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Action, existence, and the fetters that bind us.
Jason
God EmperorArrakis Moderator
Warning: Please be forewarned that what you are about to read is undoubtedly flawed. While written in essay form, this progression of thought, from beginning to end, was inspired by subsequent days of reading various collections of discourses and other related works while contemplating their meaning from a predominantly philosophical standpoint. Therefore, what I am about to present is merely the culmination of my own thoughts and conclusions which were inspired by this process of reading and reflection and not that of any specific person referenced herein. This was written for fun, and not intended to be taken as any sort of authority on the matter. Please consider this if you take the time to read this.
From one point of view, philosophy is an attempt to understand the truth and meaning behind the internal and external worlds perceived by humankind through a combination of logic, reason, and observation. Moreover, it is a search for truth and meaning that depends a great deal upon the economical, historical, and political contexts of a given time and place. When it comes to certain philosophical systems, however, there are those that claim to point towards a truth that is not subjective or relative in any way—a truth that is “directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, to be personally experienced by the wise” (SN 11.3). The teaching of the Buddha is one such example.
While the vast collection of the Buddha’s teachings that have been preserved in Pali cover a wide range of historical, philosophical, political, social, and spiritual topics, the basic framework on which these teachings were built cover but a single and yet far reaching goal. In the Buddha’s own words to one of his disciples, “Formerly, Anuradha, and also now, I make know just suffering (dukkha) and the cessation of suffering” (SN 22.86). While stated as two distinct ideas, they are to be understood as a complete whole because the Buddha only taught suffering so that it could eventually be put to an end.
Simply stated from a broader perspective, existence within samsara, the continual round of birth and death, is suffering and bondage. Right away, we are made aware that existence itself is somehow tied into suffering. Suffering, the Buddha also pointed out, is something that is deeply personal. Everyone suffers in his or her own way, according to his or her individual circumstances; and as long as the causes for suffering are present, suffering will arise. In the Buddha’s time, this was a radically new view of the world in terms of conditionality, or cause and effect. In its simplest form, the law of this/that conditionality (idappacayata) states, “When this is, that is. From the arising of this comes the arising of that. When this is not, that is not. From the cessation of this comes the cessation of that” (AN 10.92). Suffering is further broken down to its very core—an activity originating in a mind defiled by greed (lobha), hatred (dosa), and delusion (moha). This activity was not only seen by the Buddha to be the direct cause of a being’s (satta) potential for suffering, but it was also seen to be the basis for their very existence.
As befitting a true contemplative of his time, the Buddha dedicated his entire adult life to finding a solution to suffering. Failing to find an answer under other ascetics and teachers, the Buddha set out to discover them on his own. After spending a considerable amount of time in a deep state of meditative absorption (jhana), the Buddha reflected upon the nature of suffering headed by aging and death with a sense of urgency. Desiring to discern an escape from this process of arising and passing away, he asked, “When what exists does aging and death come to be? By what is aging and death conditioned?” It was through careful attention to this subject that insight arose, and the Buddha had a breakthrough whereby he discerned the process of dependent origination (paticca-samuppada) (SN 12.10). In short, aging and death is conditioned by birth, birth is conditioned by existence, existence is conditioned by clinging, clinging is conditioned by craving, craving is conditioned by feeling, feeling is conditioned by contact, contact is conditioned by the six sense bases, the six sense bases are conditioned by name and form, name and form are conditioned by consciousness, consciousness is conditioned by volitional formations, and volitional formations are conditioned by ignorance.
While dismissed by materialists of the time and generally misunderstood by other contemporaries such as the Jain founder Nigantha Nataputta (Mahavira), the importance of action (kamma), and in particular mental action (manokamma), was clearly seen by the Buddha. In a meeting with the householder Upali, for example, the Buddha explained through means of logic and reason how mental actions are more powerful than those of body or speech, and more importantly, how the act of volition (cetana) that precedes any action — whether of body, speech, or mind — is a critical factor (MN 56). The Buddha did not stop there, however. He took great pains to show that our experience of the world is subjective in the sense that we experience the external objects of forms, sounds, odours, tastes, tangibles, and ideas through the internal sense bases of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and ultimately, through the mind. The world (loka), he said, originates from a complex process of sensory experience and conditionality. In brief, dependent on the internal sense base and its corresponding external object, consciousness arises. The meeting of the three is contact. From the requisite condition of contact comes feeling, from feeling comes craving, from craving comes becoming, from becoming comes birth, and from birth comes aging, illness, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain grief, and despair (SN 12.44). In this way, a connection can be made between the subjective nature of phenomena and its place in the overall question of suffering and its cessation. The reverse of this, or in other words the ending of the world, reveals quite the opposite connection—one between the subjective nature of phenomena and the objective freedom of Nibbana.
