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+ | ====== Der Noble Achtfache Pfad: Der Weg zum Ende von Leiden ====== | ||
+ | <span hide>Der Noble Achtfache Pfad</ | ||
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+ | Summary: | ||
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+ | ====== Contents ====== | ||
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+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[#ch1|I. Der Weg zum Ende von Leiden]] | ||
+ | * [[#ch2|II. Rechte Ansicht]] | ||
+ | * [[#ch3|III. Right Intentions]] | ||
+ | * [[#ch4|IV. Right Speech, Rechte Handlung, and Rechter Lebensunterhalt]] | ||
+ | * [[#ch5|V. Rechte Anstrengung]] | ||
+ | * [[#ch6|VI. Right Mindfulness]] | ||
+ | * [[#ch7|VII. Rechte Konzentration]] | ||
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+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Preface ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
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+ | The essence of the Buddha' | ||
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+ | Given this integral unity, it would be pointless to pose the question which of the two aspects of the Dhamma has greater value, the doctrine or the path. But if we did risk the pointless by asking that question, the answer would have to be the path. The path claims primacy because it is precisely this that brings the teaching to life. The path translates the Dhamma from a collection of abstract formulas into a continually unfolding disclosure of truth. It gives an outlet from the problem of suffering with which the teaching starts. And it makes the teaching' | ||
+ | |||
+ | To follow the Noble Eightfold Path is a matter of practice rather than intellectual knowledge, but to apply the path correctly it has to be properly understood. In fact, right understanding of the path is itself a part of the practice. It is a facet of right view, the first path factor, the forerunner and guide for the rest of the path. Thus, though initial enthusiasm might suggest that the task of intellectual comprehension may be shelved as a bothersome distraction, | ||
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+ | The present book aims at contributing towards a proper understanding of the Noble Eightfold Path by investigating its eight factors and their components to determine exactly what they involve. I have attempted to be concise, using as the framework for exposition the Buddha' | ||
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+ | <div rightalign> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
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+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Abbreviations ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Textual references have been abbreviated as follows: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | DN .... Digha Nikaya (number of sutta)\\ | ||
+ | MN .... Majjhima Nikaya (number of sutta)\\ | ||
+ | SN .... Samyutta Nikaya (chapter and number of sutta)\\ | ||
+ | AN .... Anguttara Nikaya (numerical collection and number of sutta)\\ | ||
+ | Dhp .... Dhammapada (verse)\\ | ||
+ | Vism .... Visuddhimagga | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | References to Vism. are to the chapter and section number of the translation by Bhikkhu Ñanamoli, //The Der Pfad der Reinigung// (BPS ed. 1975, 1991) | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Chapter I: Der Weg zum Ende von Leiden ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The search for a spiritual path is born out of suffering. It does not start with lights and ecstasy, but with the hard tacks of pain, disappointment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | At first such changes generally are not welcome. We try to deny our vision and to smother our doubts; we struggle to drive away the discontent with new pursuits. But the flame of inquiry, once lit, continues to burn, and if we do not let ourselves be swept away by superficial readjustments or slouch back into a patched up version of our natural optimism, eventually the original glimmering of insight will again flare up, again confront us with our essential plight. It is precisely at that point, with all escape routes blocked, that we are ready to seek a way to bring our disquietude to an end. No longer can we continue to drift complacently through life, driven blindly by our hunger for sense pleasures and by the pressure of prevailing social norms. A deeper reality beckons us; we have heard the call of a more stable, more authentic happiness, and until we arrive at our destination we cannot rest content. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But it is just then that we find ourselves facing a new difficulty. Once we come to recognize the need for a spiritual path we discover that spiritual teachings are by no means homogeneous and mutually compatible. When we browse through the shelves of humanity' | ||
+ | |||
+ | One approach to resolving this problem that is popular today is the eclectic one: to pick and choose from the various traditions whatever seems amenable to our needs, welding together different practices and techniques into a synthetic whole that is personally satisfying. Thus one may combine Buddhist mindfulness meditation with sessions of Hindu mantra recitation, Christian prayer with Sufi dancing, Jewish Kabbala with Tibetan visualization exercises. Eclecticism, | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are two interrelated flaws in eclecticism that account for its ultimate inadequacy. One is that eclecticism compromises the very traditions it draws upon. The great spiritual traditions themselves do not propose their disciplines as independent techniques that may be excised from their setting and freely recombined to enhance the felt quality of our lives. They present them, rather, as parts of an integral whole, of a coherent vision regarding the fundamental nature of reality and the final goal of the spiritual quest. A spiritual tradition is not a shallow stream in which one can wet one's feet and then beat a quick retreat to the shore. It is a mighty, tumultuous river which would rush through the entire landscape of one's life, and if one truly wishes to travel on it, one must be courageous enough to launch one's boat and head out for the depths. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The second defect in eclecticism follows from the first. As spiritual practices are built upon visions regarding the nature of reality and the final good, these visions are not mutually compatible. When we honestly examine the teachings of these traditions, we will find that major differences in perspective reveal themselves to our sight, differences which cannot be easily dismissed as alternative ways of saying the same thing. Rather, they point to very different experiences constituting the supreme goal and the path that must be trodden to reach that goal. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hence, because of the differences in perspectives and practices that the different spiritual traditions propose, once we decide that we have outgrown eclecticism and feel that we are ready to make a serious commitment to one particular path, we find ourselves confronted with the challenge of choosing a path that will lead us to true enlightenment and liberation. One cue to resolving this dilemma is to clarify to ourselves our fundamental aim, to determine what we seek in a genuinely liberative path. If we reflect carefully, it will become clear that the prime requirement is a way to the end of suffering. All problems ultimately can be reduced to the problem of suffering; thus what we need is a way that will end this problem finally and completely. Both these qualifying words are important. The path has to lead to a // | ||
+ | |||
+ | But here we run up against another question. How are we to find such a path — a path which has the capacity to lead us to the full and final end of suffering? Until we actually follow a path to its goal we cannot know with certainty where it leads, and in order to follow a path to its goal we must place complete trust in the efficacy of the path. The pursuit of a spiritual path is not like selecting a new suit of clothes. To select a new suit one need only try on a number of suits, inspect oneself in the mirror, and select the suit in which one appears most attractive. The choice of a spiritual path is closer to marriage: one wants a partner for life, one whose companionship will prove as trustworthy and durable as the pole star in the night sky. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Faced with this new dilemma, we may think that we have reached a dead end and conclude that we have nothing to guide us but personal inclination, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In making this investigation we can look to three criteria as standards for evaluation: | ||
+ | |||
+ | (1) //First,// the teaching has to give a full and accurate picture of the range of suffering. If the picture of suffering it gives is incomplete or defective, then the path it sets forth will most likely be flawed, unable to yield a satisfactory solution. Just as an ailing patient needs a doctor who can make a full and correct diagnosis of his illness, so in seeking release from suffering we need a teaching that presents a reliable account of our condition. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (2) The //second// criterion calls for a correct analysis of the causes giving rise to suffering. The teaching cannot stop with a survey of the outward symptoms. It has to penetrate beneath the symptoms to the level of causes, and to describe those causes accurately. If a teaching makes a faulty causal analysis, there is little likelihood that its treatment will succeed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (3) The //third// criterion pertains directly to the path itself. It stipulates that the path which the teaching offers has to remove suffering at its source. This means it must provide a method to cut off suffering by eradicating its causes. If it fails to bring about this root-level solution, its value is ultimately nil. The path it prescribes might help to remove symptoms and make us feel that all is well; but one afflicted with a fatal disease cannot afford to settle for cosmetic surgery when below the surface the cause of his malady continues to thrive. | ||
+ | |||
+ | To sum up, we find three requirements for a teaching proposing to offer a true path to the end of suffering: first, it has to set forth a full and accurate picture of the range of suffering; second, it must present a correct analysis of the causes of suffering; and third, it must give us the means to eradicate the causes of suffering. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is not the place to evaluate the various spiritual disciplines in terms of these criteria. Our concern is only with the Dhamma, the teaching of the Buddha, and with the solution this teaching offers to the problem of suffering. That the teaching should be relevant to this problem is evident from its very nature; for it is formulated, not as a set of doctrines about the origin and end of things commanding belief, but as a message of deliverance from suffering claiming to be verifiable in our own experience. Along with that message there comes a method of practice, a way leading to the end of suffering. This way is the Noble Eightfold Path //(ariya atthangika magga).// The Eightfold Path stands at the very heart of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | To see the Noble Eightfold Path as a viable vehicle to liberation, we have to check it out against our three criteria: to look at the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== The Range of Suffering ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha does not merely touch the problem of suffering tangentially; | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha does not stop with generalities. He goes on to expose the different forms that //dukkha// takes, both the evident and the subtle. He starts with what is close at hand, with the suffering inherent in the physical process of life itself. Here //dukkha// shows up in the events of birth, aging, and death, in our susceptibility to sickness, accidents, and injuries, even in hunger and thirst. It appears again in our inner reactions to disagreeable situations and events: in the sorrow, anger, frustration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | But even death, the Buddha teaches, does not bring us to the end of //dukkha,// for the life process does not stop with death. When life ends in one place, with one body, the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== The Causes of Suffering ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | A teaching proposing to lead to the end of suffering must, as we said, give a reliable account of its causal origination. For if we want to put a stop to suffering, we have to stop it where it begins, with its causes. To stop the causes requires a thorough knowledge of what they are and how they work; thus the Buddha devotes a sizeable section of his teaching to laying bare "the truth of the origin of // | ||
+ | |||
+ | From these three roots emerge the various other defilements — conceit, jealousy, ambition, lethargy, arrogance, and the rest — and from all these defilements together, the roots and the branches, comes //dukkha// in its diverse forms: as pain and sorrow, as fear and discontent, as the aimless drifting through the round of birth and death. To gain freedom from suffering, therefore, we have to eliminate the defilements. But the work of removing the defilements has to proceed in a methodical way. It cannot be accomplished simply by an act of will, by wanting them to go away. The work must be guided by investigation. We have to find out what the defilements depend upon and then see how it lies within our power to remove their support. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha teaches that there is one defilement which gives rise to all the others, one root which holds them all in place. This root is ignorance // | ||
