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+ | |||
+ | ====== Wings to Awakening: An Anthology from the Pali Canon ====== | ||
+ | <span hide> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Summary: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | <div #h_meta> | ||
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+ | </ | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div navigation></ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div alphalist> | ||
+ | <span hlist> Intro | [[part1|Part I]] | [[part2|Part II]] | [[part3|Part III]] | [[end|End]] </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div epi> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span spkr> | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So this is what you think of me: 'The Blessed One, sympathetic, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Contents ===== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[#table|A Table of the Wings to Awakening]] | ||
+ | * | ||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * [[# | ||
+ | * PART I: BASIC PRINCIPLES | ||
+ | * <ul> | ||
+ | * A. [[part1# | ||
+ | * B. [[part1# | ||
+ | * PART II: THE SEVEN SETS | ||
+ | * <ul> | ||
+ | * A. [[part2|The Treasures of the Teaching]] (§§18-25) | ||
+ | * B. [[part2# | ||
+ | * C. [[part2# | ||
+ | * D. [[part2# | ||
+ | * E. [[part2# | ||
+ | * F. [[part2# | ||
+ | * G. [[part2# | ||
+ | * H. [[part2# | ||
+ | * PART III: THE BASIC FACTORS | ||
+ | * <ul> | ||
+ | * A. [[part3# | ||
+ | * B. [[part3# | ||
+ | * C. [[part3# | ||
+ | * D. [[part3# | ||
+ | * E. [[part3# | ||
+ | * F. [[part3# | ||
+ | * G. [[part3# | ||
+ | * H. [[part3# | ||
+ | * | ||
+ | <ul> | ||
+ | * [[part3# | ||
+ | * [[part3# | ||
+ | * [[part3# | ||
+ | * [[part3# | ||
+ | * [[end# | ||
+ | * [[end# | ||
+ | * [[end# | ||
+ | </ul> | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Acknowledgments ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | This book has been several years in the making. In the course of assembling it I have used some of the material it contains to lead study courses at the Barre Center of Buddhist Studies, Barre, Massachusetts; | ||
+ | |||
+ | In addition to the participants at the above courses, Dorothea Bowen, John Bullitt, Jim Colfax, Charles Hallisey, Karen King, Mu Soeng, Andrew Olendzki, Gregory M. Smith, and Jane Yudelman have read and offered valuable comments on earlier incarnations of the manuscript. John Bullitt also helped with the Index. The finished book owes a great deal to all of these people. Any mistakes that remain, of course, are my own responsibility. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I dedicate this book to all of my teachers, and in particular to Phra Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div rightalign>< | ||
+ | — // | ||
+ | Metta Forest Monastery\\ | ||
+ | P. O. Box 1409\\ | ||
+ | Valley Center, CA 92082\\ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Abbreviations ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Pali Buddhist Texts ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |AN|Aṅguttara Nikāya| | ||
+ | |Dhp|Dhammapada| | ||
+ | |DN|Dīgha Nikāya| | ||
+ | |Iti|Itivuttaka| | ||
+ | |MN|Majjhima Nikāya| | ||
+ | |Mv|Mahāvagga| | ||
+ | |SN|Saṃyutta Nikāya| | ||
+ | |Sn|Sutta Nipāta| | ||
+ | |Thag|Theragāthā| | ||
+ | |Thig|Therīgāthā| | ||
+ | |Ud|Udāna| | ||
+ | |||
+ | References to DN, Iti, and MN are to discourse // | ||
+ | |||
+ | All translations are the author' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Other Abbreviations ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |Comm|Commentary| | ||
+ | |lit|literal meaning| | ||
+ | |PTS|Pali Text Society| | ||
+ | |vl|variant reading| | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the translated passages, parentheses ( ) enclose alternative renderings and words needed to make sense of the passage. Square brackets [ ] enclose explanatory information, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Because Pali has many ways of expressing the word " | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Preface: How to Read This Book ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Many anthologies of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | With this background established, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus the organization of the book is somewhat circular. As with any circle, there are several points where the book can be entered. I would recommend two to begin with. The first is to read straight through the book from beginning to end, gaining a systematic framework for the material from Parts [[part1# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Regardless of which approach you take to the material, you should discover fairly quickly that the relationships among the overall patterns and individual elements in the Wings are very complex. This complexity reflects the non-linear nature of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Parts One through Three of the book are each divided into sections consisting of passages translated from discourses in the Pali Canon, which is apparently the earliest extant record of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The context provided by the essays is threefold: doctrinal, placing the passages within the structure of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first and foremost sources for the doctrinal context are the discourses in the Canon itself. The Buddha and his noble disciples are by far the most reliable guides to the meaning of their own words. Often a teaching that seems vague or confusing when encountered on its own in a single discourse becomes clearer when viewed in the context of several discourses that treat it from a variety of angles, just as it is easier to get a sense of a building from a series of pictures taken from different perspectives than from a single snapshot. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This approach to understanding the discourses is instructive not only when discourse //x// explicitly defines a term mentioned in discourse //y//, but also when patterns of imagery and terminology permeate many passages. Two cases in point: in separate contexts, the discourses compare suffering to <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | I have also drawn occasionally on the Pali <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | To provide historical context, I have drawn on a variety of sources. Again, the foremost source here is the Pali Canon itself, both in what it has to say explicitly about the social and intellectual milieu of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Because the Pali tradition is still a living one, the doctrinal and historical contexts do not account for the full range of meanings that practicing Buddhists continue to find in the texts. To provide this living dimension, I have drawn on the teachings of modern practice traditions where these seem to harmonize with the message of the Canon and add an illuminating perspective. Most of these teachings are drawn from the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In providing a more modern context for the passages presented in this book, however, I have not tried to interpret the teachings in terms of modern psychology or sociology. The Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first discipline is <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | I have made similar use of modern science — <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In doing so, I realize that I run the risk of alienating non-scientists who feel intimidated by scientific terminology, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you are unfamiliar with the terminology of phenomenology, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In providing doctrinal, historical, and practical context based on all the above-mentioned sources, the essays are meant to give an entry into the mental horizons and landscape of the texts they introduce. They are also meant to suggest how the texts may be used for their intended purpose: to help eliminate obstacles to the release of the mind. Although some of the essays address controversial questions, the textual passages are not meant to prove the points made in the essays. In assembling this anthology, I first gathered and translated the passages from the Canon. Only then, after contemplating what I had gathered, did I add the essays. For this reason, any reader who disagrees with the positions presented in the essays should still find the translations useful for his/her own purposes. I am painfully aware that some of the essays, especially those in Part I, tend to overpower the material they are designed to introduce, but this is because the themes in Part I play a pervasive role in the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although the essays should go far toward familiarizing the reader with the conceptual world and relevance of the textual passages, there are other aspects of the passages that might prove daunting to the uninitiated, | ||
+ | |||
+ | To begin with, the teachings on the Wings to Awakening are interrelated in very complex ways. Because books must be arranged in linear sequence, taking one thing at a time in a row, this means that no book can do justice to all the side avenues and underground passageways that connect elements in one set of teachings to those in another. For this reason, I have organized the material in line with the order of the sets as given in the Canon, but — as mentioned above — have extensively cross-referenced it for the sake of readers who want to explore connections that fall outside the linear pattern. Cross-references are given in brackets [ ], and take three forms. An example that looks like this — {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another potential difficulty for the uninitiated reader lies in the style of the passages. The Pali Canon was, for 500 years, an entirely oral tradition. As a result, it tends to be terse in some areas and repetitive in others. I've made an effort to cut out as many of the repetitions as possible, but I'll have to ask your patience for those that remain. Think of them as the refrains in a piece of music. Also, when the Buddha is referring to monks doing this and that, keep in mind that his audience was frequently composed entirely of monks. The <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | I trust, however, that none of these difficulties will prove insurmountable, | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== A Table of the Wings to Awakening ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== I. The Seven Sets ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? The Four Frames of Reference (satipaṭṭhāna) | ||
+ | :: | ||
+ | -- Remaining focused on the body in & of itself — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. | ||
+ | -- Remaining focused on feelings in & of themselves — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. | ||
+ | -- Remaining focused on the mind in & of itself — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. | ||
+ | -- Remaining focused on mental qualities in & of themselves — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ? The Four Right Exertions (sammappadhāna) | ||
+ | :: | ||
+ | -- Generating desire, endeavoring, | ||
+ | -- Generating desire, endeavoring, | ||
+ | -- Generating desire, endeavoring, | ||
+ | -- Generating desire, endeavoring, | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ? The Four Bases of Power (iddhipāda) | ||
+ | :: | ||
+ | -- Developing the base of power endowed with concentration founded on desire & the fabrications of exertion. | ||
+ | -- Developing the base of power endowed with concentration founded on persistence & the fabrications of exertion. | ||
