Gradual Instruction to Enlightenment

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; "Gradual Training" (accesstoinsight.org)

(ArunHaridharshan/flickr.com)

Gandhara-style Buddha

The Buddha's teaching, or Dharma, has the notion of steady, incremental self-development. This method of "gradual instruction," anupubbi-katha, appears in countless sutras. It always follows the same arc: 

As a skillful teacher, a master physician, the Buddha guides hearers from first principles to progressively more advanced teachings, all the way to the fulfillment of the Four Noble Truths, which is the full realization of nirvana.

Perceiving those capable of understanding the liberating message, regardless of their appearance or caste or social standing, he taught them this way. There is the example of the leper:

 

Having encompassed the awareness of the entire assembly with his awareness, the Blessed One asked himself, "Who here is capable of understanding the Dharma?" He then saw Suppabuddha the leper sitting in the assembly, and the thought occurred to him, "This person is capable of understanding the Dharma." 

The Buddha taught daily for 45 years

Turning his attention to Suppabuddha the leper, he gave a step by step discourse, that is, a talk on generosity, a talk on virtue, a talk on heaven(s). He declared the drawbacks, degradation, and danger of sensual attachments and the rewards of internal-renunciation, of letting go, of freedom.

 

Then when he perceived that Suppabuddha the leper's mind/heart was ready, malleable, free from hindrances, joyful, bright and temporarily purified (released), he gave a talk on the Dharma unique to enlightened ones (who have realized it for themselves):

1. suffering
2. origination
3. cessation
4. the path leading to liberation.

And just as a cloth freed of stains would properly absorb a dye, as Suppabuddha the leper was sitting in that very seat, the stainless eye of the Dharma arose in him: "Whatever is subject to arising is also subject to cessation" (Verses of Uplift 5.3).

This "gradual instruction" pattern of a sutra (a suture, unifying string) progressing through stages was utilized by the Buddha to prepare listeners' hearts/minds before speaking on the more advanced teaching of the Four Noble Truths. The stock passage (e.g., DN 3, DN 14, MN 56) runs as follows:

"Then the Blessed One gave a gradual instruction -- that is to say, speaking on liberality, virtuous conduct, and the heavens, then explaining the peril, the folly, and the depravity of [addiction to] sensual pleasures and, moreover, the advantage of freedom.

"When the Blessed One perceived that the listener's mind was prepared, pliant, freed of obstacles, elevated and lucid, he explained that exalted teaching particular to the buddhas, that is: suffering, its cause, its undoing, and the path [to its undoing]."

What is needed for enlightenment?

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly (UPDATED)

Golden Buddha (Sharon Cummings/buyabstractartpaintingssharoncummings/flickr)

There are three kinds of fully enlightened individuals: personal (arhat), nonteaching (pacceka-), and supreme teacher (sammasam-) buddhas (BDrunz/flickr.com).

 

Buddhism is a well packed SET of (seven) teachings. The problem is dukkha (disappointment, suffering, distress, misery, unsatisfactoriness), so the goal is liberation or freedom from all conditional phenomena.
 

1 Thing 
The Buddha only taught one thing -- Dharma, the means to the end of every kind of suffering. This ancient Sanskrit word has at least a dozen distinct meanings. But it could be summed up as "truth" (lowercase t, the pre-Buddhist term dharma meaning Truth, uppercase T), nature, that which stands unaffected by time.

The Doctrine (Dharma) points at the Truth (dharma). It is only a pointer. It is not the Truth. The Truth cannot be expressed with words or concepts or thinking, which is often how we approach things, attempting to grasp and label and argue about them.
 

The Buddha "Turning the Wheel of the Dharma" delivered to the Five Ascetics, Deer Park, Sarnath, India, suburbs of Varanasi, now set in stone on site.

 
One simile is that the Buddha points at the Moon. The Moon is the dharma. But people neglect to see the Moon, instead focusing on the pointing, the Dharma (Buddhist Doctrine or Teachings or instructions on getting to direct realization).
 
It doesn't help that the distinctions are so fine or that the word "Dharma" (as the Teachings or Doctrines of Buddhism) is not universally capitalized to distinguish it from dharma, which uncaptialized in Buddhist Sanskrit refers to phenomena or "things."
 

