America's Buddhist burial mound at Sedona

Crystal Quintero, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; photographers Pete/Karevil, Glen Carlin

Vajrayana Buddhist prayer flags flying over Boudhanath, Nepal (Pete/Karnevil/flickr)

 

Wisdom and Compassion

The dome at the base of Boudhanath Stupa ("Enlightenment Reliquary," a UNESCO World Heritage Site) outside Kathmandu, Nepal represents the entire world. When a person awakens (represented by the opening of the eyes of wisdom and compassion) from the illusory bonds of the world, that person has reached the state of enlightenment. Complete liberation (nirvana) awaits and is already visible when this is accomplished.

America needs a great Buddhist stupa!
Xochitl, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Sedona's Buddhist Stupa, Sedona, Arizona (Glen_Carlin/flickr.com/collage)

 

Flags over Sedona Stupa (Glen Carlin)

We have one! We have other smaller ones, too. Every Buddhist temple in America wants its own old-world reliquary, a white mound to entomb spiritual treasures.

Pagodas, dagabas, chortans, mandala-mounds, and so on all house priceless reliquary objects -- either minute amounts of the historical Buddha's funerary ashes or relics (strange physical byproducts of enlightenment manifesting as beautiful glass-like beads and other formations that survive or are produced during cremation) or the remains of arhats, honored teachers, and world rulers (chakravartins).

Then there's the great Tibetan stupa at SMC in Colorado, too (shambhalamountain.org)

• 

  Small side-chortan in Sedona

  Wait a minute. How in the world could there be so many of the Buddha's cremation ashes to supply all the world's stupas? It's ludicrous; it's like all that wood the Medieval Christians sold as authentic bits of Christ's own Roman cross. The answer is very simple. If we begin with one cup of actual cremation remains, then we can divide that, but as with any precious powder, it is watered down with a neutral substance: one part relic ashes with one million parts neutral ashes = 1,000,001 parts authentic Buddha ashes. Stranger still, "relics" multiply, so they are not limited to what was available the first day. Moreover, not only the Buddha's remains are used but those of many arhats. There are still arhats, still funeral pyres, cremation remains, and so long as the Dharma is practiced even by one person, there is a chance for more.

Amazing Anasazi (Hopi) ruins at Tuzigoot, Clarkdale, Arizona (americansouthwest.net)

 

Wooden Buddha (Glen Carlin)

City councils are very reluctant to approve of such building requests. There is a campaign to bring one to Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara.
 
But one already exists, built by Tibetan Buddhists in northern California. Across the USA there are small ones and plans, or at least dreams, for more.

Buddha profile (Glen Carlin)

However, there is at least one great one already: It is in our spiritual center where Native Americans recognized vortices of power and energy, Sedona, Arizona.

Wisdom Quarterly visited with Xochitl and Dr. Rei Rei to visit the Anasazi sites and this amazing hidden gem hidden on the west side of the American Southwest's most beautiful town.

To visit, choose the cooler months. Sedona is amazing year round, with winter snows the blanket the red rocks. It is one of the most picturesque landscapes in the world, a lower extension of the once Buddhist Grand Canyon. (How could the Grand Canyon ever have been Buddhist? It was).

• VIDEO: Native Buddhist artifacts, Grand Canyon
• Were the Anasazi [Native Americans] Buddhists?
• Buddhist cave temples found in Grand Canyon
• AUDIO: Ancient Egyptians in the Grand Canyon 
• Grand Canyon's secret underground Buddhist temple?  
• Native American Buddhism and Tibet 

Hovering above the massive stupa is a gorgeous wooden Buddha carving surrounded by many American offerings: trinkets, flowers, incense, glass beads, Native American jewelry, coins, notes, flags...adding to the splendor of the U.S. Southwest (Glen_Carlin/flickr.com).