A verse from the Samyutta Nikaya states, “sabbe satta atthajata” which is translated by Bkikkhu Bodhi as, “All beings are bent upon a goal” (326). The Saratthappakasini, a commentary to the Samyutta Nikaya ascribed to Acariya Buddhaghosa, explains: “Bent upon a goal means engaged in a task; for there is no being at all — including dogs or jackals — that is not engaged in a task. Even walking to and fro can be called a task” (494). Philosophically speaking, since existence itself is a by-product of volitional action, reason dictates that it is through volitional action itself that the subjective truth and meaning of experience takes shape. Therefore, when volitional action ceases, the need for subjective truth and meaning also ceases. Only with the cessation of volition is there both freedom from suffering and an unimaginable experience of a truth that is unconditional and absolute. Paradoxically, according to the Buddha’s teachings on action, since inaction itself is an action when the inaction is volitional, to reach the ending of action, and consequentially the freedom experienced through this objective truth, one must act in a way that leads to the destruction of the cause of action. The root cause for volitional actions is ignorance (avijja), or more specifically, lack of direct knowledge of the Four Noble Truths and the tasks to be done in regards to each truth. The Four Noble Truths are the noble truth of suffering, the noble truth of the origin of suffering, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering, and the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering. The tasks to be done in regards to each truth are as follows: the noble truth of suffering is to be fully understood, the noble truth of the origin of suffering is to be abandoned, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering is to be realized, and the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering is to be developed (SN 56.11).
The First Noble Truth focuses on suffering. Suffering is defined as birth, aging, illness, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain grief, despair, associating with the unloved, separation from the loved, not getting what one wants, and in particular, the five aggregates of clinging (upadanakhandha) which are the result of past actions (SN 35.145). It is because the five aggregates of clinging arise — and according to the Buddha, whatever has the nature of arising has the nature of passing away — that they are subject to illness, aging, and death. It is only due to our lack of understanding their true nature that we inevitably cling to either one or all of these phenomena as ‘me’ or ‘mine’. In other words, the form of the body consisting of the four great elements is unsatisfactory, impermanent, and not pertaining to or related to a self in any way. The six classes of feeling, feeling born of contact through the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are unsatisfactory, impermanent, and not pertaining to or related to a self in any way. The six classes of perception, perception of form, sounds, odours, tastes, tactiles, and mental phenomena are unsatisfactory, impermanent, and not pertaining to or related to a self in any way. The six classes of volitional formations, volitions regarding forms, sounds, odours, tastes, tactiles, and mental phenomena are unsatisfactory, impermanent, and not pertaining to or related to a self in any way. Finally, the six classes of consciousness, eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, and mind consciousness are unsatisfactory, impermanent, and not pertaining to or related to a self in any way. Hence, the Buddha points out the ultimately unsatisfactory nature of the psycho-physical entity consisting of mind and matter (nama-rupa) in a variety of ways as well as the insubstantiality of our ego which is built upon these five, fleeting phenomena.
