What is "right thinking"? (Thich Nhat Hanh)

Thich Nhat Hanh; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

WALDBROL, Germany - Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) gave a 102-minute Dharma talk at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism.

The talk is in English with simultaneous German translation. This is the first Dharma talk of the German Retreat on the theme "Are You Sure?"

The talk begins at 12 minutes into the recording following two chants by the Plum Village monastics.

Let us begin immediately with the concept of dualist thinking and Right Thinking. [Right Thinking refers to the second Noble Eightfold Path factor, often translated as Right Intention, but it seems that what Thay is actually talking about here is the more profound Right View, which is the first factor of the Path.] How do we see the interconnection between things?

For example, how do we see the interconnection between happiness and suffering or all the elements of a lotus flower? The lotus is made of non-lotus elements. 
 
EXPLANATION
Wisdom Quarterly on the wisdom that goes beyond

Li'l Buddha book (literatureismyutopia.tumblr)

[Thay teaches that a lotus flower is composed of non-lotus elements like water, mud, air, sunlight, and so on. These things are not themselves lotus flowers, but a lotus flower does not exist without them.

Whether we accept this insight as true or not, Why is it important? It is important because the Buddha teaches a more profound insight necessary for enlightenment: The "self" ("soul" or "ego") is composed of all non-self elements -- form (body, materiality, the Four Great Elements), feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousnesses (eye consciousness, ear consciousness, etc.)
 

Buddha and Angel' (K/Xiangjiaocao/flickr)

In just the same way, whatever is considered a "lotus" is a construct, a dependently-originated, conditionally-arisen thing that does not exist apart from its component parts.

Since the components are not the whole, not the "thing," the thing's existence is illusory, a dream, born of ignorance of how things really are. What illusion? The illusion that there is a thing there apart from its components! It is not a thing but, paradoxically, it is not nothing. It, whether we are talking about a lotus or a self, arises always and only completely dependent on causes and supporting conditions.
 
Great News

Gold Buddha (Chris & Annabel/Chngster/flickr)

This is great news, but it is an ultimate truth; conventionally, of course, there is a flower -- look, it's this thing I'm holding in my hand. There is a self -- look, it's this thing holding up the flower.
 
There is a world, suffering, and everything else. It is great news that things are dependently-arisen because, if this is a painful dream, we CAN wake up. If this is an illusion, we CAN become enlightened. Others have -- others like Thay and certainly the Buddha and the earliest disciples.

Enlightenment, nirvana, final liberation means seeing things as they truly are, for it is the Truth that sets a person free. Just as ignorance is trapping and binding us to suffering, rebirth, more suffering, and this endless round of wandering, so enlightenment means the end of ignorance about the the Four Noble Truths.

Have you ever heard of the Buddhist teaching or concept of Dependent Origination? It may be the most important thing the Buddha ever said. He describes it in this way: Seeing dependent origination is seeing the Dharma; seeing the Dharma is seeing dependent origination. It is due to not seeing this dependent origination that not only you but I have wandered from life to life, suffering and searching. One who sees the Dharma sees me, and so on. What could possibly be so important?

"Dependent Origination" as a formula is a set of 12 causal links. In the simplest terms, the formula goes like this: Wait. Why do we want to know this formula? Because it leads to enlightenment, nirvana (the complete end of all suffering), and deathlessness, that's why. Oh, okay, then go on. The formula runs: "Because of this, that comes to be; with the ending of this, that ends." Wait, what's this? What's that? The 12 links beginning with ignorance. Do you know how Siddhartha became enlightened? Most people do not.

How did the Siddhartha become enlightened?

Why do beings suffer, why is there suffering?

He became enlightened because he kept asking a question. He had asked it in many previous lives as a bodhisattva (buddha-to-be), and he asked it as a prince, then asked it as a renunciant, then as a meditator:

"Why is there suffering?" After learning how to enter the jhanas, the meditative absorptions, for about six years, he went off on his own without a teacher, still asking this question.
 