+ | -- Developing the base of power endowed with concentration founded on intent & the fabrications of exertion. | ||
+ | -- Developing the base of power endowed with concentration founded on discrimination & the fabrications of exertion. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ? The Five Faculties (indrīya) | ||
+ | :: | ||
+ | -- The faculty of conviction // | ||
+ | -- The faculty of persistence // | ||
+ | -- The faculty of mindfulness // | ||
+ | -- The faculty of concentration // | ||
+ | -- The faculty of discernment // | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ? The Five Strengths (bala) | ||
+ | :: | ||
+ | -- The strength of conviction // | ||
+ | -- The strength of persistence // | ||
+ | -- The strength of mindfulness // | ||
+ | -- The strength of concentration // | ||
+ | -- The strength of discernment // | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ? The Seven Factors for Awakening (bojjhaṅga) | ||
+ | :: | ||
+ | -- Mindfulness as a factor for Awakening // | ||
+ | -- Analysis of qualities as a factor for Awakening // | ||
+ | -- Persistence as a factor for Awakening // | ||
+ | -- Rapture as a factor for Awakening // | ||
+ | -- Serenity as a factor for Awakening // | ||
+ | -- Concentration as a factor for Awakening // | ||
+ | -- Equanimity as a factor for Awakening // | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ? The Noble Eightfold Path (ariya-magga) | ||
+ | :: | ||
+ | -- Right view // | ||
+ | -- Right resolve // | ||
+ | -- Right speech // | ||
+ | -- Right action // | ||
+ | -- Right livelihood // | ||
+ | -- Right effort // | ||
+ | -- Right mindfulness // | ||
+ | -- Right concentration // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== II. The Factors of the Seven Sets classed under the Five Faculties ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | |// | ||
+ | |:::|Right Action (Eightfold Path)| | ||
+ | |:::|Right Livelihood (Eightfold Path)| | ||
+ | |:::|Desire (Bases of Power)| | ||
+ | |:::| | | ||
+ | |// | ||
+ | |:::|Four Right Exertions| | ||
+ | |::: | ||
+ | |::: | ||
+ | |:::| | | ||
+ | |// | ||
+ | |:::|Right Mindfulness (Eightfold Path)| | ||
+ | |:::|Intent (Bases of Power)| | ||
+ | |::: | ||
+ | |:::| | | ||
+ | |// | ||
+ | |:::|Right Concentration (Eightfold Path)| | ||
+ | |::: | ||
+ | |::: | ||
+ | |::: | ||
+ | |::: | ||
+ | |:::| | | ||
+ | |// | ||
+ | |:::|Right Aspiration (Eightfold Path)| | ||
+ | |::: | ||
+ | |::: | ||
+ | |::: | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Introduction ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Wings to Awakening constitute the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== The Buddha' | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | When discussing the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | I had three palaces: one for the cold season, one for the hot season, one for the rainy season. During the four months of the rainy season I was entertained in the rainy-season palace by minstrels without a single man among them, and I did not once come down from the palace. Whereas the servants, workers, & retainers in other people' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even though I was endowed with such fortune, such total refinement, the thought occurred to me: 'When an untaught, run-of-the-mill person, himself subject to aging, not beyond aging, sees another who is aged, he is horrified, humiliated, & disgusted, oblivious to himself that he too is subject to aging, not beyond aging. If I — who am subject to aging, not beyond aging — were to be horrified, humiliated, & disgusted on seeing another person who is aged, that would not be fitting for me.' As I noticed this, the (typical) young person' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even though I was endowed with such fortune, such total refinement, the thought occurred to me: 'When an untaught, run-of-the-mill person, himself subject to illness, not beyond illness, sees another who is ill, he is horrified, humiliated, & disgusted, oblivious to himself that he too is subject to illness, not beyond illness. And if I — who am subject to illness, not beyond illness — were to be horrified, humiliated, & disgusted on seeing another person who is ill, that would not be fitting for me.' As I noticed this, the healthy person' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even though I was endowed with such fortune, such total refinement, the thought occurred to me: 'When an untaught, run-of-the-mill person, himself subject to death, not beyond death, sees another who is dead, he is horrified, humiliated, & disgusted, oblivious to himself that he too is subject to death, not beyond death. And if I — who am subject to death, not beyond death — were to be horrified, humiliated, & disgusted on seeing another person who is dead, that would not be fitting for me.' As I noticed this, the living person' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | So at a later time, when I was still young, black-haired, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | These passages are universal in their import, but a fuller appreciation of why the young prince left home for the life of a homeless wanderer requires some understanding of the beliefs and social developments of his time. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Prince Siddhattha lived in an aristocratic republic in northern India during the sixth century B.C.E., a time of great social upheaval. A new monetary economy was replacing the older agrarian economy. Absolute monarchies, in alliance with the newly forming merchant class, were swallowing up the older aristocracies. As often happens when an aristocratic elite is being disenfranchised, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | These philosophers fell into two broad camps: those who conducted their speculations within the traditions of the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Already by his time, philosophers of the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | //1) <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | //2) <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | On the other side of the issue, the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | These divergent viewpoints formed the intellectual backdrop for Prince Siddhattha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Pali Canon records several different versions of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In one passage of the Pali canon {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The regularity of the Dhamma, here, denotes the causal principle that underlies all "< | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first knowledge, that of the regularity of the Dhamma, is the describable part of the process of Awakening; the second knowledge, that of Unbinding, though indescribable, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | -- recollection of past lives, | ||
+ | -- insight into the death and rebirth of beings throughout the cosmos, and | ||
+ | -- insight into the ending of the mental effluents or fermentations //(<span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first two insights were not the exclusive property of the Buddhist tradition. <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Bodhisatta' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, in the process of developing a skill, two major assumptions are made: that there is a causal relationship between acts and their results, and that good results are better than bad. If these assumptions were not valid, there would be no point in developing a skill. The Bodhisatta noticed that this point of view provided two variables — causes and results, and favorable and unfavorable — that divided experience into four categories, which he later formulated as the **<span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In trying to comprehend stress and its relationship to <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Bodhisatta analyzed the cycle of <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The fact that it is possible to develop a skill suggested to the Bodhisatta, while he was developing his third insight, that the craving and clinging that cloud one's perceptions and attention did not necessarily follow on the feeling that resulted from kamma. Otherwise, there would be no way to develop skillful intentions. Thus craving and clinging could be abandoned. This would require steady and refined acts of attention and intention, which came down to well-developed <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the more blatant forms of craving, clinging, and ignorance were eradicated with the continued refinement of concentration and discernment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | These expressions later formed the basic formula of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | After reaching this point, there was nothing further that concentration and discernment — themselves being conditioned by time and the present — could do. When all residual attachments even to these subtle realizations were let go, there thus followed a state called <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== The Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The texts say that the Buddha spent a total of 49 days after his Awakening, sensitive to the bliss of release, reviewing the implications of the insights that had brought about his Awakening. At the end of this period, he thought of teaching other living beings. At first the subtlety and complexity of his Awakening made him wonder if anyone would be able to understand and benefit from his teachings. However, after he ascertained through his new powers of mind that there were those who would understand, he made the decision to teach, determining that he would not enter total Unbinding until he had established his <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | These guidelines were nothing other than <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | As we noted above, the three insights taken together provided answers to the questions that had provoked Prince Siddhattha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The second insight — into the death and rebirth of beings throughout the cosmos — provided part of the answer to the questions surrounding the issue of causality in the pursuit of happiness. The primary causal factor is the mind, and in particular the moral quality of the intentions comprising its thoughts, words, and deeds, and the rightness of the views underlying them. Thus moral principles are inherent in the functioning of the cosmos, rather than being mere social conventions. For this reason, any quest for happiness must focus on mastering the quality of the mind's views and intentions. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The third insight — into the ending of the mental effluents — showed that escape from the cycle of rebirth could be found, not through ritual action or total inaction, but through the skillful development of a type of right view that abandoned the effluents that kept the cycle of kamma, stress, and ignorance in motion. As we have seen, this type of right view went through three stages of refinement as the third insight progressed: the four noble truths, <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha expressed this/that conditionality in a simple-looking formula: | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt_verse> | ||
+ | (1) When this is, that is.\\ | ||
+ | (2) From the arising of this comes the arising of that.\\ | ||
+ | (3) When this isn't, that isn' | ||