To summarize, these five aggregates of clinging are unsatisfactory and unreliable due to their potential for suffering (dukkha), their impermanency (anicca), and their lack of anything worth clinging to as a self, or in other words, the lack of a permanent, unchanging substance that is perceivable as being ‘me’ or ‘mine’ (anatta). In essence, the five aggregates of clinging are trapped within the subjective realm of experience, and as a result, suffering, because as Piyadassi Thera mentions in The Buddha’s Ancient Path, “A beings and the empirical world are both constantly changing” (43). Being in a continual state of flux, these things by their very nature arise, persist for a period, and then pass away relative to various causes and conditions that sustain them (43). Thus, what is considered to be truth in relation to these six senses and their objects is considered subjective, or in other words, conventional. That does not necessarily mean that what we hold as being true in the conventional sense is untrue, but rather that their truth is limited to the conventional world, and in effect, merely conceptual in nature. If we ask ourselves, for example, what truth is there in the color red beyond our conception of that particular color; does that truth still stand for someone who is color-blind? Does our perception of that color contain an inherent essence of truth; or do we merely conceive that it does?
The Second Noble Truth focuses on the cause or origination of suffering. The origination of suffering is craving (tahna), which literally means thirst in Pali. More specifically, it is the craving that “leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there; craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, and craving for annihilation” that is the underlying cause for suffering (SN 56.11). Craving is likened to an arrow that pierces the heart, and ignorance is likened to a poison that spreads its toxins through desire, passion and ill will (MN 105). As with most Eastern philosophies and religions, Buddhism does not view death as the final end of phenomena. In Buddhism, only Nibbana is said to be the final end of phenomena in regards to the arising and passing away of beings (AN 10.58). As previously mentioned, according to the teachings on dependent origination, if there are sufficient conditions present, those conditions with inevitably result in future births (SN 12.35). Along with consciousness, craving plays a vital role in the renewal of beings and the production of future births.
To illustrate how craving could result in future births, the Buddha used a simile in which he compared the sustenance of a flame to that of a being at the time of death. Essentially, a flame burns in dependence on its fuel, and that fuel sustains it. When a flame burns in dependence on wood, for example, the wood sustains that flame. However, when a flame is swept up and carried away by the wind, the fuel of wind sustains that flame until it lands upon a new source of fuel. In the same way, a being at the time of death has the fuel of craving as its sustenance (SN 44.9). The last consciousness of a being at the time of death, with the presence of craving, is the cause for the arising of a new consciousness. In the human realm, this would be in combination with the union of a healthy sperm and egg, although the Buddha often mentioned various other forms of birth in other realms of existence—none of which are free from suffering. Nevertheless, the Buddha states, “Wherever there is a basis for consciousness, there is support for the establishing of consciousness. When consciousness is established and has come to growth, there is the production of renewed existence” (SN 12.38). Thus, whatever the means of birth, whatever the realm of existence, all beings are fettered by craving to a subjective and conditional existence within a state of continuous change. The reality of the five aggregates is like that of a lump of foam; it is both empty and fleeting (SN 22.95).
The Third Noble Truth focuses on the cessation of suffering. The cessation of suffering is Nibbana. According to Nyanatiloka Thera’s Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, Nibbana literally means “extinction, to cease blowing, to become extinguished.” Nibbana is the state of final deliverance, the extinction of craving (AN 10.60), the extinguishing of lust, the extinguishing of hatred, and the extinguishing of delusion (SN 38.1). Even more importantly, however, Nibbana is the only true reality for it is the only reality that is truly objective, permanent, and absolute. Nibbana alone is without a cause, unborn, unmade, and therefore, it is unconditional. It lies outside of the world as we know it, outside of conditioned existence, outside of space and time, and as such, it lies beyond cause and effect. Furthermore, as Piyadassi Thera echoes in The Buddha’s Ancient Path, all things conventional or subjective are relative, however, Nibbana being neither conventional nor subjective has no relativities, and thus in a sense, absolute (73). The Buddha himself makes clear that the deliverance found within this truth is unshakable, and while from the conventional viewpoint of subjective reality, that which is unstable, impermanent, and not-self (i.e. the aggregates) appears to be real, from the ultimate viewpoint of objective reality, these things are merely illusions with no more substance than a dream (MN 140).
