Shifu Nagaboshi Tomio

From its very beginning the teachings of Buddhism, known as the 'Dharma', acknowledged the primacy of human experience as constituting the mainspring from which its teachings sprang. Of all experiences it is suffering which is the most vivid to us and our individual experience of it is the most immediate and usually the most pressing motivating force within our lives. We do not need any elaborate doctrine to convince us of this. The first teaching given by the Buddha after his Enlightenment was his proclamation of the 4 'Noble truths' and the first of these truths concerned suffering.

These truths set the tone for his later teachings in that they were primarily concerned with the states of mind that formed our experiences of both ourselves and the world at large. These teachings were not descriptions of metaphysical realms or states nor were they revelations from some potent deity (or deities). Instead they highlighted the influence of the nitty gritty discomforts and anguish we endure in our daily existence.

Even though at later dates various forms of Buddhism did venture to describe or explain life with reference to transcendental principles, realms or states all these proceed from and have reference to the basic and inescapable fact that human experience is largely composed of our various responses towards, within or away from the pains of life.

These pains may concern our bodies or our minds, they may concern material objects, powers or emotional states. Whatever form they take we do not have to be a Buddhist to know or experience these.

We rarely understand fully either the causes for or the solutions to our sufferings - if we did we could dissolve them immediately they arose. What we do know is that when they arise we wish we were far away from them.

How we understand and respond to our individual sufferings forms the basis of what we are and how we will see ourselves.

The process of working out or resolving these two factors, namely what we are and how we see ourselves, determines the interpretive outlook we hold towards the world at large. It molds both the immediate effect of our future experiences and our subsequent actions.

If our outlook is based upon a lack of understanding or confusion we will unknowingly tend to replicate those habits and traits which incline us towards the situations producing suffering.

Any help we can therefore enlist in understanding ourselves will make the task of avoiding suffering hopefully somewhat easier.

The Buddha taught that the prime cause for suffering lies in craving. This craving takes several forms and covers both material and immaterial conditions. Experiencing the desire for material or immaterial things, for situations or emotions means that as long as we cannot obtain or possess what we wish we will torment ourselves with trying to. Embracing a range stretching from the smallest preference to the wildest obsession such desire is never far from our consciousness.

Our personal happiness and freedom from pain however lies not in gaining all that we wish for because eventually we will come to wish for more and more and this creates an ever increasing cycle of craving and dependence which solves nothing.

Such craving is not always orientated towards owning things but occurs just as much in seeking to reject them. We try to for instance to reject pain, illness, poverty old age etc just as much as we wish to own their opposites. Such untamed blind desires can easily create a living hell state within us.

The Buddha began his teaching from such facts of life and because such suffering is universal people understood its basis easily. It was not an understanding confined to clever philosophers, religious teachers, special rituals or sects. What was not universal about his teaching was that it took the nature of our day to day experiences as its prime reference and regarded these alone as containing all that is required to attain Enlightenment.

The Buddha showed us how to taxi along the runway of life and then soar like a bird beyond its snares and lures. To launch ourselves Buddhism gives us 2 powerful 'wings', namely that of Compassion and that of Wisdom. Both of these need to be developed in order to fully understand and practice the doctrine of Enlightenment.

There are some who proclaim that 'for the Bodhisattva Compassion is all that is required' but these are simply persons nurturing their emotions to an excessive degree whilst others who hold that 'Wisdom, Calmness or Insight meditation are the main criteria' are often people simply incapable of generating any depth of feeling towards others.

Such fixed attitudes constitute and characterise the various forms of the afflicted sense of self ('klistomano') later described by Vasubandhu in verse 6 of his '30 Verses' as being fourfold in nature. ^{[ 1 ]} .

Each of those four afflictions easily finds a hiding place within the various forms and practices of meditation and each also has its own manner of justifying and perpetuating itself. Upholders of such often unrealised positions can practice meditation for many years without undergoing any significant change within their being nor will they until this, a close examination of where they actually began from, their presuppositions as to the nature of their being, has been initiated.

The Wing of Wisdom really consists of a full understanding of the 4 Noble Truths in all their implications. Until such understanding is achieved we will never really know how to properly implement the Wing of Compassion which itself arises out from the experience of selflessness. Many think that simply developing a kind and good heart filled with benevolence towards others constitutes this Wing but this is not a balanced view.

As compassion is as much an activity as a state we also need to understand how and when to usefully apply it within different circumstances and environments, otherwise even our noblest efforts can easily become misunderstood, pointless or dissipated. Compassion is so only when wisely applied and Wisdom blossoms only when it is compassionately expressed.

