CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER THREE
No one can be civilised by merely
taking the three Refuges. So we need to observe precepts, at least five.
What are they?
1 Refraining from killing any living
being.
2 Refraining from taking what is
not given.
3 Refraining from sexual misconduct.
4 Refraining from wrong speech.
5 Refraining from taking drinks
and drugs which befuddle the mind and reduce mindfulness.
Some Buddhists may think, “We have
to observe these five precepts because we are Buddhists.” In fact, it is
not so. Whoever wants to be a humane person, to civilise oneself and to
get a happy life, really needs to practise these precepts.
Sila or morality is not a set of commandments handed down by the Buddha, and it need not be confined to Buddhist teachings. It is actually derived from a basic sense of humanity. For example, suppose we have a spurt of anger and want to harm another being. If we put ourselves in that other being’s place, and honestly contemplate the action we have been planning, we will quickly answer “No, I wouldn’t want that done to me.
That would be cruel and unjust.”
If we feel this way about some action that we plan, we can be quite sure
that the action is unwholesome (akusalakamma). In this way, morality can
be understood as a manifestation of our sense of oneness with other beings.
"All beings are afraid of
the stick, all fear death. Putting oneself in another’s place, one should
not beat or kill others."
Similarly, we should think very
deeply before we do something. By doing so, we will have a basic sense
of humanity and then we should try to refrain from breaking other precepts
also.
"Some people defend the use of drugs or alcohol, saying that these substances are not so bad. On the contrary, they are very dangerous. Even in small amounts, intoxicating substances can make us less sensitive, more easily swayed by gross motivations of anger and greed. They can lead even a good-hearted person into forgetfulness.
Like accomplices to a crime,
intoxicants open the door to a host of problems, from just talking nonsense,
to inexplicable bursts of rage, to negligence that could be fatal to oneself
or others. Indeed, any intoxicated person is unpredictable. Abstaining
from intoxicants is therefore a way of protecting all other precepts."
The Pali word kamma literally means
action, or volition (cetana). We create our own kamma through body, speech
and mind. These actions stem from moral or immoral volition.
"Oh monks, volition (cetana)
is what I call action (kamma), for through volition one performs the action
by body, speech and mind."
We ourselves are responsible
for our own fortune, happiness and misery. We build our own heavens, or
hells. We therefore speak of kamma as the law of cause and effect; action
and reaction.
The subject of kamma is deep and complicated. It is not easy to understand. So I would like to touch on this subject in detail, because kamma is a very important subject for a Buddhist to understand as one of the basic teachings of the Buddha.
When beholding this world and thinking about the destinies of beings, it will appear to most men as if everything in nature is unjust. We often ask ourselves why one man is rich while the other man is poor; why one man is handsome, healthy and happy, while the other is ugly, sickly and unhappy Why is this so? Why do such differences exist in nature?
These questions have been answered by religious leaders in accordance with their own religious views. All religions have reasonable answers for these questions. However, for me, these questions are only satisfactorily answered by Buddhism. Buddhists believe that no one can come into existence without a previous cause and the presence of a number of necessary conditions. There will be another life after death. The conditions are known as Kamma in Pali or Karma in Sanskrit.
The word Kamma literally means action; correctly spoken it denotes the wholesome and unwholesome volition and their concomitant mental factors, causing rebirth and shaping the destiny of beings. These kammic volition are manifested as wholesome or unwholesome actions by body, speech and mind.
Kamma does not mean past actions only; it can be both past and present actions. Many people wrongly interpret kamma to mean its effects. In fact, its effects are called kamma-vipaka, the result of kamma. Volitional action can be good or bad. Good kamma or good action produces good effects while bad kamma produces bad effects. Therefore, we speak of kamma as the law of cause and effect or action and reaction.
We believe that we are responsible
for our own fortune, happiness and misery, because we create our own kamma
through body, speech and mind. We build our own heavens and hells. As long
as one makes actions that produce reaction, the cycle of life will continue
to have future existences. This cycle of existences is known as samsara,
the cycle of continuity.