In one instance, the Buddha gives an almost unbelievable and yet incredible description of Nibbana, clearly describing it as being beyond the world of common experience. The Buddha declares that, “Nibbana is that base where there is neither earth, nor water, nor heat, nor air; neither the base of the infinity of space, nor the base of the infinity of consciousness, nor the base of nothingness, nor the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception; neither this world nor another; neither sun nor moon. Here there is no coming, no going, no standing still; no passing away and no being reborn. It is not established, not moving, without support. Just this is the end of suffering” (Ud 8.1). In addition, the Buddha described two elements of Nibbana. The Nibbana element with residue remaining is the destruction of lust, hatred, and delusion attained by a Noble One (arahant) while still alive, with the residue itself being a reference to the five aggregates. The Nibbana element without residue remaining is the final passing away of a Noble One in which “all that is felt, not being delighted, will become cool right here” (Iti 44). As for the fate of a Noble One after death, the Buddha refused to answer in terms of existence, nonexistence, both, or neither. While reason might suggest that since the five aggregates are the constituents of subjective experience that cease with the full attainment of Nibbana, Nibbana must be a state of nonexistence, a state of nothingness. Bhikkhu Bodhi, however, points out that, “… no text in the Nikayas ever states this. To the contrary, the Nikayas consistently refer to Nibbana by terms that refer to actualities. It is an element (dhatu), a base (ayatana), a reality (dhamma), a state (pada), and so on” (In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon 319).
The Forth Noble Truth focuses on the way leading to the cessation of suffering. The way leading to the cessation of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. As briefly alluded to earlier, the Noble Eightfold Path is the “action that leads to the ending of action” (AN 4.237). The Noble Eightfold Path is the “middle way, awakened to by the Tathagata, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, and leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana” (SN 56.11). While the mind is said to be intrinsically pure and luminous, it is obscured by defilements, and the Noble Eightfold Path is, in effect, the only way of purifying the mind of these obscurations (AN 1.49-52). The implication here being that it is not only due to the presence of these obscurations that the objective truth of reality is hidden from us, but that it is due to the presence of these obscurations that beings actively produce the necessary conditions for the continuation of their subjective existence. In short, this means that beings consciously fabricate their experience of subjective reality through the mechanisms of causality. Descartes’ statement “I think, therefore I am” might be more correctly phrased to say something along the lines of “’I’ act, therefore ‘I’ exist.”
When the entire path is put into practice, it culminates in the cessation of suffering by removing ignorance, which is itself the cause of action. This event, as Thanissaro Bhikkhu describes in Wings to Awakening, takes place in a particular state of non-fashioning (atammayata) where one becomes so dispassionate towards even the most subtle forms of fabricated experience — experience made up of causal conditions and influences — that one “neither fabricates nor wills for the sake of becoming or un-becoming” (263). As a result, at the precise moment of realization, that is, with the arising of the knowledge of cessation culminating in a state of non-action or non-fabrication, the process of fabrication ceases, and with it, the experience of subjective reality (44). Due to this extraordinary experience of unbinding, the process of conditionality is disrupted because the process requires input from both past as well as present actions to sustain it. Thus without the additional input of present action, the entire process effectively breaks down leaving only the experience of Nibbana. It should be reiterated that the experience of subjective reality will reoccur as long as the lifespan of the aggregates is not completely exhausted, which itself depends upon the amount of input remaining from past actions; but, with the destruction of ignorance the Noble One’s relationship towards the subjective experience of reality will never be the same (263).
Hence, when one reaches the goal of Nibbana, the end of volitional actions of body, speech, and mind ripening in rebirth, there is a direct experience of objective truth and meaning that is indescribable—a truth that does not fall under the relative sphere of subjectivity. Moreover, the basis for the establishment of consciousness is destroyed. When no basis or support for the establishment of consciousness exists, there is no basis or support for production of renewed existence. Therefore, with the final passing away of a Noble One, the conscious fabrication of subjective reality that is samsara ceases, leaving only the immediacy of absolute truth, and as a result, freedom from suffering.
From one point of view, philosophy is an attempt to understand the truth and meaning behind the internal and external worlds perceived by humankind through a combination of logic, reason, and observation. Moreover, it is a search for truth and meaning that depends a great deal upon the economical, historical, and political contexts of a given time and place. When it comes to certain philosophical systems, however, there are those that claim to point towards a truth that is not subjective or relative in any way—a truth that is “directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, to be personally experienced by the wise” (SN 11.3). The teaching of the Buddha is one such example.
