After his attainment
of full enlightenment, the Buddha's first teaching was on the Four Noble Truths.
In it the Buddha explains the mental and physical evolution of the mundane world
and the same cycle in reverse. He gave this teaching to his first five monk-disciples
at the Deer Park, now known as Saranath, near Varanasi in India. The Buddha said,
"Oh Bhikshus, there are four noble truths. They are the noble truths of suffering,
the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering and the path to the cessation
of suffering."
According to Buddhism, we living beings are trapped in
the cycle of existence known as samsara. In samsara, we wander aimlessly and experience
unbearable suffering-day and night, year after year, life after life-because of
the tight grip of our grasping at self. In order to heal this disease-like condition,
first we have to find its cause, and then we apply the medicine-like path of training
to restore our original good health, which is enlightenment. This healing process
is described in the Buddhist formula of the Four Noble Truths. In the Uttaratantra,
an important Mahayana text on buddhanature, it is said:
As it is necessary
to diagnose the sickness, to abandon its causes,
To attain the happiness of
good health and to apply medicine for it;
The suffering and its cause as well
as its cessation and the path of (cessation)
Should be recognized, abandoned,
attained, and applied.
The Character of the World: The Noble Truth of Suffering
What
is the noble truth of suffering? It is the suffering of birth, the suffering of
old age, the suffering of sickness, the suffering of death, the suffering of separation
from loved ones, the suffering of facing unwanted phenomena, and the suffering
of not getting what one is seeking. In brief, every aspect of the five aggregates
is suffering.
-The Buddha
For us, deep down in our mind, there is a habit
that keeps us from seeing, let alone accepting, our own true character: the suffering,
changing, impermanent and dying character of our life. Our culture also prevents
us from seeing the true nature of the world, which is ultimate peace and enlightenment.
For us, our true nature is unknown and unseen, and we are comfortable keeping
it that way without exploring it. For us, suffering is negative and we try our
best to avoid seeing it, even though we are constantly experiencing it.
Buddhism
first asks us not only to see the momentary and suffering character of the world,
but also to have tolerance in accepting suffering as natural and not negative.
Only then will we be able to work toward the solution. To the extent that we recognize
the character of worldly pleasures as suffering, transitory and illusory, the
grip of our grasping at self will loosen and the craving and afflictions of our
mind will subside spontaneously. The ability to see the sufferings of the world
without being overwhelmed by them will only come through proper understanding,
determination, and strength of heart.
However, Buddhism also believes that,
while the true character of the samsaric world is suffering, how the suffering
character of phenomena affects us depends on our way of perceiving and feeling
it. For people of unvirtuous emotions and habits it causes unhappiness, while
for virtuous ones it causes happiness. For the realized ones, all is one in perfection.
According
to Buddhist scriptures, there are three root sufferings of living beings: ordinary
suffering, suffering produced by change, and the pervasive suffering of conditioning.
The first two root sufferings are gross sufferings and are easier to understand
than the pervasive suffering of conditioning, which requires a deeper appreciation
of the philosophical view of Buddhism. This is a suffering that is not necessarily
a feeling of unhappiness as such, but the character of being contaminated, conditioned,
changing and dependent. This unhappiness arises from the fact that our world and
we ourselves are the creation of ignorance and emotional afflictions rooted in
grasping at the self. Just as oil will saturate a cotton cloth and water will
be absorbed by a plant, this character of suffering pervades all mundane phenomena,
which spring from the seed cause of grasping at the self.
When a severely ill
person gets a little relief, he goes through an experience of great peace and
happiness, but if we compare that with the happiness of a healthy person, it is
seen as unhappiness. If a hungry person gets a good meal he feels happy, but that
experience is a lesser happiness than that of a person who has the contentment
of both mental and physical well being. Most of the time, when we think we are
happy it is not true. We are actually suffering. It is a fact.
After happiness
comes suffering.
After suffering arises happiness.
For beings happiness
and suffering
Revolve like a wheel.
-Nagarjuna
According to Buddhism,
there are eight major sufferings particular to human beings. Having the three
root sufferings as the basis, we human beings go through the cycle of our life
with eight types of suffering from which no ordinary person can ever escape. They
are the four major experiences of suffering of human life: the suffering in the
process of taking birth, of old age, of sickness, and of dying and death.
They
are accompanied by four secondary sufferings of human life: the sufferings of
worry about facing harsh situations, about separation from loved ones and desirable
things, about not achieving what one wishes, and about encountering unwanted situations.
