What is the Teaching of the Buddha? (Public Talk 2, Part 2)

(30 September 1951)

by Thray Sithu Sayagyi U Ba Khin

In 1951, when Sayagyi was the Accountant General of Burma, he was requested by a religious study group to lecture on Teachings of the Buddha. The study group was headed by the information officer and the economic and finance officer of the Special Technical and Economic Division of the U.S. Government. Sayagyi presented a series of three lectures in Rangoon at the Methodist Church, Signal Pagoda Road. The following is abridged.

My dear Dhamma brothers and sisters…

Path Leading to the Extinction of Suffering

What, then, is the path leading to the extinction of suffering? The path is none other than the Noble Eightfold Path taught by the Buddha in his first sermon. This Eightfold Path is divided into three main stages, namely: sīla, samādhi and paññā.

Sīla (moral precepts):

1. right speech
2. right action
3. right livelihood

Samādhi (concentration of mind):

4. right exertion
5. right attentiveness
6. right concentration

Paññā (wisdom-insight):

7. right aspiration
8.right understanding

Sīla:

The three characteristic aspects of sīla are as follows:
1.sammā-vācā (right speech)
2.sammā-kammanta (right action)
3.sammā-ājīvo (right livelihood)

By right speech is meant: speech which must be true, beneficial and neither foul nor malicious.

By right action is meant: fundamentals of morality which are opposed to killing, stealing, sexual misconduct and drunkenness.

By right livelihood is meant: ways of living by trades other than those which increase the suffering of all beings (such as slave trading, the manufacturing of weapons, and trafficing in intoxicating drugs)

These represent generally the code of morality as initially pronounced by the Buddha in his very first sermon. Later, however, he amplified it and introduced separate codes for monks and lay disciples.

I need not worry you with what has been prescribed for monks. I will just let you know what the code of morality for a lay student is. This is called the pañca s²la or the Five Precepts. They are:

1. pāṇātipātā—abstention from killing any sentient beings. (Life is the most precious for all beings; and in prescribing this, Buddha’s compassion extends to all beings.)

2. adinnādānā—abstention from taking what is not given. (This serves as a check against improper desire for possessions.)

3. kāmesu-micchācārā—abstention from sexual misconduct. (Sexual desire is dormant in man. It is irresistible to almost all. Unlawful sexual indulgence is, therefore, one which the Buddha prohibited.)

4. musāvādā—abstention from telling lies. (This precept is included to fulfil, by the way of speech, the essence of truth.)

5.surāmeraya—abstention from intoxication. (Intoxication causes a man to lose his steadfastness of mind and reasoning power so essential for the realization of truth.) The pañca sīla are therefore intended to control actions and words and to serve as a foundation for samādhi (concentration of mind).

Samādhi:

Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the mental aspect of Buddhism which I’m sure will greatly interest you. In the second stage of the Eightfold Noble Path (that is, samādhi) are included:

1. sammā-vāyāmo (right exertion)
2. sammā-sati (right attentiveness)
3. sammā-samādhi (right concentration)

Right exertion is, of course, the prerequisite for right attentiveness. Unless one makes a concerted effort to narrow down the range of thoughts of his wavering and unsteady mind, he cannot expect to secure that attentiveness of mind which in turn helps him bring the mind by right concentration to a state of one-pointedness and equanimity. It is here that the mind becomes free from hindrances, pure and tranquil; illumined within and without. The mind in such a state becomes powerful and bright. Outside, it is represented by light which is just a mental reflex, with the light varying in degrees from that of a star to that of the sun. To be plain, this light which is reflected before the mind’s eye in complete darkness is a manifestation of the purity, tranquillity and serenity of mind.

The Hindus work for it. To go from light into the void and come back to it, is truly Br±hmanic. The New Testament, in Matthew, speaks of “body full of light.” We also hear of Roman Catholic priests meditating regularly for this very miraculous light. The Holy Qur’an, too, gives prominence to the “manifestation of divine light.”

This mental reflex of light denotes the purity of mind within, and the purity of mind forms the essence of a religious life whether one is a Buddhist, Hindu, Christian or Muslim. Indeed the purity of mind is the greatest common denominator of all religions. Love, which alone is the means for the unity of mankind, must be supreme, and it cannot be so unless the mind is transcendently pure. A balanced mind is necessary to balance the unbalanced minds of others: “As a fletcher makes straight his arrow, a wise man makes straight his trembling and unsteady thought, which is difficult to guard, difficult to hold back.” So said the Buddha. Exercise of the mind is just as necessary as exercise of the physical body. Why not, then, give exercise to the mind and make it strong and pure so that you may enjoy the jhānic peace within? When inner peace begins to permeate the mind, you will surely progress in the knowledge of truth.

