Santoshan
From The House of Wisdom
Published by O Books |
 |
Be a light unto thyself.
– The Buddha
Similar to various paths of yoga, the Buddha’s teachings encompass the cultivation of ethical conduct, self-exploration and overcoming the split between subject and object experience.
The early teachings are about personal effort and responsibility, and realising that the path to spiritual enlightenment lies within us. We are the ones who are in charge of our unfoldment and need to discover what steps can be taken to achieve freedom from the entanglements of life and the many forms of discontentment. To begin we must start from where we are and find methods for bringing about changes in the way we think, feel and act and perceive life.
The path the Buddha recommends for doing this is a therapeutic one that leads to deep intuitive insight and seeing things in their true nature. When this is achieved we no longer see life as made-up of separate phenomena and become awakened to the interrelatedness of all existence. By following the eightfold path we are able to transform our overall understanding and manifest unconditional compassion.
A Noble Silence
Because the Buddha believed it was impossible to describe Nirvana to those who had not experienced it, he frequently observed a noble silence on questions about it. It would be like trying to describe colour, shape and form to someone who had been blind from birth.
The Buddha believed it would not help to describe what could not be understood until it had been realised for oneself. It would confuse people with concepts, which would imprison the mystery and not help them discover the Truth for themselves. What was more important than entering into discussion about Nirvana was to find a way of overcoming the problems of worldly existence.
To illustrate this point, there is a story in the early teachings about a man who had been shot with an arrow, which describes how there would be no point in his asking questions about what weapon it was propelled from, whether it was a long-bow or crossbow, what string had been used and so on. What would be of more value would be to have the arrow removed so as to stop the man’s suffering. This is a pragmatic approach which encourages us to attend to what is more important first. Our houses are on fire with anger, desires and misconceptions. We have enough work on our hands in putting out these fires – questions about the Ultimate will have to wait!
There is common sense to the Buddha’s approach. People can use intellectual concepts as a distraction, instead of getting down to doing some practical work that relates and is more helpful to the here and now of everyday life and spirituality. Intellectual pursuits can be used as a way of burying our heads in the sand, instead of finding ways and means to live a balanced and wholesome life.
Unsatisfactoriness
The essential teachings of the Buddha can be unpacked from his Four Noble Truths. They are often compared with steps towards the cure of an illness:
(1) Diagnosis of the illness.
(2) Identification of the conditions that caused the illness.
(3) The prognosis, which is good, as it indicates that there is a way to a complete recovery.
(4) Steps to be taken to cure the illness: the Buddha’s Eightfold Path.
The first noble truth (below) is an observation about the human condition and existence of duhkha (unsatisfactoriness). The word ‘duhkha’ is often translated as ‘suffering’, which has led some to believe that the Buddha’s teachings are a negative path to enlightenment. But we should realise that the Buddha was being a realist – particularly if we think of what life must have been like in his time: disease, tribal disputes and a short life expectancy would have been common then.
Back to Top 
|
| |
Three Marks of Existence
All conditioned things constantly change and are impermanent.
All conditioned things are unsatisfactory.
All things are selfless.
The Four Noble Truths
1. The human condition is characterised by unsatisfactoriness.
2. The cause of unsatisfactoriness is desire.
3. Unsatisfactoriness can be overcome.
4. The way to overcome unsatisfactoriness – the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Eightfold Path
1. Right view.
2. Right intention.
3. Right speech.
4. Right action.
5. Right livelihood.
6. Right effort.
7. Right mindfulness.
8. Right concentration.
Three Fires that have to be Put Out
Desire, anger, and the lack of understanding and insight (ignorance).
Five Precepts
To abstain from taking life (harmlessness).
To abstain from taking what is not given.
To abstain from sexual misconduct.
To abstain from false speech.
To abstain from intoxicants which cloud the mind.
Four Sublime States
Extending unlimited, universal love and good-will to all living beings.
Compassion for all beings who are suffering, in trouble and afflicted. Sympathetic joy in other people’s success, welfare and happiness.
Equanimity in all circumstances of life.
|
|
However, ‘unsatisfactoriness’ is seen as a more accurate word for duhkha and helpful translation for understanding the Buddha’s teachings. Studies by scholars of early Buddhism confirm this. The Buddha did not deny that happiness could be found in the world, but pointed out that it would not last. His teachings aim to help us find lasting contentment, to cultivate loving-kindness, and to discover freedom from hatred and unskilful states of mind.
