|
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 a 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 tree nature
of things.
The ways of practice designed to bring about
insight into 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,
anattá" 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 had the power to bring liberation from
all things. If a person recites aloud: "anicca, dukkha,
anattá" 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
(anattá)." 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 its "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 all 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 not 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 anything at all. Normally
there are certain things one can't do without. One needs
property, children, wife, garden, fields, 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. The
Buddha called this the "Wheel" of samsara because
it is an 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 deer, which is just what the Buddha set down 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 is distress 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 of 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 simple: 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 has
become 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 is
it the gaining of heavy obligation? Looking at things in
this way, we readily see that these things always bring
only burdens 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 and 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;
and 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 to 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 a
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 those 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 wont 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? 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 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 have been
ordained nor even taken the precepts, he will have
really and 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,
and non-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
completely 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 give 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.
|