Aloka
JOURNAL - Page 7
ARTICLES INDEX - PAGE 7
- The Buddha's approach to religious conversion - Buddhism as a religion is being assailed by a myriad of NGOs...
- Metta, a subline state of mind - Religion is the conquest of fear; the antidote for failure...
- Seeing things as they really are - Let us not wallow in samsara'smighty swamp...
- The recluse of Bundala - More than 50 years ago, I had the once-in-a-lifetime fortune...
- Puggalavada and Theravada Buddhist teachings - Upto the time of the 2nd Council 200 years after...
- ‘Turn around’ to the Dharma - I am an ordinary Catholic priest. I am no mystic...
- Buddhist opposition to animal sacrifice - The Buddha was against animal sacrifice...
- Buddhist stand on war - Buddhism from the beginning to the end is against war...
- Mind, Brain and Consciousness - Arguments which get us nowhere are often bedeviled by confusions...
- Writings of Nanavira Thera (1) - This is the first of a series of articles...
- Unduvap Pasalosvaka Poya - Arahat Therini Sanghamitta arrived in Sri Lanka bringing the sacred bo-sapling...
The Buddha's approach to religious conversion
At a time when Buddhists, and Buddhism as a religion and as an institution are being assailed by a myriad of NGOs and foreign based organisations hell-bent on converting masses to their new-fangled religions through material inducement coupled with religious hysteria, it is pertinent to note how the Buddha approached the idea of conversion. The following is a passage from The Flower of Mankind by Ven. Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda.
'The approach adopted by the Buddha towards other religions depicts his liberal and rational attitude and the absence of greed in his mind for power, recognition, or followers. When he was asked for his views on the teachings of others, never once did he ridicule them. Never did he claim that the followers of other religions would go to hell, much less did he condemn non-followers to eternal damnation. The use of reason and kindly persuasion rather than the threat of hell fire was his method of sharing the Dhamma.
One day a well-known personality who was a follower of another religion approached the Buddha with a few questions. After listening to the Buddha, he was convinced of the truth in the Master's words. Deeply inspired and moved, he very quickly expressed his desire to follow the teachings. The Buddha advised him not to be impulsive in accepting the teachings. The Buddha advised him instead to use his reason and investigate into the truth of the teachings before finally deciding to change his religion.
The Buddha in fact asked him thrice if he was really certain he wanted to change his religion and each time he said, "yes!"
This story illustrates the liberal and rational attitude of the Buddha which is unmatched by any religious teacher before or after him. When asked if one should support the religious teachers of other faiths, he replied that it is an act of merit if we support anyone who is sincere even if he belongs to another faith.'
In another instance, when he spoke of the different realms of existence, the Buddha pointed out that in certain deva or celestial realms, are beings who have followed various religions while on earth. The common trait was that they were all good human beings. He didn't say the heavens were reserved only for Buddhists. This goes to illustrate the realistic approach of the Buddha's teachings. However, it must be noted that birth in the heavenly realms according to Buddhist teachings, is not the end all and be all; it is a happy existence no doubt but is still part of the samsaric cycle and therefore, after a very long spell in a heavenly realm, a deva can be born once again on earth or elsewhere as he is still subject to karma.
Sunday Leader - 6 May 2001
Metta, a subline state of mind
By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
Religion is the conquest of fear; the antidote for failure and death. The month of May is usually linked with religious observances for Buddhists all around the world who celebrate Vesak; the thrice blessed day.
The teachings of the Buddha, although he lived and preached more than 2,500 years ago, are relevant even in this day and age and it is now, in these wholly corrupted and decadent days that we most need to adhere to his teachings.
Most Buddhists feel that a mere visit to the temple with their offerings make them true Buddhists. Or that if they observe the rites and religious customs at a wedding or funeral, then they are good Buddhists. But these rituals mean nothing if those who follow them, do not live the life of a good Buddhist. If he is not pure in thought, word and deed, or if he is not at least striving towards it, then he is not a Buddhist.
The essence of some of the last words of the Buddha was that the best way to respect him would not be by bringing flowers and worshipping his idol, but by following his philosophy to lead a meaningful and noble life.
But unfortunately, this is not practised by many Buddhists. Even so-called very religious people engage in unethical or at times diabolic acts with no thought whatsoever of the sin or paapa karma that it entails. Such people are the first to rush to temple on poya day. Maybe that is because they think by doing so their karma would be erased.
Buddhist philosophy places utmost importance on the mind which originates all our karmic activity, good and bad. Keeping the mind free of unwholesome thoughts isn't the easiest thing to do, but if you cultivate mindfulness and watch your mind and correct yourself when you go wrong, then that is a beginning. Metta or radiating loving kindness, the Buddha said, is one of the four sublime states of mind. The four 'sublime states' to which we all should aspire are known as the Brahma Vihara in Buddhist texts. They are the great signs of the Bodhisattva, who aspires for an end to the samsaric journey. Maitri is loving kindness radiated towards all beings, Karuna is compassion or mercy, the kindness shown to the suffering, Mudita is sympathetic joy, being happy for others, without a trace of envy and Upekka is equanimity, the ability to accept the ups and downs of life with equal dispassion.
In a discourse titled 'An Exhortation' by Sister Khema, she said, "Loving kindness must not be directed only towards what is lovable. To love that which is lovable is possible for anyone. It's easy. That is what all the romances, the movies, the novels, are all about. To love what is lovable is not the spiritual path but a worldly endeavour. The reason for loving kindness is because the heart has the ability to give; its purpose is for purification. But trying to understand loving kindness with the kind can never succeed. It has to be felt with one's heart. The heart has to be involved whole-heartedly for unless loving kindness is felt in the heart, the root of hate, dosa will remain."
Some people are nice and caring to outsiders, to friends and strangers, but the shocking truth sometimes is that they do not believe in the old adage, "charity begins at home." Some act selfless and sensitive to outsiders, but to their loved ones they can be extremely selfish and insensitive.
Then there are those who look down upon the lower social orders or those whose lineage may not be as 'high' as their own. Lord Buddha rose up against the caste system in India at a time when it was so deeply entrenched that the untouchables were treated worse than animals. The Buddha pointed out that it is not one's birth that makes him high or low, but his actions alone.
According to the Buddha's teachings, one's kindness and metta must radiate to all beings; not just humans but to animals and all sub-human states and the higher orders of the deva and brahma realms. Of taking another life, he said, all creatures cherish their lives; all beings fear harm and death. Take yourself as an example and do not hurt others, do not kill others. (beings)
Being a Buddhist does not mean one has to live life as an ascetic who has renounced the world, but lead a decent life where you bring no harm to others, be it people or animals. Even following the five moral precepts, known as the pancha seela -- abstaining from taking another life, abstaining from theft or stealing what belongs to another, abstaining from indulging in sexual misconduct, abstaining from falsehood and abstaining from intoxicants -- could help a person live a noble life, being no hindrance to others. To go further, one may follow the noble eightfold path.
The four noble truths that the Lord Buddha taught were: Life is suffering (unsatisfactoriness); Suffering is due to attachment; Attachment can be overcome; and, There is a path to ending suffering. This is what all Buddhists must aspire for -- putting an end to misery, suffering, ignorance and desire -- by following the noble eightfold path and ending the samsaric journey.
Sunday Leader - 29 April 2001
Seeing things as they really are
Let us not wallow in samsara'smighty swamp
By Leslie Dahanaike
If one were to name all wordlings as madmen, such a person runs the risk of being dubbed a lunatic himself. Who actually is a lunatic? According to the dictionary definition of the word, a lunatic is an insane person, that is a person whose mental faculties are deranged -- a person whose thoughts, speech and actions are foolish and insensible, a behaviour, for various reasons, which does not conform to the generally accepted norms. Such a person could be a potential danger or even a menace to society and therefore is usually confined to an asylum.
Struggle for existence
It has been found that the behavioural patterns of these persons varies, according to the degree of lunacy in them. Human beings could be categorised as lunatics and the whole world a lunatic asylum because man in his struggle for existence and in the rate race for living, by and large, cannot see things as they really are, enmeshed as he is in the web of his own craving which is personified in life itself in its manifold aspects.
Man or homo sapiens has been given the highest place in the animal kingdom because of the supremacy of his intellect. This is the characteristic which distinguishes him from the lower animals. He is a being with intelligence, comprehension and powers of reason, a so-called rational being. But what is rationality after all? It is the power to rationalise or reason out things. And this power has its limits. What is beyond the ken of human understanding and rationality is generally not known nor is one generally bothered to know because of the limitations of one's intellect. Insight and penetrative wisdom may thus be mere words or concepts to individuals who have not grasped the truths of existence -- birth, old age, decay and death, even intellectually, let alone realise these concepts by the inward process of mental cultivation or meditation as we call it.
And grasping the truth is not easy. It is very, very different, according to the Buddha. And one is generally content to live one's whole life span without even attempting to find out, understand and grasp the truth. Most of us cannot find the time for such pursuits, being caught up in the business of living our day-to-day lives. This is because we are not wide awake or alive to the suffering around us. We let the idea pass or gloss over it, not even giving a thought to find out why we are suffering or think of a way of escape from it or ending it, engulfed as most of us are in our own pleasures or pre-occupied with our own avocations. We have neither the time nor inclination to take a took at ourselves because we are so absorbed in our evanescent joys or engrossed in our fleeting pastimes. Why is this so? The Buddha gives the answers. It is because our eyes are covered with 'dust' that we cannot see. We are blind and therefore not alive to the truth.
If one has a surfeit of pleasure or one is blessed with life's 'goodies' in abundant measure, one can be insensitive to the suffering around him. One can even develop a calculated indifference to it. The very thought of pondering over suffering could be sorrowful and, therefore, could be avoided or shut out, if such a thought arises in one's mind: Instead, pleasurable thoughts and sensations which could make one even momentarily happy are usually pursued with relish.
Wordlings are mad, because of the very fact that they are worldlings. They are accustomed to pursue pleasure in varying degrees every moment of their lives. Pleasures have a variety of manifestations and could mean all kinds of sensual joys, intellectual satisfactions, lust for power, wealth, position, fame, carnal delights, satiating the artistic appetites or whetting the literary palates, in fact, anything or everything that satisfies one's egocentric craving.
Bounded by the senses
The world, as we know is the world bounded by the senses. There is no other world that a worldling knows except this world. The world of non-worldlings or arahats, the saintly ones, is the world that has transcended the senses and therefore unbounded. Like the limitless sky or the unbounded space in the vast cosmos, it reaches out to eternity. It is, therefore, timeless and ageless.
Among the 'lunatics' in the world are those whose actions are positively evil and could cause immense harm not only to themselves but also to the society in which they live because they do not pause to think of the evil consequences of their actions. In this category are the killers, assassins, looters, robbers, arsonists, drunkards, drug addicts and a host of others who for various reasons resort to base and evil acts.
