Ego (Buddhism podcast) Does Buddhism approve of sex?
"This is an age in which sexual matters are discussed with great openness. There are many who are puzzled to know what the Buddhist attitude towards sex is. It is therefore to be hoped that the following guidelines may be found helpful towards an understanding. It is, of course, true to say that Buddhism, in keeping with the principle of the Middle Way, would advocate neither extreme puritanism nor extreme permissiveness. But this, as a guiding principle without further specification, may not seem sufficiently helpful for most people.
In the first place, we must distinguish between the rules undertaken by Buddhist monks [and nuns] for their own conduct and any guiding principles for lay people.
Ego (Buddhism podcast), Dec. 3, 2024 [with appropriated text uncredited to Maurice O'Connell Walshe from Buddhism and Sex, 2006 (Wheel 225, BPS.lk), as this channel often does with Ven. Thanissaro texts]; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
Reduced to essentials, the great debate about sex revolves, for many, around the concept of "sin." To the Puritan, indulgence in sexual activity for the sake of pleasure is evil, wicked, or as Christians say, "sinful" (i.e., displeasing to their God).
To the permissive person, this is nonsense. One probably rejects the term "sin" as meaningless and not only sees nothing "evil" in sexual pleasure but regards it as highly legitimate, perhaps as the highest pleasure there is and certainly as something to which, in principle at least, everybody has a right.
Many [American and European] people, coming from a more or less Christian background with at least some Puritanical overtones, find the true Buddhist attitude to this problem rather difficult to see. Perhaps they have never even been given a clear explanation of it, or if they have, it may have seemed too technical for them, and they have not grasped the point.
The point, in fact, is of considerable importance, so it is worthwhile attempting to make it clear. It involves a proper elementary grasp of what is meant by karma — something that many people, who may have been "Buddhists" for years, have never had.
However, we may begin more profitably by considering the word. "Sin" to a Christian is primarily thought of as a breach of their God’s commandments. This explanation is correct so far as it goes in terms of theology, but it is not applicable in Buddhism, where there are no such "commandments" upon which one can infringe.
The Buddhist precepts are undertakings given to oneself, which is something different. They are more on a par with the instruction, "Look both ways before crossing the road." Of course, there is much agreement between the content of the Five Precepts and some of the Ten Commandments, so it may be wise in many cases to behave accordingly, whichever formulation one follows.
However, there is another rendering of the word "sin" which in fact (though less well-known) comes much closer to the Buddhist view of things.
In the Bible, "sin" is a rendering of Hebrew and Greek words that literally mean "missing the mark," that is, behaving inadequately or unskillfully.
The sinner, then, is like an unskillful archer who misses what is aimed at. (Could this be the real meaning of Zen and the Art of Archery?) This comes, surely, very close to the idea of akusala karma or "unskillful action" in Buddhism.
The Pali word kamma (Sanskrit karma) literally means "action" (i.e., cetanā, "volitional deed"), which can be either skillful (kusala) or unskillful (akusala).
The results of action (karma) accrue to the doer as vipāka ("resultants"), which is pleasant when the action was skillful, unpleasant when it was unskillful. (If one looks before crossing the road, one shall get across safely, which is pleasant; if not, one may get run down, which is unpleasant).
The feelings we experience are of the nature of resultants (vipāka). They are dependent on past karma. And of course, we are continually creating fresh karma most of the time.
Gnostic Christianity on the "virgin birth"
It should be noted that the feeling of pleasure (sexual or otherwise) is not an action but a result. There is, therefore, nothing either "skillful" or "unskillful" about experiencing such a feeling, and we should therefore not regard it either as "virtuous" or "sinful." So far so good.
Such pleasant feelings can be enjoyed with a clear conscience and no guilt feeling, [Alanis]. If this were all, there would be no problem.
The Puritans would be routed and the permissive people justified. Unfortunately, there is another side to the matter.
Years ago, there was a song called "Money is the Root of all Evil." Some pointed out that it is not money, according to the Bible, but the love of money that is the root of all evil. And here is the snag. Sexual pleasure (like money) is not "evil" (or unskillful), but attachment to sexual pleasure (like the love of money) is.
