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)

Understanding Maitreya Buddha

CC Liu, Maya, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly; Bhikkhu Bodhi (BAUS) ASK MAYA

Question: Recently K.K. Shrivastava contacted Wisdom Quarterly with an appetizing offer, asking if we would be willing to probe his claim about Maitreya Buddha. That would having go through 20 pages of text containing plainly written and easily verifiable facts supporting his mysterious contention.

• The Buddha's "Second Coming" (Maitreya)

Answer: We would love to, particularly because the future Buddha is widely misunderstood and been made much of and possibly distorted in the service of a universalist-Buddhist message, a "greater vehicle" (maha yana) for all to cross over on going from this painful and fraught samsara to that secure and joyful nirvana -- without perceiving any duality (because of Hindu-Advaita influence on this school) in the process.

Gandhara Maitreya Buddha (asianart.org)

Dear K.K. Shrivastava, please send us (or help us locate) your scholarship, and you can start with the abstract or brief summary. 

While we wait -- and while others realize the dual offer is also open to them to write for Wisdom Quarterly or ask us any question -- we should explore the original story of Maitreya/Metteyya ("friend," from the Sanskrit maitri/Pali metta, a proper name referring to loving-kindness, loving-friendliness, altruistic help).

Because the historical Buddha had mentioned 24 supremely enlightened teaching buddhas in the past, and many other nonteaching (pacceka) buddhas

 

Arahants, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas

Bhikkhu Bodhi

I. Competing Buddhist Ideals The arhat ideal [enlightenment for all] and the bodhisattva ideal [enlightenment for none as everybody is already enlightened, and everyone should become a martyr and messianic/maitreyanic "savior" saving an infinite number of living beings first] are often considered the respective guiding ideals of [a simplistic understanding of] Theravāda Buddhism and Mahāyāna Buddhism.

This assumption is not entirely correct, for the Theravāda tradition has absorbed the bodhisattva ideal [and many Mahayanists in the past and now would indeed strive for the stages of enlightenment] into its framework and thus recognizes the validity of both arhatship and buddhahood as objects of aspiration.

It would therefore be more accurate to say that the arhat ideal and the bodhisattva ideal are the respective guiding ideals of Early Buddhism [Sarvastivada and the Hinayana schools, of which Theravada is not one but gets called one because of its age and its keeping with early ideals and teachings] and Mahāyāna Buddhism.

"Early Buddhism" is not the same thing as Theravāda Buddhism that exists in the countries of South and Southeast Asia. It refers to the type of Buddhism embodied in the archaic Nikāyas [collection, division, volume, assemblages of sacred texts] of Theravāda Buddhism and in the corresponding texts of other schools of Indian Buddhism that did not survive the general destruction of Buddhism in India.
 
It is important to recognize that these ideals, in the forms that they have come down to us, originate from different bodies of literature stemming from different periods in the historical development of Buddhism.

If we fail to take this fact into account and simply compare these two ideals as described in Buddhist canonical texts, we might assume that the two were originally expounded by the historical Buddha himself. Then we might suppose that the Buddha -- living and teaching in the Gangetic plain in the fifth century B.C. -- offered his followers a choice between them, as if to say: "This is the arhat ideal, which has such and such features, and that is the bodhisattva ideal, which has such and such features. Choose whichever one you like."

• There is also a third model of Buddhist spiritual life, that of the pacceka-buddha (Sanskrit pratyeka), which is similar in many respects to the disciple arhat, except that the disciple arhat attains enlightenment under the guidance of a teaching buddha, and other gains enlightenment without any outside guidance [after an incredibly long time and a great deal of effort and uncertainty with no ability to teach the Path to others]. Otherwise, the combination of qualities that constitute this type is essentially the same. In the literature of the Buddhist systems, we often read of three types of fully enlightened ones -- disciples ("hearers," Pali sāvakas), nonteaching (pacceka) buddhas, and supremely or perfectly enlightened teachers (sammā sam buddhas, Sanstrit śrāvakas, pratyeka-buddhas, and samyak sam buddhas). And of the three vehicles (yānas) that lead to these attainments.

