So, welcome everybody, this is the 8th lecture in my course on the Arahant and the 4th truth
in early Buddhism, I hope you can hear me well.
There was some discussion on the blog, part of the discussion was actually on technical
problems, it seems that all that side was updated and so some people had, some students
had problems accessing the lecture, going on to the blog and particularly uploading
their pictures.
I hope most of these problems have been solved, in fact I have written a note to the administration
to ask them if in future they can do updates after the semester is over.
And there was some discussion on the blog which gave me the feeling that it is perhaps
good if I start today by kind of taking a step back from the actual topic that we are
discussing to just reflect on what we are actually talking about when I am speaking
about early Buddhism, what is the material that we are using and what is the purpose
of this whole study.
For that I have here a little sketch just to give us a very rough historical background
to what we are actually doing.
The dates I am giving are highly approximate, they are not meant to be exact, they are just
meant to give us a very rough idea.
So what you can see here is basically Buddhism in India from the time of the passing away
of the Buddha around about 400 before the present era to about 1200 of the present era
when Buddhism came to an end in India.
And then from India Buddhism moved to Sri Lanka about or that should be BCE, I am sorry
200 BCE and the texts that were orally transmitted in India were brought to Sri Lanka together
with other texts that are not anymore early Buddhism like the Abhidhamma.
Buddhism continues to develop and to develop and 300 years later 100 of the present era
it moves into China, the Chinese translation, the beginning of the translation into Chinese
begins and lineage, usually we refer to Chinese Buddhism as Mahayana but actually if we look
at it in terms of Buddhist schools, the Vinaya lineage, the monastic rules that were adopted
in China are Dhamma Gupta Ka and then some 500 years later again further developments
in Buddhism and what we have at that time in Buddhism is then brought to Tibet, translated
into Tibetan and what we have there is the Mula Savasthiva lineage.
So basically these three lineages that you see here are what we still have today, Theravada
Buddhism in Sri Lanka and adjacent countries, Dhamma Gupta Ka tradition in China and adjacent
countries and the Mula Savasthiva lineage in Tibet and adjacent countries.
So what we are taking out, what we are studying here, what we are concerned in this course
are the early discourses, this is the shared heritage of all of these traditions, it does
not pertain to any of them and each of them has moved onward the idea that Theravada Buddhism
is the same as what is in the early discourses, it is not correct, Theravada Buddhism has
further developments and so the whole purpose of what I am trying to do with this course
is to give that perspective of what is the historical earliest layer of Buddhist text
just to have that perspective to see where it started.
And of these early discourses we have four collections preserved in the Theravada tradition,
these are in the Pali language, the so called Pali Nikayas or Pali discourses, then of the
Dhamma Gupta Ka we have only one collection preserved in Chinese, this is the collection
of long discourses and of the Saravasthivada and Mula Savasthivada the two seem to have
closely similar or perhaps the same group of discourses, we have two collections preserved
in Chinese, one is the one we are studying, the Magyama Agama and we have several discourses
in Tibetan.
So what we are trying to do is we are looking at this transmission of discourses from different
schools, looking at what is parallel between them and where they differ.
And the parts where they are parallel, this is as far as we can go back in the history
of Buddhist thought.
So when I say for example that in the early discourses we find a position that is a middle
position between realism and idealism, this is not a value judgment of any tradition that
takes a different position, this doesn't mean that Abhidhamma is wrong, that Mahayana
is wrong or anything of that type, each of these forms of thought have their full right
to be as they are, I am only saying look this is where it all started, it started off from
a position that did not affirm external things to exist in their own right but also did not
see external things as a product of the mind only.
And these other positions come out of a dynamic of the development of the Buddhist traditions
which has its inner logic and for anybody operating within the Abhidhamma system it
is very meaningful to see things as having their swabhava, their own, how to translate
swabhava, their own characteristic, their own being and for anybody operating in the
prajnaparamita system it is very meaningful in the chitamatra to have the idea that everything
is created by the mind, we are not here to create a sutta fundamentalism, this is the
only truth, this is right, all the earth is wrong, no, no, no, no, no, please don't, that's
absolutely not, we are just trying to see where it all started and each Buddhist tradition
has its full right to develop its own dynamics, this is what makes it so beautiful, the variety,
the new ideas, the same is also for a topic that I think took up maybe two lectures ago
about samatha and dipassana, insight and tranquility, so when I say that as far as I can tell in
the early discourses the idea of dry insight is not found because we have an emphasis on the
development of the absorptions but we also do not get the other position where only jhana is given
importance and everything else is being put aside, then I'm just trying to point out a starting point
where it all started, I'm not intending to reject the vipassana traditions, they are wonderful
teachers of dry insight and I have myself learned a lot from them and I'm certainly not intending to
reject those who give emphasis on jhana practice, again they are very charismatic teachers and
wonderful teachers of jhana and again I have learned a lot from them myself, all we are trying
to do here is to come to a historical perspective, each of you is 100% free to have whatever views
you like to have, whatever practice you like to do, I'm only intending to introduce the historical
perspective and I only say this and that is not convincing also meaning not convincing as being
placed or presented as the word of the historical buddha, that's all, we can't be 100% sure what the
historical buddha said but and we can be 100% sure about certain things what she could not have said
and that is important and that gives a perspective, that's all.
I leave some room for questions on this because I think it's an important
point that I wanted to to clarify.
No question, good, yeah then I had given you this homework,
I'm just pasting it in briefly for all of us,
identify a problem, what do I contribute to it, is there an alternative and what steps do I need
to take for this alternative to work and while in the lecture I was still boasting that as a teacher
I don't need to do homework and when I stopped the lecture I realized that I can't get away as
easy as that and so I tried it right away myself and I was able to report on the blog that it really
worked for me. I was immediately able to realize that I have a problem and that I am contributing
to that problem and I also realized what I need to do in order to diminish that problem. In my case
it's just I'm trying to do too many things, very simple and so I don't have enough time.