Why do they have recourse to such conduct? Because a veil of ignorance clouds their thinking. They cannot see clearly since their minds are warped or poisoned by the three cankers of greed, hate and ignorance. Is there no salvation for these people or for that matter for the vast majority of foolish worldlings and others on the lunatic fringe in pursuit of this, that or the other thing, hoping to find momentary happiness. The answer is that as long as they continue to grasp, clutch and claw, there can be no salvation, according the Buddha's teaching. One must learn to deliberately let go, sooner or later, at some stage or other, even in a small measure, little by little -- a seemingly impossible thing for worldings to even attempt to do.
For, our very lives are the very antithesis of this very idea of letting go. In fact we may rightly say we breathe the air of craving with every pulsation or heart throb, as it were. Craving is in the very fabric of our lives. The veil of ignorance that surrounds us can be gradually, systematically and deliberately lifted through diligent and sustained effort by following the path shown by the Buddha -- the Noble Eightfold Path: Then only can the mind be stilled and supreme wisdom realised. The path, says the Buddha, will be seen and intellectually appreciated only by 'those whose eyes are covered with little dust' They are the wise ones who are mature in their samsaric journey.
Those who can at least intellectually comprehend the Four Noble Truths of suffering, its cause, its cessation and the path leading to its cessation have gained something. They are on the road, on the correct road, says the Buddha, to understanding the Truth. They can see things as they really are and appreciate the ephemeral nature of existence and the transiency of all component things. They will, even with occasional flashes of insight, some day penetrate the veil or pierce the shell of ignorance which encompasses their very being and see the light of wisdom which has so far eluded them.
Letting go
Once they have rooted out greed, hate and ignorance fully in the way taught by the Buddha, they will see the futility of continued existence and truly let go forever. They will no longer be wallowing in samsara's mighty swamp. For they will be free, liberated for all time.
Sunday Leader - 29 April 2001
The recluse of Bundala
More than 50 years ago, I had the once-in-a-lifetime fortune to meet Harold Musson and Osbert Moore who came to Sri Lanka on an exploratory visit to study Buddhism after they had spent about 3 months in India learning the teaching and practice of the Ramakrishna Mission, and being dissatisfied. They met in the British Secret Service during the last World War when they were assigned to interrogate prisoners of war in Italy.
Harold was born on 5th January 1920 at Aldershot graduating in 1940 with a First Class in Modern Language from Magdalene College, Cambridge and also studied Mathematics and French. Osbert, born 25th June 1905 graduated from Exter College, Oxford. Osbert was formerly an Executive Director in the BBC Italian section of Bush House, London. In Italy, Harold came across a book on Buddhism written by Evola in Italian. He published an English translation of it titled 'The Doctrine of Awakening - A Study on Buddhist Ascesis' [Luzac, London, 1951].
Coal Mines in Wales
After the war, Harold, the younger, an only child, heir to Coal Mines in Wales returned to a bohemian life in London. Osbert went back to the BBC. One evening, they met in a pub and during a long discussion they found no meaning in their pursuits and in the trivialities of post-war life. It destined them to visit the Island Hermitage, be ordained by its German High Priest Nanathiloka - Harold as Nanavira and Osbert as Nanamoli - to live, strive, achieve and die in the wilds of Sri Lanka. This is their story. I graduated as a doctor in 1958 and the following year volunteered to serve as medical officer of health in the deep south, at Hambantota, famous for its golden beaches, emerald seas and sunlight. Nanavira found the humidity of the Island Hermitage affecting his health and the company of others interfering. About two years before me, he had come to Hambantota for its dry climate and his search for solitude led him to forest of Bundala, a few miles further south. Bundala was then a remote hamlet with very poor people living in wattle and daub mud huts, subsisting on burn and slash cultivation and fishing. I am told it was an ancient village of the caste of washerwomen and men serving King Dutugemunu, around 1500 years ago.
From the main highway to Tissamaharama, a thin gravel road ran through the jungle to the village. Just past a culvert at a bend is a little clearing of scrub land and rolling sand where, after the rains, flamingos come from Europe every year to feed. And hidden in a crop of dense forest is a footpath leading to the dwelling house or kuti designed and built by Nanavira. As even now, all around is thick virgin forest with wild elephants, leopards, wild boar, monkeys, endemic and migrating birds feeding in the lagoons; and infested with poisonous snakes, the deadly Russel's viper (polonga) and the cobra. The area is now the Government Bundala Forest Reserve.
To practice Dhamma
The kuti had one room about 8 feet square entered along a 12 feet corridor built for walking meditation. It had a stone bed and as I remember, a table, chair and some books. Nanavira built a latrine and an earthen water storage structure. Nearby, if you walk through the jungle is the sea, stretching without land all the way to Antarctica. It is an idyllic place to practice the Dhamma as recommended by the Buddha. Whenever I visited him in the stillness and cool of evenings, the aroma of solitude and the soft rays of the setting sun would seep into me the meaning of the word 'tranquility'. But seasonal droughts in July can be enervating and one day I met Nanavira bathing in the culvert, in a drying pool slaked with mud. Later, he was taken to Colombo to syringe the mud from his ears! Another time, he was treated for bursitis of both knees from unrelenting practice of ana-pana-sati or in-and-out-breathing meditation. This is the way an Englishman learned and practiced the Dhamma.
My visits were for not more than an hour, mainly to know if he wanted my mother to send him anything. [My mother Clara, was the founder and Secretary of the Sasanadhara Kantha Samitiya or women's society she built with other ladies to look after the needs of the monks of the Island Hermitage]. One day, I saw him writing with a pencil stub less than one inch - and yet Nanavira wanted nothing except some medicine for his chronic bowel disorder, treated as for amoebiasis. Letters published after his death reveal a long correspondence with a doctor about ups and downs and its progress to become incurable. He has at the sametime answered profound philosophical questions on Dhamma, including on whether to disrobe and go back to England or take his own life when he could not progress further in the Path.
As time went by, pain and frequent diarrhea attacks interfered with meditation and concentration. The drugs prescribed produced poisonous effects. In a discourse to King Passanedi, the Buddha has described five conditions for striving, the second of which is ability for good digestion. In a letter to his doctor in December 1962 he said "Although I wrote to you in my last letter that I was oscillating between the extremes of disrobing and suicide; a return to lay life would be pure weakness, and in any case I should be miserable..." So, on July 5th 1965, he decided to put an end to his life. But I am now getting ahead of my memories. Nanamoli had a fine sense of self-deprecating humor and enjoyed robust health. He undertook a monumental task to translate to English from Pali the treatise, the Visuddimagga of Buddhagosha, [Path of Purification]. Pali is the language of the suttas or discourses of the Buddha, the Tripitaka, written at Aluwihara in Sri Lanka for the first time, about 400 years after his death.
Nanamoli never left the island from the day of his ordination and after completing his magnum opus, decided to go on a pilgrimage with the then High Priest of the hermitage. The rules (of the Vinaya) lay down by the Buddha does not permit, among other things, handling of money. My mother's samithiya attended to all that. So, when my father put Nanamoli in the train at the Fort railway station, he asked "Sir, when are you returning?" Nanamoli, smiled and said "Bertie, how do you know I am returning?" He died on a desolate gravel road in the Kurunegala backwoods, about 25 years after walking the lush carpets of the BBC.
The body was taken by bullock cart to a hospital and later, after the inquest, for the funeral in Colombo. My mother sent me a telegram to inform Nanavira. I went to Bundala in the afternoon around 3 O'clock. I parked the car near the culvert and walked through the jungle looking around for elephants. I met Nanavira at a small clearing in the footpath. He was dying his robes in the way prescribed by the Buddha. The first thing he said was "Kingsley, why are you coming at this time"? I was then in my late twenties and he, though a little older looked more mature than his age. We were like friends and stupidly, I beat around the bush. He interrupted, "Have you come to tell me that Nanamoli has died"? The casualness with which he said it hangs in my memory. When I explained he continued to dye the robes and wring them as if the news meant nothing. He said that Nanamoli had written to him about the pilgrimage and left instructions with him to settle his affairs in the event of death. So Nanamoli had a presentiment of death. I told Nanavira that I am unable to take him by car for the funeral in Colombo, about 150 miles away because I did not have leave. Can he travel by bus? Without the slightest hesitation, he got ready with his bowl slung over the shoulder and walked with me to the car. In the distance we saw two wild elephants and he remarked: "Kingsley, the problem for human beings is boredom. Animals are never bored. Do not read the suttas because you will then give up the lay life". He knew I had just got married. He had never made any attempt to teach me the Dhamma though he had detected a dormant reflexive nature in me. One evening, I was standing on the beach, alone. There was the horizon in the setting sun and the clear blue vault above, the sound of crashing waves and an ethereal emptiness. I felt utterly insignificant in the immensity of the universe and had an overpowering feeling that nothing in life mattered. I had told Nanavira about this strange glimpse of an insight.
Island Hermitage
I brought him to Hambantota and lodged him at a small temple near my residence. The next day after a noon day meal my wife served, I took him to the town bus stand. It was about 1 pm. The bus to Colombo starts about 45 miles further south from Tissamaharama. It was packed when it arrived. Nanavira got in. I paid for his ticket. He stood in the gangway with his bowl slung over the shoulder holding the handrail - tall, imposing and indifferent. It occurred to me that here was a man who at one time could have bought the bus on the spot! I inquired if there was anyone willing pay for a taxi in Colombo to Vajiraramaya and I shall give the money. A man, who was seated immediately got up gave it to Nanavira and assured he will attend to everything. That was the last time I saw Nanavira. I went on transfer to the North Central Province and we corresponded briefly. He had a peculiar way of folding letters, as in origami. Unfortunately, I have not preserved any.
A few years before, Nanavira's mother flew to Sri Lanka to take her son home. His father had died and she was alone. My mother arranged for her to stay at the Mt. Lavinia Hotel [where some scenes of the film Bridge over the River Kwai were shot]. Nanavira met her at Vajiraramaya in Colombo. His pagan life as she thought and the bizarre change devastated her in her only child. She recoiled to see him eating with his fingers from the begging bowl. Nanavira tried and failed to explain. He returned to his forest refuge. The mother flew back to London - and died in two weeks.
I met Kate Burvill from the Tate Art Gallery [presently with Thames and Hudson] in a strange way in Colombo, in January 1999. She is a niece of Nanavira and had come on a holiday to Sri Lanka for the first time, combining it with a search for information about her uncle. She visited the Island Hermitage and the monks there referred her to me. She telephoned from the Galle Face Hotel and we met. The next day I took her to Bundala - to give her a feeling for the wilderness, the solitude, the ambience and peace where her uncle lived strived and cleared the Path when Kate was only 3-years-old.