If we can experience the pleasure without attachment, we are all right; if we become attached to it, we are "missing the mark." Now, of course, it is rather difficult (to put it mildly) to experience pleasure of any sort without developing attachment. Attachment is karma, unskillful karma at that. The results of that will inevitably, according to Buddhism, be something unpleasant in the future.
Many people will find this explanation novel. Some will find it puzzling. Some will undoubtedly reject it — with or without investigation — with the excuse that it is overly subtle, or arbitrary, or something of the sort.
What they mean is that they find it inconvenient. But it will repay a lot of consideration and mindful investigation. Careful study should show that it is the key to the whole problem.
The matter can also be considered in terms of the law of Dependent Origination: "Contact is the basis for the arising of feeling; feeling…of craving; craving…of clinging," and so on, the ultimate outcome being the continued process of becoming, with all the suffering that entails.
Therefore, if we wish to adjudicate between the Puritans and the permissive people, we cannot say that either side is entirely right. We might suggest that the Puritans are partly right for the wrong reasons.
Sexual indulgence is not wicked, but it may be to some degree inadvisable. Most people will not feel able to refrain altogether, nor are they being urged to, but there is merit in moderation.
Marriage
Calm down, Hun. - Don't call me Hun, you SOB!
What is the Buddhist attitude towards marriage? For many Buddhists, East and West, there is no great problem. They live a reasonably normal married life just as others do by luck or enjoying the results of favorable past karma. For others, serious problems arise. In the Christian tradition, marriage is a "sacrament." In some branches of Christianity it is treated as an unbreakable bond with a few loopholes.
Other branches of Christianity permit divorce in certain narrowly defined circumstances and of course in most countries the state permits divorce and remarriage, with or without the approval of the Church.
In Buddhism, marriage is not a "sacrament," as such a concept does not exist. And it is not any part of the functions of Buddhist monastics to join people together in wedlock (or deadlock). It is occasionally done in Japan as a modern idea in conformity with a tendency to imitate (perhaps unwisely) Christian institutions....
Sex Outside Marriage
That was awkward. - Good thing we didn't marry.
We should try to look at things calmly and clearly and, above all, responsibly. Nowadays there is pretty frank acceptance of what has always been the case, that a lot of people in fact have sexual intercourse without going through the formality of getting married (the "sin" called fornication).
No doubt there is more of it now than before because, for one thing, contraception is more effective than it formerly was and also because religious prejudices are fast breaking down.
This is a statement of fact, not of what ought or ought not to be. In the case of engaged couples, it is probably now the usual thing and is not heavily frowned on by most people. But it is not rare among couples who have not the slightest intention of getting engaged.
In the past, premarital sex was widely considered (and almost openly admitted) a good thing for young men but a bad thing for young women.
Now sexual equality has caught up. We may as well accept the fact that whatever we may think about it, preaching by older generations will, by and large, have precious little effect on the young. This is probably something most parents are worried about. More
Maurice O'Connell Walshe, Buddhism and Sex, BPS.lk; edited by Wisdom Quarterly
"Contentment"? What the Avici is that? Imagine a disposition of mind, a mood, of everything being fulfilled, everything being fine, having enough... The Laws of Attraction and Vibration and One would be so proud we made it. Here we are, at peace. There is a useful opposing force we sometimes cultivate called "a sense of urgency" or samvega. Most of us being lazy, it's probably better to develop enthusiasm and a spiritual quickening. But, actually, too much striving does not help and is counterproductive. It ruins a practice: efforting, manly (virility or viriya) energy, straining. There's a place for it. But it's better to follow the Buddha's "gradual or progressive instruction" (anupubbikathā) to peace: calm (the result of virtue), wakeful stillness (cultivated as the absorptions), and fourfold mindfulness for insight the is the Middle Way that avoids extremes and is the direct path to enlightenment and nirvana.
"Meditators, Kassapa [1] here is content with any old patchwork robe. He praises contentment with any robe, and he commits no offense of rule or etiquette [2] on account of his wardrobe.
"If he has no robe, he worries not; if he has, he enjoys the use of it without clinging or foolish attachment, committing no offense, aware of the danger [of developing attachment and clinging] he wisely avoids it [3].