Karma
and Emotional Afflictions: The Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering
What is
the noble truth of the source of suffering? It is craving [which produces] re-existence
[as a being in samsara], and which is accompanied by passionate desire, and which
is total delight with [or attachment to] this and that.
-The Buddha
The
cause of suffering in samsara, the mundane world, is karma, which is rooted in
craving and grasping at self and which flourishes through emotional afflictions
with their habitual traces. Through the cycle of karma arise both the various
appearances of the external world and the internal life of beings with their various
experiences. Karma is the law whereby an action has the intrinsic potential to
cause its own commensurate effect. The seeds of karma are held in the universal
ground of the mind and are experienced when they ripen.
There are different
ways of looking at the formation of karma, although the principle remains the
same. Thoughts are the actions of the mind and they trigger the actions of the
body and speech. These are the three "doors," or means of action. Through
them the karma of mind, body and speech are formulated. The three doors are mind
(or the consciousnesses) with its mental events; the body with its physical faculties;
and speech with its designations, verbal expressions and communications. Every
action we perform with our mind, or with body or speech inspired by mind, formulates
and produces a commensurate effect on our future.
Grasping at self is as harmful
as an evil monster and we are responsible for maintaining it. How is it that we
can knowingly torture ourselves? Shantideva writes:
All the violence, fear
and suffering
That exists in this world
Comes from grasping at self.
What
is the use of this great monster for you?
If you do not let the self go,
There
will be no end to suffering.
Just as, if you do not release a flame from your
hand,
You can't stop it burning your hand.
The cause of our being trapped
in the cycle of samsara is not the phenomena and situations that appear before
us. It is the way we deal with them and let them control us due to our own mental
and emotional afflictions, such as grasping, discriminating and craving, which
together can be termed attachment. Tilopa instructs his disciple Naropa:
Appearances
[of phenomena] do not bind you [to samsara] but attachment [to them] does. So,
Naropa, cut off attachment.
Buddhahood: The Noble Truth of the Cessation of
Suffering
What is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering? It is the
total abandonment, renunciation, purification and exhaustion of the craving [which
produces] the re-existence, and which is accompanied by passionate desire, and
which is total delight in this and that. It is the complete freedom from, cessation
of, pacification of and termination of desire.
-The Buddha
In Buddhism,
there are two major schools: Theravada and Mahayana. According to Theravada, the
orthodox Buddhist tradition, the absolute goal of Buddhist training is the attainment
of nirvana, or cessation. It is the cessation of both suffering and the cause
of suffering, like the flame of a lamp gone out when the oil is exhausted. Nirvana
is generally described in negative terms, as uncompounded, unconditioned, absence
of passion, cessation and extinction of craving for the aggregates. However, nirvana
is not negative in the sense of negative and positive, since they are relative
and within the realm of duality. Nirvana is beyond the realm of duality and relativity.
Then why is it described in negative terms?
If nirvana is described in affirming
or positive terms, since we are using conventional words connected with certain
conceptual views, we will probably grasp a concept associated with them and reaffirm
our usual conceptualization, and that will be wrong. If we describe nirvana in
such terms as uncompounded and the cessation of passion, which are beyond the
ordinary norm, there will be less danger of misleading people, and they might
pause and think more. Nevertheless, the meaning of nirvana is something that can
be experienced by realizing it, but which can never be described by words or judged
by dualistic concepts.
According to Mahayana, the ultimate goal, the cessation
of suffering, is termed buddhahood, the fully enlightened state. Buddhahood is
explained as being endowed with the prosperity of three bodies (Skt.: kayas) and
two wisdoms. Here the goal is described in positive terms so that people can gain
an idea of what it is and be inspired by it, even though buddhahood cannot really
be described in either positive or negative terms, as it is beyond the realm of
conventional expression and conceptions.
Here it is important to remember that
buddhahood is the nature we all possess. The Buddha bodies and wisdoms are present
as the power and the virtues of all of us, if we allow our wisdom eyes to open.
So we all have the potential to become a Buddha. Buddhahood is not the creation
of the path of training or the effect of a cause. By waking us up, the path frees
us from nightmarish, illusory mundane concepts, emotions and their results, namely
suffering, and helps us to uncover what we are and what we always have with us.
According
to Mahayanists, pursuing various trainings for realizing buddhahood, the true
nature of our own mind, is the path. Through this path we reach the perfection
of training, which is the realization of the ultimate nature and the cessation
of the cycle of samsara. It is not that we are achieving something new or that
we are returning to a previous state. It is awakening or realizing what actually
we have always been by uncovering the layer of conceptual and emotional traces.