Pursuit of worldly pleasure is seen by the Buddha to go hand-in-hand with unsatisfactoriness due to all conditioned things being impermanent. The Buddha’s teachings on conditioned existence are about everything being caused by numerous other factors. Death is preceded by birth and life, rebirth is determined by karmic actions. When one thing happens it causes something else to happen and so on. The way we perceive life is created by and is the outcome of various influences. All things come into being and pass away and are dependent on other things for their existence.
It is because we have not realised and accepted conditioned life, and that all things are impermanent and constantly undergoing change, that we encounter unsatisfactoriness. On a basic level we might gain enjoyment by partying all night. But the next morning we would no doubt feel tired, stiff and have a hang-over. Even if we continuously did what we enjoy most, we would still encounter unsatisfactoriness, as there would be times when events would not go the way we had planned. We may also have days when we feel under the weather or bored with the repetition of doing the same activity.
The prime cause of unsatisfactoriness is desire and a lack of knowledge about the way things really are. Desires are not just about wanting things that we have not got, but also about longing for life to remain the same and for any unpleasantness to be taken away.
This process of yearning for things to remain the same can be seen as happening at various levels, including the realms of thought, feelings and sensory enjoyment. We can see how consistency gives us a sense of security and order. We are after all creatures of habit and want our health to be good, our jobs to be safe, our emotions to be stable, the trains and buses to run on time, a quiet home that always keeps the rain out and warms us in the winter, and to have good and lasting relationships with our friends and family. Yet it can be seen that it is this expectation that causes us frustration, discontent and unsatisfactoriness.
‘Through putting the Buddha’s key practices of right view, right effort and right mindfulness into action, we can gain insight into how we psychologically work and ways to transform our overall selves and our daily encounters with discontentment.’
For the Buddha, overcoming this problem lays in cultivating a realistic view, one which encompasses an acceptance of things as they come into being and pass away, and an awareness of what it is that causes us to see life in a certain way. We have to change our overall understanding, so that we no longer see ourselves as separate individuals with self-centred desires that conflict with how life truly is. Through putting the Buddha’s key practices of right view, right effort and right mindfulness into action, we can gain insight into how we psychologically work and ways to transform our overall selves and our daily encounters with discontentment.
Back to Top
|
Meditation
One of the Buddha’s key practices is meditation. Comparing the Buddha’s teachings on meditation with the Yoga Sutra’s eightfold path there are some subtle differences. The practice of pratyahara (sensual withdrawal) is not specifically mentioned by the Buddha, but it can be seen to tie in with one of his four absorption states. The breath is not held, as in pranayama practices, and self-study, with its links with mindfulness and therapeutic analysis, is promoted more clearly as something to be performed in all areas and activities of life.
But we are not comparing eggs with eggs here. The Yoga Sutra is a potted summary of practices, whereas the Pali Cannon includes a vast and detailed collection of the Buddha’s teachings.
As in the Yoga Sutra (which displays some Buddhist influences), the Buddha’s meditative path includes moral conduct as an initial and ongoing stage, then the cultivation of a positive outlook and an awareness of one’s thoughts, words and deeds for the purpose of eliminating any inhibiting patterns. Finally, all of life’s experience – body, mind, feelings and external phenomena – is reflected upon as transient and being in a continual state of change. This leads to an increased clarity and focusing of the mind, which brings about an awakening to wider states of consciousness.
The word Buddha means ‘enlightened’ or ‘awake’, implying someone who has woken-up to seeing things clearly. Through both meditation and awareness we objectively observe life internally and externally, and transform anything that stops us from seeing it realistically and dualistically – overcoming the split between inner and outer existence. We become more mindful and conduct ourselves in a fully conscious way, even when engaged in activity. Life becomes concentrated on the present moment, instead of being wrapped-up in problems of the past or anxieties about, or predominantly self-centred desires for, the future.
Right effort is particularly important as it is the willing/volitional factor that motivates us to do the work that is necessary for transforming unskilful states of mind, and for cultivating positive qualities and insight into the truth of the Buddha’s teachings.