Wild elephants
At the kuti, we met an English monk, a former telecommunication engineer, who gave her the library copy of 'Clearing the Path'. He said there was a waiting list in Europe for the kuti. Later in the evening, though our driver protested about wild elephants on the road in the gathering night, I arranged for her to meet the mother of the village headman of Bundala. The old lady re-told the story of Nanavira. The headman, she said was a three-month baby in her womb when tragedy struck the village.
This is the way Nanavira died. One evening, I saw his skin inflamed with insect bites and gave him a vial of ethyl chloride spray used those days as a local anaesthetic. He used it and obtained another from my mother. By now, his sickness had worsened. He had attempted suicide twice. This time was final. He constructed a facemask with polythene and through an ingenious self-closing tube made also from polythene, inhaled ethyl chloride vapor probably after his noonday meal. A man from the village came as usual to offer the evening dana (gift) of fluids - aerated water, tea, coffee, or fruit juice - at about 4pm. He tapped the door as everyone did. There was no response. He then opened it and went into the room. Nanavira was 'sleeping' on his bed in the position adopted by the Buddha - the lion's pose - with a polythene mask over the face. One hand was fallen to the floor with the empty ethylchloride vial gently laid on the floor. Nanavira Thera was dead.
The man was in shock. He ran to the village and the news spread like a bush fire. The whole village, including women and little children ran to the kuti. The village headman's mother gave a moving graphic account of the funeral arrangements - how she and other women gave their best saris to drape the pyre 8 feet high made by the villagers. Her daughters joined to say that even now Nanavira is not forgotten. Questions are set about his life at the regional Dhamma Sunday School competitions. My father attended the inquest. There was a sealed letter addressed to the coroner and no postmortem examination. The people of Bundala cremated their beloved Nanavira Thera and interned his ashes by the kuti, beside his sanctuary by the sea.
The ashes of a later German monk who died from a bite of a polonga lie beside it now. Serpents never harmed Nanavira. They would uncoil, move
some distances and watch him pass. No wild elephant ever threatened him. They would visit the kuti every night, drink the water he leaves in a bucket, sometimes kicking it, and pull his towels and robes on the clothes line to tease him. But they never touched a tile. With one kick, they could demolish the kuti in a minute. So it stands today just the same as I saw it first - and yes, the elephants still keep vigil. Because of Kate I now know more about the best friend I had. The following year I met her at the Tate Gallery, and she presented me a brand new copy of 'Clearing the Path', the book by Nanavira Thera on Dhamma that has not been written for 2000 years from which I am writing this series. He lives in the hearts of people who have no need to understand any of it. Nanavira, who attained sotapatti [Stream-eneterer] in 1957, will be born seven more times. He is the legend of Bundala.
The Island - 20 March 2001
Puggalavada and Theravada Buddhist teachings
by D. Amarasiri Weeraratne
Upto the time of the 2nd Council 200 years after the Buddha, there were no sectarian divisions among Buddhist monks. The Buddha had permitted the Sangha to change minor rules after his demise, according to the wishes of the fraternity and by a majority decision. In pursuance of this concession, the monks of the Vajji country well known for its republican form of government called for the adoption of ten minor changes in the Vinaya rules.
The hard core orthodox and conservative monks headed by Revata and Sabbakami resisted these changes. Hence the conservative elders disallowed these changes. Consequently, the dissident monks broke away from the conservative elders (The Theras) and established the Mahasanghika Sect and held their own Sangha Council. Thus came about the first division in the Sangha. The Maha Sanghikas as their name implies constituted the majority of the Sangha. The Theras constituted a minority of hard core reactionaries who were opposed to an form of change.
Between the 2nd and 3rd Councils 236 years after the Buddha the Conservative Elders (The Theras) broke off into two sects, viz: Vibjjavadins and Sautrantikas. Almost simultaneously the Mahasangikas also broke off into a sect called Puggalavadin. (Believers in persons.) The Vibjjavadins broke off into three sects, one of which was the Theravada - the Buddhism we have in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos etc. Thus you will see that the Puggalavada Sect and the Theravada Sect were the earliest of the sectarian divisions in Buddhism.
Controversy on Abhidhamma
The chief characteristic of the Puggalavada Sect was their rejection of the Abhidharma Pitaka as a teaching of the Buddha. They maintained that Abhidharma is apocryphal scripture cooked up by the Theravada Elders between the 2nd and 3rd Councils and adopted at the 3rd Council. The Puggalavadins as well as Sautranitikas rejected the Abhidharma Pitaka and had only 2 Pitakas viz: Sutta and Vinaya Pitakas.
In the Suttas the Buddha speaks of a person who fares on in Sansara, performs good and bad deeds and receives reward or distribution for them. In fact the entire Sutta Pitaka is based on the assumption that there is a person (puggala) who is subject to the sufferings in Sansara. The purpose of the Buddha-Dhamma is to eliminate this suffering and help them to attain Nirvana.
The Anatta concept
The Abhidharma denies the existence of a person or an individual. It accepts only fleeting thought moments which arise and flash instantly. In this process there is no person or being. The Buddha taught the Suttas to men on earth, referring to a person. In the Abhidharma he is supposed to have preached to the gods in which he denies the existence of a person or an individual. In order to bridge the gulf of this inconsistency the Abhidharma scholars invented the theory of two truths. The Sutras are true in the conventional sense, and the Abhidharma is true in the ultimate sense which is the highest truth.
The Puggalavadins could not accept the theory that the Buddha had taught two kinds of truth. Nowhere had he done so. The Theravadins cannot quote from any part of the Sutras where he has taught that there are two truths called Sammuti and Paramartha. Thus they refuted this contention and asserted that the Abhidharma Pitaka is a fabrication and required another concoction to maintain its validity. It is with the help of this fabrication that Abhidharma scholars reconcile the inconsistency in the Sutra and Abhidharma teachings.
The Southern School of Buddhism
Theravada Buddhism is Abhidharma oriented. All its commentaries and ancillary literature are written in a way to accommodate the Abhidarma. Ven. Buddhagosha asserted that the Abhidharma Pitaka is a teaching of the Buddha. But he himself admitted in the Atthasalini Commentary that there were ancient Sinhala Elders at Anuradhapura who challenged the validity of the Abhidharma Pitaka.
They pointed out that the Buddha had taught in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra that we should not accept teachings presented to us in his name if they are inconsistent with the Sutra and the Vinaya teachings. They also asserted that in the Anagatabhaya Sutra the Buddha envisaged a time when monks will cook up doctrines and scriptures not taught by him and present them as the Buddha-word. He admonished his followers to carefully compare such teachings with the Sutras and the Vinaya and accept them only if they are compatible and consistent.
Therefore Abhidharma being incompatible with the Sutra and Vinaya teaching was rejected by the Puggalawadins. The Sautrantika teachers too rejected the Abhidharma on the same grounds. The very name Sautrantika Sect means those who take only the Sutras as authoritative.
The controversy on Antarbhava
They accepted Abhidharma only to the extent that it is found in seed form in the Sutras. Another important teaching of the Puggalavadins was the doctrine of Antarabhava. The interim spirit existence between one life and another. This was denied by the Therevadins who asserted that the acceptance of Antarabhava by the Puggalavadins was due to a misunderstanding of some passages of the Sutras. The Puggalavadins maintained their position and showed that the misinterpretation of key passages is the work of Abhidharma oriented Theravada teachers, who tried to cut and hack the Buddha-word to suit their Abhidharma-oriented views. Their teaching was that their was no person, or being, but a mere flux of fleeting thought moments which are impersonal. The Puggalavadins considered this a bovine folly.
Between the 2nd and 3rd Council, the Theravadins had compiled 7 Abhidharma books and asserted that except one other were the teachings of the Buddha preached in the Tavatismsa heaven to the gods. Not to be outdone the Sarvastivadin teachers also compiled 7 Abhidharma books and adopted them as their Abhidharma Pitaka. They were candid and frank enough to reveal the names of the authors of the books, unlike the Theravadins who took up the position that their 7 books contained preachings of the Buddha to the gods in the Tavatimsa heaven.
The common denominator
But an examination of the two Abhidharma Pitakas show too many discrepancies whereas their Sutra and Vinaya Pitakas are similar. This is clear proof that the Abhidharma Pitaka was composed after the monks broke off into sects. The Puggalavadins taught that a person or a pudgala who performs good and bad deeds reaps the results and fares on in Sansara until the attainment of Nirvana. The Bharahara Surta was the favourite text of the Pudgalavadins. Therein Buddha said" Bhara have Panchakkhando, Bharaharo Ca Puggalo." This means the five aggregates are a burden, the puggala or person is the burden bearer.
Here clearly the Buddha distinguishes between the five groups of aggregates (skandas) and the person who bears them. But according to the Theravada Abhidharma the burden carries itself. There is no burden-bearer. This is what Buddhaghosha meant when he said in the Visuddhi Magga - the standard text of the Theravada - that" there is mere suffering but no sufferer exists". "There is the Noble Eightfold Path but no one traverses it". Buddhaghosha copied the idea from a verse in Nagarjuna’s Mula Madhyama Karika - his magnum opus in which he ennunciates his Madhyamika philosophy with its central doctrine of Sunyata - the void. According to this, the whole world and all its phenomena are mirage, a dream, an illusion or" a castle in the air" as Nagarjuna put it. This is the Hindu doctrine of Maya dressed up in a Buddhist garb.
The Puggalavadins taught that to deny the existence of a person is to bring down the whole edifice of the Buddha-Dharma. It is absurd to say that the burden carries itself, that mere suffering exists and there is no sufferer, or that the Path exists without anyone to tread the path. This is not Buddhism, it is the Buddhaghosha brand of Abhidharma Buddhism.
The self and no-self
The Puggalavadins point out that if there are no beings, the practise of Metta would not be possible, Karma and Rebirth would be meaningless, without a person faring on in Sansara. Memories of previous lives, the preaching of the Satipattana Sutra for the purification of beings and overcoming their sufferings would be meaningless, if there is no person.
The Buddha said, "One person is born among men for the welfare and happiness of beings". Hundreds of such texts can be quoted from the Sutras. To deny a person in the ultimate sense (the highest truth) and accept him in a conventional sense is to talk with two tongues and dilute the truth of the Buddha-word. The Sutta Nipata says that "Buddhas have no two words." "Truth is one and not many". (Ekam hi saccam na dutiyamatthi). Two contrary truths is foreign to the Buddha’s teaching.
The chief difference between Puggalavada and Theravada comes with the acceptance and non-acceptance of the Abhidharma Pitaka as a teaching of the Buddha. Theravada is steeped in Abhidharma and is abhidharma oriented. The Puggala vadins have only two Pitakas namely Sutra and Vinaya Pitakas. The Puggalavadins took care not to use the word Atman or soul as is understood in Vedanta, i.e. an immutable self characterised by permanence, bliss and substance.
