The Way without blind faith (sutra)

Ven. Ñanamoli Thera, Salha Sutta: "To Salha" (AN 3.66), Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

The historical Buddha had blue-eyes and golden skin (Tenzin Osel//flickr.com).

 

Thus have I heard. Once Venerable Nandaka was living at Savatthi in the Eastern Monastery, Migara's Mother's Palace. Then Migara's grandson, Salha, and Pekhuniya's grandson, Rohana, went to him, and after a salutation sat respectfully to one side. When they had done so Ven. Nandaka said to Migara's grandson:

 

This abbreviated message is misleading.

"Come, Salha, do not be satisfied with hearsay or with tradition or with legendary lore or with what has come down in scriptures or with conjecture or with logical inference or with weighing evidence or with a liking for a view after pondering it or with someone else's ability or with the thought, 'This ascetic is our teacher.' 

"But when you know in yourself, 'These things are unprofitable, liable to censure, condemned by the wise, being adopted and put into effect, they lead to harm and suffering,' then abandon them.

"What do you think? Is there greed?" — "Yes, venerable sir." — "Covetousness is the meaning of that, I say. Through greed a covetous person kills breathing things, takes what is not given, commits sexual misconduct, and utters falsehoods [perjury, divisive speech, harsh words, idle chit chat], and one gets another to do the same. Will that be long for one's harm and suffering?" — "Yes, venerable sir."

"What do you think, is there hate?" — "Yes, venerable sir." — "Ill-will is the meaning of that, I say. Through hate a malevolent person kills breathing things [and likewise disregards the other precepts]... Will that be long for one's harm and suffering?" — "Yes, venerable sir." 

"What do you think? Is there delusion?" — "Yes, venerable sir." — "Ignorance is the meaning of that, I say. Through ignorance a deluded person kills breathing things... Will that be long for one's harm and suffering?" — "Yes, venerable sir."

 

"What do you think? Are these things profitable or unprofitable?" — "Unprofitable, venerable sir." — "Blameworthy or blameless?" — "Blameworthy, venerable sir." — "Condemned or commended by the wise?" — "Condemned by the wise, venerable sir." — "Being adopted and put into effect, do they lead to harm and suffering, or do they not, or how does it appear to you in this case?" — "Being adopted and put into effect, venerable sir, they lead to harm and suffering. So it appears in this case." 

 

"Now that was the reason why I told you, 'Come Salha, do not be satisfied with hearsay [and so on as stated famously by the Buddha in the Kalama Sutra]... 

"But when you know in yourself, "These things are unprofitable," then abandon them.'

Nongreed, nonhatred, nondelusion 

The Kalama Sutra in brief: There is no need to take anything on faith but instead consider, Do greed, hatred, and delusion arise in a person to that person's benefit or detriment, or how do you see it? To a person's detriment. In that case, abandon them not because of faith, hearsay, my teaching, another teacher's teaching...but because you yourself can see that this is the case. And if you can see this, is it not also true that...?

 

"Come Salha, do not be satisfied with hearsay... or with the thought, 'This ascetic is our teacher.' But when you know in yourself, 'These things are profitable, blameless, commended by the wise, being adopted and put into effect they lead to welfare and happiness,' then practice them and abide in them. 

 

"What do you think? Is there non-greed?" — "Yes, venerable sir." — "Uncovetousness is the meaning of that, I say. Through non-greed an uncovetous person does not kill breathing things or take what is not given or engage in sexual misconduct or utter falsehoods, and one gets another to do likewise. Will that be long for one's welfare and happiness?" — "Yes, venerable sir."

"What do you think? Is there non-hate?" — "Yes, venerable sir." — "Non ill-will is the meaning of that, I say. Through non ill-will an unmalevolent person does not kill breathing things... Will that be long for one's welfare and happiness?" — "Yes, venerable sir."

"What do you think? Is there non-delusion?" — "Yes, venerable sir." — "True knowledge is the meaning of that, I say. Through non-delusion a person with true knowledge does not kill breathing things... Will that be long for one's welfare and happiness?" — "Yes, venerable sir."

 

"What do you think? Are these things profitable or unprofitable?" — "Profitable, venerable sir." — "Blameworthy or blameless?" — "Blameless, venerable sir." — "Condemned or commended by the wise?" — "Commended by the wise, venerable sir." — "Being adopted and put into effect, do they lead to welfare and happiness, or do they not, or how does it appear to you in this case?" — "Being adopted and put into effect, venerable sir, they lead to welfare and happiness. So it appears to us in this case."

"Now that was the reason why I told you, 'Come Salha, do not be satisfied with hearsay... but when you know in yourself, "These things are profitable..." then practice them and abide in them.'

