THE TRUE NATURE OF THINGS

The word "religion" has a broader meaning than the word "morality." Morality has to do with behaviour and happiness, and is basically the some the world over. A religion is a system of pracitice of a hight order. The ways of practice advocated by the various religions differ greatly

Morality makes us good people, behaving in accordance with the general principles of community life and in such a way as to cause no distress to ourselves or others. But though a person may be thoroughly moral, he may still be far from free from the suffering attendant on birth, aging, pain, and death, still not free from oppression by the mental defilements. Morality stops well short of the elimination of craving, aversion, and delusion, so cannot do away with suffering. Religion, particularly Buddhism, goes much further than this. It aims directly at the complete elimination of the defilements, that is, it aims at extinguishing the various kinds of suffering attendant on birth, aging, pain, and death. This indicates how religion deffers from mere morality, and how much further Buddhism goes than the moral systems of the world in general. Having understood this, we can now turn our attention to Buddhism Itself.

Buddhism is a system designed to bring a technical knowledge inseparable from its technique of practice, an organized practical understanding of the true nature of things of"what is what." If you keep this definition in mind, you should have no difficulty understanding Buddhism.

Examine yourself and see whether or not you know "what is what." Even if you know what you are yourself, what life is, what work, duty, livelihood, money, possessions, honour, and fame are, would you dare to claim that you knew everything? If we really knew "what is what," we would never act inappropriately; and if we always acted appropriately, it is a certainty that we would never be subject to suffering. As it is, we are ignorant of the true nature of things, so we behave more or less inappropriately, and suffering results accordingly. Buddhist practice is designed to teach us how things really are. To know this in all clarity is to attain the Fruit of the Path, perhaps even the final Fruit, Nirvana, because this ver knowledge is what destroys the defilements.

When we come to know "what is what," or the true nature of things, disenchantment with things takes the place of fascination, and deliverance from suffering comes about automatically. At the moment, we are practising at a stage where we still do not know what things are really like, in particular, at the stage of not yet realizing that all things are impermanent and do not have individual selves. We don't as yet realize that life, all the things that we become infatuated with, like, desire and rejoice over, is impermanent, unsatisfactory and not a permanent self, It is for this reason that we become infatuated with those things, liking them, desiring them, rejoicing over them, grasping at them and clinging to them. When, by following the Buddhist menthod, we come to know things aright, to see clearly that they are all impermanent. unsatisfactory and not selves, that there is really nothing about things that might make it worth attaching ourselves to them, then there will immediately come about a slipping free from the controlling power or those things.

Essentially the Buddha's teaching as we have it in the Tipitaka is nothing but the knowledge of "what is what" or the true nature of things - just that. Do keep to this definition. It is an adequate one and it is well to bear it in mind while one is in the course of practising. We shall now demonstrate the validity of this definition by considering as an example the Four Noble Truths.

The First Noble Truth, which points out that all things are suffering (all things cause suffering), tells us precisely what things are like. But we fail to realize that all things are a source of suffering and so we desire those things. If we recognized them as a source of suffering. not worth desiring not wotht grasping at and clinging to, not worht attaching ouselves to, we would be sure not to desire them.The Second Noble Truth points out that desire is the cause of suffering. People still don't know, don't see, don't understand, that desires are the cause of suffering. They all desire this, that, and the other, simply because they don't understand the nature of desire. The Third Noble Truth points out that deliverance, freedom from suffering, Nivana, consists in the complete extinguishing of desire. People don't realize at all that Nirvana is something that may be attained at any time or place, that it can be arrived at just as soon as desire has been completely extinguished. So, not knowing the facts of life, people are not interested in extinguishing desire. They are not interested in Nirvana because they don't know what it is.

The Fourth Noble Truth is called the Path and constitutes the method for extinguisthing desire. No one understands it as a method for extinguishing desire. No one is interested in the desire extinguishing Noble Eightfold Path. People don't recognize it as their very point of support, their foothold something which they ought to be most actively reinforcing. They are not interested in the Buddha's Noble Path, which happens to be the most excellent and precious thing in the entire mass of human knowledge, in this world or any other. This is a most horrifying piece of ignorance. We can see, then that the Four Noble Truths are information telling us clearly just "what is what." We are told that if we play with desire, it will give rise to suffering, and yet we insist on playing with it until we are brim full of suffering. This is foolishness. Not really knowing "what is what" or the true nature of things, we act inappropriately in every way. Our actions are appropriate all too rarely. They are usually "appropriate" only in terms of the values of people subject to craving, who would say that if one gets what one wants, the action must have been justifiled. But spiritually speaking, that action is unjustifiable.