The Puggala of the Pudgalavadins is a self that is subject to impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and is not to be considered as the essence or core for those reasons. This appears to be a halfway house between the Vedantic soul and the no-soul doctrine of the Theravadins. The Buddha is neither an anatmavadi nor atmavadi.
The Puggalavadins teach that the puggala arises simultaneously with the five aggregates, is not within or outside them, but forms a structural unit with them.
It is the astral body, secondary body or bio-plasamabody of modern Para-psychological research. Its existence and verifiability has been vindicated by 150 years of Psychical Research in the West in which very eminent scientists have taken part. It is the mano-kaya or the Suttas.
If Buddhism is to be a practical religion of value to mankind, it must take into account and recognise the existence of persons or individuals - otherwise Buddhism falls flat and collapses like a pack of cards. When you deny a person, you have to deny the Buddha, his Dhamma and the Sangha. That reduces Buddhism to a force.
The Island - 19 Sep 00
‘Turn around’ to the Dharma
by Fr. Siri Oscar Abayaratne
I am an ordinary Catholic priest. I am no mystic, scholar or theologian in the accepted meaning of these terms. I run the risk of being dismissed at the very outset for lack of accreditation to a seat of learning or research institute. I stake a claim however, to be heard by reason of my close contact with mostly the poor Catholics of this land, whose lived out faith in the Christhu Dharma has influenced my life and ministry more than anything or anyone else. These poor have helped me to come close to Jesus Christ who remains and will remain my Lord and Master. Please permit me a few personal experiences before I get on with the subject of this article: ‘A call to turn around to the Dharma’.
After 30 or more years of activity, should I say hyper activity, since my ordination to the priesthood in 1957, there was a growing desire within me to "let-go" the position I held in the movement I was the director of. I wanted to retire into a life of silence, alone and withdrawn. It was quite a dream, call it a romantic one. Yes, to be alone, doing my own thing: cooking, washing my clothes, going down to the hill for water and other washing purposes. A pipe-dream! Not that I could really do it. It still remains a dream, wearing quite thin right now. However where I am at the moment is a location, quite idyllic, and much to my liking. I am not alone. A group of young people calling themselves "Virodhaya" (resistance) share a life-together.
Awareness
In November 1st 1997 to be exact, committedly Christian though, we began our life with the Satipathana (Right Mindfulness) of the Buddha. Awareness became a key word in the way of life we had adopted. It was a rewarding exercise to become conscious of the damage done to oneself and to others by our conscious and subconscious attachment to the I, me, and mine. Why we should have started with the Satipathana, we have no answer, except to say that we were led to do so. We did not see the need to subject our manner of action to a special process of discernment.
When Jesus said "Come follow me" it was primarily a call to be led by the Holy Spirit of Love and to be led by that Spirit of Love in our dealings with men and women and all of God’s creation. Subsequently we believe, it was this same Spirit of Holy Love that directed our attention to the experience like that of the great Saint Paul, referred to in the Gospel of Luke - Acts: 17/28.
"In Him we live, we move and have our being"
At times we move out of the most rewarding specifically Buddhist experience of mindfulness to become conscious of the "presence" of the Transcendent. Our shared reflections helped us to make a sly, should I say a passing or an ephemeral entry though, in to the profound experiences of the Rishis or the genuine Hindu. Let me quote to you from the Isha Upanishads:
"Filled with Brahman are the things we see, Filled with Brahman are the things we see not,
From out of Brahman floweth all that is: From Brahrnan all &emdash; yet is He still the same.
Om....Peace &emdash; Peace &emdash; Peace
In the heart of all things, or whatever there is in the universe,
dwells the Lord, He alone is the Reality.
Wherefore, renouncing vain appearances, rejoice in Him. The Self is one. Unmoving, It moves swifter than thought
The senses do not overtake it, for always It goes before. Remaining still it outstrips all that runs.
Without the Self, there is no life. To the illumined soul, the Self is all.
For him who sees everywhere oneness, How can there be delusion or grief?
The Self is everywhere. Bright is He, Bodiless, without scar of imperfection
Without bone, without flesh, pure, Untouched by evil."
We thanked the Lord for this Hindu experience. We could relish this very small, tiny experience of the Rishis and praise God for the Spirit that is leading men of diverse climes in the quietness of their inner depths, to be touched by the Absolute, so much so that these men of the Hindu persuasion could say:
"That Thou art"
"I am He"
The Christian may not be happy with the Upanashidic articulation of the God experience as advaitic or non-dual but he has willy-nilly to own that it is a Spirit led God experience. My mind goes to men of the calibre of Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi. From the Hindu we often move on to the Islamic. Interestingly though, the Hindu experience led us to taste somewhat of the Islamic.
"La ilaha illa Allah" that expresses a total surrender to Allah, was paid conscious attention. But what was most educative was to recall the Koranic instruction. I quote from Guillo Basettisani O.F.M. in "The Koran in the light of Christ"
"In the Koran, nature and its phenomena are constantly alluded to as "signs", as a reality which conceals a higher reality. It is through these signs that the soul discovers God: the cosmic revelation to which the Koran continually refers. The world that is perceptible to the senses is sacrament of the God-head: everything is a shadow of the heavenly reality.
The kingdom of nature is a representation of the Kingdom of God..
Christian experience
This passage provides me with a corrective to my hitherto held belief that it was only in Christianity that the world around us was considered as sacraments of encounter with God: To listen to the myriad insects, to watch the rilawas, the monkeys hopping, jumping, shrieking, a mother-monkey with a little one hugging her precariously, cruising along from branch to branch as if a pathway had been laid out sans obstacles or gaps, was to stand in His presence, to listen to Him, to watch Him and to say very very soulfully -
"In You we live, move and have our being" and to say profoundly - "La ilaha, illa Allah" and arrive at the realization that the mere repetition of formulae or intellectual convictions or even a firm assurance that it is so, need not necessarily be the deep Upanishadic or Islamic experience. An experience demands much more and gives more. The summons became more pronounced when we had to contend with the Christian experience. These reflections are meant to introduce my readers to what I want to say regarding the tragedy that is ours in this beloved country torn from within and without.
Any perceptive visitor to this land would not fail to see the many temples, kovils, mosques and churches that dot its landscape - potent signs, that we are a religious people. We indeed are religious, a vociferously religious people, if religious activities in our places of worship, pilgrimages (even those organised by politicians or done so by religious diginitaries for the benefit of politicians) and religious festivities are further taken info account. I need not labour the point that this type of religiosity is far removed from genuine liberative spirituality. I wish to propose the thesis that our country needs to return to spirituality, call it the liberative core of our great religions or in short the Dharma. There is the Hindu Dharma, the Buddha Dharma, the Christhu Dharma and Islam. This return should not be confined to an individuals very personal return to a liberative spiritual or Dharmic way of life. Our whole political, social, economic system has to do a roundabout turn. Sounds extremely idealistic. May I suggest that its Really Real. What is more real than that which deals with the depths and not merely with ephemeral and the superficial. Let me quote from a booklet "To see a new earths" (a mini publication of the Kithu Dana Pubuduwa). An important question that needs to be posed at this particular time of political turmoil and the framing of a new constitution (or any other question for that matter) is whether such a constitution is based on shifting, changing ideologies of the local or imported varieties (feudalism, casteism, capitalism, socialism, humanism, liberalism, racism, ethnicism, religious fanaticism) or on the sure foundation of Truth as shared by the Founders of our great Religions, viz Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity. The proud heritage of the Sri Lankan polity may be cryptically formulated thus:
i. The four Noble Truths or Liberation in the experience of No self, No I, No me, No mine (Buddhism)
ii. Fullness in the experience of being lost in the Transcendent (Hinduism)
iii. Realization in the surrender to the Transcendent (Islam)
iv. Beatitude in the experience of saying Yes to Transcendent Love (Christianity)
The words "Fullness" "Liberation", "Beatitude", "Realization" are used indiscriminately. ‘It is our contention that though the verbal expression has taken different forms necessitated by the limitations of culture, language, thought forms, and other contextual realities as current religious experiences, of time and space, there is a common meeting ground in the experience of Truth of the different Founders. It is to this foundation i.e. ABSOLUTE TRUTH, that we would wish our new constitution be referred to for its validation as morally right, proper and of benefit to all - man, woman, beast and environment." In the context of this vision for a new land based on the Dharma, which I would venture to suggest should be the Buddha Dharma, with the proviso that its liberative core be formulated in a manner that it can be accepted by those who committedly profess the Hindu, Islam or Christhu Dharma, I am deeply convinced that it is possible, and I should think that an attempt is being made at such a formulation.
Absolute truth
The Dharma is the articulation of the Absolute Truth as opposed to a false absolute: A race, a party, a nation, an ideology, to which we give an allegiance which is ultimate, is an idol far more heinous than the stones and statues of the primitive. How can we be freed from these idolatries is a large question. And this I believe is what a good many people of all faiths or no faith indulge in. Take the case of morality -’ Moral principles’ need criteria or a criterion to evaluate or critique them. Else they can be disastrously, divisively and destructively based on a world of individual preferences. "‘What if these are based on the dominant cultures of the modern world, political, economic and religious Political it is said are based on the manipulation of power; economic cultures on the manipulation of money and religions on the manipulation of some theory about religion or religion itself." (Quote) Hence the need of a bottom-line-measure. Where can we find it? As far as I am concerned, I should think it is found in the liberative core experience of the founders of our great religions. If I put it in another way, it is in the enlightenment experience of Jesus - the Christ, the Buddha - the Enlightened one, the ancient Rishis of India and Prophet Mohamed. They have had an experience of "seeing". Their eyes were opened to the Reality as it is. What they thought or preached were not mere ideas or theories born in their heads only, but something more, something deep, something that possessed their whole being. They saw Reality. They saw what could be termed ULTIMATE REALITY.
The verbalization of this experience did take different forms conditioned by the limitations of time, space and language. In the case of Lord Buddha, we see the expression, say, in the Four Noble Truths. In that of Jesus Christ may I suggest that it is in the "Sermon on the Mount." In the case of Hinduism, can it be Tat Tvam Asi (That Thou art) or for Islam La ilaha illa Allah (there is no God except God). Here we see a basis for the principles of morality for the reconstruction of a society that stands pathetically deconstructed. Could it be otherwise when ideologies, liberalism, socialism, capitalism, marxism, casteism are vying with each other for not mere ascendancy but to be the absolute that defines what is right or wrong in every sphere of human activity. We are faced with the prospect of a fresh constitution threateningly and hastily forced upon this our beloved land and its peoples. It is manifestly based on ethnic aspirations, distorted histories and agendas for personal aggrandizement. One could very rightly posit that power, prestige, and possessions are the motivating forces that are propelling the powers that are. I insist that what is called for is not a return to mere religion which can and is often prostituted by the very agents of religion. Also, by many of our politicians (if not all) who could be seen at times ceremoniously seated in the very front benches of our Catholic churches or politicians bending all fours paying obeisance to the venerable Sangha. Even at the cost of being judgemental, I’m urged on to shout: "you hypocrites. The call is to "Turn Around " to the Dharma - the liberative core experience of great selfless men. We call them the founders of religion. Let me quote from Krishna Sivaraman: "The spirit of turning around singularly dominates the early religious landscape of India. Hindu, Buddhist, and Jaina." Christ’s call to a "metanoia" Mark 1/15 translated often as repent or reform, can just as well be, "Turn Around".