And there were some very beautiful contributions by others, several did not like to put it out on
the blog and they just wrote to me which was very nice but I feel I'm not sure if I'm entitled to
share this with others here so I can't tell you about but I mean two on the blog put out their
homework one was way in show and she was saying like that she has this she would like to meditate
but she found that using guided meditation became too pushy and so she dropped it for a while and
wanted to wait for the situation to develop and some on the blog then confirmed that that was a
very good approach to not push too much but Juliana also made I think the important point that one
should also not be too laid back kind of and leave it for too far away in the future and I think
that's also correct I think the thing would be to try to make a basic commitment to formal practice
in one's life but leave the actual practice to be very open and relaxed and receptive and in that
way I think it would be possible to have that input or formal practice which I think is important
but at the same time not allow it to get pushy there was a discussion we had when I was in
yet at the retreat I was in New York at Garrison and Sharon Salzberg she was quoting some people
who say that there is no need for formal meditation and you can even meditate in a subway it doesn't
matter and she was very she's very sweet person so she was very accommodating to this kind of
position but I felt I would really reject that I don't believe in that I mean if somebody can do
meditation everyday life that is wonderful but it doesn't mean that one is free to completely
neglect any kind of formal practice and I do not know anybody who without doing at least some
amount of formal practice has been able to make substantial progress.
Yeah that's a question here by John Emmer what do you make of Kalupahana's claim that the Abhidhamma
Nagarjuna Vashubhana Dignaga are properly interpreted as non-essentialist and non-idealist
and properly representing the middle position of Buddha while Buddha also was no voice of the
Buddha and snuck essentialist teaching into the Theravada tradition. Yeah Kalupahana's claims have
not been anonymously been found approval among scholars and I am not sure if one can really
put it so nicely into these two boxes that pretty much Buddha Gosa got it all wrong and the others
got it all right but I do think that some of the points that we come across in the commentary is
systematized by Buddha Gosa not necessarily of his own writing do have a tendency towards
a slightly more essentialist or fundamentalist position than we find in early Buddhism.
There was another very beautiful example on our Rene van Ostjevic in your pdfs you compare Pali
and Chinese text do you use any explicit system if so which how do you find the most parallel text
if this fits to the lecture otherwise please at a later date. Well the system that I use for
comparing is what we call the historical critical method and for identification of parallels
there's a basic work by Akanuma I have it here Chitsen Akanuma's can you can you see that
comparative catalog this is a work written by a Japanese scholar many years ago he is the first
to have made a complete survey of the Pali Nikayas and identify parallels so this is the basic
the basis for identification of parallels and then sometimes when we study we come to
somewhat different conclusion or we find some further parallels and I have written on the
notion of a parallel also in one of the papers that you can download from my list of publications
it's something like reflection on comparative studies if I remember the title correctly
but the basic basic method is that of the the so-called historical critical method
and that we are aware of the historical development of certain ideas and the basic assumption
that we have is then where there is a parallel passages in text of different recited traditions
or schools that it is fairly probable that these are early and this is an assumption that has
been questioned by Gregory Chopin in a paper published 1985 and which I have been writing
writing a reply to affirming that this principle is correct which is about to come out in the
Indo-Iranian journal and so what is parallel I think we are on relatively firm ground that
this is the common heritage and when there are differences then we can evaluate these and see
what we are trying to do here in the course sometimes internal inconsistencies make it more
probable that one is early the other one is late sometimes we just have to leave them standing
side by side like happened with the very first discourse we looked at and these different
conceptions of the non-returner we were we are simply not sure the internally fettered the
externally fettered which one of the two version has the more correct the better presentation at
least I simply don't know sometimes it just has to be left open and one important principle
that in earlier generations of scholars has sometimes not been seen so clearly is to be
aware that this is orally transmitted material that many of the differences and variations we
find are simply the product of oral transmission of passing on from mouth to ear without having
anything to write to fix it and however much this oral transmission tried to be verbatim correct to
transmit it exactly inevitably some changes happened and earlier generations of scholars were
sometimes under the impression that any even the smallest difference has to be traced back to a
conscious editorial decision by the reductors of the text and must be expressing some bias
of the particular school to which that editor belongs and this is an over interpretation that
that that simply doesn't work for many of the variations we find I hope I've been able to
give a reply to your very important question
coming back to the homework another very beautiful example that I think many of us enjoyed was Meng
how he was describing that the problem about getting upset when somebody else cuts you when
you're driving a car and he is now in an environment where this happens more often than what is used
to at home and he's very putty very beautiful and I just I just read it maybe I post it in for you
it really touched my heart
ah yeah komu has given the link for the paper thank you komu
so he says one duka getting angry when driving second cause me not being able to accept the
simply true about the driving etiquette in the philippines that is where he's now having this
experience solution acceptance embracing the nature of how things worked here in a different
country niroda well not quite but I found my anger dropped by 90 to 95 percent when I'm driving
now as compared to before yeah I thought it was really really beautiful and refreshing
it can be such simple things and I I found myself as I told you and many of the participants who
wrote to me personally this this kind of making this for truth scheme something very very practical
and really applying it in one's life one finds like hey wow it works yeah not always what one
would like to hear I mean I was not particularly happy of finding out that I was myself the cause
of my own trouble but yeah it really makes sense there's a comment here by Robert comment on the
homework I found it difficult that I could not find an isolated problem when I reflect on one
problem a number of related ones also show up probably the best way for me is to follow my
intuition and just tackle one problem at a time also maybe it is a good idea to look for things
that I can do right now to amend the situation as in your example yeah that makes a lot of sense
Robert we were not trying to solve the whole question of all kind of Duca in one single go
that would be asking a little bit too much that would be homework for a few years not for just
one week when I'm not there but yeah the point would have been would be for us to tackle one
problem and try out and it could be a very simple problem like getting angry when driving
or not feeling ready to meditate or a busy buddy who is writing 10 000 things at the same time and
wonders why he doesn't have time just a simple thing and and see how this basic structure works
and from trying it out with a simple thing we get the impression that hey there's there's something
to this it is a meaningful thing it's not just some strange teaching from 2500 years ago that
one has a lot of reverence for but somehow of little practical use but it's something