While the vast collection of the Buddha’s teachings that have been preserved in Pali cover a wide range of historical, philosophical, political, social, and spiritual topics, the basic framework on which these teachings were built cover but a single and yet far reaching goal. In the Buddha’s own words to one of his disciples, “Formerly, Anuradha, and also now, I make know just suffering (dukkha) and the cessation of suffering” (SN 22.86). While stated as two distinct ideas, they are to be understood as a complete whole because the Buddha only taught suffering so that it could eventually be put to an end.
Simply stated from a broader perspective, existence within samsara, the continual round of birth and death, is suffering and bondage. Right away, we are made aware that existence itself is somehow tied into suffering. Suffering, the Buddha also pointed out, is something that is deeply personal. Everyone suffers in his or her own way, according to his or her individual circumstances; and as long as the causes for suffering are present, suffering will arise. In the Buddha’s time, this was a radically new view of the world in terms of conditionality, or cause and effect. In its simplest form, the law of this/that conditionality (idappacayata) states, “When this is, that is. From the arising of this comes the arising of that. When this is not, that is not. From the cessation of this comes the cessation of that” (AN 10.92). Suffering is further broken down to its very core—an activity originating in a mind defiled by greed (lobha), hatred (dosa), and delusion (moha). This activity was not only seen by the Buddha to be the direct cause of a being’s (satta) potential for suffering, but it was also seen to be the basis for their very existence.
As befitting a true contemplative of his time, the Buddha dedicated his entire adult life to finding a solution to suffering. Failing to find an answer under other ascetics and teachers, the Buddha set out to discover them on his own. After spending a considerable amount of time in a deep state of meditative absorption (jhana), the Buddha reflected upon the nature of suffering headed by aging and death with a sense of urgency. Desiring to discern an escape from this process of arising and passing away, he asked, “When what exists does aging and death come to be? By what is aging and death conditioned?” It was through careful attention to this subject that insight arose, and the Buddha had a breakthrough whereby he discerned the process of dependent origination (paticca-samuppada) (SN 12.10). In short, aging and death is conditioned by birth, birth is conditioned by existence, existence is conditioned by clinging, clinging is conditioned by craving, craving is conditioned by feeling, feeling is conditioned by contact, contact is conditioned by the six sense bases, the six sense bases are conditioned by name and form, name and form are conditioned by consciousness, consciousness is conditioned by volitional formations, and volitional formations are conditioned by ignorance.
While dismissed by materialists of the time and generally misunderstood by other contemporaries such as the Jain founder Nigantha Nataputta (Mahavira), the importance of action (kamma), and in particular mental action (manokamma), was clearly seen by the Buddha. In a meeting with the householder Upali, for example, the Buddha explained through means of logic and reason how mental actions are more powerful than those of body or speech, and more importantly, how the act of volition (cetana) that precedes any action — whether of body, speech, or mind — is a critical factor (MN 56). The Buddha did not stop there, however. He took great pains to show that our experience of the world is subjective in the sense that we experience the external objects of forms, sounds, odours, tastes, tangibles, and ideas through the internal sense bases of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and ultimately, through the mind. The world (loka), he said, originates from a complex process of sensory experience and conditionality. In brief, dependent on the internal sense base and its corresponding external object, consciousness arises. The meeting of the three is contact. From the requisite condition of contact comes feeling, from feeling comes craving, from craving comes becoming, from becoming comes birth, and from birth comes aging, illness, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain grief, and despair (SN 12.44). In this way, a connection can be made between the subjective nature of phenomena and its place in the overall question of suffering and its cessation. The reverse of this, or in other words the ending of the world, reveals quite the opposite connection—one between the subjective nature of phenomena and the objective freedom of Nibbana.