+ | |||
+ | In these erroneous perceptions and ideas we find the soil that nurtures the defilements. The mind catches sight of some possibility of pleasure, accepts it at face value, and the result is greed. Our hunger for gratification is thwarted, obstacles appear, and up spring anger and aversion. Or we struggle over ambiguities, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Cutting Off the Causes of Suffering ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | To free ourselves from suffering fully and finally we have to eliminate it by the root, and that means to eliminate ignorance. But how does one go about eliminating ignorance? The answer follows clearly from the nature of the adversary. Since ignorance is a state of not knowing things as they really are, what is needed is knowledge of things as they really are. Not merely conceptual knowledge, knowledge as idea, but perceptual knowledge, a knowing which is also a seeing. This kind of knowing is called wisdom // | ||
+ | |||
+ | To eliminate ignorance we need wisdom, but how is wisdom to be acquired? As indubitable knowledge of the ultimate nature of things, wisdom cannot be gained by mere learning, by gathering and accumulating a battery of facts. However, the Buddha says, wisdom can be cultivated. It comes into being through a set of conditions, conditions which we have the power to develop. These conditions are actually mental factors, components of consciousness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha calls this path the middle way //(majjhima patipada).// | ||
+ | |||
+ | The other extreme is the practice of self-mortification, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Aloof from these two extreme approaches is the Noble Eightfold Path, called the middle way, not in the sense that it effects a compromise between the extremes, but in the sense that it transcends them both by avoiding the errors that each involves. The path avoids the extreme of sense indulgence by its recognition of the futility of desire and its stress on renunciation. Desire and sensuality, far from being means to happiness, are springs of suffering to be abandoned as the requisite of deliverance. But the practice of renunciation does not entail the tormenting of the body. It consists in mental training, and for this the body must be fit, a sturdy support for the inward work. Thus the body is to be looked after well, kept in good health, while the mental faculties are trained to generate the liberating wisdom. That is the middle way, the Noble Eightfold Path, which "gives rise to vision, gives rise to knowledge, and leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Chapter II: Rechte Ansicht //(Samma Ditthi)// ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The eight factors of the Noble Eightfold Path are not steps to be followed in sequence, one after another. They can be more aptly described as components rather than as steps, comparable to the intertwining strands of a single cable that requires the contributions of all the strands for maximum strength. With a certain degree of progress all eight factors can be present simultaneously, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The order of the three trainings is determined by the overall aim and direction of the path. Since the final goal to which the path leads, liberation from suffering, depends ultimately on uprooting ignorance, the climax of the path must be the training directly opposed to ignorance. This is the training in wisdom, designed to awaken the faculty of penetrative understanding which sees things "as they really are." Wisdom unfolds by degrees, but even the faintest flashes of insight presuppose as their basis a mind that has been concentrated, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Perplexity sometimes arises over an apparent inconsistency in the arrangement of the path factors and the threefold training. Wisdom — which includes right view and right intention — is the last stage in the threefold training, yet its factors are placed at the beginning of the path rather than at its end, as might be expected according to the canon of strict consistency. The sequence of the path factors, however, is not the result of a careless slip, but is determined by an important logistical consideration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Right view is the forerunner of the entire path, the guide for all the other factors. It enables us to understand our starting point, our destination, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The importance of right view can be gauged from the fact that our perspectives on the crucial issues of reality and value have a bearing that goes beyond mere theoretical convictions. They govern our attitudes, our actions, our whole orientation to existence. Our views might not be clearly formulated in our mind; we might have only a hazy conceptual grasp of our beliefs. But whether formulated or not, expressed or maintained in silence, these views have a far-reaching influence. They structure our perceptions, | ||
+ | |||
+ | These views then condition action. They lie behind our choices and goals, and our efforts to turn these goals from ideals into actuality. The actions themselves might determine consequences, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In its fullest measure right view involves a correct understanding of the entire Dhamma or teaching of the Buddha, and thus its scope is equal to the range of the Dhamma itself. But for practical purposes two kinds of right view stand out as primary. One is mundane right view, right view which operates within the confines of the world. The other is supramundane right view, the superior right view which leads to liberation from the world. The first is concerned with the laws governing material and spiritual progress within the round of becoming, with the principles that lead to higher and lower states of existence, to mundane happiness and suffering. The second is concerned with the principles essential to liberation. It does not aim merely at spiritual progress from life to life, but at emancipation from the cycle of recurring lives and deaths. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Mundane Rechte Ansicht ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Mundane right view involves a correct grasp of the law of kamma, the moral efficacy of action. Its literal name is "right view of the ownership of action" | ||
+ | |||
+ | To understand the implications of this form of right view we first have to examine the meaning of its key term, //kamma.// The word //kamma// means action. For Buddhism the relevant kind of action is volitional action, deeds expressive of morally determinate volition, since it is volition that gives the action ethical significance. Thus the Buddha expressly identifies action with volition. In a discourse on the analysis of kamma he says: " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Right view requires more than a simple knowledge of the general meaning of kamma. It is also necessary to understand: (i) the ethical distinction of kamma into the unwholesome and the wholesome; (ii) the principal cases of each type; and (iii) the roots from which these actions spring. As expressed in a sutta: "When a noble disciple understands what is kammically unwholesome, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (i) Taking these points in order, we find that kamma is first distinguished as unwholesome // | ||
+ | |||
+ | (ii) Innumerable instances of unwholesome and wholesome kamma can be cited, but the Buddha selects ten of each as primary. These he calls the ten courses of unwholesome and wholesome action. Among the ten in the two sets, three are bodily, four are verbal, and three are mental. The ten courses of unwholesome kamma may be listed as follows, divided by way of their doors of expression: | ||
+ | |||
+ | -- Destroying life | ||
+ | -- Taking what is not given | ||
+ | -- Wrong conduct in regard to sense pleasures | ||
+ | .. Verbal action: | ||
+ | -- False speech | ||
+ | -- Slanderous speech | ||
+ | -- Harsh speech // | ||
+ | -- Idle chatter | ||
+ | -- Covetousness | ||
+ | -- Ill will | ||
+ | -- Wrong view | ||
+ | |||
+ | The ten courses of wholesome kamma are the opposites of these: abstaining from the first seven courses of unwholesome kamma, being free from covetousness and ill will, and holding right view. Though the seven cases of abstinence are exercised entirely by the mind and do not necessarily entail overt action, they are still designated wholesome bodily and verbal action because they center on the control of the faculties of body and speech. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (iii) Actions are distinguished as wholesome and unwholesome on the basis of their underlying motives, called " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The most important feature of kamma is its capacity to produce results corresponding to the ethical quality of the action. An immanent universal law holds sway over volitional actions, bringing it about that these actions issue in retributive consequences, | ||
+ | |||
+ | To recognize this principle is to hold right view of the mundane kind. This view at once excludes the multiple forms of wrong view with which it is incompatible. As it affirms that our actions have an influence on our destiny continuing into future lives, it opposes the nihilistic view which regards this life as our only existence and holds that consciousness terminates with death. As it grounds the distinction between good and evil, right and wrong, in an objective universal principle, it opposes the ethical subjectivism which asserts that good and evil are only postulations of personal opinion or means to social control. As it affirms that people can choose their actions freely, within limits set by their conditions, it opposes the "hard deterministic" | ||
+ | |||
+ | Some of the implications of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For most people, the vast majority, the right view of kamma and its results is held out of confidence, accepted on faith from an eminent spiritual teacher who proclaims the moral efficacy of action. But even when the principle of kamma is not personally seen, it still remains a facet of //right view.// It is part and parcel of right view because right view is concerned with understanding — with understanding our place in the total scheme of things — and one who accepts the principle that our volitional actions possess a moral potency has, to that extent, grasped an important fact pertaining to the nature of our existence. However, the right view of the kammic efficacy of action need not remain exclusively an article of belief screened behind an impenetrable barrier. It can become a matter of direct seeing. Through the attainment of certain states of deep concentration it is possible to develop a special faculty called the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Superior Rechte Ansicht ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The right view of kamma and its fruits provides a rationale for engaging in wholesome actions and attaining high status within the round of rebirths, but by itself it does not lead to liberation. It is possible for someone to accept the law of kamma yet still limit his aims to mundane achievements. One's motive for performing noble deeds might be the accumulation of meritorious kamma leading to prosperity and success here and now, a fortunate rebirth as a human being, or the enjoyment of celestial bliss in the heavenly worlds. There is nothing within the logic of kammic causality to impel the urge to transcend the cycle of kamma and its fruit. The impulse to deliverance from the entire round of becoming depends upon the acquisition of a different and deeper perspective, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This superior right view leading to liberation is the understanding of the Four Noble Truths. It is this right view that figures as the first factor of the Noble Eightfold Path in the proper sense: as the //noble// right view. Thus the Buddha defines the path factor of right view expressly in terms of the four truths: "What now is right view? It is understanding of suffering // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first noble truth is the truth of suffering // | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is the noble truth of suffering. Birth is suffering; aging is suffering; sickness is suffering; death is suffering; sorrow, lamentation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The last statement makes a comprehensive claim that calls for some attention. The five aggregates of clinging // | ||
+ | |||
