Optical illusions that trick the brain
Experience the full effect of this and seven more optical illusions. How they work (WomansDay.com)
VIDEO: One year after being laid off
Four Americans reflect on a tough year they've spent soul-searching and looking for employment. Their advice
Secretary by day, royalty by night
A DC-area woman is shocked to learn she's been made a king in Ghana. How she'll rule (washingtonpost.com)
On Right View
Maurice O'Connell Walshe (Kaccayanagotto Sutta, SN 12.15, PTS: S ii 16, CDB i 544)
[Ven. Kaccayana (Ka-cha-yana) is one of the Ten Chief (male) Disciples of the Buddha, deemed "foremost in explaining the Dharma." In the prosperous Indian city of Savatthi, he asked the Buddha:]
"'Right view [1], right view,' it is said, Venerable Sir. In what way is there right view?'"
"The world in general, Kacchayana, inclines to two views, to existence [2] or to non-existence [3]. But for one who, with the highest wisdom, sees the arising of the world as it really is [4] 'non-existence of the world' does not apply. And for one who, with highest wisdom, sees the passing away of the world as it really is, 'existence of the world' does not apply.
"The world in general, Kacchayana, grasps after systems and is imprisoned by dogmas [5]. But one [6] does not go along with that system-grasping, that mental obstinacy and dogmatic bias, does not grasp at it, does not affirm: 'This is my self' [7].
"The world in general, Kacchayana, inclines to two views, to existence [2] or to non-existence [3]. But for one who, with the highest wisdom, sees the arising of the world as it really is [4] 'non-existence of the world' does not apply. And for one who, with highest wisdom, sees the passing away of the world as it really is, 'existence of the world' does not apply.
"The world in general, Kacchayana, grasps after systems and is imprisoned by dogmas [5]. But one [6] does not go along with that system-grasping, that mental obstinacy and dogmatic bias, does not grasp at it, does not affirm: 'This is my self' [7].
"One knows without doubt or hesitation that whatever arises is merely dukkha ["unsatisfactory," 8], that what passes away is merely dukkha and such knowledge is one's own, not depending on anyone else. This, Kacchayana, is what constitutes right view.
"'Everything exists' [9], this is one extreme [view]. 'Nothing exists,' this is the other extreme. Avoiding both extremes the Tathagata [10] teaches a doctrine of the middle: Conditioned by ignorance are the formations...[as in SN 12.10].
"So there comes about the arising of this entire mass of suffering. But from the complete fading away and cessation of ignorance there comes the cessation of the formations, from the cessation of the formations comes the cessation of consciousness... So there comes about the complete cessation of this entire mass of suffering."
Sarah Swofford reading select passages of the Buddha's profound wisdom
NOTES
- Right view: (samma ditthi): the first step of the Noble Eightfold Path, lit. "right seeing." It is also rendered "right understanding," but the connotations of this are too exclusively intellectual. The rendering "right views" (plural) is to be rejected, since it is not a matter of holding "views" (opinions) but of "seeing things as they really are."
- Atthita: "is-ness." The theory of "Eternalism" (sassatavada).
- Natthita: "is-not-ness." The theory of "Annihilationism" (ucchedavada). All forms of materialism come under this heading. See the discussion in Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation of DN 1, The All-Embracing Net of Views (BPS 1978), pp. 30-33.
- Yathabhutam: See Note 1.
- As we might say today, "ideologies" or "-isms."
- I take this to mean the person who sees "with the highest wisdom" mentioned above. Mrs. Rhys Davids [in her translation] seems to have gone slightly astray here.
- [Atta me ti:] See SN 3.8, n. 1. Feer's edition of the Sutta Nipata reads here atta na me ti "this is not myself," which would also make sense but is contradicted, not only in SA [the Commentary to SN], but also when the story is repeated at SN 22.90.
- The usual translation "suffering," always a makeshift rendering, is inappropriate here. Dukkha in Buddhist usage refers to the inherent unsatisfactoriness and general insecurity of all conditioned existence.
- Sabbam atthi: From the Sanskrit form of this expression, sarvam asti (though used in a slightly different sense) the Sarvastivadin school got its name. They held that dharmas [phenomena] existed in "three times" -- past, present, and future. It was mainly to this early school that the label "Hinayana" ("Lesser Career or Vehicle") was applied and later illegitimately transferred to the Theravada school. (See SN 12.22, n. 1).
- Tathagata (the Buddha's usual way of referring to himself): Literally, probably either "Thus come" (tatha-agata) or "Thus gone beyond)" (tatha-gata). For other meanings, see Bhikkhu Bodhi's The All-Embracing Net of Views (BPS 1978), pp. 50-53, 331-344.
