim represses the smoke and heat, which in the morning becomes fire, and then blazes hot inside him all day. If a person is obliged, throughout his entire life, to suppress the "smoke by night," which then becomes "fire by day," how can he ever find peace and coolness? Just visualize his condition. He endures suffering and torment all his life, from birth up until he enters the coffin, simply for lack of the insight that could completely extinguish that fire and smoke. To treat such a complaint one has to make use of the knowledge provided by the Buddha. The smoke and fire diminish in proportion to one's degree of understanding of the true nature of things.

As we have said, Buddhism has a number of different aspects or sides. Just as the same mountain when viewed from a different direction presents a different appearance, so different benefits are derived from Buddhism according to how one looks at it. Even Buddhism has its origins in fear--not the foolish fear of an ignorant person who kneels and makes obeisance to idols or strange phenomena, but a higher kind of fear, the fear of perhaps never attaining liberation from the oppression of birth, ageing, pain and death, from the various forms of suffering we experience. The real Buddhism is not books, not manuals, not word for word repetition from the Tripitaka, nor is it rites and rituals. These are not the real Buddhism. The real Buddhism is the practice, by way of body, speech and mind that will destroy the defilements, in part or completely. One need not have anything to do with books or manuals. One ought not to rely on rites and rituals, or anything else external, including spirits and celestial beings. Rather one must be directly concerned with bodily action, speech and thought. That is, one must persevere in one's efforts to control and eliminate the defilements so that clear insight can arise. One will then be automatically capable of acting appropriately, and will be free of suffering from that moment right up to the end.

This is the real Buddhism. This is what we have to understand. Let us not go foolishly grasping at the tumor that is obscuring Buddhism, taking it for the real thing.

 

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THE TRUE NATURE OF THINGS

The word "religion" has a broader meaning than the word "morality." Morality has to do with behavior and happiness, and is basically the same the world over. A religion is a system of practice of a high order. The ways of practice advocated by the various religions differ greatly.

Morality made us good people, behaving in accordance with the general principles of community life and in such a way as to cause no distress to ourselves or others. But though a person may be thoroughly moral, he may still be far from free of the suffering attendant on birth, ageing, pain and death, still not free from oppression by the mental defilements. Morality stops well short of the elimination of craving, aversion and delusion, so cannot do away with suffering. Religion, particularly Buddhism, goes much further than this. It aims directly at the complete elimination of the defilements, that is, it aims at extinguishing the various kinds of suffering attendant on birth, ageing, pain and death. This indicates how religion differs from mere morality, and how much further Buddhism goes than the moral systems of the world in general. Having understood this, we can now turn our attention to Buddhism itself.

Buddhism is a system designed to bring a technical knowledge inseparable from its technique of practice, an organized practical understanding of the true nature of things or what is what. If you keep this definition in mind, you should have no difficulty understanding Buddhism.

Examine yourself and see whether or not you know what is what. Even if you know what you are yourself, what life is, what work, duty, livelihood, money, possessions, honor and fame are, would you dare to claim that you know everything? If we really knew what is what, we would never act inappropriately; and if we always acted appropriately, it is a certainty that we would never be subject to suffering. As it is, we are ignorant of the true nature of things, so we behave more or less inappropriately, and suffering results accordingly. Buddhist practice is designed to teach us how things really are. To know this in all clarity is to attain the Fruit of the Path, perhaps even the final Fruit, Nirvana, because this very knowledge is what destroys the defilements. When we come to know what is what, or the true nature of things, disenchantment with things takes the place of fascination, and deliverance from suffering comes about automatically. At the moment, we are practicing at a stage where we still do not know what things are really like, in particular, at the stage of not yet realizing that all things are impermanent and not selves. We don't as yet realize that life, all the things that we become infatuated with, like, desire and rejoice over, is impermanent, unsatisfactory and not self. It is for this reason that we become infatuated with those things, liking them, desiring them, rejoicing over them, grasping at them and clinging to them. When, by following the Buddhist method, we come to know things aright, to see clearly that they are all impermanent, unsatisfactory and not selves, that there is really nothing about things that might make it worth attaching our selves to them, then there will immediately come about a slipping free from the controlling power of those things.

Essentially the Buddha's teaching as we have it in the Tripitaka is nothing but the knowledge of what is what or the true nature of things--just that. Do keep to this definition. It is an adequate one and it is well to bear it in mind while one is in the course of practicing We shall now demonstrate the validity of this definition by considering as an example the Four Noble Truths. The First Noble Truth, which points out that all things are suffering, tells us precisely what things are like. But we fail to realize that all things are a source of suffering and so we desire those things. If we recognized them as a source of suffering, not worth desiring, not worth grasping at and clinging to, not worth attaching ourselves to, we would be sure not to desire them. The Second Noble Truth points out that desire is the cause of suffering. People still don't know, don't see, don't understand, that desires are the cause of suffering. They all desire this, that and the other, simply because they don't understand the nature of desire. The Third Noble Truth points out that deliverance, freedom from suffering, Nirvana, consists in the complete extinguishing of desire. People don't realize at all that nirvana is something that may be attained at any time or place, that it can be arrived at just as soon as desire has been completely extinguished. So, not knowing the facts of life, people are not interested in extinguishing desire. They are not interested in nirvana because they don't know what it is.