+ | But here the question arises: Why should the Buddha say that the five aggregates are //dukkha?// The reason he says that the five aggregates are //dukkha// is that they are impermanent. They change from moment to moment, arise and fall away, without anything substantial behind them persisting through the change. Since the constituent factors of our being are always changing, utterly devoid of a permanent core, there is nothing we can cling to in them as a basis for security. There is only a constantly disintegrating flux which, when clung to in the desire for permanence, brings a plunge into suffering. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The second noble truth points out the cause of //dukkha.// From the set of defilements which eventuate in suffering, the Buddha singles out craving //(tanha)// as the dominant and most pervasive cause, "the origin of suffering." | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is the noble truth of the origin of suffering. It is this craving which produces repeated existence, is bound up with delight and lust, and seeks pleasure here and there, namely, craving for sense pleasures, craving for existence, and craving for non-existence.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | The third noble truth simply reverses this relationship of origination. If craving is the cause of //dukkha,// then to be free from //dukkha// we have to eliminate craving. Thus the Buddha says: | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering. It is the complete fading away and cessation of this craving, its forsaking and abandonment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The state of perfect peace that comes when craving is eliminated is //Nibbana// // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The right view of the Four Noble Truths develops in two stages. The first is called the right view that accords with the truths // | ||
+ | |||
+ | But even at this point the truths have not been penetrated, and thus the understanding achieved is still defective, a matter of concept rather than perception. To arrive at the experiential realization of the truths it is necessary to take up the practice of meditation — first to strengthen the capacity for sustained concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This right view that penetrates the Four Noble Truths comes at the end of the path, not at the beginning. We have to start with the right view conforming to the truths, acquired through learning and fortified through reflection. This view inspires us to take up the practice, to embark on the threefold training in moral discipline, concentration, | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Chapter III: Right Intention //(Samma Sankappa)// ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The second factor of the path is called in Pali //samma sankappa,// which we will translate as "right intention." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha explains right intention as threefold: the intention of renunciation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha discovered this twofold division of thought in the period prior to his Enlightenment (see MN 19). While he was striving for deliverance, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Right intention claims the second place in the path, between right view and the triad of moral factors that begins with right speech, because the mind's intentional function forms the crucial link connecting our cognitive perspective with our modes of active engagement in the world. On the one side actions always point back to the thoughts from which they spring. Thought is the forerunner of action, directing body and speech, stirring them into activity, using them as its instruments for expressing its aims and ideals. These aims and ideals, our intentions, in turn point back a further step to the prevailing views. When wrong views prevail, the outcome is wrong intention giving rise to unwholesome actions. Thus one who denies the moral efficacy of action and measures achievement in terms of gain and status will aspire to nothing but gain and status, using whatever means he can to acquire them. When such pursuits become widespread, the result is suffering, the tremendous suffering of individuals, | ||
+ | |||
+ | But when the intentions are right, the actions will be right, and for the intentions to be right the surest guarantee is right views. One who recognizes the law of kamma, that actions bring retributive consequences, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Since the most important formulation of right view is the understanding of the Four Noble Truths, it follows that this view should be in some way determinative of the content of right intention. This we find to be in fact the case. Understanding the four truths in relation to one's own life gives rise to the intention of renunciation; | ||
+ | |||
+ | The moment the cultivation of the Noble Eightfold Path begins, the factors of right view and right intention together start to counteract the three unwholesome roots. Delusion, the primary cognitive defilement, is opposed by right view, the nascent seed of wisdom. The complete eradication of delusion will only take place when right view is developed to the stage of full realization, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Since greed and aversion are deeply grounded, they do not yield easily; however, the work of overcoming them is not impossible if an effective strategy is employed. The path devised by the Buddha makes use of an indirect approach: it proceeds by tackling the thoughts to which these defilements give rise. Greed and aversion surface in the form of thoughts, and thus can be eroded by a process of " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== The Intention of Entsagung ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha describes his teaching as running contrary to the way of the world. The way of the world is the way of desire, and the unenlightened who follow this way flow with the current of desire, seeking happiness by pursuing the objects in which they imagine they will find fulfillment. The Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha does not demand that everyone leave the household life for the monastery or ask his followers to discard all sense enjoyments on the spot. The degree to which a person renounces depends on his or her disposition and situation. But what remains as a guiding principle is this: that the attainment of deliverance requires the complete eradication of craving, and progress along the path is accelerated to the extent that one overcomes craving. Breaking free from domination by desire may not be easy, but the difficulty does not abrogate the necessity. Since craving is the origin of dukkha, putting an end to dukkha depends on eliminating craving, and that involves directing the mind to renunciation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But it is just at this point, when one tries to let go of attachment, that one encounters a powerful inner resistance. The mind does not want to relinquish its hold on the objects to which it has become attached. For such a long time it has been accustomed to gaining, grasping, and holding, that it seems impossible to break these habits by an act of will. One might agree to the need for renunciation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | So the problem arises of how to break the shackles of desire. The Buddha does not offer as a solution the method of repression — the attempt to drive desire away with a mind full of fear and loathing. This approach does not resolve the problem but only pushes it below the surface, where it continues to thrive. The tool the Buddha holds out to free the mind from desire is understanding. Real renunciation is not a matter of compelling ourselves to give up things still inwardly cherished, but of changing our perspective on them so that they no longer bind us. When we understand the nature of desire, when we investigate it closely with keen attention, desire falls away by itself, without need for struggle. | ||
+ | |||
+ | To understand desire in such a way that we can loosen its hold, we need to see that desire is invariably bound up with //dukkha.// The whole phenomenon of desire, with its cycle of wanting and gratification, | ||
+ | |||
+ | When desire is scrutinized closely, we find that it is constantly shadowed by //dukkha.// Sometimes //dukkha// appears as pain or irritation; often it lies low as a constant strain of discontent. But the two — desire and //dukkha// — are inseparable concomitants. We can confirm this for ourselves by considering the whole cycle of desire. At the moment desire springs up it creates in us a sense of lack, the pain of want. To end this pain we struggle to fulfill the desire. If our effort fails, we experience frustration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Contemplating the //dukkha// inherent in desire is one way to incline the mind to renunciation. Another way is to contemplate directly the benefits flowing from renunciation. To move from desire to renunciation is not, as might be imagined, to move from happiness to grief, from abundance to destitution. It is to pass from gross, entangling pleasures to an exalted happiness and peace, from a condition of servitude to one of self-mastery. Desire ultimately breeds fear and sorrow, but renunciation gives fearlessness and joy. It promotes the accomplishment of all three stages of the threefold training: it purifies conduct, aids concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | When we methodically contemplate the dangers of desire and the benefits of renunciation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== The Intention of Good Will ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The intention of good will opposes the intention of ill will, thoughts governed by anger and aversion. As in the case of desire, there are two ineffective ways of handling ill will. One is to yield to it, to express the aversion by bodily or verbal action. This approach releases the tension, helps drive the anger "out of one's system," | ||
+ | |||
+ | The remedy the Buddha recommends to counteract ill will, especially when the object is another person, is a quality called in Pali //metta.// This word derives from another word meaning " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The kind of love implied by //metta// should be distinguished from sensual love as well as from the love involved in personal affection. The first is a form of craving, necessarily self-directed, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The love involved in //metta,// in contrast, does not hinge on particular relations to particular persons. Here the reference point of self is utterly omitted. We are concerned only with suffusing others with a mind of loving-kindness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The method of development is // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once one has learned to kindle the feeling of //metta// towards oneself, the next step is to extend it to others. The extension of //metta// hinges on a shift in the sense of identity, on expanding the sense of identity beyond its ordinary confines and learning to identify with others. The shift is purely psychological in method, entirely free from theological and metaphysical postulates, such as that of a universal self immanent in all beings. Instead, it proceeds from a simple, straightforward course of reflection which enables us to share the subjectivity of others and experience the world (at least imaginatively) from the standpoint of their own inwardness. The procedure starts with oneself. If we look into our own mind, we find that the basic urge of our being is the wish to be happy and free from suffering. Now, as soon as we see this in ourselves, we can immediately understand that all living beings share the same basic wish. All want to be well, happy, and secure. To develop //metta// towards others, what is to be done is to imaginatively share their own innate wish for happiness. We use our own desire for happiness as the key, experience this desire as the basic urge of others, then come back to our own position and extend to them the wish that they may achieve their ultimate objective, that they may be well and happy. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The methodical radiation of //metta// is practiced first by directing //metta// to individuals representing certain groups. These groups are set in an order of progressive remoteness from oneself. The radiation begins with a dear person, such as a parent or teacher, then moves on to a friend, then to a neutral person, then finally to a hostile person. Though the types are defined by their relation to oneself, the love to be developed is not based on that relation but on each person' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== The Intention of Harmlessness ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The intention of harmlessness is thought guided by compassion // | ||
+ | |||
+ | To develop compassion as a meditative exercise, it is most effective to start with somebody who is actually undergoing suffering, since this provides the natural object for compassion. One contemplates this person' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When a high level of success has been achieved in generating compassion by the contemplation of beings who are directly afflicted by suffering, one can then move on to consider people who are presently enjoying happiness which they have acquired by immoral means. One might reflect that such people, despite their superficial fortune, are doubtlessly troubled deep within by the pangs of conscience. Even if they display no outward signs of inner distress, one knows that they will eventually reap the bitter fruits of their evil deeds, which will bring them intense suffering. Finally, one can widen the scope of one's contemplation to include all living beings. One should contemplate all beings as subject to the universal suffering of // | ||
+ | |||
