The Buddha's first sutra: Wheel of Dharma

THE BUDDHA'S FIRST SUTRA (56.11) Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dhamma

Turning in the dreaded Wheel of Samsara

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Awakened One was dwelling at Baraṇasi (Varanasi) in the Deer Park at Isipatana (the Resort of Seers). There he addressed the Group of Five [wandering ascetics, his former companions in the spiritual life]:

“Meditators, these two extremes should be abandoned by one who has gone forth from the homelife to the left-home life. What are the two? The pursuit of sensual happiness in sensual pleasures, which is low, vulgar, the way of worldlings, ignoble, unbeneficial on the one hand and the pursuit of self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, and unbeneficial on the other.

“Without veering off towards either of these extremes, the Tathagata (the Wayfarer, the Buddha) has awakened to the Middle Way, which gives rise to knowledge, which gives rise to vision, which leads to peace, to direct experience, to enlightenment, to nirvana.

“What, meditators, is that Middle Way awakened to by the Tathagata, which gives rise to knowledge and vision…and which leads to nirvana? It is this Ennobling Eightfold Path:

1. right view,
2. right intention,
3. right speech,
4. right action,
5. right livelihood,
6. right effort,
7. right mindfulness,
8. right stillness.

“This, meditators, is that Middle Way awakened to by the Tathagata, which gives rise to knowledge and vision, which leads to peace, to direct experience, to enlightenment, to nirvana.

“Now this, meditators, is the ennobling truth of disappointment (suffering, pain, misery, dukkha): rebirth is disappointing, aging is disappointing, illness is disappointing, death is disappointing; union with what is displeasing is disappointing; separation from what is pleasing is disappointing; not to get what one wants is disappointing; in brief, the Five Aggregates clung to as self are disappointing.

“Now this, meditators, is the ennobling truth of the origin of disappointment: It is this craving that leads to renewed becoming (rebirth), accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there; that is, craving for sensual pleasure, craving for eternal existence, craving for annihilation.

“Now this, meditators, is the ennobling truth of the cessation of disappointment: It is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that craving, the letting go and abandoning of it, freedom from it, nonreliance on it.

“Now this, meditators, is the ennobling truth of the way leading to the cessation of disappointment: It is this Ennobling Eightfold Path; that is (1-8), right view…right stillness.

“‘This is the ennobling truth of disappointment’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience (true knowledge), and light.

What does it take to be a "wise man"?

“‘This ennobling truth of disappointment is to be fully understood’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of disappointment has been fully understood’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This is the ennobling truth of the origin of disappointment’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of the origin of disappointment is to be abandoned’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of the origin of disappointment has been abandoned’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This is the ennobling truth of the cessation of disappointment’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of the cessation of disappointment is to be realized’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of the cessation of disappointment has been realized’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This is the ennobling truth of the way leading to the cessation of disappointment’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of the way leading to the cessation of disappointment is to be developed’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct epxerience, and light.

“‘This ennobling truth of the way leading to the cessation of disappointment has been developed’: Meditators, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me knowledge, vision, wisdom, direct experience, and light.

“So long, meditators, as my knowledge-and-vision of these Four Ennobling Truths as they really are in their three phases and 12 aspects was not thoroughly purified in this way, I did not claim to have awakened to the unsurpassed supreme enlightenment in this world with its devas, maras, and brahmas (deities, demons, and divines), in this generation with its wandering ascetics and temple priests, its beings of light (devas) and humans.

I can get off this interminable wheel now.

“But when my knowledge-and-vision of these Four Ennobling Truths as they really are in their three phases and 12 aspects was thoroughly purified in this way, then I claimed to have awakened to the unsurpassed supreme enlightenment in this world with its devas, maras, and brahmas, in this generation with its wandering ascetics and temple priests, its beings of light and humans.

“Knowledge-and-vision arose in me: ‘Unshakable is my liberation of heart/mind. This is my final rebirth. Now there is no more again becoming.’”

This is what the Blessed One said. Elated, the Group of Five delighted in the Awakened One’s words.

The first hearer to awaken

And while this discourse (sutra) was being spoken, there arose in Venerable Kondañña the dust-free, stainless vision of the Dhamma: “Whatsoever originates also ceases.”

