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06/15/18
2E Flux / Impermanence / Motion
Filed under: General
Posted by: site admin @ 8:24 pm

Flux / Impermanence / Motion



The Buddha said, ‘O Brahmana, it is just like a
mountain river, flowing far and swift, taking everything along with it;
there is no moment, no instant, no second when it stops flowing, but it
goes on flowing and continuing. So Brahmana, is human life, like a
mountain river.’ As the Buddha told Ratthapala: ‘The world is continuous
flux and is impermanent.’ (Rahula, p26)



One thing disappears, conditioning the appearance
of the next in a series of cause and effect. There is no unchanging
substance in them. There is nothing behind them that can be called a
permanent Self (atman), individuality, or anything that can in reality
be called ‘I’. Eberyonw will agree that neither matter, nor sensation,
nor perception, nor any one of those mental activities, nor
consciousness can really be called ‘I’. But when these five physical and
mental aggregates which are interdependent are working together in
combination as a physio-psychological machine, we get the idea of ‘I’.
But this is only a false idea, a mental formation, which is nothing but
one of those 52 mental formations, which is nothing but one of those 52
mental formations of the fourth Aggregate which we have discussed,
namely, it is the idea of self (sakkaya-ditthi). (Rahula, p26)



The Five Aggregates together, which we popularly call a ‘being’,
are dukkha itself (samkhara-dukkha). There is no other ‘being’
or ‘I’, standing behind these five aggregates, who experiences
dukkha.
There is no unmoving mover behind the movement. It is only
movement. It is not correct to say that life is moving, but life is
movement itself. Life and movement are not two different things. In
other words there is no thinker behind the thought. Thought itself is
the thinker. If you remove the thought, there is no thinker to be found.
Here we cannot fail to notice how this Buddhist view is diametrically
opposed to the Cartesian cogito ergo sum: ‘I think, therefore I am.’
(Rahula, p.26)



No beginning to life



According to the Buddha’s teaching the beginning of
the life-stream of living things is unthinkable. The believer in the
creation of life by God may be astonished at this reply. But if you were
to ask him, ‘What is the beginning of God?’ he would answer without
hesitation ‘God has no beginning,’ and he would not be astonished by his
reply. The Buddha says: ‘O bhikkhus, this cycle of continuity (samsara)
us without visible end, and the first beginning of beings wandering and
running around, enveloped in ignorance (avijja) and bound down by the
fetters of thirst (desire, tanha) is not the be perceived.’ (S II (PTS),
pp.178-9; III pp. 149, 151.)(Rahula, p.27)



And further, referring to the ignorance which is
the main cause of the continuity of life the Buddha states: ‘The first
beginning of ignorance is not to be perceived in such a way as to
postulate that there was no ignorance beyond a certain point.’ (A V
(PTS), p.113) Thus it is not possible to say that there was no life
beyond a certain definite point. (p27)





The Second Noble Truth: Samudaya ‘The arising of dukkha’


The Second Noble Truth is that of the
arising or origin of dukkha (Dukkhasamudaya-ariyasacca). The most
popular and well-known definition of the Second Truth as found in
innumerable places in the original texts runs as follows:


‘It is this “thirst” (craving, tanha) which
produces re-existence and re-becoming (ponobhavika), and which is bound
up with passionate greed (nandiragasahagata), and which finds fresh
delight now here and now there (tatratatrabhinandini), namely,


(1) thirst for sense-pleasures (kama-tanha),
(2) thirst for existence and becoming (bhava-tanha) and
(3) thirst for non-existence (self-annihilation, vibhava-tanha).’
(Mhvg. (Alutgama, 1922), p. 9; S V (PTS), p.421 and passim)(Rahula, p.29)



It is this ‘thirst’, desire, greed, craving,
manifesting itself in different ways, that gives rise to all forms of
suffering and the continuity of beings. But it should not be taken as
the first cause, for there is no first cause possible as, according to
Buddhism, everything is relative and interdependent. Even this ‘thirst’,
tanha, which is considered as the cause or origin of dukkha, depends
for its arising (samudaya) on something else, which is sensation
(vedana), and sensation arises depending on contact (phassa), and so on
and so forth goes the circle which is known as Conditioned Genesis
(Paticca- samuppada).