Now we shall have a look at a stanza from the texts which sums up the essence of Buddhism, namely the words spoken by the Bhikkhu Assaji when he met Sariputta before the latter's ordination. Sariputta asked to be told the essence of Buddhism in as few words as possible. Assaji answered: "All phenomena that arise do so as a result of causes. The Perfected One has shown what the causes are, and also how all phenomena may be brought to an end by eliminating those causes. This is what the Great Master teaches." He said in effect: Everything has causes that combine to produce it. It can not be eliminated unless those causes have been eliminated first. This is a word of guidance warning us not to regard anything as a permanent self. There is nothing permanent. There are only effects arising out of causes, developing by virtue of causes, and due to cease with the cessation of those causes. All phenomena are merely products of causes. The world is just a perpetual flux of natural forces incessantly interacting and changing. Buddhism points out to us that all things are devoid of any self entity. They are just a perpetual flux of change, which is inherently unsatisfactory becasuse of the lack of freedom ,the subjection to causality. This unsatisfactoriness will be brought to an end as soon as the process stops; and the process will stop as soon as the causes are eliminated so that there is no more interacting. This is a most profound account of "what is what" or the nature of things, such as only an enlightened individual could give. It is the heart of Buddhism. It tells us that all things are just appearances and that we should not be fooled into liking or disliking them. Rendering the mind truly free involves escaping completely from the causal chain by utterly elminating the causes.In this way, the unsatisfactory condition which results from liking and disliking will be brought to an end.

Let us now examine the Buddha's intention in becoming an ascetic. What motivated him to become a bhikkhu? This is clearly indicated in one of his discourses, in which he says that he left home and become a bhikkhu in order to answer the question. "what is the Good?" The word "good" (Kusala), as used here by the Buddha, refers to skillfulness, to absolutely right knowledge. He wanted to know in particular what is suffering. what is the cause of suffering, what is freedom from suffering. To attain perfect and right knowledge is the ultimate in skill. The aim of Buddhism is nothing other than this perfection of knowledge of "what is what" or the true nature of things.

Another important Buddhist teaching is that of the Three Characteristics, namely impermanence (anicca), unsatisfactoriness or suffering (dukkha), and non - selfhood (anatta). Not to know this teaching is not to know Buddhism. It points out to us that all things are impermanent (anicca),all things are unsatisfactory (dukkha), and all things are not selves (anatta) in saying that all things are impermanent we mean that all things change perpetually, there being no entity or self that remains unchanged for even an instant. That all things are unsatisfactory means that all things have inherent in themselves the property of conducing to suffering and torment. They are inherently unlikable and disenchanting. That they are not selves is to say that in nothing whatsoever is there any entity which we might have a right to regard as its "self" (myself) or to call "its own" (mine).If we grasp at things and cling to things, the result is bound to be suffering. Things are more dangerous than fire because we can at least see a fire blazing away and so don't go too close to it, whereas all things are a fire we can't see. Consequently we go about voluntarily picking up handfuls of fire, which is invariable painful. This teaching tells us what things are like in terms of the Three Characteristics. Clearly Buddhism is simply an organized practical system designed to show us "what is what."