And when the Wheel of the Dhamma (Doctrine) had been set in motion by the Awakened One, the earth-dwelling beings of light (bhumi-devas) raised a cry:

• 

  The 31 Planes of Existence

  “At Baraṇasi, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Awakened One, which cannot be stopped by any wandering ascetic or temple priest (shramana or brahmana) or deva or Mara or Brahma or by anyone in the world.”
• Having heard the cry of the earth-dwelling beings of light, the beings of light in the realm of the Four Great Kings raised [the same] cry: “At Baraṇasi…this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Awakened One.”
• Having heard the cry of the devas of the realm of the Four Great Kings, the Tavatiṁsa devas (the light beings of the World of the Thirty-Three)…
• the Yama devas…
• the Tusita devas…
• the Nimmanarati devas…
• the Paranimmitavasavatti devas…
• the devas of Brahma’s retinue raised [the same] cry: “At Baraṇasi, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Awakened One, which cannot be stopped by any wandering ascetic or temple priest or deva or Mara or Brahma or by anyone in the world.”

Then at that moment, at that instant, at that very second, this cry spread as far as the brahma world, and this 10,000-fold world system shook, quaked, and trembled, and an immeasurable glory and radiance appeared in the world surpassing the divine majesty of the devas.

Then the Awakened One spoke this inspired utterance:

“Koṇḍañña, indeed, understood! Koṇḍañña, indeed, has understood!” In this way Venerable Koṇḍañña acquired the name “Añña Koṇḍañña—Koṇḍañña Who Has Understood.”

• SN 56.11: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta—Bhikkhu Bodhi (trans.), suttacentral.net, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha: Progress of the Disciple

German born author Ven. Nyanatiloka

The Buddha taught not sudden enlightenment (satori) but gradual development of the Noble (Ennobling) Eightfold Path to bodhi:

In many discourses or sutras there occurs an identical passage that outlines the gradual course of development in the progress of the disciple. There it is shown how this development takes place gradually, in conformity with natural laws or fixed regularities of the universe, from the very first hearing of the Dharma (the Enlightened One's Doctrine), to germinating confidence/faith (saddha) and dim comprehension, up to the final realization (bodhi) of liberation (nirvana) from all suffering.

"After hearing the Dharma, one is filled with confidence, and one thinks: 'Full of hindrances is household life, a refuse heap. But the left-home life (of a Buddhist monastic) is like the open air. It is not easy, when one lives at home, to fulfill in all points the rules of the supreme life. How now if I were to cut off hair, put on saffron robes, and go forth from home to the left-home life?'

"And after a short time, having let go of one's possessions, whether they be great or small, having forsaken a circle of relations, small or large, one cuts off hair, puts on saffron robes, and goes forth from home to the left-home life.

Having thus left the world, one fulfills the monastic rules:

1. One abstains and avoids killing living beings, having abandoned cudgel and knife, conscientious, full of sympathy, desiring the welfare of all living beings.
2. One avoids stealing (taking what is not given)...
3. One avoids unchastity...
4. One avoids lying...
5. One avoids tale-bearing...
6. One avoids harsh speech...
7. One avoids idle chitchat.
8. One abstains from destroying vegetal seeds and plants.
9. One eats only at one time of day [after dawn but before noon].
10. One keeps aloof from dance, song, music, and visiting unseemly shows.
11. One rejects floral adornments, perfumes, ointments, as well as any other kind of embellishments. 
12. One avoids using high and luxurious beds and seats.
13. One avoids accepting gold and silver...
14. One keeps aloof from buying and selling....
15. One contents oneself with the robe that protects one's body and with the alms bowl with which one keeps oneself alive: Wherever one goes, one is provided with these two things, just as a winged bird in flying carries along its two wings.

"By fulfilling this noble domain of virtue (sīla) one feels in one's heart an irreproachable happiness."

In what follows thereafter it is shown how the disciple watches over the five senses and the mind and by this noble restraint of the senses (indriya-samvara) feels at heart an unblemished happiness.