In order to develop both these qualities some prior understanding is needed of the reasons as to why such attitudes and outlooks are considered skilful in Buddhism and this understanding is bound up with acknowledging the vast extent and relevance of the 4 Noble Truths proclaimed by Shakyamuni to the world and their practical implications as expressed in fundamental formulae such as the '12 fold chain of dependent origination' (Pratityasamutpada).

The practice of sitting Meditation alone is not sufficient for such an understanding. To those first starting in the path successful application of the technique of meditation remains largely beyond their grasp. It is more often than not simply a cause of mental frustration and tension at their own inabilities and impatience. The translator S. Anacker notes this in his comments upon Vasubandhu's '30 Verses' text ^{[ 2 ]} and shows that before embarking upon any serious practice of meditation the basic outlook of the individual needs to have begun to change in order to start off the process properly.

By 'change' he primarily means first familiarising oneself with the fundamental factors which make up our consciousness and then, by practicing constant mindfulness, trying to overcome what are known as the mind's '5 hindrances' (sensuous desire, ill will, sloth & torpor, restlessness and skeptical doubts). Each of these states exemplifies a particular attitude and weakness which interferes with the practice of meditation and until they can be tamed and put under control no meditation practice will succeed in its object. ^{[ 3 ]}

The path of exploration followed in becoming aware of these states within ourselves is often a 'mini discovery' in itself as each is best noted and examined primarily as they occur within our daily life.

It is quite certain that without overcoming these hindrances no meditation progress is possible because they create the basic 'stance' from which we begin to walk the path of truth.

In fact it is often our presuppositions concerning this stance which hinders us in seeing what is the most appropriate and fruitful path of spiritual development and training relevant to our 'own' situation and attitudes.

We always assume that how we see ourselves is how we actually are, in the same way we imagine that because we are aware of inner experiences they are 'ours'. What constitutes this 'ours' is what we first need to see clearly and then to calm this often turbulent ocean of mind so that we can see into its depths..

Otherwise we will tend to jump headlong into practices which appeal to us but which are really quite advanced and need a lot of preparation or we will tend to adopt attitudes and habits which are not in accord with the way that things really are.

Because of this it becomes difficult to either see or understand the underlying causes of suffering pointed out by the Buddha , especially the powerful desire and craving that permeates every aspect of our experience. We usually begin from a position which is not seen clearly enough.

Engaging in the first stages of self transformation enables us to become more aware of the primary factor that creates the conditions we experience, namely our sense of our mind and the mental states it forms.

The Buddha showed us that there is simply no need to adopt additional views or doctrines to those that we already have access to ^{[ 4 ]} and in line with this teaching we realise that our present mental states are quite enough to begin with. They are always available and they never close up shop.

In a similar manner the suffering expressed in the first Noble Truth and the inter relationships of mental and physical factors described in the Chain of Dependent Origination are always available to us and ceaselessly demonstrate the incessant change and renewal we are immersed within throughout our experience of day to day life.

One resultant of not seeing this is the often desperate search for some safe, secure and still place within this flux that our sense of self regularly engages in. Indeed some even find in this search a validation that they 'are' due to their identification with the very states that torment them. A form of 'hostage syndrome' applied inwardly. ^{[ 5]}

Overcoming those conditions which cause the 5 hindrances to arise liberates us from such afflictions and enables us to see such situations for what they are. Until we do we can not begin to do anything about them.

Above all we need to remember that no matter what form they take all our desires are preceded by mental states and impulses. It is through understanding and moderating these that the key to our liberation lies.

Notes

[1] The relevant part of the verse reads ' ... conjoined with 4 afflictions, obstructed but indeterminate, known as view of self, confusion of self, pride of self and love of self ' . Back

[2] See his notes on the '30 Verses' (p196) in '7 Works of Vasubandhu'. Pub: M.L.D.B. (Delhi) 1984. Also the page 197 comments upon Verse 6 of the 30 Verses in 'The principles of Buddhist Psychology' by D.Kalupahana. Pub: S.U.N.Y. Press (New York) 1967. Back

[3] These are described in the Anguttara Nikaya Book 9 Verse 40. Back

[4] This is the ultimate William of Ockham principle. Back

[5] This is a term first applied in the case of the kidnapped American newspaper heiress Patty Hearst in which the kidnapped person becomes totally fascinated by, and sometimes in love with, their captors and ends up conspiring with them in their extortion attempts. Back