So Tanha, ‘thirst’ is not the first or only cause
of the arising of dukkha. But it is the most palatable and immediate
cause, the ‘principle thing’ and the ‘all pervading thing’. Hence in
certain places of the original Pali texts themselves the definition of
samudaya or the origin of dukkha includes other defilements and
impurities (kilesa, sasava, dhamma), in addition to tanha, thirst which
is always given the first place. Within the necessarily limited space of
our discussion, it will be sufficient if we remember that this ‘thirst’
has as its centre the false idea of self arising out of ignorance.
(Rahula, p29-30)



The term ‘thirst’ includes not only desire for, and
attachment to, sense-pleasures, wealth and power, but also desires for,
and attachment to, ideas and ideals, views, opinions, theories,
conceptions and beliefs (dhamma-tanha). According to the Buddha’s
analysis, all the troubles and strife in the world, from little personal
quarrels in families to great wars between nations and countries, arise
out of this selfish ‘thirst’. From this point of view all economic,
political, social problems are rooted in this selfish ‘thirst’. As the
Buddha told Rattapala: “The world lacks and hankers, and is enslaved to
“thirst” (tanhadaso).” (p30)



Karma and Rebirth



Everyone will admit that all the evils in the world
are produced by selfish desire. This is not difficult to understand.
But how this desire, ‘thirst’, can produce re-existence and re-becoming
(pono-bhavika) is a problem not so easy to grasp. Here we must have some
idea about the theory of karma and rebirth. (p30)



There are four Nutriments (ahara) in the sense of ‘cause’
or ‘condition’ necessary for the existence and continuity of
beings:
(1) ordinary material food (kabalinkarahara)
(2) contact of our sense-organs (including mind) with the external world
(phassahara)
(3) consiousness (vinnanahara) and
(4) mental volition or will (manosancetanahara).
Of these four, the last mentioned ‘metal volition’ is the will
to live, to exist, to re-exist, to continue, to become more and more. It
creates the root of existence and continuity, striving forward by way of
good and bad actions (kusalakusalakamma). It is the same as ‘Volition’
(cetana). We have seen earlier that volition is karma, as the Buddha himself
defined it. Referring to ‘Mental Volition’ just mentioned above
the Buddha says:
‘When one understands the nutriment of mental volition one understands the three forms of ‘thirst’ (tanha)’.



Thus the terms ‘thirst’, ‘volition’, ‘mental
volition’ and ‘karma’ all denote the same thing: they denote the desire,
the will to be, to exist, to re-exist, to become more and more, to grow
more and more, to accumulate more and more. This is the arising of
dukkha, and this is found within the Aggregate of Mental Formations, one
of the Five Aggregates which constitute a being.



Here is one of the most important and essential
points in the Buddha’s teaching. We must therefore clearly and carefully
mark and remember that the cause, the germ, of the arising of dukkha is
within dukkha itself, and not outside; and we must equally well
remember that the cause, the germ, of the cessation of dukkha, of the
destruction of dukkha, is also within dukkha itself, and not outside.
This is what is meant by the well-known formula often found in original
Pali texts:



Yam kinci samudayadhammam sabbam tam nirodhadhammam
‘ Whatever is of the nature of arising, all that is of the nature of cessation.’



A being, thing, or a system, if it has within
itself the nature of arising, the nature of coming into being, has also
within itself the nature, the germ, of its own cessation and
destruction. Thus dukkha (Five Aggregates) has within itself the nature
of its own arising, and has also within itself the nature of its own
cessation. (p31-2)



Karma



The Pali word kamma or the Sanskrit word karma
(from the root kr to do) literally means ‘action’, ‘doing’. But in the
Buddhist theory of karma it has a specific meaning: it means only
‘volitional action’ not all action. Nor does it mean the result of karma
as many people wrongly and loosely use it. In Buddhist terminology
karma never means its effect; its effect is known as the ‘fruit’ or the
‘result’ of karma.



Volition may relatively be good or bad, just as
desire may relatively be good or bad. So karma may be good or bad
relatively. Good karma produces good effects and bad karma bad effects.
‘Thirst’, volition, karma, whether good or bad, has one force as its
effect: force to continue- to continue in a good or bad direction.
Whether good or bad it is relative, and is within the cycle of
continuity (samsara). An Arahant, though he acts, does not accumulate
karma, because he is free from the false idea of self, free from the
‘thirst’ for continuity and becoming, free from all other defilements
and impurities. For him there is no rebirth.



