This is the text of a dhamma talk given to members of the Indonesian Buddhist Association in Sydney on 16 May 1999. It is drawn almost entirely from the writings of Ven. Dhammavudho, who resides near Ipoh in Malaysia.
Many traditional Buddhists content themselves with the devotional aspects of Buddhist practice. That is, they go to temples, do chanting, give food and other requisites to the monks, or donate money to assist with building projects, the publishing of Dhamma books, etc. These devotional practices (bhakti) are very important but they are not sufficient in themselves for those who truly wish to follow the way taught by the Buddha. On the other hand, some people (including many Westerners when they take up Buddhism) focus primarily on meditation and place less importance on devotional practices and the following of the precepts. This too is misguided, because when we look at what the Buddha taught, it is clear that the two most important elements in the middle path he advocated are:
In the Samyutta Nikaya (Sutta 20.7) the Buddha warned of a time in the future when people would no longer listen to his discourses (suttas):
…in the future, those suttas uttered by the Tathagata, deep, profound in meaning, transcending the world, concerning emptiness (sunyata): to these they will not listen…But to those discourses made by poets, mere poetry, a conglomeration of words and phrases, alien (ie outside the Buddha’s teachings), the utterances of disciples: to these when uttered they will listen…Thus it is, monks, that the suttas uttered by the Tathagata…will disappear. Therefore, monks, train yourselves thus: to these very suttas we listen, give a ready ear, understand, recite and master them.
Perhaps we are now living in such times as these. We have a proliferation of books and tapes on the Buddha’s teachings, but many of these contain no direct reference to the original discourses of the Buddha, and some are written or recorded by people with little or no familiarity with the original discourses. It is possible that by reading these books or listening to these tapes we will develop wrong views by uncritically accepting the views or interpretations of the authors. If this continues, the consequences are those the Buddha warned us of:
That is not to say that we should not listen to the views and interpretation of others, particularly those who have made a deeper study of the Dhamma than we ourselves have. But we need to reflect on what these others are teaching, and refer to the original discourses on which they are basing their views and interpretations.
So what are we referring to when we speak of the original discourses, the suttas? The suttas are contained in the Sutta Pitaka (basket of discourses) which is part of the Tipitaka (three baskets) that have been handed down to us in the Pali language. The Sutta Pitaka itself contains five collections, or Nikayas:
These four collections are regarded as the earliest. The Khuddaka Nikaya is a fifth collection which contains some early material but which has been added to over the years, some of which are not the Buddha’s own words, such as the Questions of King Milinda. Of the 18 books currently included in the Khuddaka Nikaya, 6 are considered more reliable in that they are consistent with the four earliest Nikayas:
Although many Christians would have a copy of the Bible in their homes, and many Muslims a copy of the Koran, there would be few Buddhists who have their own copies of the suttas. This is partly because there are so many of them, and partly because good affordable translations of the suttas are hard to find. However as Buddhists we should endeavour to have copies of at least some of these texts in our homes. One text that is very accessible is the Dhammapada, many copies of which have been reprinted for free distribution through temples and Buddhist societies.
We should be wary of becoming attached to teachers. We can all probably think of people we know who search high and wide for a teacher, sometimes moving from one teacher to another as they hear about a new teacher’s reputation or as they become entranced by a teacher’s personality or charisma. The Buddha in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (Digha Nikaya Sutta 16) advised the monks assembled around his death bed that they should take the Dhamma-Vinaya as their teacher after he passed away. He carefully avoided nominating another monk as his successor. Again in Digha Nikaya Sutta 16, the Buddha said:
Be a lamp unto yourselves, be a refuge unto yourselves, with no other refuge. Take the Dhamma as your refuge, with no other refuge.
In other words, we should depend solely on ourselves and on the Buddha’s words. This was reinforced at the second Sangha Council, which met around 100 years after the Buddha’s Mahaparinibbana. The Council concluded that if a monk’s teachings were in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings, then his words should be followed, but if his instructions contradicted the Buddha’s teachings, they should be ignored. In other words, what the Buddha taught takes precedence over anything taught by a monk. The Buddha’s words are best preserved in the earliest suttas, and that is why we should all try to study the original discourses for ourselves and take the Dhamma as our teacher.
On the other hand, it is clear that the Sangha must play a very important role in leading us to the Buddha’s teachings. In the suttas, monks are described by the Buddha as kalyana mitta (good friend). Monks are good friends who introduce us to the Buddha’s teachings, who remind us about the teachings, and who encourage us to follow the Noble Eightfold Path.
This is illustrated in the Majjhima Nikaya Suttas 84 and 94, which describe how a person approached an arahant who was renowned for the strength and clarity of his teachings. This person requested that he be allowed to take refuge in the arahant, but the arahant replied that refuge could not be taken in him but only in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. We remind ourselves of this every time that we chant the Tisarana, the taking of refuge in the Triple Gem.
Even this Noble One (Ariya), an arahant, made it clear that the Buddha-Dhamma must be our guide, and that the Sangha can only assist us to do this for ourselves. In the Buddha’s words, as recorded in the Anguttara Nikaya Sutta 5.88, it is possible that even a world renowned monk, who has a large following of lay and monastic disciples and who is very learned in the scriptures, can have wrong views.