It is shown how in all one's actions one is ever mindful and clearly conscious and how, being equipped with this lofty virtue and with this noble restraint of the senses, and with mindfulness and clear comprehension (sati-sampajañña), one chooses a secluded dwelling.

Freeing the mind from the Five Hindrances (nīvarana), one reaches full absorption (samādhi).

Thereafter, by developing insight (vipassanā, lit. "clear seeing") with regard to the radical

1. impermanence (anicca),
2. disappointment (dukkha), and
3. impersonal (anattā) nature of all phenomena of existence [summarized as the Five Aggregates clung to as self],

one finally realizes liberation from all cankers and defilements, and this certainty and assurance arises:

"Forever is liberation achieved,

This is the last time I am reborn,

No new rebirth awaits me."

Cf. D.1, 2f; M. 27, 38, 51, 60, 76; A. IV, 198; X, 99: Pug. 239, etc.

• Ven. Nyanatiloka (Anton Gueth), Buddhist Dictionary, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

In the Beginning...

This article goes from the very mundane to the origins of life on this planet to the ultimate, tackling the staggering question of how everything began (begins), that is, came (comes) into existence.

What do "Buddhists" do on New Year's Day? If you're living in Pasadena, you're stuck in traffic along with everyone else, suffering government reaction to their own American terrorism in New Orleans and Las Vegas.

Is it a false flag, an excuse for suicide, GIs just following their preprogramming? Either way, both events were carried out by government issue government employees, and we can debate whether they were on or off duty. Most soldiers know. Duty never ends.

Pasadena, a prosperous city (which is putting it mildly because it was once the city famous for the biggest spread between its richest and poorest populations, where it is the best of times and worst of times and really a tale of two cities) in the LA Foothills, was made untraversable by 1,000 cops.

• City, tournament issue statement on New Orleans incident that left at least 10 dead (Pasadena Now): “The Parade is a top-level Federal event and we have to ability to call in additional resources if the need exists.”

Either they were on duty or more likely on overtime, doing a whole lotta nothing other than blocking streets and freeway entrances with the cruisers they were leaning on while chatting with each other as some gave hand signals to turn around and go the other way. What other way? That parking lot of a jammed street we're diverting all traffic onto.

This was because some of its trained soldiers were tasked or took it upon themselves to created some public mayhem which the government could use.

1. What do Buddhists do in the beginning [of each New Year]?

Buddhists, most of them, traditionally visit a Buddhist temple or monastery to see monastics, receive blessings, protective chants, see one another, hear the Dhamma, and meditate.

It's custom and tradition, not a rule. It's a joy to do. The crowds are comforting, particularly in this country, where January 1st can seem like being back in the Old Country.

When did the Buddha ever say "line" as in the timeline? Not one that we can remember. But he often spoke of cycles, circles, and cycling. Things are spinning, or as Alan Watts explains, the world is full of squiggles rather than the lines we conceptualize and speak of. Imagine the beautiful Celtic Knot. It's a nice way of visualizing the cycles-within-cycles.

Things are going in one major cycle (through the Yugas), but they are also going through may minor cycles as they do it. The Ages go from Golden (Satya Yuga) through to Dark (Kali Yuga). But within that long loop there are many little loops. A thread, a cotton suture, may seem like one straight line, but up close, that is not how it is. It is wound, curvilinear, intersected, netted, networked, bunch, pulled, and spiraling. This gives its strength. Perfectly aligned linear fiber would not hold together.

Gibberish or a tautology, which would you prefer?

Look at that clock just hanging there.

In the same way, if the world rolled on a straight (time) line, which it does not, it makes no sense to say, "before the beginning." The timeline starts here; there is no before here. If time is everywhere all the time, then there is no time before time.

(It's an illusion arising from the hallucination/logical imposition that time is a linear line. Imagine a linear timeline. Time starts here; this is the beginning. What was before the beginning? System error. Question does not compute. This spot is the beginning, and the end is over on the other side, so there can't be a pre-begin to conceptualize -- not because it doesn't exist but because the assumptions underlying this system are in error).

If time (the world) is cyclical, the question, "What was before the beginning?" makes sense, and there's an answer. Before the beginning was the previous end. (Imagine a timecircle rather than the customary timeline. This point is the beginning. What does the point before it represent? It represents the previous end. Time is neither a circle nor a line, which are just representations to try to visualize time.