He sat under a heart shaped leaf tree still asking this question. The answer that dawned on him, after emerging from mind/heart-purifying absorption was Dependent Origination working backward to a first cause:

There is suffering, this always-unsatisfactory and often-painful state we find ourselves in. What is it dependent on? It is dependent on formations...and so on all the way back to ignorance. Ignorance is not really a "first cause," a prime mover, a causeless cause as in Western philosophy, Christian theology, and linear logic.

There was not one ignorance but lots of instances of it at every moment. Our suffering does not have just one cause; our suffering is being constantly replenished, giving rise to all the necessary causes and conditions. It is a dynamic, circular process.

• The Heart Sutra (the core of the Prajna Paramita or the "Perfection of Wisdom" literature) is exactly this: understanding and penetrating "not-self" also called "emptiness" with insight. What is not-self? It is the "wisdom that has gone beyond." It breaks down or unpacks the Five Aggregates: "Form is emptiness, and the very emptiness is form. Feeling is emptiness, and the very emptiness is feeling," and so on.

When the "self" comes into existence, what has come into existence? No-thing really, just an illusion dependent on causes and conditions like the Five Aggregates that are the basis of clinging. But it is not nothing, as evidenced by the fact that by insight meditation, purified and supported by absorption, it is possible to discern the causes and conditions, the factors, the components, the parts that give the illusion of there being something that just came into existence.

There is no being, only becoming, no static entity, just a dynamic process, no personality, just a series of mental and physical processes. What goes out of existence at every moment? Not a "being" -- as there never was a being, not even for one moment, only becoming. What goes out for the enlightened person? Only ignorance, only the illusion, only the frightful dream.

If all of this sounds shocking, it is. What an awakening! But it can be confirmed in many lines and teachings scattered all over the Buddhist texts. One of the most famous is:

"Mere suffering exists, no sufferer is found;

The deeds are, but no doer of the deeds is there;

Nirvana is, but not the person who enters it;

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

 

There's a Meditation for Dummies in the series

The profound teaching of egolessness or not-self is not a teaching the Buddha, or Thay, directly gives ordinary instructed worldlings.

 

But it is the deeper meaning of "lotuses being composed of all non-lotus elements." Most monastics cannot grasp it for a long time as they are training to understand it. For it is subtle, deep, and goes against the stream of all of our assumptions. A clever person would never figure it out by mere reasoning.

 

No, no, What about that Descartes, the Westerner? He said it best: "I think; therefore, I am!" Yes, and didn't he jump the gun? Based on the evidence, all that one could conclude is, "Thinking is; therefore, thinking is going on."

 

Thinking -- that is, impersonal cognitive processes which are explained at length and in excruciating detail by the Buddha and cataloged in the voluminous Abhidharma and available for any and all of us to verify for ourselves during insight meditation -- does not need a self, a thinker. 

 

In fact, it is the process of thinking and cognizing that gives rise to the illusion/assumption of a self, not the other way around. And to assume that there is self, and to futher assume that self/the thinker is eternal or unchanging, permanent, destined for eternity in paradise or a pulverizing place of punishment is the sad state of the majority of the world's religionists. Isn't it great news that reality is not this way; it's not unfair and without a cause, not just some God's whim, not a random error of a cold universe that accidentally got a some heat in it....

 

Wait. What about karma? The five karmic causes (ignorance, karmic-formations, consciousness, mind-and-matter, six sense bases) of the past birth are the condition for the karmic-results of the present birth. And the five karmic causes of the present birth are the condition for the five karmic-results of the next birth. It is said in the Path of Purification (Vis.M. XVII):

"Five causes were there in the past,

Five fruits we find in the present;

Five causes do we now produce,

Five fruits we reap in the future."]

Gardening Analogy

A good gardener knows how to make good use of the mud just as a good mindfulness practitioner knows how to make good use of her suffering.

The goodness of suffering [is using it to grow]. When you understand suffering then understanding and compassion arises -- the foundation of happiness.

From the "Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing," we have exercises handed down by the Buddha to help our practice with suffering.

• Generate a feeling of joy.
• Generate a feeling of happiness.
• Recognize painful feelings.
• Calm down the painful feelings.

Mindfulness is an energy that helps us know what is going on in our body and our feelings [sensations]. How do we bring relief to our painful [physical] feelings and emotions?
 

