There are three kinds of fully awakened individuals: the personal (arahant-), nonteaching (pacceka), and supremely enlightened teaching (samma-sam-) buddhas. (Bodhisattva image by BDrunz/Flickr.com)
The Doctrine (Dharma) points at the Truth (dharma). It is only a pointer. It is not the Truth. The Truth cannot be expressed with words or concepts or thinking, which is often how we approach things, attempting to grasp and label and argue about them.
The Buddha's Teaching was set forth with a sutra called the "Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma" delivered to the five ascetics in the Deer Park in Sarnath, India, in the suburbs of Varanasi. It is now set in stone at the site.
One simile is that the Buddha points at the Moon. The Moon is the dharma. But people neglect to see the Moon, instead focusing on the pointing, the Dharma (Buddhist Doctrine or Teachings or instructions on getting to direct realization).
It doesn't help that the distinctions are so fine or that the word "Dharma" (as the Teachings or Doctrines of Buddhism) is not universally capitalized to distinguish it from dharma, which uncaptialized in Buddhist Sanskrit refers to phenomena or "things."
2 Things The Buddha only taught Dharma, which means he only taught two things -- the problem and the solution. Suffering (dukkha) is the problem. Release from all suffering (nirvana) is the solution.
The Dharma is symbolized as a wheel (chakra), the True Wheel, the Wheel of the Law (law means lawfulness or regularity of the universe not a set of rules for enforcement), the eight spokes of the Eightfold Path (one part of the Dharma).
3 Things It can be said that in this regard, he taught three things: Discourses (sutras), Discipline (Vinaya), and Abhidharma (the profound Dharma of Dependent Origination, mind, and the exacting details of the Path to liberation from suffering).
4 Things Of course, how could all of this ever be stated succinctly? Buddhism, the Buddha-Dharma, all that points towards the Truth that shall set one free is summarized and taught as four things, the Four Noble Truths: (1) we have a problem, (2) it has a cause, (3) it has a solution, and (3) this is the way to the solution.
Because Buddhism so well packed, what do people ever learn about it?
An introduction, that's what. We are constantly being introduced to Buddhism. When do we get an advanced or even an intermediate teaching? When does practice go beyond preliminary lists to unpack the wonderful Dharma within? Rarely.
37 Things So here it is. Monastic-scholars gathered all that pertains directly to enlightenment -- to "liberation from suffering" in this very life. They enumerated 37 things taught by the Buddha as indispensable aids to enlightenment.
These seven sets (14 individual items, many of them appearing in more than one grouping for a total of 37) are together called the Requisites of Enlightenment (bodhipakkhiya-dharma), "things pertaining to awakening," not to be confused with the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhangas), which is but one of the sets.
Requisites of Enlightenment
Ven. Ledi Sayadaw
- Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Satipaṭṭhāna)
- Four Right Efforts (Sammāpadhāna)
- Four Bases of Success (Iddhipāda)
- Four Controlling Faculties (Indriya)
- Four Mental Powers (Bala)
- Seven Factors of Enlightenment (Bojjhaṅga)
- Noble Eightfold Path (Maggaṅga)
The bodhipakkhiya-dharmas are so called because they form part (pakkhiya) of enlightenment or awakening (bodhi), which here refers to the knowledge of the paths of liberating wisdom (magga-nāṇa). They are dharmas (mental phenomena) with the function of being proximate causes, requisite ingredients, and bases of, or sufficient conditions (upanissaya) for, path-knowledge. ["Path knowledge" begins with the path of stream entry, the first stage of enlightenment.]
- ALL THE DETAILS: The Requisites of Enlightenment: A Manual (PDF)
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