Look at an analog clockface. What do two sticks pointing straight up represent? That is 12:00 o'clock, the beginning (of a day), the first point. If that is the beginning, what was before the beginning? The end (of the previous day). That is time in Buddhist cosmology. Time seems to be more than that, something mutable, going in either direction, able to be sped up and slowed down, and subject to perceptual anomalies.

• If all things are everywhere all at once, as seems to be the case, we can travel through time, but whether that actually changes time permanently is hard to say: Everything becomes impermanent because it can always be changed by such travel, whether is changed or not. That it can changed is what makes it impermanent and mutable. 

So when hearing or saying the phrase "in the beginning," be not confused to think that "beginning" ever references a first point, first cause, prime mover, even if one wishes or is sure that would be God. There is a beforetime that was before time. It came into existence the moment someone set up the rule that this is the way we are going to talk about it, conceive of it, believe it to have been.

Science

Science already agrees because it says, "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed." This is an outrageous statement. First, is energy even defined? "The ability to do work"? So Jebediah, who will do no work today, is full of 'energy' because he could if only he'd get up and get to it? Let's hope the axiom is true because if it is, there you have it, agreement.

Energy always is (and therefore always was and will be), and though time may have started, energy did not. So "What was there before the beginning?" makes sense. There was energy, which is everything and not a thing. So it is both true that everything, or every potential thing, has always been, and none of it is real. Didn't that slit light experiment prove anything? It seems not to have.

Let's get metaphysical. What about that double-slit? And what is quantum physics, Brian Cox?

(Neil DeGrasse Tyson recently said on his podcast with that other Black guy that the experiment is given inordinate weight and is misunderstood because the "act of observing" caused the result to change. He did not mean a human observing, like it sounds. He meant the physical scientific act of taking the measurements, as if light waves from the observation camera were impacting the photons being photographed).

2. Genesis on Earth

This being the case, on the subject of beginnings, the Buddha could be asked, "How did life on Earth begin?" (We assume this means, "How did life begin?," which it does not, instead only discussing life on Earth).

The Aggañña Sutta (DN 27) is a discourse by the Buddha to two Brahmins, Bharadvaja and Vasettha, who left their family and varna (caste) to become Buddhists. The two are insulted and maligned by other Brahims for their intention to become members of the Monastic Sangha.

The Buddha explains that caste and lineage cannot be compared to the achievement of morality practice and the Dhamma, as anyone from the four castes can become a monastic and reach the state of full enlightenment (arahant).

He then explains about the beginning and the destruction of the Earth, a process determined by karma and devoid of a supreme controlling being.

The Buddha explains the origin of the social order and its structure, including the castes. He emphasizes the message of universality in the Dhamma because "the Dhamma is the best of all things."

• Read the sutra: Agganna Sutta (DN 27)

3. How do things begin (originate)?

Ven. Paticcasamuppāda, Buddhist Dictionary and Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist Dictionary

The Buddha describes a process [not of intellectualizing but of practice] by which he discovered the origin of suffering.

The purpose of this process was to make an end of all suffering. It worked. He then realized the significance of it and famously said:

"Who sees me sees [this process], who sees [this process], sees me."*

The Five Aggregates clung to as self are dependently originated. The craving, adhering, being attracted to, and attached to the Five Aggregates is the origin of suffering. Letting go and being rid of craving and clinging for the Five Aggregates is the end of suffering.

Furthermore, the Buddha extolls, "It is because of not seeing Dependent Origination that both you and I have gone on wandering through this interminable Round of Rebirth in search of pleasure only to be reborn here, reborn there..."

What discovery could be so spectacular and significant? It is the final answer to all problems, but it is not easy to grasp or penetrate: paticcasamuppāda.