The theory of karma should not be confused with so-called
‘moral justice’ or ‘reward and punishment’. The
idea of moral justice, or reward and punishment, arises out of the conception
of a supreme being, a God, who sits in judgement, who is a law-giver and
who decides what is right and wrong. The term ‘justice’ is ambiguous
and dangerous, and in its name more harm than good is done to humanity.

The theory of karma is the theory of cause and effect, of action
and reaction; it is a natural law, which has nothing to do with the idea
of justice or reward and punishment. Every volitional action produces
its effects or results. If a good action produces good effects, it is
not justice, or reward, meted out by anybody or any power sitting in
judgement of your action, but this is in virtue of its own nature, its
own law.



This is not difficult to understand. But what is
difficult is that, according to karma theory, the effects of a
volitional action may continue to manifest themselves even in a life
after death. (p32)



We have seen earlier that a being is nothing but a
combination of physical and mental forces or energies. What we call
death is the total non-functioning of the physical body. Do all these
forces and energies stop altogether with the non-functioning of the
body? Buddhism says ‘No’. Will, volition, desire, thirst to exist, to
continue, to become more and more, is a tremendous force that moves the
whole world. This is the greatest force, the greatest energy in the
world. According to Buddhism this force does not stop with the
non-functioning of the body, which is death; but it continues
manifesting itself in another form, producing re-existence which is
called rebirth.



Now, another question arises: If there is no permanent, unchanging
entity or substance like Self or Soul (atman), what is it that can re-exist
or be reborn after death? Before we go on to life after death, let us consider
what Life is, and how it continues now. What we call life, is the combination
of the Five Aggregates, a combination of physical and mental energies. These
are continously changing. Every moment they are born and they die. Thus
even now during this lifetime, every moment we are born and die, but we
continue. If we can understand that in this life we can continue without
a permanent, unchanging substance like Self or Soul, why cant we understand
that those forces themselves can continue without a Self or a Soul behind
them after the non-functioning of the body?
When this physical body is no more capable of functioning,
energies do not die with it, but continue to take some other shape or
form, which we call another life. In a child all the physical, mental
and intellectual faculties are tender and weak, but they have within
them the potentiality of producing a full grown man. Physical and mental
energies which constitute the so-called being have within themselves
the power to take a new form, and grow gradually and gather force to the
full. (p33)


As there is no permanent, unchanging substance, nothing
passes from one moment to the next. So quite obviously, nothing permanent
or unchanging can pass or transmigrate from one life to the next. It is
a series that continues unbroken, but changes every moment. The series is,
really speaking, nothing but movement. It is like a flame that burns through
the night: it is not the same flame nor is it another. A child grows up
to be a man of sixty. Certainly the man of sixty is not the same as the
child of sixty years ago, nor is he another person. Similarly, a person
who dies here and is reborn elsewhere is neither the same person, nor another
(na ca so na ca anno). It is the continuity of the same series.
The difference between death and birth is only a thought-moment:
the last thought-moment in this life conditions the first thought-moment
in the so-called next life, which, in fact, is the continuity of the
same series. During this life itself too, one thought-moment conditions
the next thought-moment. SO from the Buddhist point of view, the
question of life after death is not a great mystery, and a Buddhist is
never worried about this problem.


As long as there is ‘thirst’ to be and to
become, the cycle of continuity (samsara) goes on. It can stop only when
its driving force, this ‘thirst’, is cut off through wisdom which sees
Reality, Truth, Nirvana. (Rahula, p34)





The Third Noble Truth: Nirodha ‘The Cessation of Dukkha’


The Third Noble Truth is that there is
liberation, emancipation, freedom from suffering, from the continuity of
dukkha. This is called the Noble Truth of the Cessation of dukkha
(Dukkhanirodha-ariyasacca), which is Nibbana, more popularly known in
its Sanskrit form of Nirvana. (p35)