A verse from the Samyutta Nikaya states, “sabbe satta atthajata” which is translated by Bkikkhu Bodhi as, “All beings are bent upon a goal” (326). The Saratthappakasini, a commentary to the Samyutta Nikaya ascribed to Acariya Buddhaghosa, explains: “Bent upon a goal means engaged in a task; for there is no being at all — including dogs or jackals — that is not engaged in a task. Even walking to and fro can be called a task” (494). Philosophically speaking, since existence itself is a by-product of volitional action, reason dictates that it is through volitional action itself that the subjective truth and meaning of experience takes shape. Therefore, when volitional action ceases, the need for subjective truth and meaning also ceases. Only with the cessation of volition is there both freedom from suffering and an unimaginable experience of a truth that is unconditional and absolute. Paradoxically, according to the Buddha’s teachings on action, since inaction itself is an action when the inaction is volitional, to reach the ending of action, and consequentially the freedom experienced through this objective truth, one must act in a way that leads to the destruction of the cause of action. The root cause for volitional actions is ignorance (avijja), or more specifically, lack of direct knowledge of the Four Noble Truths and the tasks to be done in regards to each truth. The Four Noble Truths are the noble truth of suffering, the noble truth of the origin of suffering, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering, and the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering. The tasks to be done in regards to each truth are as follows: the noble truth of suffering is to be fully understood, the noble truth of the origin of suffering is to be abandoned, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering is to be realized, and the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering is to be developed (SN 56.11).
The First Noble Truth focuses on suffering. Suffering is defined as birth, aging, illness, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain grief, despair, associating with the unloved, separation from the loved, not getting what one wants, and in particular, the five aggregates of clinging (upadanakhandha) which are the result of past actions (SN 35.145). It is because the five aggregates of clinging arise — and according to the Buddha, whatever has the nature of arising has the nature of passing away — that they are subject to illness, aging, and death. It is only due to our lack of understanding their true nature that we inevitably cling to either one or all of these phenomena as ‘me’ or ‘mine’. In other words, the form of the body consisting of the four great elements is unsatisfactory, impermanent, and not pertaining to or related to a self in any way. The six classes of feeling, feeling born of contact through the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are unsatisfactory, impermanent, and not pertaining to or related to a self in any way. The six classes of perception, perception of form, sounds, odours, tastes, tactiles, and mental phenomena are unsatisfactory, impermanent, and not pertaining to or related to a self in any way. The six classes of volitional formations, volitions regarding forms, sounds, odours, tastes, tactiles, and mental phenomena are unsatisfactory, impermanent, and not pertaining to or related to a self in any way. Finally, the six classes of consciousness, eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, and mind consciousness are unsatisfactory, impermanent, and not pertaining to or related to a self in any way. Hence, the Buddha points out the ultimately unsatisfactory nature of the psycho-physical entity consisting of mind and matter (nama-rupa) in a variety of ways as well as the insubstantiality of our ego which is built upon these five, fleeting phenomena.
To summarize, these five aggregates of clinging are unsatisfactory and unreliable due to their potential for suffering (dukkha), their impermanency (anicca), and their lack of anything worth clinging to as a self, or in other words, the lack of a permanent, unchanging substance that is perceivable as being ‘me’ or ‘mine’ (anatta). In essence, the five aggregates of clinging are trapped within the subjective realm of experience, and as a result, suffering, because as Piyadassi Thera mentions in The Buddha’s Ancient Path, “A beings and the empirical world are both constantly changing” (43). Being in a continual state of flux, these things by their very nature arise, persist for a period, and then pass away relative to various causes and conditions that sustain them (43). Thus, what is considered to be truth in relation to these six senses and their objects is considered subjective, or in other words, conventional. That does not necessarily mean that what we hold as being true in the conventional sense is untrue, but rather that their truth is limited to the conventional world, and in effect, merely conceptual in nature. If we ask ourselves, for example, what truth is there in the color red beyond our conception of that particular color; does that truth still stand for someone who is color-blind? Does our perception of that color contain an inherent essence of truth; or do we merely conceive that it does?
The Second Noble Truth focuses on the cause or origination of suffering. The origination of suffering is craving (tahna), which literally means thirst in Pali. More specifically, it is the craving that “leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there; craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, and craving for annihilation” that is the underlying cause for suffering (SN 56.11). Craving is likened to an arrow that pierces the heart, and ignorance is likened to a poison that spreads its toxins through desire, passion and ill will (MN 105). As with most Eastern philosophies and religions, Buddhism does not view death as the final end of phenomena. In Buddhism, only Nibbana is said to be the final end of phenomena in regards to the arising and passing away of beings (AN 10.58). As previously mentioned, according to the teachings on dependent origination, if there are sufficient conditions present, those conditions with inevitably result in future births (SN 12.35). Along with consciousness, craving plays a vital role in the renewal of beings and the production of future births.