The Fourth Noble Truth is called the Path and constitutes the method for extinguishing desire. No one understands it as a method for extinguishing desire. No one is interested in the desire extinguishing Noble Eightfold Path. People don't recognize it as their very point of support, their foothold, something which they ought to be most actively reinforcing. They are not interested in the Buddha's Noble Path, which happens to be the most excellent and precious things in the entire mass of human knowledge, in this world or any other. This is a most horrifying piece of ignorance. We can see, then, that the Four Noble Truths are information telling us clearly just what is what. We are told that if we play with desire, it will give rise to suffering, and yet we insist on playing with it until we are brim full of suffering. This is foolishness. Not really knowing what is what or the true nature of things, we act in every way inappropriately. Our actions are appropriate all too rarely. They are usually "appropriate" only in terms of the values of people subject to craving, who would say that if one gets what one wants, the action must have been justified. But spiritually speaking, that action is unjustifiable. Now we shall have a look at a stanza from the texts which sums up the essence of Buddhism, namely the words spoken by the Bhikkhu Assaji when he met Shariputra before the latter's ordination. Shariputra asked to be told the essence of Buddhism in as few words as possible. Assaji answered: "All phenomena that arise do so as a result of causes. The Perfected One has shown what the causes are, and also how all phenomena may be brought to an end by eliminating those causes. This is what the Great Master teaches." He said in effect: Every thing has causes that combine to produce it. It cannot be eliminated unless those causes have been eliminated first. This is a word of guidance warning us not to regard anything as a permanent self. There is nothing permanent. There are only effects arising out of causes, developing by virtue of causes, and due to cease with the cessation of those causes. All phenomena are merely products of causes. The world is just a perpetual flux of natural forces incessantly interacting and changing. Buddhism points out to us that all things are devoid of any self entity. They are just a perpetual flux of change, which is inherently unsatisfactory because of the lack of freedom, the subjection to causality. This un-satisfactoriness will be brought to an end as soon as the process stops; and the process will stop as soon as the causes are eliminated so that there is no more interacting. This is a most profound account of "what is what" or the nature of things, such as only an enlightened individual could give. It is the heart of Buddhism. It tells us that all things are just appearances and that we should not be fooled into liking or disliking them. Rendering the mind truly free involves escaping completely from the causal chain by utterly eliminating the causes. In this way, the unsatisfactory condition which results from liking and disliking will be brought to an end. Let us now examine the Buddha's intention in becoming an ascetic. What motivated him to become a Bhikkhu? This is clearly indicated in one of his discourses, in which he says that he left home and became a Bhikkhu in order to answer the question: "What is the Good?" The word "good"(Kusala), as used here by the Buddha, refers to skillfulness, to absolutely right knowledge. He wanted to know in particular what is suffering, what is the cause of suffering, what is freedom from suffering, and what is the method that will lead to freedom from suffering. To attain perfect and right knowledge is the ultimate in skill. The aim of Buddhism is nothing other this perfection of knowledge of what is what or the true nature of things. Another important Buddhist teaching is that of the Three Characteristics, namely impermanence (anicca), un-satisfactoriness or suffering (dukkha) and non - selfhood (anatta). Not to know this teaching is not to know Buddhism. It points out to us that all things are impermanent (anicca), all things are unsatisfactory(dukkha), and all things are not selves (anatta). In saying that all things are impermanent we mean that things change perpetually, there being no entity or self remains unchanged for even an instant. That all things are unsatisfactory means that all things have inherent in them the property of conducing to suffering and torment. They are inherently unlikable and disenchanting. That they are not selves is to say that in no thing whatsoever is there any entity, which we might have a right to regard as its "self" or to call "mine." If we grasp at things and cling to things, the result is bound to be suffering. Things are more dangerous than fire because we can at least see a fire blazing away and so don't go too close to it, whereas all things are a fire we can't see. Consequently we go about voluntarily picking up handfuls of fire which is invariably painful. This teaching tells us what things are like in terms of the Three Characteristics. Clearly Buddhism is simply an organized practical system designed to show what is what.

We have seen that we have to know the nature of things. We also have to know how to practice in order to fit in with the nature of things. There is another teaching in the texts, known as the Chief of all Teachings. It consists of three brief points: "Avoid evil, do good, purify the mind!" This is the principle of the practice. Knowing all things as impermanent, worthless and not our property, and so not worth clinging to, not worth becoming infatuated with, we have to act appropriately and cautiously with respect to them, and that is to avoid evil. It implies not to break with accepted moral standards and to give up excessive craving and attachment. On the other hand, one is to do good, good as has come to be understood by wise people. These two are simply stages in morality. The third, which tells us to make the mind completely pure of every kind of contaminating element, is straight Buddhism. It tells us to make the mind free. As long as the mind is not yet free from domination by things, it cannot be a clean, pure mind. Mental freedom must come from the most profound knowledge of the what is what. As long as one lacks this knowledge, one is bound to go on mindlessly liking or disliking things in one way or another. As long as one cannot remain unmoved by things, one can hardly be called free. Basically we human beings are subject to just two kinds of emotional states: liking and disliking (which correspond to pleasant and unpleasant mental feeling). We fall slaves to our moods and have no real freedom simply because we don't know the true nature of moods or what is what. Liking has the characteristic of seizing on things and taking them over; disliking has the characteristic of pushing things away and getting rid of them. As long as these two kinds of emotional states exist, the mind is not yet free. As long as it is still carelessly liking and disliking this, that the other, there is no way it can be purified and freed from the tyranny of things. For this very reason, this highest teaching of Buddhism condemns grasping and clinging to things attractive and repulsive, ultimately condemning even attachment good and evil. When the mind has been purified of these two emotional reactions, it will become independent of things.

Other religions would have us simply avoid evil and grasp at goodness. They have us grasp at and become attached to goodness, even including the epitome of goodness, namely God. Buddhism goes much further, condemning attachment to anything at all. This attachment to goodness is right practice at the intermediate level, but it just can't take us to the high level no matter what we do. At the lowest level we avoid evil, at the intermediate level we do our utmost to do good, while at the highest level we make the mind float high above the domination of both good and evil. The condition of attachment to the fruits of goodness is not yet complete liberation from suffering, because, while an evil person suffers in a way befitting evil persons, a good person suffers also, in a way befitting good persons. Being good, one experiences the kind of suffering appropriate to good human beings. A good celestial being experiences the suffering appropriate to celestial beings, and even a god or Brahma experiences the suffering appropriate to gods. But complete freedom from all suffering will come only when one has broken free and transcended even that which we call goodness to become an Aryan, one who has transcended the worldly condition, and ultimately to become a fully perfected individual, an Arahant.

Now as we have seen, Buddhism is the teaching of the Buddha, the Enlightened One, and a Buddhist is one who practices according to the teaching of the Enlightened One. With regard to what was he enlightened? He simply knew the nature of all things. Buddhism, then, is the teaching that tells us the truth about what things are really like or what is what. It is up to us to practice until we have come to know that truth for ourselves. We may be sure that once that perfect knowledge has been attained, craving will be completely destroyed by it, because ignorance will cease to be in the very same moment that knowledge arises. Every aspect of Buddhist practice is designed to bring knowledge. Your whole purpose in setting your mind on the way of practice that will penetrate to Buddha-Dhamma is simply to gain knowledge. Only, do let it be right knowledge, knowledge attained through clear insight, not worldly knowledge, partial knowledge, halfway knowledge, which for example clumsily mistakes bad for good, and a source of suffering for a source of happiness. Do try your utmost to look at things in terms of suffering, and so come to know, gradually, step by step. Knowledge so gained will be Buddhist knowledge based on sound Buddhist principles. Studying by this method, even a woodcutter without book learning will be able to penetrate to the essence of Buddhism, while a religious scholar with several degrees, who is completely absorbed in studying the Tripitaka but doesn't look at things from this point of view, may not penetrate the teaching at all. Those of us who have some intelligence should be capable of investigating and examining things and coming to know their true nature. Each thing we come across we must study, in order to understand clearly its true nature. And we must understand the nature and the source of the suffering which produces, and which sets us alight and scorches us. To establish mindfulness, to watch and wait, to examine in the manner described the suffering that comes to one-- this is very best way to penetrate to Buddha-Dhamma. It is infinitely better than learning it from the Tripitaka. Busily studying Dhamma in the Tripitaka from the linguistic or literary viewpoint is no way to come to know the true nature of things. Of course the Tripitaka is full of explanations as to the nature of things; but the trouble is that people listen to it in the manner of parrots or talking myna birds, repeating later what they have been able to memorize. They themselves are incapable of penetrating to the true nature of things. If instead they would do some introspection and discover for themselves the facts of mental life, find out firsthand the properties of the mental defilements, of suffering, of nature, in other words of all the things in which they are involved, they would then be able to penetrate to the real Buddha- Dhamma. Though a person may never have seen or even heard of the Tripitaka, if he carries out detailed investigation every time suffering arises and scorches his mind he can be said to be studying the Tripitaka directly, and far more correctly than people actually in the process of reading it. These may be just caressing the books of the Tripitaka everyday without having any knowledge of the immortal Dhamma, the teaching contained within them. Likewise, we have ourselves, we make use of ourselves, we train ourselves, and we do things connected with ourselves every day, without knowing anything about ourselves, without being able to handle adequately problems concerning ourselves. We are still very definitely subject to suffering, and craving is still present to produce more and more suffering every day as we grow older, all simply because we don't know ourselves. We still don't know the mental life we live. To get to know the Tripitaka and the profound things hidden within it is most difficult. Let us rather set about studying Buddha-Dhamma by getting to know our own true nature. Let us get to know all the things, which make up this very body and mind. Let us learn from this life: life which is spinning on in the cycle of desiring, acting on the desires, and reaping the results of the action, which then nourish the will to desire again, and so on, over and over incessantly; life which is obliged to go spinning on in the circle of samsara, that sea of suffering, purely and simply because of ignorance as to the true nature of things or what is what.