The pragmatist or the supposed to be realist or the visionary marxist or even the votaries of human rights, democracy, equality, would dismiss all this as venerable piffle meant for the ‘thavusa’ (hermit). Religion even in its deepest sense they would aver is only for personal liberation and have no social or political implication. The life witness of a Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narayan, Vinobha Bhave or even a Martin Luther King should suffice as an answer.
People had sometimes asked him (Gandhi) whether Rama rajya in fact stands for "Hindu Raj" - to these Gandhi replied "By Ram rajya I do not mean Hindu Raj. It is sovereignty of the people based on pure moral authority. Rama rajya means the state of freedom like heaven. I must say that the independence of my dream meant Rama rajya, i.e. the kingdom of God on earth. I do not know what it will be like in Heaven. I have no desire to know the distant scene. If the present is attractive enough, the future cannot be very unlike." (Harijan, May, 5, 1946).
‘When there are too many gods in the fray, idolatry and conflict are inevitable.’Idolatry or falsehood is accepted as sin, pure and simple. Unfortunately though, sin is spoken of often in relation to personal depravity, immorality or wrong doing, while social sin, systemic or structural sin is not named for what it is. It may be said that in the matter of gravty "structural sin". may be seen as the most grievous. It, in one grasp, holds millions or billions of people in a stranglehold that even good, honest living is made well-nigh impossible. A bribe to the management to get a person’s child to school, is sin both for the giver and the taker. But, what else can a person do, if the whole system is so geared to giving and taking of bribes and promotive of stark corruption. Sri Lanka, though small, is one big land space of sin. Its peoples cannot live without sinning. The best of its men and women will find it so difficult to not corrupt or be corrupted. Now to remove sin we are provided with panaceas: Divide the land into 8 parts, have interim councils, have a political party system ill-suited to this country, give the descendants of those who paid pooja to foreign masters once upon a time, to rule this country, allow the rich to become richer, the poor to become poorer, say that the answer to all our economic ills is a market economy or scientific socialism, give more and more opportunities over the state controlled media to dupe the people in gay abandon - we have a paradise on earth. The whole system is rotten to the core. It stinks. Hence the clarion call to "Turn Around" to the Dharma. Turn around to our roots that is our ancient wisdom.
Let the Dharma be the fundamentum on which could be erected a holy Temple, not of stones, but of living beings, men and women, animals, trees and plants, who would be supported by a system and by structures that are conducive to good, honest, straight forward living.
I have before me Prof. Nandasena Ratnapala’s "Buddhist, democratic, political theory and practice." Can’t we find inspiration from here to fore.Liberalism born of an individualism that led man to speak of rights, rights and rights of the individual; Socialism that spoke of the collective and the collective. These ideologies may certainly have values that need to be reckoned with. Let modern, political and social economic theories, and the technological advances made hitherto be made use of for the super structure, but let the foundation be firmly and irrevocably the Dharma. Here and now I wish to posit with the deepest of conviction which really is a shared thought: Structural sin or systemic sin which continues to breed social sin like the mosquitoes in most parts of our land, cannot - be dealt a fell blow, practically speaking, ignoring the political party system in our country. The very evil that is the political party system in Sri Lanka, has to be willy nilly used as a transitional stage to demolish it. The UNP or the PA inclusive of the SLFP has been a disaster. The ethnic based parties, I here someone saying, is an abomination. The JVP has a vision, it has committed men and women, it can change the whole social and political set up about which I have my reservations, as do so many others. Its deification of an ideology makes things difficult for many. We are in search for a Meissiah (Sunday Observer, February 15, 1998) not an individual person but men and women as a body who could provide us with a fresh constitution. If this can be initiated by a particular political party, what a blessing that would be!
Now, regarding a fresh constitution we would consider as imperative, two basic requirements: Firstly we would like to see the Buddha Dharma as the basis for our constitution (not the distorted varieties we may have come at times to put up with). Why the Buddha Dharma? I should think it has proved itself potent enough to provide a basis for a righteous society. (Please read the book referred to by Professor Nandasena Ratnapala, Sarvodaya, Vishvalekha Publications). Besides, the adherents of Buddhism are in the overwhelming majority in this country. Secondly, the poor, the oppressed, the afflicted (the Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher, Malay, the low caste and the Veddhas too) whose sovereignty, dignity and well-being is targeted first and foremost. Piease note that the focus of the fresh constitution be not mere alleviation of poverty or some such new fangled theory of social justice that will eventually satisfy the three Ps (power, prestige and possessions) of a selected coterie of the well to do.
We in Sri Lanka should take note of the constitutions fashioned in the recent past, 1946, 1972 and 1978 and the one now proposed in the year 2000. What beautiful words and phrases coined and fashioned by men and women, presumably of legal acumen, and for sure, of personal ambitions have gone to embellish these constitutions. Let me quote from Chapter 1 of the constitution presented in the Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka on the 3rd August 2000. No. 2 - In the Republic sovereignty is in the people and is inalienable. After 50 years of being governed under three previous constitutions, proclaiming unashamedly that the sovereignty is in the people, we would dare to ask where has been this sovereignty, where has been deposited this so called sovereignty. The poor are becoming poorer, more miserable and destitute, the rich are becoming richer, most of them are wallowing in ill-gotten wealth. Three constitutions and one in the offing, destining people to a fatalism where 60 to 70% have nowhere to go but export their wives, daughters and their sisters to virtual slavery.
There is no way out seemingly in the present set up without having recourse to a new political party that should be made to make the right decision. Can’t we plead for a political party that would make a shift from ideologies to the Dharma, to change the words sovereignty of the people to the sovereignty of the poor? Can we call on one of the many parties that are on sale, to make the necessary shift? Would it consider that the solution to the perceived problem of the minorities could lie in a positive approach to the unrecognised and now surfacing grievances of the majority. Hence the need to address the basic fears and concerns of the Sinhala Buddhists in a manner that they would feel strongly their responsibility to the minorities. Can we call on the Sihala Urumaya to make a radical change of stance from the urumaya (heritage) of a particular race (whatever be the grievances) to the urumaya of all the people: Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher, Malay, Veddah. Could they tell us that they would go in for a new constitution that makes the poor and the Buddha Dharma the basis for a new era to be born.
All this I suspect would be made to carry the tag - naive idealism. But I stand firmly on the belief that only a relationship to the Absolute - the Transcendent - the Ultimate, will assure the good of all. Whatever form the verbal formulations have taken regarding the Ultimate, it is the only Really Real that can eventually spell goodness, justice and well-being for all our people with an ever decreasing talk of majorities and minorities.
Those who are pre occupied and engrossed with the Tamil problem and Tamil aspirations or the war, might not lend an ear to a dissertation on a return to spirituality. As for aspirations, be it of any particular group, majority or minority should not be the basis for a constitution that is meant for a whole country. As for the war, constitutions cannot be targeted to stopping a war or ushering peace, when the war that is waged (rebellion) and the peace lost thereby has so many facets that need to be considered, before going in for a solution that concerns the basic law of the land.
There are still others who have experienced or fear religious fundamentalism. They shout their voices hoarse against any reference to religion as the foundation for the basic law of the land. It needs to be reiterated that a strong distinction is made between religion and the Dharma. The Dharma, if it is to remain Dharma, cannot lead to fundamentalism that can like a cancer, erode the best in human beings.
Before I conclude I need to share a word on another messianic search. There is need for a group of men and women who are genuinely spiritual in life, outlook and aspirations; a group of persons so gathered can be called upon to be in the hustle and bustle of civic and political life but not of it; persons who can stand aloft, unsullied by the three Ps; persons who can oversee, direct and guide the lawgivers, the executives and the judiciary; persons whose words can carry the power that is sourced in the Dharma, be it Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam or Christianity. May I venture to suggest that such a group be made up not of the official representatives of the religions (I am included in this category) but men and women of the genuine spiritual Dharmic brand.
Let the Muslim and the Christian join Gandhi in saying, "I know that all this combined assistance (Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Christians, Sikhs, Jews and the British as well) is worthless if I have no other assistance, i.e. from God. All is vain without His help and if He is with this struggle no other help is necessary. (Collected Works: Volume 43, pg. 125). Let the Buddhist say in response to the Buddha,
"let us free, liberate and develop our minds, the responsibility is on our shoulders".
"Whatsoever there is of evil connected with evil, belonging to evil, all issues
from the mind. Whatsoever there is of good, connected with the good,
belonging to the good, all issues from the mind. (Anguttara Nikaya 1)
I conclude with the affirmation of my personal belief that what’s important is not success or failure, but our contribution of "five loaves and two fishes" to make Sri Lanka a better place to live in, very specially for the poor, the outcast, the oppressed and the afflicted. I recall with joy the episode in the life of Jesus: multiplication of loaves and fishes to feed the thousands of His listeners. He asked what food the disciples had with them. They could provide only five loaves and two fishes. Subsequently, thousands were fed with twelve odd baskets to spare. (Mark: 6/35 44).
"Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity."
William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming."
The Island - 5 Sep 00
Buddhist opposition to animal sacrifice
by Prof. Mahinda Palihawadana
Sri Lanka Vegetarian Society
The Buddha was against animal sacrifice. He had to be, for he was staunchly opposed to killing. Killing, not just human beings, but all human beings without exception. Times out of number, he expressed the view that it was all beings (sabbe sattaa/sabbe bhuutaa) that deserved our compassion.
During the time of the Buddha, many kinds of sacrifices were practised by Brahmins who were the priests of the Vedic religion professed by the upper castes of contemporary Indian society. The Buddha did not see any value in these sacrifices, primarily because they were entirely external rites. If one could speak of a "right sacrifice", it had to be something that was internal or 'spiritual'.
"I lay no wood, Brahmin, for fire on alters
Only within burneth the fire I kindle"
- says the Buddha, mindful of the Brahmins' practice of tending a regular "sacred fire" and pouring oblations into it for the various gods of Vedic pantheon.