• "One who sees Dependent Origination sees the Dharma. One who sees the Dharma sees Dependent Origination."
• "Dependent Origination" is the Doctrine of the Conditionality of all physical and mental phenomena.
• This, together with the Doctrine of the Impersonal nature of all physical and mental phenomena (anattā), forms the indispensable condition for a real understanding and realization of the teaching of the Buddha, the Dhamma.
• This doctrine shows the conditionality and dependent nature of the uninterrupted flux of manifold physical and psychic phenomena of existence conventionally called the ego, self, soul, personality, person, animal, etc.
• The Doctrine of the Impersonal proceeds analytically by splitting (separating into elements, cutting, dissecting, analyzing) existence into its ultimate constituent parts -- which are mere empty, insubstantial phenomena or elements.
• The Doctrine of Conditionality, on the other hand, proceeds synthetically by showing that all these phenomena are, in some way or other, conditionally related with each other.
• In fact, the entire Abhidhamma Pitaka ("Basket Collection of the Doctrine in Ultimate Terms"), as a whole, deals only with these two doctrines -- phenomenality, implying the impersonal nature and conditionality of all existence.
• The analytical method is applied in Dhammasangani, the first book of the Abhidhamma Pitaka, whereas synthetical method is applied in the last book of the Abhidhamma Pitaka called the Patthāna.

• 

  Guide through the Abhidamma (Nyanatiloka)

  For a synopsis of these two works, see Guide I and VII. (This is a reference to the German Buddhist author's book Guide Through the Abhidhamma Pitaka, 3rd ed., 1971, available free from the Buddhist Publication Society).
• Although this subject of Dependent Origination has frequently been treated by Western authors, by far most of them have completely misunderstood the true meaning and purpose of the doctrine.
• Even the 12 terms, known as the causal links (nidanas), have often been translated wrongly, [and the first has been made to sound like some prime mover or first cause, when the whole of the doctrine bends over backward to show how all things come into being by cogenesis, that is, by multiple causes. Everything that's a thing arises by Dependent Origination, and there isn't anything that is caused or conditioned by only one thing. Nirvana, unlike everything else, is not a thing and therefore is not subject to the characteristics or pitfalls of things, known as the Three Marks of Existence].

APPLICATION: Conditionality as the Middle Way: Not-self and Emptiness

Wikipedia edit by Wisdom Quarterly

What use is wisdom? - It depends.

Early Buddhist texts associate Dependent Origination with emptiness (shunyata) and not-self (anatta), outlining different ways in which it is a Middle Way between different sets of "extreme" views.

In the Kaccānagotta Sutta (SN 12.15, parallelled at SA 301), the Buddha states that "this world mostly relies on the dual notions of existence and non-existence" then explains the right view as follows [58]:

"But when one truly sees the origin of the world with right understanding, one will not have the notion of non-existence regarding the world. And when one truly sees the cessation of the world with right understanding, one will not have the notion of existence regarding the world [59].

The Kaccānagotta Sutta then places the teaching of Dependent Origination (listing the 12 links in forward and reverse order) as a Middle Way that rejects these two "extreme" metaphysical views, which can be seen as two mistaken conceptions of the self [60, 5, Note 8]. More

• Text by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Millionaire's Daughter (Therigatha 6.5)

I will give you progressive, gradual instruction.

In the collection known as the Verses of the Elder (Enlightened) Nuns, the Therīgāthā, in Chapter 6, we find the story of Anopama ("Peerless" due to her beauty), the millionaire treasurer of Sāketa's daughter (Thig. 6.5). She utters a paean or verse concerning her awakening, her enlightenment, from hearing the Buddha teach her the Dharma. Her verses are recorded in the collection of nuns' utterances in the Pali canon, where she states:

Born in a high-ranking family

property owners of great wealth,

consummate in complexion and figure,

I was the daughter of the treasurer Majjha.

Royal sons sought me.

Sons of rich merchants

longed for me.

One of them sent my father a messenger,

who said, "Give me 'Peerless.'

And I in return will give

eight times her weight

in gold and jewels."

Name the dowry-price. I must have her! I offer her weight in gold eightfold with jewels, too!

.

But I, having seen the Awakened One,

unsurpassed, unexcelled in all the world,

bowed at his feet and sat

close by to one side.

He, Gotama (the Buddha), out of sympathy,

taught me the Dhamma (Doctrine).

And as I sat in that very seat,

I attained the third fruit [non-return].

Then I cast off my beautiful hair

and went forth into the left home life.