Summing up, Buddhism is an organized practical system designed to reveal to us the "what is what." Once we have seen things as they really are, we no longer need anyone to teach or guide us. We can carry on practicing by ourselves. One progresses along the Aryan Path just as rapidly as one eliminates the defilements and gives up inappropriate action. Ultimately one will attain to the best thing possible for a human being, what we call the Fruit of the Path, Nirvana. This one can do by oneself simply by means of coming to know the ultimate sense of the "what is what."

 

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THREE UNIVERSAL CHARACTERISTICS

We shall now discuss in detail the three characteristics common to all things, namely impermanence, un-satisfactoriness (suffering) and non-selfhood.

All things whatsoever have the property of changing incessantly; they are unstable. All things whatsoever have the characteristic of un-satisfactoriness; seeing them evokes disillusionment and disenchantment in anyone having clear insight into their nature. Nothing whatsoever is such that we are justified in regarding it as "mine." To our normally imperfect vision, things appear as selves; but as soon as our vision becomes clear, un-obscured and accurate, we realize that there is no self-entity present in any of them.

These three characteristics were the aspect of the teaching which the Buddha stressed more than any other. The entire teaching when summed up amounts simply to insight into impermanence, un-satisfactoriness and non-selfhood. Sometimes they are mentioned explicitly, sometimes they are expressed in other terms, but fundamentally they aim at demonstrating the same single truth. The impermanence of all things had been taught before the time of the Buddha, but it had not been expounded as profoundly as it was by the Buddha. Un-satisfactoriness, likewise, had been taught but not in its full depth. It had not been treated from the point of view of causation, and no directions had been given as to how it could be thoroughly and completely done away with. Earlier teachers had not understood its true nature as did the Buddha in his enlightenment. As for non-selfhood in the ultimate sense, this is taught only in Buddhism This doctrine tells us that a person who has complete understanding of the "what is what" or the nature of things will know that nothing whatsoever is a self or belongs to a self. This was taught only by the Buddha, who truly had a complete and thorough understanding of the "what is what" or the true nature of things. The ways of practice designed to bring about insight in these three characteristics are numerous; but one single noteworthy fact is bound to be revealed once that perfect insight has been attained, namely the fact that nothing is worth grasping at or clinging to. There is nothing that we should want to get, to have, to be. In short: nothing is worth getting; nothing is worth being. Only when one has come to perceive that having anything or being anything is a delusion, a deception, a mirage, and that nothing at all is worth getting or worth being, has one achieved true insight into impermanence, un-satisfactoriness and non-selfhood. A man may have been reciting the formula: "anicca, dukkha, anatta" morning and evening hundreds and thousands of times and yet not be able to perceive these characteristics. It is just not in their nature to be perceptible through hearing or reciting.

Now intuitive insight, or what we call "seeing Dhamma," is not by any means the same thing as rational thinking. One will never come to see Dhamma by means of rational thinking. Intuitive insight can be gained only by means of a true inner realization. For instance, suppose we are examining a situation where we had thoughtlessly become quite wrapped up in something which later caused us suffering. If, on looking closely at the actual course of events, we become genuinely fed up, disillusioned and disenchanted with that thing, we can be said to have seen Dhamma, or to have gained clear insight. This clear insight may develop in time until it is perfected, and has the power to bring liberation from all things. If a person recites aloud: "anicca, dukkha, anatta" or examines these characteristics day and night without ever becoming disenchanted with things, without ever losing the desire to get things or to be something, or the desire to cling to things, that person has not yet attained to insight. In short, then, insight into impermanence, un-satisfactoriness and non-selfhood amounts to realizing that nothing is worth getting or worth being.

There is a word in Buddhism that covers this completely, the word sunnata, or emptiness, emptiness of selfhood, emptiness of any essence that we might have a right to cling to with all our might as being "mine." Observation, which leads to the insight that all things are devoid of any essence that is worth clinging to is the real core of the religion. It is the key to Buddhist practice. When we have come to know clearly that everything of every kind is devoid of selfhood we can be said to know Buddha-Dhamma in its entirety. The single phrase "empty of self" sums up the words "impermanent (anicca), unsatisfactory (dukkha) and not self (anatta)." When something is perpetually changing, devoid of any permanent unchanging element, it can also be said to be empty. When it is seen to be overflowing with the property of inducing disillusionment, it can be described as empty of any entity that we might have a right to cling to. And when we discover on examination that it possesses no stable component whatever that could be "self," that it is simply nature, changing and fluctuating in accordance with the laws of nature, which we have no right to call a self, then it can be described as empty of self. As soon as any individual has come to perceive the emptiness of things, there arises in him the realization that it is not worth getting or being any of those things. This feeling of not desiring to get or to be has the power to protect one from falling slave, to the defilements or to any kind of emotional involvement. Once an individual has attained this condition, he is thenceforth incapable of any unwholesome state of mind. He does become carried away by or involved in anything. He does not become in any way attracted or seduced by anything. His mind knows permanent liberty and independence, and is free from suffering.