The Mahāyāna sūtras, such as the "Great Perfection of Wisdom" (Mahā Prajñā-Pāramitā Sūtra) and the Lotus Sūtra (Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra), give the impression that the Buddha did teach both ideals. Such sūtras, however, are certainly not archaic. To the contrary, they are relatively late attempts to schematize the different types of Buddhist practice that had evolved over a period of roughly 400 years after the Buddha's final nirvāṇa.
 
The most archaic Buddhist texts -- the Pali [an exclusively Buddhist language] Nikāyas and their counterparts from other early schools (some of which have been preserved in the Chinese Āgamas and the Tibetan Kanjur) -- depict the ideal for the Buddhist disciple as the arhat.

The Mahāyāna sūtras, composed a few centuries later in a Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit, depict the ideal for the Mahāyāna follower as the bodhisattva. Now some people argue that because the arhat is the ideal of Early Buddhism, while the bodhisattva is the ideal of later Mahāyāna Buddhism, the Mahāyāna must be a more advanced or highly developed type of Buddhism, a more ultimate teaching compared to the simpler, more basic teaching of the Nikāyas.

That is indeed an attitude common among [average or unlearned] Mahāyānists, which I will call "Mahāyāna elitism." An opposing attitude common among conservative advocates of the Nikāyas rejects all later developments in the history of Buddhist thought as deviation and distortion, a fall away from the "pristine purity" of the ancient teaching. I call this attitude "Nikāya purism."
 
Taking the arhat ideal alone as valid, Nikāya purists reject the bodhisattva ideal, sometimes forcefully and even aggressively.
 
I have been seeking a point of view that can do justice to both perspectives, that of the Nikāyas and the early Mahāyāna sūtras, a point of view that can accommodate their respective strengths without falling into a soft and easy syncretism, without blotting out conceptual dissonances between them, without abandoning faithfulness to the historical records -- yet one which also recognizes that these records are by no means crystal clear and are unlikely to be free of bias.

This task is difficult. It is much simpler to adopt either a standpoint of "Nikāya purism" or one of "Mahāyāna elitism" and hold to it without flinching. The problem with these two standpoints, however, is that both are obliged to neglect facts that are discomforting to their respective points of view.
 

Although I am ordained as [an American] Theravāda Buddhist monk, in this paper I am not going to be defending the opinions of any particular school of Buddhism or trying to uphold a sectarian point of view. For six years, I have lived in Chinese Mahāyāna monasteries, and my understanding of Buddhism has been particularly enriched by my contact with the teachings of the Chinese scholar-monk Master Yinshun (1906-2005) and his most senior living pupil, Master Renjun, the founder of Bodhi Monastery in New Jersey. My first purpose is to draw out from the texts what the texts say explicitly, and also what they imply, about these two competing ideals of the Buddhist life. More

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)."

Mahayana: "The Sutra in Forty-Two Sections"

Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Amber Larson, (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ling-Yen Mountain Temple, Canada, "The Sutra in Forty-Two Sections"; Master Miao Lien (PURE LAND BUDDHISM)

Kwan Yin Bodhisattva, Goddess of Mercy, at the seaside of Sanya (HawkDisplays/flickr)

 

OPENING VERSE

The unsurpassed, profound, and wonderful Dharma

Is difficult to encounter in hundreds of millions of aeons.

I now see and hear it, receive and uphold it,

And I vow to fathom the Tathagata's true meaning.

 

PREFACE

When the World Honored One had attained the Way, he [is said in Mahayana Buddhism to have] thought, "To leave desire behind and to gain calmness and tranquility is supreme." 

He abided in deep meditative concentration and subdued every demon and externalist.

• [Externalist: six non-Buddhist wandering-ascetic (shramana) traditions led by: Pūraṇa Kassapa, Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta (Jainism's Mahavira), and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta].