Also in the Anguttara Nikaya (Sutta 4.180), the Buddha taught that when any monk taught that such and such were the teachings of the Buddha, we should, without scorning or welcoming his words, compare the words of the monk with the Suttas and the Vinaya (the texts containing the code of monastic discipline). If they are not in accordance with the Sutta-Vinaya, we should reject them. It is only in this way that we will be able to distinguish between a teacher who teaches the true Dhamma and another who has wrong views.
In the Samyutta Nikaya (Sutta 16.13), the Buddha warned that the true Dhamma would remain unadulterated for 500 years after his passing into Nibbana. Thereafter, it will start to become difficult to distinguish the true teachings from the false. This is because errors, alterations and additions would gradually creep into the texts. The Buddha likened this to gold trading. The market for gold will be strong when people are confident that it is pure, but if we come to a time when it is possible to make fake "gold" which is difficult to distinguish from real gold, people will be reluctant to buy. So it is that if the Dhamma becomes polluted with adhamma (ie what is contrary to the dhamma), people will start to lose interest in the Dhamma.
In the Majjhima Nikaya (Sutta 117) it is stated that the Noble Eightfold Path always starts with Right View. Without Right View, we have not truly entered the path. Right View leads us to Right Thought, and that will lead to Right Speech, and so on through each of the aspects of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Samyutta Nikaya (45.1.8) it is stated that a person with Right View understands the Four Noble Truths, and that a complete understanding of the Four Noble Truths leads one to enlightenment
So it is clear that Right View is very important as a platform for our progress as Buddhists. The Majjhima Nikaya (Sutta 43) states that two conditions are necessary for the arising of Right View:
The importance of listening to Dhamma is clear from the term used by the Buddha to describe his disciples: savakas, that is to say, listeners or hearers. In the suttas, there are numerous instances of people becoming Sotapanna, by listening to the Buddha’s discourses. Sotapanna, or stream entry, is the first step on the path to full enlightenment and escape from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. We are not so fortunate as to live in the time of the Buddha and to hear his teachings directly from him, but we do have a close record of the Buddha’s own words in the suttas of the earliest four Nikayas.
In the Samyutta Nikaya (Sutta 46.4.8), it is stated that when one listens to the Dhamma attentively, the five hindrances (nivarana) do not exist and the seven factors of enlightenment (bojjhanga) are present. Again in the Samyutta Nikaya (Sutta 55.6.5), we find the four factors necessary to attain Sotapanna:
This suggests that achievement of the state of Sotapanna is not as difficult or remote as we might have thought, and that it is possible for a good many of us living in the world today to aspire to this state. The key is to become more familiar with the true Dhamma, including by attentively listening to and reading the discourses of the Buddha.
Meditation alone is certainly not enough. We know this even from the example of the Buddha’s own life, where he had practiced meditation under the leading teachers of the day without achieving the breakthrough until he came to a full understanding of the Four Noble Truths. With the benefit of the teachings of the Buddha that life is dukkha and that there is a way out of dukkha through the Noble Eightfold Path, many of the Buddha’s disciples achieved enlightenment in a relatively short time – Venerable Sariputta took 14 days, Maha Kassapa took 8 days and Maha Mogallana took only 7 days. On the other hand, leaders of other sects in India at that time, who were very advanced in meditation, did not attain liberation because they had no understanding or an insufficient understanding of the Dhamma. When some of these had the opportunity to hear the Dhamma from the Buddha, they immediately achieved liberation, having already attained jhana through their previous efforts.
The Anguttara Nikaya (Sutta 5.5.26) describes the five conditions through which we can become Ariya, a Noble One. We can attain Ariya when:
Only one of the four situations is within meditation, the other four are out of meditation, ie listening, teaching, repeating and reflecting on the Dhamma. In each situation, the depth of our insights depends on our perfection of the Noble Eightfold Path.
In the Majjhima Nikaya (Sutta 43) it is stated that after Right View has been achieved, five other conditions must be present to become Arahant, ie to achieve final liberation:
Two of the five conditions relate to meditation, but meditation has to be supported by moral conduct, listening to the Dhamma and discussing the Dhamma.
It is clear from the Nikayas themselves that the proper study of the Dhamma is essential for all of us who wish to follow the Buddha’s Middle Way. It is also clear that our primary source for this should be the Buddha’s original discourses, as recorded in the suttas of the earliest Nikayas, the Anguttara, Samyutta, Digha and Majjhima Nikayas. It is not essential to learn Pali, because there are many translations available which although not perfect are good enough for us to gain a solid understanding.
Reading the suttas can be difficult because the form in which they are written reflects the fact that most of them were originally meant for learning by rote and reciting aloud. This has resulted in the use of frequent repetitions and of conventional formulas to introduce or develop the suttas. Some translations have endeavoured to simplify the language, but the further the translation strays from the original the greater the risk of errors through omissions or distortions.
In all of this, we should recall that the Buddha advised us to avoid extremes – not to study at all is extreme, but studying too much is also an extreme. But while avoiding the extremes, let us all make the effort to investigate the Buddha’s words and put forth earnest effort in the practice of the Noble Eightfold path until its perfection.