Believe it or not, it is our experience that under a proper guide, this inner peace and purity of mind can be secured by one and all, irrespective of their religion or creed, providing they have sincerity of purpose and are prepared to submit to the guide for the period of the trial.

When by continued practice, one has complete mastery over his mind, he can enter into jhānic states (meditative states of deep absorption) and gradually develop himself to acquire samāpattis (attainments) which will give him supernormal powers the same as those exercised by Kāla-Devala, the hermit teacher of King Suddhodana. This, of course, must be tried with very strict morality and away from human habitations but is rather dangerous for those who still have traces of passion in them. Anyway, such a practice, which gives supernormal powers in this mundane field, was not encouraged by The Buddha, whose sole object of developing samādhi was to have the purity and strength of mind essential for the realization of truth. We have in Dhamma forty different methods of concentration of which the most outstanding is Anāpāna, that is, concentration on the incoming and outgoing breath, the method followed by all the Buddhas.

Paññā:

Ladies and gentlemen, I will now take up the philosophical aspect of Dhamma in the third stage of the Noble Eightfold Path: paññā (insight).

The two characteristic aspects of paññ± are:
1. sammā-saṅkappo (right aspiration)
2. sammā-diṭṭhi (right understanding)

Right understanding of the truth is the aim and object of the Buddha’s teaching. Right aspiration or (right thought) is the analytical study of mind and matter, both within and without, in order to come to the realization of truth.

You have heard of nāma and rupa (mind and matter) so many times, I owe you a further explanation.

N±ma is so called because of its tendency to incline towards an object of the senses. Rupa is so called because of its impermanence due to perpetual change. The nearest terms in English to nāma and rupa, therefore, are mind and matter. I say “nearest” because the meaning is not exact.

N±ma, strictly speaking, is the term applied to the following:

1. viññāṇa (consciousness)
2. vedanā (feeling/sensation)
3.saññā (perception)
4.saṇkhāra (volitional energies or mental forces).

These together with rupa in the material state make what we call the pañca-khandhas (five aggregates).

It is with the five aggregates that the Buddha summed up all the mental and physical phenomena of existence (which in reality is a continuum of mind and matter coexisting, but which to a layman is his personality or ego).

In sammā-saṇkappo (right aspiration), the disciple who, by then, has developed the powerful lens of sam±dhi, focuses his attention on his own self and by introspective meditation makes an analytical study of nature: first, of rupa (matter) and then of nāma (mind and mental properties). He feels (and at times he also sees) the kalāpas in their true state. He begins to realize that both rupa and nāma are in a constant state of change – impermanent and fleeting. As his power of concentration increases, the nature of forces in him becomes more and more vivified. He can no longer get out of the impression that the pañca khandhas (five aggregates) are suffering within the law of cause and effect. He is now convinced that, in reality, all is suffering within and without, and that there is nothing such as ego. He longs for a state beyond suffering. So eventually getting out of the bonds of suffering, he moves from the mundane to the super-mundane state and enters the stream of sotāpanna, the first of the four stages of ariyas (noble ones). Then he becomes free from (1) ego; (2) doubts; (3) attachment to rites and rituals. The second stage is sakadāgāmi, on coming to which, sensuous craving and ill-will become attenuated. He ceases to have any passion or anger when he reaches the third stage of anāgāmi. The stage of arahat is the final goal.

Each of the ariyas can feel what nibbāna is like, even as a human being, for any number of times as he may choose, by going into the fruition stage of sotāpanna, etc., which gives him the nibbānic peace within.

This peace within which is identified with nibbāna has no parallel because it is super-mundane. Compared to this, the jhānic peace within (which I mentioned earlier in dealing with samādhi) is negligible because, while the nibbānic peace within takes one beyond the thirty-one planes of existence, the jhānic peace within will still keep him within these planes, for example, in the fine material world of the brahmās.

Ladies and gentlemen, just a word more. What I have said here are just some of the fundamental aspects of Dhamma. With the time at my disposal, I hope I have given you my best.

To come to a state of purity of mind with a light before you; to go to the jh±nic state at will; to experience, for yourselves, nibbānic peace within these are all within your reach.

Why not, then, try for the first two at least which are within the confines of your own religion? I am prepared to give any help that you may require.

May I again express my gratitude to you all for the patient listening.

(To be continued in the next issue)

– From the ‘Sayagyi U Ba Khin Journal’