In the Deer Park he turned the Dharma-wheel of the Four Noble Truths and took across Ajnata-kaundinya [led Añña Kondañña to enlightenment] and the other four [first] disciples, who all realized the fruition of the Way.

Then the bhikshus expressed their doubts and asked the Buddha how to resolve them. The World Honored One taught and exhorted them, until one by one they awakened and gained enlightenment. After that, they each put their palms together, respectfully gave their assent, and followed the Buddha's instructions.

SECTION 1

Leaving Home and Becoming an Arhat

Shakyamuni Buddha walking (sdhammika)

The Buddha said, "People who take leave of their families and go forth from the householder's life, who know their mind and penetrate to its origin, and who understand the unconditioned Dharma [i.e., asankhata, nirvana, what is not conditional, not dependently originated] are called shramanas [wandering ascetics as distinguished from Brahminical temple priests]. 

"They constantly observe the 250 [monastic] precepts, and they value purity in all that they do. By practicing the four true paths [likely a reference to the four analytical knowledges], they can become arhats."

"Arhats [equipped with abhinnas or siddhis] can fly and transform themselves. They have a life span of vast aeons, and wherever they dwell they can move heaven and earth."

 

"Prior to the arhat is the anagamin [non returner]. At the end of his life, an anagamin's vital spirit will rise above the nineteenth heaven, and one will become an arhat."

"Prior to the anagamin is the sakridagamin [once returner], who ascends once, returns once more, and thereafter becomes an arhat. 

"Prior to the sakridagamin is the srotapanna [stream enterer], who has [at most] seven [more] deaths and seven births remaining, and then becomes an arhat. Severing [attachment] and desire is like severing the four limbs; one never uses them again."

SECTION 2

Eliminating Desire and Ending Seeking

The Buddha [allegedly] said, "Those who have left the home-life and become [wandering ascetics] cut off desire, renounce [attachment], and recognize the source of their minds. They penetrate the Buddha's profound principles and awaken to the unconditioned Dharma. 

"Internally they have nothing to attain, and externally they seek nothing. They are not mentally bound to the Way, nor are they tied to karma. They are free of thought and action [are not storing up karma]; they neither cultivate nor attain certification; they do not pass through the various stages, and yet they are highly revered [reverence-able, worthy of reverence]. This is the meaning of the Way." 

SECTION 3

Severing [Attachment] and Renouncing Greed

The Buddha said, "Shaving their hair and beards, they become shramanas who accept the Dharmas of the Way. They renounce worldly wealth and riches. In receiving alms, they accept only what's enough. They take only one meal a day at noon, pass the night beneath trees, and are careful not to seek more than that. Craving and desire are what cause people to be stupid and dull."

The Buddha's life in panels, Jing'an Temple wall, Shanghai, China (Wisdom Quarterly)

 

SECTION 4

Clarifying Good and Evil

The Buddha said, "Living beings may perform Ten Good Deeds or Ten Evil Deeds. What are the ten? Three are done with the body; four are done with the mouth; and three are done with the mind.

"The three done with the body are killing, stealing, and lust [sexual misconduct]. The four done with the mouth are duplicity [slander], harsh speech, lies [perjury], and frivolous speech. The three done with the mind are jealousy [craving], hatred [aversion], and stupidity [tenaciously holding wrong views].

"Thus, these ten are not in accord with the Way of sages and are called the Ten Evil Deeds. To put a stop to these evils is to perform the Ten Good Deeds."

SECTION 5

Reducing the Severity of Offenses

The Buddha said, "If a person has many offenses and does not repent of [turn away from] them, but cuts off all thought [intention, aspiration] of repentance [of changing one's way], the offenses will engulf [one], just as water returning to the sea will gradually become deeper and wider. If a person has offense and, realizing they are wrong, reforms and does good, the offense will dissolve by themselves, just as a sick person who begins to perspire will gradually be cured."