"Kassapa is content with whatever food offerings he gets... whatever lodgings... whatever medicinal requisites... he enjoys the use of these without clinging or foolish attachment, committing no offense, aware of the danger, he wisely avoids it.
"Therefore, meditators, train yourselves in this way: We will be content with whatever robe... food offerings... lodgings... medicines... that we might get... We will enjoy the use of them without clinging or foolish attachment, committing no offense, aware of the danger, we will wisely avoid it.
"Meditators, I exhort you all using Kassapaas the example, or someone like Kassapa. Exhorted in this way, practice to gain the goal" [4].
NOTES
1. Maha (Great) Kassapa, one of the Buddha's chief disciples who later became the leader of the Monastic Sangha, who convened the First Buddhist Council, organized the Dhamma into a religion after the Buddha's final nirvana, and who was declared by the Buddha as the foremost in the practice of the sane ascetic practices. 2. Unlike, for example, the Buddha's half-brother, the princely monk Nanda (SN 21.8). 3. Nissara napañño: literally, "wise as to liberation." 4. Tathatta: the state of "thusness" or "suchness," nirvana (nibbana). With a different suffix there is the almost equivalent term tathata, found mainly in Mahayana texts, but also occurring in The Path of Purification (VM XVII, 6), etc., where it means "the state of being really so."
Maurice O'Connell Walshe (trans.), Santuttham Sutta: "Discourse on Contentment" (SN 16.1 PTS: S ii 194 CDB i 662), with Pali title based on the PTS (Feer) edition; edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
"Truth matters." Is it social contagion that so many millennials and others are suddenly all about going gay, switching sexes, or playing dress up and demanding new pronouns?
A beautiful transgender man, a long time EMT in New Mexico, stands up to [jerk] Matt Walsh with all his logic, rationality, and lawyer-like debate style and, sadly, goes down in flames -- in a civil discourse in front of [conservative] college students on campus.
Matt Walsh debates transgender EMT who ends up speechless
(Young America's Foundation) Views: 1,199,496, posted April 7, 2023: The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh got into a debate with a transgendered woman who was a self-proclaimed EMT who immediately gets stumped by one simple biological scenario. "Intersex is a genetic anomaly," according to Walshe not a "third sex" as we are being led to believe, particularly by the new documentary Every Body:
INTERSEX: non-binary, non-hermaphrodite, abnormal, atypical congenital (from birth) medical condition, leading to gender assignment by biased doctors at birth (in 1 in a 1,000 births?) Ancient Indian texts (Brahminical, Vedic, Buddhist, Jain) would label such individuals pandakas.
Dr. Walsh, KFI 640 AM, Los Angeles; Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
@DrWendyWalsh (Nov. 13, 2022) Hour 1: Dr. Wendy is answering relationship questions of all kinds: intimacy, sexual dysfunction, dating, relationships, molestation, sexual trauma, falling in love, does he like me? What's the psychology behind narcissism? That's old. What's new? The psychology behind co-dependency, and what are the most common co-dependent relationships? Dr. Wendy breaks it down.
Maurice O'Connell Walshe (trans.), Upadaparitassana Sutra: "Grasping and Worrying" (SN 22.7 PTS: S iii 15 CDB i 865), 2007, Pali title based on the PTS (Feer) edition; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
I'm not greedy for power. I just want power.
[At Savatthi the Blessed One said:] "Meditators, I will explain to you grasping and worrying, as well as not-grasping and not-worrying [letting go and ease]...
"Here, meditators, the ordinary uninstructed worldling, with no regard for noble ones [1], unskilled and untrained in the Dharma (Doctrine/Teaching) of the noble ones... of those who are worthy [2]... regards body as the self, the self as having a body, body as being in the self, or the self as being in the body.
"Change occurs to this person's body, and it becomes different. Because of this change and alteration in this body, consciousness is preoccupied with bodily change. Due to this preoccupation with bodily change, worried thoughts arise and persist, laying a firm hold on one's mind/heart.
"Through this mental obsession one becomes fearful and distressed, and being full of desire (craving) [3] and attachment (clinging), one is worried. One regards feeling as the self... change occurs to one's feeling... one is worried.