that is actually eminently practical I remember when I wrote my Sadipatana book and somebody
asked me about it and I was confronted with the opinion apparently voiced by several eminent
teachers that the foreign noble truth is something you can't meditate on no that's just philosophy
and I felt quite disagreement with that and I think all those who have done the homework have
been able to prove that this is not the case that it's actually something that can be practically
used and there was a very useful comment by Mark to clarify this what what I found nagging about
the homework that I am myself responsible no so he says for me the key point is to own the cause
and it's not someone else who made me angry or irritated as far as tukka goes it is all my own
show nobody else is responsible for my suffering when I am in a positive open mental space
I will not react in a negative way to those things the fact that I'm responsible for my
dukka is good news as the pathway to the cure is not then beyond me and somehow out of my control
I don't have to wait for others to change to soothe my irritation I thought I was right on
the spot that's exactly the thing and that is the challenge the being honest with ourselves
and to see how we ourselves construct our own dukka it's not the others not that I
oh it's just this this university lecture I have to give if I just stop giving lectures I'll be
perfectly at peace and happy I just want to be somewhere alone and meditate wonderful no that's
not the problem the problem is how I deal with things do I have mindfulness and clear comprehension
in dealing with things am I able to stay balanced am I able to see negativity coming at me from
others not as a challenge to my ego that I have to defend but as a challenge to my patients to
which do I have to soften whether it's angry drivers on the roads of the Philippines or anything else
and then adjustment of perspective that owning the cause as Mark puts it so nicely that makes
the whole difference and there was a comment by Robert on the order maybe you remember I had
presented this two different orders of the Four Noble Truths the one that is used by the medical
scheme and the one that is used in the in the in the Four Noble Truths scheme in Buddhist teachings
Andrew is making a joke again haven't they found a tablet for anger yet they have Andrew
I'm just presenting it to you you just have to buy it
so Robert explains to us that why the order of the diagnostic scheme might have been changed
for the Four Noble Truths compared to the original order usually when things are presented the most
important point stands at the end when the doctor presents his case solution to the patient
the most important point from the patient's perspective or the general public is that the
disease has ceased as in the traditional order however in order to deal with our dukkum we all
have to become our doctors our own doctors more important than knowing that there is an end of
the disease is the recipe how to get from the sick to the healthy condition yeah I thought that was
a very nice very nice point for explaining the the the different the shift in sequence between
the third and the fourth of the four truths yeah that was what I had on the blog and if there's
any questions regarding what we have discussed so far then now would be a good time to put them
and otherwise or after that we move into Majima Agama number 30
good then we are ready for Majima Agama 13
it's a discourse given by a sali putter whenever sali putter to the monks
we have read the first part but I quick I think I go through it one more time just to remind us
two weeks have passed whenever friends whatever countless wholesome states there are can all be
subsumed under the Four Noble Truths they are all included in the Four Noble Truths
the Four Noble Truths are declared to be the foremost of all teachings why because they
encompass all wholesome states whenever friends it is just as the elephant's footprint is foremost
among the footprints of all animals because it is the greatest the largest so two of animal friends
the countless wholesome states are all subsumed under the Four Noble Truths they are all included
in the Four Noble Truths the Four Noble Truths are declared to be the foremost of all teachings
what are the four they are the noble truth of dukkha the noble truth of the arising of dukkha
the noble truth of the cessation of dukkha and the noble truth of the path leading to the
cessation of dukkha yeah last time I already mentioned the comments that had been made by
Len's cousins and Venerable Nyanaponi Katera on this simile the simile of the elephant's
footprint also occurs in several other discourses in order to illustrate the importance of diligence
or heedfulness upper model I'm just giving you the references here and in one discourse for the
to illustrate the importance of the faculty of wisdom
here's the reference and the german Indologist Frank he noted that the image of the elephant's
footprint as a simile occurs also in the Mahabharata where it is used to illustrate the importance of
non-violence ahingsa so now we get into Venerable Sariputta's analytical approach
towards the Four Noble Truth you will see that he is much more analytical and sophisticated way of
dealing with the Four Noble Truth than what I propose to you he's gonna really cut down down
down down and show us a very complex analysis of the Four Noble Truth with a lot of meditative
aspects and I hope it's not going to get too confusing Venerable Sariputta has this very
brilliant analytical mind in presenting things that one really needs sometimes some time to
digest the way he is going about it so I start reading again what Venerable Friends is the noble
truth of Dukkha it is this birth is Dukkha old age is Dukkha disease is Dukkha death is Dukkha
association with what is disliked is Dukkha separation from what is loved is Dukkha
being unable to get what one wishes is Dukkha ensure the five aggregates of clinging are Dukkha
what Venerable Friends are the five aggregates of clinging you see he's picking out one from the
earlier definition and he just goes for that one which are Dukkha they are the material form
aggregate of clinging the feeling aggregate of clinging the perception aggregate of clinging
the formation aggregate of clinging and the conscious aggregate of clinging what Venerable
Friends is the material form aggregate of clinging you see again he picks out one from the
whole thing and goes further it is whatever is corporate realm the four great elements and
whatever is derived from the four great elements what Venerable Friends are the four great elements
they are the earth element the water element the fire element and the wind element
again he picks out one no earth element no what Venerable Friends is the earth element
there are Venerable Friends two kinds of earth element there is the internal earth element and
the external earth element so just to give you a view of how he this this this Venerable Sadi
put his analysis so for noble truth then he goes for the fourth then within the fourth for the five
aggregates within the five aggregates for the aggregate of bodily form then the definition
four elements and then he takes up the first element so it's going cutting down to come to
one topic and then to illustrate what this element of earth is about
now we are going to get a definition of what is the internal earth element the four elements are
representative of basic qualities of matter in ancient Indian thought earth stands for solidity
water for anything that is fluid fire for temperature and the element of wind for any type
of motion i continue reading what Venerable Friends is the internal earth element whatever
internally being inside the body is solid and solidified whatever is internally clung to and
what is that it is hair of the head hair of the body nails teeth coarse and fine skin flesh sinews
bones heart kidney liver lung spleen intestines stomach feces or whatever else that exists in
this body is found inside it that is solid solidified and is internally clung to Venerable
Friends this is called the internal earth element Venerable Friends as for the external
earth element grade though it is pure though it is beyond reproach though it is yet Venerable
Friends at times there is an inundation and then the external earth element disappears a slight
comment aside i when we were translating this we are not quite sure what is meant by pure and
beyond reproach this is found in the Chinese text so i can't just delete it but it's not