+ | (4) From the stopping of this comes the stopping of that. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are many possible ways of interpreting this formula, but only one does justice both to the way the formula is worded and to the complex, fluid manner in which specific examples of causal relationships are described in the Canon. That way is to view the formula as the interplay of two causal principles, one linear and the other synchronic, that combine to form a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | To begin with, every act has repercussions in the present moment together with reverberations extending into the future. Depending on the intensity of the act, these reverberations can last for a very short or a very long time. Thus every event takes place in a context determined by the combined effects of past events coming from a wide range in time, together with the effects of present acts. These effects can intensify one another, can coexist with little interaction, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The complexity of the system is further enhanced by the fact that both causal principles meet at the mind. Through its views and intentions, the mind takes a causal role in keeping both principles in action. Through its sensory powers, it is affected by the results of the causes it has set in motion. This creates the possibility for the causal principles to feed back into themselves, as the mind reacts to the results of its own actions. These reactions can take the form of positive <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Because the results of actions can be immediate, and the mind can then react to them immediately, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In this way, the combination of two causal principles — influences from the past interacting with those in the immediate present — accounts for the complexity of causal relationships as they function on the level of immediate experience. However, the combination of the two principles also opens the possibility for finding a systematic way to break the causal web. If causes and effects were entirely linear, the cosmos would be totally deterministic, | ||
+ | |||
+ | For this reason, the principle of <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The fact of the teaching:// As noted above, this/that conditionality is a combination of two causal modes: linear activity, connecting events over time; and synchronic causality, connecting objects in the present. The fact that the causal principle was not totally linear accounts for the fact that the Buddha was able to break the causal circle as soon as he had totally comprehended it, and did not have to wait for all of his previous kamma to work itself out first. The fact that the principle was not totally synchronic, however, accounts for the fact that he survived his Awakening and lived to tell about it. Although his actions created no new kammic results after his Awakening, he continued to live and teach under the influence of the kamma he had created before his Awakening, finally passing away only when those kammic influences totally worked themselves out. Thus the combination of the two patterns allowed for an experience of the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The need for the teachings:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus the complexity of this/that conditionality accounts for the lack of skill that people bring to their lives — creating more suffering and stress in their attempts to escape suffering and stress — and shows that this lack of skill is a result of ignorance. This explains the need for a teaching that points out the true nature of the causal system operating in the world, so that proper understanding of the system can lead people to deal with it skillfully and actually gain the release they seek. | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The utility of the teachings:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | The function of the teachings: As <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | All of these considerations play a role in determining the function for which the Buddha designed his teachings. They are meant to act as a guide to skillful ways of understanding the principles underlying the causal system, and to skillful ways of manipulating the causal factors so as to gain freedom from them. The concept of skillful and unskillful thoughts, words, and deeds thus plays a central role in the teaching. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In fact, the teachings themselves are meant to function as skillful thoughts toward the goal of Awakening. The Buddha was very clear on the point that he did not mean for his teachings to become a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although the Buddha insisted that all of his teachings were true — none of his skillful means were useful fictions — they were to be put aside when one had fully benefited from putting them into practice. In his teachings, true but conditioned knowledge is put into service to an unconditioned goal: a release so total that no conditioned truths can encompass it. Because a meditator has to use causal factors in order to disband the causal system, he/she has to make use of factors that eventually have to be transcended. This pattern of developing qualities in the practice that one must eventually let go as one attains the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The organization of the teachings: The fact that the causal system contains many <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Those who have tried to form a single, consistent account of Buddhist causal analyses have found themselves stymied by this fact, and have often discounted the wide variety of analyses by insisting that only one of them is the " | ||
+ | |||
