The Age of the Sages

by Mark W Muesse

  * * *

  Setting in Motion the Wheel of Dhamma in The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of theSamyutta Nikaya, trans. Bhikkhu Bodhi (Boston: Wisdom, 2000), 1844. ↵

  Kama Sutta: Sensual Pleasure, trans. Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Available at http://www.what-buddha-taught.net/accesstoinsight/html/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.4.01.than.html. ↵

  All the Taints 7, from Bhikkhu Ñānamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of theMajjhima Nikaya (Somerville, MA: Wisdom, 1995), 92. ↵

  13

  The Noble Path

  In a chapter of Thus Spoke Zarathustraentitled “The Preachers of Death,” Friedrich Nietzsche wrote about the Buddha: “There are those with consumption of the soul: hardly are they born when they begin to die and to long for doctrines of weariness and renunciation. They would like to be dead, and we should welcome their wish. Let us beware of waking the dead and disturbing these living coffins! They encounter a sick man or an old man or a corpse and immediately they say, ‘Life is refuted.’ But only they themselves are refuted, and their eyes, which see only this one face of existence.”[1] Nietzsche was far from alone in his assessment. When Westerners first began to study Buddhism, they had difficulty overcoming the impression that the religion was nihilistic. They were, however, wrong. To be fair to Nietzsche and the others, there is much in the Buddha’s teaching that on the surface seems rather gloomy. Yet the West’s negative evaluation failed to penetrate the Buddha’s teaching deeply enough to recognize its ultimately optimistic outlook. Like Jesus, the Buddha proclaimed a “gospel,” that is, good news for humanity. These glad tidings are found in the Third and Fourth Noble Truths.

  The Third Noble Truth

  The Buddha’s good news was straightforward and simple: You do not have to suffer. Genuine, enduring happiness is possible. In the first discourse offered to the five monks in the Deer Park, the Buddha explains the Third Noble Truth: “Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it.”[2] If tanha—thirst or craving—is the cause of dukkha, then the solution is clear: stop craving! If we cease craving, we end attachments; if we end attachments, we end suffering and rebirth. Once the problem is properly analyzed, the resolution is obvious.

  The difficulty, of course, is giving up craving. The phenomenon of craving has many contributing factors, as we have seen. We have mentioned the insidious way that mere desire can turn into thirst and addiction, the way the belief in a permanent self generates desire and fear, and the way our misapprehension of reality causes us to perceive permanence where there is only change. All of these—and other things—contribute to craving. Because of the many factors involved, and because it is a deeply ingrained pattern of experience, ending craving requires a multifaceted and incremental approach. That method for quenching thirst is detailed for us in the Fourth Noble Truth.

  But before we discuss the way to that goal, we must discuss the goal itself. Understanding the objective will help us see why the Buddha formulates the path in the way he does. The objective is nibbana, or nirvana, the Sanskrit term more familiar to Westerners.

  Nirvana, like karma, is now common in the English language but is often greatly misunderstood. Some think of it as a place one goes, like heaven. Others conceive of it as a state of intense pleasure. Many—like Nietzsche—thought of nirvana as self-annihilation. To distance this concept from these misapprehensions, we will use the Pali term nibbana rather than the more familiar form.

  Simply stated, nibbana is the end of dukkha. It is the point at which one stops craving for reality to be other than it is. It is the radical acceptance of the way things are.

  “Simply stated, nibbana is the end of suffering. It is the point at which one stops craving for reality to be other than it is. It is the radical acceptance of the way things are.”

  The principal language about nibbana is negative. The Buddha called it the eradication of desire, the cessation of thirst, and the destruction of illusion. It may be even valid to say that nibbanais self-annihilation, if we bear in mind that the annihilated self is not real; what is annihilated is the illusion of a separate substantial self. Nibbana is usually described in negative terms but not because it is a negative state. Like Brahman in the Hindu traditions, nibbana refers to a reality beyond ordinary experience and hence beyond the limitations of language. To avoid misleading ideas, the Buddha preferred to use thevia negativa, the strategy of negation commonly used in mystical traditions when ultimate reality is regarded as beyond conception.

  Like moksha in Hinduism, nibbana can be realized in life. The Buddha, however, distinguished between the nibbana in life and the final nibbana realized at death. A person who completely “sees” nibbana (to use a traditional expression) in this life is known as an arahant. An arahant has fully realized the Dhamma, the truth of the Buddha’s vision, and is free of craving, aversion, and misknowing. As a living person, the arahant may still experience physical pain and other forms of karma that come as the consequences of actions prior to awakening. Yet even with physical pain, one does not suffer. In Buddhism, suffering is distinguished from pain; pain is a bodily sensation, but suffering pertains to the mental anguish that comes from resisting pain or merely resisting the way things are. The arahant does not generate new karmas but still must experience the effects of old ones; this is called nibbana with remainder. At the final nibbana, or parinibbana, all karmic energies sustaining existence are dissipated, and the arahant is released from rebirth. This is nibbana without remainder. The image often associated with final nibbana is a candle whose flame has gone out because the fuel and oxygen have been exhausted. Similarly, without karma to perpetuate rebirth, the arahant “goes out.”

  Quite naturally, the Buddha’s disciples were interested in what happens at parinibbana. One of the central issues of the Axial Age, as we have noted, was the individual’s destiny after death. The Buddha’s response to this concern was deliberately elusive. On one occasion, the monk Malunkyaputta complained that the Master had never explained final nibbana. Specifically, Malunkyaputta wanted to know if an arahant exists after death or does not exist after death; or both exists and does not exist after death; or neither exists nor does not exist after death. The Buddha deftly but firmly refused to answer the question, saying that knowing the answer was not essential to seeing nibbana, and dwelling on such questions was a hindrance to the goal.[3] The Buddha was reticent about issues—no matter how interesting or important to the questioner—that were not essential to the termination of suffering.

  On the whole, the Buddha was suspicious of language. He seemed to think language could be deceptive because words have a tendency to reify or ossify an impermanent, interrelated reality. We can easily become entangled in our concepts and “views,” as he called them. Zen, a later form of Buddhism, traces its origins back to this theme in the Buddha’s teaching. In Zen, words and concepts are obstacles in the pursuit of enlightenment. The goal of Zen is awakening to reality without the imposition of our beliefs and preconceptions. A Zen proverb epitomizes this philosophy: “Open mouth, already a mistake.”

  The Fourth Noble Truth

  Although the Buddha, like Jesus, proclaimed “good news,” his message of freedom from suffering was not about grace or a gift from god. Like the path of knowledge in Hinduism, the Buddha’s Middle Way requires discipline and effort. Because we are the cause of our own suffering, only we can free ourselves from it. The Buddha admonished his followers to “strive with diligence,” because “the Buddha only shows the way.”

  The Noble Eightfold Path

  In the Fourth Noble Truth, the Buddha shows the way with an outline of this discipline. In later discourses, he explains each component: “Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: it is this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right under
standing, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.”[4] The Pali word samma is correctly translated in this passage as “right,” but it means more than just true as opposed to false. It also suggests that which promotes the end of suffering. Each element of the path is intended to contribute to the end of suffering and, short of the realization of nibbana, a favorable rebirth.

  These eight parts are interrelated, so the practice of one supports the practice of the others. The Noble Path is not a program in which the practitioner completes one step before moving to the next. Rather, all eight elements are pursued concurrently. The symbol of the Noble Path is a wheel of eight spokes, which suggests that traversing each spoke simultaneously from the outer circle to the inner hub leads to the same goal: nibbana. The Buddha’s strategy is to address all the factors contributing to dukkha: the illusion of self, misknowing reality, desire, craving, attachment, and self-centered behavior.

  The Triple Practice

  The eight components of the Buddha’s discipline have traditionally been divided into three sections: study, conduct, and concentration. For this reason, the Noble Path is sometimes called the Triple Practice. Let us give these divisions somewhat more descriptive designations and call them, respectively, cultivating wisdom, developing moral conduct, and disciplining the mind. Each will be discussed in turn.

  Cultivating Wisdom

  It seems almost counterintuitive for the first part of the practice to be called cultivating wisdom, since wisdom is actually the aim of the eightfold path. Yet, the Buddha recognized that some measure of understanding is necessary to start the practice of Dhamma in the first place. For this reason, he begins with what he called “skillful understanding.” The word skillful translates the Pali term kusala, which can also mean “wholesome” or “correct.” At the outset of the Noble Path, skillful understanding entails becoming acquainted with the basic principles of the Buddha’s teaching by study, discussion, and reflection. Eventually, however, the Dhamma must be understood in a deep way that comes only with complete awakening. We can, therefore, think of two kinds of skillful understanding. The first is the result of study and reflection on the Buddha’s teaching, the glimmer of truth the practitioner sees that prompts her to take the path at the beginning. The second we will call “awakened understanding” to indicate the wisdom one attains at the end of the path. After discussing all the components of the path, we will return to the idea of awakened understanding.

  Skillful intention bridges right understanding and the next division of the Triple Practice, developing moral conduct. Essentially, skillful intention is the determination to follow specific virtues to neutralize our conditioned tendencies toward greed, hatred, and harming by aspiring to the countervailing virtues, which are nonattachment, goodwill, and harmlessness, respectively. To aid in practicing these virtues, one might follow any number of specific techniques that the Buddha prescribed in his teaching. For example, contemplating the suffering connected with worldly pleasures or recognizing the impermanence of reality assists in establishing nonattachment; reflecting on the desire of all beings to be happy helps generate a feeling of goodwill; and wishing for all beings to be free from suffering helps to keep us from causing suffering to others.

  Developing Moral Conduct

  Developing moral conduct is a major part of the Buddha’s path. Unlike other religions, moral behavior in Buddhism is not commanded by a god who issues specific orders for human beings. Nor is it commanded by the Buddha. The Buddha understood morality to be rooted in our very natures as persons. We ought to act morally because it is our nature to be compassionate. In this respect, the Buddha’s teaching approaches that of his Chinese contemporary, Confucius, who encouraged people to be good because goodness is the fundamental goal of human life. Furthermore, observing moral conduct is necessary to alleviate our own suffering. The basic principle of karma, which the Buddha, like other Indians of the Axial Age, accepted, meant that causing others to suffer would eventually result in suffering oneself and would perpetuate the cycle of rebirth. The Buddha did modify the prevailing view of karma, however, by insisting that karma is generated only by intentional acts; this difference is grounded in his view that the source of karma is the Aggregate of Mental Formations.

  Perhaps the best way to discuss the moral dimension of the Buddha’s teaching is to start with what he called wholesome action. Wholesome action is epitomized in the Five Precepts, some of the most important practices for all Buddhists, no matter the sect or whether one is a monk, nun, or layperson. In many Asian countries, learning the Five Precepts is one of the first introductions to Buddhism for children, and they recite these principles throughout their lives. The Five Precepts are aspirations, not commandments. They are ideals that one vows to live by. When practitioners fail to live up to these ideals, they simply acknowledge failure and promise to do better next time. Reciting the precepts regularly, often in schools or other assemblies, recognizing failure, and endeavoring to try harder helps one cultivate the necessary qualities to live a moral life.

  These foundational precepts essentially follow the principle of nonharming, or ahimsa. The first precept states this principle as a simple promise: “I will refrain from harming sentient beings.” Sentient beings are those with feeling and consciousness. Some Buddhists interpret this precept strictly and practice vegetarianism and refuse to kill any form of sentient life. Others, realizing the great difficulty of living in this world without taking life, strive to minimize the amount of harm they do. If they eat meat, as many Buddhists do, they allow others to do the slaughtering, so as not to reap the negative karma.

  The remaining precepts devolve from the practice of nonharming. The second precept intends to minimize injury by respecting the possessions of others. The practitioner vows, “I will refrain from taking what is not offered.” In other words, one promises not to steal or even covet. The third precept concerns the potential hurt one might cause in the area of sexuality. The aspirant promises, “I will refrain from sexual misconduct.”

  The fourth precept concerns the misuse of language: “I will refrain from false speech.” In the Buddha’s teaching, false speech is not only lying and slandering but also gossiping, cursing, loud talk, idle chatter, and meaningless babble. As part of a course I teach in comparative spiritual practices, I require my students to participate in several disciplines from various religions, including a day of abstaining from false speech. Invariably, they tell me that abstaining from false speech is the hardest of all. It is even harder, they say, than being totally silent for a day. Try it for yourself. Take a day and refrain from lying, exaggerating, gossiping, and pointless conversation, and note how often you are unsuccessful.

  The fifth precept regards the abuse of intoxicants and other substances: “I will refrain from stupefying drink.” Not only does alcohol and substance use often result in addiction, it can dull the senses, hindering the capacity to see the world and oneself clearly. To see the world as it truly is, the Buddha maintained, is essential to liberation.

  The other aspects of moral practice in Buddhist spirituality follow the basic principles of right action. Right speech means communicating in the most generous and beneficial ways possible. While the Five Precepts enjoin the practitioner to refrain from false speaking, right speech encourages kind, gentle, and edifying speech. Harsh and bitter language, sarcasm, and meaningless chatter do not promote the habits of compassion. Right livelihood means one should earn a living in ways that foster the well-being of others, rather than their harm. The Buddha specifically named military service, trading in intoxicants or poisons, and selling animals for slavery or slaughter as particularly unwholesome occupations. He obviously believed the spiritual life extended to every aspect of one’s life, including the workaday world.

  Disciplining the Mind

  Skillful moral behavior is essential to the holy life, but the Buddha considered it equally important to cult
ivate the mind. Just as self-centered habits obscure the basic compassion of the human heart, deluded patterns of thinking hinder the ability to understand the world. To appreciate the importance of mental discipline, we will briefly discuss how the Buddha understood the mind. Then we will consider the specific techniques he offered for guiding the mind in the quest to end suffering.

  Like all else, the Buddha did not think of the mind as a static reality, nor did he identify it with the brain. For the Buddha, the mind meant the totality of thoughts, sensations, feelings, and consciousness that in each moment arise and fall away. The phrase “stream of consciousness” comes close to capturing this sense of mind, though the Buddhist sense is much broader than the literary or psychological use of the term.