The theory of kamma is different from “moral justice” or “reward and punishment.” The idea of moral justice is the conception of a supreme being i.e. God, who is a law-giver and sits in judgement, deciding what is right and wrong. Kamma is a law in itself. But it does not follow that there should be a law giver. Inherent in kamma is the potentiality of producing its due effect. The cause naturally produces the effect. Kamma is like a seed that produces the fruit. Therefore, kamma is a natural law and it has nothing to do with the ideas of justice that is governed by God or other mighty beings.
The law of action, according to
which good or appropriate acts give rise to good effects, and bad or inappropriate
acts to bad effects, is impelling a chain of successive births, each life’s
condition being explained by actions in the previous life. Every physical
event has its cause and every cause will have its determinate effects.
The theory of kamma extends the concept of causation to include moral and
spiritual life as well. Therefore, the theory of kamma is easy to understand
thus, “As a man sows, so shall he reap.”
RELIGION THAT
BELIEVE IN KAMMA
The theory of kamma is a basic doctrine of these three religions:
Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. They all believe that a person’s acts generate the power that leads to the round of rebirth and death which must be endured by the individual until the person attains Nibbana (in Pali) or Nirvana (in Sanskrit). Nibbana literally means extinction of flame, or extinction of attachment. However, Hindus and Jainas employ the word, “Moksa” or “Moksha” instead of Nibbana for religious attainment and release. The word Moksa means release or liberation.
According to Hinduism, the word “karma” means act or work. Hindus believe that the practice of merits or wholesome and unwholesome deeds can be transferred into future existences. Though the individual has passed away, the soul (atman) still exists. The soul is like a bird that rests on a tree and when the tree falls down on the ground, the bird moves to another tree. Similarly, when the individual dies, the soul will move to another existence to take another shape or form as reincarnation. Hindus strongly believe that “kamma” is under the divinity’s control and devotion to him or her is believed to bring release. However, some Hindus also believe that meditative disciplines are considered effective ways to bring purification and release.
According to the Buddhist view of kamma, some beings are rich, healthy and happy while some are poor, sickly and unhappy because of the consequences of their kamma. Though Hinduism states the function of kamma in terms of the repeated rebirth of an eternal soul (atman), Buddhism explains rebirth by denying the existence of an eternal soul or self. Buddhists understand that an individual is composed of an ever changing aggregation of five bodily and mental factors (khandhas). When an individual dies, a new aggregation known as a being arises as a result of past deeds. There is a causal connection between the two lives, but no soul is carried over from one life to the next. Buddhists strongly state that all things, including persons, are subjected to the ultimate nature of impermanence.
There are no such things that always
exist. However, everyone has the opportunity to free himself from samsara,
the life of continuity, when he practises meditation, i.e. the Eight Fold
Path, and attain enlightenment or Nibbana.
Kamma has different functions in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings. For instance, immediately effective Kamma (ditthadhammavedaniya kamma) is kamma which, if it is to ripen, must yield its results in the existence in which it is performed. Subsequently effective kamma (upapajjavedaniya kamma) is kamma which, if it is to ripen, must yield its results in the existence immediately following that in which it is performed.
Indefinitely effective kamma (aparapariyavedaniya kamma) is kamma which can ripen at any time from the second existence onwards, whenever it gains an opportunity to produce results. Defunct kamma (ahosi kamma) does not designate a special class of kamma. However, it applies to kamma that is due to ripen in either the present existence or the next, but does not meet conditions conducive to its ripening. In the case of Arahants, all their accumulated kamma from the past which is due to ripen in future lives become defunct with their final passing away The above are the different functions of kamma.
Jainism also has a large number of detailed texts dealing with the problem of kamma. Jains believe that kamma includes its bondage and fruition. The major distinction of the Jains’ concept of kamma is material. Kamma is a subtle form of matter that attaches to the individual soul (jiva). The embodied state of the soul is the result of the karmic matter. All actions cause the accumulation of some kammic matter through evil deeds and good deeds. The unliberated soul is bound by kamma through eternity However, liberation comes about only through the abandonment of action and the practice of penance (tapa).