three translators of us involved in translating this
magic we are not quite sure what what is meant with that anyway continuing with the text
Venerable Friends this external earth element grade though it is pure though it is beyond reproach
though it is is impermanent by nature often nature to be extinguished often nature to decay
changing by nature how much more so this short lived body that is clung to with craving
yet the unlearned deluded whirling thinks this is me this is mine i belong to this
on the other hand learner noble disciple does not think this is me this is mine i belong to this
how could he have such a thought
if purple curse him beat him and become angry with him he thinks this pain that i'm experiencing
that i'm experiencing is born of causes and condition it is not without causes and conditions
what are the conditions it is dependent on context to be experienced as painful
he contemplates this contact as impermanent and he contemplates feeding perception formations and
consciousness as impermanent through contemplation of the elements his mind remains still
one-pointed concentrated and imperturbable so before i go into the dynamics i have a look
there's a comment by john emmer perhaps the picking of one aspect of each topic and drilling
down is intended to suggest the kind of nesting in the way smaller and smaller footprints can
fit inside each other within the boundaries of the elephant footprint oh very nice otherwise
it strikes me as unbalanced when compared with a systematic presentation of all aspects of each
topic oh that's a very nice idea john for going for small and smaller footprints nested within
the big footprint of the elephant's footprint yeah yeah i would not have seen it as unbalanced i
think it's just this analytical approach of like you say like drilling down to pick out one thing
and then illustrate what's what what can be done with even that one little aspect very beautiful
thank you so i have tried to bring out the basic dynamics of the reflection
see the the thing is that the outside world it seems so solid to us all these big mountains
and things but we all know that even the mountains or the big houses have come into
being at some point in the past and at some point in the future they will disappear
in fact i had that i told you that i had to go to the states and it was the first time that i was
really in the middle of new york the flight arrived late at night and they put me up into one of these
very posh hotels and so early morning when i got up to do my morning meditation i pulled aside the
curtain and all the walls of the room were glass and so all around me there were all these huge
skyscrapers i was on the 17th floor and i could see all this and this is normally something people
go for sightseeing to see that and it was very funny it's the first time that i i've seen this
but i merely had this uh for elementary reflection i thought well it's just the earth no
just a half heap of earth and down there were these cars moving even for for 30 in the morning
five o'clock in the morning they move that's just the wind element and they had their lamps on that's
just a fire element and then there was the river on the other side and that's the water element
just four elements two hundred three hundred years ago there was just
nothing there and in a few centuries it might all be gone again it's very very interesting to
have that kind of reflection because it at first it looks so solid these huge houses and one besides
the other and then so on so many stores and new york new york
but the real problem then is not so much the skyscrapers or the mountains it's our own body
we know it changes we look in the mirror and see it's changed but still it's the such a stable
reference point for all of our experiences since our birth this is where it all happens and this
is anybody calling my name here here me and this kind of uh stability that is the by being a
reference point to all of our experience uh easily makes us miss the fact that all that there is is
just a process it's all changing and it is precisely this awareness of continuous change
which makes this uh me mine gets weakened like like uh if you if you want to grab onto a stone
and the moment you grab onto it it turns out to be just a lump of sand and you touch it and it just
just and you just have a few little bit of sand left but all of the other sand has fallen to the
ground it's the same kind of it just dissolves you can't you can't really fully latch onto it
and realizing that this eye and even just only if it is the body so much better if we can
realize it for the mind but all we realize in this body is just the flow it becomes easy to
to flow flow along with it in a way flowing along with things and not trying to freeze
things into something that it becomes so solid that we can really grasp it cling to it
and this is obviously a basic insight and here the approach is taken from the
external earth being impermanent according to ancient Indian cosmology the earth disappears
at some point but it can also be done by simply observing one's own body the continuous change
that the body is in and then the the logical impact that this insight has in any unpleasant
situation is that one realized that that situation is also impermanent
it sounds very simple but in the actual situation it makes a huge difference
and it is that precise which allows the mind to remain balanced calm concentrated imperturbable
they're very powerful
so it doesn't mean that we become like a vegetable that doesn't do anything anymore
about the situation and any everything that happens has to be endured passively
when something can reasonably be done then certainly we will do something about it but there
are sometimes entire situations or at least aspects of a situation where one is helpless
and instead of reacting with hatred or aversion through awareness of impermanence
it becomes possible to remain patient and calm so here in the situation that we get described
somebody curses him and beats him if he can stop people from cursing him and beating him
then there's so much the better for them and him but sometimes that's not possible
and this is this is what and what cannot be avoided we have to deal with it and it is meant
for this kind of situation that this awareness of impermanence is so powerful
and yet not a single cell of that body that was born remains so i'm nothing isn't that something
yeah nothing i i i think we understand each other but i think nothing could be
misunderstood it's not that there is nothing there this is a no it's not a bad joke who did
you it's it's it's interesting it's a it's a good thing for you to to to to to to bring that up so
that i can elaborate on that point so not self doesn't mean that there's nothing that's uh
very often an impression formed of this central doctrine of early buddhism which can have quite
misleading consequences uh there is something definitely but this that which is there is a
process and that which is there is a conditioned process but there definitely is something there
i have heard uh even eminent buddhist teachers making discourses of the type like i mean applied
to my situation here now it's like hey you think uh this lecture you didn't like it that's your
problem can't complain to me no self how could i be responsible for that that would be total rubbish
i am fully responsible for what i'm saying here and if i didn't prepare this lecture and you come
are disappointed it's my fault and annata is no way for me to trick myself out of that
because i as a conditioned process as these uh five analu aggregates that at some point in
the past have sat down to think about the lecture to translate the discourse that this morning went
on the blog and looked at what is there and tried to find something meaningful to say that is not
trying to concentrate and say something meaningful that is definitely there and it is my karma
my decision my responsibility to do the best i can to honor the fact that all of you have
come on and to listen to me so it's not that there's nothing but that which is there is not
a solid there's no there's nothing solid in this analu and as you say quite rightly uh not a single
cell of the body as it is now is the same as nearly 50 years ago when this fellow was born
so i am i'm very grateful that you brought that up because that's a very important point i i like
to emphasize there's a beautiful passage in manjimani kaya discourse where the buddha gives
the teaching on the five aggregates and then there's a monk and it's in the mahau chula puna
and then the monk says
karma lets dhamma not self what self could they could they touch what self could be affected by
them and then gives them a real sounding that's a complete misunderstanding think that oh there's
no self then there's no karma and and result that would be totally missing out the point
emptiness does mean there's nothing not self does mean there's nothing it means there's nothing
permanent there's nothing substantial okay there we are
uh rogofo rios molina uh in the previous lecture you mentioned that there is a
causality connection causality connection with what you did before so you are responsible
definitely yeah that's what i'm saying we are a hundred percent responsible for our intentional
decisions and not self doesn't deny that it only denies that there is something eternal and permanent
stewart corner nerve cells can last a lifetime do they i didn't know
this is a fun cut i like the analogy of the river we are like yeah yeah yeah i love that
river image it's very powerful even there is nothing substantial in that river if you
throw poison at some point the whole river the fish will get will die
lejang can you explain more for me about this the simile of the elephant footprints relates to
the inherent meaning of the text the simile explains that as the elephant's foot combines all
petal qualities so all skilled states of mind are included in the for arian truth
yeah there there were two interpretations
that i had mentioned last time one was by lens cousins where he thinks that the reference is
predominant to meditative states and by whenever nyana ponika where he says that it includes
anything that is wholesome not only related to meditation but the the the image is simply that
the elephant's footprint is much larger than the footprint of any other animal so anything else you
can you can fit into into that scheme that is the basic idea and this is presumably why the
buddha would have chosen this four-fold scheme to express his own realization when he was giving
what according to tradition is the first discourse the namachaka pavatanasuddha
it's that it has so much into it it has that clear distinction between wholesome and unwholesome
which runs like a red thread through early buddhist teaching it has that principle of causality
why is it that i am craving leading to dukkha why is it that there's a path leading to liberation
and it always has this this this like it has this negative positive side there's the
condition of dukkha but there's also the path to liberation so in a way it can be really and this
how tradition has understood it as a summary of the entire teaching the for truth and it can be
used very simple as some of our colleagues student colleagues have shown in their homework as i have
been able to see myself in my homework it can be very simply applied to a single problem but
it encompasses the entire teaching in a way i hope i have been able to answer your question as i'm
not 100 sure i understood it robert a scientific perspective on the body i read once that the human
body is a community of a trillion single cells of which many die permanently and are replaced
or not skin flakes also the body is composed of countless atoms a lot of which are replaced
every seven years yeah there's a continuous change in the body that's true
julianum i just remembered that the simile of the elephant footprint is also used for sankara
charriya's teachings which are said to be like the elephant footprint because they contain all
the teachings of the other vedanta schools sankara charriya is of course much later than the buddham
but this imagery might have been current in indian thought yeah thank you for sharing
lisa fankard nerve cells may last a lifetime but plasticity dictates that they will behave
and organize and respond differently according to everything we think we fear do the buddha knew this
yeah i i don't thank you for explaining that lisa of course i don't know exactly about nerve cells
the only thing i know about is that skin cells because that is part of my
daily practice of reviewing the constitution of the body that i call to mind that
the what i see from the outside bodies of others embody myself is just that matter that keeps
flaking off this kind of and that the outer part the deads this continuous grease coming out through
the pores of the skin to keep it all together from flaking off and this is an excellent breeding
ground for bacteria there is millions of bacteria on every square centimeter of our scale skin
feeding on what we are on our dead material that's continuously flaking off
i'm sorry maybe not the right thing to talk about
i learned yesterday that mind and life scientists discovered that meditation affects the behavior
of nerve cells i think it was an mda receptors i just learned this from an ology medical student
and there was a lot of discussion about that at the mind and life conference i i was but i
because i don't know so much about these things i didn't pay so much attention
anyway getting back to our discourse
yeah that that even being aware of the impermanent nature of the body
can be such a powerful tool in everyday situations
and here comes something nice this is not in the Pali version but i think it really nicely
rounds off the contemplation if on a later occasion other people come and address him
with gentle phrases and soft words he thinks this pleasure that i am experiencing is born of causes
and conditions it is not without causes and conditions what are the conditions it is dependent
on contact to be experienced as pleasant he contemplates this contact as impermanent and
he contemplates feeding perception formations and consciousness as impermanent through contemplation
of the elements his mind remains still one-pointed concentrated and imperturbable this is very nice
because it gives us the other side also that awareness of impermanence not only required when
we get abused and threatened but also when we get praises oh you're so wonderful you gave such a
nice lecture i loved it oh oh oh oh dangerous danger danger ego ego ego oh no no no no
very careful just passing away just changing just changing
now it gets very bad
if on a later occasion some people young middle-aged or old come and subject him to various
objectionable acts perhaps punching him stoning him or harming him with blade or cudgel then he
thinks this body that are cling to is of a coarse material substance derived from the four great
elements born of father and mother maintained by food and drink always requiring to be clothed
needing to sit to lie down to be massaged and bathed and to endure the worst this body is
subject to breaking up extinction and dissolution it is because of this body that i'm susceptible
to being punched stoned and harmed with blade or cudgel thinking thus the noble disciple exerts
himself or herself energetically without idleness with upright body and right mindfulness without
forgetfulness and without illusion his mind becoming one-pointed and concentrated for her
mind he thinks i will not be neglectful i will exert myself energetically without idleness with
upright body and right mindfulness without forgetfulness and without illusion my mind having become
one-pointed and concentrated this body to which i cling later be punched stoned and harmed by blade
or cudgel yet i shall energetically train in the teaching of the blessed ones when we're friends
the blessed one has given this teaching suppose that bandits have come and are cutting your body
limb from limb with a sharp saw if while those bandits are cutting your body limb from limb
with a sharp saw you were to have some change in your mind state or even utter evil words
then you would be failing and regressing in your practice you should think thus
if a bandit comes and cuts my body limb from limb with a sharp saw the building being not because
of that be any change in my mind state and i will not utter even words i will arouse compassion
towards the person who is cutting my body limb from limb yeah this is a rather stark example
and i think it needs a little unpacking it certainly does not mean
that this should just be allowed to happen if we can in some way prevent it
the idea is only to give a extremely stark example of a very unjust treatment done to us
where we are helpless if we can stop those bandits from cutting our body is so much the better
for this for sake i shall imbue my mind with loving kindness and dwell mentally pervading
one direction with loving kindness likewise the second the third and the fourth direction
and also the four intermediate directions and also above and below all around everywhere with
a mind imbued with loving kindness free from fetters or resentment without ill will occur
i shall dwell pervading the entire world with a mind that is boundless exalted immeasurable and
well cultivated how beautiful from such a extreme situation now we move over to the practice of metta
the actual practice of metta loving kindness or
actual practice of metta loving kindness or maybe benevolence is not mentioned in the palli
pallor but it does come in the discourse where we get the simile of the song so there is a natural
connection and i personally find this very beautiful this this this showing how patience
relates to loving kindness or metta
it's another example the simile of the saw in the kakachupa massata magima nikaya 21
it's also found there in the palace this is the reference we are getting the discourse that is
being referred to and there's another beautiful example for patience in the excuse me in the
punu vada sutta that is 145 fifth discourse in the magima nikaya this this whenever punna he
wants to go to a place where people are known to be very aggressive and fires and so the buddha
says what what do you do if they abuse you and he says well if they abuse me i'll think well
at least they didn't give me a blow and so the buddha goes and if you get a blow then well at
least they didn't throw a clot at me and so he goes on always imagining something worse
that could happen to him in order to help him maintain patience and besides the the beauty of
this this sequence i think it also helps us a little bit to confirm the point or to support
the point i was trying to make before already that the simile of the saw is not meant to be
approving of the fact that somebody is doing some sort of cruel treatment to our body
it is just meant as a very extreme example
so normally in our everyday life i think none of us has come across the situation
of being caught by a band of bandits who then take out a saw and try to cut us into pieces
but having that kind of image in mind we can compare it to what we are actually undergoing
similar to our friend punno here so if somebody is doing this and that to us
we can just think look even if this fella would now come and cut me into pieces
i am expected to handle that without getting upset so how can i get upset about this issue
it's just meant as a kind of comparison to give us a very stark example to inspire us
to give that that feeling that if i cannot do something about the situation
it's best to stay with it patiently and not react with anger and aversion
that's a question by Rene is to be massaged acceptable for a monk
and i know that some of my friends from the strict forest tradition they use this
foot reflex zone massage for healing so it is a practice among some of the forest monks who are
usually very strict with their keeping of their rules especially for an elder monk to give them a
massage on on the sole of the foot and to use certain zones to stimulate the organs this is the
practice that i am i am aware of mark these examples are even worse than drivers in the
philippines oh yes indeed i'd rather drive in the philippines than be in the hands of some of these
uh bandits in ancient india and it seems the example is not entirely
a product of imagination at least we get the story of schwenzang who was apparently caught
by bandits who wanted to sacrifice him they wanted to kill him while he was on pilgrimage in india
but then some kind of miracle happened and then they got scared and let him go so it seems
there has been something of that kind in india where there are also other stories we get about
like there's a samanera who is on the way somewhere and he's being caught and they want
to sacrifice him so there's this idea of being caught by a bunch of bandits who are going to
kill you or cut you into pieces as far as we are able to tell from the text apparently
is something that indeed happened in ancient india
juliana martini says in the chinese tradition they teach self-massage to monastics yeah
thank you stewart hajan sujito sujito has a great story of when he was on pilgrimage in india and
he and his companion were set upon by bandits his companion ran away got chased fell down a precipice
and got hurt ajan sujito offered his head to one of the bandits with the machine and the bandit was
so confused he stopped what he was doing and ajan got away without injury oh how sweet
i didn't know these things even happen in modern times
yeah i can't i can't pull out such dramatic kind of stories but i i remember that sometimes
especially in earlier years when in germany the seeing of somebody in this kind of somewhat
unusual dress that i am wearing as a monk was causing some reactions in people
particularly at the times when everything of this type was associated with haru krishna
sects and danger and stuff and so some people would like shout at me or things or try to provoke
me and that always this this just simply turning to them being open but without reacting would
put immediately take out that that that that that that aggression which needs some something some
reaction some counter aggression or running away but these are obviously not as beautiful and
dramatic as the story of ajan sujito there thank you for sharing that story and men how men how
agrees that it's easy to drive in the philippines than being caught by bandits in india i think we
all agree on that yeah i have one more time highlighted this this patience leading to the
meta practice the two interact you practice matter in your sittings you become more patient
outside you become patient you are able to handle the situation with patience and it who the meta
comes when we're friends if that monk does not through recollecting the buddha the dharma and
the monastic community dwell in equanimity that is in harmony with what is wholesome then this
monk should feel embarrassed and ashamed thinking as for benefits i am without them as for virtuous
qualities i am without them for i do not dwell in equanimity that is in harmony with what is
wholesome through recollecting the buddha the dharma and the monastic community yeah i i just
want to notice that this is quite a different type of recollecting buddha dharma sangha than
what we are used to nowadays it's it's really recollecting what they stand for what the buddha
stands for what his teaching stands for what it means to be a member of his community be it
monastic or for most of you lay community without wanting to in any way discourage or
be negative about standard forms of recollections to me this speaks much more to my heart
the standard forms are very powerful also but i've seen this sometimes become simply the recitation
of a particular formula and one does it a number of times there's even a
very eminent monk in shilanka who teaches that one should do it a hundred thousand times
to progress spiritually which yeah perhaps for some it works but for some at least those i know
it becomes really just like counting how many times one has done it and i just wanted you to
notice that here we have excuse me quite a different approach to the idea of recollection
recollection of buddha dharma sangha by something where they stand for
and something done without a form of a particular form of recitation but by behaving
in accordance with the principles that these three stand for in a difficult situation
and the Pali commentary to the corresponding passage in the Pali sutra explains that the
Buddha is being recollected by recollecting something he's taught namely the simile of the
song and the dharma is being recollected by recollecting this simile the advice given in
this simile and the sangha is being recollected by recollecting the virtues of those monks who
can endure even such cases of abuse without giving rise to a mind of hate
so the point of this form of recollection is to to rouse a sense of urgency to recall these ideals
that for a Buddhist practitioner somehow and live in his or her practice and to live up to these
ideals to have this commitment to wanting to live up to them by by maintaining patience
with those crazy drivers in the Philippines
and now we get a simile i continue reading when we're friends just as a newly wedded wife
feels embarrassed and ashamed when she sees her in-laws or sees her husband know that this monk