Today is the seventh day since I made

all craving shrivel away.

• See also Thig 6.4: Sujātā Therīgāthā translated by Dr. Hellmuth Hecker and Ayya Khema (suttacentral.net)
• Thig 6.6: The Mahā Pajāpati Gotamī Therīgāthā—the Buddha's mother's song of awakening translated by Andrew Olendzki (suttacentral.net)
• Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), based on translation by Ven. Thanissaro, (Thig 6.5) Anopamā Therīgāthā (suttacentral.net)

The October Full Moon Celebration (10/28)

Renee A. (Meetup); Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly

• Full Moon Reiki Infused Guided Meditation, Sat, Oct 28, 2023, 7:00 PM | Meetup
• What is the Buddhist lunar observance (by phases and on the full moon)?
• Found Full Moon Events | Meetup
• Uposatha is the Buddhist Sabbath Day:
• Eight Precepts: Full Moon Virtue
• Moon Gatherings with Beth Upton

[The Buddhist Sabbath Day]

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying in Jetavana, in the monastery of Anathapindika (the generous Buddhist stream-enterer and multimillionaire), near the City of Savatthi.

At that time the Blessed One (the Buddha), having called all the meditators together, addressed them:

"Meditators!"

They answered in assent: "Venerable sir!" (They then prepared themselves for the following teaching).

The Blessed One gave the following teaching on the regular lunar observance days (uposatha). 

"Uposatha is comprised of eight factors a noble disciple observes, the observation of which brings glorious and radiant fruit and benefits.

"What is this uposatha which, observed by noble disciples, brings glorious and radiant fruit and benefits?"

Observing Eight Precepts on full and new moon days... More

Four Establishments of Mindfulness Sutra

Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh (trans.), Amazon.com; Dr. Findlay, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The teachings contained in The Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness are fundamental to the practice of meditation and constitute the foundation of all mindfulness (sati, satipatthana) practice.

The discourse has been studied, practiced, and handed down with special care from generation to generation for 2,600 years.

In his commentaries Thich Nhat Hanh guides the reader to an understanding of the fundamental basis of the Buddhist practice and encourages its application in daily life.

It describes the four methods of mindfulness: mindfulness of

1. the body,
2. the feelings,
3. the mind,
4. the object of mind.

I should practice like you practice.

It teaches how to deal with anger and jealousy, to nurture the best qualities in our children, spouse, and friends, and to greet death with compassion and equanimity.

Three versions of the Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness are presented here, along with Thich Nhat Hanh's insightful commentary and 23 exercises -- or contemplations -- to aid in the practice of mindfulness in daily life.

Thich Nhat Hanh's presentation of the sutra is easy to follow, making it accessible for novice Buddhists as well as more advanced practitioners. It gives us the basics of breathing and how to use our breathing for meditation and contemplation.

With a new introduction by Thich Nhat Hanh. More

How many factors in the First Absorption?

Leigh Brasington (leighb.com/jhana...); Dhr. Seven (ed.), D. Cong, Wisdom Quarterly

Five Factors for the First Jhana - NOT!

There is a widespread misunderstanding that the first jhana (meditative absorption, zen, chan, dhyana) has five factors.

But this is not what is described in the sutras (Buddhist discourses) and is certainly not what the Buddha taught and practiced. The first jhana has four factors. (Yes, four: Look it up; see it in Pali):

1. vitakka - thinking [applied attention]
2. vicara - more thinking, examining [sustained attention]
3. piti - rapture, glee, zest
4. sukha - happiness [contentment]
5. [ekaggata - onepointedness of mind]

In the vast majority of cases -- over 100 sutras -- the first jhana is described as having only the first four factors listed above.

However, the "Teachings in Ultimate Terms" (Abhidharma) and the Commentaries do speak of five factors for the first jhana. 

They add ekaggata ("one-pointedness"). Ekaggata is not mentioned in the sutras because it is not and cannot be part of the formula.

In the first place, vitakka and vicara always and only mean "thinking" and "examining" in the sutras. There is no place where they can be interpreted to mean "initial and sustained attention" or any such thing.