Thay, Thich Nhat Hanh

There are three kinds of energies we should try to generate: mindfulness, concentration, and insight.

There are four elements of True Love and being present for those we love. By taking care of our suffering and our lives, we can learn to take care of the world. 

In the last 10-minutes, walking meditation instructions are given.

(Plum Village Online) Thay, Thich Nhat Hanh, teaches from Germany: Are you sure?

• PODCAST: AUDIO download (1:43 - 94.1MB) embed
• Domains of Mindfulness Practice
• Embrace the Whole Cosmos
• Conditions of Happiness
• We Are Peace
• The Holiness of Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight
• Applying Buddhist Teachings to the Classroom
• Breathing and Interbeing 
• Full of Wonder 
• Touching the Wonders of Life 
• Energies of Buddhism 
• Blue Cliff Monastery
• Deer Park Monastery
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Magnolia Grove Monastery
• Planting Seeds of Compassion
• Plum Village

This entry was posted in Breathing, European Institute of Applied Buddhism, Retreats, Walking and tagged 2013 German Retreat, concentration, EIAB, German, Insight, mindfulness, Right Thinking, True Love on July 1, 2013.

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...

Distortions of the Mind (sutra)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly translation (Vipallasa Sutra, AN 4.49)

The "distortions" (vipallasas) can be called the hallucinations, perversions, inversions.

 

Candy eye (lilminx16/deviantart)

Earlier we asked, What is art? Is it a cartoon, an illusion... or an attempt to see things the way they really are? 

Art can sensitize us even as it distorts and emphasizes. Perception is how we look at the world we create every moment without realizing we're creating as we're choosing what to notice or how to interpret (cognize) it. Art, like meditation, may sensitize and teach us to clear our mental perception -- our preconceptions and distortions. (See sutra and explanation below).

"Meditators, there are four distortions of perception, distortions of mind (heart), distortions of view. What are the four? 

Saara sees (Arkiharha/weekday-illusion)

"To regard as 'permanent' what is actually impermanent is the distortion of perception, distortion of mind, distortion of view.
 
"To regard as 'fulfilling' what is actually disappointing...

"To regard as 'personal' what is actually impersonal (anatta)...

"To regard as 'attractive' what is actually unattractive is the distortion of perception, distortion of mind, distortion of view. These are the four distortions of perception, distortions of mind, distortions of view.

 
The Undistorted

The Buddha distorted to reflect iridescent colors on drilled metal surface

 

Psychedelic (-william/flickr.com)

"There are four non-distortions of perception, non-distortions of mind, non-distortions of view. What are the four? 

"To regard as 'impermanent' what is actually impermanent is the non-distortion of perception, non-distortion of mind, non-distortion of view. 

"To regard as 'disappointing' what is actually disappointing...

"To regard as 'impersonal' what is actually impersonal...

"To regard as 'unattractive' what is actually unattractive is the non-distortion of perception, non-distortion of mind, non-distortion of view.

 

"These are the four non-distortions of perception, non-distortions of mind, non-distortions of view."

    

"Perceiving permanence in the impermanent, fulfillment in the disappointing, self in the impersonal, attractiveness in the unattractive -- beings, brought to ruin by wrong-view, become imbalanced, go out of their minds.

 

Mara has his eye on us (lilminx16)

"Bound by Mara's noose, from that noose [snare, threat of death] they find no rest. Instead, beings continue wandering on, going to rebirth and death.

 

"But when Enlightened Ones arise in the world and bring light into the world, they proclaim the Dharma [the path to liberation] leading to the cessation of disappointment (dukkha, suffering).

"When those with wisdom (insight) listen, they regain their senses and see the impermanent as impermanent, the disappointing as disappointing, the impersonal as impersonal, and the unattractive as unattractive.

"Undertaking right-view, they go beyond all disappointment and unhappiness."

• Explanation of the discourse (Andrew Olendzki)

The Perversions explained

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary

What is art? (Saara/flickr.com)

The "perversions" or "distortions" are four, which may be either:

• of perception (saññā-vipallāsa)
  
• of consciousness (citta-vipallāsa)
  
• or of views (ditthi-vipallāsa).
  