Sedona, Arizona is "the most beautiful place on earth" (visitsedona.com)

I DON'T love you! (video)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

One of the funniest British cult classic movies ever made on religion -- Bedazzled -- with a tip of the hat to Zen Master Lee Kwai Quach (Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Raquel Welch)

I'm not in love. I won't be sunk, attached, hopelessly clinging. And yet, somehow, I'm still not free.

Where is my liberation, my enlightenment, my experience of nirvana?

Isn't detachment the key? Isn't indifference, callousness, withdrawal, and aloofness the key?

No, if craving (thirst, grasping for, and clinging) is the problem, simply turning our backs is not at all the solution.

• I'm in love! (love addiction)
• The Affection Sutra
• VIDEO: I'm in love! ("West Coast") 

The reason one withdraws is to draw out the thorn in one's heart. Physical seclusion is not the Way, not the answer, not the solution. At best it is a vital aid to the real thing -- mental withdrawal. But the mind/heart needs something to draw into, to be absorbed by. That's why the meditative absorptions (Pali jhanas, Sanskirt dhyanas, Japanese zens, Chinese chans) are so important.

But I thought shaving my head and not looking at or talking to anybody -- or being looked at or talked to by anybody -- was the Way!

Superficial stays superficial. A saffron robe does not a Buddhist monastic make.

Well, then, what? Shave the eyebrows, too? Get a mantra tattoo? Call my significant other "Boo"?

That and more will never do! The problem is not without; the problem is within. The question is sometimes asked, Do beautiful objects -- alluring, pleasing, attractive, and charming -- cause attachment, or is it the beholder?

Himalayan Theravada monastic experience (sayalaysusila.net)

  .

Himalayan Ladakh (SylvainBrajeul/flickr)

The answer is obvious if one thinks for a moment. Although it feels like objects (people, songs, entities, foods, flavors, scents, art, etc.) get a hold on us, it cannot be the objects because fully-enlightened beings utterly freed by insight of all clinginess and attachment perceive and experience beautiful objects just like we do. Sayalay Susila (sayalaysusila.net) points out that if object actually had the power they seem to have over us, there would be no release. But because it is us -- our dependently arisen attraction, aversion, and delusion -- then it is possible to become completely free. We are not at the mercy of the Sensual Sphere (Kama Loka), not even the Subtle Sphere (Rupa Loka) or the Immaterial Sphere (Arupa Loka).

It is our job, if we wish to undertake it, to make an end of suffering. Suffering will never end by itself. It may take a break or be delayed, but it is coming back. It is the nature of things that certain action produce painful results. It cannot be otherwise. Until we free ourselves of this karmic round of endless rebirth and disappointment, we can be sure disappointment (dukkha) is on its way.

Rooftop of the World: Puebloan Peoples, Spituk Monastery, Himalayas (Skaman306/flickr)

.

(Sylvain Claire/sc-pictures/flickr.com)

We say, "Okay, we'll bare it. It's worth it to experience more pleasure. But this is exactly the trap. We gain no satisfaction. We keep wandering on and on and on trying to break even, like hopeless gamblers, always meeting with disaster, never remembering that we consciously made this bargain.
 
"It is because of not seeing this truth -- the dependently originated nature of things -- that not only us but the Bodhisattva (Buddha-to-be) wandered endlessly for aeons in plane after plane of existence," miserable and exalted, obscure and famous, weeping and laughing, sunk in ignorance and delusion, chasing after pleasant experience, running from misery, ensnared by lust, bitten by hate and frustration, utterly confused and defeated by ignorance, which is the greatest ill of all. And now that we have time to meditate, time to study, time to and talent enough to ask questions and understand, what do we do instead? Search for love, fulfillment by personal relationships, as if we had NOTHING HIGHER TO LIVE FOR.

What are we waiting for? For reality to change? For a better teacher -- like Marshall or Maitreya -- to come along offering us everything, our defilements and enlightenment at the same time? Mahayana already does that. Hey, have sex. But have tantric sex, and enlightenment's included. Hey, have wealth. But have humility, and enlightenment's included. You're already enlightened, so relax! Blah blah blah, meanwhile the wheel of suffering grinds on in very subtle and very overt ways. Liberation is available right now. It won't happen by itself. It would've if it could've. Buddhas are guides:

"By ourselves is harm done.