To illustrate how craving could result in future births, the Buddha used a simile in which he compared the sustenance of a flame to that of a being at the time of death. Essentially, a flame burns in dependence on its fuel, and that fuel sustains it. When a flame burns in dependence on wood, for example, the wood sustains that flame. However, when a flame is swept up and carried away by the wind, the fuel of wind sustains that flame until it lands upon a new source of fuel. In the same way, a being at the time of death has the fuel of craving as its sustenance (SN 44.9). The last consciousness of a being at the time of death, with the presence of craving, is the cause for the arising of a new consciousness. In the human realm, this would be in combination with the union of a healthy sperm and egg, although the Buddha often mentioned various other forms of birth in other realms of existence—none of which are free from suffering. Nevertheless, the Buddha states, “Wherever there is a basis for consciousness, there is support for the establishing of consciousness. When consciousness is established and has come to growth, there is the production of renewed existence” (SN 12.38). Thus, whatever the means of birth, whatever the realm of existence, all beings are fettered by craving to a subjective and conditional existence within a state of continuous change. The reality of the five aggregates is like that of a lump of foam; it is both empty and fleeting (SN 22.95).
The Third Noble Truth focuses on the cessation of suffering. The cessation of suffering is Nibbana. According to Nyanatiloka Thera’s Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, Nibbana literally means “extinction, to cease blowing, to become extinguished.” Nibbana is the state of final deliverance, the extinction of craving (AN 10.60), the extinguishing of lust, the extinguishing of hatred, and the extinguishing of delusion (SN 38.1). Even more importantly, however, Nibbana is the only true reality for it is the only reality that is truly objective, permanent, and absolute. Nibbana alone is without a cause, unborn, unmade, and therefore, it is unconditional. It lies outside of the world as we know it, outside of conditioned existence, outside of space and time, and as such, it lies beyond cause and effect. Furthermore, as Piyadassi Thera echoes in The Buddha’s Ancient Path, all things conventional or subjective are relative, however, Nibbana being neither conventional nor subjective has no relativities, and thus in a sense, absolute (73). The Buddha himself makes clear that the deliverance found within this truth is unshakable, and while from the conventional viewpoint of subjective reality, that which is unstable, impermanent, and not-self (i.e. the aggregates) appears to be real, from the ultimate viewpoint of objective reality, these things are merely illusions with no more substance than a dream (MN 140).
In one instance, the Buddha gives an almost unbelievable and yet incredible description of Nibbana, clearly describing it as being beyond the world of common experience. The Buddha declares that, “Nibbana is that base where there is neither earth, nor water, nor heat, nor air; neither the base of the infinity of space, nor the base of the infinity of consciousness, nor the base of nothingness, nor the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception; neither this world nor another; neither sun nor moon. Here there is no coming, no going, no standing still; no passing away and no being reborn. It is not established, not moving, without support. Just this is the end of suffering” (Ud 8.1). In addition, the Buddha described two elements of Nibbana. The Nibbana element with residue remaining is the destruction of lust, hatred, and delusion attained by a Noble One (arahant) while still alive, with the residue itself being a reference to the five aggregates. The Nibbana element without residue remaining is the final passing away of a Noble One in which “all that is felt, not being delighted, will become cool right here” (Iti 44). As for the fate of a Noble One after death, the Buddha refused to answer in terms of existence, nonexistence, both, or neither. While reason might suggest that since the five aggregates are the constituents of subjective experience that cease with the full attainment of Nibbana, Nibbana must be a state of nonexistence, a state of nothingness. Bhikkhu Bodhi, however, points out that, “… no text in the Nikayas ever states this. To the contrary, the Nikayas consistently refer to Nibbana by terms that refer to actualities. It is an element (dhatu), a base (ayatana), a reality (dhamma), a state (pada), and so on” (In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon 319).