+ | To sum up, we see that the three kinds of right intention — of renunciation, | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Chapter IV: Right Speech, Rechte Handlung, Rechter Lebensunterhalt //(Samma Vaca, Samma Kammanta, Samma Ajiva)// ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The next three path factors — right speech, right action, and right livelihood — may be treated together, as collectively they make up the first of the three divisions of the path, the division of moral discipline // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Though the training in moral discipline is listed first among the three groups of practices, it should not be regarded lightly. It is the foundation for the entire path, essential for the success of the other trainings. The Buddha himself frequently urged his disciples to adhere to the rules of discipline, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Pali word we have been translating as "moral discipline," | ||
+ | |||
+ | The English word " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The observance of //sila// leads to harmony at several levels — social, psychological, | ||
+ | |||
+ | When briefly defined, the factors of moral training are usually worded negatively, in terms of abstinence. But there is more to //sila// than refraining from what is wrong. Each principle embedded in the precepts, as we will see, actually has two aspects, both essential to the training as a whole. One is abstinence from the unwholesome, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The training in moral discipline governs the two principal channels of outer action, speech and body, as well as another area of vital concern — one's way of earning a living. Thus the training contains three factors: right speech, right action, and right livelihood. These we will now examine individually, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Right Speech (samma vaca) ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha divides right speech into four components: abstaining from false speech, abstaining from slanderous speech, abstaining from harsh speech, and abstaining from idle chatter. Because the effects of speech are not as immediately evident as those of bodily action, its importance and potential is easily overlooked. But a little reflection will show that speech and its offshoot, the written word, can have enormous consequences for good or for harm. In fact, whereas for beings such as animals who live at the preverbal level physical action is of dominant concern, for humans immersed in verbal communication speech gains the ascendency. Speech can break lives, create enemies, and start wars, or it can give wisdom, heal divisions, and create peace. This has always been so, yet in the modern age the positive and negative potentials of speech have been vastly multiplied by the tremendous increase in the means, speed, and range of communications. The capacity for verbal expression, oral and written, has often been regarded as the distinguishing mark of the human species. From this we can appreciate the need to make this capacity the means to human excellence rather than, as too often has been the case, the sign of human degradation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (1) Abstaining from false speech //(musavada veramani)// | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | This statement of the Buddha discloses both the negative and the positive sides to the precept. The negative side is abstaining from lying, the positive side speaking the truth. The determinative factor behind the transgression is the intention to deceive. If one speaks something false believing it to be true, there is no breach of the precept as the intention to deceive is absent. Though the deceptive intention is common to all cases of false speech, lies can appear in different guises depending on the motivating root, whether greed, hatred, or delusion. Greed as the chief motive results in the lie aimed at gaining some personal advantage for oneself or for those close to oneself — material wealth, position, respect, or admiration. With hatred as the motive, false speech takes the form of the malicious lie, the lie intended to hurt and damage others. When delusion is the principal motive, the result is a less pernicious type of falsehood: the irrational lie, the compulsive lie, the interesting exaggeration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Such considerations probably lie behind the words of counsel the Buddha spoke to his son, the young novice Rahula, soon after the boy was ordained. One day the Buddha came to Rahula, pointed to a bowl with a little bit of water in it, and asked: " | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is said that in the course of his long training for enlightenment over many lives, a bodhisatta can break all the moral precepts except the pledge to speak the truth. The reason for this is very profound, and reveals that the commitment to truth has a significance transcending the domain of ethics and even mental purification, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (2) Abstaining from slanderous speech //(pisunaya vacaya veramani)// | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Slanderous speech is speech intended to create enmity and division, to alienate one person or group from another. The motive behind such speech is generally aversion, resentment of a rival' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Slanderous speech is one of the most serious moral transgressions. The root of hate makes the unwholesome kamma already heavy enough, but since the action usually occurs after deliberation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The opposite of slander, as the Buddha indicates, is speech that promotes friendship and harmony. Such speech originates from a mind of loving-kindness and sympathy. It wins the trust and affection of others, who feel they can confide in one without fear that their disclosures will be used against them. Beyond the obvious benefits that such speech brings in this present life, it is said that abstaining from slander has as its kammic result the gain of a retinue of friends who can never be turned against one by the slanderous words of others.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | (3) Abstaining from harsh speech // | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Harsh speech is speech uttered in anger, intended to cause the hearer pain. Such speech can assume different forms, of which we might mention three. One is //abusive speech:// scolding, reviling, or reproving another angrily with bitter words. A second is //insult:// hurting another by ascribing to him some offensive quality which detracts from his dignity. A third is // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The main root of harsh speech is aversion, assuming the form of anger. Since the defilement in this case tends to work impulsively, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even if, monks, robbers and murderers saw through your limbs and joints, whosoever should give way to anger thereat would not be following my advice. For thus ought you to train yourselves: " | ||
+ | |||
+ | (4) Abstaining from idle chatter // | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Idle chatter is pointless talk, speech that lacks purpose or depth. Such speech communicates nothing of value, but only stirs up the defilements in one's own mind and in others. The Buddha advises that idle talk should be curbed and speech restricted as much as possible to matters of genuine importance. In the case of a monk, the typical subject of the passage just quoted, his words should be selective and concerned primarily with the Dhamma. Lay persons will have more need for affectionate small talk with friends and family, polite conversation with acquaintances, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The traditional exegesis of abstaining from idle chatter refers only to avoiding engagement in such talk oneself. But today it might be of value to give this factor a different slant, made imperative by certain developments peculiar to our own time, unknown in the days of the Buddha and the ancient commentators. This is avoiding exposure to the idle chatter constantly bombarding us through the new media of communication created by modern technology. An incredible array of devices — television, radio, newspapers, pulp journals, the cinema — turns out a continuous stream of needless information and distracting entertainment the net effect of which is to leave the mind passive, vacant, and sterile. All these developments, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Rechte Handlung (samma kammanta) ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Right action means refraining from unwholesome deeds that occur with the body as their natural means of expression. The pivotal element in this path factor is the mental factor of abstinence, but because this abstinence applies to actions performed through the body, it is called "right action." | ||
+ | |||
+ | (1) Abstaining from the taking of life // | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The " | ||
+ | |||
+ | While the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The motive for killing also influences moral weight. Acts of killing can be driven by greed, hatred, or delusion. Of the three, killing motivated by hatred is the most serious, and the weight increases to the degree that the killing is premeditated. The force of effort involved also contributes, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The positive counterpart to abstaining from taking life, as the Buddha indicates, is the development of kindness and compassion for other beings. The disciple not only avoids destroying life; he dwells with a heart full of sympathy, desiring the welfare of all beings. The commitment to non-injury and concern for the welfare of others represent the practical application of the second path factor, right intention, in the form of good will and harmlessness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (2) Abstaining from taking what is not given // | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Commentaries mention a number of ways in which " | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | (1) // | ||
+ | |||
+ | (2) // | ||
+ | |||
+ | (3) // | ||
+ | |||
+ | (4) // | ||
+ | |||
+ | (5) // | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The degree of moral weight that attaches to the action is determined by three factors: the value of the object taken; the qualities of the victim of the theft; and the subjective state of the thief. Regarding the first, moral weight is directly proportional to the value of the object. Regarding the second, the weight varies according to the moral qualities of the deprived individual. Regarding the third, acts of theft may be motivated either by greed or hatred. While greed is the most common cause, hatred may also be responsible as when one person deprives another of his belongings not so much because he wants them for himself as because he wants to harm the latter. Between the two, acts motivated by hatred are kammically heavier than acts motivated by sheer greed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The positive counterpart to abstaining from stealing is honesty, which implies respect for the belongings of others and for their right to use their belongings as they wish. Another related virtue is contentment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (3) Abstaining from sexual misconduct //(kamesu miccha-cara veramani)// | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The guiding purposes of this precept, from the ethical standpoint, are to protect marital relations from outside disruption and to promote trust and fidelity within the marital union. From the spiritual standpoint it helps curb the expansive tendency of sexual desire and thus is a step in the direction of renunciation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The main question raised by the precept concerns who is to count as an illicit partner. The Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For a man, three kinds of women are considered illicit partners: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | (1) A woman who is married to another man. This includes, besides a woman already married to a man, a woman who is not his legal wife but is generally recognized as his consort, who lives with him or is kept by him or is in some way acknowledged as his partner. All these women are illicit partners for men other than their own husbands. This class would also include a woman engaged to another man. But a widow or divorced woman is not out of bounds, provided she is not excluded for other reasons. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (2) A woman still under protection. This is a girl or woman who is under the protection of her mother, father, relatives, or others rightfully entitled to be her guardians. This provision rules out elopements or secret marriages contrary to the wishes of the protecting party. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (3) A woman prohibited by convention. This includes close female relatives forbidden as partners by social tradition, nuns and other women under a vow of celibacy, and those prohibited as partners by the law of the land. | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | From the standpoint of a woman, two kinds of men are considered illicit partners: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | (1) For a married woman any man other than her husband is out of bounds. Thus a married woman violates the precept if she breaks her vow of fidelity to her husband. But a widow or divorcee is free to remarry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (2) For any woman any man forbidden by convention, such as close relatives and those under a vow of celibacy, is an illicit partner. | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Besides these, any case of forced, violent, or coercive sexual union constitutes a transgression. But in such a case the violation falls only on the offender, not on the one compelled to submit. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The positive virtue corresponding to the abstinence is, for laypeople, marital fidelity. Husband and wife should each be faithful and devoted to the other, content with the relationship, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ordained monks and nuns, including men and women who have undertaken the eight or ten precepts, are obliged to observe celibacy. They must abstain not only from sexual misconduct, but from all sexual involvements, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Rechter Lebensunterhalt (samma ajiva) ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Right livelihood is concerned with ensuring that one earns one's living in a righteous way. For a lay disciple the Buddha teaches that wealth should be gained in accordance with certain standards. One should acquire it only by legal means, not illegally; one should acquire it peacefully, without coercion or violence; one should acquire it honestly, not by trickery or deceit; and one should acquire it in ways which do not entail harm and suffering for others.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Thai treatise discusses the positive aspects of right livelihood under the three convenient headings of rightness regarding actions, rightness regarding persons, and rightness regarding objects.< | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Chapter V: Rechte Anstrengung //(Samma Vayama)// ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The purification of conduct established by the prior three factors serves as the basis for the next division of the path, the division of concentration // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The commentators illustrate the interdependence of the three factors within the concentration group with a simple simile. Three boys go to a park to play. While walking along they see a tree with flowering tops and decide they want to gather the flowers. But the flowers are beyond the reach even of the tallest boy. Then one friend bends down and offers his back. The tall boy climbs up, but still hesitates to reach for the flowers from fear of falling. So the third boy comes over and offers his shoulder for support. The first boy, standing on the back of the second boy, then leans on the shoulder of the third boy, reaches up, and gathers the flowers.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | In this simile the tall boy who picks the flowers represents concentration with its function of unifying the mind. But to unify the mind concentration needs support: the energy provided by right effort, which is like the boy who offers his back. It also requires the stabilizing awareness provided by mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Energy // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Time and again the Buddha has stressed the need for effort, for diligence, exertion, and unflagging perseverance. The reason why effort is so crucial is that each person has to work out his or her own deliverance. The Buddha does what he can by pointing out the path to liberation; the rest involves putting the path into practice, a task that demands energy. This energy is to be applied to the cultivation of the mind, which forms the focus of the entire path. The starting point is the defiled mind, afflicted and deluded; the goal is the liberated mind, purified and illuminated by wisdom. What comes in between is the unremitting effort to transform the defiled mind into the liberated mind. The work of self-cultivation is not easy — there is no one who can do it for us but ourselves — but it is not impossible. The Buddha himself and his accomplished disciples provide the living proof that the task is not beyond our reach. They assure us, too, that anyone who follows the path can accomplish the same goal. But what is needed is effort, the work of practice taken up with the determination: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The nature of the mental process effects a division of right effort into four "great endeavors": | ||
+ | |||
+ | -- to prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states; | ||
+ | -- to abandon unwholesome states that have already arisen; | ||
+ | -- to arouse wholesome states that have not yet arisen; | ||
+ | -- to maintain and perfect wholesome states already arisen. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The unwholesome states //(akusala dhamma)// are the defilements, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (1) To prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first side of right effort aims at overcoming unwholesome states, states of mind tainted by defilements. Insofar as they impede concentration the defilements are usually presented in a fivefold set called the "five hindrances" | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Sensual desire// is interpreted in two ways. Sometimes it is understood in a narrow sense as lust for the "five strands of sense pleasure," | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first effort to be made regarding the hindrances is the effort to prevent the unarisen hindrances from arising; this is also called the endeavor to restrain // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Generally what sparks the hindrances into activity is the input afforded by sense experience. The physical organism is equipped with five sense faculties each receptive to its own specific kind of data — the eye to forms, the ear to sounds, the nose to smells, the tongue to tastes, the body to tangibles. Sense objects continuously impinge on the senses, which relay the information they receive to the mind, where it is processed, evaluated, and accorded an appropriate response. But the mind can deal with the impressions it receives in different ways, governed in the first place by the manner in which it attends to them. When the mind adverts to the incoming data carelessly, with unwise consideration //(ayoniso manasikara),// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Since an uncontrolled response to the sensory input stimulates the latent defilements, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Restraint of the senses does not mean denial of the senses, retreating into a total withdrawal from the sensory world. This is impossible, and even if it could be achieved, the real problem would still not be solved; for the defilements lie in the mind, not in the sense organs or objects. The key to sense control is indicated by the phrase "not apprehending the sign or the particulars." | ||
+ | |||
+ | To restrain the senses requires that mindfulness and clear understanding be applied to the encounter with the sense fields. Sense consciousness occurs in a series, as a sequence of momentary cognitive acts each having its own special task. The initial stages in the series occur as automatic functions: first the mind adverts to the object, then apprehends it, then admits the percept, examines it, and identifies it. Immediately following the identification a space opens up in which there occurs a free evaluation of the object leading to the choice of a response. When mindfulness is absent the latent defilements, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (2) To abandon the arisen unwholesome states | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Despite the effort at sense control the defilements may still surface. They swell up from the depths of the mental continuum, from the buried strata of past accumulations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just as a skilled physician has different medicines for different ailments, so the Buddha has different antidotes for the different hindrances, some equally applicable to all, some geared to a particular hindrance. In an important discourse the Buddha explains five techniques for expelling distracting thoughts.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | For desire a remedy of general application is the meditation on impermanence, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Whereas this first of the five methods for expelling the hindrances involves a one-to-one alignment between a hindrance and its remedy, the other four utilize general approaches. The second marshals the forces of shame //(hiri)// and moral dread // | ||
+ | |||
+ | By applying these five methods with skill and discretion, the Buddha says, one becomes a master of all the pathways of thought. One is no longer the subject of the mind but its master. Whatever thought one wants to think, that one will think. Whatever thought one does not want to think, that one will not think. Even if unwholesome thoughts occasionally arise, one can dispel them immediately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (3) To arouse unarisen wholesome states | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Simultaneously with the removal of defilements, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first of the two divisions is also known as the endeavor to develop // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus he develops the factors of enlightenment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The seven states are grouped together as " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The way to enlightenment starts with // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The work of investigation requires //energy,// the third factor of enlightenment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | As energy increases, the fourth factor of enlightenment is quickened. This is // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tranquillity brings to ripeness // | ||
+ | |||
+ | (4) To maintain arisen wholesome states | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | This last of the four right efforts aims at maintaining the arisen wholesome factors and bringing them to maturity. Called the " | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Chapter VI: Right Mindfulness //(Samma Sati)// ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha says that the Dhamma, the ultimate truth of things, is directly visible, timeless, calling out to be approached and seen. He says further that it is always available to us, and that the place where it is to be realized is within oneself.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | What brings the field of experience into focus and makes it accessible to insight is a mental faculty called in Pali //sati,// usually translated as " | ||
+ | |||
+ | It might be assumed that we are always aware of the present, but this is a mirage. Only seldom do we become aware of the present in the precise way required by the practice of mindfulness. In ordinary consciousness the mind begins a cognitive process with some impression given in the present, but it does not stay with it. Instead it uses the immediate impression as a springboard for building blocks of mental constructs which remove it from the sheer facticity of the datum. The cognitive process is generally interpretative. The mind perceives its object free from conceptualization only briefly. Then, immediately after grasping the initial impression, it launches on a course of ideation by which it seeks to interpret the object to itself, to make it intelligible in terms of its own categories and assumptions. To bring this about the mind posits concepts, joins the concepts into constructs — sets of mutually corroborative concepts — then weaves the constructs together into complex interpretative schemes. In the end the original direct experience has been overrun by ideation and the presented object appears only dimly through dense layers of ideas and views, like the moon through a layer of clouds. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha calls this process of mental construction // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The springs for this process of fabrication, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Mindfulness exercises a powerful grounding function. It anchors the mind securely in the present, so it does not float away into the past and future with their memories, regrets, fears, and hopes. The mind without mindfulness is sometimes compared to a pumpkin, the mind established in mindfulness to a stone.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | Mindfulness facilitates the achievement of both serenity and insight. It can lead to either deep concentration or wisdom, depending on the mode in which it is applied. Merely a slight shift in the mode of application can spell the difference between the course the contemplative process takes, whether it descends to deeper levels of inner calm culminating in the stages of absorption, the //jhanas,// or whether instead it strips away the veils of delusion to arrive at penetrating insight. To lead to the stages of serenity the primary chore of mindfulness is to keep the mind on the object, free from straying. Mindfulness serves as the guard charged with the responsibility of making sure that the mind does not slip away from the object to lose itself in random undirected thoughts. It also keeps watch over the factors stirring in the mind, catching the hindrances beneath their camouflages and expelling them before they can cause harm. To lead to insight and the realizations of wisdom, mindfulness is exercised in a more differentiated manner. Its task, in this phase of practice, is to observe, to note, to discern phenomena with utmost precision until their fundamental characteristics are brought to light. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Right mindfulness is cultivated through a practice called "the four foundations of mindfulness" | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha says that the four foundations of mindfulness form "the only way that leads to the attainment of purity, to the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of the four applications of mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== (1) Contemplation of the Body (kayanupassana) ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha begins his exposition of the body with contemplation of the mindfulness of breathing // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Mindfulness of breathing can function so effectively as a subject of meditation because it works with a process that is always available to us, the process of respiration. What it does to turn this process into a basis for meditation is simply to bring it into the range of awareness by making the breath an object of observation. The meditation requires no special intellectual sophistication, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another practice in the contemplation of the body, which extends meditation outwards from the confines of a single fixed position, is mindfulness of the postures. The body can assume four basic postures — walking, standing, sitting, and lying down — and a variety of other positions marking the change from one posture to another. Mindfulness of the postures focuses full attention on the body in whatever position it assumes: when walking one is aware of walking, when standing one is aware of standing, when sitting one is aware of sitting, when lying down one is aware of lying down, when changing postures one is aware of changing postures. The contemplation of the postures illuminates the impersonal nature of the body. It reveals that the body is not a self or the belonging of a self, but merely a configuration of living matter subject to the directing influence of volition. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The next exercise carries the extension of mindfulness a step further. This exercise, called " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The next two sections on mindfulness of the body present analytical contemplations intended to expose the body's real nature. One of these is the meditation on the body's unattractiveness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Precisely this is what is undertaken in the meditation on unattractiveness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The other analytical contemplation deals with the body in a different way. This meditation, called the analysis into elements // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The last exercise in mindfulness of the body is a series of " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== (2) Besinnen von Gefühl (vedananupassana) ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The next foundation of mindfulness is feeling // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Feeling arises in dependence on a mental event called " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Feeling acquires special importance as an object of contemplation because it is feeling that usually triggers the latent defilements into activity. The feelings may not be clearly registered, but in subtle ways they nourish and sustain the dispositions to unwholesome states. Thus when a pleasant feeling arises, we fall under the influence of the defilement greed and cling to it. When a painful feeling occurs, we respond with displeasure, | ||
+ | |||
+ | But the link between feelings and the defilements is not a necessary one. Pleasure does not always have to lead to greed, pain to aversion, neutral feeling to delusion. The tie between them can be snapped, and one essential means for snapping it is mindfulness. Feeling will stir up a defilement only when it is not noticed, when it is indulged rather than observed. By turning it into an object of observation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the early stages the contemplation of feeling involves attending to the arisen feelings, noting their distinctive qualities: pleasant, painful, neutral. The feeling is noted without identifying with it, without taking it to be " | ||
+ | |||
+ | But as practice advances, as one goes on noting each feeling, letting it go and noting the next, the focus of attention shifts from the qualities of feelings to the process of feeling itself. The process reveals a ceaseless flux of feelings arising and dissolving, succeeding one another without a halt. Within the process there is nothing lasting. Feeling itself is only a stream of events, occasions of feeling flashing into being moment by moment, dissolving as soon as they arise. Thus begins the insight into impermanence, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== (3) Contemplation of the State of Mind (cittanupassana) ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | With this foundation of mindfulness we turn from a particular mental factor, feeling, to the general state of mind to which that factor belongs. To understand what is entailed by this contemplation it is helpful to look at the Buddhist conception of the mind. Usually we think of the mind as an enduring faculty remaining identical with itself through the succession of experiences. Though experience changes, the mind which undergoes the changing experience seems to remain the same, perhaps modified in certain ways but still retaining its identity. However, in the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | A single act of consciousness is called a //citta,// which we shall render "a state of mind." Each citta consists of many components, the chief of which is consciousness itself, the basic experiencing of the object; consciousness is also called //citta,// the name for the whole being given to its principal part. Along with consciousness every citta contains a set of concomitants called // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Since consciousness in itself is just a bare experiencing of an object, it cannot be differentiated through its own nature but only by way of its associated factors, the cetasikas. The cetasikas color the citta and give it its distinctive character; thus when we want to pinpoint the citta as an object of contemplation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | As contemplation deepens, the contents of the mind become increasingly rarefied. Irrelevant flights of thought, imagination, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== (4) Contemplation of Phenomena (dhammanupassana) ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the context of the fourth foundation of mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The sutta section on the contemplation of phenomena is divided into five sub-sections, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The five hindrances and seven factors of enlightenment require special attention because they are the principal impediments and aids to liberation. The hindrances — sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and worry, and doubt — generally become manifest in an early stage of practice, soon after the initial expectations and gross disturbances subside and the subtle tendencies find the opportunity to surface. Whenever one of the hindrances crops up, its presence should be noted; then, when it fades away, a note should be made of its disappearance. To ensure that the hindrances are kept under control an element of comprehension is needed: we have to understand how the hindrances arise, how they can be removed, and how they can be prevented from arising in the future.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | A similar mode of contemplation is to be applied to the seven factors of enlightenment: | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Chapter VII: Rechte Konzentration //(Samma Samadhi)// ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The eighth factor of the path is Rechte Konzentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, //samadhi// is only a particular kind of one-pointedness; | ||
+ | |||
+ | The commentaries define //samadhi// as the centering of the mind and mental factors rightly and evenly on an object. // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== The Development of Concentration ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Concentration can be developed through either of two methods — either as the goal of a system of practice directed expressly towards the attainment of deep concentration at the level of absorption or as the incidental accompaniment of the path intended to generate insight. The former method is called the development of serenity // | ||
+ | |||
+ | If the meditator has a qualified teacher, the teacher will probably assign him an object judged to be appropriate for his temperament. If he doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | ten kasinas\\ | ||
+ | ten unattractive objects //(dasa asubha)//\\ | ||
+ | Zehn Rückerinnerungen //(dasa anussatiyo)// | ||
+ | four sublime states //(cattaro brahmavihara)// | ||
+ | four immaterial states //(cattaro aruppa)//\\ | ||
+ | one perception //(eka sañña)// | ||
+ | one analysis //(eka vavatthana).// | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The kasinas are devices representing certain primordial qualities. Four represent the primary elements — the earth, water, fire, and air kasinas; four represent colors — the blue, yellow, red, and white kasinas; the other two are the light and the space kasinas. Each kasina is a concrete object representative of the universal quality it signifies. Thus an earth kasina would be a circular disk filled with clay. To develop concentration on the earth kasina the meditator sets the disk in front of him, fixes his gaze on it, and contemplates " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The ten " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Zehn Rückerinnerungen form a miscellaneous collection. The first three are devotional meditations on the qualities of the Triple Gem — the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha; they use as their basis standard formulas that have come down in the Suttas. The next three recollections also rely on ancient formulas: the meditations on morality, generosity, and the potential for divine-like qualities in oneself. Then come mindfulness of death, the contemplation of the unattractive nature of the body, mindfulness of breathing, and lastly, the recollection of peace, a discursive meditation on Nibbana. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The four sublime states or " | ||
+ | |||
+ | When such a variety of meditation subjects is presented, the aspiring meditator without a teacher might be perplexed as to which to choose. The manuals divide the forty subjects according to their suitability for different personality types. Thus the unattractive objects and the contemplation of the parts of the body are judged to be most suitable for a lustful type, the meditation on loving-kindness to be best for a hating type, the meditation on the qualities of the Triple Gem to be most effective for a devotional type, etc. But for practical purposes the beginner in meditation can generally be advised to start with a simple subject that helps reduce discursive thinking. Mental distraction caused by restlessness and scattered thoughts is a common problem faced by persons of all different character types; thus a meditator of any temperament can benefit from a subject which promotes a slowing down and stilling of the thought process. The subject generally recommended for its effectiveness in clearing the mind of stray thoughts is mindfulness of breathing, which can therefore be suggested as the subject most suitable for beginners as well as veterans seeking a direct approach to deep concentration. Once the mind settles down and one's thought patterns become easier to notice, one might then make use of other subjects to deal with special problems that arise: the meditation on loving-kindness may be used to counteract anger and ill will, mindfulness of the bodily parts to weaken sensual lust, the recollection of the Buddha to inspire faith and devotion, the meditation on death to arouse a sense of urgency. The ability to select the subject appropriate to the situation requires skill, but this skill evolves through practice, often through simple trial-and-error experimentation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== The Stages of Concentration ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Concentration is not attained all at once but develops in stages. To enable our exposition to cover all the stages of concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | After receiving his meditation subject from a teacher, or selecting it on his own, the meditator retires to a quiet place. There he assumes the correct meditation posture — the legs crossed comfortably, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once the initial excitement subsides and the mind begins to settle into the practice, the five hindrances are likely to arise, bubbling up from the depths. Sometimes they appear as thoughts, sometimes as images, sometimes as obsessive emotions: surges of desire, anger and resentment, heaviness of mind, agitation, doubts. The hindrances pose a formidable barrier, but with patience and sustained effort they can be overcome. To conquer them the meditator will have to be adroit. At times, when a particular hindrance becomes strong, he may have to lay aside his primary subject of meditation and take up another subject expressly opposed to the hindrance. At other times he will have to persist with his primary subject despite the bumps along the road, bringing his mind back to it again and again. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As he goes on striving along the path of concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Initial application of mind// does the work of directing the mind to the object. It takes the mind, lifts it up, and drives it into the object the way one drives a nail through a block of wood. This done, //sustained application of mind// anchors the mind on the object, keeping it there through its function of examination. To clarify the difference between these two factors, initial application is compared to the striking of a bell, sustained application to the bell's reverberations. // | ||
+ | |||
+ | When concentration is developed, these five factors spring up and counteract the five hindrances. Each absorption factor opposes a particular hindrance. Initial application of mind, through its work of lifting the mind up to the object, counters dullness and drowsiness. Sustained application, | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the same time that the hindrances are being overpowered by the jhana factors inwardly, on the side of the object too certain changes are taking place. The original object of concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | When the learning sign appears, the meditator leaves off the preliminary sign and fixes his attention on the new object. In due time still another object will emerge out of the learning sign. This object, called the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | With further practice the factors of concentration gain in strength and bring the mind to absorption // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Concentration in the stage of absorption is divided into eight levels, each marked by greater depth, purity, and subtlety than its predecessor. The first four form a set called the four //jhanas,// a word best left untranslated for lack of a suitable equivalent, though it can be loosely rendered " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The four jhanas make up the usual textual definition of Rechte Konzentration. Thus the Buddha says: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then, with the subsiding of initial and sustained application of mind, by gaining inner confidence and mental unification, | ||
+ | |||
+ | With the fading out of rapture, he dwells in equanimity, mindful and clearly comprehending; | ||
+ | |||
+ | With the abandoning of pleasure and pain and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, he enters and dwells in the fourth jhana, which has neither-pleasure-nor-pain and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This, monks, is Rechte Konzentration.< | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The jhanas are distinguished by way of their component factors. The first jhana is constituted by the original set of five absorption factors: initial application, | ||
+ | |||
+ | After mastering the first jhana, the meditator then considers that his attainment has certain defects. Though the jhana is certainly far superior to ordinary sense consciousness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the second jhana the mind becomes more tranquil and more thoroughly unified, but when mastered even this state seems gross, as it includes rapture, an exhilarating factor that inclines to excitation. So the meditator sets out again on his course of training, this time resolved on overcoming rapture. When rapture fades out, he enters the third jhana. Here there are only two absorption factors, happiness and one-pointedness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Beyond the four jhanas lie the four immaterial states, levels of absorption in which the mind transcends even the subtlest perception of visualized images still sometimes persisting in the jhanas. The immaterial states are attained, not by refining mental factors as are the jhanas, but by refining objects, by replacing a relatively gross object with a subtler one. The four attainments are named after their respective objects: the base of infinite space, the base of infinite consciousness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The kinds of concentration discussed so far arise by fixing the mind upon a single object to the exclusion of other objects. But apart from these there is another kind of concentration which does not depend upon restricting the range of awareness. This is called " | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Chapter VIII: The Development of Wisdom ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Though Rechte Konzentration claims the last place among the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path, concentration itself does not mark the path's culmination. The attainment of concentration makes the mind still and steady, unifies its concomitants, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Before we turn to the development of wisdom, it will be helpful to inquire why concentration is not adequate to the attainment of liberation. Concentration does not suffice to bring liberation because it fails to touch the defilements at their fundamental level. The Buddha teaches that the defilements are stratified into three layers: the stage of latent tendency, the stage of manifestation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The three divisions of the Noble Eightfold Path provide the check against this threefold layering of the defilements. The first, the training in moral discipline, restrains unwholesome bodily and verbal activity and thus prevents defilements from reaching the stage of transgression. The training in concentration provides the safeguard against the stage of manifestation. It removes already manifest defilements and protects the mind from their continued influx. But even though concentration may be pursued to the depths of full absorption, it cannot touch the basic source of affliction — the latent tendencies lying dormant in the mental continuum. Against these concentration is powerless, since to root them out calls for more than mental calm. What it calls for, beyond the composure and serenity of the unified mind, is wisdom // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Wisdom alone can cut off the latent tendencies at their root because the most fundamental member of the set, the one which nurtures the others and holds them in place, is ignorance // | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the cognitive level, which is its most basic sphere of operation, ignorance infiltrates our perceptions, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Whereas ignorance obscures the true nature of things, wisdom removes the veils of distortion, enabling us to see phenomena in their fundamental mode of being with the vivacity of direct perception. The training in wisdom centers on the development of insight // | ||
+ | |||
+ | To free ourselves from all defilements and suffering, the illusion of selfhood that sustains them has to be dispelled, exploded by the realization of selflessness. Precisely this is the task set for the development of wisdom. The first step along the path of development is an analytical one. In order to uproot the view of self, the field of experience has to be laid out in certain sets of factors, which are then methodically investigated to ascertain that none of them singly or in combination can be taken as a self. This analytical treatment of experience, so characteristic of the higher reaches of Buddhist philosophical psychology, is not intended to suggest that experience, like a watch or car, can be reduced to an accidental conglomeration of separable parts. Experience does have an irreducible unity, but this unity is functional rather than substantial; | ||
+ | |||
+ | The method of analysis applied most often is that of the five aggregates of clinging // | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Or the disciple may instead base his contemplation on the six internal and external spheres of sense experience, that is, the six sense faculties and their corresponding objects, also taking note of the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The view of self is further attenuated by examining the factors of existence, not analytically, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The above two steps — the factorial analysis and the discernment of relations — help cut away the intellectual adherence to the idea of self, but they lack sufficient power to destroy the ingrained clinging to the ego sustained by erroneous perception. To uproot this subtle form of ego-clinging requires a counteractive perception: direct insight into the empty, coreless nature of phenomena. Such an insight is generated by contemplating the factors of existence in terms of their three universal marks — impermanence // | ||
+ | |||
+ | When impermanence is seen, insight into the other two marks closely follows. Since the aggregates are constantly breaking up, we cannot pin our hopes on them for any lasting satisfaction. Whatever expectations we lay on them are bound to be dashed to pieces by their inevitable change. Thus when seen with insight they are //dukkha,// suffering, in the deepest sense. Then, as the aggregates are impermanent and unsatisfactory, | ||
+ | |||
+ | When the course of insight practice is entered, the eight path factors become charged with an intensity previously unknown. They gain in force and fuse together into the unity of a single cohesive path heading towards the goal. In the practice of insight all eight factors and three trainings co-exist; each is there supporting all the others; each makes its own unique contribution to the work. The factors of moral discipline hold the tendencies to transgression in check with such care that even the thought of unethical conduct does not arise. The factors of the concentration group keep the mind firmly fixed upon the stream of phenomena, contemplating whatever arises with impeccable precision, free from forgetfulness and distraction. Right view, as the wisdom of insight, grows continually sharper and deeper; right intention shows itself in a detachment and steadiness of purpose bringing an unruffled poise to the entire process of contemplation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Insight meditation takes as its objective sphere the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The breakthrough to the unconditioned is achieved by a type of consciousness or mental event called the supramundane path // | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the path penetrates the four truths, the mind exercises four simultaneous functions, one regarding each truth. It fully comprehends the truth of suffering, seeing all conditioned existence as stamped with the mark of unsatisfactoriness. At the same time it abandons craving, cuts through the mass of egotism and desire that repeatedly gives birth to suffering. Again, the mind realizes cessation, the deathless element Nibbana, now directly present to the inner eye. And fourthly, the mind develops the Noble Eightfold Path, whose eight factors spring up endowed with tremendous power, attained to supramundane stature: right view as the direct seeing of Nibbana, right intention as the mind's application to Nibbana, the triad of ethical factors as the checks on moral transgression, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The supramundane paths have the special task of eradicating the defilements. Prior to the attainment of the paths, in the stages of concentration and even insight meditation, the defilements were not cut off but were only debilitated, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Insofar as they bind us to the round of becoming, the defilements are classified into a set of ten " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The path is followed immediately by another state of supramundane consciousness known as the fruit // | ||
+ | |||
+ | An enthusiastic practitioner with sharp faculties, after reaching stream-entry, | ||
+ | |||
+ | But our practitioner again takes up the task of contemplation. At the next stage of supramundane realization he attains the third path, the path of the non-returner // | ||
+ | |||
+ | But our meditator again puts forth effort, develops insight, and at its climax enters the fourth path, the path of arahatship // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The path of arahatship strips away this last veil of ignorance and, with it, all the residual mental defilements. This path issues in perfect comprehension of the Four Noble Truths. It fully fathoms the truth of suffering; eradicates the craving from which suffering springs; realizes with complete clarity the unconditioned element, Nibbana, as the cessation of suffering; and consummates the development of the eight factors of the Noble Eightfold Path. | ||
+ | |||