What are they? The four are seeing or regarding:

1. what is impermanent (anicca) as permanent;
2. what is painful (dukkha) as pleasant (or happiness-yielding);
3. what is without a self (anattā) as a self;
4. what is impure (ugly, asubha) as pure or beautiful'' (A.IV.49).

Ah, is that how I was seeing things?

"Of the distortions, the following are eliminated by the first path-knowledge (stream-entry, sotāpatti): the distortions of perception, consciousness, and views, that the impermanent is permanent and what is not a self is a self; further, the distortion of views that the painful is pleasant, and the impure is pure.
 
By the third path-knowledge (non-returning, anāgāmitā) are eliminated: the distortions of perception and consciousness that the impure is pure.
 
By the fourth path-knowledge (full-enlightenment, arahatta) are eliminated the distortions of perception and consciousness that the painful is pleasant" (Path of Purification, Vis.M. XXII, 68).

• My cartoon ART is your perception
• Hating China in Vietnam
• U.S. warns China to knock it off 
• China blames Vietnam 
• Mr. Winslet’s aristocratic ex-wife turns to Hinduism In a move uncannily like the plot of Kate Winslet’s film "Hideous Kinky," her husband Ned Rocknroll’s ex-wife has become fascinated with Hinduism...

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)

The Fifth Precept: to abstain from drugs (sutra)

Amber Larson, Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly translation based on "The Five Precepts" (pañca-sila), AccessToInsight.org (AN 8.39)

The Buddhist Wheel of the Liberating Dharma (kadampa.org)

  

Buddha mudra, Thailand (Ponz666/flickr)

There are five basic training rules observed by all practicing lay Buddhists.

 

The precepts are often recollected after going for guidance to the Three Jewels: Buddha (the Enlightened), Dharma (Teachings that lead to enlightenment), and (noble community called the) Sangha (those who have successfully followed the Buddha and Dharma to the ultimate goal of enlightenment).  

Five Precepts

1. I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures.

2. I undertake the precept to refrain from taking what is not given.

3. I undertake the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct.

4. I undertake the precept to refrain from false speech.

5. I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicants which lead to carelessness.

 

Five Faultless Gifts

I will enjoy peace of mind and freedom.

"There are five great gifts -- original, ancient, traditional, long standing, unadulterated from the beginning -- that are not to be faulted now, that are never to be faulted, that are upheld by wise spiritual recluses and Brahmin priests. What are they?
 
"A disciple of the noble ones, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from taking life. In doing so, one gives to limitless numbers of beings freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression. In giving freedom to limitless numbers of beings, one gains a share of limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the first gift...
 
"Furthermore, abandoning taking what is not given (stealing), a disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking what is not given....
 
"Furthermore, abandoning sexual misconduct, a disciple of the noble ones abstains from sexual misconduct....
 
"Furthermore, abandoning false speech, a disciple of the noble ones abstains from false speech....
 

Careless in Colarado (Brennan Linsley/AP)

"Furthermore, abandoning the use of intoxicants, a disciple of the noble ones abstains from taking intoxicants. In doing so, one gives to limitless numbers of beings freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression. In giving freedom one gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the fifth great gift -- original, ancient, traditional, long standing, unadulterated from the beginning -- that is not to be faulted now, that is never to be faulted, that is upheld by wise spiritual recluses and Brahmin priests."

Radical Therapy:

Buddhist Precepts in the Modern World

Prof. Lily de Silva (Buddhist Publication Society)

The Buddha rises above all obstalces (Buddhisam)

The Five Precepts are the basic Buddhist code of virtue, undertaken daily by lay Buddhists along with Going for Guidance to the Three Gems. Virtue is regarded as the indispensable foundation of a life in line with the Dharma.
 
The Five Precepts consist of five training rules of abstinence: (1) from killing, (2) from stealing, (3) from sexual misconduct, (4) from false speech, and (5) from intoxicants.
 
The Five Precepts are designed to [give freedom from remorse as they] discipline and purify the three avenues of human action -- body, speech, and mind.

The Buddha rediscovered the Path then taught it.