 

"Now a disciple who is ennobled [by reaching the Noble Path, attaining at least the first stage of enlightenment], who has rid oneself in this way of covetousness and ill-will and is undeluded, abides with one's heart imbued with loving-kindness extending over one quarter, likewise the second quarter, likewise the third quarter, likewise the fourth quarter [all four cardinal directions, east, south, west, north], and so above, below, around, and everywhere, and to all as to oneself.

"One abides with one's heart abundant, exalted, with measureless loving-kindness, freed of hostility and ill-will, extending over the all-encompassing world-system. One abides with heart imbued with compassion... gladness [over the happiness of others]... equanimity extending over the all-encompassing world-system.

"Now one understands this state of meditation in this way: 'There is this [state of Divine Abiding in one who has entered the stream to full enlightenment]. There is what has been abandoned [which is the amount of greed, hate, and delusion exhausted by the stream-entry Path moment]. There is a superior goal [which is full enlightenment or arhatship]. And there is an ultimate escape from this whole field.'

Novice Rahula, the Buddha, and Ven. Ananda

"When one knows and sees in this way, one's heart is liberated from the taint of sensual craving, from the taint of clinging to being [becoming], and from the taint of ignorance. When liberated [by reaching the arhat Path moment], there comes thereafter the knowledge that it is liberated. One knows that rebirth is ended, that the Highest Life has been lived to perfection, that what had to be done is done, and that there is no more of this [suffering] to come. 

 

"One understands thus: 'Formerly there was greed, which was harmful, and now there is none, which is beneficial. Formerly there was hate, which was harmful, and now there is none, which is beneficial. Formerly there was delusion, which was harmful, and now there is none, which is beneficial.'

"So here and now, in this very life, one is parched no more [by the fever of craving's thirst], one's fires of greed, hate, and delusion are extinguished and cooled out; experiencing bliss, one abides [for the remainder of one's final life-span] supremely pure in oneself." 

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Ask Maya: Corrupting the Dharma? (video)

Maya, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Seven, Irma Quintero, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly

The Mysterious Disappearance (Tom Tomorrow/thismodernworld.com)

The twin exhibitions in San Francisco (SFAAM) and Pasadena (NS) are deep explorations.

 
Recently, an anonymous reader brought our attention to the destruction of the Dharma in America by capitalist and selfish motives:

The reader draws our attention to something really bothersome. The traditional Dharma -- the authentic Buddhist teachings as laid out by Siddhartha Gautama after his great enlightenment and taught for 45 years -- is being corrupted in America. It is under attack. Why? The specters of money, fame, and power threaten to undermine and overwhelm our spiritual teachings. 

Case in point: there is a website of a supposed "mindfulness" meditation teacher, one Michael Taft, who claims that people saying they learn meditation from Buddhist teachers is unfair. Should we be serene and listen to his point, or let ourselves get furious? (Serenity trumps fury). Are people like this degrading and destroying the Dharma? (Could be. But he says right up front that hat he is "secular and science-based," which is an obvious way to make more sales. What he is calling mindfulness, as so many in the world of science now do, is not Buddhism. It may be Buddhist, but it is stripped of its Buddhism and is just something out there to be used for other ends; it doesn't sound like Taft is promising enlightenment or an end to suffering or even a trip to heaven. It's just the same old stress management approach, and maybe that's fine). What does "mindfulness" mean nowadays?

Mindfulness has existed for millions of years, and anyone who says so is right about that. But, reader, you have a point. What it means in Buddhism is very specific, not just as a general reminder to practice "bare awareness" but as a set of techniques to bring about liberating-insight. Whereas anyone might say, "Pay attention" and we might even pay attention without being reminded, no one but a buddha teaches the insight practices (particularly the causal links of Dependent Origination) but a buddha and the subsequent disciples of such a world teacher. You're right.

This guy is published on the Huffington Post and Scientific American, and he lectures at conferences. Why would anyone listen to him?

They have to listen to someone, reader. The Buddha taught his true disciples well in the Kalama Sutta, not adhering to view but investigating on their quest for truth. And for the intensive practitioners (monastic and lay alike), he advised them be lamps and islands unto themselves taking no other teacher but the Dharma as their guide and themselves (Mahaparinibbana Sutta).

Too often and too quickly we give up our own wisdom for the presumed knowledge of another. We need both. We need discernment when listening, and we need unbiased reflection when considering our own level of right view. Be serene; even if Taft should kill the Dharma singlehandedly -- and it doesn't sound like that is what he is doing -- you could still keep sight of the lamp and the island.

An oversimplification of the message. What the Buddha really asks before teaching the Dharma is, Do these basic things agree with your own experience and observation, your own sense and heart? Are greed, hatred, and delusion harmful or harmless?

 

I am Amatue. Don't stare.

Every teacher, assuming he is even a legitimate teacher and not just a self-seeking individual out to make the rare and precious Dharma a money-making instrument or vehicle to fame. (Elsewhere the Buddha says that a fool seeks fame for things s/he does not possess, whereas a worthy person seeks no notoriety or acclaim for things possessed like enlightenment, insight, or wisdom). So let the foolish be, if they will not be curbed by a kind admonition, as the harm they do is not our responsibility but theirs. And our own faults are ours to see, or to have someone kindly point them out to us. Thank you, reader, for not criticizing us for all of our failings. We sure have them for anyone to point out. Reader, do something to benefit yourself and others. It is easy to criticize and to point fingers at Taft and bad teachers as there are plenty of them, but the True Wheel is hard to find. So this is what we would like to see: Research it and tell us, What is "mindfulness" really as the Buddha taught it?

If you could find that out -- and tell us and all of the other readers -- is would be a mighty help to us, to Taft, and to others who might fall sway to the nonsense many people speak in the name of the Buddha, Dharma, and enlightened community.

When I think of all the centuries of teachers who patiently and selflessly worked to maintain the purity of the Buddha's teaching, against all odds, to have an [donkey] like this...

True, true, it would be a tragedy. But come, friend, do it for the real Buddha, do it for the Dharma. Investigate and report back to us. We will have our editors cross check it and publish it here. Where is the real Dharma to be found, where is there a legitimate teacher? We can tell you, but it would be much more productive if you search and report back. That is what Siddhartha did.

Hipster haven: an alt to an alt to shout about

No, no, don't laugh. Come forward. What do the poets teach us? Keats says, "When the bad are full of passionate intensity, what do the good do? Complain? Point fingers? But not do a good thing to make the situation better? We're all for complaining, our favorite pastime/wasteoftime. Be we also try to unearth the real Dharma and restore it to the world while bringing attention to corrections and deviations.
 

This desert lawn sucks! - Yeah, where do they get the water? - What, dumb[donkey], I mean Beavis? I didn't mean it sucks water. I mean it sucks... - Oh yeah, huh huh huh huh huh...

  

The way to cool is brands?

QUESTION 2: How was Coachella? Brokechella was much better than returning for Weekend Deux. But Coachella? Bradley explains it best. He was offered a job, two weekends at the big music fest and a VIP all access pass. Late into Saturday night he turned around and suddenly noticed: No one was smiling. They had paid $800 (not including parking, which is $100 more, food, or drinks and stuff), and they were blase. They were having phone-mances, rocking their cellular devices like dates under the remains of the prophetic bloody moon. One would think that having spent all that money and facebooked it and tweeted and instagrammed the h*ck out of it there would be more than this. But you have to ask yourself, whether you're sporting a VIP pass or just a regular radio-chipped (RFID) capital-expenditure-monitoring and policing device,

Is that ALL there is?

Cristina echoes Peggy Lee in asking, Is that all there [f-ing] is? with a twist.

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Guidance on "good" and "bad" (sutra)

Ven. Soma (accesstoinsight); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly (AN 3.65)

Light bursts through, enlightenment, into a dark cave (Chatchai Laka-mankong/flickr)

Kalamas ask the Buddha for Guidance

...3. The Kalamas, inhabitants of Kesaputta, sitting to one side said to the [Buddha]: "There are some wandering ascetics and Brahmin priests, venerable sir, who visit Kesaputta. They expound and explain only their own doctrines. The doctrines (dharrmas) of others they despise, revile, and pull to pieces. Some other ascetics and Brahmins too, venerable sir, come to Kesaputta. They also expound and explain only their own doctrines. The doctrines of others they despise, revile, and pull to pieces.

"Venerable sir, there is doubt, there is uncertainty in us concerning them. Which of these revered ascetics and Brahmins spoke the truth and which falsehood?"

Criterion for rejection

4. "It is proper for you, Kalamas, to doubt, to be uncertain. Uncertainty has arisen in you about what is doubtful. Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing, nor upon tradition, nor upon rumor, nor upon what is in a scripture, nor upon surmise, nor axiomatic, nor upon (hammering out by mere) reasoning, nor upon preference toward an idea that has been pondered over, nor upon another's seeming ability, nor upon the consideration, 'The ascetic is our teacher.' 

"But, Kalamas, when you yourselves know: 'These things are bad; these things are blameworthy; these things are censured by the wise; when undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill,' abandon them. 

 

Greed, hate, and delusion

5. "What do you think, Kalamas? Does greed appear in a person for benefit or harm?" — "For one's harm, venerable sir." — "Kalamas, being given to greed, and being overwhelmed and vanquished mentally by greed, this person takes life, steals, commits sexual misconduct, and tells lies. One also prompts another to do likewise. Will that be long for harm and ill?" — "Yes, venerable sir."

 

6. "What do you think, Kalamas? Does hate appear in a person for benefit or harm?" — "For one's harm, venerable sir." — "Kalamas, being given to hate, and being overwhelmed and vanquished mentally by hate, this person takes life, steals, commits sexual misconduct, and tells lies. One also prompts another to do likewise. Will that be long for harm and ill?" — "Yes, venerable sir."

 

7. "What do you think, Kalamas? Does delusion appear in a person for benefit or harm?" — "For one's harm, venerable sir." — "Kalamas, being given to delusion, and being overwhelmed and vanquished mentally by delusion, this person takes life, steals, commits sexual misconduct, and tells lies; one also prompts another to do likewise. Will that be long for harm and ill?" — "Yes, venerable sir."

 

8. "What do you think, Kalamas? Are these things good or bad [profitable or unprofitable, skillful or unskillful, wholesome or unwholesome]?" — "Bad, venerable sir" — "Blameworthy or not blameworthy?" — "Blameworthy, venerable sir." — "Censured or praised by the wise?" — "Censured, venerable sir." — "Undertaken and observed, do these things lead to harm and ill or not? Or how does it strike you?" — "Undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill. Thus it strikes us here."

 

9. "Therefore, did we say, Kalamas, what was said thus, 'Come Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing, nor upon tradition...nor upon the consideration, "The ascetic is our teacher." But, Kalamas, when you yourselves know: "These things are bad; these things are blameworthy; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill," abandon them.'

Criterion for acceptance

10. "Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing, nor upon tradition... nor upon the consideration, 'The ascetic is our teacher.' But, Kalamas, when you yourselves know: 'These things are good; these things are blameless; these things are praised by the wise; when undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,' enter on and abide in them.

Absence of greed, hate, delusion

11. "What do you think, Kalamas? Does absence of greed appear in a person for benefit or harm?" — "For one's benefit, venerable sir." — "Kalamas, being not given to greed, and being not overwhelmed and not vanquished mentally by greed, this person does not take life, does not steal, does not commit sexual misconduct, and does not tell lies, neither does one prompts another to do likewise. Will that be long for one's benefit and happiness?" — "Yes, venerable sir." More

Explaining "Right View" (sutra)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; John Bullitt (Access to Insight), "Right View"

The Buddha overlooking Thailand (theskamantues'dayglory/flickr.com). NOTE: There is preliminary right view as distinguished from final knowledge or liberating right view.

 

Right view is the first of the eight factors in the Noble Eightfold Path, and belongs to the wisdom division of the path.

Definition

"And what is right view? Knowledge with regard to disappointment, knowledge with regard to the origin of disappointment, knowledge with regard to the cessation of disappointment, knowledge with regard to the path of practice leading to the cessation of disappointment -- this is called right view" (DN 22).

Right view's relation to the path

"And how is right view the forerunner? One discerns wrong view as wrong view, and right view as right view. This is one's right view. What is wrong view? 'There is nothing given, nothing offered, nothing sacrificed. There is no fruit or result of good or bad actions. There is no this world, no next world, no [special significance to things done to] mother, no father, no spontaneously reborn beings; no Brahmins or wandering ascetics who, faring and practicing rightly, proclaim this world and the next after having directly known and realized it for themselves.' This is wrong view...
 
"One abandons wrong view to enter into right view: This is one's right effort. One is mindful to abandon wrong view to enter and remain in right view: This is one's right mindfulness. Therefore, these three qualities -- right view, right effort, right mindfulness -- run and circle around right view" (MN 117).

Buddhist novices practicing in Lamayuru monastery, Ladakh, India (Dietmar Temps/flickr)

 
Consequences of wrong view

"In a person of wrong view, wrong intention comes into being. In a person of wrong intention, wrong speech. In a person of wrong speech, wrong action. In a person of wrong action, wrong livelihood. In a person of wrong livelihood, wrong effort. In a person of wrong effort, wrong mindfulness. In a person of wrong mindfulness, wrong concentration. In a person of wrong concentration, wrong wisdom. In a person of wrong wisdom, wrong liberation. This is how from wrongness comes failure, not success" (AN 10.103).

Results of right view

Borobudur, Java, Indonesia (TrevThompson/flickr)

"When a person has right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration, right wisdom, and right liberation, whatever bodily deeds one undertakes in line with that view, whatever verbal deeds... whatever mental deeds one undertakes in line with that view, whatever intentions, whatever vows, whatever determinations, whatever formations all lead to what is welcome, agreeable, charming, profitable, and pleasing. Why is that? It is because the view is auspicious.

"Just as when a sugar cane seed, a rice grain, or a grape seed is placed in moist soil, whatever nutriment it takes from the soil and water, all conduces to its sweetness, tastiness, and unalloyed delectability.
 
Why is that? It is because the seed is auspicious. In the same way, when a person has right view... right liberation, whatever bodily deeds one undertakes in line with that view, whatever verbal deeds... whatever mental deeds one undertakes in line with that view, whatever intentions, whatever vows, whatever determinations, whatever formations -- all of them lead to what is welcome, agreeable, charming, profitable, and pleasing. Why is that? It is because the view is auspicious" (AN 10.104).
 
A thicket of wrong views

Bamboo thicket (Maxwell Holden/flickr)

"There is the case where an uninstructed, ignorant worldling... does not discern what ideas are fit for attention and what ideas are unfit for attention. This being so, one does not attend to ideas fit for attention, and instead one attends to ideas unfit for attention... This is how one gives attention unprofitably:

• 'Was I in the past? Was I not in the past?
• What was I in the past? How was I in the past?
• Having been what, what was I in the past?
• Shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future?
• What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future?
• Having been what, what shall I be in the future?'

Or one is perplexed about the present: 'Am I? Am I not? What am I? How am I? Where has this being come from? Where is it bound?'

 

"As one attends unprofitably in this way, one of six kinds of view arises: 

• the view I have a self arises in one as true and established, or the view I have no self... or the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive self... or
• the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive not-self... or the view It is precisely by means of not-self that I perceive self arises as true and established, or
• the view: This very self of mine -- the knower who is sensitive here and there to the ripening of good and bad actions -- is the self of mine who is constant, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change, and will endure as long as eternity.'

Meditation (health.indianetzone.com)

"This is called a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. Bound by a fetter of views, the uninstructed, ignorant worldling is not freed from birth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair. One is not freed, I tell you, from suffering and disappointment.

 

"The well-instructed disciple of the noble ones... discerns what ideas are fit for attention, and what ideas are unfit for attention. This being the case, one does not attend to ideas unfit for attention, and instead gives attention to ideas fit for attention... One attends profitably, This is disappointment... This is the origin of disappointment... This is the cessation of disappointment... This is the way leading to the cessation of disappointment. As one attends appropriately in this way, three fetters [obstacles to enlightenment and liberation from suffering] are abandoned: identity-view, doubt, and clinging to rites and rituals [as if they had the power to lead to enlightenment]" (MN 2).

 

Knowing and seeing for oneself

Novice meditating (alibaba.com)

[Kaccayana:] "'Right view, right view,' it is said, venerable sir. To what extent is there right view?"
 
[The Buddha:] "By and large, Kaccayana, this world is supported by (a false dichotomy) a polarity -- that of existence and non-existence (being and nonbeing, the twin wrong views of eternalism and annihalationism).

"But when one sees the origin of the world as it actually is with right view, 'non-existence' with reference to the world does not occur to one. When one sees the cessation of the world as it actually is with right view, 'existence' with reference to the world does not occur to one.
 

Meditation (SeekingHeartwood/flickr)

"By and large, Kaccayana, this world is in bondage to attachments, clingings, and biases. But one such as this does not get involved with or cling to these attachments, clingings, fixations of mind, biases, or obsessions, nor is one resolved on 'my self.' One has no doubt or uncertainty that, when there is arising (origination, becoming, being), only unsatisfactoriness is arising. And when there is passing away, only unsatisfactoriness is passing away. In this, one's knowledge is independent of others. It is to this extent, Kaccayana, that there is right view" (SN 12.15).

Abandoning the unskillful

                                  ...Cultivating the skillful

Meditation superhero (msnbc.msn.com)

"Do not go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scriptures, by logical speculations, by inferences, by analogies, by agreement through pondering, by probability, or by the thought, 'This monastic is our teacher.'

"[Instead,] when you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted and carried out, they lead to harm and to suffering' -- then abandon them...
 
"When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted and carried out, lead to welfare and to happiness' -- then enter and remain in them" (AN 3.65).

• Sutra on Views (AN 10.93)
• The Four Noble Truths
• The Fourth Noble Truth
• "Views" in General Index