Now you will ask: But what is Nirvana?
..The only reasonable reply is that it can never be answered completely
and satisfactorily in words, because human language is too poor to express
the real nature of the Absolute Truth or Ultimate Reality which is Nirvana.
Language is created and used by masses of human beings to express things
and ideas experienced by their sense organs and their mind. A supramundane
experience like that of the Absolute Truth is not of such a category.
Words are symbols representing things and ideas known to us; and
these symbols do not and cannot convey the true nature of even ordinary
things. Language is considered deceptive and misleading in the matter of
understanding of the Truth. So the Lankavatara-sutra says that ignorant
people get stuck in words like an elephant in the mud. Nevertheless, we
cannot do without language. (p35)



Nirvana


Let us consider a few definitions and descriptions
of Nirvana as found in the original Pali texts:
‘It is the complete cessation of that very ‘thirst’ (tanha), giving it
up, renouncing it, emancipation from it, detachment from it.’ (Mhvg.
(Alutgama, 1922), p.10; S V p.421) (Rahula, p.36)



‘Calming of all conditioned things, giving up of all
defilements, extinction of ‘thirst’, detachment, cessation,
Nibbana.’
(S I, p.136) (Rahula, p.36)



‘O bhikkhus, what is the Absolute (Asamkhata,
Unconditioned)? It is the extinction of desire (ragakkhayo), the
extinction of hatred (dosakkhayo), the extinction of illusion
(mohakkhayo). This, O bhikkhus, is called the Absolute.’ (Ibid. IV,
p.359)



‘The cessation of Continuity and becoming (Bhavanirodha)
is Nibbana.’
(Words of Musila, disciple of Buddha. S II (PTS), p.117) (Rahula, p.37)



Nirvana is definitely no annihilation of self
because there is no self to annihilate. If at all, it is the
annihilation of the illusion, of the false idea of self. (p37)



Nirvana as Absolute Truth


We may get some idea of Nirvana as Absolute Truth
from the Dhatuvibhanga-sutta (No. 140) of the Majjhima-nikaya. This extremely
important discourse was delivered by the Buddha to Pukkusati, whom the Master
found to be intelligent and earnest, in the quiet of night in a potter’s
shed.
The essence of the relevant portions of the sutta is as follows:


A man is composed of six elements: solidity,
fluidity, heat, motion, space and consciousness. He analyses them and
finds that none of them is ‘mine’, or ‘me’ or ‘my self.’ He understands
how consciousness appears and disappears, how pleasant, unpleasnt and
neutral sensations appear and disappear. Through this knowledge his mind
becomes detached. Then he finds within him a pure equanimity (upekha)
which he can direct towards the attainment of any high spiritual state.
But then he thinks:


‘If I focus this purified and cleansed
equanimity on the Sphere of Infinite Space and develop a mind conforming
thereto, that is a mental creation (samkhatam). If I focus this
purified and cleansed equanimity on the Sphere of Infinite
Consciousness, on the Sphere of Nothingness, or on the Sphere of
Neither-perception nor Non-perception and develop a mind conforming
thereto, that is a mental creation.’


Then he neither mentally creates nor wills
continuity and becoming (bhava) or annihilations (vibhava). As he does
not construct or does not will continuity and becoming or annihilation,
he does not cling to anything in the world; as he does not cling, he is
not anxious; as he is not anxious, he is completely calmed within (fully
g=blown out within paccattam yeva parinibhayati). And he knows:
‘Finished is birth, lived is pure life, what should be done is done,
nothing more is left to be done.’ (This expression means that now he is
an Arahant).


Now when he experiences a pleasant,
unpleasant or neutral sensation, he knows that it is impermanent, that
it does not bind him, that it is not experienced with passion. Whatever
may be the sensation, he experiences it without being bound to it
(visamyutto).



‘Therefore, O bhikkhu, a person so endowed is endowed
with the absolute wisdom, for the knowledge of the extinction of all dukkha
is the absolute noble wisdom.
This his deliverance, founded on Truth, is unshakable. O Bhikkhu, that which
is unreality (mosadhamma) is false; that which is reality (amosadhamma)
is Nibbana, is Truth (Sacca). Therefore O Bhikkhu, a person so endowed is
endowed with this Absolute Truth. For, the Absolute Truth (paramam ariyasaccam)
is Nibbana, which is Reality.’
(Buddha, from the Dhatuvibhanga-sutta (No. 140) of the Majjhima-nikaya) (Rahula, p38-9)



Elsewhere the Buddha unequivocally uses the word
Truth in place of Nibbana: ‘I will teach you the Truth and the Path
leading to the Truth.’ (S V (PTS), p.369) (Rahula, p39)



Now, what is this Absolute Truth? According to
Buddhism, the Absolute Truth is that there is nothing absolute in the
world, that everything is relative, conditioned, impermanent, and that
there is no unchanging, everlasting, absolute substance like Self, Soul
or Atman within or without. This is the Absolute Truth. (p39)



++ disagree. Absolute Truth comes from Absolute Space (what exists, Reality).