So samsara and nirvana are the two different faces of the same mind. Venerable
Walpola Rahula writes:
Nirvana is not the result of this path. We may get to
the mountain along a path, but the mountain is not the result, not an effect of
the path. We may see a light, but the light is not the result of your eyesight.
The
true nature of the mind, which is also the true nature of the universe, is also
termed the absolute truth, the buddhanature, and voidness. It is voidness, as
there is nothing that can be seen, felt or described in any dualistic context.
It is self-appearing clarity, since all phenomena naturally arise with total openness,
great peace, infinite joy and all-knowing wisdom-the prosperity of the Buddha
qualities, without limitations.
The minds of beings in their true nature are
oneness and sameness in being absolutely pure, totally peaceful, universally pervading,
spontaneously accomplished, and simultaneously all-knowing. This buddhanature
is free from extremes of both nihilism and eternalism, as it is free from any
quality that possesses the character of separate or dualistic distinctions. It
transcends all the extremes of existence or non-existence, right or wrong and
good or evil. It is infinitely and limitlessly rich with the spontaneously present
and naturally manifesting Buddha qualities, such as the bodies, wisdoms and enlightened
activities, which are free from conditions and are self-arisen self-power.
When
we see and perfect the realization of our true nature, all the appearances of
the world before us will become a buddhafield. Spontaneously the enlightened wisdom
within us and self-appearing phenomena will become one in the great peace and
joy of buddhahood. Thereafter, nothing will ever alter the perfected realization,
the attainment of buddhahood.
Buddhism: The Noble Truth of the Path to the
Cessation of Suffering
What is the path that leads to the cessation of suffering?
It is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right view, right thought, right
speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right
contemplation.
-The Buddha
In Buddhism there are hundreds of different paths
of training to reach the fully enlightened state, buddhahood. But whatever technique
of training is given in the teachings, it has to be based on the view of the "four
emblems" of Buddhism. If the teaching is based on and propagates these principles,
whatever techniques are presented, it is the teaching of Buddhism.
The view
of the "four emblems" of Buddhism is: all compounded phenomena are impermanent;
all contaminated things are miserable; all phenomena are selfless (voidness);
and nirvana, the goal, is peace.
Although numerous disciplines are taught
in Buddhism to suit the different natures and abilities of people, they are classified
into three main "vehicles" (Skt.: yanas), or schools.
The Theravada
Path
The unique characteristic of training in Theravada Buddhism is the aspiration
to obtain liberation from cyclic existence. This vehicle relies on the three divisions
of scripture known as "the three baskets." These are: vinaya, the code
of moral discipline for the monks, nuns and lay devotees; sutra, the discourses
on various spiritual trainings; and abhidharma, the scriptures on wisdom, philosophy
and psychology. Its main training is centered on the Eightfold Noble Path: right
understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right
effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. The final goal of attainment
is arhathood, which is the cessation of sorrow and its cause.
One of the main
emphases of Theravadins is on physical discipline, such as living in solitude
and leading a celibate life in order to avoid the circumstances that cause emotional
afflictions and evil deeds to arise in one's mind. They protect themselves from
the poisonous-tree-like sources of emotional afflictions by avoiding them. They
shield the candle-flame-like mind by maintaining shell-like physical disciplines.
The
common disciplines of lay followers are observation of the five precepts and the
ten virtuous deeds. The five precepts are: refraining from killing, stealing,
adultery, telling lies and taking intoxicating substances. The ten virtuous deeds
are: for the body, refraining from killing, stealing and adultery; for speech,
refraining from telling lies, divisive talk, harsh words, and senseless gossip;
and for the mind, refraining from covetousness, harmful intent and wrong view.
For monks and nuns there are hundreds of precepts to be maintained, but whether
a layperson or a monastic, if we refrain from committing such negative deeds,
our every action will become positive and meritorious. The result will be peace,
joy and enlightenment for oneself and others.
Theravadins also emphasize living
with the Four Principles of Asceticism: not to scold others although you have
been scolded by them, not to get angry at others although others are angry with
you, not to reveal others' faults although your own faults have been revealed
by others, and not to beat others although you have been beaten by them.
The
Mahayana Path
The unique character of Mahayana training is its emphasis on
developing great compassion-the aspiration and dedication to take responsibility
for others' happiness and to lead all beings to the attainment of buddhahood without
the slightest self-interest. The scriptures followed by the trainees are the Mahayana
sutras, taught by the Buddha and other Buddhist masters.