This however was only a relatively harmless, albeit in the eyes of the Buddha useless, activity. The Vedic priests also advocated and performed several types of cruel animal sacrifice such as:
"The sacrifices called the Horse, the Man,
The Peg-thrown Site, the drink of Victory,
The Bolt Withdrawn - and all the mighty fuss -
Where divers goats and sheep and kine are slain".
The Buddha rejected all these sacrifices in no uncertain terms. For example, when he was told of a "great sacrifice" that the king of Kosala was about to perform, where 2500 cattle, goats and rams were to be immolated, he declared:
"Never to such a rite as that repair
The noble seers who walk the perfect way."
In one of the Jataka stories (Bhuridatta), the future Buddha is reported to have said:
If he who kills is counted innocent
Let Brahmins Brahmins kill.
We see no cattle asking to be slain
That they a new and better life may gain;
Rather they go unwilling to their death
And in vain struggles yield their final breath.
To veil the post, the victim and the blow,
The Brahmins let their choicest rhetoric flow".
Many times in his discourses the Buddha speaks of four kind of persons - those who (1) torture themselves, (2) torture others, (3) torture both self and others and (4) who do not torture themselves or others. The first are the strict ascetics and the second the butchers, tappers, fishers and robbers. It is however the third group that is of special interest in our context. For, it includes kings and powerful priests.
The Buddha does not approve of the conduct of these three classes. It is the last kind, who do not torture themselves or others, that he admires and they are none other than those who follow a compassionate ethic such as the one of the Buddha himself advocated.
Particularly a touching discourse of the Buddha on animal sacrifice comes in one of the most ancient Buddhist texts, the Sutta Nipata. Here in a discourse on the ethical conduct fit for a Brahmins (Brahmana-dhammika Sutta). The Buddha speaks respectfully of ancient Brahmins who spurned the taking of life and never allowed their religious rites to be tainted by the killing of animals. But corruption set in and they started the practice of animal sacrifice. When the knife was laid on the neck of cattle, the gods themselves cried out in horror of that crime of ingratitude and insensitivity perpetrated on an animal that was to humans such as faithful worker, such a sustainer of life.
In the piece known as the discourse with Kutadanta we come across a king's Brahmin counsellor who is preparing a great animal sacrifice, concerning the right procedures of which he consults the wisdom of the Buddha. T. W. Rhys Davids, the distinguished translator of this text, alerts us to the fact that this would be the last thing that an eminent Brahmin is likely to do - to seek the Buddha's opinion on how to conduct a sacrifice. So he describes the discourse as a "deliberate fiction full of ironical humour". The Buddha tells Kutadanta of a worthy sacrifice held in ancient times under the guidance of a certain enlightened Brahmin counsellor. In this sacrifice "no living thing is injured; all the labour is voluntary and the sacrifice is offered not only on behalf of the king, but of all the good". The Buddha then tells Kutadanta of even better forms of sacrifice.
In the course of this discourse, as Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys Davids points out (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, article on Sacrifice/Buddhist). "The stations in the road to the good life - the perfect lay life and the perfect religious life - are set forth as to many degrees of sacrifice", each better than the other. Thus the highest sacrifice is that insight and wisdom which signifies the abandonment of the sense of self - i.e., the sacrifice of ego-centredness.
It is not a matter for surprise that the Buddhism along with Jainism, the other great religion of Ahimsa, as well as several sects of Hinduism, rejected animal sacrifice, although many other religions approved of it to some extent or another. The Buddha in fact was outspoken in his criticism of such entrenched features of the contemporary religious and social scene as sacrificial rituals and the caste system. (His 'detachment' was not indifference or withdrawal of judgement, as has been often misunderstood. Consider his reply to Potaliya who told him that the best person was one who neither praised the praiseworthy nor blamed the blameworthy: "Far better is the person who speaks in dispraise of the unworthy and in praise of the worthy, saying in due time what is factual and truthful." Arguttara ii 100).
In the modern world, there is a powerful movement which seeks to reduce and eliminate the crimes that are perpetrated on animals and to introduce to the social ethic an element ofjustice to other sentient beings who share the planet with us. This movement is all the more remarkable in that it reflects an attitudinal shift in the predominantly Christian West which is beginning to see the true nature of the moral evil that the abuse and exploitation of animals is. The fundamental thrust of this movement stems from the realisation that animals are like us when it comes to suffering pain and the prospect of the deprivation of life. It is this very sympathy with the suffering of animals and other sentient beings that is at the core of Buddhist compassion or loving kindness (mettaa). Says a verse in the Dhammapada, the most popular of Buddhist texts:
"All fear the rod
Of death are all scared.
(Understanding others) from one's own example
One should neither kill nor causes to kill."
In the very next verse much the same is said with this addition: "For all is life dear". Here in simple terms is the 'philosophy' behind the Buddhist ethic of Ahimsa: other living beings are like us; we should treat them the way we want to be treated ourselves. This is the spirit behind the first precept which enjoins us neither to kill, nor to encourage killing as clearly explained in the Dhammika Sutta. This is the spirit that promotes the Noble Eightfold Path to forbid the trade in flesh and engaging in fishing, hunting etc. for those who profess to follow that Path. It is the same spirit that projected an ideal of kingship in which the ruler provided defence and protection (rakkhavarana-outtim) not only to the different classes of the human population, but also to birds of the air and beasts of the land (miga-pakkhisu).
The natural corollary of such a teaching in modern parlance is that animals have the same right to life which we humans claim for ourselves. And it is the sensitivity to this right that made Emperor Asoka, whose life was abundantly inspired by the teachings of the Buddha, to promulgate, in the well known Rock Edict I: "Here no animal shall be killed or sacrificed". This is an outstanding example of an ethical teaching being made the basis for a legal pronouncement. In somewhat similar vein, as Senaka Weeraratna has pointed out in his paper "The Requirement for New Animal Welfare Legislation in Sri Lanka", seven states and territories of the modern Republic of India have enacted statutes prohibiting animal sacrifice for the purpose of any religious worship or adoration. Moreover, according to the Constitution of India, it is a fundamental duty of every citizen "to have compassion for living creates".
The tradition of royal decrees based on the ethic of respect for animal life was also followed in Sri Lanka prior to the advent of colonialism. Consider the MAA GHAATA (" Do not kill") proclamations of five kind of Lanka from the first to the eighth century, beginning with Amandagamani Abhaya, which forbade the killing of any living being within the realm. King Vijayabadhu I in the 11th century and Parakramabahu the Great in the 12th also made proclamations of protection of wild life and fishes in the forests and lakes of Sri Lanka. Kirti Sri Nissankamalla, one of the king who came aft er Parakramabahu, promulgated a remarkable decree, which he publicised in six of his famous inscriptions, forbidding the killing of all living beings in the irrigation lakes of the entire country. In his Anuradhapura inscription he decreed that no animals should be killed within seven leagues of the city and induced a certain group of hunters to desist from the trapping of birds. These few instances suffice to give us an idea of the pervasive influence of the Buddhist attitude to animal life in the social and legal history of Sri Lanka.
In conclusion, it is pertinent to ask what has post-independence Sri Lanka done to foster the Ahimsa ethic? Constitutionally and legally, nothing - as far as one can see. As for state intervention in favour of compassion towards animals, the record is equally barren. One among many examples will suffice to underscore this point. A stark contrast to the respect for animal life shown throughout the history of this country is the present-day encouragement of inland fishing. There can be no doubt that it is the great threat to the fabric of the Ahimsa ethic which still prevails to a considerable extent among the village communities of Sri Lanka. The destruction of this ethic will undoubtedly facilitate the subversion of Buddhist values and the conversion of Buddhist to ideologies which are not averse to the killing of animals. Recent events show that the Sangha hierarchy of Sri Lanka will be as guilty of complicity as the rest of us who stand as silent and helpless onlookers in the face of this onslaught on a humane and compassionate religious ethnic which had stood the test of time for twenty five centuries.
Daily News - 3 Aug 00
Buddhist stand on war
by Bhikkhu T. Seelananda
Paramita International Buddhist Centre - Kandy
After reading some statements that had been made by some elites of our country including certain monks, I was motivated to write this article to express the Buddhist stand on war. My clear intention of writing this type of article is only to reveal the Buddhist stand . Buddhism from the beginning to the end is against war. It is obvious that, there is no single place where the Buddha at least, had given an indirect indication that supports waging a war. I am not using either a jargon or a slogan. There are very clear reasons why Buddhism directly opposes war and also why it does not commend war. The main reasons are the followings:
1. As a Religion which condemns any kind of harming or killing. (according to the dhamma, life is threefold, namely; human, animal and plants). War kills all three.
2. War even by any other name means to kill beings. Killing is, breaching the first precept of the five ,eight or ten precepts (panatipata).
3. For a layman, killing human beings is an offence but for a monk it is a grave offence which has been compared to a completely cutting off of the stem of a palmyra or a coconut tree (which never grows again).
According to our discourses, once while the Buddha was at Savatthi, there was a war between King Ajatasatthu and the King of Kosala. At war, the king of Kosala was defeated three times. He was ashamed and very much depressed over his defeat and lamented, "what a disgrace! I cannot even conquer this boy who still smells of mother’s milk. It is better that I should die". Due to his depression, the king refused to take any food, and kept to his bed. When the news about the king’s distress reached the Buddha, he commented. "Bhikkhus! in one who conquers, enmity and hatred increase, and one who is defeated suffers pain and distress" (Dh.Vr.201). Having heard this, the king realised that there is no victory in war, and was thus established in the Dhamma. The Buddha said that though one should conquer a million men in the battle field, yet he, indeed, is the noblest victor who has conquered himself. (Dh.Vr. 103).
At a later time, they fought again and the king of Kosala won and Ajatasatthu was imprisoned. As they were relatives, he was later released. But the king confiscated four kinds of his Army forces (elephants, horses, chariots and infantry). When the Buddha was informed, he said " The Killer will be killed in return and the conqueror will be conquered (S. N. Kosala Samyutta). War, whatever in its kind, begins because of greed of power, wealth and sense pleasure. Every war begins at heart (mind).
According to the Dhammapada, once there was a battle between the Sakyans and the Koliyans. They both were farmers. Their towns were situated on either side of the Rohini river. One year there was a sever drought. During this time their paddy fields and other crops were threatened and got almost dried. The farmers on both sides wanted to divert the water of the river to irrigate their own fields. As a result, there was much ill will and hatred on both sides. Then a war started between them and spread like fire and the matter was reported to their respective rulers. Failing to find a compromise, both sides prepared to go to war. The Buddha came to know that his relatives on both sides of the river were preparing for battle. For their wellbeing and happiness and to avoid unnecessary suffering, he decided to stop them. He appeared all alone, in the middle of the river. He said " O Kings!, what is more valuable water or blood?". They said" Ven. Sir. blood is much more valuable". Then the Buddha admonished them, "For the sake of some water, which is of little value, you should not destroy your lives which are of so much value. Why do you take this unwholesome course of action?".
