The Cause of Misery and Its Eradication

S.N. Goenka

(The following is an extract from "Was The Buddha A Pessimist?" in which Goenkaji has sought to dispel misconceptions about the Buddha and his teaching.)

 

The Buddha wanted to create an inclination in the minds of the people to free themselves from misery. This was why he taught the truth about suffering, its cause and how to come out of it. In this light, how can the following statement stand? "The Buddha's view of life seems to be lacking in courage and confidence. Its emphasis on sorrow, if not false, is not true...." If anything, such a statement only proves the writer's ignorance of the Buddha's teaching. Who can deny the reality of suffering associated with birth, decay, disease and death, association with the unpleasant and disassociation from the pleasant; the suffering of wanted things not happening, and of unwanted things happening? Are not these realities true?

We get attached to the five aggregates thinking, "This is my mind," "This is my body," and we cling to them as "me" and "mine". This deep attachment to these five aggregates leads to the repeated cycle of birth and death. Who can deny the truth of this reality of suffering? All the spiritual traditions of India accept the cycle of becoming as misery and aim at getting liberated from this cycle, to attain the deathless.
The Buddha said in this context:

Dukkha jati punappunam.

(Before becoming liberated) I took repeated births in this misery.

 

Before attaining Buddhahood, a Bodhisatta thinks thus:

Kiccham vatayam loko apanno.

Oh, all people suffer so much!

Jayati ca jiyati ca miyati ca cavati ca upapajjati ca.

Getting born, decaying, dying, passing away and arising again.

Atha ca panimassa dukkhassa nissaranam nappajanati jaramaranassa.

One does not know how to come out of the misery of repeated births and deaths.

 

A Bodhisatta searches for the answer and rediscovers the noble liberating path of sila-samadhi-panna (morality, concentration and experiential wisdom) using which he liberates himself and helps many others to get liberated.

Therefore it is said:

Punappunam gabbhamupeti mando.

An ignorant person repeatedly falls in the womb (takes repeated births).

 

Punappunam sivathikam haranti.

Again and again, one is taken to the cemetery.

How foolish it is to go through the suffering of dukkha jati punappunam repeatedly, out of ignorance!

Yet:
Maggam ca laddha apunabbhavaya

Finding out the way out of (the cycle of) becoming,

na punappunam jayati bhuripanno

Having great wisdom, (the Buddha) does not take birth again and again.

 

Many others, besides the Buddha, became liberated by taking up this very path. We have a treasury of the joyous utterances of hundreds of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, wherein they declare their attainment of liberation.

Some examples:

Ekadhammassavaniya
Ekadhammassavaniya was the son of a businessman from Setabba. In the joyful mood of liberation, he declared:

Kilesa jhapita mayham

My passion has been extinguished.

Bhava sabbe samuhata

All becoming has been eradicated.

Vikkhino jati samsaro

The process of (repeated) births has been ended.

 

Natthi dani punabbhavo

Now there is no more birth for me.

Bhikkhu Mendhasira

Bhikkhu Mendhasira had gone forth into homelessness from an affluent family of Saket. He proclaimed:

Anekajatisamsaram, sandhavissam anibbisam.

For countless lives I have kept running in this endless cycle of becoming.

 

Tassa me dukkhajatassa dukkhakkhandho uparattho.

From the suffering of (repeated) births, I have become liberated. The accumulated stock of misery has been destroyed.

Padmavati
Padmavati was a courtesan of Ujjain and the mother of Abhaya. She was ordained by the Buddha as a nun and through her serious practice of meditation, she became an arahat. Padmavati utters these words:

Evam viharamanaya

Thus, following the teaching of the Buddha,

Sabbo rago samuhato

Uprooting all the craving for sensual pleasure,

Parilaho samucchinno

Extinguishing the burning of passion,

Sitibhutamhi nibbutati

(I have) attained nibbana to become transcendently cool and peaceful.

Apara Uttama Theri

Apara Uttama was born in a prominent Brahmin family of Kosala. Describing her meditation and resulting liberation, she joyfully exclaims:
Sunnatassa nimittassa, labhiniham yadacchika;

Orasa dhita buddhassa, nibbanabhirata sada.

My dream of experiencing the state where there is nothing to hold on to (nibbana) has been fulfilled. I, a rightful daughter of the Buddha, ever enjoy the bliss of nibbana.

Ye ime satta bojjhanga, magga nibbanapattiya;

Bhavita te maya sabba, yatha buddhena desita.

To attain nibbana I completed the development of all the seven bojjhangas

(factors of enlightenment) as taught by the Buddha.

Sabbe kama samucchinna, ye dibba ye ca manusa;

Vikkhino jatisamsaro, natthi dani punabbhavo.

My yearning for all the sensual pleasures, of this world and of heaven, has been eradicated. The cycle of becoming has ceased. Now there is no rebirth for me.
If the scholars of our country had read even a few quotations from the hundreds of utterances of the Buddha and his disciples, they would not have committed the grave error of characterising the liberating teaching of this supreme historic person as fatalistic and pessimistic.

