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The Buddha's Teaching in Five Words

zendozendo
edited July 2010 in Philosophy
Last night at my meditation center, the teacher told us an interesting story. She said a friend of hers once visited Burma, and there she met one of the nine or so people in Burma who have memorized all the Buddha's teachings. (To illustrate what a Herculean task this is: I have heard it said that the Buddha's teachings are so vast, they are ten times the size of the Bible. These nine people spent their entire lives memorizing this enormous volume of teachings.)

So the friend says to this human library: "Having memorized all the teachings: if you could sum up the Buddha's message in just one phrase, what would it be?"

Amazingly, the man was able to give an answer--and it was only five words long!

Would anyone care to guess what the answer was?
«1345

Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited March 2010
    Cause and Cessation of suffering.

    Not necessarily right. Not even trying to be. Just my 5 words.....
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Burma eh. Mahasi Sayadaw taught pretty hard core stuff. Very direct, right to it's end, but you gotta be a monk to practice like that.


    Being a mere householder, I'll pick something Zenavadin.

    This is how it is now.
  • NiosNios Veteran
    edited March 2010
    "What? How should I know?"
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    federica wrote: »
    Cause and Cessation of suffering.

    Not necessarily right. Not even trying to be. Just my 5 words.....

    Good guess, federica!

    Not what the man said, though.
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Richard Herman wrote: »
    Burma eh. Mahasi Sayadaw taught pretty hard core stuff. Very direct, right to it's end, but you gotta be a monk to practice like that.


    Being a mere householder, I'll pick something Zenavadin.

    This is how it is now.
    Another clever suggestion! Along the "seeing things as they really are" line, right?

    (That's six words, though.) ;)
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Nios wrote: »
    "What? How should I know?"
    LOL!!

    Priceless! :)
  • pegembarapegembara Veteran
    edited March 2010
    So the friend says to this human library: "Having memorized all the teachings: if you could sum up the Buddha's message in just one phrase, what would it be?"

    Sabbe dhamma nalam abhinivesaya
    Nothing should be clung to

    sabbe dhamma anatta
    All phenomena are not-self

    sabbe sankhara anicca
    all formations are impermanent
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Don't take the brown acid

    Edit: I think I got this one from Masters Cheech and Chong. Not sure.
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    pegembara wrote: »
    Sabbe dhamma nalam abhinivesaya
    Nothing should be clung to

    sabbe dhamma anatta
    All phenomena are not-self

    sabbe sankhara anicca
    all formations are impermanent
    All true--but not the summation of the teaching, according to this monk.
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Jeffrey wrote: »
    Don't take the brown acid
    This one I don't even get. :confused:
  • DhammaDhatuDhammaDhatu Veteran
    edited March 2010
    zendo wrote: »
    Amazingly, the man was able to give an answer--and it was only five words long! Would anyone care to guess what the answer was?
    The Buddha's answer was as follows:
    Here, ruler of the gods, a bhikkhu has heard that nothing is worth clinging to. When a bhikkhu has heard nothing is worth clinging to, he directly knows everything; having directly known everything, he fully understands everything; having fully understood everything, whatever feeling he feels, whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant, he abides contemplating impermanence in those feelings, contemplating fading away, contemplating cessation, contemplating relinquishment. Contemplating thus, he does not cling to anything in the world. When he does not cling, he is not agitated. When he is not agitated, he personally attains Nibbana. He understands: 'What had to be done has been done'. Briefly, it is in this way, ruler of the gods, that a bhikkhu is liberated in the destruction of craving, one who has reached the ultimate end. <O:p</O:p
    <O:p</O:p
    Culatanhasankhaya Sutta<O:p</O:p



    "Nothing is worth clinging to" = five words.

    :)
  • StephenStephen
    edited March 2010
    "The world may never know." Wait, nevermind, that's how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Dhamma Dhatu wrote: »
    The Buddha's answer was as follows:


    "Nothing is worth clinging to" = five words.

    :)
    Another great submission!

    I'm really enjoying everyone's guesses, even if (like this one) they're not the correct answer in this case.
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Stephen wrote: »
    "The world may never know." Wait, nevermind, that's how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
    I thought that was three? ;)

    (The number of licks, that is--not words.)
  • StephenStephen
    edited March 2010
    Well for the owl it was three licks... I do tend to chew down on 'em before I get to the center, that is when I ever get a Tootsie Pop which is seems to average once every 2 years.

    I'm not even going to try and answer seriously because the teachings can be summed up in many ways, and there's also a difference in how someone would answer that just memorized all of the teachings, and somehow would answer who was also enlightened by having followed them.

    Ooo ooo another guess... five words in Burmese so you have no idea what the person said? ;)
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Jeffrey wrote: »
    Don't take the brown acid
    Lmao!
    Stephen wrote: »
    "The world may never know." Wait, nevermind, that's how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
    Lol! That's cute.

    I vote for DDs answer.
  • StephenStephen
    edited March 2010
    zendo already said none of us got it yet; we're not voting, we're trying to figure out what the heck the human encyclopedia said ;)
  • DhammaDhatuDhammaDhatu Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Mind precedes all mental states = five words

    Yamakavagga
  • DhammaDhatuDhammaDhatu Veteran
    edited March 2010
    ...deep, deep in their meaning, transcendent, connected with emptiness...