Now we have learnt the different
religious concepts of kamma. In brief, kamma is action, based on volition
(cetana)that produces results in accordance with the consequences of kamma.
"I am the owner of my own
deeds (kamma); heir to deeds; deeds are cause; deeds are relative; deeds
are refuge. Whatever deed I do, whether good or bad, I shall become heir
to it."
Unintentional actions, however,
do not create any kinds of kamma, because there is no volition (cetana)
involved. Here is the story of Cakkhupala to illustrate.
During the time of the Lord Buddha, there was an arahant (one who had already attained enlightenment) named Venerable Cakkhupala who was blind. One day, Venerable Cakkhupala came to pay homage to the Buddha at the Jetavana monastery One night, while he was pacing up and down in meditation, he accidentally stepped on some insects. In the morning, some bhikkhus visiting him found the dead insects.
They thought ill of him and reported the matter to the Buddha. The Buddha asked them whether they had seen Venerable Cakkhupala killing the insects. They answered in the negative. The Buddha said, “Just as you had not seen him killing, so also he had not seen those living insects. Besides, being an arahant he had no intention (cetana) of killing and was not guilty of committing an unwholesome act.” On being asked why Venerable Cakkhupala was blind although he was an arahant, the Buddha told the following story to explain the nature of kammic effects.
Venerable Cakkhupala had been a physician in one of his past existences. Once, he had deliberately made a woman patient blind. That woman had promised to become his servant together with her children if her eyes were completely cured. Fearing that she and her children would have to become servants, she lied to the physician. She told him that her eyes were getting worse when, in fact, they were perfectly cured. The physician knew she was deceiving him. So in revenge, he gave her another ointment which made her totally blind. As a result of this evil deed, the physician lost his eyesight many times in his later existences.
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
All mental phenomena have mind as
their forerunner; they have mind as their chief; they are mind-made.
"If one speaks or acts with
an evil mind, suffering (dukkha) follows him just as the wheel follows
the hoofprint of the ox that draws the cart".
In brief, kamma is action (cause)
and vipaka is reaction (result). Our wholesome kamma gives us pleasant
vipaka (good fortune) and our unwholesome kamma gives us unpleasant vipaka
(bad fortune). However, most Buddhists usually combine two things, cause
and effect, at the same time saying things like, “My kamma is too poor”.
AKUSALA KAMMA
(UNWHOLESOME ACTION)
Body action (kayakamma)
1 Panatipata - killing
2 Adinnadana - stealing
3 Kamesu-micchacara - sexual misconduct
Speech (vacikamma)
4 Musavada - lying
5 Pisunavaca - slandering
6 Pharusavaca - harsh speech
7 Samphappalapa - frivolous talk
(vain talk)
Thoughts (manokamma)
8 Abhijjha - covetousness
9 Vyapada - ill will
10 Micchaditthi - wrong view
We also call these ten duccarita (evil conduct or unwholesome actions). By abstaining from these ten, we practise succarita (good conduct or wholesome action).
Though we explain only these ten types of unwholesome actions, there are more in the Buddha’s teachings.
The unwholesome actions that we
create are frightful indeed. Yet we are still forgetful and continue to
do them because our faith in kamma and belief in dhamma is not strong enough.
That is why we easily do whatever we wish to do. But we are not brave enough
to face any misfortune that we have created. Who is brave enough to face
their bad kamma?
THE STORY OF
LOSAKA TISSA THERA
During the time of the Lord Buddha, there was a village where one thousand families lived. Since the day of Losaka’s conception, the village had to starve and various misfortunes befell them. By a process of exclusion, they discovered that their misfortunes were due to Losaka’s family. So they drove the family out. His mother had difficulty getting a livelihood, but when the time came, she gave birth to her son in a certain place. When he could walk, his mother put a potsherd into his hand and sent him away. The solitary child begged for his food and slept where he could.