2 Things
The Buddha only taught Dharma, which means he only taught two things -- the problem and the solution. Suffering (dukkha) is the problem. Release from all suffering (nirvana) is the solution.
 

Dharma wheel (chakra), the True Wheel, Wheel of the Law (lawfulness or regularity of the universe), with eight spokes of the Noble Eightfold Path.

  
3 Things 
It can be said that in this regard, the Buddha taught three things: Sutras (conventional discourses), Discipline (Vinaya), and Abhidharma (the profound Dharma, the Ultimate Teachings on Dependent Origination, mind and body, psychology and physics, ultimate-consciousness and ultimate-materiality, and the exacting details of the Path to liberation from suffering).
 

4 Things 
Of course, how could all of this ever be stated succinctly? Buddhism, the Buddha-Dharma, all that points towards the Truth that shall set one free is summarized and taught as four things, the Four Noble Truths: (1) we have a problem, (2) it has a cause, (3) it has a solution, and (3) this is the way to the solution.
 

Seven Factors: mindfulness, investigation, effort, joy, serenity, absorption, and nonbias.

 
Because Buddhism so well packed, what do people ever learn about it but lists? An introduction, that's what. And that introduction is usually just lists out of context. We are constantly being introduced to Buddhism. When do we get an advanced or even an intermediate teaching? When does practice go beyond preliminary lists to unpack the wonderful Dharma within? Rarely.

7 Things
One crucial listing of proximate causes of awakening is called the Seven Factors of Enlightenment: Mindfulness (sati), keen investigation of phenomena, energy (viriya), rapture or joy (piti), calm (passaddhi), concentration or absorption (samadhi [first four jhanas]), and equanimity (upekkha). While these are important, they are in fact part of a more comprehensive set of factors.
 

37 Things 
So here it is. Monastic-scholars gathered all that pertains directly to enlightenment -- to "liberation from suffering" in this very life. They enumerated 37 things taught by the Buddha as indispensable aids to enlightenment.
 

These seven sets (many items appearing in more than one set for a total of 37) are together called the Requisites of Enlightenment ("things pertaining to enlightenment") not to be confused with the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhangas), which is but one of the sets.
 

The Requisites of Enlightenment
Ven. Ledi Sayadaw

1. Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Satipaṭṭhāna)
2. Four Right Efforts (Sammā-padhāna)
3. Four Bases of Success (Iddhipāda)
4. Five Controlling Faculties (Indriya)
5. Five Mental Powers (Bala)
6. Seven Factors of Enlightenment (Bojjhaṅga)
7. Noble Eightfold Path (Maggaṅga)

The bodhipakkhiya-dharma are those things related to enlightenment or awakening (bodhi), which here refers to the knowledge of the paths and fruits of liberating wisdom (magga-nāṇa). They are dharmas (mental phenomena, things) with the function of being proximate causes, requisite ingredients, and bases of, or sufficient conditions (upanissaya) for, path-knowledge. ["Path knowledge" begins with the path of stream entry, the first stage of enlightenment, and is distinguished from fruits.]

• THE DETAILS: The Requisites of Enlightenment: A Manual

Wisdom Quarterly's Instructions in Brief
Withdraw the senses, go silent, still both body and mind, enter absorption (jhana). Develop facility entering and emerging from first four absorptions. Emerge from fourth absorption, immediately take up contemplation of the causal links of Dependent Origination for insight, having set up Fourfold Mindfulness. Breakthrough to first realization (anatta), glimpsing nirvana and thereby gaining stream entry. That's it.
 
This knowing-and-seeing will ensure final realization, full enlightenment (arhatship), within a fixed number of lives. Stream entry means a change of lineage (liberating-wisdom), as one becomes a "noble one" with no possibility of falling back, one of the few in all the universe to put a limit on suffering.
 
(Or as a "shortcut" that may ironically take longer, work very hard in this life, and perhaps future lives, as a sincerely meditative and contemplative monastic then have sudden realization occur effortlessly in a future life neither being able to explain how or why it happened). So rare is a human life that one should not wait to practice. Practice the Path here and now. The karmic results will be of benefit everywhere and in all circumstances life after life.