[The same is then said with regard to "perception, the mental formations, and consciousness."]
Hey, this is much better: letting go and peace.
In this way, meditators, grasping and worrying arise. And how, meditators, do not-grasping and not-worrying [letting go and ease] arise?
"Here, meditators, the well-instructed noble disciple, who has regard for the noble ones, is skilled and trained in the Dharma of the noble ones... of those who are worthy, does not regard body as the self, the self as having a body, body as being in the self, or the self as being in the body.
"Change occurs to this person's body, and it becomes different. But despite this change and alteration in the body, one's consciousness is not preoccupied with bodily change... Not being full of desire and attachment (craving and clinging), one is not worried.
[The same is said with regard to "feeling, perception, the mental formations, and consciousness."]
"In this way, meditators, grasping and worrying do not arise."
NOTES
1. According to MA [the Commentary to the Majjhima Nikaya or Middle Length Discourses] on MN 1, the "noble ones" (ariya) are buddhas [but not] pacceka-buddhas [nonteaching buddhas] (cf. SN 12.22, n. 1) and disciples (savakas). "With no regard..." means "not seeing with knowledge" (ñanena adassavi), i.e., seeing them with physical eye but not knowing them for what they are. See The Sutra on the Root of Existence [MN 1] translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi (BPS.lk 1980), p. 42.
2. Sappurisa: MA (as in n. 1) says these are pacceka-buddhas and disciples. Alternatively it is stated that the "noble ones" may refer to [teaching] buddhas alone, or that both terms may refer to all three classes of individuals.
3. Apekhava ca upadaya ca: KS ["The Book of the Kindred Sayings," translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Vol. III, by F. L. Woodward, 1924, PTS] has "owing to vexation and clinging," but apekhava = "full of longing or desire" (Pali-English Dictionary [by T.W. Rhys Davids and William Stede, 1921-1925, PTS] s.v. apekhavant).
Maurice O'Connell Walshe (trans.), Attadipa Sutra: "An Island to Oneself" (SN 22.43, PTS: S iii 42, CDB i 882), 2007, title based on the Pali Text Society (Feer) edition; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
Let the Dharma be your guide.
"Meditators, be lamps/islands unto yourselves [1], be your own guide/refuge, having no other; let the Dharma be an island and a guide to you, having no other.
"Those who are islands/lamps unto themselves... should investigate to the very heart of things [2]: 'What is the source of disappointment, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair? How do they arise?' [What is their cause and origin?]
"Here, meditators, the uninstructed ordinary worldling [continued as in SN 22.7]. Change occurs in this person's body, and it becomes different. On account of this change and difference, disappointment, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair arise.
[The same is said with regard to "feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness."]
"But seeing [3] the body's impermanence, its changeability, its wasting away [4], its ceasing, one says, 'Formerly, as now, all bodies were impermanent, disappointing (unsatisfactory), and subject to change.'
"Thus, seeing this as it really is, with deep insight, one abandons all disappointment, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. One is not worried at their abandonment but, unworried, lives at ease. And thus living at ease one is said to be 'assuredly delivered' [5]."
[The same is said with regard to "feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness."]
NOTES
1. Atta-dipa: Dipa in Pali means both "island" (Sanskrit dvipa) and "lamp" (Sanskrit dipa), but the meaning "island" is well established here. The "self" referred to is, of course, the unmetaphysical pronoun "oneself": cf. SN 3.8, n. 1.
2. It is necessary to withdraw, to be "an island unto oneself," at least for a time (as any meditator knows), not for "selfish" reasons but precisely in order to make this profound introspective investigation and breakthrough in insight. In another sense, Buddhism would of course agree with John Donne who said, "No man is an island."
3. As Woodward remarks in KS [The Book of the Kindred Sayings, translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Vol. III, PTS 1924], one would expect to find here the words that he inserts in the text: "The well-taught Ariyan disciple," as in many passages. If one, in fact, sees these things and reflects as is said in the text, one will cease to be an ordinary "worldling." [Instead, there will be a "change of lineage" (gotrabhu), making one a "noble one," someone who has gained at least the first stage of enlightenment that culminates in full enlightenment or arhatship.]