The statement "Nothing is worth getting or being" is to be understood in a rather special sense. The words "get" and "be" refer here to getting and being with a deluded mind, with a mind that grasps and clings wholly and entirely. It is not suggested that one could live without having or being an thing at all. Normally there are certain things one can't do without. One needs property, children, wife, garden, field and so on. One is to be good, one can't help being a winner or a loser, or having some status or other. One can't help being something or other. Why then are we taught to regard things as not worth getting or being? The answer is this: the concepts of getting and being are purely relative; they are worldly ideas based on ignorance. Speaking in terms of pure reality, or absolute truth, we cannot get or be anything at all. And why? Simply because both the person who is to do the getting and the thing that is to be got are impermanent, unsatisfactory (suffering) and nobody's property. But an individual who doesn't perceive this will naturally think "I am getting..., I have..., I am...." We automatically think in these terms, and it is this very concept of getting and being that is the source of distress and misery.

Getting and being represent a form of desire, namely the desire not to let the thing that one is in the process of getting or being disappear or slip away. Suffering arises from desire to have and desire to be, in short, from desire; and desire arises from failure to realize that all things are inherently undesirable. The false idea that things are desirable is present as an instinct right from babyhood and is the cause of desire. Consequent on the desire there come about results of one sort or another, which may or may not accord with the desire. If the desired result is obtained, there will arise a still greater desire. If the desired result is not obtained, there is bound to follow a struggling and striving until one way or another it is obtained. Keeping this up results in the vicious circle: action (karma), result, action, result, which is known as the Wheel of Samsara. Now this word samsara is not to be taken as referring to an endless cycle of one physical existence after another. In point of fact it refers to a vicious circle of three events: desire; action in keeping with the desire; effect resulting from that action; inability to stop desiring, having to desire once more; action; once again another effect; further augmenting of desire ... and so on endlessly. Buddha called this the "Wheel" of samsara because it is endless cycling on, a rolling on. It is because of this very circle that we are obliged to endure suffering and torment. To succeed in breaking loose from this vicious circle is to attain freedom from all forms of suffering, in other words Nirvana. Regardless of whether a person is a pauper or a millionaire, a king or an emperor, a celestial being or a god, or anything at all, as long as he is caught up in this vicious circle, he is obliged to experience suffering and torment of one kind or another, in keeping with his desire. We can say then that this wheel of samsara is well and truly overloaded with suffering. For the rectifying of this situation morality is quite inadequate. To resolve the problem we have to depend on the highest principles of Dhamma.

We have seen that suffering has its origins in desire, which is just what the Buddha set out in the Second Noble Truth. Now there are three kinds of desire. The first kind is sensual desire, desiring and finding pleasure in things: in shapes and colors, sounds, scents, tastes, or tactile objects. The second kind is desire for becoming, desire to be this or that according to what one wants. The third kind is desire not to become, desire not to be this or that. That there are just these three kinds of desire is an absolute rule. Anyone is defied to challenge this rule and demonstrate the existence of a kind of desire other than these three.

Anyone can observe that wherever there is desire, there distress is too; and when we are forced to act on a desire, we are bound to suffer again in accordance with the action. Having got the result, we are unable to put an end to our desire, so we carry right on desiring. The reason we are obliged to continue experiencing distress is that we are not yet free from desire, but are still slaves to it. Thus it can be said that an evil man does evil because he desires to do evil, and experiences the kind of suffering appropriate to the nature of an evil man; and that a good man desires to do good, and so is bound to experience another kind of suffering, a kind appropriate to the nature of a good man. But don't understand this as teaching us to give up doing good. It is simply teaching us to realize that there exist degrees of suffering so fine that the average man cannot detect them. We have to act on the Buddha's advice: if we are to break free from suffering completely, simply doing good is not sufficient. It is necessary to do things beyond and above the doing of good, things that will serve to free the mind from the condition of serfdom and slavery to desire of any kind. This is the quintessence of the Buddha's teaching. It cannot be bettered or equaled by any other religion in the world, so ought to be carefully remembered. To succeed in overcoming these three forms of desire is to attain complete liberation from suffering.

How can we eliminate desire, extinguish it, cut it out at its roots and put an end to it for good? The answer to this is simply: observe and take note of impermanence, un-satisfactoriness (suffering) and non-selfhood until we come to see that there is nothing worth desiring. What is there worth getting or being? What is there such that when a person has got it or becomes it, it fails to give rise to some kind of suffering? Ask yourself this question: What is there that you can get or be that will not bring distress and anxiety? Think it over. Does having a wife and children lead to lightheartedness and freedom or does it bring all sorts of responsibilities? Is the gaining of high position and title the gaining of peace and calm or the gaining of heavy obligations? Looking at things in this way, we readily see that these things always bring only burden and responsibility. And why? Everything whatsoever is a burden simply by virtue of its characteristics of impermanence, un-satisfactoriness and non selfhood. Having got something, we have to see to it that it stays with us, is as we wish it to be, or is of benefit to us. But that thing is by nature impermanent unsatisfactory and nobody's property. It cannot conform to the aims and objectives of anyone. It will only change as is its nature. All our efforts, then, are an attempt to oppose and withstand the law of change; and life, as an attempt to make things conform to our wishes, is fraught with difficulty suffering.

There exists a technique for coming to realize that nothing at all is worth getting or being. It consists in examining things deeply enough to discover that in the presence of craving one has feelings of a certain kind towards getting and being; that when desire has given way completely to insight into the true nature of things, one's attitude towards getting and being is rather different. As an easy example let us consider eating. One man's eating accompanied by craving and desire for delicious tastes must have certain features that distinguish it from another man's eating, which is accompanied not by desire, but by clear comprehension, or insight into the true nature of things. Their eating manners must differ, their feelings while eating must differ, and so must the results arising from their eating.

Now what we have to realize is that one can still eat food even though one lacks all craving for delicious tastes. The Buddha and Arahants, individuals devoid of craving, were still able to do things and be things. They were still able to do work, far more in fact than any of us can with all our desires. What was the power by virtue of which they did it? What corresponded to the power of craving, of desiring to be this or that, by virtue of which we do things? The answer is that they did it by the power of insight, clear and thorough knowledge of what is what or the true nature of things. We by contrast are motivated by desire, with the result that we are, unlike them, continually subject to suffering. They did not desire to get or possess anything, and as a result others were benefited thanks to their benevolence. Their wisdom told them to make it known rather than remain indifferent, and so they were able to pass the teaching on to us.

Freedom from craving brings many incidental benefits. A body and mind freed from craving can look for and partake of food motivated by intelligent discrimination and not, as before, by desire. If we wish to break free from suffering, following the footsteps of the Buddha and the arahants, then we must train ourselves to act with discrimination rather than with craving. If you are a student, then learn how to distinguish right from wrong, good from bad, and verify that studying is the very best thing for you to be doing. If you have a job of some kind, then learn how to distinguish right from wrong, good from bad, and satisfy yourself that that job is the best thing for you to be doing, and of benefit to all concerned. Then do it well, and with all the coolness and equanimity your insight provides. If, in doing something, we are motivated by desire, then we worry while doing it and we worry when we have finished; but if we do it with the guiding power of discrimination, we shall not be worried at all. This is the difference it makes.