SECTION 6

Tolerating Evil-doers and Avoiding Hatred

The Buddha said, "When an evil person hears about your goodness and intentionally comes to cause trouble, you should restrain yourself and not become angry or blame [that person]. Then the one who has come to do evil will do evil to him/herself."

SECTION 7

Evil Returns to the Doer

The Buddha said, "There was a person who, upon hearing that I observe the Way and practice great humane kindness, intentionally came to berate me. I was silent and did not reply. When [that person] finished abusing me, I asked: 'If you are courteous to people and they do not accept your courtesy, the courtesy returns to you, does it not?' 'It does," [that person] replied. I said, 'Now you are scolding me, but I do not receive it, so the misfortune returns to you and must remain with you. It is as inevitable as an echo that follows a sound, or as a shadow that follows a form. In the end you cannot avoid it. Therefore, be careful not to do evil.'"

Enlightenment and Magic (sutra)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly based on Ajahn Thanissaro, Abbot of Wat Metta, translation of the Pali Susima Sutra, "About Susima" (SN 12.70)

The future Buddha behind the Himalayas in Ladakh, Buddhist India

 

Meditating and striving in the forest

This sutra or discourse is sometimes cited as "proof" that a meditator can attain full enlightenment without having practiced the meditative absorptions (jhanas), classified as "serenity-meditation" rather than insight-meditation. But a careful reading shows that it does not support this assertion at all.
 
The new enlightened ones (arhats) mentioned here do not deny that they have attained the first four absorptions (the "form" jhanas) that make up the definition of the Noble Eightfold Path factor "right concentration."
 
Instead, they simply say that they have not acquired any psychic powers that stem from developing these meditative states to a higher degree, and they say they do not remain in physical contact with the four higher levels of concentration, the immaterial states or "formless" jhanas.

In this discourse, their definition of "release by wisdom" is no different than that given in AN 9.44. (Compare this with the definitions of "bodily witness" and "released in both ways" given in AN 9.43 and AN 9.45).

Taken in the context of the Buddha's many other teachings on "right concentration" (samma samadhi), there is in fact every reason to believe that the new arhats mentioned in this discourse had developed at least the first absorption before attaining enlightenment.

About Susima 

Siddhartha under tree, Mes Aynak (livescience.com)

 

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One [Buddha] was staying near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, at the Squirrels' Sanctuary. Now at that time the Blessed One was revered, honored, venerated, given homage. He was a recipient of robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicinal requisites.

The monastic community composed of both monks and nuns was also revered, honored, venerated, and given homage. They were recipients of the same four requisites. But the wanderers of other dharmas (paths) were not revered, honored, venerated, or given homage, nor were they recipients of robes, almsfood, lodgings, or medicinal requisites.

 

The Buddha was reluctant to perform marvels

Now at that time the wanderer Susima was living in Rajagaha with a large following of wanderers (wandering ascetics). Susima's following of wanderers said to him, "Come now, friend Susima. Go live the high life under Gotama the ascetic [the Buddha]. When you have completely mastered that Dharma, tell it to us. When we have completely mastered it, we will teach it to householders and then we, too, will be revered, honored, venerated, given homage, and we too will become recipients of robes, almsfood, lodgings, and medicinal requisites."

 

He responded to his own following, "As you say, friends!" Then the wanderer Susima went to Ven. Ananda and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him and sat respectfully to one side. Sitting there, he said to Ven. Ananda, "Friend Ananda, I want to live the high life in this Dharma and Discipline."

 

Then Ven. Ananda took the wanderer Susima to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed, sat respectfully to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One, "Venerable sir, this wanderer Susima has said, 'Friend Ananda, I want to live the high life in this Dharma and Discipline.'"

 

"Then in that case, Ananda, give him the going forth [monastic ordination]." So the wanderer Susima gained the going forth in the presence of the Blessed One and gained acceptance (into the Buddhist community of monastics).

 

Enlightened beings in ancient Thai-Laotian style (Trianons/flickr.com)

 

Now at that time a large number of monastics had declared final knowledge (enlightenment) in the presence of the Blessed One: "We know and see that 'birth is ended, the high life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for the sake of this world.'"