4. Viraga is elsewhere translated as "dispassion" (SN 12.16, n. 2) and also has this meaning.
5. Tadanganibbuto means rather more than Woodward's "one who is rid of all that."
"Meditators, be islands unto yourselves [1]; be your own guide, having no other.
1. Atta-dipa: Atta = "self." Dipa (Sanskrit dvipa) = "island" and "lamp." "Island" is well-established in this context, and "self" is the pronoun "oneself" (cf. SN 3.8, n. 1).
"Let the Dharma be an island and a guide to you, having no other.
"Those who are islands unto themselves... investigate to the very heart of things [2]: 2. It is necessary to withdraw, to be "an island to unto oneself," at least for a time (as any meditator knows), not because it is "selfish" but precisely to make a profound introspective investigation. Buddhists in another sense would, of course, agree with John Donne that "No man is an island."
"Change occurs in this person's body (form), and it becomes different. On account of this change and difference, disappointment, crying, pain, grief, and despair arise.
"But seeing [3] the body's impermanence, its changeability, its waning [4], its ceasing, one says, 'Formerly, as now, all bodies were impermanent and unsatisfactory and subject to change.'
3. Woodward remarks (in the Book of the Kindred Sayings, the PTS translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Vol. III, 1924) that one would expect to find here the words he inserts in the text: "The well-taught [noble] disciple," as in many passages. For if one in fact directly sees these things and reflects on them as stated in the text, one will cease to be an ordinary uninstructed "worldling" and become a noble (any person in the stages of enlightenment) disciple. 4. Viraga, "dispassion" (SN 12.16, n. 2), is waning.
"Thus, seeing this as it really is, with full insight, one abandons all disappointment, lamenting, pain, grief, and despair.
"One is not worried at their abandonment, but unworried lives at ease, and thus living at ease one is said to be 'assuredly delivered'" [5]. [The same with feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness]. 5. Tadanganibbuto means rather more than Woodward's "one who is rid of all that."
The greatest country state in the world also has its own chain of Channel Islands (wiki).
Buddhist scholar Maurice O'C. Walshe (ATS); Crystal Quintero, S.Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly
Giving from the Heart
Giving comes very naturally to some people — who enjoy giving and are unhappy if they cannot. And though it is obvious that one can give foolishly, it is in general a very good and meritorious thing to give.
This is probably recognized in all religions. In Christianity we are told, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," and in Islam there is a positive injunction to give part of one's wealth to help the poor.
Muslim lives in Mosul ruined by Israel/US
According to the Bible giving is better than receiving. Just as in the practice of Buddhist boundless loving-kindness meditation (metta-bhavana), the development of universal friendliness, there is given an actual method for this:
It fulfills the difficult Judeo-Christian injunction, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." So, too, Buddhism can give a precise technical meaning to this biblical statement.
Love for Rohingya in Buddhist Burma
If we receive something pleasant, this in Buddhism is considered to be the result of previous karma, in this case vipaka stemming from meritorious actions. It is nice while it lasts, but when it is finished, its source is exhausted.
However, to give is skillful action (wholesome action, kusala karma), which will be productive of pleasant results for the giver now and for a long time. In this way it can be clearly seen to be more "blessed" to give than to receive.
True, this "blessing" remains mundane and limited, being "merit-making for the world" (lokassa). But as all our actions are habit-forming, giving once inclines us to give again, so that the results tend to be cumulative.
Also, of course, this king of skillful action can lead on to other things, and it is for very good reason that giving (generosity, letting go, dana) is listed as the first among the Ten Perfections, coming even before virtue.
It is, after all, possible for even an immoral person to be generous and thereby make good karma for his/her future. More
Then the Blessed One, taking a few simsapa leaves in his hand, said to the meditators: "What do you think, meditators? Which are the more numerous, the few leaves I have here in my hand, or those up in the trees of the grove?"
"Venerable sir, the Blessed One is holding only a few leaves: those up in the trees are far more numerous."
"In the same way, meditators, there are many more things that I have found out but not revealed to you.*
The Buddha was first represented as a bo tree
"What I have revealed to you is only a little. And why, meditators, have I not revealed it?