Abstaining from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct disciplines bodily action. Abstaining from false speech disciplines verbal action. ("False" speech is not a nice way of saying not lying; it refers to abstaining from perjury, slander, harsh/abusive speech, and frivolous talk).
 
The dual discipline of body and speech has a healthy effect on the purity of mind, although complete mental purity can only be brought about by "bringing it into being" (bhavana, mental culture, cultivation, self-development, or meditation).
 
The fifth precept -- abstaining from using intoxicants -- attempts to safeguard the mental faculty from degenerating through toxicity or a bad habit. A person under the influence has little control over oneself. So one is easily tempted to carelessly transgress the four other precepts as well. More

The ancient Five Precepts, Lumbini, Nepal (tripadvisor.com)

In praise of meditative absorptions (jhanas)

Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Thanissaro (trans.) Pañcalacanda Sutta (SN 2.7)

New Year festival, monk light votive candles to the Buddha on Dec. 31, 2013, Phan Tao Temple, Chiang Mai, Thailand (ArztSamui/flickr.com).

 

The Blessed One was residing at Savatthi. Then Pañcalacanda the light being (deva), standing to one side, recited this verse in [the Buddha's] presence:

 

"Truly in a confining place, he found an opening -- the one of great wisdom, the enlightened one who awakened to [blissful, mentally-purifying] meditative absorption (jhana), the chief bull, withdrawn, the sage."

 

[The Buddha replied in verse:] "Even in a confining place, they find it, [Pañcalacanda], the Dharma for the attainment of nirvana (complete freedom). Those who have gained mindfulness are rightly concentrated (collected, absorbed).

EXPLANATION

G.P. Malalasekera (Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, metta.lk)

Deva (Kevin Borland/flickr)

Pañcálacanda devaputta: a deva who visited the Buddha at Jetavana and uttered a verse to the effect that the person who understands absorption (jhana) finds room even among crowding obstacles. The Buddha corrects him, saying that those who are mindful and self-possessed know the way to nirvana (S.i.48). This discussion forms the basis for the Pañcála Sutta. It is probably this same deva who is mentioned as a great yakkha in the Atánátiya Sutta (D.iii.205), invoked by the Buddha's followers in times of need.

Pañcacúlakais the name of Sanankumára when he was reborn as a human being in a former life. He practiced the absorptions (jhanas). Having passed away in that meditative state, he was reborn in the Brahma world (MA.ii.584). More probably, Pañcacúlaka here is not a name but a descriptive nickname meaning "while he was yet a boy with his hair tied in five knots."

COMMENTARY

The first verse in this discourse focuses on absorption (jhana) as a crucial element on the path to liberation. The Buddha's "awakening to absorption" apparently refers to two points in his long career as a being striving for enlightenment (bodhisattva).

There was the point when, realizing the futility of self-torture, he surmised that blissful, suprasensual absorption might be part of the path to enlightenment, to awakening to the truth. There was also the point when he realized the limited extent to which absorption could actually lead to the wisdom (knowing and seeing) that resulted in full enlightenment. (For details on both of these points, see MN 35).

In the second verse, the Buddha expands on Pañcalacanda's understanding of the practice of the absorptions by pointing out that it has to be accompanied by mindfulness to be genuinely "right" concentration. [Concentration is the foundation of the fourfold setting up of mindfulness, but mindfulness is also one of the constituents of concentration.]

This point is related to the fact that the various lists of practices constituting the path -- such as the Five Faculties, the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, and the Noble Eightfold Path -- always place "right mindfulness" before "right concentration." [But, of course, the list is not sequential; it is interdependent in that every factor aids and supports every other factor like spokes support a wheel.] It is also related to the statement in MN 44 that the Four Foundations of Mindfulness form the "sign" (nimitta) of right concentration.
 
AN 9.42 contains an explanation of the first verse here: Ven. Ananda identifies the first absorption as the opening offering an escape from the "confining place" of sensual pleasures. And each successive level of absorption (eight levels in all) are the openings offering an escape from the "confining place" of the preceding absorption. Finally, Ananda says, the "cessation of perception and feeling" (a higher level of concentration only available to enlightened individuals) acts as the ultimate opening offering escape from all forms of confinement.