• [EDITORIAL NOTE: The great Burmese Buddhist meditation master Pa Auk Sayadaw, whom Leigh Brasington sat a retreat with IMS in Barre, Massachussets, as witnessed by the present editor, who stood outside the door as they met in conference. The Sayadaw admonished Leigh not to cling to the piti (joy, rapture) that accompanies the initial absorptions no matter how blissful they are. But Leigh had his own extensive experiences, comprehension, and teaching methods, whereas the Sayadaw had the various stages of enlightenment as a result of his own experiences, comprehension, and teaching methods. It is not clear that Leigh can claim that. In addition, Westerners have an aversion to the Abhidharma and other commentarial texts, whereas Burmese Buddhists treasure more than any other Theravada school.]

It is even explicit in the Pali canon that vitakka and vicara refer to thinking in the context of the first jhana. See, for example SN 21:1.

There "Noble Silence" is defined as the Second Jhana because vitakka and vicara are now absent. It is simply not possible to have onepointedness and thinking at the same time.

So experiencing ekaggata in the same jhana as vitakka and vicara makes no sense whatsoever.

 

Furthermore, in the Second Jhana, vitakka and vicara are replaced with vupasama, ajjhattam sampasadanam and ekodi-bhavam -- "inner tranquility" and "unification of mind."

If there were ekaggata in First Jhana, there would be no need to specify the gaining of ekodi-bhavam to replace vitakka and vicara in the Second Jhana.

 

Now to be fair, there are two sutras where five factors are given for the First Jhana and a third sutra where "unification of mind" is mentioned in regard to the First Jhana:

1. M I 294 - MN 43 "The Greater Set of Questions-and-Answers"
2. M III 25-29 - MN 111 "One After Another"
3. S IV 263 - SN 40.1 "The First Jhana" (not ekaggata, but ekodim; the context makes it a real stretch to consider this a fifth factor).

But all of these appear to be "late" sutras written at the close of the Sutra Era and the beginning of the Abhidharma Era. Sutra MN 111 is actually internally contradictory:

It first gives the standard First Jhana formula with vitakka and vicara and then says Ven. Sariputra examined the factors of the First Jhana and found ekaggata.

As mentioned above, you just can't have ekaggata and vitakka and vicara happening at the same time. Of course, this was a problem for the Abhidhammaikas and the commentators. So they redefined vitakka and vicara to mean "initial and sustained attention."

But clearly the Abhidharma has tinkered with the definitions of the meditative absorptions (jhanas), converting the First Jhana into two different states -- one with vitakka and vicara and one with only vicara. There is no basis for this in the sutras except again in a couple of "late" sutras.

And by the time of The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga), a compendious commentarial text, the definitions of what constitutes a jhana had diverged significantly from the sutra definitions.

The Visuddhimagga has made the jhanas so difficult that only one in a million who come to meditation can enter the First Jhana (Section XII.8), whereas in the sutras, the monastics (monks and nuns) were all practicing jhana.

(The Buddha didn't have millions of followers but rather probably only a few [or as many as 80] thousand at most. Yet, there are many accounts of monastics successfully practicing the jhanas)

The absorption level described in the Visuddhimagga is so deep that "sounds are a thorn to the First Jhana" as found in AN 10.72 makes no sense at all.

Clearly ekaggata as a factor of the First Jhana is a later addition making the five factors of the First Jhana a later schema.

In fact, looking at the jhanas with the traditional Abhidharma/Commentarial factors misses some of the important information in the sutra schema. See leighb.com/jhanatrd. Source

The First Day of Spring: Tree Leaves (sutra)

Maurice O'Connell Walshe (trans.), Simsapa Sutra, "The Simsapa Tree Leaves" (SN 56.31), Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly partial Wiki edit

At one time the Blessed One [a name for the Buddha] was staying at Kosambi in the Simsapa Tree Grove.

• Siṃsapā, a tall and beautiful tree, is the Dalbergia sissoo, also known as the "[Buddhist Indian Emperor] Asoka tree."

Trees are sacred in Buddhism, e.g., the pipal

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:

1. 'This is suffering (disappointment, woe, ill, pain)
2. This is the arising of suffering
3. This is the cessation of suffering
4. 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.