Loving Kindness

When a householder invites a bhikkhu to offer him food and thus avails the opportunity of earning merits, the bhikkhu usually chants a mettasutta (verses of loving kindness). One feels great joy to hear these words of benediction. The same words of loving-kindness are heard in the early morning chanting in a ten-day Vipassana course permeating selfless love and creating a delightful atmosphere for meditation.

Na ca khuddamacare kinci,

yena vinnu pare upavadeyyum;

sukhino va khemino hontu,

sabbasatta bhavantu sukhitatta.

One should not do any mean thing that would invite censure from wise men. Let all creatures indeed be content, secure and happy within.
Ye keci panabhutatthi,

tasa va thavara vanavasesa;

digha va ye va mahanta,

majjhima rassaka anukathula.

dittha va ye va adittha,

ye va‚ dure vasanti avidure;

bhuta va sambhavesi va‚

sabbasatta bhavantu sukhitatta.

Whatever living creatures there are, moving or still, without exception, long or large, middle-sized or short, small or big, visible or invisible, living far or near, whether they already exist or are coming into being, let all creatures be happy within.
Na paro param nikubbetha,

natimannetha katthaci na kanci.

byarosana patighasanna,

nannamannassa dukkhamiccheyya.

One should not humiliate another; one should not despise anyone anywhere. One should not wish another misery out of anger or repugnance.
Mata yatha niyam puttam,

ayusa ekaputtamanurakkhe;

evampi sabbabhutesu,

manasam bhavaye aparimanam.

Just as a mother would protect her son, her only son, with her life, so one should cultivate infinite selfless love towards all beings.

Mettanca sabbalokasmi,

manasam bhavaye aparimanam;

uddham adho ca tiriyanca,

asambadham averamasapattam.

All loving-kindness towards the entire world. One should cultivate an unbounded mind, above and below and across, without obstruction, without enmity, without rivalry.
Tittham caram nisinno va‚

sayano yavatassa vitamiddho.

etam satim adhittheyya,

brahmametam viharamidhamahu.

Standing or walking or seated or lying down, as long as one is free from drowsiness, one should practise this mindfulness. This (they say) is the brahma state.
Similar delightful words are found at many places in the Pali literature. If this country had preserved only the Dhammapada, a tiny fraction of this huge literature, its scholars would not have mistakenly come to view the Buddha as a negative, pessimistic person. The first two verses of the Dhammapada are:
Manopubbangama dhamma, manosettha manomaya;

Manasa ce padutthena, bhasati va karoti va;

Tato nam dukkhamanveti, cakkamva vahato padam.

All bodily and vocal actions have mind as their precursor, mind as their supreme leader; of mind they are made. If one speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows him as the wheel follows the hoof of the animal yoked to the chariot.
Manopubbangama dhamma, manosettha manomaya;

Manasa ce pasannena, bhasati va karoti va;

Tato nam sukhamanveti, chaya va anapayini.

All bodily and vocal actions have mind as their precursor, mind as their supreme leader; of mind they are made. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows him like his shadow that never leaves him.
It is clear that whatever one does with an impure mind will be unwholesome and will definitely result in misery. Similarly, whatever one does with a pure mind will be wholesome and will definitely result in happiness. These two verses alone would have clarified to anyone that the Buddha's teaching is not fatalistic and that he is stating truths about both suffering and happiness.
If one looks at the Dhammapada, one finds that there are twenty-six chapters on various aspects of Dhamma, which teach one to live happily here and hereafter. One such chapter is Sukha Vagga (Chapter on Happiness). We note that there is no chapter on misery! This should prevent anyone from saying that the Buddha was pessimistic or that he was lacking in a positive attitude.
Whenever the Buddha talked about suffering, he did so only to bring to light its root causes and to encourage people to eradicate these causes. Whenever the Buddha talked about happiness, he did so to bring to light its basis and to encourage people to develop it.

Instead of talking of the cause of misery and its eradication, if the Buddha had said:
There is only misery everywhere now, and there is going to be only misery everywhere in future; it is futile to even try to come out of it; one should not waste one's energy on this endeavour-

then, he could be truly called a fatalist, a pessimist, and a cynic lacking positive attitude and promoting inaction. If so, certainly the Buddha would have been the cause of harm not only to this country, but also to the entire human society. In that case, it would have been commendable to end his teaching not only in India but in the rest of the world as well.

But the truth is that the Buddha never said, "There is no escape from misery." Instead, he gave a practical, here-and-now method to come out of all misery. We in India lost the experiential aspect of his teaching. Our repeated distortion of the theoretical aspect of his teaching deprived us of its benefit. Whosoever around the world preserved it, benefited from it. The time has come now for us to understand the real facts, to heed their manifest lesson and to follow the practical path taught by the Buddha.

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