is like this he should feel embarrassed and ashamed thinking as for benefits i am without
them as for virtuous qualities i am without them for i do not dwell in equanimity that is in
harmony with what is wholesome through recollecting the Buddha the dharma and the monastic community
the simile needs also a little unpacking uh in ancient India it was a custom that a wife had to
go to live in the family of her husband so uh we get this standard situation of the wife that has
just been married coming to a new family that where everything is new to her where she is in
a subordinate position she is subordinate to her in-laws and to her husband according to ancient
Indian situation of a woman and she has to be very very careful uh now to fit into that
situation because that's where she's going to be for the rest of her life so the situation of
this uh newly wedded wife which i think Meng Hao would agree is worse than driving in the
Philippines is a symbol for embarrassment and being ashamed and nervous in the ancient Indian
situation obviously the Buddha is not approving of this type of situation is just picking this
out as an example that in the ancient Indian setting would have been well known for feeding
for a sense of shame and embarrassment in fact Lisa is pointing out that this seems very cultural
yeah this is why i'm i am unpacking them shame and embarrassment are they skillful states
they are hiri and otapa is the party terms lisa and they are skillful states because they are
they are even said to be the guardians of the world if there would not be any sense of shame
or any sense of moral scruple then people would do all kind of things not to take them to extremes
but to be aware of overstepping the bounds of morality they have a very important function
in the early Buddhist scheme of liberation
if however as a result of feeling embarrassed and ashamed he is then able to dwell in equanimity
that is in harmony with what is wholesome thinking this is excellent and peaceful namely the casting
aside of becoming the abandoning of craving dispassion and complete cessation without remainder
he's talking about nirvana then when we're friends this monk is reckoned to have trained
fully and abundantly see here we get there pointing to the final goal that which goes
even beyond metta and patience the total abandoning of craving dispassion cessation
without remaining nirvana so here i have again tried to sketch the dynamics of the reflection
so the recollection of the simile of the saw becomes a recollection of buddha dhamma sangha
and that if that leads to maintain one's mental balance so much so good
if not one can use that these ideals to arouse a sense of shame which in this context is
skillful in order to regain one's mental balance and then the pointer to that which goes beyond
that situation the inclination towards nirvana
yeah the same continues to be applied to the other elements but before that i leave a moment
for you to ask any question if this basic dynamics is clear
good then we continue with the other elements john emiram is the sense of urgency to please
imbiko bodhi's magi manikai translation different from the ma sense of shame and embarrassment
i mean are there difference in the sources or just different choices for translation
yeah that i i would have to look up now the precise pali phrase and the translation but
the since you put the two please in square brackets and i also do not remember to have
seen something like this in the pali version i suppose uh it's just sense of urgency which is
in the actual text and in this case there would be not no basic difference between the two
yeah if the square brackets are biko bodhi's then this means the two please is something
that he is added to the text to make the translation more clear and then in this case
there's no basic difference it's just a difference in a slight difference in terminology
the basic point is would be the same
no you must welcome to
what when we're friends is the internal water element whatever internally inside the body
is watery moistening and is internally clung to that is to say brain brain stem tears sweats
not fling past blood fat marrow spittle by urine or whatever else exists internally
excuse me inside the body that is watery moistening and is internally clung to
this when we're friends is called the internal water element
yeah the addition the reference to brain and brain stem strikes some of us maybe as unexpected
and i other i think the ecoterica agama puts brain and brain stem under earth element
it seems for some reason in these listings in fact in the pali version we do not get
brain and brain stem in this listing so it seems brain and brain stem were first
were added and then sometimes added in different places either under earth or under water element
when we're friends as for the external water element great though it is pure though it is
beyond reproach though it is yet when we're friends at times there's a conflagration and
then the external water element disappears and then after this we get this whole meditative
dynamics that we have been through with the earth element and juliana has just checked and the pali
has sung bigger so
yeah then we come to the fire element
what when we're friends is the internal fire element whatever internally inside the body is
fiery warming and is internally clung to that is to say that by which the body is kept warm
that by which one becomes feverish that by which one becomes hot and sweaty that which gives
strength that by which food and drink are digested or whatever else exists internally inside the body
that is fiery warming and is internally clung to this whenever friends is called the internal fire
element yeah whenever friends as for the external fire element great though it is pure though it
is beyond reproach though it is yet there's a time when the external fire element arises and having
arisen burns villages towns mountain forests and wilderness and having burned these it reaches a
road or reaches water and becomes extinguished for lack of fuel yet when we're friends after such
conflagration people seek to make fire by means of drilling wood or bamboo or by striking a flint
and we get again the whole meditative dynamics mark says the brain has the consistency of tofu
so it could be put either in water or earth i don't know what kind of tofu you get in Sri Lanka
the tofu we get in Taiwan is not like brain
unfortunately sorry for making silly jokes here yeah i mean uh it's actually interesting
in sofa as it brings us to uh try to understand what these four elements are about i mean
everything even even meat has some fluid aspects to it even the bones even the skin
so it seems that as you rightly say the distinction between earth and water is somewhat
fluid and we could put it in monor the other category but the import of the elements is really
something that is on the surface level evident as oh this is solid or this is fluid it is quite
different from the perspective adopted in the commentary area tradition which does inform
some of the vipassana traditions of modern day where the four elements are used for an
atomic contemplation again as i said at the beginning this in no way is a form of criticism
of these vipassana traditions just simply trying to point out that the conception of the four
elements as atomic qualities in the way this informs particularly vipassana traditions coming
from berma is not the same as the four element conception that we find in early buddhism so
going from tofu back to the wind element what venema friends is the internal wind element
whatever internally inside the body is airy moving and is internally clung to there is to
say up going winds down going winds winds in the bowels coursing winds pulling and contracting
winds stabbing winds pushing winds circulating winds winds in the limbs out breath in breath
excuse me or whatever else internally inside the body is airy moving and is internally clung to
this venema friends is called the internal wind element
venema friends as for the external wind element great though it is pure though it is beyond reproach
though it is yet there are times when the external wind element arises and having a
reason knocks over houses uproot trees and causes landslides when it encounters a mountain or the
face of a cliff it stops and becomes still yet friends when the external wind element becomes
still people seek to make wind by using a fan a palm front or a cloth so the ancient indian
notion of winds as something to some extent similar to the notion of chi that we know from
chinese especially those of us who practice tai chi are familiar with and many diseases are also
related to to wind an unbalanced of internal winds and the whole motion of the body like the fact
that i'm now moving my tongue is because of the tongue as earth element and the motion as wind
element the wind element is responsible for this kind of motions
and now we get the element of space
when we're friends just as when the space is enclosed by timber clay and reeds it comes
to be termed a house so too when we're friends it is with this body know that when a space is
enclosed by sinews bones skin flesh and blood it comes to be termed a body
when we're friends if internally the ice and space is not intact and if external forms are
not illuminated by light so that no awareness of course then eye consciousness does not come to
rise he's now going for sense experience when we're friends if however internally the eye
sense space is intact and if external forms are illuminated by light so that awareness occurs
then eye consciousness comes to arise when we're friends the internal eye sense space and form
that is the external form is cognized by eye consciousness belong to the material form aggregate
you see how he's working out back first became four noble truth five aggregates first aggregate
and now he's working back up any feeling that does comes to be belongs to the feeling aggregate
any perception that does comes to be belongs to the perception aggregate
any volitional formation that does comes to be belongs to the volitional formations aggregate
any consciousness that does comes to be belongs to the consciousness aggregate
this is how one contemplates the conjunction of the aggregates when we're friends the blessed
one has also given this teaching if one sees dependent arising one sees the dharma and if
one sees the dharma one sees dependent arising why is that when we're friends the blessed one
teaches that the five aggregates of clinging the material form aggregate of clinging the feeling
aggregate of clinging the perception aggregate of clinging the formations aggregate of clinging
and the consciousness aggregate of clinging arise from causes and conditions
same is then applied to all of the other sense towards the saying by the buddha that
seeing dependent arising one sees the dharma is not preserved for us as a discourse on its own
but only in this indirect quotation nevertheless it is a very powerful statement
that really points to the essential role that dependent arising plays for an understanding of
the dharma and as we see illustrated here the point is not necessarily to go for the entire
12 link presentation which has its value and right but to see to apply it directly in one's
own experience we saw it applied earlier where the person who is being who is facing abuse
and even maybe being hurt physically simply reflects that look it is because of the body
that i am prone to experience such things it is always this looking for causes and conditions
which is also so so crucial in your homework in the for truth always looking for the causes and
conditions yeah so i'm just here listing how how he's been moving back again from
dealing with each of the four elements individually come back to what is the aggregate of
bodily form and then take up the six senses come to the five aggregates and then this final
pointer to dependent arising yeah i think we have a little time
no yeah this is a rather complex discourse and it may be as there's only a few minutes left i just
leave time for questions instead of rushing onto the next discourse because i believe
in fact originally i was planning to discuss this discourse as the last before going away
for one week to give you time to digest it so maybe i'll stop my presentation here with all these
very complex dynamics that this discourse has presented and we turn to the next discourse
magima oh no there's still something there i'm sorry yeah there's still something there
yeah that's a look that fits in well but anyway we'll leave magima agama 31
which is again on the phone number truth we leave that for next time
so before i continue let me see there's some comments here shame and embarrassment my feeling
is that shame and embarrassment do not lead to harmony of the mind as such as these are negative
states of mind the feeling of inadequacy they make me more alert i increase my energy and dedication
then often the practice improves as a consequence however this can lead to a cycle where the progress
frees on negativity i wish i could more often get the energy out of the joy of practice or joy of
recollecting one's virtues i think this is the goal then falling the path becomes truly effortless
yeah robert i think the issue of shame and embarrassment in a western setting
might be somewhat different from its original teaching context in india they are not meant to
lead to negativity which is maybe what we more easily associate with shame and embarrassment
while lisa before had asked if these are actually wholesome states but in the context of the early
buddhist teaching hiri and uttapa do not mean to roll in negativity but do mean a conscious kind of
a sense of conscience that certain things are not appropriate to be done
so i think we we need to we need to separate out these these two
if if if it is rightly used if it is appropriately used it can be a help on the path but i do see
your point that just speaking bluntly about shame and embarrassment uh sounds like uh being
negative towards oneself and that would not be useful mark did i understand right that this
statement if one sees dependent arising one sees that i'm is attributed to sally putter but not
directly to the buddha well sally putter quotes it as a saying by the buddha but as least in the
pali canon i'm not aware of a passage where the buddha is directly shown to have said this
lisa agree with robert and think maybe that the english translation of here in uttapa are loaded
with negative meaning whereas in the teaching they are meant as guards exactly thank you lisa
that was exactly the point renee in the beginning of the discourse i saw that not all truths were
called noble does that differ in different traditions could you imagine a different
translation such as of the noble bond yet this is precisely the topic that i'm going to take up in
relation to the next discourse in some tradition they are not called noble but in fact that was
just what i was thinking about that getting into the next discourse now squeezes too much into the
last minutes so we leave that for next time okay i need i read the last part of the discourse
one who contemplates this becomes disenchanted with past future and present manifestations of
the five aggregates of clinging being disenchanted he becomes dispassionate through dispassion he
becomes liberated being liberated he knows he's liberated he knows as it really is versus ended
the holy life has been established what was to be done has been done there will not be another
existence in the party version we get a slightly different ending it comes back to the vulnerable
truth topic these five aggregates of clinging are dependently arisen the desire indulgence
inclination and holding based on these five aggregates of clinging is the origin of suffering
the removal of desire and lust the abandonment of desire and lust for these five aggregates of
clinging is the cessation of suffering so i think the main point of this discourse is to show
rather complex but very practical application of the vulnerable truth
and here i have the all over dynamics of the reflection so we started off with the
impermanent nature of the earth element apply this to the body then see that any unpleasant
or even pleasant experience is impermanent the mind remains imperturbable with this
and we become able to patiently bear with what others may do and out of this patience arises
mekta and this form of practice as a way of recollection by recollecting the simile of the
saw it becomes a recollection of buddha dharma and sangha then there's a sense of shame
if one is unable to maintain mental balance and if one is able to maintain mental balance one is
inclining towards nirvana that's the right word on which to close this lecture i think
thank you very much for your attention for your interesting questions and comments
i look forward to learning from the discussion on the blog and to seeing you again next week