"Meditators, it is because it is not related to the goal [of awakening and complete liberation], it is not fundamental to the pure life [leading directly to the goal], does not conduce to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, tranquillity, higher knowledge, enlightenment, and nirvana. That is why I have not revealed it. But, meditators, what have I revealed?
"What I have revealed is:
'This is suffering (disappointment, woe, ill, pain)
This is the arising of suffering
This is the cessation of suffering
This is the path that leads to the cessation of suffering.'
The "Tree of Life" in Kabbalah
"'And why, meditators, have I revealed it?
"It is because this [set of teachings called the Four Ennobling Truths] is related to the goal, fundamental to the pure life; it conduces to disenchantment, dispassion (letting go), cessation, tranquillity, higher knowledge, enlightenment, and nirvana, so I have revealed it.
"Therefore, meditators, your task is to learn [the deep and profound meaning of]: 'This is suffering, this is the arising (origin) of suffering, this is the cessation of suffering, this is the PATH leading to the cessation of suffering.' This is your task."
How many leaves are there in a grove of trees? Many, many more than fit in a hand.
In Buddhism's Pali canon there is a sutra titled "The Simsapa Grove" (SN 56.31). This discourse is described as having been delivered by the Buddha to monastics while dwelling beneath a grove of simsapa trees in the city of Kosambi. In this discourse, the Buddha compares the few simsapa leaves he picks up in his hand with the number of simsapa leaves overhead in the grove to illustrate what he teaches (in particular, the Four Noble Truths) and what he does not teach (things unrelated to the achieving enlightenment). Elsewhere in the Pali canon, simsapa groves are mentioned in the Payasi Sutra (DN 23) and in the Hatthaka Sutra (AN 3.34). See also Ashoka tree.
NOTES: For example, Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 708, entry for siŋsapā (dsal.uchicago.edu) associates the simsapa tree with Dalbergia sisu. The Pali canon is the main scriptural source for Theravada Buddhism and is at least nominally incorporated in the canons of other branches [Mahayana and Vajrayana] of Buddhism as well. Bhikkhu Bodhi (2000), pp. 1857-58; Thanissaro (1997); and, Walshe (1985), Sutra 68. Note that in an endnote to this sutra (n. 313), Walshe states that this tree is "also known as the Asoka tree" (Walshe, 1987, p. 351). This discourse is said to have been given in Kosala. In Thanissaro (1999) this discourse is said to have been given near Alavi. For both canonical and post-canonical references, see Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 708, entry for siŋsapā.
COMMENTARY
Translator Maurice O'Connell Walshe edited by Wisdom Quarterly
This famous saying has been taken to justify the [post-Buddhist] doctrines of various Mahayana schools, Theosophy, and so on. While it may do so in many cases, the real meaning is somewhat different:
The Buddha was naturally aware of many things, things unknown to others, which he did not deem necessary to teach for the gaining of enlightenment.
We can accept, even without interpreting full enlightenment vulgarly as "omniscience," that the Buddha was at least potentially aware of whatever he wished or needed to know. [In Buddhism, the Buddha is considered "omniscient" not because he knows everything at once but because he can know anything he wishes by contemplating it.]
He knew precisely which religious and philosophical doctrines that had been or might be propounded were (a) true and/or (b) conducive to enlightenment. He borrowed nothing, as such, from previous religious systems because he did not need to. But he gave his approval to whatever conformed to these criteria.
It has occasionally been urged that if the Buddha were really all-enlightened, he must have been able to foresee modern scientific discoveries. In fact, he probably could have done so, but that was not his task. And he will certainly have been more aware than such critics of the dangers inherent in modern discoveries, with their power not only to destroy but also to corrupt.
Dryads/devas live in/as trees.
As a matter of fact, he did not even utilize a very basic technical device that was already known by his time -- the art of writing. He clearly preferred that his teachings, the Buddha Dharma, should be preserved orally by those attempting to train them and indeed the ancient Indian oral tradition has continued to this day (Cf. T.W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, London 1903, pp. 107ff.)