Interconnectedness
We must realise that what is fed into the unconscious will affect our conscious awareness. It is because of our past conditioning that we see ourselves as physically unconnected with exterior life. Our senses create the appearance of our being singular and distinctly separate from other people and objects around us and in the universe.
Yet not only did the Buddha tell us that this is a wrong perception, but also quantum physicists have now discovered this to be true. On a sub-atomic level there is no clear boundary between different forms of life, objects and phenomenon. Similarly the research of Rupert Sheldrake into morphogenic fields and resonance also shows an interconnectedness in nature, of which we ourselves are a part of.
Back to Top
|
Five Aspects of Ourselves
The Buddha identified five aspects of our human nature, known as skandhas (constituents):
(1) Body.
(2) Feelings.
(3) Conceptual abilities.
(4) Volitional activities.
(5) Consciousness.
Collectively the skandhas can be seen to make-up the fundamental basics of our individuality. The key to why we see ourselves as separate beings lies with number three: the identifying and conceptualising part of ourselves.
There are at least three ways of looking at the skandhas. One is that they partly explain the Theravadin Buddhist doctrine of ‘no self’. The second, which ties in with the other two, is that the self that is being referred to is only the ego-self – not the higher Self of the Hindu yogic tradition. The third is that they give us a psychological model of how we work and perceive ourselves as separate personalities.
The latter does not signify that there is no self and links with other teachings of the Buddha, which relate to the human condition and looks for ways in which we can be helped, i.e. that by understanding different aspects of ourselves and how we function, we can change the way we view life and overcome unsatisfactoriness. We should remember that the Buddha never said that we do not exist. The idea of no self is in fact one of six false views that he mentioned. What he was trying to say was that there is no self that is totally independent and separate from other life and influences for it to exist.
Some Buddhists believe that because there cannot be found an individual unchanging essence which can be called an ‘I’, this implies that there is no self. This includes the yogic understanding of the atman – the idea of a self merely being the collective name for the sum of the parts. But as mentioned before, speculation on anything other than what the Buddha saw as necessary to become liberated from unsatisfactoriness was not encouraged by him.
To say there is ‘a self’ or ‘no self’ – particularly an eternal spiritual Self – is to enter into metaphysical speculation, which the Buddha believed would only confuse us with concepts that would get in the way of realising Nirvana for ourselves and distract us from what was more important.
In the early Pali teachings the Buddha claimed to be neither an eternalist nor a nihilist, which puts him slightly at odds with Upanishadic wisdom and Mahayana understanding about our eternal Buddha nature; though such a stance doesn’t completely rule them out. In fact the Buddha accepted that beneficial teachings could be included as part of the dharma (the teachings), which demonstrates how open minded and inclusive he was.
His approach is really ‘non-theistic’. To say his path is or isn’t about God would equally miss the point of what he was teaching. His interests lie in how we experience life, rather than asking theological questions about how we got here or where we will go when we die.
Similarly, by building on the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra’s teachings on emptiness, the influential Mahayana Buddhist philosopher Nagajuna also argued against conceptualism and metaphysical speculation, although even a non-conceptual philosophy can still be seen as just another concept.
Selflessness and Karma
The Buddha’s central message is about seeing things ‘self-lessly’. By doing so, we overcome unsatisfactoriness, as we no longer have self-centred desires that would cause it. This also means that we can practise true compassion, as selflessness means seeing that we are not separate from others and their suffering. It is a cognitive change which leads to freedom and spiritual living. Any effort towards this goal will be of benefit because of the way in which it ties in with karma. In Buddhism, karma is about volitional activities, the intention behind the deed, which is the only one of the skandhas that produces karma, either to our benefit or to our detriment. It is also bound up with ideas about desire, attachment, wrong thinking, unawareness and anger.
In following the steps of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path and applying them, we begin to lead a more ethically responsible life. This is because when we truly see things as they are, we no longer act out of selfish motives, as we no longer over-identify with our individual self and its desires and attachments. Instead, we become desire-less and more impartial and begin to conduct ourselves with a pro-active attitude that works for the good of all.
In attaining this understanding we are no longer subject to habitual ways of thinking. Instead of reacting to life when things change beyond our control and don’t go the way we expect them to, we accepts all things with equanimity and emanate loving-kindness to all.
Back to Top
|
|
.jpg)