+ | With the attainment of the fourth path and fruit the disciple emerges as an arahant, one who in this very life has been liberated from all bonds. The arahant has walked the Noble Eightfold Path to its end and lives in the assurance stated so often in the formula from the Pali canon: " | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Epilogue ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | This completes our survey of the Noble Eightfold Path, the way to deliverance from suffering taught by the Buddha. The higher reaches of the path may seem remote from us in our present position, the demands of practice may appear difficult to fulfill. But even if the heights of realization are now distant, all that we need to reach them lies just beneath our feet. The eight factors of the path are always accessible to us; they are mental components which can be established in the mind simply through determination and effort. We have to begin by straightening out our views and clarifying our intentions. Then we have to purify our conduct — our speech, action, and livelihood. Taking these measures as our foundation, we have to apply ourselves with energy and mindfulness to the cultivation of concentration and insight. The rest is a matter of gradual practice and gradual progress, without expecting quick results. For some progress may be rapid, for others it may be slow, but the rate at which progress occurs should not cause elation or discouragement. Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law. | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Appendix: A Factorial Analysis of the Noble Eightfold Path (Pali and English) ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | I. //Samma ditthi// .... Right view | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | //dukkhe ñana// .... understanding suffering | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | II. //Samma sankappa// .... Right intention | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | III. //Samma vaca// .... Right speech | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | //musavada veramani// .... abstaining from false speech | ||
+ | |||
+ | //pisunaya vacaya veramani// .... abstaining from slanderous speech | ||
+ | |||
+ | //pharusaya vacaya veramani// .... abstaining from harsh speech | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | IV. //Samma kammanta// .... Right action | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | //kamesu micchacara veramani// .... abstaining from sexual misconduct | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | V. //Samma ajiva// .... Right livelihood | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | //miccha ajivam pahaya// .... giving up wrong livelihood, | ||
+ | |||
+ | //samma ajivena jivitam kappeti// .... one earns one's living by a right form of livelihood | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | VI. //Samma vayama// .... Right effort | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | VII. //Samma sati// .... Right mindfulness | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | VIII. //Samma samadhi// .... Right concentration | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Recommended Readings ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div biblio> | ||
+ | |||
+ | I. General treatments of the Noble Eightfold Path: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Ledi Sayadaw. //Der Noble Achtfache Pfad and Its Factors Explained.// | ||
+ | * Nyanatiloka Thera. //The Word of the Buddha.// (BPS 14th ed., 1968). | ||
+ | * Piyadassi Thera. //The Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | II. Rechte Ansicht: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Ñanamoli, Bhikkhu. //Die Lehrrede über Rechte Ansicht.// (Wheel 377/379). | ||
+ | * Nyanatiloka Thera. //Karma and Rebirth.// (Wheel 9). | ||
+ | * Story, Francis. //The Four Noble Truths.// (Wheel 34/35). | ||
+ | * Wijesekera, O.H. de A. //The Three Signata.// (Wheel 20). | ||
+ | |||
+ | III. Right Intentions: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Ñanamoli Thera. //The Practice of Loving-kindness.// | ||
+ | * Nyanaponika Thera. //Die vier erhabenen Zustände.// | ||
+ | * Prince, T. // | ||
+ | |||
+ | IV. Right Speech, Rechte Handlung, & Rechter Lebensunterhalt: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Bodhi, Bhikkhu. //Going for Refuge and Taking the Precepts.// (Wheel 282/284). | ||
+ | * Narada Thera. // | ||
+ | * Vajirañanavarorasa. //The Five Precepts and the Five Ennoblers.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | V. Rechte Anstrengung: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Nyanaponika Thera. //Die fünf mentalen Hindernisse und deren Bezwingung.// | ||
+ | * Piyadassi Thera. //Die Sieben Faktoren der Erleuchtung.// | ||
+ | * Soma Thera. //Das Entfernen von störenden Gedanken.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | VI. Right Mindfulness: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Nyanaponika Thera. //The Heart of Buddhistische Meditation.// | ||
+ | * Nyanaponika Thera. //Die Kraft der Achtsamkeit.// | ||
+ | * Nyanasatta Thera. //Die Vier Grundlagen der Achtsamkeit// | ||
+ | * Soma Thera. //Der Weg der Achtsamkeit.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | VII. Rechte Konzentration & The Development of Wisdom: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Buddhaghosa, | ||
+ | * Khantipalo, Bhikkhu. //Calm and Insight.// (London: Curzon, 1980). | ||
+ | * Ledi Sayadaw. //A Manual of Insight.// (Wheel 31/32). | ||
+ | * Nyanatiloka Thera. //The Buddha' | ||
+ | * Sole-Leris, Amadeo. // | ||
+ | * Vajirañana, | ||
+ | |||
+ | All Wheel publications and Bodhi Leaves (Bodhi Blätter) referred to above are published by the Buddhist Publication Society. | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Notes ====== | ||
+ | <div notes> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <dl> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Unwissenheit (Ignoranz) is actually identical in nature with the unwholesome root " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: SN 56:11; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 26 | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Ibid. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 3:33; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 19. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: MN 117; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 36. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 6:63; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 19. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: MN 9; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 29. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: See DN 2, MN 27, etc. For details, see //Vism.// XIII, 72-101. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: DN 22; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 29. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: DN 22, SN 56:11; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 3 | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Ibid. //Word of the Buddha,// p. 16. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Ibid. //Word of the Buddha,// p. 22. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 1:16.2. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Strictly speaking, greed or desire //(raga)// becomes immoral only when it impels actions violating the basic principles of ethics, such as killing, stealing, adultery, etc. When it remains merely as a mental factor or issues in actions not inherently immoral — e.g., the enjoyment of good food, the desire for recognition, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: For a full account of the dukkha tied up with sensual desire, see [[de: | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: This might appear to contradict what we said earlier, that //metta// is free from self-reference. The contradiction is only apparent, however, for in developing //metta// towards oneself one regards oneself objectively, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Any other formula found to be effective may be used in place of the formula given here. For a full treatment, see Ñanamoli Thera, //The Practice of Loving-kindness,// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 10:176; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 50. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: [[de: | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 10:176; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 50. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Subcommentary to Digha Nikaya. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 10:176; //Word of the Buddha,// pp. 50-51. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: MN 21; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 51. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 10:176; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 51 | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 10:176; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 53. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: HRH Prince Vajirañanavarorasa, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 10:176; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 53. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: //The Five Precepts and the Five Ennoblers// gives a fuller list, pp. 10-13. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 10:176; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 53. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: The following is summarized from //The Five Precepts and the Five Ennoblers,// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: See AN 4:62; AN 5:41; AN 8:54. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: //The Five Precepts and the Five Ennoblers,// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Papañcasudani (Commentary to Majjhima Nikaya). | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: MN 70; //Word of the Buddha,// pp. 59-60. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 4:13; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 57. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Kamacchanda, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 4:14; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 57. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 4:13; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 58. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 4:14; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 58. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: MN 20; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 58. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: For a full treatment of the methods for dealing with the hindrances individually, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 4:13; //Word of the Buddha,// pp. 58-59. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 4:14; //Word of the Buddha,// p.59. The Pali names for the seven are: // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 4:13; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 59. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: AN 4:14; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 59. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: //Dhammo sanditthiko akaliko ehipassiko opanayiko paccattam veditabbo viññuhi.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Commentary to Vism. See Vism. XIV, n. 64. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Sometimes the word // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: DN 22; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 61. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Ibid. //Word of the Buddha,// p. 61. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: For details, see Vism. VIII, 145-244. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: See Soma Thera, //Der Weg der Achtsamkeit,// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: For details, see Vism. VIII, 42-144. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: For details, see Vism. XI, 27-117. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: For a full account, see Soma Thera, //Der Weg der Achtsamkeit,// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Ibid., pp. 131-146. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: In what follows I have to restrict myself to a brief overview. For a full exposition, see Vism., Chapters III-XI. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: See Vism. IV, 88-109. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: Some common renderings such as " | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: DN 22; //Word of the Buddha,// pp. 80-81. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: In Pali: // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: //Anicce niccavipallasa, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: In Pali: // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: DN 22; //Word of the Buddha,// pp. 71-72. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: DN 22; //Word of the Buddha,// p. 73. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: In the first edition of this book I stated here that the four paths have to be passed through sequentially, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? <span fn # | ||
+ | :: See Vism. XXII, 92-103. | ||
+ | |||
+ | </dl> | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== About the Author ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Bhikkhu Bodhi is a Buddhist monk of American nationality, | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div showmore> | ||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Die [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Seit ihrer Gründung im Jahre 1958 hat die BPS eine große Auswahl an Büchern und Broschüren über eine weite Themenpalette veröffentlicht. Unter den Veröffentlichungen finden sich sowohl sorgfältige, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Buddhist Publication Society\\ | ||
+ | P.O. Box 61\\ | ||
+ | 54, Sangharaja Mawatha\\ | ||
+ | Kandy, Sri Lanka | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div f_zzecopy> | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
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+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # |