by Harvey Kraft
The spy wondered if the Buddha could read his mind.
“No matter what you have done in past lifetimes,” he addressed the recruits, “starting from this moment you can lighten your load.” He encouraged his listeners to take the high road in life by walking through the gateway to liberation from their past wrongs. He recommended that recruits wishing to become his disciples adopt the Five Pledges.157 These five pledges renounced the taking of life, stealing, telling falsehoods, sexual misconduct, or consuming intoxicants. This included the religious use of Soma, the hallucinogenic Elixir of Immortality. Those wishing to embark on the Eightfold Path must be able to set an example for others, he said.
Novice candidates willing to embrace the vows would participate in a basic training regimen to prepare them for the life of a noble Bhiksu dedicated to deep self-reflection and living outdoors. They would be instructed to avoid the wearing of decorative apparel; avoid being carried away by sensual excitements such as listening to music or viewing a dance performance; avoid the enjoyment of a comfortable sleep on a wide or raised bed; avoid eating at various times of day, except at the one regulated hour (noon); and avoid the possession of money or jewels.
Compared to the experienced mendicants he had initially encountered, most recruits required a remedial training course in behavior and decorum. They lacked any meditation disciplines, even the most basic skills necessary to acquire wisdom.
For several years hence, teaching various meditation training courses in Kuru, Sakamuni Buddha espoused a host of skill-development sutras, including: The Great Discourse on the Arousal of Mindfulness (Pali Maha-Sati-Patthhana Sutta); The Great Discourse on Origination (Pali Maha-Nidana Sutta); The Way to Unshakable Quiescence (Pali Anen-Jasappaya Sutta); and a host of other gateways to liberation.158
These sutras instructed seekers embarking upon the Eightfold Noble Path on the use of three essential tools for self-transformation: mindful-ness, manifestation, and quiescence:
1. Mindfulness (Pali Sati). This course helped seekers develop the skill to achieve greater consciousness using breathing techniques, postures, and various focused reflections and contemplations. The entry-level purpose of mindfulness training was to “know oneself as one really is.” By observing inwardly, seekers would enter the subterranean level of unconscious awareness. Therein they would observe their sensations, feelings, hindrances, sorrows, desires, and mental contradictions. Next they would become acutely aware of their own conditioned patterns, desires, and behaviors rooted in their unconscious Individual-Mind.
The practice of mindfulness, the first in a series of Seven Skills,159 would help them become aware of their self-referential imprints while the other skills would be used to break through into higher consciousness. By entering the cosmic mind, they opened a path to a spiritual dimension, an echo of the Egyptian journey in the afterlife, catching a ride on sunbeams headed for the stargates of Heaven.
2. Manifestation or Dependent Origination (Pali paticcasa-muppada). In furthering their understanding of the origins of sorrows, the Buddha emphasized that suffering originated from multiple causes and conditions. Any phenomenon that manifested in Existence involved a coming together of composite of fields, elements, and forms. Therefore, in coming-to-be, a person must establish his or her identity through interactions and feedback. This built-in process of carving out a self-identity based on interactions with external factors ultimately resulted in suffering.
Following the Buddha’s insights regarding the process of manifestation, the seeker would be able to decipher how self-centered desires ultimately manifested in psychological patterns that would lead to suffering. Sakamuni identified the source of such manifestations as a default Self, one that started from birth and unconsciously caused a chain reaction directing the will to action. He diagnosed this automated process as a conditioning system arising from a missing True Self at birth. To fill the emptiness of one’s identity an automated mechanism would initiate the building of a biased self. He identified this unconscious process of self-creation and its consequences as the Twelve Link-Chain for Causation of Perpetual Suffering (Pali/Skt. Nidanas).160
Unaware that they possess a higher True Self, he said, this self-actualizing program goes into action. Oblivious to its underlying sequencing process, people from birth forge behaviors that propel them on a course towards suffering. Unaware of the Twelve Link-Chain mechanism operating in the background, the human mind becomes the unwitting victim of a spellbinding process that controls its perceptions of the external world.
Like the development of an embryo in the womb, Sakamuni herein proposed that the development of the default-Self unfolded along a similar pre-programmed route. This process produced a self-referential identity from which mental biases and sensory feedback manifested. Encased in a closed loop of self-referential perception people became caught up inside a mind-world of patterned desires, behaviors, and circular reasoning. This was why they could not discern that they had caused their own sorrows.
Ignorant of forgotten past lifetimes, he proposed, the unconscious mind conjured a “working identity” in relation to immediate circumstances. This individual self—the “I”—was erected based on a continuous feedback loop as the pursuit of desires transformed the virtual construct of one’s conscious reality.
Sakamuni was most empathetic to the plight of humans caught in the cycle of conditioned behaviors and thoughts invariably ranging from exasperation to torment. But rather than advising them to accept it or try to escape it, he suggested an alternative call to action—breaking through the mortal veil. Using skills to probe the unconscious mind, disciples would be able to mount the self-created imprinting process and thus achieve a state so mentally and emotionally strong that they could break the powerful bonds of suffering. In doing so they could liberate their true identity and achieve a powerful and stable state of peace and happiness.
But such a challenging undertaking would require determined, consistent effort.
In the ordinary course of life, the self-created self masked the reality of impermanence. As a result people sought control of outcomes and became engrossed with superficial matters. Living inside this metaphysical system they did not know what they did not know, and rarely could understand how it was that the actions, perceptions, values, associations, and sensations they manifested could also be the cause of their suffering.
In denial of the impermanent nature of existence, they were doomed to suffer the ravages of changes from failed relationships, aging, ill health, economic loss, injury or death, dashed expectations, insatiable cravings, habitual attachments, and a myriad other reasons.
With deep compassion for their plight, the Buddha addressed his disciples, saying, “Achieving a True Self would require you to break free from the treadmill of pain or pleasure. Only by lifting the mortal veil of fundamental ignorance, can you replace suffering with contentment. Once you realize your original universal identity, you would know a state of fulfillment and you will be able to manifest the bounty of indestructible joy.”
Sakamuni was the first person ever to analyze the universal inner workings of the human mind, identify the existence of its preprogrammed systems, and uncover the imprinted patterns of behavior and their impact. In his dynamic deciphering and mapping of a universal ontological-psychological system he defined three critical mechanisms: (a) a suite of coded programs were embedded in the unconscious mind automatically operating from birth to build one’s self-identity; (b) the most critical of those operating laws was a built-in cause and effect process that produced habitual routines, shaped perceptions and conditions, and triggered commensurate behavior patterns; and (c) a hidden gateway within the unconscious mind provided an individual capable of accessing it with the opportunity to reprogram their own default conditioned Self.
Sakamuni told the recruits, “To liberate your mind, you will need to internalize impermanence. But before you can do so, stabilize your mind. You cannot accomplish balance unless you first
achieve a state of receptive equilibrium. But you cannot become receptive unless you first cultivate the meditation skill for quieting your mind. Only after you achieve quiescence can you begin to seek the gate of liberation.”
3. Quiescence (aka tranquility, equanimity, Peace) The Buddha and his instructors taught the new seekers the practice of quieting their Individual-Mind as a means for shutting off the interference of “surrounding and internal noise.” Once they entered a quiet place using their skill to achieve a self-hypnotic state, the seekers could deactivate the conscious mind. Inside this trance they would assume an alert state of equilibrium. Centered and balanced (i.e., reaching equanimity), this state deepened, and the higher consciousness of the Universal-Mind emerged naturally. Here the seeker would encounter transcending insights of himself, family, and surroundings, and continue from there to progress forward toward Nirvana.
As Sakamuni’s audience grew, it would become increasingly necessary to find shelter for them, particularly during seasonally heavy rains. But the facilities to do so in Kuru were inadequate, so most of the recruits in training had to find ways to survive on their own just to be near Sakamuni. To show his appreciation for their courage, the Buddha introduced three pillars that held up the house of his Teachings. The Three Treasure-Sanctuaries (Skt. Triratna)—composed of the Buddha himself, the Buddha-Dharma of Universal Truth, and his community of disciples—were metaphorically expressed as gem-filled sanctuaries where seekers would receive a wealth of wisdom. Whatever their personal challenges, under the roof of these three jewels the disciples would be assured of finding refuge and protection from the world of enduring suffering, Saha.
King Dhanajaya’s son, Ratthapala, was among those who sought refuge in the practice of the Buddha’s Teachings, choosing to be a homeless mendicant against the wishes of his parents. When he came to visit them after making great strides in his training, they witnessed the proof of his profound happiness. Ratthapala shared with his father his reasons for choosing to give up social status in order to pursue liberation and selflessness, explaining that he found his shelter in the three Treasure-Sanctuaries and pledged to devote his life to follow this course. The profound sincerity of his son may have influenced Dhanajaya to seek a new direction leading to his decision to abdicate and replace his monarchy with a representative council. He was among the first in the world to declare such a form of governance. Placing wisdom above political power, he accepted the humble role of consul, thus earning the Buddha’s designation of a Wheel-Rolling King.
After several years in this area, once his following had grown too large to manage in Kuru, Sakamuni headed east again, where he and his followers were able to connect with the Ganges River flowing eastward across India. The economic success of Ganges communities spurred the popularity of religious thought and practice in the area.
SAMSARA
The belief in a spheroid firmament, borrowed from the Egyptian view of the solar system as a self-contained Cosmic Egg and continued unchallenged across the ages spreading to many cultures and religions. The terrestrial level, the world of humans, was a fat middle plane that divided the “egg” in half. The top hemisphere was filled with air, and the lower half contained water, and below it was the afterlife tomb of dust.
The Arya-Vedic Rishi had envisioned the Earth plane with the Cosmic Mountain in the center. It rose through and loomed above the topside hemisphere. The geography around it extending out from its foot featured four continents pointing toward the cardinal directions—east, west, north, and south. Honoring the cyclical nature of existence, the four continents symbolized the four seasons.
Mapping the outer limits of the terrestrial world, the sages borrowed from the observations of seafarers who reported over the ages that a Great Ocean surrounded the continents. A wall of ironbound mountains, they imagined, contained the ocean waters at the rim of the terrestrial plane. More important to the visionary mapmakers was the distinction between the two kinds of waters echoing the Sumerian division between sweet and salty. The ocean’s saltiness symbolized the taste of mortal sin. Therefore it contained dangerous creatures and was prone to deadly storms. In contrast, the fresh pleasant quality of sweet heaven-sent rainwater nourished and sustained human beings.
Based on the traditional Dual Cosmology, the world was divided into the present-physical and the afterlife-spiritual dimensions. In the Vedic rendition, beyond the visible range of human sight and higher than the sky, the towering mountain of the Heavens was the home of the gods. The Arya seers, using the trans-world channel, saw it as a perfectly proportioned Great Golden Mountain (Pali Meru). Surveying its higher echelons they spotted the residences of Vedic deities and Deva spirits as well as the Assura deities and spirits. To explain the inherent conflicts in existence, the composers of the Rig Veda placed the gods and spirits into two camps vying for influence and control of mortal lands and mortal minds.
With the rise of Brahmanism in the Ganges region, Brahmin seers declared that souls could reincarnate in any one of Six Worlds (Skt. Samsara). Inspired by the shamanic mondial cosmogony and the Egyptian idea of the soul’s physical reconstitution in Heaven, Brahmins claimed that most departed human souls could reconstitute in any of the Six Worlds located along the three levels of the World-sphere, with a single exception. Only a Brahmin soul could be liberated from rebirth by merging with the soul of God.
Their Doctrine of Soul Reincarnation was based on the premise that the type of sin one cultivated in their present life would determine their soul’s destination in the next life. If reborn in human form, one would be assigned to a caste matching the spiritual progress of their cosmic evolution. But, those whose actions fell below a tolerable level of human behavior, would be reborn into one of the painful other worlds.
The issue of soul liberation was controversial. Ironically, while Brahmins allowed only their bloodline to qualify for immortality, the ascetics permitted only the most skilled in purification to be liberated from birth. In either scenario, the exclusivity meant that the great majority of people were limited to birth into the five dimensions on or below the Earth.
The Rig Veda had orchestrated a single inter-dimensional construct linking the physical, psychological, emotional, and behavioral conditions of living beings with the realms of spirits and non-physical beings. It painted a picture of a hellish underworld, and angry spirits living in the bottom of the oceans. On the middle plane it placed animals, humans, and hungry ghosts—the latter in a separate dimension on the outskirts of the physical world. In Heaven, it counted the gods attended to by cadres of spirit attendants.
From the mondial cosmology onward the center of the Cosmic Mountain constituted the focal point of the world. Some had equated it with visible peaks, including Sineru, Sinai, Hasan, Olympus, and the Himalayas; others designated it as invisible to human eyes; some religions emulated it with pyramids, ziggurats, and other towers. In mythic language, the Cosmic Mountain was a cone-shaped spire far larger than any physical mountain on Earth. It broke through the top hemisphere, its elevation soaring twice as high as the atmosphere’s bubble enclosure.
Many of the people in the Ganges River Valley had accepted the Brahmin view that in death the soul would leave the body and travel to one of these worlds. Based on the Doctrine of Reward or Punishment the sins of the soul’s owner would determine the soul’s destination. There it would reincarnate and transmutate into a form indigenous to its place of birth.
Across the unified field of life and death, the essence of the Self, trapped in the Cycle of Soul Reincarnation, took a form and attributes consistent with the world that most closely reflected its characteristic behaviors. One lifetime after the next the incarnate being would be born either into one of five worlds where one received appropriate punishment, and one rewarding place reserved only for those who broke the repetitious cycle. The Six Worlds were designated as follows:
1. The Hell Worlds – where violent, murderous hellions screamed in constant pain
2.
The World of Hunger – where ghosts were encased in insatiable dissatisfaction
3. The World of Anger – home of agitated, enraged, and malevolent demonic-spirits
4. The World of Animals – a physical realm ruled by fear and survival instincts
5. The World of Humans – absorbed in fleeting satisfactions or enduring hardships
6. The World of Heaven – home of immortal rulers and spirits living in divine pleasure.
The Brahmin Cycle of Soul Reincarnation postulated that upon death a soul’s destination would be determined by its evolutionary status—primitive, instinctual souls who failed to progress would slide back to the wild and punishing worlds—but souls capable of being civilized would return as humans.
The worlds from Hell to Humanity were like prisons. After a living being served his adjudicated lifetime sentence, he may earn another chance for his soul to be reborn in a higher realm or caste. Either the promotion would show forward progress or the soul would slip back again, should it fail to learn and improve.
The Upanisads conceived of a soul’s transmutations in forms that ranged from bizarre and distorted bodies to beautiful and transcendent beings, as follows:
Hellions These were violent beasts who inflicted and suffered constant pain. Their hearts and minds burned with destructive instincts. Born into the dark abyss of burning, frozen, crushing, suffocating, and ripping Hells (Skt. Naraka) where they repeatedly attacked each other, they suffered from insanity, alienation, hate, and self-loathing. Their violent aggressions may have carried over from past lives where they could have been murderers, criminals, or warmongers. They alternately exploded into vicious fits and brawls or imploded into deep depression leading to self-destructive or suicidal behavior. In the Rig Veda their realm was a single bottomless chasm of darkness, but in the Brahmanas161 the seers expanded it to as many as twenty-one Hell realms each representing a different type of painful retribution. The number of hells grew further into thirty-three realms, indicating that scary hell stories of people turning into various kinds of demented and tortured hellions in the afterlife were very popular.