+ | As we will see when we consider the Wings to Awakening in detail, the Buddha listed different ways of envisioning the causal factors at work in developing the knowledge needed to gain release from the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The content of the teachings:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | What this means in the case of the individual mind — engaged in and suffering from the processes of time and the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The presentation of the teaching:// Because the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | A second complication entailed by the principle of this/that conditionality is that it has to be known and mastered at the level of direct experience in and of itself. This mastery is thus a task that each person must do for him or herself. No one can master direct experience for anyone else. The Buddha therefore had to find a way to induce his listeners to accept his diagnosis of their sufferings and his prescription for their cure. He also had to convince them to believe in their own ability to follow the instructions and obtain the desired results. To use a traditional Buddhist analogy, the Buddha was like a doctor who had to convince his patients to administer a cure to themselves, much as a doctor has to convince his patients to follow his directions in taking medicine, getting exercise, changing their diet and lifestyle, and so forth. The Buddha had an additional difficulty, however, in that his definition of <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus, for every listener, faith in the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Acquiring this faith is called "< | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha employed various means of instilling faith in his listeners, but the primary means fall into three classes: his character, his psychic powers, and his powers of reason. When he gave his first sermon — to the Five Brethren, his former compatriots — he had to preface his remarks by reminding them of his honest and responsible character before they would willingly listen to him. When he taught the Kassapa brothers, he first had to subdue their pride with a dazzling array of psychic feats. In most cases, however, he needed only to reason with his listeners and interlocutors, | ||
+ | |||
+ | We often view <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus the main function of reason in presenting the teachings is in finding proper analogies for understanding them: hence the many metaphors and similes used throughout the texts. Faith based on reason and understanding, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The need for various ways of presenting his points on a wide range of levels meant that the body of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even here, however, the principle of this/that conditionality affected his presentation. He needed to find principles that would be relatively immune to changes in society and culture. He needed a mode of presentation that was simple enough to memorize, but not so simplistic as to distort or limit the teaching. He also needed words that would point, not to abstractions, | ||
+ | |||
+ | His solution was to give lists of mental qualities, as we noted above, rather than any of the more abstruse, philosophical doctrines that are often cited as distinctively Buddhist. These mental qualities are immediately present, to at least some extent, in every human mind. Thus they retain a constant meaning no matter what changes occur in one's mental landscape or cultural horizons. The Buddha presents them in seven alternative, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus the lists provide enough variety to meet the needs of people caught in different parts of the causal network. As one searches the texts for explanations of the meaning of specific terms and factors in the lists, one finds that the lists connect — directly or indirectly — with everything there. At the same time, the categories of the lists, because they point to qualities in the mind, encourage the listener to regard the teachings not as a system in and of themselves, but as tools for looking directly into his/her own mind, where the sources and solutions to the problem of suffering lie. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As a result, although the lists are short and simple, they are an effective introduction to the teaching and a guide to its practice. From his experience with this/that conditionality on the path, the Buddha had seen that if one develops the mental qualities listed in any one of these seven sets, <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In addition to the seven lists, the Buddha left behind a monastic order designed not only so that the teachings would be memorized from generation to generation, but also so that future generations would have living examples of the teaching to learn from, and a conducive social environment in which to put them into practice. This environment was intended as a gift not only for those who would ordain but also for those lay people who associated with the order, taking the opportunity to develop their own <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although our concern in this book is with the Dhamma, or the teaching of the Wings to Awakening, we should not forget that the Buddha named his teaching <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | After he had placed the Dhamma-Vinaya on a sure footing, the Buddha passed away into total <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus the Dhamma-Vinaya can be seen as the Buddha' | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div alphalist> | ||
+ | <span hlist> Intro | [[part1|Part I]] | [[part2|Part II]] | [[part3|Part III]] | [[end|End]] </ | ||
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+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
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+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <!-- CHANGELOG: | ||
+ | 20110429: New pdf edition assembled from 3 pdf files provided by the author. | ||
+ | 20120712: New pdf edition assembled from 3 pdf files provided by the author. | ||
+ | 20120810: New pdf edition assembled from 3 pdf files provided by the author. | ||
+ | --> | ||
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