It is incorrect to think that Nirvana is the
natural result of the extinction of craving. Nirvana is not the result
of anything. If it would be a result, then it would be an effect
produced by a cause. It would be samkhata ‘produced’ and ‘conditioned’.
Nirvana is neither cause nor effect. It is not produced like a mystic,
spiritual, mental state, such as dhyana or samadhi. TRUTH IS. NIRVANA
IS. The only thing you can do is see it, realise it. There is a path
leading to the realisation of Nirvana. But Nirvana is not the result of
this path. You may get to the mountain along a path, but the mountain is
not the result, not an effect of the path. You may see a light, but the
light is not a result of your eyesight. (p40)



People often ask: What is there after Nirvana? This
question cannot arise, because Nirvana is the Ultimate Truth. If it is
Ultimate there can be nothing after it. If there is anything after
Nirvana, then that will be the Ultimate Truth and not Nirvana.
(Rahula,p40)



Another question arises: What happens to the Buddha
or an Arahant after his death, parinirvana? This comes under the
category of unanswered questions (avyakata). (Rahula, P40)



There is yet another popular question: If there is
no Self, no Atman, who realises Nirvana? Before we go on to Nirvana, let
us ask the question: Who thinks now, if there is no Self? We have seen
earlier that it is the thought that thinks, that there is no thinker
behind the thought. In the same way, it is wisdom (panna), realisation,
that realises. There is no other self behind the realisation. In the
discussion on the origin of dukkha we saw that whatever it may be-
whether being, or thing, or system- if it is of the nature of arising;
it has within itself the nature, the germ, of its cessation, its
destruction. Dukkha arises because of ‘thirst’ (tanha) and it ceases
because of wisdom (panna). ‘Thirst’ and Wisdom are both within the Five
Aggregates.



Thus, the germ of their arising as well as that of their
cessation are both within the Five Aggregates. This is the real meaning
of the Buddhas well-known statement:
‘Within this fathom-long sentient body itself, I postulate the world,
the arising of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path leading
to the cessation of the world.’ (A (Columbo, 1929) p218)
This means that all the Four Noble Truths are found within the
Five Aggregates, i.e. within ourselves. This also means that there is no
external power that produces the arising and cessation of dukkha. (p42)



When wisdom is developed and cultivated according
to the Fourth Noble Truth, it sees the secret of life, the reality of
things as they are. When the secret is discovered, when the Truth is
seen, all the forces which feverishly produce the continuity of samsara
in illusion become calm and incapable of producing any more
karma-formations, because there is no more illusion, no more ‘thirst’
for continuity. It is like a mental disease which is cured when the
cause or the secret of the malady is discovered and seen by the patient.
(p43)



He who has realised Truth, Nirvana, is the happiest being
in the world. He is free from all ‘complexes’ and obsessions,
the worries and troubles that torment others. His mental health is perfect.
He does not repent the past, nor does he brood over the future. He lives
fully in the present. Therefore he appreciates and enjoys things in the
purest sense without self-projections. He is joyful, exultant, enjoying
the pure life, his faculties pleased, free from anxiety, serene and peaceful.

As he is free from selfish desire, hatred, ignorance, conceit,
pride, and all such ‘defilements’, he is pure and gentle, full of
universal love, compassion, kindness, sympathy, understanding and
tolerance. His service to others is of the purest, for he has no thought
of self. He gains nothing, accumulated nothing, because he is free from
the illusion of Self and the ‘thirst’ of becoming. (p43)



Nirvana is beyond logic and reasoning (atakkavacara). (p43)



++ disagree



Nirvana is ‘to be realised by the wise within themselves’. (paccattam veditabbo vinnuhi) (p44)

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