The Forth Noble Truth focuses on the way leading to the cessation of suffering. The way leading to the cessation of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. As briefly alluded to earlier, the Noble Eightfold Path is the “action that leads to the ending of action” (AN 4.237). The Noble Eightfold Path is the “middle way, awakened to by the Tathagata, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, and leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana” (SN 56.11). While the mind is said to be intrinsically pure and luminous, it is obscured by defilements, and the Noble Eightfold Path is, in effect, the only way of purifying the mind of these obscurations (AN 1.49-52). The implication here being that it is not only due to the presence of these obscurations that the objective truth of reality is hidden from us, but that it is due to the presence of these obscurations that beings actively produce the necessary conditions for the continuation of their subjective existence. In short, this means that beings consciously fabricate their experience of subjective reality through the mechanisms of causality. Descartes’ statement “I think, therefore I am” might be more correctly phrased to say something along the lines of “’I’ act, therefore ‘I’ exist.”
When the entire path is put into practice, it culminates in the cessation of suffering by removing ignorance, which is itself the cause of action. This event, as Thanissaro Bhikkhu describes in Wings to Awakening, takes place in a particular state of non-fashioning (atammayata) where one becomes so dispassionate towards even the most subtle forms of fabricated experience — experience made up of causal conditions and influences — that one “neither fabricates nor wills for the sake of becoming or un-becoming” (263). As a result, at the precise moment of realization, that is, with the arising of the knowledge of cessation culminating in a state of non-action or non-fabrication, the process of fabrication ceases, and with it, the experience of subjective reality (44). Due to this extraordinary experience of unbinding, the process of conditionality is disrupted because the process requires input from both past as well as present actions to sustain it. Thus without the additional input of present action, the entire process effectively breaks down leaving only the experience of Nibbana. It should be reiterated that the experience of subjective reality will reoccur as long as the lifespan of the aggregates is not completely exhausted, which itself depends upon the amount of input remaining from past actions; but, with the destruction of ignorance the Noble One’s relationship towards the subjective experience of reality will never be the same (263).
Hence, when one reaches the goal of Nibbana, the end of volitional actions of body, speech, and mind ripening in rebirth, there is a direct experience of objective truth and meaning that is indescribable—a truth that does not fall under the relative sphere of subjectivity. Moreover, the basis for the establishment of consciousness is destroyed. When no basis or support for the establishment of consciousness exists, there is no basis or support for production of renewed existence. Therefore, with the final passing away of a Noble One, the conscious fabrication of subjective reality that is samsara ceases, leaving only the immediacy of absolute truth, and as a result, freedom from suffering.
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Comments
I really enjoyed reading it and it is good to see people seriously studying the Dharma and sharing their insights. I only have one remark that popped up instantly when I read the article. You do not have to see it as a critique or even correction, just my view:
You say suffering is something personal. It is true to that extend that people suffer different diseases, losses, psychoses and so on. But at the end, it is impersonal, anatta , since suffering was seen by the buddha as an universal, not individual mark of existence. The very root of being, satta is the cause of suffering, namley the will or thirst for the aggregates. This univeral, impersonal thirst is the cause of suffering, merely expressing itsef in the form of individual fates.
Metta
Too much "Thinking" is what makes trouble for humankind. Nothing more.
Good Day ...
Really? I say it's just the opposite. Not enough thinking is what makes trouble for humankind. And plenty of other things as well.
I will ponder your response ... :grumble:
.. but there is no shortage of thinkers.
Philosophers like to think .. and think .. and think. Good ones have Phd's because they do deeper thinking then others but I would say in Buddhism ones goal is to get control of thinking ... not eliminate or foster it but put it in it's proper place.
Ignorance is not monopolized by stupid people.
I say Buddhism is the antidote to philosophy. We use the mind to think our way out of thinking ... out of mind and so free ourself from ignorance and see the world as it is not what we "think" it to be.
Buddhism is "not" a philosophy :hair: but an experience. It's beyond all thinking.
Humbly yours .. :rockon:
Good Day ...
{ WARNING : Ofcourse I can be completely full of crap .. if so disregard this posting :Thanks, the egoI }