 

And Ven. Susima heard of this, so he went to those monastics and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with them and sat respectfully to one side. Sitting there, he asked: "Is it true, as they say, that you have declared final knowledge the presence of the Blessed One: 'We know and see that birth is ended, the high life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for the sake of this world'?" "Yes, friend," they replied.

 

"Then having known thus, having seen thus, do you wield manifold supernormal powers? 

 

"Having been one are you able to become many; having been many are you able to become one? Do you appear and vanish at will? Go unimpeded through walls, ramparts, and mountains as if going through space? Are you able to dive in and out of the earth as if it were water? Can you walk on water without sinking as if it were dry land? Sitting cross legged, are you fly through the air like a bird? With your hands are you able to touch and stroke even the sun and moon, so mighty and powerful? Do you exercise influence of your body even as far as the Brahma worlds?" More

The Enlightened American (Daniel Ingram)

Wisdom Quarterly (edit); Buddhist Geek Daniel Ingram (DharmaOverground.org)

Self-proclaimed arhat, author (Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha), and Site Administrator Daniel Ingram founded the Dharma Underground, which lead to the Dharma Overground, which culminated in The DhO.

 
Frustrated with the world of online Dharma blogs that are all about dogma, hierarchy, disempowering views about how it can't be done, mindless blind faith in absurd ideals, and texts that are wildly out of touch with reality, and a whole host of other absurdities, Ingram founded The DhO to form a safe haven.

It is for people who are into hardcore practice, real attainments, helping people out in the spirit of mutual noble friendship, open conversations about topics related to actual practice, and the like.
 
Ingram's website, InteractiveBuddha.com, is home to a distinct voice in the wilderness. He is boldly making the following claims to attainments:

• I am an arhat, having attained [full enlightenment] in April, 2003.
• I have mastery of the [traditional eight] samatha jhanas [meditative absorptions], including Pure Land One and Pure Land Two, The Watcher, and Nirodha Samapatti [the "extinction of feeling and perception," a meditative state said to only be possible for arhats].
• I have some experience with some other traditional attainments.
• I can access the state [The DhO] calls No Dog. 

:: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ::

The face of enlightenment (DhO)

Ingram wrote the book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book, often abbreviated MCTB, which has influenced the practice of many members of The DhO.
 
He is an emergency medicine physician who practices in emergency departments in Mississippi and Northeast Alabama, where he lives with his wife, Carol, and his cats Boris, Mavis, and Elvira (Mistress of the Dark), along with a number of relatively tame raccoons, two of which his family calls Scruffy and Ramona.
 
Ingram gives a whole lot more biographical information in MCTB.
 
He states, "I have many outside interests, including green building, cooking, dancing, playing, and listening to music, the writings of Jack Vance, and a good deal more. Updates on my current practice, whatever it may be, can be found at Current Practice Blog."
 
It is his sincere hope that The DhO will serve to add to the available literature and support of hardcore, empowered practice. He further hopes that through the collective work of a group of dedicated, skilled practitioners that meditation technology and culture will be advanced, enhanced, and adapted to this post-post-modern world.

Financial Disclosure
A brief disclosure of finances: Renting the server space and bandwidth for The DhO costs me about $179/month from Omegabit. There are also other expenses in running The DhO, such as developing the PM feature (which Liferay 5.2.2 didn't have), which cost me about $1,500 out of pocket for the programming, and recent attempts to upgrade to Liferay 6.1, of which the total bill so far has been over $3,000. I also get a small royalty on my book, MCTB, which generally runs roughly $400-$800 every 6 months. Thus, after paying for The DhO server time and miscellaneous expenses, I lose money on all of this, which is just fine by me and consider it my small dana [act of generosity] to the world of meditation. I hope this community benefits every interested person in some way. 

COMMENTARY
Wisdom Quarterly (EDITORIAL)

Daddy, is this an enlightened being? (Eighteen for Life/flickr.com)

 
Do we believe Ingram's claims about attainments? Yes.
 