It is essential, then, that we be always aware that, in reality all things are impermanent, unsatisfactory and not selves, that is, that they are not worth getting or being. If we are to become involved in them, then let us do so with discrimination and our actions will not be contaminated with desire. If we act wisely, we shall be free of suffering right from beginning to end. The mind will not blindly grasp at and cling to things as worth getting and being. We shall be sure to act with wakefulness, and be able to proceed in accordance with tradition and custom, or in accordance with the law. For example, though we may own land and property, we need not necessarily have any greedy feelings about them. We need not cling to things to the extent that they become a burden, weighing down and tormenting the mind. The law is bound to see to it that our piece of land remains in our possession. We don't need to suffer worry and anxiety about it. It isn't going to slip through our fingers and disappear. Even if someone comes along and snatches it from us, we can surely still resist and protect it intelligently. We can resist without becoming angry, without letting ourselves become heated with the flame of hatred. We can depend on the law and do our resisting without any need to experience suffering. Certainly we ought to watch over our property; but if it should in fact slip out of our grip, then becoming emotional about it won't help matters at all. All things are impermanent, perpetually changing. Realizing this, we need not become upset about anything.

"Being" is the same. There is no need to cling to one's state of being this or that, because in reality there is no satisfactory condition at all. All conditions bring about suffering of one kind or another. There is a very simple technique, which we must have a look at later, known as vipassana, the direct practice of Dhamma. It consists of close introspection, which reveals that there is nothing worth being, or that there is really no satisfactory state of being at all. Have a look at this question yourself; see if you can discover any satisfactory condition or state of being. Being a son? a parent? husband? wife? master? servant? Is any of these agreeable? Even being the man with the advantage, the one with the upper hand, the winner--is that agreeable? Is the condition of a human being agreeable? Even the condition of a celestial being or a god--would that be agreeable? When you have really come to know the what is what, you find that nothing whatsoever is in any way agreeable. We are making do with mindlessly getting and being. But why should we go risking life and limb by getting and being blindly, always acting on desire? It behooves us to understand things and live wisely, involving ourselves in things in such a way that they cause a minimum of suffering, or ideally, none at all.

Here is another point: we must bring to our fellow men, our friends, and particularly our relatives and those close to us, the understanding that this is how things are, so that they may have the same right view as we have. There will then be no upsets in the family, the town, the country, and ultimately in the whole world. Each individual mind will be immune to desire, neither grasping at nor becoming wrapped up in anything or anyone. Instead everyone's life will be guided by insight, by the ever-present, un-obscured vision that there is in reality nothing that we can grasp at and cling to. Everyone will come to realize that all things are impermanent, unsatisfactory and devoid of any self-entity, that none of them are worth becoming infatuated with. It is up to us to have the sense to give them up, to have right views, in keeping with the Buddha's teaching. A person who has done this is fit to be called a true Buddhist. Though he may never have been ordained nor even taken the precepts, he will have truly penetrated to Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. His mind will be identical with that of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. It will be uncontaminated, enlightened and tranquil, simply by virtue of not grasping at anything as worth getting or worth being. So a person can readily become a genuine, full-fledged Buddhist simply by means of this technique of being observant, perceiving impermanence, un-satisfactoriness selfhood until he comes to realize that there is nothing worth getting or being.

The lowest forms of evil originate in and are powered by desire to get and to be; milder forms of evil consist of actions less strongly motivated by desire; and all goodness consists of action based on the finest, most tenuous sort of desire, the desire to get or to be, on a good level. Even in its highest forms, good is based on desire which, however, is so fine and tenuous that people don't consider it in any way a bad thing. The fact is, however, that good action can never bring complete freedom from suffering. A person who has become free from desire, that is to say an Arahant, is one who has ceased acting on desire and has become incapable of doing evil. His actions lie outside the categories of good and evil. His mind is free and has transcended the limitations of good and evil. Thus he is completely free of suffering. This is a fundamental principle of Buddhism. Whether or not we are able to do it or wish to do it, this is the way to liberation from suffering. Today we may not yet want it; some day we are bound to want it. When we have completely given up evil and have done good to our utmost, the mind will still be weighed down with various kinds of attenuated desire, and there is no known way of getting rid of them other than by striving to go beyond the power of desire, to go beyond the desire to get or be anything, bad or good. If there is to be Nirvana, freedom from suffering of every kind, there has to be absolute and complete absence of desire.

In short, to know what is what in the ultimate sense is to see everything as impermanent, unsatisfactory and devoid of selfhood. When we really know this, the mind comes to see things in such a way that it does not cling to get or to be anything. But if we have to become involved in things in the ways known as "having" and "being," then we become involved intelligently, motivated by insight, and not by desire. Acting thus, we remain free from suffering.

 

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GRASPING AND CLINGING

How can we get away from and become completely independent of things, all of which are transient, unsatisfactory and devoid of selfhood? The answer is that we have to find out what is the cause of our desiring those things and clinging to them. Knowing that cause, we shall be in a position to eliminate clinging completely. Buddhists recognize four different kinds of clinging or attachment. 1) Sensual attachment (Kamupanana) is clinging to attractive and desirable sense objects. It is the attachment that we naturally develop for things we like and find satisfaction in: colors and shapes, sounds, odors, tastes, tactile objects, or mental images, objects past, present, or future that arise in the mind, and either correspond to material objects in the world outside or within the body, or are just imaginings. We instinctively find pleasure, enchantment, delight in these six kinds of sense objects. They induce delight and enchantment in the mind perceiving them.