By ourselves is harm left undone.

Benefit and harm depend on us."

"No one saves us but ourselves,

No one can and no one may;

We ourselves must tread the Path;

Buddhas only point the Way!"

• QUESTION: "We aren't supposed to want love? Should I live alone for the rest of my life? I am new to this blog. Please forgive me if you have answered this question."

This is a great question. The conundrum arises from assumptions. What do we mean by "love"? Universal altruism, loving-kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), unselfish joy (mudita), and impartiality (upekkha)? These are five expressions of love that ancient Indians (Pali/Sanskrit) and Greeks (agape, "unconditional love," etc.) had a better grasp of than we do...

Who are the "Noble Ones"?

Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly; G.P. Malalasekera (Dictionary of Pali Terms)

Three noble ones pay homage to an image of the Noble One (Sasin Tipchai/Bugphai/flickr)

 

The noble ones or "noble persons" (ariya-puggala) does not refer to teaching and nonteaching buddhas but to anyone who attains the various stages of enlightenment and liberation. The Buddha may be called the Noble One, but his function was the production of noble ones, of establishing the Teaching, establishing the Monastic Order for intensive practice and the preservation of the Teaching long after his mission.  The grades or stages of enlightenment are not absolutes; there are different ways to distinguish attainments. But for simplicity four are repeatedly mentioned. (According to the Path of Freedom or Vimuttimagga there are more only because the first few are categorized together simply as stream-enterers). For example, one of the extraordinary characteristics of a stream-winner or stream-enterer (sotapanna) is that s/he faces at most seven rebirths and has therefore in this unimaginably long course of "continued wandering on" (= samsara), the Wheel of Rebirth, put a limit on suffering. The next stage, that of the once-returner, faces only one rebirth. Between these two stages, there are actually other stages, but they are all lumped together for simplicity. In fact, there were always at least eight noble ones, but only four are generally spoken of because the Commentary maintains that the difference between each pair is simply a thought-moment. This almost certainly cannot be the case, as indicated by the sutras and spelled out by Bhikkhu Bodhi in the explanatory notes to his famous sutta-pitaka (discourse-collection) translations.

Arch with an ancient Buddha image in Theravada Buddhist Phowintaung, Burma

 

The eight and nine NOBLE ONES are:

(A) The eight noble ones are those who have realized one of the eight stages of enlightenment, that is, the four supermundane paths (maggas) and the four supermundane fruitions (phalas) of these paths.

There are four pairs:

1. One realizing the path of stream-winning (sotāpatti-magga).

2. One realizing the fruition of stream-winning (sotāpatti-phala).

3. One realizing the path of once-returning (sakadāgāmi-magga).

4. One realizing the fruition of once-returning (sakadāgāmi-phala).

5. One realizing the path of non-returning (anāgāmi-magga).

6. One realizing the fruition of non-returning (anāgāmi-phala).

7. One realizing the path of full enlightenment (arahatta-magga).

8. One realizing the fruition of full enlightenment (arahatta-phala).

In sum, there are by this scheme four noble individuals (ariya-puggala): the stream-winner (sotāpanna), the once-returner (sakadāgāmi), the non-returner (anāgāmī), the fully-enlightened (arhat or arahat, arahant).

Here is where the sutras and the Path of Freedom, which is a commentarial work analogous to the more famous Path of Purification (one possibly being an earlier version of the other, both works of the most famous Buddhist commentator Ven. Buddhaghosa, but the earlier version credited to Ven. Upatissa (the original Upatissa being Ven. Sariputra, the Buddha's chief male monastic disciple "foremost in wisdom," analogous to his chief female monastic disciple "foremost in wisdom" Ven. Khema).

Change of Lineage

Sariputra, foremost in wisdom (SashWeer/flickr)

All of unenlightened beings are "ordinary worldings." Most of us are uninstructed ordinary worldlings. But in A.VIII.10 and A.IX.16 the gotrabhū is listed as the ninth noble individual. When one goes from "ordinary worldling" to "noble one," it is extraordinary. The Buddha referred to this liberation process as a "change of lineage." One is completely different now even while seeming to others (or even oneself) exactly the same. It is nearly impossible to tell who is a stream-enterer or fully-enlightened. There are ways for one to tell of oneself, but it is very easy to overestimate one's attainment. It is amazing talking to stream-enterers or reading their descriptions in the sutras and them not being sure. See, for example, the story of Queen Mallika's maid. They are only sure something happened, and they can hardly explain what or how. Logic dictates that ordinarily worldings would be able to tell, but experience proves otherwise. They can recognize each other but by prodding and testing a little, not by some magic intuition. Ajahn Jumnien tells the story of how he met California Vipassana (insight meditation) teacher Ruth Denison (DhammaDena.com) and knew but also how he did not know how far along she was until he tested her. One reason for this is that one retains many of the same characteristics as before the Truth liberated one. The most important thing one can bear in mind in this regard is that ENLIGHTENMENT PERFECTS PERSPECTIVE NOT PERSONALITY.

One will come out the other end with right view (samma ditthi) but will keep many of the same quirks, predilections, and predispositions after undergoing an utterly radical change in view about the things that matter (bodhipakkayadhamma). Wisdom itself does the uprooting of ignorance, not an act of will or self or thinking. And this is because full enlightenment does not mean omniscience. It means FULL penetration of only four things -- the Four Noble Truths. Perhaps it also means utter certainty about the Three Marks of Existence and the fact of Dependent Origination, the certainty that nothing comes into being without a cause or with only a single cause. When we ask, in accordance with the first noble truth, "How has this present suffering come into being?" we are investigating causes and conditions. There are at least 12, and of these the weakest -- the one we can do something about -- is craving. There are other deeper reasons, like ignorance (avijja, avidya), but these cannot be remedied directly. Craving can. Craving is not the root of all suffering, as many people say. Ignorance is. But the Buddha singled out craving (tanha, desire) because his insight into the causal links of Dependent Origination led him to realize that it was possible to break the chain at this link. Right view, knowing-and-seeing,

 

Path and Fruition

A permanent and radical change of heart

By "PATH" (magga) or "supermundane path," according to the "Higher Teaching" (Abhidhamma), is simply meant a designation of the moment of entering into one of the four stages of enlightenment -- [glimpsing] nirvana (Pali nibbāna) being the object -- produced by intuitive insight (vipassanā) into the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and impersonality of all existence, flashing forth and forever transforming one's life and nature.

By "FRUITION" (phala) is meant those moments of consciousness that follow immediately thereafter as the result of the path, which in certain circumstances may repeat innumerable times during the lifetime.

(I) Through the path of stream-winning one "becomes" free (whereas in realizing the fruition, one "is" free) from the first three fetters (samyojana) that bind ordinary beings to existence in the Sensual Sphere (the lowest of three "spheres" or lokas in a threefold classification of the 31 Planes of Existence in Buddhist cosmology encompassing to the lowest hells, the worlds of humans, animals, ghosts, titans, and lower devas, up to the highest of the six sensual "heavens"; the other two spheres are the Fine-Material or Subtle Sphere and the Immaterial Sphere):

• (1) personality-belief (sakkāya-ditthi),
• (2) skeptical doubt about the path (vicikicchā),
• (3) belief that mere rules or rituals could ever lead one to enlightenment (sīlabbata-parāmāsa; see upādāna).

(II) Through the path of once-returning one becomes nearly free of the fourth and fifth fetters:

• (4) sensuous craving (kāma-cchanda = kāma-rāga),
• (5) ill-will (vyāpāda = dosa, see "roots," mūla).

(III) Through the path of non-returning (anāgāmi-magga) one becomes fully free of the first five or "lower" fetters.

(IV) Through the path of full-enlightenment one further becomes free of the five "higher" fetters as well:

• (6) craving for fine-material existence (rūpa-rāga),
• (7) craving for immaterial existence (arūpa-rāga),
• (8) conceit (māna),
• (9) restlessness (uddhacca),
• (10) ignorance (avijjā).

Tibetan Vajrayana stained glass rainbow emanation (Samye Ling Centre and Monastery)

 

The stereotype sutra text runs as follows:

(I) "After the disappearance of the three fetters, the meditator has won the stream (that leads inevitably to nirvana) and is no longer subject to rebirth in lower worlds (subhuman planes of existence), is firmly established, destined for full enlightenment.

(II) "After the disappearance of the first three fetters and [a marked] reduction of greed, hatred, and delusion, one will return [at most] only once more [to this world]. And having once more returned to this world, one will put an end to suffering.

(III) "After the disappearance of the first five fetters one appears in a higher world [in superhuman planes of existence, i.e., the Pure Abodes], and there one reaches nirvana without ever returning from that world (to the Sensual Sphere).

(IV) "Through the extinction of all taints or cankers (āsava-kkhaya) one reaches in this very life that deliverance of mind, that deliverance through wisdom, which is freed of the cankers, and which one has directly understood and realized."

• For the various classes of stream-winners and non-returners, see sotāpanna and anāgāmī.

(B) The sevenfold grouping of the noble disciples runs as follows:
(1) the confidence (conviction, faith)-devotee (saddhānusārī),
(2) the confidence-liberated one (saddhāvimutta),
(3) the body-witness (kāya-sakkhī),
(4) the both-ways-liberated one (ubhato-bhāga-vimutta),
(5) the Dharma-devotee (dhammānusārī),
(6) the vision-attainer (ditthippatta),
(7) the wisdom-liberated one (paññā-vimutta).

This group of seven noble disciples is explained in the Path of Purification (Vis.M. XXI, 73):

(1) "One who is filled with resolution (adhimokkha) and, by [systematically] considering the formations as impermanent (anicca), gains the faculty of confidence, who at the moment of the path to stream-winning (A.1) is called a confidence-devotee (saddhānusārī);

(2) One is called a confidence-liberated one (saddhā-vimutta) at the seven higher stages (A. 2-8).

(3) One who is filled with tranquility and, by considering the formations as disappointing (dukkha), gains the faculty of concentration, who in every respect is considered a body-witness (kāya-sakkhī).

(4) One, however, who after reaching the absorptions of the immaterial sphere (Jhanas 5-8) has attained the highest fruition (of full enlightenment), who is a both-ways-liberated one (ubhato-bhāga-vimutta).

(5) One who is filled with wisdom and, by considering the formations as not-self (anattā), gains the faculty of wisdom, who is at the moment of stream-winning a Dharma-devotee (dhammānusārī).

(6) One who at the later stages (A. 2-7) is a vision-attainer (ditthippatta).

(7) One who is  a wisdom-liberated one (paññāvimutta) at the highest stage (A. 8)."

Nirvana (definition) and the Turtle

Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Nyanatiloka Thera (Anton Gueth) A Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines; Bhikkhu Bodhi "As It Is" (CD)

(Nathapol Boonmangmee/happySUN/flickr.com)

  

Awakening to knowing and seeing (happySUN)

Nirvana is hard to conceive or speak of because it is unlike anything in our conditional universe, but it can be directly experienced.

Once upon a time there was a turtle who lived in a polluted pond with many fish. For a long time the fish did not see the turtle. When they finally did they exclaimed, "Friend, turtle, where have you been? We have not seen you and were concerned!"

"I have been walking on dry land, friends!" the turtle answered.

"'Dry land'? What is this 'dry land' you speak of, turtle?

The wise eat the fruit of direct knowledge.

The turtle struggled for a comparison.

The fish were eager to help, "So this 'dry land' of yours, turtle, is it wet?"

"No, friends, it is not wet."

"Is it cool and refreshing, can you swim in it?"

"No, friends, it is not cool and refreshing, and you can't swim in it. And it's not polluted. Come and see for yourselves..."

Many are the dangers to conforming in "school" like the freshwater Ganges shark.

 

"Wait, turtle, it's not wet, not cool and refreshing, and you can't swim in it? And you say it's not polluted? Then we take it that this 'dry land' must be pure nothingness, nonexistence, annihilation, or complete fantasy!" the fish reasoned out loud each agreeing with the other. 

Pollution-free in the Allegory of the Pond

They did not go to see for themselves.

"That may, friends, that may be," the turtle replied and again went walking on dry land.

In no long time the water in the pond became so shrunken and polluted that a legend arose about the turtle and the wise instructions he had left behind to help them. But still no one went to investigate and see if the legend could be true.
  

DEFINITION

Buddhist Dictionary

Nirvana (Pali nibbāna) literally means to blow out (nir+ va, to cease blowing, to become extinguished), "extinction," the end of all suffering.

According to the ancient commentaries, it means "freedom from desire" (nir+vana). 

It constitutes the highest and ultimate goal of all Buddhist aspirations, namely, absolute extinction of greed, hatred, and delusion that clings to illusory separate or independent existence apart from the constituents of being (skandha, khandha, the Five Aggregates of Clinging). Final nirvana (parinirvana) is ultimate and absolute deliverance from all future rebirth, disappointment, old age, disease, and death, from every kind of suffering and misery.

 

"Extinction of greed, extinction of hate, extinction of delusion -- this is called nirvana (S. XXXVIII. 1).

 

This freedom has two aspects necessary to avoid confusion. (1) The full extinction of defilements (kilesa-parinibbāna), also called sa-upādi-sesa-nibbāna (see Itivuttaka 41), is "nirvana with the aggregates of existence still remaining" (see upādi). This takes place at the attainment of full enlightenment or sainthood. (See noble ones, ariya-puggala).

The Buddha by night with throngs of devotees and monastics, Thailand (happySUN/flickr)

 

(2) The full extinction of the aggregates of clinging (khandha-parinibbāna),also called an-upādi-sesa-nibbāna (see It. 41, A.IV.118), is "nirvana without aggregates remaining." 

In other words, the latter is the coming to rest, or rather the "no-more-continuing," of this psychophysical process of illusory existence. This takes place at the final passing of an arhat.

• The two terms defilement- (kilesa-) and aggregate- (khandha) final-nirvana (parinibbāna) are found only in the commentary; their corresponding two aspects sa-upādisesaand anupādisesa-nibbāna, however, are mentioned and explained in a sutra (Itivuttaka 44).

Sometimes both aspects take place at one and the same moment, as when one is passing away and practices very diligently, attaining full enlightenment and immediately passing away (see sama-sīsī). While this may sound strange or unusual or very technical, it is apparently sometimes easier to practice very close to death when everything clears away and there is a strong intention rooted in wisdom to finally be free of this endless cycle of rebirth.

Crossing over into the opposite of nirvana -- Bangkok -- Bhumibol Bridge (happySUN)

  
"This, O meditators, truly is the peace, this is the highest, namely the end of all formations, the forsaking of every substratum of rebirth, the fading away of craving, detachment, extinction, nirvana."

(A. III, 32)

 

"Enraptured by lust, enraged by anger, blinded by delusion, overwhelmed, with mind/heart ensnared, one aims at one's own ruin, at the ruin of others, at the ruin of both, and one experiences mental pain and grief.

"But if lust, anger, and delusion are given up, one aims neither at one's own ruin, nor at the ruin of others, nor at the ruin of both, and one experiences no mental pain and grief. Thus, is nirvana visible in this very life, immediate, inviting, attractive, and comprehensible to the wise."

(A.III.55)

 

"Just as a rock of one solid mass remains unshaken by the wind, even so neither visible forms, nor sounds, nor fragrances, nor tastes, nor bodily impressions, neither the desired nor the undesired, can cause such a one [an arhat] to waver. Steadfast is one's mind/heart, gained is deliverance." 

(A.VI.55)

 

"Verily, there is an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed. If there were not this unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed, escape from the world of the born, the originated, the created, the formed would be impossible."

(Ud.VIII.3)

 

Wisdom dawns from behind clouds of obscuring delusion (happySUN/flickr.com)

  

But if there's no self? (HS)

One cannot too often and too emphatically stress the fact that not only for the actual realization of nirvana, but also for a mere theoretical understanding of it, it is indispensable to first grasp fully the truth of the impersonal nature of things, the egolessness and insubstantiality of all existence ("not-self," anattā). Without such an understanding, one will necessarily misconceive of nirvana -- according to one's materialistic or metaphysical leanings -- either as the annihilation of an ego, or as an eternal state of existence into which an ego or self enters or with which it merges. So it is said in an ultimate sense and not paradoxically: 

"Mere suffering exists; no sufferer is found. 

The deed [karma] is, but no doer of the deed is there.

Nirvana is, but not the one who enters it.

The path is, but no traveler on it is seen."

Path of Purification (Vis.M. XVI)

• Anattā and Nibbāna (Ven. Nyanaponika Thera, Wheel 11)
• The Buddhist Doctrine of Nibbāna (Ven. Dr. P. Vajiranana and Francis Story, Wheel 165/166)

"An Island to Oneself" (sutra)

Maurice O'Connell Walshe, Attadipa Sutta (SN 22.43); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

An island on a river at sunset with sudden bursts of lightning (Gary Story/plus.google.com)

 

Sitting is intensive but not the only way

"Meditators, be islands unto yourselves [Note 1], be your own [guide], having no other; let the Dharma be an island and a [guide] for you, having no other. Those who are islands unto themselves... should investigate to the very heart of things [2]:

"'What is the source of sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair? How do they arise?' [What is their origin?]

 

Buddha on island of Sri Lanka (NH53)

"Here, meditators, the uninstructed worldling [continued as in SN 22.7]. Change occurs in this person's body, and it becomes different. On account of this change and difference, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair arise. [Similarly with feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness].
 
"But seeing [3] the body's impermanence, its change-ability, its waning [4], its ceasing, he says 'formerly as now, all bodies were impermanent and unsatisfactory, and subject to change.' Thus, seeing this as it really is, with liberating insight, one abandons all sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. One is not worried at their abandonment but, without worry, lives at ease. And thus living at ease one is said to be 'assured of deliverance [5].'" [Similarly with feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness].

NOTES: 1. Atta-dipa. Dipa means both "island" (Sanskrit dvipa) and "lamp" (Sanskrit dipa), but the meaning "island" is well-established here. The "self" referred to is of course the unmetaphysical pronoun "oneself" (cf. SN 3.8, n. 1).

2. It is necessary to withdraw, to be "an island to unto oneself," at least for a time (as any meditator knows), not for any "selfish" reasons but precisely in order to make this profound introspective investigation. Otherwise, in another sense, Buddhists would of course agree with John Donne that "No man is an island."

3. As Woodward remarks in [Book of the Kindred Sayings, a  translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Vol. III, PTS, 1924], one would expect to find here the words which he inserts in the text: "The well-taught [noble] disciple," as in many passages. If one, in fact, sees these things and reflects as said in the text, one will cease to be [an ordinary] "worldling." 

4. Waning (viraga) is elsewhere also translated as "dispassion" (SN 12.16, n. 2).

5. Tadanganibbuto means rather more than Woodward's "one who is rid of all that."

• See island admonition in the Buddha's final sutra: DN 16.