The Soul in Buddhism_02

King Milinda went up to Nagasena, exchanged polite and friendly greetings, and took his seat respectfully to one side. Then Milinda began by asking;
“How many ‘rains’ (A bhikkhu’s seniority is reckoned by the number of rainy seasons that have passed since his ordination.) do you have Nagasena?”
“Seven, your majesty.”
“How can you say it is your seven; is it you who are seven or the number that is seven?”
Then Nagasena said, “Your shadow is now on the ground. Are you the king, or is the shadow the king?”
“I am the king, Nagasena, but the shadow comes into being because of me.”
“Just so, O king, the number of the years is seven, I am not seven, but it is because of me that the number seven comes into being and it is mine in the same sense as the shadow is yours.”
“Most wonderful, Nagasena, and extraordinary. Well has this puzzle been solved by you, difficult as it was.”

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The Soul in Buddhism_01

King Milinda went up to Nagasena, exchanged polite and friendly greetings, and took his seat respectfully to one side. Then King Milinda began by asking:
“How is your reverence known, and what sir, is your name?”
“O king, I am known as Nagasena but that is only a designation in common use, for no permanent individual can be found.”
Then Milinda called upon the Bactrian Greeks and the monks to bear witness:
“This Nagasena says that no permanent individual is implied in his name. Is it possible to approve of that?”
Then he turned to Nagasena and said,
“If, most venerable Nagasena, that is true, who is it who gives you robes, food and shelter? Who lives the righteous life? Or again, who kills living beings, steals, commits adultery, tells lies or takes strong drink? If what you say is true then there is neither merit nor demerit, nor is there any doer of good or evil deeds and no result of kamma. If, venerable sir, a man were to kill you there would be no murder, and it follows that there are no masters or teachers in your Order. You say that you are called Nagasena; now what is that Nagasena? Is it the hair?”
“I don’t say that, great king.”
“Is it then the nails, teeth, skin or other parts of the body?”
“Certainly not.”
“Or is it the body, or feelings, or perceptions, or formations, or consciousness? Is it all of these combined? Or is it something outside of them that is Nagasena?”
Still Nagasena answered:
“It is none of these.”
“Then, ask as I may, I can discover no Nagasena. Nagasena is an empty sound. Who is it we see before us? It is a falsehood that your reverence has spoken.”
“You, sir, have been reared in great luxury as becomes your noble birth. How did you come here, by foot or in a chariot?”
“In a chariot, venerable sir.”
“Then, explain sir, what that is. Is it the axle? Or the wheels, or the chassis, or reins, or yoke that is the chariot? Is it all of these combined, or is it something apart from them?”
“It is none of these things, venerable sir.”
“Then, sir, this chariot is an empty sound. You spoke falsely when you said that you came here in a chariot. You are a great king of India. Who are you afraid of that you don’t speak the truth?”
Then he called upon the Bactrian Greeks and the monks to bear witness:
“This King Milinda has said that he came here in a chariot but when asked what it is, he is unable to show it. Is it possible to approve of that?”
Then the five hundred Bactrian Greeks shouted their approval and said to the king,
“Get out of that if you can!”
“Venerable sir, I have spoken the truth. It is because it has all these parts that it comes under the term chariot.”
“Very good, sir, your majesty has rightly grasped the meaning. Even so it is because of the thirty-two kinds of organic matter in a human body and the five aggregates of being that I come under the term ‘Nagasena’. As it was said by Sister Vajara in the presence of the Blessed One, ‘Just as it is by the existence of the various parts that the word “Chariot” is used, just so is it that when the aggregates of being are there we talk of a being’.”
“Most wonderful, Nagasena, most extraordinary that you have solved this puzzle, difficult though it was. If the Buddha himself were here he would approve of your reply.”

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The Debate of King Milinda (00)

source:

* "The Debate of King Milinda, an Abridgement of The Milinda Panha"
* Edited by “Bhikkhu Pesala”
* Previously Published by Inward Path, Penang, Malaysia


Prologue

Milinda was the king in the city of Sagala. He was learned in the arts and sciences and was of an inquiring disposition. He was skilled in debating and no one could resolve his doubts about religious matters. Though he questioned all the famous teachers none could satisfy him. Assagutta, one of a large number of arahants living in the Himalayas, knew of the king’s doubts by means of supernormal power. So he convened an assembly to ask if there was anyone who could answer the king. There was no one, so the whole assembly ascended to the heaven of the thirty-three and requested the god Maha-sena to take birth as a man in order to protect the religion. One of the monks, Rohaoa, agreed to go to Kajangala where Maha-sena had been reborn and wait for him to grow up.
The boy’s father, Brahman Sonuttara, had the boy educated in the three Vedas but the boy, Nagasena, declared:
“Empty are these three Vedas and as chaff. There is in them neither reality, worth nor essential truth.”
Realising that the boy was ready, Rohaoa appeared and the parents consented to their son becoming a novice. So, Nagasena studied the Abhidhamma. After gaining perfect knowledge of the seven books of the Abhidhamma, Nagasena was admitted to the Order of monks and Rohaoa sent him to Vattaniya Hermitage to study with Assagutta. While spending the rainy season there, Nagasena was asked to preach a sermon to the pious lady who was Assagutta’s supporter. As a result of the discourse both the lady and Nagasena attained the Eye of the Dhamma, the knowledge that whatsoever has a beginning also has the inherent quality of passing away. Assagutta then sent Nagasena to Dhammarakkhita at the Asoka Park in Panaliputta where, within the space of three months, he mastered the remainder of the Tipinaka. Dhammarakkhita admonished his pupil not to be content with mere book knowledge and the very same night the diligent pupil Nagasena gained “Arahantship”. He then went to join the other “Arahants” who were still staying in the Himalayas. Having completed his education Nagasena was ready to meet anyone in debate.

Meanwhile, King Milinda continued his spiritual quest by visiting the Bhikkhu Ayupala at the Saukheyya
Hermitage and asked him why the monks renounced the world. The elder replied,
“It is for the sake of being able to live in righteousness and in spiritual calm.”
Then the king asked,
“Is there, venerable sir, any layman who lives so?”
The elder admitted that there were many such laymen, and the king retorted:
“Then most venerable Ayupala, your going forth is of no use. It must be in consequence of sins committed in some former birth that recluses renounce the world and even subject themselves to the added constraints of one or other of the ascetic practices such as wearing only ragrobes, eating only one meal a day, or not lying down to sleep. There is no virtue therein, no meritorious abstinence, no righteousness of life!”
When the king had spoken thus the venerable Ayupala was silenced and had not a word to say. Then the five hundred Bactrian Greeks who accompanied the king said,
“The elder is learned but he is also diffident, so he makes no reply.”
To this the king replied by exclaiming:
“All India is an empty thing, it is like chaff. There is no one who is capable of debating with me and dispelling my doubts!”
However, the Bactrian Greeks were unmoved so the king asked,
“Is there then, my good men, any other learned sage who is able to discuss things with me and dispel my doubts?”
Then the minister Devamantiya said,
“There is, Great King, an elder named Nagasena who is learned, of subdued manners yet full of courage; he is capable of discussing with you. He is now staying at this Saukheyya Hermitage, you should go and put your questions to him.”
At the mere mention of the name ‘Nagasena’ the king became alarmed and the hairs of his body stood on end. Then the king sent a messenger to say that he was coming. Attended on by the five hundred Bactrian Greeks, the king mounted his royal chariot and went to the place where Nagasena was staying.
To be continued…………

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Announcement

Dear Readers,
I will post a new series of posts written about the philosophy of Buddha, soon.
It is really famous series in Buddhism.
It is called “The Debate of King Milinda” (in pali; Milinda Panha).
This Milinda Panha is an ancient and much venerated book of the Buddhists.
It is based on the conversations between King Milinda and Nagasena (the holy-educated monk) took place five hundred years after the Parinibbana of the Buddha (after the holy death of the Buddha).

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Anatta

Source: wikipedia

In Indian philosophy, the concept of a self is called ātman (that is, "soul" or metaphysical self), which refers to an unchanging, permanent essence conceived by virtue of existence. This concept and the related concept of Brahman, the Vedantic monistic ideal, which was regarded as an ultimate ātman for all beings, were indispensable for mainstream Indian metaphysics, logic, and science; for all apparent things there had to be an underlying and persistent reality, akin to a Platonic form. The Buddha rejected all concepts of ātman, emphasizing not permanence, but changeability. He taught that all concepts of a substantial personal self were incorrect, and formed in the realm of ignorance. The Buddha criticized conceiving theories even of a unitary soul or identity immanent in all things as unskillful in the Great Discourse on Causation. In fact, according to the Buddha's statement in Khandha Samyutta 47, all thoughts about self are necessarily, whether the thinker is aware of it or not, thoughts about the five aggregates or one of them.

In a number of major Mahayana sutras (e.g. the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Tathagatagarbha Sutra, the Srimala Sutra, among others), the Buddha is presented as clarifying this teaching by saying that, while the skandhas (constituents of the ordinary body and mind) are not the self, there does truly exist an eternal, unchanging, blissful Buddha-essence in all sentient beings, which is the uncreated and deathless Buddha-nature ("Buddha-dhatu") or "True Self" of the Buddha himself. The "tathagatagarbha"/Buddha nature does not represent a substantial self; rather, it is a positive language expression of "sunyata" (emptiness) and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices; the intention of the teaching of tathagatagarbha (Buddha nature) is soteriological rather than theoretical.[4]

This immaculate Buddhic Self (atman) is in no way to be construed as a mundane, impermanent, suffering "ego", of which it is the diametrical opposite. On the other hand, this Buddha-essence or Buddha-nature is also often explained as the potential for achieving Buddhahood, rather than an existing phenomenon one can grasp onto as being me or self.

Anatta is discussed in the Questions of King Milinda, composed during the period of the Hellenistic Indo-Greek kingdom of the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. In this text, the monk Nagasena demonstrates the concept of absolute "non-Self" by likening human beings to a chariot and challenges the Greek king "Milinda" (Menander) to find the essence of the chariot. Nagasena states that just as a chariot is made up of a number of things, none of which are the essence of the chariot in isolation, without the other pieces, similarly no one part of a person is a permanent entity; we can be broken up into five constituents – body, sensations, ideation, mental formations and consciousness – the consciousness being closest to the permanent idea of "Self", but is ever-changing with each new thought according to this viewpoint.

According to some thinkers both in the East and the West, the doctrine of "non-Self", may imply that Buddhism is a form of nihilism or something similar. However, as thinkers like Nagarjuna have clearly pointed out, Buddhism is not simply a rejection of the concept of existence or meaning, but of the hard and fast distinction between existence and non-existence, or rather between being and no-thingness. Phenomena are not independent from causes and conditions and do not exist as isolated things as we perceive them to be. The lack of a permanent, unchanging, substantial Self in beings and things does not mean that they do not experience growth and decay on the relative level. But on the ultimate level of analysis, one cannot distinguish an object from its causes and conditions or even distinguish between object and subject (an idea appearing relatively recently in Western science). Buddhism thus has much more in common with Western empiricism, pragmatism, anti-foundationalism, and even poststructuralism than with nihilism.

In the Nikāyas, the Buddha and his disciples commonly question or declare "Is that which is impermanent, subject to change, subject to suffering fit to be considered thus: 'This I am, this is mine, this is my self'?" The question which the Buddha poses to his audience is whether compounded phenomena are fit to be considered as self, to which the audience agrees that it is unworthy to be considered so. And in relinquishing such an attachment to compounded phenomena, such a person gives up delight, desire and craving for compounded phenomena and is unbounded by its change. When completely free from attachments, craving or desire to the five aggregates, such a person experiences then transcends the very causes of suffering.

In this way, the insight wisdom or prajñā of non-Self gives rise to cessation of suffering, and not an intellectual debate over whether a self exists or not.

It is by realizing (not merely understanding intellectually, but making real in one's experience) the three marks of conditioned existence that one develops prajñā, which is the antidote to the ignorance that lies at the root of all suffering.

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Dukkha (Suffering)

Source: Wikipedia

Whatever is impermanent is subject to change. Whatever is subject to change is subject to suffering.

—The Buddha

Striving for what we desire, we may experience stress and suffering – dukkha. Getting what we desired, we may find delight and happiness. Soon after, the novelty may wear out and we may get bored with it. Boredom is a form of dissatisfaction (or suffering) and to escape from it, we divert ourselves from such boredom by indulging in a pursuit of new forms of pleasure. Sometimes not willing to relinquish objects that we are already uninterested in, we start to collect and amass possessions instead of sharing with others who may have better uses for them than we do. Boredom is a result of change: the change of our interest in that object of desire which so captivated us in the first place.

Change may also take place in the object of our desire as opposed to change from within. Silverware may become tarnished, a new dress worn thin or a gadget gone obsolete. Or it may become broken, causing us to grieve. In some cases it may get lost or stolen. In some cases, we may worry about such losses even before they happen. Husbands and wives worry about losing their spouses even though their partners are faithful. Unfortunately, sometimes our very worry and fear drives us to act irrationally, resulting in distrust and breaking up of the very relationship that we cherished so much.

While we like changes such as becoming an adult when we are in our teens, we dislike the change called aging. While we strive for change to become rich, we fear the change of retrenchment. We are selective in our attitude towards the transient nature of our very existence. Unfortunately, this transient nature is unselective. We can try to fight it, just as many have tried since beginningless time, only to have our efforts washed away through the passages of time. As a result, we continually experience dissatisfaction or suffering due to the very impermanence of compounded phenomena.

Only in the realm of Nirvana – so Buddhism insists — can true and lasting happiness be found. Nirvana is the opposite of the conditional, the transitory and the painful, so it does not result in disappointment or deterioration of the state of bliss. Nirvana is the refuge from the otherwise universal tyranny of change and suffering. In other schools of Buddhism, nirvana is not viewed as the goal, but merely as a projection from the state of samsara. According to these schools samsara (daily routine) and nirvana (perfection) are two sides of the same coin.

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Anicca (Impermanent)

source: wikipedia

All compounded phenomena (things and experiences) are inconstant, unsteady, and impermanent. Everything we can experience through our senses is made up of parts, and its existence is dependent on external conditions. Everything is in constant flux, and so conditions and the thing itself is constantly changing. Things are constantly coming into being, and ceasing to be. Nothing lasts.
The important point here is that phenomena arise and cease according to (complex) conditions and not according to our whims and fancy. While we have limited ability to effect change to our possessions and surroundings, experience tells us that our feeble attempts are no guarantee that the results of our efforts will be to our liking. More often than not, the results fall short of our expectations.
In Mahayana Buddhism, a caveat is added: one should indeed always meditate on the impermanence and transitory nature of compound structures and phenomena, but one must guard against extending this to the realm of Nirvana, where impermanence holds no sway. In this view, the ultimate nature of reality is free from the stains of dualistic thought, and should therefore not be labeled as 'one' or the 'other' (i.e. 'permanent' or 'impermanent').
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche states that in the four seals of the Mahayana, Nirvana should be viewed as "beyond extremes". Furthermore, he states that "In many philosophies or religions, the final goal is something that you can hold on to and keep. The final goal is the only thing that truly exists. But nirvana is not fabricated, so it is not something to be held on to. It is referred to as 'beyond extremes.'
We somehow think that we can go somewhere where we’ll have a better sofa seat, a better shower system, a better sewer system, a nirvana where you don’t even have to have a remote control, where everything is there the moment you think of it. But as I said earlier, it’s not that we are adding something new that was not there before. Nirvana is achieved when you remove everything that was artificial and obscuring.”

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Three marks of existence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

According to the Buddhist tradition, all phenomena other than Nirvana are marked by three characteristics, sometimes referred to as the Dharma seals: impermanence, suffering, and impersonality.
According to tradition, after much meditation, the Buddha concluded that everything in the physical world (and everything in the phenomenology of psychology) is marked by these three characteristics:

• Anicca or "impermanence". This refers not only to the fact that all conditioned things (sankhara) eventually cease to exist, but also that all conditioned things are in a constant state of flux. (Visualize a leaf growing on a tree. It dies and falls off the tree but is soon replaced by a new leaf.)
• Dukkha or "unsatisfactoriness" (or "dis-ease"; also often translated "suffering", though this is somewhat misleading). Nothing found in the physical world or even the psychological realm can bring lasting deep satisfaction.
• Anatta or "no-self" is used in the suttas both as a noun and as a predicative adjective to denote that phenomena are not, or are without, a permanent self, to describe any and all composite, consubstantial, phenomenal and temporal things, from the macrocosmic to microcosmic, be it matter pertaining to the physical body or the cosmos at large, as well as any and all mental machinations, which are impermanent.
  

There is often a fourth Dharma Seal mentioned:

• Nirvana is peace. Nirvana is the "other shore" from samsara.

Together the three characteristics of existence are called ti-lakkhana in Pali or tri-laksana in Sanskrit.
By bringing the three (or four) seals into moment-to-moment experience through concentrated awareness, we are said to achieve wisdom – the third of the three higher trainings – the way out of samsara. Thus the method for leaving samsara involves a deep-rooted change in world view.

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Anatta and moral responsibility

Source: wikipedia

While the Buddha attacked the assumptions of existence of an eternal Self, he would refer to the existence of a conventional self-subject to conditional phenomena and responsible, in the causal-moral sense, for karma.
“It can thus be said that, while an empirical self exists - or rather consists of a changing flow of mental and physical states which neither unchangingly exists nor does not exist - no metaphysical Self can be apprehended.”

There are many statements in the suttas to the effect that a person acts, and then reaps the consequences. These statements are made to rebut the various theories circulating among philosophers of the Buddha's time that denied the efficacy of moral action, attributing all change to fate; these were forms of determinism. The Buddha's statements are not metaphysical in nature, and do not imply an unchanging subject of experience. Instead, continuity is maintained not by positing an extra-empirical entity such as a Self, but by a theory of causality.


The Buddha criticized two main theories of moral responsibility; the doctrine that posited an unchanging Self as a subject, which came to be known as "atthikavaada", and the doctrine that did not do so, and instead denied moral responsibility, which came to be known as "natthikavaada". He rejected them both on empirical grounds. The following interaction of the Buddha pertains to the latter theory: The Buddha was silent to the questions of the paribbajako (wandering ascetic) Vacchagotta of “Is there a self?” or “Is there not a self?” [SN.5:44,10]. When Ananda later asked about his silence, the Buddha said that to affirm or deny the existence of an eternal self would have sided with sectarian theories and have disturbed Vacchagotta even more. The early Suttas see even Annihilationism, which the Buddha equated with denial of a Self, as tied up with belief in a Self. It is seen as arising due to conceiving a Self in some sort of relationship to the personality-factors. It is thus rooted in the 'I am' attitude; even the attitude 'I do not exist' arises from a preoccupation with 'I'. The Buddha appealed to experience in his refutation of natthikavaada, saying: "To one who sees, with proper understanding, the arising of the things in the world, the belief in nonexistence would not occur."

The Buddha was also careful not to allow an atthikavaadin interpretation of his doctrine of causality. In response to the question from a man named Acela Kassapa as to whether or not suffering is self-caused, the Buddha gave a negative reply; "A person acts and the same person experiences [the result] — this, Kassapa, which you emphatically call 'suffering self-wrought', amounts to the eternalist theory." In responding in this way, the Buddha indicated the connection between the problem of personal identity and moral responsibility.

This process-view of a person does not see personality as a chaotic flux, but as a law-governed moving pattern which only changes in so far as supporting conditions change. In spite of the changes taking place in a person, some character-patterns are repeated, even over many lives, before they are worn out or replaced by others in accordance with the law of dependent origination. The complex of conditions arises out of an interaction of those processes internal to a person's own stream of psychological processes, that is, past or present karma, with those from the external world. Some of the external conditions will in turn be influenced or generated by internal processes. Thus the person-process both changes and is changed by its environment.

The principles of causality are key to the Buddha's teachings; they provide a vital perspective on his doctrine as a whole and show how to see it integrated positively in the causal relationships of the mental-physical factors of the experience of life. Causal relationships were detailed in the Buddha’s analysis of dependent origination and idappaccayata (lit. “This is founded on that”).

All processes are impermanent … All processes are afflicted … All phenomena are not ‘Self’; when this is seen with knowledge, one is freed from the illusion of affliction. This is the pathway to purity.

– Dhp. 20. 277 – 279

This analysis is applied to knowing the interplay of senses within the mental-physical factors just as they are. It is a careful analysis of these realities in terms of their changefulness, instability or un-satisfactoriness and that these lack inherent personal identification. And this leads to wisdom (panna), cessation of craving (nirodha), and to liberation (nirvana) of the will/mind (citta).

The goal of the Buddhist contemplative is to develop freedom of the will/mind (citta) from entanglement with things as they seem; through the delusions of desire and consequential self-identity with events, resultant fear, aversion and projected hopes—to awaken to things as they are; coming home to a natural understanding of reality with one's given abilities at work in an ever changing evolution of experience. “The mind (citta) is cleansed of the five skandhas (pancakkhandha)” [Nettippakarana 44]

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Anatta- "Not-self"

Source: wikipedia

Definition of Anatta

In Buddhism, (Pali: Anatta) refers to the notion of "not-self". In the Pali suttas and the related Nikayas, the agglomeration of constantly changing physical and mental constituents ("Skandhas") comprising a human being is thoroughly analyzed and stated not to comprise an eternal, unchanging self (often denoted "Self"). In the Nikayas, the Buddha repeatedly emphasizes not only that the five skandhas of living being are "not-self", but that clinging to them as if they were an immutable self or soul (Atman) gives rise to unhappiness.

Anatta, along with Dukkha (suffering/unease) and Anicca (impermanence), is one of the three Dharma seals, which, according to Buddhism, characterize all conditioned phenomena.


Anatta in the Nikayas

The Buddhist term “Anatta” is used in the Suttas both as a noun and as a predicative adjective to denote that phenomena are not, or are without, a Self, to describe any and all composite, consubstantial, phenomenal and temporal things, from the macrocosmic to microcosmic, be it matter pertaining to the physical body or the cosmos at large, as well as any and all mental machinations, which are impermanent. Anatta is often used in conjunction with the terms Dukkha (imperfection) and Anicca (impermanence), and all three terms are often used in triplet in making a blanket statement as regards any and all compounded phenomena. “All these aggregates are Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta.”

Samyutta Nikaya

At one time in Savatthi, the venerable Radha seated himself and asked of the Blessed Lord Buddha: “Anatta, anatta I hear said venerable. What pray tell does Anatta mean?” The blessed one simply replied; “Just this, Radha, form is not the self (anatta), sensations are not the self (anatta), perceptions are not the self (anatta), assemblages are not the self (anatta), consciousness is not the self (anatta). Seeing thusly, this is the end of birth, the Brahman life has been fulfilled, what must be done has been done.”

The nikayas state that certain things (the five aggregates), with which the unlearned man identifies himself, do not constitute a personal essence and that is why one on the path to liberation should grow disgusted with them, become detached from them and be liberated.

“Whatever form, feelings, perceptions, experiences, or consciousness there is (the five aggregates), these he sees to be without permanence, as suffering, as ill, as a plague, a boil, a sting, a pain, an affliction, as foreign, as otherness, as empty (suññato), as Selfless (anattato). So he turns his mind away from these and gathers his mind/will within the realm of Immortality (amataya dhatuya). This is tranquility; this is that which is most excellent!”

In Samyutta Nikaya (SN) 4.400,

Gautama Buddha was asked if there was no soul (Natthatta), which it is conventionally considered to be equivalent to Nihilism (Ucchedavada). The Buddha himself has said: “Both formerly and now, I’ve never been a nihilist (Vinayika), never been one who teaches the annihilation of a being, rather taught only the source of suffering, and its ending.” The early Suttas see annihilationism, which the Buddha equated with denial of a Self, as tied up with belief in a Self. It is seen as arising due to conceiving a Self in some sort of relationship to the personality-factors. It is thus rooted in the 'I am' attitude; even the attitude 'I do not exist' arises from a preoccupation with 'I'.

The Buddha criticized conceiving theories even of a unitary soul or identity immanent in all things as unskillful. In fact, according to the Buddha's statement in Khandha Samyutta 47, all thoughts about self are necessarily, whether the thinker is aware of it or not, thoughts about the five aggregates or one of them.

At the time of the Buddha some philosophers and meditators posited a "root": an abstract principle out of which all things emanated and which was immanent in all things. When asked about this, instead of following this pattern of thinking, the Buddha attacks it at its very root: the notion of a principle in the abstract, superimposed on experience. In contrast, a person in training should look for a different kind of "root" — the root of dukkha experienced in the present. According to one Buddhist scholar, theories of this sort have most often originated among meditators who label a particular meditative experience as the ultimate goal, and identify with it in a subtle way.

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Cause and Effect - Karma or Kamma

Source: Internet & Books

Karma or Kamma is the very important concept of Buddhism as it is the source of Samsara (The cycles of death and rebirth). And this "Samsara" concept also is unique of Buddhism among the religious. So to understand Buddhism, one has to learn about Samsara and the source of Samsara, that is Karma.

Definition of Karma

Karma (Pali: Kamma) means "action" or "doing"; whatever one does, says, or thinks is a karma.

In Buddhism, the term karma is used specifically for those actions which rise from :
* mental intention (Pali: cetana)
* mental afflictions

which bring about a fruit (Pali: phala) or result (vipaka), either within the present life, or in the context of a future rebirth. Karma is the source which causes the uncontrollable cycle(s) of death and rebirth, called Saṃsara (opposite of Nirvana), for each being.


In the (Anguttara Nikaya also known as Nibbedhika Sutta) the Buddha said :

"Intention (cetana) is karma. Having willed, one acts through body, speech and mind".

Every time a person acts there is some quality of intention at the base of the mind and it is that quality rather than the outward appearance of the action that determines the effect. If a person professes piety and virtue but nonetheless acts with greed, anger or hatred (veiled behind an outward display of well-meaning intent) then the fruit of those actions will bear testimony to the fundamental intention that lay behind them and will be a cause for future unhappiness. The Buddha spoke of wholesome actions (kusala-kamma)—that result in happiness, and unwholesome actions (akusala-kamma)—that result in unhappiness.


The theory is not deterministic, as past karma is not viewed as the only causal mechanism causing the situations in the present; see below regarding others. Moreover, as M.3.203 indicates, karma provokes tendencies or conditions rather than consequences as such.

There is a further distinction between worldly, wholesome karma that leads to samsaric happiness (like birth in higher realms), and path-consciousness which leads to the truly peace, Nirvana. Therefore, there is samsaric good karma, which leads to absolutely happiness, and there is liberating (Nirvana) karma, which is supremely good, as it is the end of suffering forever. Once one has attained liberation one does not generate any further kamma, and the corresponding states of mind are called in Pali Kiriya. Nonetheless, the Buddha advocated the practice of wholesome actions: "Refrain from unwholesome actions/Perform only wholesome ones/Purify the mind/This is the teaching of the Enlightened Ones." Dhp v.183.

"I am the owner of my karma. I inherit my karma. I am born of my karma. I am related to my karma. I live supported by my karma. Whatever karma I create, whether good or evil, that I shall inherit."

In Buddhism, the term karma is often used to refer only to samsaric karma, as indicated by the twelve Nidanas of dependent origination.

Because of the inevitability of consequence, karma entails the notion of Buddhist rebirth. However, karma is not the sole basis of rebirth. The rebirths of eighth stage (and above) Bodhisattvas in the Mahayana tradition refers to those liberated beings who consciously choose to be reborn in a future life in order to help others still trapped in Saṃsara. However, this is not the uncontrolled rebirth.

The Buddha explains what having conviction in karma means:

* First, karma really is happening and it is not merely an illusion.
* Second, you really are responsible for your actions, karma. There is no outside force, like the god or stars or some good or evil being, acting through you. When you are conscious, you are the one and only one who decides what happens or what will happen.
* Third, your actions have results and those results can be good or bad depending on the quality of the intention behind the act.

The Buddha's theory of moral behavior was not strictly deterministic; it was conditional. His description of the workings of karma is not an all-inclusive one. The Buddha instead gave answers to various questions to specific people in specific contexts, and it is possible to find several causal explanations of behavior.

In the Buddhist theory of moral responsibility, the effect (phala) or a deed (kamma) is not determined solely by the deed itself, but also by the nature of the person who commits the deed and by the circumstances in which it is committed.

A discourse in the Anguttara Nikaya indicates this conditionality:

A certain person has not properly cultivated his body, behavior, thought and intelligence, is inferior and insignificant and his life is short and miserable; of such a person ... even a trifling evil action done leads him to hell. In the case of a person who has proper culture of the body, behavior, thought and intelligence, who is superior and not insignificant, and who is endowed with long life, the consequences of a similar evil action are to be experienced in this very life, and sometimes may not appear at all.

Incorrect understandings of karma

In Buddhism, the following ideas are designated as "wrong views" on Karma.

1. Pubbekatahetuvada:
The belief that all happiness and suffering, including all future happiness and suffering, arise from previous karma, and human beings can exercise no volition to affect future results or human beings are not able to control to affect future results.

2. Issaranimmanahetuvada:
The belief that all happiness and suffering are caused by the directives of a Supreme Being such as the God, Creator and etc.

3. Ahetu-apaccayavada:
The belief that all happiness and suffering are random, having no cause.

Karma is continually ripening, but it is also continually being generated by present actions, therefore it is possible to exercise free will to shape future karma. This is the enlightenment to liberate from Samsara.

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Brahmavihara – four divine abodes, four divine emotions, four immeasurables, four sublime attitudes

Source: wikipedia

The four Brahmaviharas are a series of virtues and Buddhist meditation practices designed to cultivate those virtues. Brahmavihara is a term in Pali and Sanskrit meaning “Brahma abidings”, or "Sublime attitudes." They are also known as the Four Immeasurables.

According to the Metta Sutta, Shakyamuni Buddha held that cultivation of the Brahmavihāras has the power to cause the practitioner to be re-born into a Brahma realm (Pali: Brahmaloka). The meditator is instructed to radiate out to all beings in all directions the mental states of:
1) loving-kindness or benevolence,
2) compassion,
3) sympathetic joy, and,
4) equanimity.

These virtues are also highly regarded by Buddhists as powerful antidotes to those negative mental states (non-virtues) like avarice, anger, pride and so on.

Brahmavihara may be parsed into "Brahma" and vihara; which is often rendered into English as "sublime" or "divine abodes". They are also called the "Four Immeasurables," or "the four sublime attitudes (loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity)", and are Buddhist virtues that followers can cultivate endlessly, that are without limits, as good qualities for any Buddhist to possess in good measure. They form a sequence of Buddhist virtues recommended in the Brahmavihara Sutta.

When developed to a high degree in meditation, they are said to make the mind "immeasurable" and like the mind of the loving Brahma gods.

Metta/Maitri:
loving-kindness towards all; the hope that a person will be well; loving kindness is "the wish that all sentient beings, without any exception, be happy."

Karuna:
compassion; the hope that a person's sufferings will diminish; compassion is the "wish for all sentient beings to be free from suffering."

Mudita:
altruistic joy in the accomplishments of a person, oneself or other; sympathetic joy, "is the wholesome attitude of rejoicing in the happiness and virtues of all sentient beings."

Upekkha/Upeksha:
equanimity, or learning to accept both loss and gain, praise and blame, success and failure with detachment, equally, for oneself and for others; equanimity means "not to distinguish between friend, enemy or stranger, but regard every sentient being as equal. It is a clear-minded tranquil state of mind - not being overpowered by delusions, mental dullness or agitation."

Metta and Karuna are both hopes for the future (leading, where possible, to action aimed at realizing those hopes), while Mudita and Upekkha are attitudes to what has already happened, but also having consequences for future action. While these four might be delineated as attitudes of the future or past, they contain the seed of the "present" within their core (as a living embodied practice). This is the essence of the spiritual laws of karma, self-responsibility, and samma sankkalpa - right thoughts. A dedicated intention that all beings are in the "here and now" tranquil, happy, in touch with their gifted talents/accomplishments, and feel interconnected by that synergy to eschew suffering by abdication.

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(2009 May 9, Fullmoon day of Kason)- Vesak Day or Buddha Day

Sources; From several data base.

What Vesak Day is

Vesak Day is the greatest day for Buddhists. It actually encompasses the birth, enlightenment, and passing-away (Parinirvana) of Gautama, the Buddha. But sometimes it is informally called "Buddha's birthday".

Vesak Day is an annual holiday observed traditionally by practicing Buddhists in many Asian countries like Nepal, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia,Pakistan, India, and Taiwan.

What enlightenment Buddha got on Vesak Day

On fullmoon day of Kason, BC 103, Buddha got his great enlightenment which is totally different from other religions and is nobly true by all aspects. The Buddha's enlightenment in brief is as follow:

I. The four noble truths, namely
>>(1)suffering,
>>(2)original of suffering,
>>(3)cessation of suffering and
>>(4)the way to cessation of suffering

II. The eight-fold path comprised of three main parts, called

>>(1) moral conduct
>>>>a. Right Speech,
>>>>b. Right Action and
>>>>c. Right Livelihood

>>(2) concentration
>>>>a. Right Effort,
>>>>b. Right Mindfulness and
>>>>c. Right Concentration

>>(3) wisdom
>>>>a. Right View and
>>>>b. Right Intention

III. Buddha’s Middle Way – The Path of Moderation, including the two Extremes to avoid namely
>>(1) sensual indulgence and
>>(2) self-mortification

How Buddhists celebrate Vesak Day

On Vesak day, devout Buddhists and followers alike are expected and requested to assemble in their various temples before dawn for the ceremonial, and honorable, hoisting of the Buddhist flag and the singing of hymns in praise of the holy triple gem: The Buddha, The Dharma (his teachings), and The Sangha (his disciples). Devotees may bring simple offerings of flowers, candles and joss-sticks to lay at the feet of their teacher. These symbolic offerings are to remind followers that just as the beautiful flowers would wither away after a short while and the candles and joss-sticks would soon burn out, so too is life subject to decay and destruction. Devotees are enjoined to make a special effort to refrain from killing of any kind. They are encouraged to partake of vegetarian food for the day. In some countries, notably Sri Lanka, two days are set aside for the celebration of Vesak and all liquor shops and slaughter houses are closed by government decree during the two days. Also birds, insects and animals are released by the thousands in what is known as a 'symbolic act to liberation'; of giving freedom to those who are in captivity, imprisoned, or tortured against their will. Some devout Buddhists will wear a simple white dress and spend the whole day in temples with renewed determination to observe the observance of the Ten Precepts (Sila).

Devout Buddhists undertake to lead a noble life according to the teaching by making daily affirmations to observe the Five Precepts. However, on special days, notably new moon and full moon days, they observe the Ten Percepts to train themselves to practice morality, simplicity and humility.

Some temples also display a small image of the baby Buddha in front of the altar in a small basin filled with water and decorated with flowers, allowing devotees to pour water over the statue; it is symbolic of the cleansing of a practitioners bad karma, and to reenact the events following the Buddha's birth, when devas and spirits made heavenly offerings to him.

Devotees are expected to listen to talks given by monks. On this day monks will recite verses uttered by the Buddha twenty-five centuries ago, to invoke peace and happiness for the Government and the people. Buddhists are reminded to live in harmony with people of other faiths and to respect the beliefs of other people as the Buddha had taught.

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