Dhamma (accesstoinsight.org); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ananda (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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| The Dhamma together in parts |
It is therefore a very useful organizing framework to view the whole of the Buddha's Teaching.
The gradual training begins with the practice of generosity (letting go), which helps begin the process of attenuating the sleepwalking (unawakened) practitioner's habitual tendencies to crave and cling.
We cling — to views, to sensuality, to unskillful (harmful) habits of thought, speech, and behavior.
By letting go, we develop virtue, the basic level of sense-restraint to be a practitioner with a healthy and trustworthy sense of self.
Ultimately, there is no self (all things being egoless and impersonal), but conventionally a sense of proportion about ourselves (to avoid self-undermining selfishness, egoism, greed, animosity, and delusion) is very helpful.
Peace of mind born of this level of mutual and self-respect provides the foundation for further progress along the Buddhist Path to Freedom.
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| Greek Buddha: Early Buddhism |
Eventually a practitioner begins to recognize the intrinsic drawbacks of even this kind of superior happiness: As good as rebirth in wholesome states could be, the happiness it brings is not a true and lasting one.
For it relies on conditions over which one ultimately has no control. This marks a crucial turning point in the training, when the practitioner begins to grasp that lasting happiness can never be found in the realm of the physical and sensual world.
The only possible route to an unconditional happiness lies in renunciation (letting go), in turning away from the sensual sphere, by trading the familiar, lower forms of happiness for something far more elevated (ennobling) and rewarding.
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| What is a map of the Gradual Instructions to Bodhi? |
Many Westerners first encounter the Buddha's Teaching at a meditation retreat, which typically begins with instructions on how to develop skillful states of right mindfulness and right concentration. It is worth noting that the Buddha places them towards the culmination of the gradual course of training.
The meaning is clear. To reap the benefits of a meditation practice, to bring it to full maturity, the fundamental groundwork must be developed first. There is no short cut to this process. Awakening is the result, the culmination, of the Path.
This is the Buddha's six-stage gradual training in detail:
1. Generosity (dana, letting go)
2. Virtue (sila)
The Five Precepts
Eight Precepts
Ten Precepts
Lunar (uposatha) Observance days
3. Heaven (sagga)
The 31 Planes of Existence
4. Drawbacks (adinava)
5. Renunciation (nekkhamma)
6. The Four Noble Truths (cattari ariya saccani)
- The Ennobling Truth of Painful Disappointment (dukkha ariya sacca): Dukkha The round of rebirth (samsara)
- The Ennobling Truth of the Cause of Painful Disappointment (dukkha samudayo ariya sacca): Craving (tanha) rooted in Ignorance (avijja)
- The Ennobling Truth of the Cessation of Painful Disappointment (dukkha nirodho ariya sacca): Nirvana
- The Ennobling Truth of the Path Leading to the Cessation of Painful Disappointment (dukkha nirodha gamini patipada ariya sacca): The Noble Eightfold Path.
1. Wisdom (pañña): right view (samma-ditthi)
Volitional action (karma)
Noble friendship (kalyanamittata)
Noble friendship (kalyanamittata)
Right intention (samma-sankappo)
2. Virtue (sila)
Right speech (samma-vaca)
Right action (samma-kammanto)
Right livelihood (samma-ajivo)
3. Concentration (samadhi)
Right effort (samma-vayamo)
Right mindfulness (samma-sati)
Right concentration (samma-samadhi)
- But I prefer "sudden" enlightenment rather than muck about with all these lists and factors and practices. Can't I just do that?
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