We have seen that we have to know the nature of things. We also have to know how to practise in order to fit in with the nature of things. There is another teaching in the texts, known as the Chief of all Teachings. If consists of three brief points:"Avoid evil, do good, purify the mind". This is the principle of the practice. Knowing all things as impermanent, worthless, and not our property, and so not worth clinging to, not worth becoming in fatuated with, we have to act appropriately and cautiously with respect to them, and that is to avoid evil. It implies not to break with accepted moral standards and to give up excessive craving and attachment. On the other hand, one is to do good. good as has come to be understood by wise people. These two are simply stages in morality. The third, which tells us to make the mind completely pure of every kind of contaminating element, is straight Buddhism. It tells us to make the mind free. As long as the mind is not yet free from domination by things, it cannot be a clean, pure mind. Mental freedom must come from the most profound knowledge of the "what is what." As long as one lacks this knowledge, one is bound to go on mindlessly liking or disliking things in one way or another. As long as one cannot remain unmoved by things, one can hardly be called free. Basicly we human beings are subject to just two kinds of emotional states: liking and disliking (which correspond to pleasant and unpleasant mental feeling). We fall slaves to our moods and have no real freedom simply because we don't know the true nature of moods or "what is what." Linking has the characteristic of seizing on things and taking them over: disliking has the characteristic of pushing things away and getting rid of them. As long as these two kinds of emotional states exist, the mind is not yet free. As long as it is still carelessly liking and disliking this, that,and the other, there is no way it can be purified and freed from the tyranny of things. For this very reason, this highest teaching of Buddhism condemns grasping and clinging to things attractive and repulsive. ultimately condemning even attachment to good and evil. When the mind has been purified of these two emotional reactions, it will become independent of things.

Other religions would have us simply avoid evil and grasp at good ness. They have us grasp at and become attached to goodness, even including the epitome of goodness. namely God. Buddhism goes much further,condemning attachment to anything at all. This attachment to goodness is right practice at the intermediate level, but it just can't take us to the highest level no matter what we do. At the lowest level we avoid evil, at the intermediate level we do our utmost to do good, while at the highest level we make the mind float hight above the domination of both good and evil. The condition of attachment to the fruits of goodness is not yet complete liberation from suffering, because, while an evil person suffers in a way befitting evil persons, a good person suffers also, in a way befitting good persons. Being good, one experiences the kind of suffering appropriate to good human beings. A good celestial being experiences the suffering appropriate to celestial beings, and even a god or Brahma experiences the suffering appropriate to gods. But complete freedom from all suffering will come only when one has broken free and transcended even that which we call goodness to become an Ariyan, one who has transcended the worldly condition, and ultimately to become a fully perfected individual,an Arahant.

Now as we have seen, Buddhism is the teaching of the Buddha, the Enlightened One, and a Buddhist is one who practises according to the teaching of the Enlightened One With regard to what was he enlightened? He simply knew the nature of all things. Buddhism, then is the teaching that tells us the truth about "what thing are really like" or "what is what". It is up to us to practise until we have come to know that truth for ourselves. We may be sure that once hat perfect knowledge has been attained, craving will be completely destroyed by it, because ignorance will cease to be in the very same moment that knowledge arises. Every aspect of Buddhist practice is designed to bring knowledge. Your whole purpose in setting your mind on the way of practice that will penetrate to Buddha - Dhamma is simply to gain knowledge. Only, let it be right knowledge, knowledge attained through clear insight, not worldly knowledge, partial knowledge, halfway knoledge, which for example clumsily mistakes bad for good, and a source of suffering for a source of happiness.Do try your utmost to look at things in terms of suffering,and so come to know, gradually, step by step. Knowledge so gained will be Buddhist knowledge based on sound Buddhist principles.

Studying by this method, even a woodcutter without book-learning will be able to penetrate to the essence of Buddhism, while a religious scholar with several degrees, who is completely absorbed in studying the Tipitaka but doesn't look at things from this point of view may not penetrate the teaching at all. Those of us who have some intelligence should be capable of investigating and examining things and coming to know their true nature. Each thing we come across we must study, in order to understand clearly its true nature. And we must understand the nature and the source of the suffering which it produces, and which sets us alight and scorches us. To estblish mindfullness, to watch and wait, to examine in the manner described the suffering that comes to one - this is the very best way to penetrate to Buddha-Dhamma. It is infinitely better than learning it from the Tipitaka. Busily studying Dhamma in the Tipitaka from the linguistic or literary viewpoint is no way to come to know the true nature of things. Of course the Tipitaka is full of explanations as to the nature of things; but the trouble is that people listen to it in the manner of parrots or talking myna birds, repeating later what they have been able to memorize. They themselves are incapable of penetrating to the true nature of things. If instead they would do some introspection and discover for themselves the facts of mental life, find out first hand the properties of the mental defilements,of suffering , of nature, in other words of all the things in which they are involved, they would then be able to penetrate to the real Buddha-Dhamma. Though a person may never have seen or even heard of the Tipitaka, if he carries out a detailled investigation every time suffering arises and scorches his mind he can be said to be studying the Tipitaka directly, and far more correctly than people actually in the process of reading it . These may be just caressing the books of the Tipitaka every day without having any knowledge of the immortal Dhamma, the teaching contained within them. Likewise, we have ourselves, we make use of ourselves, we train ourselves, and we do things connected with ourselves every day, without knowing anything about ourselves, without being able to handle adequately problems concerning ourselves. We are stell very definitely subject to suffering , and craving is still present to produce more and more suffering every day as we grow orlder, all simply because we don't know ourselves. We still don't know the mental life we live. To get to know the Tipitaka and the profound things hidden within it is most difficult. Let us rather set about studying Buddha - Dhamma by getting to know ore own true nature. Let us get to know all the things which make up this very body and mind. Let us learn from this life: life which is spinning the results of the action, which then nourish the will to desire again, and so on, over and over incessantly; life which is obliged to go spinning on in the circle of samsara, that sea of suffering , purely and simply because of ignorance as to the true nature of things or "what is what."

Summing up, Buddhism is an organized practical system designed to reveal to us the "what is what". Onece we have seen things as they really are , we no longer need anyone to teach or guide us. We can carry on practising by ourselves. One progresses along the Ariyan Path just as rapidly as one elminates the defilements and gives up inappropriate action. Ultimately one will attain to the best thing possible for a human being, what we call the Fruit of the Path, Nivana. This one can do by oneself simply by means of coming to know the ultimate sense of the "what is what."

LOOKING AT BUDDHISM

If we open any recent book on the origins of religion, we find that there is one point on which all authors are in agreement, They agree that religion arose in the world out of fear. Primitive man feared thunder and lightning, darkness and storm, and various things about him that he was unable to understand or control. His method of avoiding the danger he saw in these phenomena was to demonstrate either humility and submission or homage and reverence, depending on which he felt was most appropriate.

Later, as man's knowledge and understanding developed, this fear of the forces of nature changed into a fear of phenomena more difficult to apprehend. Religions based on deference to objects of fear such as natural phenomena, spirits and celestial beings, came to be looked down upon as unreasonable and ridiculous. And then man's fear became still more rifined into a fear of suffering, suffering of the sort that cannot be alleviated by any material means. He came to fear the suffering inherent in birth, aging , pain, and death, the disappointment and hopelessness which arise out of desire, anger, and stupidity, which no amount of power or wealth can relieve. Long ago in India, a country well provided with thinkers and investigators, intelligent people dispensed with all paying of homage to supernatural beings. They started seeking instead the means of conquering birth, aging, pain, and death, the means of eliminating greed, hatred,and delusion. Out of this search arose Buddhism, a higher religion based on insight, a method for destroying the mental defilements. Buddhism has its origins in fear of this last kind, just as do all religions based on intelligence. The Buddha discovered how to conquer absolutely what man fears : he discovered a practical method, now called Buddhism, for eliminating suffering

"Buddhism" means "the Teaching of the Enlightened One." A Buddha is an enlightened individual, one who knows the truth about all things, one who khows just "what is what," (knows things just as they are) and so is capable of behaving appropriately with respect to all things. Buddhism is a religion based on intelligence, science, and knowledge, whose purpose is the destruction of suffering and the source of suffering. All paying of homage to sacred objects by means of performing rites and rituals, making offerings or praying is not Buddhism. The Buddha rejected the celestial beings, then considered by certain groups to be the creaators of things, and the deities supposed to dwell, one in each star, in the sky. Thus we find that the Buddha made such statements as these:

"Knowledge, skill and ability are conducive to success and benefit and are auspicious omens, good in their own right, regardless of the movements of the heavenly bodies. With the benefits gained from these qualities, one will completely outstrip those foolish people who just sit making their astrological calculations,"and: "If the water in rivers (such as the Ganges) could really wash away sins and sufering, then the furtles, crabs, fish and shellfish living in those sacred rivers ought by now to be freed of their sins and sufferings too." And: "If a man could eliminate suffering by making offerings, paying homage, and praying,there would be no one subject to suffering left in the world, Because anyone at all can pay homage and pray.But since people are still subject to suffering while in the very act of making obeisances, paying homage, and perfoming rites, this is clearly not the way to gain liberation."

To attain liberation, we first have to examine things closely in order to come to know and understand their true nature. Then we have to behave in a way appropriate to that true nature. This is the Buddhist teaching; this we must know and bear in mind. Buddhism has nothing to do with prostrating oneself and deferring to awesome things. It sets no strore by rites and ceremonics such as making libations of holy water, or any externals whatsoever, spirits and celestial beings included. One the contrary, it depends on reason and insight. Buddhism does not demand conjecture or supposition; it demands that we act in accordance with what our own insight reveals and not take anyone else's word for anything. If someone comes and tells us something, we must not believe him without question. We must listen to his statement and examine it. Then if we find it reasonable, we may accept it provisionally and set about trying to verify it for ourselves. This is a key feature of Buddhism, which distinguishes it sharply from other world religions.

Now a religion is a many sided thing. Seen from one angle it has a certain appearance; seen from another angle, it has another. Many people look at religion from the wrong angle, and Buddhism is no exception. Different individuals looking at Buddhism with different mental attitudes are bound to get different views of it. Because each of us naturally has confidence in his own opinions, the truth for each of us conincides with our own particular understanding and point of view. Consequently."the Truth" is not quite the same thing for different people. They all penetrate questions to varying depths, by varying nethodes, and with varying degrees of intellingence. A person does not recognize as true, according to his own ideas of the Truth, anything that lies beyond his own intelligence, knowledge, and understanding. And even though he may outwardly go along with other people's ideas as to what is the truth, he knows in himself that it is not the truth as he himself sees it. Each person's conception of the truth may change and develop with the day by day increase in his degree of intelligence, khowledge, and understanding, until such time as he arrives examining and testing before beliving. So if Buddhism is pictures of it will be seen, simply because it can be viewed from any aspect.

As we have said, Buddhism is a practical method for liberating oneself from suffering by means of coming to realize, as did the Buddha himself, the true nature of things. Now any religious text is bound to contain material which later people have found occasion to add to it, and our Tipitaka is no exception. People in later ages have added sections based on then current ideas, either in order to boost people's confidence, or out of excessive religious zeal. Regrettably even the rites and rituals which have developed and become mixed in with the religion are now accepted and become mixed in with the religion are now accepted and recognized as Buddhism proper. Ceremonies, such as setting up trays of sweets and fruit as offerings to the "soul" of the Buddha in the same way as aims-food is offered to a monk just do not fit in with Buddhist principles. Yet some groups consider this to be genuine Buddhist practice, teaching it as such and keeping to it very strictly.

Rites and ceremonies of this kind have become so numerous that they now completely obscure the real Buddhism and its original purpose. Take for example the Procedure of becoming ordained a monk. There has come into existence the ceremony of making gifts to the newly ordained bhikkhu. Guests are invited to bring food and to watch proceedings, and as a result, there is much drunkeness and noise. Ceremonies are performed both at the temple and in the home. The new bhikkhu leaves the Order only a few days after having been ordained, and may become an even stronger temple hater than he was before. It must be borne in mind that there was none of this at the time of the Buddha. It is a later development. Ordination at the time of the Buddha meant simply that some individual, who had obtained his parent's consent, renounced home and family. He was a person who was able to close accounts at home and go off to join the Buddha and the Order of bhikkhus. On some convenient occasion he would go and be ordained,and perhaps not see his parents or family again for the rest of his life. Though some bhikkhus might go back to visit their parents again on suitable occasions, this was rare. There does exist a rule permitting a bhikkhu to go home when there is a good reason for doing so, but at the time of the Buddha this was not observed. Bhikkhus did not receive ordination with their parents in attendance, nor did they celebrate the event as a great occasion,only to leave the Sangha after just a few days, no better off than before, as commonly happens in the present day.

All this presenting of gifts to newly ordained bhikkhus,this performing of ceremonies, including all sorts of celebration, these we are foolish enough to call Buddhism! Furthermore we choose to make much of them, thinking nothing of spending all our own money, or other people's on account of them. This "Neo-Buddhism" is so widespread as to be almost universal. The Dhamma, the genuine teaching that once was paramount, has become so overlaid by ceremony that the whole objective of Buddhism has been obscured. falsified and changed. Ordinationg,for instance, has become a face saving gambit for young men whom people have been pointing at for never having been ordained, or a prerequisite to finding a wife (as having been a monk is considered a sign of maturity), or is done with some other kind of ulterior motive. In some places an ordination is regarded as an opportunity for collecting money, for which job there are always people on hand to help. It is one way of getting rich. Even this they call Buddhism and anyone who goes and criticizes this is considered be ignorant of Buddhism or opposed to it.

Another example is the presentation of kathina cloth. The Buddha's original intention was to have cloth for robes given to all the bhikkhus simultaneously so that they could sew it together themselves with a minimum loss of time. It there was only necessarily the most senior one, whom the group considered worthy of using that robe or in need of it, and was presented to him in the name of the entire order. The Buddha's intention was to avoid any bhikkhu having a hight opinion of himself. On that day everyone, regardless of Seniority, had to humble himself and be one of the crowd. Everyone had to lend a hand cutting and sewing the cloth, boiling tree pith to make the dye, and doing whatever else was involved in getting the robes ready and finished the some day. Making the cloth into robes was a co-operative effort. That is how the Buddha intended it to be, an event not necessarily involving lay people at all. But nowadays it has become an affair involving ceremony, fun and games, loud laughter and money seeking. It is just a picnic and is devoid of all the desirable results originally intended.

This sort of thing is a tumour which has developed in Buddhism and thrived. The tumour takes hundreds of different forms too numerous to name. It is a dangerous, malignant growth which by degrees has completely overlaid and obscured the good material, the real pith of Buddhism, and quite disfigured it. One result of this has been the arising of many sects, some large, some insignificant, as offshoots from the original religion. Some sects have even become involved in sensuality. It is essential that we should discriminate in order to recognize what is the real, original Buddhism. We must not foolishly grasp at the outer shell, or become so attached to the various rituals and ceremonites that the real objective becomes quite lost to view. The real practice of Buddhism is based on purification of conduct by way of body and speech, followed by purification of the mind, which in its turn leads to insight and right understanding. Don't go thinking that such and such is Buddhism just because everyone says it is. The Tumour has been spreading constantly since the day the Buddha passed away, expanding in all directions right up to the present day, so that it is now quite sizabel. The tumour in Buddhism must not be misidentified as Buddhism itself. It is also wrong for people of other religions to come and point at these shameful anddisgraceful growths as being Buddhism. It is unjust, because these things are not Buddhism at all; they are excressences. Those of us interested in furthering Buddhism, whether as a foothold for all people, or for our own private well being, must know how to get hold of the true essence of Buddhism and not just grab at some worthless outgrowth.

Now even the genuine Buddhism is many sided, a fact which may lead to a false grasp of true meaning. For instance, if looked at from the point of view of a moral philosopher, Buddhism is seen to be a religion of morality. There is talk of merit and demerit, good and evil, honesty,gratitude, harmony,open-heartedness, and much more besides. The Tipitaka is full of moral teachings. Many newcomers to Buddhism approach it from this angle and are attracted to it on this account.

A more profound aspect is Buddhism as Truth, as the deep hidden truth lying below the surface and invisible to the ordinary man. To see this truth is to know intellectually the emptiness of all things; the transience. unsatisfactoriness, and non-selfhood of all things; to know intllectually the nature of suffering, of the complete elimination of suffering and of ther way to attain the complete elimination of suffering; to perceive these in terms of absolute truth, the kind that never changes and which everyone ought to know. This is Buddhism as Truth.

Buddhism as Religion is Buddhism as a system of practice based on morality, concentration, and insight, and culminating in liberating insight; a system which when practised to completion enables one to break free from suffering. This is Buddhism as Religion.

Then there is Buddhism as Psychology, as it is presented to us in the third section of the Tipitaka, where the nature of the mind is described in remarkable detail. Buddhist psychology is a source of interest and astonishment to students of the mind even in the present day. It is far more detailed and profound than present day psychological knowledge.

Another aspect is Buddhism as Philosophy. Philosophical knowledge can be clearly seen by mean of reasoned logical proofs but cannot be demonstrated experimentally. It contrasts with science, which is knowledge resulting from seeing something clearly, with our eyes, or through physical experimentation and proof, or even with the "inner eye" of intuition. Profound knowledge such as that of "emptiness"(impermanence) is just philosophy for a person who has not yet penetrated to the truth, and science for another who has done so, such as a fully enlightened individual, or arahant, who has seen it clearly, intuitively. Many aspects of Buddhism, in particular the Four Noble Truths, are scientific in so far as they can be verified by clear experimental proof using introspection. For anyone equipped with awareness and interested in studing and carrying out research, the cause-effect relationships are there just as in science. Buddhism is not just something obscure and vague, not just philosophy, as man made subjects are.

Some look on Buddhism as Culture. Anyone with a high regard for culture finds many aspects of Buddhist practice which are common to all cultures and also many that are characteristically Buddhist and far better and higher than anything in other cultures.

Of all these various aspects, the one a real Buddhist ought to take most interest in is Buddhism as Religion. We ought to look on Buddhism as a direct practical method for gaining knowledge of the true nature of things, knowledge which makes it possible to give up every form of grasping and clinging, of stupidity and infatuation, and become completely independent of things. To do this is to penetrate to the essence of Buddhism. buddhism considered in this aspect is far more useful than Buddhism considered as mere morality, or as truth which is simply profound knowledge and not really practical; and more useful than Buddhism considered as philosophy, as something to be enjoyed as an object of speculation and argument, but of no value in the giving up of the mental defilements;and certainly more useful than Buddhism considered simply as culture. as attractive behaviour, note worthy from the sociological viewpoint.

At the ver lease, everyone ought to consider Buddhism as Art. as the Art of Living - in other words, as skill and competence in being a human being, living in a way that is exemplary and praiseworthy, which so impresses others that they automatically wish to wmulate it What we have to do is to cultivate the "Three Lustres," firstly developing moral purity, then training the mind to be tranquil and steady and fit to do its job; and finally developing such an abundance of wisdom and clear insight into the nature of all things that those things are no longer able to give rise to suffering. When anyone's life has these Three Lustres, he can be considered to have fully mastered the art of living. Westerners are extremely interested in Buddhism as the Art of Living,and discuss this aspect more than any other. Penetrating so far into the real essence of Buddhism that we are able to take it as our guide to living induces spiritual good cheer and joy, dispersing depression and disillusionment. It also dispels fears, such as the fear that the complete giving up of spiritual defilements would make life dry and dreary and utterly devoid of flavour, or the fear that complete freedom from craving would make all thought and action impossible, whereas in reality a person who organizes his life in accordance with the Buddhist Art of Living is the victor over all the things about him. Regardless of whether these things be animals,people,possessions,or anything else, and regardless of whether they enter that person's consciousness by way of the eye, ear,nose,tongue,body,or mind, they will enter as losers, unable to becloud, defile,or perturb him. The victory over all these things is genuine bliss.

Buddha-Dhamma will enrapture a mind that has developed a taste for it. It can be considered an indispensible form of nourishment too. True, a person still controlled by the defilements continues to desire nourishment by way of the eye,ear,nose,tongue,and body and goes in search of it as suits his nature. But there is another part of him, something deeper, that does not demand that sort of nourishment. It is the free or pure element in his mind. It wishes the joy and delight of spiritual nourishment, starting with the delight that results from moral purity. It is the source of contentment for fully enlightened individuals, who possess such traquility of mind that defilements connot disturb them, who possess clear insigt into the true nature of all things and have no ambitions with regard to any of them. They are, so to speak, able to sit down without being obliged to run here and there like those people to whom the Buddha applied the simile "smoke by night, fire by day."

"Smoke by night" refers to sleeplessness, restlessness. A sufferer from this complaint lies all night with hand on brow, planning on going after this and that, working out how to get money, how to get rich quickly and get the various things he desires. His mind is full of "smoke." All he can do is lie there until morning, when he can get up and go running off in obedience to the wishes of the "smoke" he has been holding back all night. This fervent activety is what he Buddha referred to as "fire by day." These are the symptoms of a mind that has not achieved tranquility, a mind that has been deprived of spiritual nourishment. It is a pathological hunger and thirst induced by the defilement called craving. All night long the victim represses the smoke and heat, which in the morning becomes fire, and then blazes hot inside him all day. If a person is obliged, throughout his entire life, to suppress the "smoke by night," which then becomes "fire by day," how can he ever fine peace and coolness? Just visualize his condition. He endures suffering and torment all his life, from birht up until he is placed in the coffin, simply for lack of the insight that could completely extinguish that fire and smoke. To treat such a complaint one has to make use of the knowledge provided by the Buddha. The smoke and fire diminish in proportion to one'degree of understanding of the true nature of things.

As we have said. Buddhism has a number of different aspects or sides. Just as the same mountain when viewed from a different direction presents a different appearance, so different benefits are derived from Buddhism according to how one looks at it. Even Buddhism has its origins in fear - not the foolish fear of an ignorant person who kneels and makes obeisance to idols or strange phenomena, but a higher kind of fear, the fear of perhaps never attaining liberation from the oppression of birth, aging, pain, and death, from the various form of suffering we experience. The real Buddhism is not books, not manuals, not word for word repetition from the Tipitaka, nor is it rites and rituals. These are not the real Buddhism. The real Buddhism is the pracitice by way of body, speech, and mind that will destroy the defilements, in part of completety. One need not have anything to do with books or manuals. One ought not to rely on rites and rituals, nor anything else external, including spirits and celestial beings. Rather one must be directly concerned with bodily action, speech and thought. That is one must persevere in one's efforts to control and eliminate the defilements so that clear insight can arise. One will then be automatically capable of acting appropriately, and will be free from suffering from that moment right up to the end

This is the real Buddhism. This is what we have to understand, Let us not go foolishly grasping at the tumour that is obscuring Buddhism, taking it for the real thing.

PREFACE

In this book the Ven. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu has made the point that the whole Budha-Dhamma is nothing but the teaching dealing with "what is what"

It is a remakable fact that in this book the Ven.Buddhadasa has explained the meaning of one topic, thereby covering the spirit of the whole of the Buddhist teaching or the Tipitaka. He says that Buddhism is the religion whic teaches one to know just this much : "what is what." All the chapters in this book dealing with five aggregates, the four kinds of attachment, intuition in a natural way (chapter VII), intuition by methodical practice (chapter VII),and other topics all point to "what is what."

The expression "what is what" seems to be rather easy to understand, as though it were pointless to think about its meaning. But this appears to be the standpoint of the layman or of those who take the materialist's view. When thinking in the language of Dhamma, however, (for details see the 'Two Kings of Language' by the same author recently published in English) the knowledge of "what is what" signifies to 'know things as they really are', in Pali 'yathabhuta nanadassana',i.e. penetrating the Three Marks of everything existent (tilakkhana): the understanding of "what is what" may further be taken in the sense of knowing 'assada, adinava, and nissarana' of all conditioned things, i.e. satisfaction derved from them,the inherent disadvatages, and final emancipation; finally "what is what" is directly pointing at Enlinghtenment.

May the genuine 'loving-kindness' in your minds grow; may it arise in the minds of all beings in the world.

The Sublime Life Mission.





"In the past centuries there have been many learned Teachers who have laid down various paths to show the Truth. Among these, Buddhism is one, and according to it my opinion is that except for the differences in the names and forms of the various religions the Ultimate Truth is the same."

The Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso

"Although someone may say there is Buddhism,Chrisitianity, Islam, etc., when he has penetrated to the essential nature of his religion, he will regard all religions as being the same."

Venerable Buddhadasa

FOREWORD

The number of books on Buddhist topics produced by monks in Thailand is quite considerable :but for anyone lacking a knowledge of the Thai language this great volume of literature is, unfortunately, inaccessible. In order to remedy this situation some of the most import works in Thai are now being translated into English.

The present volume is one in a series of works by Venerable Buddhadasa Bhikkhu of Chaiya, South Thailand. It is particularly suited to the reader who wishes to get a complete outline of Buddha-Dhamma expressed in straight forward language.

The Ven. Buddhadasa is well know for the readiness with which he gives non-literal interpretations to the Buddhist texts. Giveing more weight to meditative experience and everyday observation than to philology, he finds meaning in many otherwise obscure points of doctrine. He does not hesitate to reject as naive a word-for-word interpretation that has no bearing on real life.

Particularly valuable in the present work are the author's thoughts on samsara, karma, and re-birth, subjects completely misunderstood by most western students of Buddhism.

To anyone hoping to find in Buddha-Dhamma a guide to life rather than just an object of scholarly study, this "Handbook" is strongly recommended

Buddha - Nigama
Chieng Mai
Thailand.

Handbook for Mankind

Handbook for Mankind
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

Originally presented as a series of lectures delivered to the would-be judges in May,1956 and published in condensed form under the title คู่มือมนุษย์