When he was seven years old, Venerable Sariputta saw him in Savatthi. Like a crow, he was picking, grain by grain, any rice he could find outside a house where they had flung away the rinsings of the rice-pots. Venerable Sariputta was full of compassion for him and said to himself, “Poor child!”. After knowing the whole situation, Venerable Sariputta admitted him first as a Novice monk, and later ordained him when he was old enough. He then was known as Losaka Tissa. Ever since he was a novice monk, he never got enough to eat. Even after he became an arahant, he still got very little food.
When the time came for him to die, Venerable Sariputta was determined that Losaka Tissa should have a proper meal. So he went with Losaka Tissa to Savatthi, but no one noticed them. Venerable Sariputta then took Losaka Tissa back to the monastery and he went alone. Having collected food himself, he sent it to Losaka Tissa, but the person who delivered the food for Losaka ate it all himself.
When Venerable Sariputta found out, it was already afternoon. He therefore went to the King’s palace. Having obtained a bowl of catumadu (a mixture of honey, ghee, butter and sugar), he took it to Venerable Losaka Tissa and asked him to eat out of his bowl, holding it by his hands, in case the food should disappear. That was the only proper meal for Venerable Losaka Tissa throughout his whole life.
That night, Venerable Losaka Tissa died and a shrine was erected over his ashes. When the Lord Buddha was asked why Venerable Losaka Tissa was so unlucky, the Lord Buddha revealed the following story.
Once upon a time, in the days of Kassapa Buddha, there was a monk in a village who was supported by a rich man. One day an arahant came into the monastery that was donated by the rich man. The latter, liking the arahant’s appearance, asked him to stay in the monastery, promising to look after him. The arahant agreed, but the resident monk grew jealous of the arahant. The following day, the resident monk, having first knocked on the gong with the back of his nail and tapped at his door, went off alone to the rich man’s house for house-dana.
He told the rich man that the visitor monk was lazy and good for nothing. However, after his meal, the man requested him to bring some food for the arahant but on the way back to the monastery, the resident monk threw all the food into the ember, thinking, “If he gets such delicious food, he might never go away even if I were to kick him out of the door.” The arahant, reading his thought, left the monastery and went elsewhere.
The monk was seized with remorse for his wrong doing and was reborn in hell after his death. In five hundred successive births, he was a Yakkha (ogre), and never had enough to eat. Then, for the next existence, he was a dog, and here too, it never had enough to eat, except on a single day when he had his fill of vomitted rice.
Then, he became a human being again
but he never got enough food to eat until the present life. Because of
his wrong-doing in the past, he had to suffer a lot. So unwholesome deeds
are indeed horrible.
"Not in the sky, nor in mid-ocean,
nor in the cave of a mountain, nor anywhere else, is there ‘a place, where
one may escape from the consequences of one’s evil deed".
KUSALA
KAMMA (WHOLESOME ACTION)
According to the Abhidhammatthasangaha, there are ten bases of meritorious actions (Punna-Kiriya-Vatthu). Everyone should do these ten deeds because they develop our wholesome deeds (kusala).
They are:
1 Dana - generosity (giving)
2 Sila - morality
3 Bhavana - meditation
4 Apacayana - reverence
5 Veyyavacca - service
6 Pattidana - transference
of merit
7 Pattanumodana - rejoicing in
others’ merit
8 Dhammasavana
- hearing the doctrine
9 Dhammadesana
- expounding the doctrine
10 Ditthijukamma - straightening
of one’s own views.
Of the ten, dana is the easiest
one to be done. Yet we are not brave enough to do dana, because our faith
in doing dana is not strong enough and we don’t really know the benefit
of dana, as the Buddha knows. That is why the Buddha says, “If people know
the benefit of dana as I know, none of them will be afraid to do dana”.
However, someone might say, “Of course, I believe in the benefit of dana
and I like to do dana but I have nothing to offer.” We also usually make
excuses in this way. Let’s see if we are poorer than this old man!