There is, however, one "modern science" which the Buddha not only anticipated but far surpassed: psychology. The superiority of Buddhist psychological insights to the findings of the modern West can be readily verified. (Some examples can be found in this Anthology). Compare to Ven. Nyanaponika Thera's Abhidhamma Studies (BPS.lk 1965), and Douglas M. Burns' Buddhist Meditation and Depth Psychology (BPS Wheel #88-89).
We may compare the saying quoted here with another no less famous one occurring at SN 47.9 as well as in the Maha Parinibbana Sutra, Dialogues of the Buddha 16, II, 25 (= D ii, 100 [DN 16, Part Two, v. 32]): Desito Aananda mayaa dhammo anantaram abaahiram katvaa. natth'Aananda Tathaagatassa dhammesu aacariyamutthi.
[This translates from the Pali as] "I have taught Dharma, Ananda, making no 'inner' and 'outer' [esoteric and exoteric]: the Tathagata [the Buddha] has no 'teacher's fist' [secrets hidden in a tightfisted palm that is only opened to some students] in respect of the doctrines."
There is, of course, no contradiction between the two statements, which in fact point once again to the Middle Way between the extremes. Both equally imply that whatever else the Buddha may have been aware of about the world, he taught only what was needed for the gaining of enlightenment, holding back nothing, but refraining from imparting irrelevant information. As the life of the monastics was pared down to essentials, so was the Teaching.
It is fair to suggest that here, in the Pali canon, we have the Buddha's Dharma (Teaching) presented in its purest and simplest form, in the words of the Awakened Teacher himself. This statement is not meant to be in any way polemical, or to claim that doctrines developed later in the so-called "Mahayana schools" are necessarily wrong. Recent research, indeed, has conclusively shown that the essence of many such [Mahayana] doctrines can be traced back to the Pali canon.
For instance, there is little real conflict between the ideas expressed by Nagarjuna, the founder of the Madhyamika school, and the Theravada (a school with which he was almost certainly entirely unacquainted).
Likewise, while the proposition recently put forward that Zen is the "Theravada of Japan" can scarcely be literally maintained, the idea nevertheless contains a strong element of truth because Zen visibly represents an effort to rid later Buddhism of some of the accretions that had tended to obscure the original message.
Zen, too, inclines more to something like the Arhat Ideal [enlightenment for all in this very life] of Theravada than to that of the Bodhisattva Ideal [martyrdom of never attaining enlightenment until everyone else goes first though they also vow to never attain until everyone else has been saved. You first. No, you. No, you, all Heckle & Jeckle style. No, really, you go first, for I am holier than thou. But I am holier and less selfish and must therefore go second, for the first shall be the last as Saint Issa/Jesus Christ is said to have taught].
On the other hand, it should not be overlooked that the bodhisattva career [the vow and commitment to develop the ten paramis or "perfections" to their utmost and thereby become a buddha far in the future] is one that is open to followers of the Theravada school [cf. SN 12.10, n. 3 and the work of Bhikkhu Bodhi there mentioned; also Ven. W. Rahula's Zen and the Taming of the Bull (Bedford 1978)].
And, as indicated in SN 55.24, n. 7, even the apparently extremist Pure Land [devotional Buddhist] schools with their emphasis on faith receive rather more support from the Pali canon than is sometimes thought [if only because their foundational idea of a "pure land" is based on the Pali canon's teaching of the suddhavasa worlds called the "pure abodes."] In this context K. Mizuno, Primitive Buddhism, tranl. K. Yamamoto (Oyama 1969) is of interest.
Finally, in connection with the relation of "Buddhism and Science," the wise words of an American astronaut, Ed Mitchell, in a recent TV program may be quoted. He said: "Science is a methodology. As a belief system, it is disastrous." Buddhism, it may be urged, is a spiritual methodology analogous to that of physical science, which makes the acceptance of any pure "belief system" superfluous.
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Also, of course, this king of skillful action can lead on to other things, and it is for very good reason that giving (generosity, letting go, dana) is listed as the first among the Ten Perfections, coming even before virtue.
This famous saying has been taken to justify the [post-Buddhist] doctrines of various Mahayana schools, Theosophy, and so on. While it may do so in many cases, the real meaning is somewhat different:
