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Story from the Dhammapada – Two Brothers

There once lived a Brahmin whose wife was a devoted follower of the Buddha. At first, he was indulgent towards her admiration. As her faith in the Buddha increased, the husband began to feel jealous.

One day, he went to meet the Buddha with a plan to ask him a question which he thought the Buddha would be incapable of answering. That way, he thought, his wife’s reverence for the Buddha would diminish.

Face-to-face with the Buddha, he asked, “What is it that must be killed so that we may be able to live in happiness and peace?”

The Buddha replied: “To live thus, we have to kill anger, for it is anger that destroys happiness and peace.”

The Buddha’s words so inspired the husband that not only did his anger melt away, but he decided to join the order of monks. Eventually, he became an arahant or enlightened being.

His younger brother, on hearing about this transformation, became furious. He confronted the Buddha with a torrent of abuse. The Buddha sat quietly until he had finished. Then he asked the agitated man: “If you served food to a guest at your home and the guest went away without eating anything, to whom would the food belong?”

The Brahmin, caught unawares, replied: “To me, I suppose.”

Said the Buddha calmly: “Like the guest, I too do not accept your insults, so they belong to you.”

The Brahmin was left speechless. Like his brother, he realized his folly and joined the monkhood.

The other monks who had witnessed this could not contain their admiration for the Buddha’s ability to reveal the path of Dharma even to those who inflicted abuse upon him. The Buddha’s simple reply to them was:

“I do not return one wrong with another...”

 

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Buddhist Inspirational Tale: The Folly of Pride

Shan the monk lived in a small village in China. He had acquired a great reputation for himself among villages far and wide. But Shan was extremely proud of his status and did not care for humbler souls.

A villager named Qui Yun knew what Shan was really like and decided that the monk needed a lesson in humility. He went to meet the monk. Upon his arrival, the monk neither welcomed him nor showed any sign that he had a visitor.

Qui Yun was a little taken aback at how to handle this indifference! Just then, the monk’s servant walked in and said, “Master, there is a visitor to see you. He says he is an army general’s son.”

“Ask him to enter,” said Shan.

When the young man came in his presence, the monk welcomed him respectfully and spoke a few words. After the visitor had left, Qui Yun burst out: “You were so courteous to that man. Yet you ignore me – why?”

Pat came Shan’s reply: “Do not misunderstand me. In my book, greeting someone is the same as not greeting. And not greeting a person equals greeting! ”

“Oho!” thought Qui Yun to himself, “this fellow thinks he can fool me with clever talk. I shall teach him a lesson!”

Qui Yun whacked the monk hard with his stick. Shan howled with pain – no one had dared do this to him, ever!

“I only went by your logic, master,” said Qui Yun. “Accordingly, beating you is the same as not beating. And not beating equals beating – that’s why I had to beat you!”

The monk realized his game was up. From then, he began behaving respectfully to everyone, regardless of their position.

 

 

Self Reflection:

Is our respect biased?

 

 

 

 

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What does the concept of safe harbor or refuge mean in Buddhism?

 

 

The notion of taking refuge in a faith is unique to Buddhism. Quite simply, the Buddha, his teachings under Dharma and the Sangha or Buddhist community – termed the Three Jewels in Buddhist scriptures – offer any seeker shelter from the woes of life. The concept is often explained using the analogy of illness with the Buddha as physician, Dharma as medicine and the Sangha as nurse. Taking this further, the individual seeking refuge is the patient – to get well, he/she must take the prescribed medicine, which means practicing the Buddha’s teachings.

At a deeper level, the idea of seeking safe harbor implies that the individual has a degree of understanding about life’s difficulties and suffering. Also, taking refuge doesn’t mean trying to escape from problems in one’s current life. Rather, it is about avoiding suffering in future lives and possibly releasing oneself from the endless cycle of rebirth.

Seeking refuge in the Buddha is about letting go of the shackles that hold us back from enlightenment. His teachings, through the principles of Dharma, show us how to develop and strengthen the inherent ability to release ourselves. The Sangha is a spiritual community that shares the desire to let go of suffering. Support, encouragement and shared experiences from its members helps one find the way out of pain and suffering. Seeking shelter in the Three Jewels is a serious commitment that is undertaken with vows.

Chief among these is the vow to never harm another sentient being.

Depending on varying traditions, other vows may include not killing, not stealing (in the sense of not taking what is not offered as well as not paying taxes), not indulging in sexual misconduct (adultery), not lying and not imbibing intoxicants (alcohol or any substance detracting from mental clarity).

In Buddhist philosophy, making this commitment leads to a steady accumulation of virtue as the individual lives out his time by upholding his vows.

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Buddhist Inspirational Tale: The Last Problem

 

Once, a man approached the Buddha, seeking the Enlightened One’s help. After narrating one of his problems to the Buddha, he asked the latter how he could get rid of it.

“I cannot help you with this problem,” said the Buddha, to the man’s surprise.

The man then related another problem. Surely, the Wise One would be able to help him with this matter at least?

But the Buddha merely smiled gently and said, “I can’t help you get rid of this one, either.” The man lost his patience. “How can you be the Enlightened One if you cannot help people resolve their problems?” he blurted.

The Buddha replied: “There will always be 83 problems troubling you. Occasionally, one problem will disappear, but it will be replaced by another one. I can’t change that.”
Even more confused now, the man queried the Buddha: “So is there any help you can give me?”

The Buddha answered: “I can help you be free of the 84th problem.”

“And what is that?” asked the man.

“The fact that you want to be rid of those 83 problems!” replied the Buddha.

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The Fourth Noble Truth

Having realized the truth of suffering (Dukkha) in life, its cause and cessation, the Buddha proceeded to explain the final Truth, his prescription to freedom from suffering – the Noble Eightfold Path.

As Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha had seen a life of great luxury and knew that sensual pleasures alone could not save one from suffering. Later, he had lived the rigorous life of an ascetic and had realized that this too, did not necessarily lead to spiritual liberation. Thus, the Buddha taught that the path to freedom from suffering lies not in extremes, but in moderation, a philosophy that is known as the Middle Way.

The Noble Eightfold Path expands on this, setting out the path one must walk towards the cessation of dukkha. This is less a doctrine than a list of steps one must actively take, if its fruits are to be realized:

The first three steps of Right Thought, Right Speech and Right Action teach us what we should avoid – negative thinking and covetousness; lying, hurtful words and gossip; killing, robbing and sexual misconduct.

The fourth and fifth steps are Right Livelihood and Right Understanding – making a living with the right attributes mentioned above and acquiring true wisdom. The last three steps of Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration are with reference to meditation – persevering in the practice with joyfulness, keeping one’s mind in the present and maintaining a serene attentiveness.

 

Links to previous articles

The First Noble Truth

The Second Noble Truth

The Third Noble Truth

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Zen Story: Zen in a Note

 

Kakua was the first Japanese to imbibe Zen teaching in China, but few people know it was he who introduced Zen into his land because he revealed nothing – except one note! Here is his story:

When Kakua visited China, he received the teaching. He lived in a remote, mountainous region, constantly meditating. When people stumbled upon him, they would ask him to preach. Kakua would utter a few words and move off to an even more inaccessible place in the mountains.

But Kakua’s fame spread and the Japanese emperor came to know of him. When he returned to his country, the emperor invited him to the court and requested him to impart his teaching, both for his own knowledge and that of the people.

Kakua stood in front of the emperor. Pulling out a flute from within his robe, he blew a single note. He then bowed politely and walked out.

You don’t preach Zen. Neither do you ‘learn’ it.

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The Third Noble Truth

 

The First Noble Truth states that life is filled with suffering, while the Second Noble Truth identifies the causes of suffering - altogether, a gloomy outlook !

After the Buddha realized these Truths, he spent six years more contemplating the nature of suffering. His understanding of this is the Third Noble Truth. In it, the Buddha offered a message of hope - that there is an end to suffering - by eliminating hatred and ignorance from our lives.  Anyone who wishes to attain this goal may do so.

The Buddha taught that beyond suffering lies great bliss. As we take steps towards removing the causes of suffering, we experience progressive levels of happiness. The path is a long one and may extend over several lifetimes. But staying on it leads to a tremendous sense of liberation. There are other benefits from adhering to this philosophy - one can live in happiness, untroubled by any kind of negativity. At the end of this path, when desire and ignorance would have completely fallen away, one may experience the same transcendental joy that the Buddha did.

This is the second consequence of the end of suffering, which is known in Buddhism as Nirvana or Enlightenment. Nirvana cannot be precisely defined. At best, we may think of it as a state of pure freedom, a complete and permanent cessation of suffering. Nirvana is not a reward to be attained after death. As the Buddha demonstrated, it can be achieved during life.

With Enlightenment comes great wisdom and compassion. Only the Buddha is known to have achieved these qualities. Such wisdom allowed him to understand the nature of reality, while his boundless compassion touched the lives of thousands.

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The Second Noble Truth

The Second Noble Truth concerns the causes of suffering. Suffering is generated by our mind; according to the Buddha, our main problems are delusional in nature – when we  show anger or ignorance, we create hardships for ourselves as well as others.

Attachment |  Anger  |  Ignorance

Attachment                                                                                                                    

Attachment to desire is a huge cause of suffering. It traps us in samsara, or cyclic existence. The concept of desire is sometimes misunderstood as desires for things. Desire comes in three guises – desire for sensual pleasures, the desire to become (something that we are not) and the desire to be rid of something.

When we eat delicious food, the desire for more is "kama tanha" or wanting sensual pleasure.

"Bhava tanha" (desire to become) is wanting to transform ourselves into something that we are not – when we strive to be happy or wealthy, when we project our importance, we experience bhava tanha. When disillusionment sets in, "vibhava tanha", the desire to do away with things arises. But wanting to get rid of anger, fear and stress is also a desire. Bhava and vibhava tanha are mirror images.


Anger                                                                                                                            

Every action has a consequence. Harming others will eventually result in our being harmed. Anger makes us harm other beings; in that sense it often becomes a cause of self-inflicted suffering.

Ignorance                                                                                                                    

Ignorance brings suffering because not being omniscient, we act in ways that lead to problems. We cannot foresee consequences or truly understand others. Also, we cannot see the nature of reality. The gulf between our perception of it and the Ultimate Truth is enormous. This inability to comprehend reality traps us in samsara, where we must inevitably experience suffering in some form.

The Second Noble Truth is about identifying that suffering is not entirely inevitable, neither are we helpless victims. Desire itself does not cause suffering; rather, reacting to it creates problems.

The First Noble Truth

Buddhism is a very practical "religion" that does not promote deification and theology. It is about straightforward and simple truths which, if followed in everyday life, can help people overcome suffering and achieve an inborn sense of happiness. While Buddhism does not encourage blindly following rules and principles, it is important to know the teachings and philosophies of Buddha to understand the discipline that Buddhism is all about.

 

The First Noble Truth 

The first of the Four Noble Truths propounded by Sakyamuni soon after he attained Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree was: “Life is suffering”. A depressing statement, indeed! “Suffering” however does little justice to the original, many layered Pali word, “dukkha”, which includes all things transient and conditional. In this sense, the most precious things and happiest of experiences in life ultimately bring dukkha – because they are impermanent and our attachment to them is strong.

The Buddha’s reflection was based on what he observed as Prince Siddhartha and later, a wandering monk – that the one factor uniting humanity was suffering.

The beginning of life is marked by suffering in the pain experienced by mother and child. As people age, their senses deteriorate and bodies grow weaker, causing suffering.  Disease brings dukkha; finally, death is the cause of much grief and pain. No one can avoid the suffering involved in being born, aging and dying. Worse, dukkha, whether in the form of a fever or loss of a loved one has to be endured alone. No one can fully experience the suffering of another.

The Buddha spoke of three types of mental suffering.

1. People feel dukkha when they are separated or lose loved ones.
2. The discomfort or stress felt in the company of unpleasant or hostile people is also dukkha. 
3. Being unable to get everything we want causes dejection and frustration – dukkha by another name.

The Buddha also reflected on the many kinds of happiness that exist – friendships, family life, good health, the joys of celebrating and sharing. But as real as these are, they are impermanent. Typically, people try escaping from dukkha by filling their lives with transient pleasures; when these fade, they are left struggling with reality.

Is there a way out? Buddhism teaches that the first step to end dukkha is simply to accept it.

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