As soon as an individual is born, he comes to know the taste of these six sense objects, and clings to them; and as time passes he becomes more and more firmly attached to them. Ordinary people are incapable of withdrawing from them again, so they present a major problem. It is necessary to have a proper knowledge and understanding of these sense objects and to act appropriately with respect to them, otherwise clinging to them may lead to complete and utter dereliction. If we examine the case history of any person who has sunk into dereliction, we always find that it has come about through his clinging fast to some desirable sense object. Actually every single thing a human being does has its origin in sensuality. Whether we love, become angry, hate, feel envious, murder, or commit suicide, the ultimate cause must be some sense object. If we investigate what is it that drives human beings to work energetically, or to do anything at all for that matter, we find it is desire, desire to get things of one kind or another. People strive, study, and earn what money they can, and then go off in search of pleasure-in the form of colors and shapes, sounds, odors, tastes, and tactile objects-which is what keeps them going. Even merit making in order to go to heaven has its origins simply in a wish based on sensuality. Taken together, all the trouble and chaos in the world has its origin in sensuality. The danger of sensuality lies in the power of sensual attachment. For this reason the Buddha reckoned clinging to sensuality as the primary form of attachment. It is a real world problem. Whether the world is to be completely destroyed, or whatever is to happen, is bound to depend on this very sensual clinging. It behooves us to examine ourselves to find out in what ways we are attached to sensuality and how firmly, and whether it is not perhaps within our power to give it up. Speaking in worldly terms, attachment to sensuality is a very good thing. It conduces to family love, to diligence and energy in the search for wealth and fame, and so on. But if looked at from the spiritual point of view, it is seen to be the secret en trance for suffering and torment. Spiritually speaking, attachment to sensuality is something to be kept under control. And if all suffering is to be eliminated, sensual attachment has to be done away with completely. 2) Attachment to opinions (Ditthupadana). Clinging to views and opinions is not difficult to detect and identify once we do a little introspection. Ever since we were born into the world, we have been receiving instruction and training, which has given rise to ideas and opinions. In speaking here of opinions, what we have in mind is the kind of ideas one hangs on to and refuses to let go of. To cling to one's own ideas and opinions is quite natural and is not normally condemned or disapproved of. But it is no less grave a danger than attachment to attractive and desirable objects. It can happen that preconceived ideas and opinions to which we had always clung obstinately come to be destroyed. For this reason it is necessary that we continually amend our views, making them progressively more correct, better, higher, changing false views into views that are closer and closer to the truth, and ultimately into the kind of views that incorporate the Four Noble Truths.

Obstinate and stubborn opinions have various origins, but in the main they are bound up with customs, traditions, ceremonies and religious doctrines. Stubborn personal convictions are not a matter of great importance. They are far less numerous than convictions stemming from long held popular traditions and ceremonies. Adherence to views is based on ignorance. Lacking knowledge, we develop our own personal views on things, based on our own original stupidity. For instance, we are convinced that things are desirable and worth clinging to, that they really endure, are worthwhile and are selves, instead of perceiving that they are just a delusion and a deception, transient, worthless and devoid of selfhood. Once we have come to have certain ideas about something, we naturally don't like to admit later on that we were mistaken. Even though we may occasionally see that we are wrong, we simply refuse to admit it. Obstinacy of this sort is to be considered a major obstacle to progress, rendering us incapable of changing for the better, incapable of modifying false religious convictions and other longstanding beliefs. This is likely to be a problem for people who hold to naive doctrines. Even though they may later come to see them as naive, they refuse to change on the grounds that their parents, grandparents and ancestors all held those same views. Or if they are not really interested in correcting and improving themselves, they may simply brush away any arguments against their old ideas with the remark that this is what they have always believed. For these very reasons, attachment to opinions is to be considered a dangerous defilement, a major danger, which, if we are to better ourselves at all, we ought to make all efforts to eliminate. 3) Attachment to rites and rituals (Silabbatupadana). This refers to clinging to meaningless traditional practices that have been thoughtlessly handed down, practices which people choose to regard as sacred and not to be changed under any circumstances. In Thailand there is no less of this sort of thing than in other places. There are beliefs involving amulets, magical artifacts and all manner of secret procedures. There exist, for instance, the beliefs that on rising from sleep one must pronounce a mystical formula over water and then wash one's face in it, that before relieving nature one must turn and face this and that point of the compass, and that before one partakes of food or goes to sleep there have to be other rituals. There are beliefs in spirits and celestial beings, in sacred trees and all manner of magical objects. This sort of thing is completely irrational. People just don't think rationally; they simply cling to the established pattern. They have always done it that way and they just refuse to change. Many people professing to be Buddhists cling to these beliefs as well and so have it both ways; and this even includes some who call themselves Bhikkhus, disciples of the Buddha. Religious doctrines based on belief in God, angels and sacred objects are particularly prone to these kinds of views; there is no reason why we Buddhists should not be completely free of this sort of thing.

The reason we have to be free of such views is that if we practice any aspect of Dhamma unaware of its original purpose, unconscious of the rationale of it, the result is bound to be the foolish, naive assumption that it is something magical. Thus we find people taking upon themselves the moral precepts or practicing Dhamma, purely and simply to conform with the accepted pattern, the traditional ceremonial, just to follow the example that has been handed down. They know nothing of the rationale of these things, doing them just out of force of habit. Such firmly established clinging is hard to correct. This is what is meant by thoughtless attachment to traditional practices. Insight meditation or tranquility meditation as practiced nowadays, if carried out without any knowledge of rhyme and reason and the real objectives of it, is bound to motivated by grasping and clinging, misdirected, and just some kind of foolishness. And even the taking of the Precepts, five, eight, or ten, or however many, if done in the belief that one will thereby become a magical, supernatural, holy individual possessing psychic or other powers, becomes just misdirected routine, motivated simply by attachment to rite and ritual.

It is necessary, then, that we be very cautious. Buddhist practice must have a sound foundation in thought and understanding and desire to destroy the defilements. Otherwise it will be just foolishness; it will be misdirected, irrational a just a waste of time. 4) Attachment to the idea of selfhood (Attavadupadana). The belief in selfhood is something important and also something extremely well concealed. Any living creature is always bound to have the wrong idea of "me and mine." This is the primal instinct of living things and is the basis of all other instincts. For example, the instinct to seek food and eat it, the instinct to avoid danger, the instinct to procreate, and many others consist simply in the creature's instinctive awareness of a belief in its own selfhood. Convinced first of all of its own selfhood, it will naturally desire to avoid death, to search for food and nourish its body, to seek safety, and to propagate the species. A belief in selfhood is, then, universally present in all living things. If it were not so, they could not continue to survive. At the same time, however, it is what causes suffering in the search for food and shelter, in the propagation of the species, or in any activity whatsoever. This is one reason why the Buddha taught that attachment to the self-idea is the root cause of all suffering. He summed it up very briefly by saying: "Things, if clung to, are suffering, or are a source of suffering." This attachment is the source and basis of life; at the same time it is the source and basis of suffering in all its forms. It was this very fact that the Buddha was referring to when he said that life is suffering; suffering is life. This means the body and mind (five aggregates) which are clung to are suffering. Knowledge of the source and basis of life and of suffering is to be considered the most profound and most penetrating knowledge, since it puts us in a position to eliminate suffering completely. This piece of knowledge can be claimed to be unique to Buddhism. It is not to be found in any other religion in the world. The most efficacious way of dealing with attachment is to recognize it whenever it is present. This applies most particularly to attachment to the idea of selfhood, which is the very basis of life. It is something that comes into existence of its own accord, establishing itself in us without our needing to be taught it. It is present as an instinct in children and the small offspring of animals right from birth. Baby animals such as kittens know how to assume a defensive attitude, as we can see when we try to approach them. There is always that something, the "self" present in the mind, and consequently this attachment is bound to manifest. The only thing to do is to rein it in as much as possible until such time as one is well advanced in spiritual knowledge; in other words, to employ Buddhist principles until this instinct has been overcome and completely eliminated. As long as one is still an ordinary person, a worldling, this instinct remains unconquered. Only the highest of the Arians, the Arahant, has succeeded in defeating it. We must recognize this as a matter of no small importance; it is a major problem common to all living creatures. If we are to be real Buddhists, if we are to derive the full benefits from the teaching, it is up to us to set about overcoming this misconception. The suffering to which we are subject will diminish accordingly.

To know the truth about these things, which are of everyday concern to us, is to be regarded as one of the greatest boons, one of the greatest skills. Do give some thought to this matter of the four attachments, bearing in mind that nothing whatever is worth clinging to, that by the nature of things, nothing is worth getting or being. That we are completely enslaved by things is simply a result of these four kinds of attachment. It rests with us to examine and become thoroughly familiar with the highly dangerous and toxic nature of things. Their harmful nature is not immediately evident as is the case with a blazing fire, weapons, or poison. They are well disguised as sweet, tasty, fragrant, alluring things, beautiful things, melodious things. Coming in these forms they are bound to be difficult to recognize and deal with. Consequently we have to make use of this knowledge the Buddha has equipped us with. We have to control this unskillful grasping and subdue it by the power of insight. Doing this, we shall be in a position to organize our life in such a way that it becomes free of suffering, free of even the smallest trace of suffering. We shall be capable of working and living peacefully in the world, of being undefiled, enlightened and tranquil.

Let us sum up. These four forms of attachment are the only problem that Buddhists or people who wish to know about Buddhism have to understand. The objective of living a holy life (Brahmacariya) in Buddhism is to enable the mind to give up unskillful grasping. You can find this teaching in every discourse in the texts which treats of the attainment of arhatship. The expression used is "the mind freed from attachment." That is the ultimate. When the mind is free from attachment, there is nothing to bind it and make it a slave of the world. There is nothing to keep it spinning on in the cycle of birth and death, so the whole process comes to a stop, or rather, becomes world transcending, free from the world. The giving up of unskillful clinging is, then, the key to Buddhist practice.

 

[5]

THE THREEFOLD TRAINING

 

In this chapter we shall examine the method to be used for eliminating clinging. The method is based on three practical steps, namely Morality, Concentration, and Insight, known collectively as the Threefold Training.

The first step is morality (Sila). Morality is simply suitable behavior, behavior that conforms with the generally accepted standards and causes no distress to other people or to oneself. It is coded in the form of five moral precepts, or eight, or ten, or 227, or in other ways. It is conducted by way of body and speech aimed at peace, convenience and freedom from undesirable effects at the most basic level. It has to do with the members of a social group and the various pieces of property essential to living.

The second aspect of the threefold training is concentration (Samadhi). This consists in constraining the mind to remain in the condition most conducive to success in whatever he wishes to achieve. Just what is concentration? No doubt most of you have always understood concentration as implying a completely tranquil mind, as steady and unmoving as a log of wood. But merely these two characteristics of being tranquil and steady are not the real meaning of Concentration. The basis for this statement is an utterance of the Buddha. He described the concentrated mind as fit for work (kammaniya), in a suitable condition for doing its job. Fit for work is the very best way to describe the properly concentrated mind.

The third aspect is the training in insight (Panna), the practice and drill that gives rise to the full measure of right knowledge and understanding of the true nature of all things. Normally we are incapable of knowing anything at all in its true nature. Mostly we either stick to our own ideas or go along with popular opinion, so that what we see is not the truth at all. It is for this reason that Buddhist practice includes this training in insight, the last aspect of the threefold training, designed to give rise to full understanding of and insight into the true nature of things.

In the religious context, understanding and insight are not by any means the same. Understanding depends to some extent on the use of reasoning, on rational intellection. Insight goes further than that. An object known by insight has been absorbed; it has been penetrated to and confronted face to face; the mind has become thoroughly absorbed in it through examination and investigation so sustained that there has arisen a non-rational but genuine and heartfelt disenchantment with that thing and a complete lack of emotional involvement in it. Consequently the Buddhist training in insight does not refer to intellectual understanding of the kind used in present day academic and scholarly circles, where each individual can have his own particular kind of truth. Buddhist insight must be intuitive insight clear and immediate, the result of having penetrated to the object by one means or another, until it has made a definite and indelible impression on the mind. For this reason the objects of scrutiny in insight training must be things that one comes into contact with in the course of everyday living; or at least they must be things of sufficient importance to render the mind genuinely fed up and disenchanted with them as transient, unsatisfactory and not selves. However much we think rationally, evaluating the characteristics of transience, un-satisfactoriness and non-selfhood, nothing results but intellectual understanding. There is no way it can give rise to disillusionment and disenchantment with worldly things. It must be understood that the condition of disenchantment replaces that of desiring the formerly infatuating attractive object, and that this in itself constitutes the insight. It is a fact of nature that the presence of genuine, clear insight implies the presence of genuine disenchantment. It is impossible that the process should stop short at the point of clear insight. Disenchantment displaces desire for the object, and is bound to arise immediately.

Training in morality is simply elementary preparatory practice, which enables us to live happily and helps stabilize the mind. Morality yields various benefits, the most important being the preparing of the way for concentration. Other advantages, such as conducing to happiness or to rebirth as a celestial being, were not considered by the Buddha to be the direct aims of morality. He regarded morality as primarily a means of inducing and developing concentration. As long as things continue to disturb the mind, it can never become concentrated.

Training in concentration consists in developing the ability to control this mind of ours, to make use of it, to make it do its job to the best advantage. Morality is good behavior in respect of body and speech; concentration amounts to good behavior in respect of the mind, and is the fruit of thorough mental training and discipline. The concentrated mind is devoid of all bad, defiling thoughts and does not wander off the object. It is in a fit condition to do its job. Even in ordinary worldly situations, concentration is always a necessity. No matter what we are engaged in, we can hardly do it successfully unless the mind is concentrated. For this reason the Buddha counted concentration as one of the marks of a great man. Regardless of whether a man is to be successful in worldly or in spiritual things, the faculty of concentration is absolutely indispensable. Take even a schoolboy. If he lacks concentration, how can he do arithmetic? The sort of concentration involved in doing arithmetic is natural concentration and is only poorly developed. Concentration as a basic element in Buddhist practice, which is what we are discussing here, is concentration that has been trained and raised to a higher pitch than can develop naturally. Consequently, when the mind has been trained successfully, it comes to have a great many very special abilities, powers and attributes. A person who has managed to derive these benefits from concentration can be said to have moved up a step towards knowing the secrets of nature. He knows how to control the mind, and thus has abilities not possessed by the average person. The perfection of morality is an ordinary human ability. Even if someone makes a display of morality, it is never a superhuman display. On the other hand the attainment of deep concentration was classed by the Buddha as a superhuman ability, which the Bhikkhus were never to make a display of. Anyone who did show off this ability was considered no longer a good Bhikkhu, or even no longer a Bhikkhu at all.

To attain concentration necessitates making sacrifices. We have to put up with varying degrees of hardship, to train and practice, until we have the degree of concentration appropriate to our abilities. Ultimately we shall gain much better results in our work than can the average man, simply because we have better tools at our disposal. So do take an interest in this matter of concentration and don't go regarding it as something foolish and old-fashioned. It is definitely something of the greatest importance, something worth making use of at all times, especially nowadays when the world seems to be spinning too fast and on the point of going up in flames. There is far more need for concentration now than there was in the time of the Buddha. Don't get the idea that it is just something for the people in temples, or for cranks.

Now we come to the connection between the training in concentration and the training in insight. The Buddha once said that when the mind is concentrated, it is in a position to see all things as they really are. When the mind is concentrated and fit for work, it will know all things in their true nature. lt. is a strange thing that the answer to any problem a person is trying to solve is usually already present, though concealed, in his very own mind. He is not aware of it, because it is still only subconscious; and as long as he is set on solving the problem, the solution will not come, simply because his mind at that time is not in a fit condition for solving problems. If, when setting about any mental work, a person develops right concentration, that is, if he renders his mind fit for work, the solution to his problem will come to light of its own accord. The moment the mind has become concentrated, the answer will just fall into place. But should the solution still fail to come, there exists another method for directing the mind to the examination of the problem, namely the practice of concentrated introspection referred to as the training in insight. On the day of his enlightenment the Buddha attained insight into the Law of Conditioned Origination, that is, he came to perceive the true nature of things or the "what is what" and the sequence in which they arise, as a result of being concentrated in the way we have just described. The Buddha has related the story in detail, but essentially it amounts to this: as soon as his mind was well concentrated, it was in a position to examine the problem.

It is just when the mind is quiet and cool, in a state of well- being, undisturbed, well concentrated and fresh, that some solution to a persistent problem is arrived at. Insight is always dependent on concentration though we may perhaps never have noticed the fact. Actually the Buddha demonstrated an association even more intimate than this between concentration and insight. He pointed out that concentration is indispensable for insight, and insight, indispensable for concentration at a higher intensity than occurs naturally, requires the presence of understanding of certain characteristics of the mind. 0ne must know in just which way the mind has to be controlled in order that concentration may be induced. So the more insight a person has, the higher degree of concentration he will capable of. Likewise an increase in concentration results in a corresponding increase in insight. Either one of the two factors promotes the other.

Insight implies un-obscured vision and consequently disenchantment and boredom. It results in a backing away from all the things one has formerly been madly infatuated with. If one has insight, yet still goes rushing after things, madly craving for them, grasping at and clinging on to them, being infatuated with them., then it cannot be insight in the Buddhist sense. This stopping short and backing away is, of course, not a physical action. One doesn't actually pick things up and hurl them away or smash them to pieces, nor does one go running off to live in the forest. This is not what is meant. Here we are referring specifically to a mental stopping short and backing away, as a result of which the mind ceases to be a slave to things and becomes a free mind instead. This is what it is like when desire for things has given way to disenchantment. It isn't a matter of going and committing suicide, or going off to live as a hermit in the forest, or setting fire to everything. Outwardly one is as usual, behaving quite normally with respect to things. Inwardly, however, there is a difference. The mind is independent, free, no longer a slave to things. This is the virtue of insight. The Buddha called this effect Deliverance, escape from slavery to things, in particular the things we like. Actually we are enslaved by the things we dislike too. We are enslaved insofar as we cannot help disliking them and are unable to remain unmoved by them. In disliking things, we are being active, we are becoming emotional about them. They manage to control us just as do the things we like, affecting each of us in a different way. So the expression "slavery to things" refers to the reactions of liking and disliking. All this shows that we can escape from slavery to things and become free by means of insight. The Buddha summed up this principle very briefly by saying: "Insight is the means by which we can purify ourselves." He did not specify morality or concentration as the means by which we could purify ourselves, but insight, which enables us to escape, which liberates us from things. Not freed from things, one is impure, tainted, infatuated, passionate. Once free, one is pure, spotless, enlightened, tranquil. This is the fruit of insight, the condition that results when insight has done its job completely.

Have a good look at this factor, insight, the third aspect of the threefold training. Get to know it, and you will come to regard it as the highest virtue. Buddhist insight is insight that results in backing away from things by completely destroying the four kinds of attachment. Those four attachments are ropes holding us fast; insight is the knife that can cut those bonds and set us free. With the four attachments gone, there is nothing left to bind us fast to things. Will these three modes of practice stand the test? Are they soundly based and suitable for all in practice? Do examine them. When you have another look at them you will see that these three factors do not conflict with any religious doctrine at all, assuming that the religion in question really aims at remedying the problem of human suffering. The Buddhist teaching does not conflict with any other religion, yet it has some things that no other religion has. In particular it has the practice of insight, which is the superlative technique for eliminating the four attachments. It liberates the mind, rendering it independent and incapable of becoming bound, enslaved, overpowered by anything whatsoever, including God in heaven, spirits, or celestial beings. No other religion is prepared to let the individual free himself completely, or be entirely self reliant We must be fully aware of this principle of self-reliance, which is a key feature of Buddhism.

As soon as we see that Buddhism has everything that any other religion has and also several things that none of them have, we realize that Buddhism is for everyone. Buddhism is the universal religion. It can be put into practice by everyone, in every age and era. People everywhere have the same problem: to free themselves from suffering-suffering which is inherent in birth, aging, pain and death, suffering which stems from desire, from grasping. Everyone without exception, celestial being, human being, or beast, has this same problem, and everyone has the same job to do, namely to eliminate completely the desire, the unskillful grasping which is the root cause of that suffering. Thus Buddhism is the universal religion.

 

[6]

THE THINGS WE CLING TO

 

What are we clinging to? What is our handhold? What we are clinging to is the world itself. In Buddhism the word "world" has a broader connotation than it has in ordinary usage. It refers to all things, to the totality. It does not refer just to human beings, or celestial beings, or gods, or beasts, or the denizens of hell, or demons, or hungry ghosts, or titans, or any particular realm of existence at all. What the word "world" refers to here is the whole lot taken together. To know the world is difficult because certain levels of the world are concealed. Most of us are familiar with only the outermost layer or level, the level of relative truth, the level corresponding to the intellect of the average man. For this reason Buddhism teaches us about the world at various levels.

The Buddha had a method of instruction based on a division of the world into a material or physical aspect and non-material or mental aspect. He further divided up the mental world or mind into four parts. Counting the physical and the mental together makes a total of five components, called by the Buddha the Five