They realised their folly and laid aside all their weapons and paid homage to the Buddha. The Buddha said " If I had not been here today, your blood would have been flowing like this river by now. You are living with hatred, but I live free from hatred. You are ailing with moral defilements, but I am free from moral defilements. You are striving to develop selfishness and enmity, but I do not strive for the development of selfishness". Both sides then became ashamed, realised their foolishness and thus bloodshed was averted. On this occasion, the Buddha intervened, and resolved this conflict not because of his relatives, but because of his boundless compassion for all beings. The Buddha never encouraged war of any type.
There is a belief in society that the soldier who dies in the battle field in the name of his religion, race and country goes directly to heaven. According to the Gamini Samyutta of the Samyutta Nikaya (S.N.IV.PTS.P.216), one day, the same question was put to the Buddha by a soldier . He said " I have heard, Sir, this traditional saying of teachers of old who were fighting-men:’ A soldier who in battle exerts himself, puts forth effort, and thus exerting himself and putting forth effort is tortured and put an end to by others, after death he is reborn in the company of the Devas of Passionate Delight (Saranjita)’. The Buddha said ‘Ask me not this question’. Then a second time he put the question. He got the same reply. Yet a third time he put it again. The Buddha answered " In the case of a soldier who in battle exerts himself ,puts forth effort, he must previously have had this low,mean, perverse idea:" Let those beings be tortured, be bound, be destroyed, be exterminated, so that they may be thought never to have existed". Then, so exerting himself, so putting forth effort, other men torture him and make an end of him. When body breaks up, after death he is reborn in the Purgatory of Quarrels. At these words, the soldier cried aloud and burst into tear. Then the Exalted one said: "That was why I disallowed your question". "But Ven. Sir, I am not lamenting for that ,but at the thought that for many a long time I have been cheated, deceived and led astray in the past by many teachers." the soldier lamented. The Buddha further said that this view (that those who die in the battle field will be born in the heaven ) is a perverted view (micchaditthi).
There is a concept of "just war" in some religions. But all kinds of wars are roundly condemned in Buddhism. In Buddhism there is nothing to gain through violence. War brings forth nothing but disasters. Finally, in short what we can state clearly is that Buddhism is totally opposed to war.
The Isand - 22 Aug 00
Mind, Brain and Consciousness
A neo-Buddhist perspective
by R. Chandrasoma
Arguments which get us nowhere are often bedeviled by confusions over the meaning of basic terms. This seems to be the case in the studious attempt by Mr Wijesuriya recently to establish the fact that animals have ‘minds’. His larger interest is, of course, to deny that a gulf exists between Man (the creature supposedly made by God) and the multitudinous species of animals that share our planetary abode as underclass beings. This is a laudable motive and his vigorous rejection of the position taken by another of your correspondents - Mr R. M. B. Senanayaka - must be supported without reserve or equivocation. The God-fearing Mr Senanayaka would have us believe that the bipedal beast known to zoologists as ‘Homo sapiens’ is in a class apart - endowed with mind and soul as unique bequeathals of the Almighty Power above. Nothing seen in Heaven or on Earth gives even the faintest whiff of credence to this bizzare hypothesis.
On earth we have the likes of Pirabhakaran - a constructional aberration that is unaccountable if we suppose the Almighty Creator to be the apotheosis of wisdom and compassion. The heavens - if we are to believe what contemporary astronomers say - are replete with mind-boggling monstrosities (black-holes, pulsars, active galactic nuclei, plasma clouds etc.) that betoken anything but a comfortable abode for God’s chosen creature. To these skeptical reflections we must add the brief, pitiful existence of both man and beast in a world that shows little sign of benevolent crafting. The ‘continuum hypothesis’ is the best we have - that we humans have evolved from less-endowed fellow-beings that we deign to call animals. This is no slur on our status as extraordinarily perceptive beings that have developed the cognitive inheritance of our animal forbears to a level of excellence unmatched by anything that we know of in the world around us.
These observations bring us directly to the contentious issue - the existence of a hiatus between man and the rest of the animal kingdom in the functioning of the ‘mind’. Let us note first that this word which has so much emotive meaning is loose and unscientific. It encompasses a host of specialised functions some of which are characteristically animal. Indeed, computer simulation of these ‘mind-like’ activities is routinely done in business and industry. Sensory analysis, incremental learning and goal-directed decision-making are some of the better-known aspects of mental functioning that can be done by ‘silicon brains’ as efficiently as in the living counterpart. The error of Mr Wijesinghe is to trivialise the structure of the ‘mind’ in speaking of it as a ‘collection of thoughts’. In a popular interpretation of Buddhist metaphysics ‘Mano’ (mind) and ‘citta’ (thoughts) are equated with unfortunate results. The dynamism of the sentient being is lost - its mental functionalism that is brought into sharp focus in the Five Aggregates concept of the genesis of personality. According to this enlightened interpretation, the ‘person’ is a dynamic psychophysical system interacting with its immediate environment by modeling the world on the basis of its sensory input. This system is based primarily on bodily organisation - especially that part which we currently recognize as the brain and nervous system (Nama-rupa). Mind-like qualities - such things as intentionality, purposiveness, emotive drive and self-serving action (Sankhara) are the chief parts of the repertory of adaptive mechanisms that characterize the life of a samsaric being. Briefly, such a life-system mirrors the external world through its cognitive apparatus and reacts with ‘grasping’ (Tanha). Two questions arise within this context - Is the dynamism of the psycho-physical system outlined above uniquely human?
The answer must be a resounding ‘No’. The higher animals (let us exclude such things as slugs and barnacles) mirror the world with a brain-based cognitive apparatus. They show intentionality, purposiveness and choice. They are goal-driven and feel pain and pleasure. It is this conglomerate of features that defines the mind - not some ill-defined reservoir containing ‘thoughts’. The skeptic can challenge us on the issue of ‘consciousness’. Are the higher animals conscious? If man alone is gifted with conscious awareness the door is open to the suggestion that a transcendent entity such as the soul may reside in this privileged domain of the mind. Again, the answer is a blow to the age-old assumptions of human uniqueness. Professor Damasio - a neurophysiologist and a world-leader in this field - speaks of two levels of consciousness. The basic or ‘core-consciousness’ is a feature of the mental life of higher animals. It is no great surprise to learn that cats, dogs and monkeys are richly endowed with this core-consciousness which makes them sensitive to joy and anguish in their transactions with the world. But the higher kind - reflective self-awareness that positions a being in the world as player and victim in a samsaric struggle - is distinctively human. Before the Theists shout hurrah, let us note that a child below three years of age is no better than an ape, with core-consciousness alone providing the basis of its rich emotional life. Self-awareness grows with the maturation of the neuro-sensory organs of the child and can be regarded as a development of core-consciousness.
This brings us to the distinctively Buddhist doctrine of ‘Anatta’ - the thesis that the ‘person’ is an illusion wrought by the workings of the psycho-physical system that we alluded to earlier. As we have noted above, ‘mind’ is an agglomerate of functions and in no way corresponds to the Cartesian concept of an extra-corporeal agent ‘directing’ bodily operations. This fits squarely with Buddhist teachings. The agreement goes beyond this: the self- awareness that creates the illusion of an active agent resolutely seeking satisfaction in an indifferent world is a mere front of the aggrandizing psycho-physical systems that we refer to as human beings.
Buddhist enlightenment is a profound recognition of this cognitive deception that leads inexorably to karmic enslavement. In plainer language, the conscious ego is a deceptive by-product of a generalised mental functioning characteristic of sentient beings.
Mr Wijesinghe’s attempt to co-opt the latest findings in science to buttress his Buddhistic theses highlights a weakness all-too-evident in the writings of scholars in this field - the uncritical use of ‘fringe science’. The ghastly experiments on new-born rabbits (which he describes) falls squarely into this category of anecdotal rubbish that genuine scholars in the fields of cognitive psychology and neuroscience view with abhorrence. Paranormal research is in vogue in this new age of superstition and specialised journals dedicated to ESP etc are the rage in the nominally materialistic West. As Buddhists we must be critical of this ‘goofy research’ that investigates such things as the habits of disembodied spirits hovering over the dying.
We need genuine science - including the quantum mechanical investigation of the fine states of matter - to shed light on such complex issues as the nature of the ‘re-linking consciousness’ (pattisandhivinyana) that catenates being and being. Controversial issues in this field - including ‘quantum non-locality’ and ‘coherence’ may have a resonance in Buddhist studies. Arduous studies of this kind are a sine qua non for a re-interpretation of the Abidharma based on modern science.
The Island - 26 Sept 00
Writings of Nanavira Thera (1)
Mindfulness and awareness
by Kingsley Heendeniya
This is the first of a series of articles I have prepared from the book 'Cleaning the Path' by the English monk, Nanavira Thera of Bundala, for the benefit of readers unable purchase it in London. Those of us born Buddhist' and brought up in that milieu, tend to regard the Dhamma, its traditional books and icons as objects of veneration, as Nanavira writes, 'Do not touch,' and 'Buddhists have stopped thinking'. Foreigners and persons of other faiths who come to the Dhamma have no such impediments. The insight from which he has written 'Notes on Dhamma' and 'Letters' has been acquired after attaining the Path in 1959 from actually practising the Dhamma as instructed by the Buddha. This article is composed from a letter Nanavira wrote to Mr. N.Q. Dias in 1962.
To begin with, here are three Suttas to indicate the scope of the practice of awareness in the Buddha's Teaching. (a) Here monks, in walking to and from a monk practices awareness; in looking ahead and looking aside he practices awareness.... (b) Here, monks, feelings are known when they arise, feelings are known as they endure, feelings are known as they vanish; perceptions are known... thoughts are known... (d) Here, Ananda, a monk is mindful as he walks to, he is mindful as he walks to, he is mindful as he stands, he is mindful as he sits, he is mindful as he sets to work. This, Ananda, is a mode of recollection that, when developed and made much of in this way, leads to mindfulness - and awareness. (Abbreviated).
The Satipattana Sutta (Mindfulness and awareness) includes a section on awareness of bodily actions and mindfulness of the body. The Pali for 'awareness' is satisampajanna and 'mindfulness' is sati. Mindfulness is general recollectedness, not being scatterbrained whereas awareness means keeping oneself under constant observation, not letting actions, thoughts, feelings etc. pass unnoticed. A common verbal confusion must be sorted. Habitual actions are done without thinking - automatic, like blinking the eyes, scratching the head. It is a misunderstanding to take them as 'unconscious' action. The Buddha defines 'action' (kamma) as 'intention' (cetana). An 'unconscious' action is no action at all, it is pure and simple movement, like a tree swaying in the wind or a stone rolling down a hill. The Buddha teaches that all consciousness is action (of mind, voice or body) and every action is conscious.