While the Mahayanists
use physical discipline, their main emphasis is on the training of the mind. By
training the pilot-like mind on the right path, they bring the vehicle-like speech
and body onto the right path. They do not try to avoid the sources of emotional
afflictions but destroy them by using antidotes such as compassion for anger,
knowledge of the impermanent character of phenomena for attachment, and the wisdom
of realizing the nature of phenomena as the union of voidness and interdependent
arising for ignorance. They are like those who protect themselves and others from
the poisonous trees by destroying them. The goal of their attainment is buddhahood
for all beings with three Buddha-bodies and five Buddha wisdoms.
There are
eighty major trainings that lead to buddhahood.
The most important training
of this school, however, is in the two ways of developing the enlightened mind.
The first is to develop the "aspiring enlightened mind." In this training
one generates love, compassion, joy and equanimity toward all beings by seeing
and understanding them as one's mother. One generates the attitude of taking responsibility
for serving all beings without any discrimination, selfish intention or expectation
of rewards.
The second training
is to put the "enlightened mind into practice" by following the six
perfections (Skt. paramitas). They are:
* the giving of material gifts, dharma
teachings and protection from fear;
*
the discipline of abstaining from committing even the smallest evil deeds, performing
all kinds of dharma all the time, and serving all beings with the
four means
of bringing others to dharma;
* the patience of tolerating people who harm us, the willingness to endure sacrifices for dharma practice, and the courage to maintain the profound meanings of dharma:
* the diligence of wearing the armor of commitment to dharma, dedicating one's life to practice and never being content with one's exertion;
* the contemplation at three successive levels: with attachment to experiences of bliss, clarity and voidness; without attachment to these experiences, but still viewing voidness as an antidote; and remaining in the absorption of the ultimate nature without relying on voidness as the antidote, and
* the wisdom of studying the words and meanings of dharma from a master, pondering the teachings which one has learned, meditating on the meaning of the dharma, and realizing the ultimate meaning.
The
master Milarepa sings of the essential and profound meaning of the six perfections,
applying them in meditation:
Apart from renunciation of grasping at self
There
is no separate giving.
Beyond renunciation of deceiving
There is no separate
discipline.
Apart from fearlessness in the true meaning
There is no separate
patience.
Apart from being inseparable from the meditation
There is no separate
diligence.
Apart from dwelling in the natural state,
There is no separate
contemplation.
Apart from realization of the ultimate meaning,
There is
no separate wisdom.
In every act of spiritual training, all the six perfections
can be practiced simultaneously. For example, when we are giving a gift, the aspect
of giving with a generous mind is the giving. Giving the best and useful material
with proper conduct is discipline. Not being irritated by being asked for more
or by the hardship of providing the gift is patience. Giving consistently while
ignoring difficulties and exhaustion is diligence. Concentrating on the giving
without distraction is contemplation. Giving without grasping at the self of giving,
giver and the objects of giving is wisdom.
The Tantric Path
The unique character
of the training of tantric Buddhism is pure perception. In it one sees and actualizes
all as the buddha-realms. One sees, believes and experiences that all appearances
are the Buddhas and their pure land, all sounds are the pure sound or speech of
the Buddhas, and all thoughts are the wisdom mind of the Buddhas.
In tantric,
or Vajrayana, Buddhism the followers do not avoid or subdue emotional afflictions
or negative energies and situations. Instead the emphasis is on accepting and
transforming them as the fuel of the wisdom energy. These followers are like those
who skillfully transform the poisonous tree into medicinal substances, which they
use for good health and energy.
At the beginning of the tantric path, when
the disciple is ready, the master initiates him or her into the training. At the
time of initiation, the disciples experience the true nature, or at least glimpse
the wisdom of their mind and the wisdom energies of their consciousnesses, mental
events and physical elements.
After that the disciple goes through the training
of the "two stages." In the development stage, one sees, visualizes
and actualizes the universe as the Buddhas and their pure lands. In the perfection
stage, by using the powers of the channels, energies and essence of one's vajra-body,
one attains and perfects the union of great bliss and voidness. As the goal of
attainment, one achieves the omnipresent buddhahood and serves all who are ready
to receive the benefits.
Tulku Thondup Rinpoche's most recent book is Boundless
Healing: Meditation Exercises to Enlighten the Mind and Heal the Body. He lives
in Cambridge, Massachusetts.