There was once a brahmin couple in Savatthi who had only one outer garment between the two of them. Because of this they were known as Ekasataka. As they had only one outer garment, both of them could not go out at the same time. So, the wife would go to the monastery during the day and the husband would go at night. One night, as the brahmin listened to the Buddha, his whole body became suffused with delightful satisfaction and he felt a strong desire to offer the outer garment he was wearing to the Buddha.
But he realised that if he were to give away the only outer garment he had, there would be none left for him and his wife. So he wavered and hesitated. Thus, the first and second watch of the night passed. When the-third watch came, he said to himself, “If I am hesitant, I will miss the opportunity of ending worldly suffering. I shall now offer my outer garment.” So saying, he placed the piece of cloth at the feet of the Buddha and cried out “I have won!” three times.
King Pasenadi of Kosala, who was among the audience, heard those words and ordered a courtier to investigate. Learning about the brahmin’s offering to the Buddha, the king commented that the brahmin had done something which was not easy to do and so should be rewarded. The king ordered his men to give him a piece of cloth as a reward for his faith and generosity. The brahmin offered that piece of cloth too, to the Buddha. Again the king rewarded him with two pieces of cloth.
Again, he offered the two pieces of cloth to the Buddha. Whatever the king gave him, he offered them to the Buddha, and each time the king doubled his reward. When the reward came to thirty-two pieces of cloth, the brahmin kept one piece for himself and another for his wife and offered the remaining thirty pieces to the Buddha.
Then, the king again commented that the brahmin had truly performed a very difficult task and so must be rewarded fittingly. The king sent a messenger to the palace to bring two pieces of expensive velvet cloth and gave them to the brahmin. This time the brahmin made two canopies and offered one to the Buddha and kept the other for his own use. When the king next went to the Jetavana monastery, he saw the velvet canopy and recognised it as the offering made by the brahmin and he was very pleased.
This time he made another great
reward to him. When the monks heard about this, they asked the Buddha,
“How is it that, in the case of this brahmin, a good deed done at present
bears fruit immediately?” The Buddha replied, “If the brahmin had offered
his outer garment in the first watch of the night, he would have been rewarded
more; since he had made his offering only during the last watch of the
night, he was rewarded less. So when one wants to give in charity, one
should do so quickly; if one hesitates the reward comes slowly and only
sparingly. Also, if one is too slow in doing good deeds, one may not be
able to do it at all, for the mind tends to take delight in doing evil.”
"One should make haste in
doing good deeds; one should restrain one’s mind from evil; for the mind
of one who is slow in doing good tends to take delight in doing evil".
Buddhists believe in rebirth. But they do not believe in the existence of an individual soul which passes from one body to another. This is, of course, a puzzle to many people.
The mind or consciousness and body
are continually changing. They are not permanent (nicca). So we are all
actually being reborn every moment. There is no phenomenon that always
exists. On the expiry of the consciousness of a dying man, a new consciousness
arises in a new life and we call this rebirth (bhava). There is no individual
or immortal soul. It is just the process of consciousness that leads him
to be reborn. There is only a relation of cause and effect.
"Kamma necessarily leads to
rebirth. Past kamma conditions the present birth and present kamma, in
combination with past kamma, the future. Kamma, which is rooted in
ignorance, is the cause of birth and death. As long as this kammic force
survives there is rebirth."
In Buddhism, there is an important teaching known as Paticcasamuppada (Dependent Origination). We should learn more about Paticcasamuppada which clearly explains the relationship of cause and effect.
This Paticcasamuppada is the central point of Buddhist doctrine. There is nothing that can arise on its own accord, independently. For example, if there is no tree there would not be fruits arising from the tree.
If there is no fruit there would
not be seeds. Without seeds, how can the tree grow? The Doctrine
explains the cycle of lives. From it, we can learn how a person accumulates
kamma and is reborn. It is called the “Wheel of
Becoming” - a wheel of twelve spokes denoting
the twelve links of the causal process.
1 & 2 Dependent on ignorance;
intentional activities arise.
3 Dependent on intentional activities;
consciousness arises.
4 Dependent on consciousness; mental
and physical phenomena arise.