    Ani Sutta

    Nine words!

    :eek:
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Stephen wrote: »
    zendo already said none of us got it yet; we're not voting, we're trying to figure out what the heck the human encyclopedia said ;)
    Oh, right. Sorry.

    Let me know when the voting starts, will you? :D
  • StephenStephen
    edited March 2010
    If I had to bet, I would bet the five words that were spoken were not taken from the text, because they're supposedly about the text as a whole. You wouldn't describe the totality of an airplane by describing how the cockpit computers work.
  • StephenStephen
    edited March 2010
    "All mental suffering is Self." would be my semi-serious guess.
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited March 2010
    HEYYYY!!

    DD answered THREE times!

    Is that allowed?
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Nothing to grasp. Nothing needed.
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Stephen wrote: »
    Well for the owl it was three licks... I do tend to chew down on 'em before I get to the center, that is when I ever get a Tootsie Pop which is seems to average once every 2 years.
    It would be interesting to know how many licks it took the Buddha himself to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop--but if the answer to this questions is known, I haven't found it yet.
    Ooo ooo another guess... five words in Burmese so you have no idea what the person said? ;)
    No such luck! He spoke English. ;)
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Brigid wrote: »
    Lmao!

    Lol! That's cute.

    I vote for DDs answer.
    Great guess, Brigid! :)
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Mind precedes all mental states
    Another good one, DD!

    I almost want to cut and paste all these great suggestions into a document, they're such useful little epigrams.

    Maybe turn them into a book called Buddhism In Five Words.
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Brigid wrote: »
    Oh, right. Sorry.

    Let me know when the voting starts, will you? :D
    You'll be the first to know, Brigid! :)
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Stephen wrote: »
    If I had to bet, I would bet the five words that were spoken were not taken from the text, because they're supposedly about the text as a whole.
    This I cannot confirm, for I have not (yet) read all the Buddha's teachings myself. It may be that these five words are spoken by the Buddha at some point.
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Stephen wrote: »
    "All mental suffering is Self." would be my semi-serious guess.
    Another good one, which will eventually go in my "book".
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Brigid wrote: »
    HEYYYY!!

    DD answered THREE times!

    Is that allowed?
    The number of guesses you can make is equivalent to the number of licks it takes you to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop.

    For DD, it would seem at least three licks are necessary, maybe more.

    Stephen and I tend to crunch 'em quickly, so we must ration our guesses carefully.
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Jeffrey wrote: »
    Nothing to grasp. Nothing needed.
    Interesting guess! Do you feel this sums up Buddhism?
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited March 2010
    "Everything's impermanent, stroll on mindfully":lol:

    P
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    porpoise wrote: »
    "Everything's impermanent, stroll on mindfully":lol:

    P
    LOL!

    Is that kind of like "Nothing to see here...move along"? ;)
  • pegembarapegembara Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Liberation is end of craving. 5 words

    Nibbana is the supreme emptiness.
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    pegembara wrote: »
    Liberation is end of craving. 5 words

    Nibbana is the supreme emptiness.
    Two more for the book! ;)
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited March 2010
    free from grasping. spontaneous compassion
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Jeffrey wrote: »
    free from grasping. spontaneous compassion
    I like the term spontaneous compassion. It sounds much nicer than spontaneous combustion, that tragic affliction which has claimed the life of many a rock drummer.

    Perhaps it's time for a hint.

    The sentence spoken by the monk began with a verb.
  • StephenStephen
    edited March 2010
    Abandoning tanha leads to Nibbana.
  • sukhitasukhita
    edited March 2010
    Forsake ego to attain liberation.
  • JaphyJaphy New
    edited March 2010
    Maybe something like?:

    Abandon evil,
    Do good,
    Meditate.

    The 9 word answer to the same question is similar:

    Abandon harmful ways,
    Practice virtue well,
    Purify the mind.
  • MagwangMagwang Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Oh no, I'm born again?!?
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited March 2010
    zendo wrote: »
    LOL!

    Is that kind of like "Nothing to see here...move along"? ;)
    LOL!!
    Magwang wrote: »
    Oh no, I'm born again?!?
    LMAO!
  • DhammaDhatuDhammaDhatu Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Did we receive the answer?

    :confused:
  • sukhitasukhita
    edited March 2010
    zendo wrote: »
    ....Perhaps it's time for a hint.

    The sentence spoken by the monk began with a verb.

    How about another hint? :)

    DD : Did we receive the answer?

    No.
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited March 2010
    "Sh*t happens, get used to it"
  • pegembarapegembara Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Seeing and
    realizing Dependent Origination
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    Stephen wrote: »
    Abandoning tanha leads to Nibbana.
    May the bonus points you earn for this rhyme serve as some consolation for not getting the right answer, my friend.
  • NiosNios Veteran
    edited March 2010
    "Suffering and end of suffering"
  • zendozendo
    edited March 2010
    sukhita wrote: »
    Forsake ego to attain liberation.
    Nice!

    Wrong, but nice.
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