The problem, of course, is that traditionally the belief has been that one who attains non returner or arhat stages would immediately want to ordain and live according to monastic guidelines, which are regarded as the perfection of the "high life" or brahmacariya. To live otherwise entails blameworthy harm being done to others. This would not suitable for a person of perfected view. (Enlightenment does not perfect personality; it perfects view).
 
A person with right view does not do harm while engaging in a livelihood. Outside of the Sangha it may be that one "goes along to get along" in the world. The arhat, unwilling or unable to stray from what is right/virtuous, would fall by the wayside. There is no example that we could find of a layperson becoming an arhat at the time of the historical Buddha who did not immediately ask for admission into the Sangha. It is not generally believed that a layperson can even attain that distinction to begin with except in exceptional cases. Monks scoff at the notion since they themselves, under ideal conditions, have so much trouble remaining motivated and reaching the goal, particularly in the city.

Falsely accusing the Buddha

Traditional Theravada teachers would probably not keep advancing a stream enterer or once returner who did not intend to ordain. But the question is, Is it possible? We do not see a necessary reason why it would be impossible. Tradition says that this or that is what happens, and it may be the strong inclination of an arhat to live in peace as a harmless contemplative. But we do not see where it says that has to happen. (Of course, there is the issue of sex and sexual motivation, procreative or strictly based on lust; it would not, as we understand it, be something an arhat would be drawn to. Then again we would not have thought a stream enterer would still break precepts, but they do. How do we know? We've seen it, and the texts say so. Look at the Ratana Sutra. Apparently, what they are incapable of doing is keeping it a secret, but they can live heedlessly. This would seem to be impossible for an arhat).
 
The systematic commentarial work by Buddhaghosa, The Path of Purification, may seem like a set of hard and fast rules about the Dharma, meditation, attainments, and norms (niyamas), but there are so many examples of exceptions in the texts that one would be hard pressed to defend any definitive view. Buddhaghosa was not giving his opinion, which is how we define "comment" and "commentary." Expanding on and systematizing sacred texts is a sacred Indian tradition; one may need the commentary as much as the original text to make sense of most things great sages have taught.

It is easiest to believe that Daniel Ingram is mistaken or has misestimated his attainment. But how can we say with certainty? How can anyone say? One way to say is to become an arhat and then go meet Ingram. "It takes one to know one" is literally true in this case. If it is his experience, and he is being honest in reporting his experience, who will accurately judge the accuracy of his claims? To doubt it, if it is correct, is unskillful karma. Skeptical doubt is a major hindrance, so it would be better to believe or to leave it undecided until one can check.

An awakened heart of wisdom

We would only advise any person about to make such claim of enlightenment to check with a known arhat (such as Ajahn Jumnien, Pa Auk Sayadaw, the Western monk Ven. Dhammadipa, or other masters who would know) to confirm the attainment. It is easy to be mistaken even when one is personally "sure." What would be worse than living mistakenly thinking oneself liberated -- and convincing others of that -- if, in fact, one were wrong?
 
But Ingram has a mission to bring attainments out of the shadows where teachers imply they have attained things they may have not, and they never have to directly state one way or the other, or conceal what they are thought to have attained. The "defeat" offense (parajika) for monastics everyone seeks to avoid or ever be accused of in any way is to knowingly falsely claim attainments and/or distinctions in meditation for the sake of some worldly gain; if it is merely the result of misestimation, that does not fulfill the factors of defeat. There are, indeed, laypeople who have attained the stages of enlightenment alive today in America. We have met them. Until one learns what enlightenment actually is and meets examples of it, one may never "believe." This is a path of knowing-and-seeing, not of faith, for the wise and sincere. People may not be wise, but they will go a long way so long as they are sincere.
 
Before anyone judges this potential arhat or any other, we highly recommend reading Ingram's written work FREE: Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, an Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book. Thank you for teaching, venerable sir.