The Tea-Dharma Club (U West)

Angela Lee (UW), Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; tdhammaclub@gmail.com

Chinese tea and traditional mooncakes on bamboo platter (npr.org)

 

The inaugural meeting of the "Tea and Dharma" plenary session, an informal gathering of persons interested in Buddhism and healthy-soothing refreshments, is set for Friday at the:

• Tea-Dhamma Club
• University of the West, Cafeteria Balcony
• 1409 Walnut Grove Ave., Rosemead 91770
• Friday, Sept. 27, 2013, 6:30-7:30 pm

UWest is a Buddhist university in suburban Los Angeles, set in the rolling hills of Rosemead, not far from "Going West" Temple, downtown L.A. to the west, and the San Gabriel foothills to the north.

The goal of the gathering is to facilitate conversation on Dharma (Pali, Dhamma), the Buddha's teaching taken as a whole, socializing with American and Taiwanese students, while sipping tea.

   

University of the West friendly exchange students from Taiwan and monastics (far right)

 

It is a chance for East to meet West in a relaxing setting to exchange stories and traditions while enjoying each other's company. Make friends, generate positive affinities, (gripe about China and its official policies and abysmal human rights record?), and mentally limber up for Dr. Wu's lecture series (details) on the Mahayana Buddhist Canon, which runs concurrently from 6:00-9:00 pm or 1:00-4:00 pm for four consecutive days, covering eight topics.

Unravelling the Mysteries of Mind and Body

Wisdom Quarterly, new Dharma book by Sayalay Susila edited by Dhr. Seven

The Sayadaw, Sayalay, and Seven set out the Buddha's "Higher Teaching"

  

(Aidan McRae Thomson)

Wisdom Quarterly is overjoyed to announce that Unravelling the Mysteries of Mind & Body Through Abhidhamma, the much awaited new book by the accomplished Buddhist monastic Sayalay Susila and Wisdom Quarterly editor Yogi Seven, is now available on Amazon.

We are pleased to see our efforts come to fruition and have the opportunity to share this work of Dharma, the culmination of Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw's accessible teachings on this delicate and complex topic.

 

All proceeds from the book go to support the establishment of Appamada Vihari, Sayalay Susila's new meditation center, offering an opportunity for all to accumulate supportive merit to advance on the Buddhist path toward enlightenment in this very life.

Why would anyone go on a meditation retreat?

 
ABOUT

Ven. Sayalay Susila, Grand Canyon

Unravelling the Mysteries of Mind & Body Through Abhidhamma was originally derived from a series of PowerPoint presentations and talks on the Abhidharma (Buddhism's "Higher" or "Ultimate Teachings"). 

It is based directly on instructions by famed Burmese Buddhist Meditation Master Pa Auk Sayadaw -- presented by the Chinese-Malaysian nun Ven. Sayalay Susila on her trips around the U.S. and Canada in 2002.

How much longer will the liberating Dharma survive in the world? (Mikecogh/flickr.com)

 
Repeatedly told how helpful these were, Sayalay developed them into a startlingly clear visual presentation and eventually a book, now in its second completely re-edited edition.
 
At first glance the Abhidharma can appear so complicated as to be impenetrable. It may, therefore, seem dull and irrelevant, a mere commentary to the sutras rather than a systematic treatment of what is needed to attain enlightenment -- the details, the explanations, the factors explained in extreme detail.
 

The Buddha among devas explaining the Abhidharma leading to final liberation

 
That it has been largely overlooked outside of Burma comes as no surprise. But the Sayadaw, Sayalay, and Seven have made Abhidharma accessible by employing direct and concrete language, clear analogies, and simple anecdotes primarily based on the experiences of real meditators in Asia, America, and Europe over many years. 

The essence of Abhidharma is drawn out from its vast and complex matrix. Doing so makes it utterly practical, relating to everyday life in a way practitioners find meaningful for ordinary living. The way to realization is through concentration-and-insight meditation instruction to tie together theory and practice.

First edition (holybooks.com)

In this way analytical knowledge is made available for direct personal realization in meditation (bhavana, cultivation and development of various kinds). By providing clarity, this book helps practitioners come to a knowing-and-seeing, or knowledge and vision, of Abhidharma as a path revealed by the historical Buddha. It shows that its application, not its theoretical grasping, leads to happiness, mundane and supramundane. 
 

May all beings -- humans, devas, and others -- share in the blessings of this offering of liberating wisdom.

Who sees the Dharma (Dependent Origination) sees the Buddha (MN 28; Mikecogh)