5 Dependent on mental and physical
phenomena; the six senses arise.
6 Dependent on the six senses;
contact arises.
7 Dependent on contact; feeling
arises.
8 Dependent on feeling; craving
arises.
9 Dependent on craving; clinging
arises.
10 Dependent on clinging; the process
of becoming arises.
11 Dependent on becoming; birth
arises.
12 Dependent on birth; decay, death,
sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair arise. Thus the whole
mass of suffering arises.
The following diagram shows the
relationship of dependence in three successive lives:
Past Cause
1 Ignorance (avijja)
2 Kamma formation (or) intentional
activities (sankhara)
Present Result
3 Rebirth consciousness (vinnana)
4 Corporeality and mentality (nüma-rupa)
5 Six bases (ayatana)
6 Contact or impression (phassa)
7 Feeling (vedanu)
Present Cause
8 Craving (tanha)
9 Clinging (upadüna)
10 Process of becoming (bhava)
Future Result
11 Rebirth (jati)
12 Old age and death (jaramarana)
DEPENDENT ORIGINATION
IN BRIEF
The above elaboration of Paticcasamuppada is one of the supreme teachings given by the Buddha through his great wisdom. The teaching is surely deep and wide and difficult to understand with our shallow knowledge. However, if we understand Paticcasamuppada we can understand that the teaching is about the relationship of cause and effect. This will be enough for us to make progress in insight when we practise insight meditation.
The Buddha’s teachings are based on cause and effect. Nothing can arise without cause. By understanding the teaching of Paticcasamuppada, we can learn similar teachings having a relationship of cause and effect.
For example, the teaching of Patthana i.e. the seventh volume of Abhidhamma, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths etc., are also teachings where the Buddha clearly points out the relationship of cause and effect. So it does not matter how deep, how wide and how difficult the teaching is. After all, we realise that the essence of Paticcasamuppada is a causal relation of cause and result, Dependent Origination.
"The Perfect One has taught the cause of causally arisen things (Phenomena), And what brings their cessation, too; Such is the doctrine preached by the Buddha."
Vinaya Pitaka, Mahavagga Pali
To understand clearly the relationship
of cause and effect, here is a story to illustrate.
Once there lived a householder whose wife was barren. Being unable to bear a child and afraid that she would be mistreated by her husband and her mother-in-law, she herself selected and arranged for her husband to marry another woman. But when she knew the second wife was pregnant, she grew jealous of the fruitful wife. Then the barren wife gave her food mixed with drugs causing her to have a miscarriage. On her third pregnancy, the fruitful wife kept it to herself without telling the barren wife. But when the latter came to know about it, she again caused an abortion. Eventually, the second wife died in childbirth. Before her death, the unfortunate woman was filled with hatred and vowed vengeance on the barren wife and her future offspring. Thus the feud started.
Among their later existences, the barren wife became a hen while the fruitful wife became a cat. The cat ate all the eggs whenever the hen laid eggs, and then ate even the mother hen. Before the hen died, the hen vowed vengeance on the cat and her future offsprings. The two then were reborn as a doe and a leopardess. They took their revenge on one another. Finally, the fruitful wife became a daughter of a noble man in Savatthi and the other one became an ogress.
One day the Ogress Kala Yakkhini was in hot pursuit of the lady with the baby. When the latter learned that the Buddha was nearby, giving a religious discourse at the Jetavana Monastery, she fled to him and placed her son at his feet for protection. The ogress was stopped at the door by the guardian spirit of the monastery. She was later called in and both the lady and the ogress were admonished by the Buddha. The Buddha told them about their past feud as rival wives and how they had been harboring hatred towards each other and killing each other’s offsprings through their various lives.
They were made to see that hatred could only cause more hatred, and that it could only cease through friendship, understanding and goodwill.
Both realised their mistakes. Then
the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
"Hatred never ceases through
hatred in this world; through love alone it ceases. This is an eternal
law."
At the end of the discourse,
the ogress was established in Sotapatti Fruition (the first stage of supramundane
wisdom) and the long-standing feud came to an end.