A conscious action, strictly speaking, is a deliberate action requiring some thought to perform. When we do them, we have to consider what we are doing - such as chasing after the neighbour's wife - and it is this considering, of what we are doing that constitutes 'awareness'. The objection is sometimes raised that it is not possible to do two things at once and that it is not possible both to act and be aware of the action at one and the same time. This is pure prejudice. I am breathing as I am writing this letter and do not interrupt one to do the other. What is not possible is to give equal attention to all of them at the same time. I can ask the question, while walking, 'What am I doing?' But it is not necessary to stop or run or fall down to answer it.
So long as we are awake, there is always some degree of awareness and we are obliged to consider them in order to deal with them. Awareness is in abeyance when we dream. We are not aware that we are dreaming. A nightmare is a struggle to wake up, a trying to remember or become aware that we are dreaming. In our normal life, most of the time we are absorbed in what we are doing - affection, fury, lust, boredom and so on. To be detached is difficult when there is so much routine work to be done, and it robs us of personal relationships and emotional satisfaction. We like to keep awareness of what we are doing to a minimum but cannot avoid it altogether. But we use this awareness to overcome obstacles in our life, to get through our work expeditiously.
Awareness in the teaching of the Buddha has a different purpose. It is practised to get release from living. These two purposes are at right angles to each other and there is competition between them. The Buddha tells us (in the Itivuttaka III, 30: 71-2) that three things harm the progress of the sekha bhikkhu (monk in higher training who has attained the Path): fondness for work (sewing robes etc.), fondness for talk and fondness for sleep. In the first two, there is much awareness and in the third, no awareness is possible. When going to sleep however the bhikkhu is required to bear in mind the time to wake. Naturally, a bhikkhu cannot altogether avoid doing some work or talk but he must do it mindfully and with awareness. Drive and initiative are impediments for those seeking release. The ordinary person does not habitually practice awareness but a bhikkhu is instructed to confine his actions.
How does a person practise awareness for the purpose of release? All that is necessary is a slight change of attitude, a slight effort of attention. Instead of being fully absorbed in what we are doing, without ceasing to act, observe ourselves in action. This is done by asking "What am I doing?' Since all action is done consciously, we already know the answer without having to think about it. For example, I can immediately answer 'I am writing this letter', 'I am scratching my head' and so on endlessly. If I wish to practice awareness, I must go on asking this question until, with practice, I am answering the question automatically without having to ask it. When you reach this stage, awareness is successful and all you need is to develop it and not fall back through neglect. The same applies to feelings, perceptions and thoughts.
Why should you practice awareness? There are three good reasons: they develop virtue (sila), concentration (samadhi) and wisdom (panna). In the first place, it will lead to self-criticism and self-correction. Next, you will gain a powerful control over the passions. Constant practice inhibits passions and they arise less and less frequently. In the third place, the practice of awareness is an absolute pre-requisite for the understanding of the essence of the Buddha's Teaching. The reason for this is that the Dhamma is concerned not with anyone single experience (consciousness, feeling, etc.) as such, but with experience (consciousness, feeling, etc.) in general. We do not need the Buddha to tell us how to escape from any particular experience (whether it is a headache or incurable cancer) but we do need the Buddha to tell us how to escape from all experience whatsoever. In the normal state of being, absorbed in what we are doing (that is with non-awareness) we are concerned with this or that particular experience (she loves me, she loves me not...'). But when we become aware of what we are doing or feeling or perceiving or thinking we are also observing it with detachment, and at that time, the general nature of 'doing' or 'feeling' comes into view. The particular activity is merely an example of the general. When this general nature of things comes into view, we are able, with the guidance of the Buddha, to grasp the universal characteristics of anicca, dukkha and anatta. But here, we are getting into deeper waters and I do not want to add difficulties to a subject that is already not very easy.
The Island - 12 Dec 00
Unduvap Pasalosvaka Poya
Arahat Therini Sanghamitta arrived in Sri Lanka bringing the sacred bo-sapling
by Danister I. Fernando
About 2308 years ago, the magnificent full moon of the month of 'Unduvap' would have been fortunate in being able to witness certain allied events between India and Sri Lanka, pertaining to the propagation of the Teachings of the Buddha.
Namely: 1. The Arrival of Arahat Theri Sanghamitta in Sri Lanka from India.
2. The bringing of the southern branch (dakkhina shakha) of the Sri Maha Bodhi from India to be planted in Anuradhapura, and
3. The establishing of the Bhikkhuni Order in this isle.
It becomes clear, therefore, that all these three events are connected to one another and that the last two depend on the first - Theri Sanghamitta's arrival here. A resurgence of Buddhism in India under the Emperor Dhammasoka and the friendship between the Emperor and King Devanampiya Tissa of Sri Lanka, at that time, became the source for that above events to follow. Let us now reflect in retrospect.
We are aware of the fact that the mighty Emperor of India, Asoka, having given up his vast aggressive policy, turned ever to a policy of righteousness (Dhamma Vijaya) influenced by the lofty teachings of Shakyamuni the Buddha and directed a programme of astounding activities pertaining to Buddhism and for its propagation. His devotion to the religion was so strong, that he even permitted his dear son and daughter to be ordained at the tender ages of twenty and eighteen respectively. Included in his programme was the holding of the Third Great council (Dhammasangayana) as a result of which the dispath of missions abroad carrying the Buddha-Word was put into operation. The authenticity of these missions has been clearly proved particularly by several archaeological discoveries made at Sanchi and elsewhere.
It is interesting to note that Sri Lanka would have been of special significance to the Emperor that he in consultation with Venerable Moggaliputta Tissa, selected his own Son Mahinda Mahathera to lead the commission to Sri Lanka, with a retinue of five other monks, Ittiya, Uttiya, Sambala, Bhaddasala and novice Sumana and an Upasaka, Bhanduka.
Nevertheless, Mahinda Mahathera did not expedite his mission. Instead he came to Vedisa his mother's native place and made a careful study of the situation in Sri Lanka, whether the time was really opportune for the proposed mission. Mutasiva the then King of Sri Lanka (367-307 B.C), after sixty years of being a king, had been very old, and as such Mahinda Thera decided to avoid that period to come here. It was during the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa (307-266 B.C) that Mahinda Mahathera and the party left India for Sri Lanka. This shows clearly how methodical and wise Mahinda Thera would have been in proceeding with his responsibilities for a successful mission.
Mahinda Mahathera did not confine himself to preaching the Dhamma only. He gave much importance to the practical aspects as well, by ordaining Upasaka Bhanduka on the second day itself after the arrival. Other ordinations followed and the establishment of "Buddha Sasana" in Sri Lanka became a sound reality. The truth of the story of Mahinda mission is confirmed by a fresco at Ajantha in India. 'Samantapasadika', the Vinaya commentary and the chronicles describe in detail that with the birth of the community of monks in Sri Lanka, there arose a deep enthusiasm on the part of the womenfolk to enter the Bhikkuni order. In this respect it was queen Anuala, wife of a sub-king, Mahanaga and her five-hundred ladies-in-waiting who were serious about this appeal. They had listen to Mahinda Mahathera's inspiring discourses and had even gaine mental attainments. But according to 'Vinaya' rules Arahat Mahinda was not in a position to ordain women. He suggested the alternative of inviting his sister Bhikkhuni Sangamitta to Sri Lanka and thereby to establish the Bhikkuni order in Sri Lanka.
Of course, King Devanmpiya Tissa became very happy at this suggestion that he promptly made arrangements to send a group of messengers led by one of his faithful ministers, Arittha, to India, taking the joint invitation from himself and from Mahinda Thera to Emperor Asoka.
Emperor Asoka, naturally, would not have liked the suggestion to part with his daughter also, when his son had already gone; but after considering the situation well, he finally would have given his consent. As requested by Maha Mahinda Thera, arrangements also were made to take with her a sapling of the Sri Maha Bodhi under the shelter of which the Gautama Bodhisatta attained Enlightenment.
According to our chronicles the severing of the southern branch from the main Bodhi Tree provides a plethora of interesting stories which are mostly miraculous. It is said that the required branch had got separated on its own miraculously since it was considered highly sinful to cut a Bo-tree with an instrument.
The Bo-sapling, after it was separated from the main tree, was planted in a golden bowl with due respect and was made ready to be taken to Sri Lanka by Arahat Theri Sanghamitta, accompanied by others including eleven Arahat Bhikkunis.
Historical Sources say that the scene of her departure to Lanka leaving India and her great father, for good, was a solemn ceremony. The party left the country from the port known as "Tamara-lipti" (modern Tamluk). At that touching moment Asoka had been at the port personally, to see them off. As the royal vessel departed and gradually sailed away, Asoka, with feelings of deep emotion had stood gazing till the vessel faded away not to be seen!
After about seven days the vessel arrived at the Jambukola port in Northern Lanka. King Devanampiya Tissa received Arahat Therini Sanghamitta and party with the sacred Bo-sapling with great respect and honour. From there it was taken to Anuradhapura in 'perahera'.
There it was planted at a well attended lofty ceremony in the Maha Megha Garden. The Sri Maha Bodhi still stands magnificently receiving the veneration of million of devotees both local and foreign. It proudly bears the distinction of being the oldest tree on record of the whole world.
H.G. Wells, in his book, "The outline of History" says, "in Ceylon there grows to this day, a tree, the oldest historical tree in the world, which we know certainly to have been planted as a cutting from the Bo Tree in the year 245 B.C. From that time to this it has been carefully tended and watered. It helps us to realize the shortness of all human history to see so many generations spanned by the endurance of one single tree."
We have seen already that the main purpose of Theri Sanghamitta's arrival in Sri Lanka was to ordain Lanka lady-devotees. When the ceremonies connected with the planting of the Bodhi Sapling were all over Queen Anula and her ladies were duly ordaine and the Bhikkuni Order set up under the able guidance of Arahat Theri Sanghamitta.
Arahat Mahamahinda would certainly have given her necessary advice on this occasion. The Bhikkhuni Order thus established flourished in pristine purity.
All women irrespective of their standing in society, from all walks of life, who were desirous of entering the Order, received ordination under Arahat Sanghamitta, who did all in her power to raise Womankind from lower to higher levels of life - moral, intellectual and spiritual.
Arahat Therini Sanghamitta did a lot for the 'Buddha Sasana' in Sri Lanka. As all "Sankhara" are, she passed away at the age of 79, while she was living at the peaceful nunnery, "Hatthalaka". Her funeral was performed by the then King Uttiya with honour and extreme solemnity, in the vicinity of the Sri Maha Bodhi, Anuradhapura. When one sees the Sacred Bodhi, one also sees Theri Sanghamitta!
Sunday Observer - 10 Dec 00