VISTAS: Buddhist Insights Into Immortality By Terry Magness

INTRODUCTlON

"Let any intelligent man come to me, any man who is also without guile, not a deceiver, but an upright man, and I will teach him. And if he follows my instructions, to know and realize for himself even in this very life that perfection which earnest men seek,going from a home to a homeless life, then he too shall know and realize that same perfection in seven years. Seven years? Why, even if he so practice for seven months, nay, seven days, he may so realize. Now this I say not so as to win pupils, nor wishing to make others fall from their religious vows, nor desiring to make them giveup their ways of life, nor thinking to establish them in wrong ways,nor making them renounce ways that are good. Not so. But there are ill things not put away, Nigrodha, things that have to do with corruption, suffering, decay, death, and rebirth to come, without end. It is for the rejection of such suffering that I teach, living according to which teaching all corruption shall be put away and wholesome things brought to increase. By which even in this very life, by his own supernormal powers, a man may realize the knowledge and the wisdom of perfect insight, and therein abide." (D.N. iii. 56 - 7)

This statement delivered to the ascetic Nigrodha, who considered that Buddha's doctrines were aimed to overthrow the views and practices of other sects, is now more than twenty-five centuries old. We know that Buddha made much of impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukka), and not - self (anatta), the three characteristics which dominate existence, and that he was never weary of pointing out a way by which they could be transcended. The way has become generally known as the Noble Eightfold Path. Namely:

1. Samma Ditthi (Right Understanding)
2. Samma Sankappa (Right Aspiration)
3. Samma Vaca (Right Speech)
4. Samma Kammanta (Right Conduct)
5. Samma Ajiva (Right Livelihood)
6. Samma Vayama (Right Endeavour)
7. Samma Sati (Right Mindfulness)
8. Samma Samadhi (Right Concentration)

In this context we are concerned with the last and final clause, the apex of them all, Samma Samadhi, it being the approach whereby the extra-sensory faculties are developed. The faculties, let it be reaffirmed here, which are latent in all creatures without exception.

Now if Buddha made much of the three characteristics of impermanence, suffering, and not-self, he even made more of their opposite, namely Nibbana. Which he characterized as the highest bliss (Nibbanan paraman sukhan). We witness him explaining to another ascetic, Bhaggava, how certain recluses have abused him with groundless and empty lies, accusing him of preaching that when once one has attained emancipation one regards the whole universe as ugly.

"But this I have never said, Bhaggava. Even this do I say: Whensoever one reaches up to the Release, called the Beautiful, and therein abides, then he knows indeed what Beauty is!". ¹

When Bhaggava, however, requested to be taught, he was dissuaded, on the score that,

"It is hard for you, Bhaggava, holding other views, acquiescing in another faith, and having other inclinations, different aims, and a different system, it is hard for you to so reach up to the Release, called the Beautiful, and having reached it to therein abide." ²

Thus when Buddha stated that he would teach any intelligent man, without guile, a non-deceiver, and upright, the implication is that even to attain an ordinary good life an individual must possess inner resources. The inner resources accumulated and assimilated in numberless past existences called parami. Of which ten are basic. Namely:

1. Dana (Charity)
2. Sila (Morality)
3. Nekkhamma (Renunciation)
4. Panna (Wisdom)
5. Viriya (Energy)
6. Khanti (Fortitude)
7. Sacca (Truth)
8. Adhitthana (Earnest Resolve)
9. Metta (Compassionate love)
10. Upekkha (Equanimity)

Without these resources at one's command it would be futile to try, for they are the very qualities, in fact, which make a man intelligent, without guile, a non deceiver, and upright.

Let it be reaffirmed here once and for all. There is only one way towards ultimate release. The way as prescribed in the following text .It may be questioned, however, how there can be only one way when 40 such ways are given in Buddhist texts, entailing meditation (kammatthana) upon a specific subject to the exclusion of all else. Namely:

It will be observed that they are not ways as such but subjects of meditation. What is more, it is not meditation in the generally accepted sense of the term, but as one scholar correctly notes:

"Meditation, in the Buddhist sense of the word, is not mere desultory reflection but a severe exercise in attention, discipline of will and mind, and concentration of thought."

Meditation on these subjects is designed so as to winnow the mind from all distractions and attachments (amongst which it is incessantly scattered and diffused from second to second) and by focusing the attention upon a specific subject to attain to tranquility. And not only tranquility but to mental equipoise (samatha) and that one-pointed (ekaggata) potential of concentrated-absorption called jhana.

It is obvious that it is impossible for the mind to attain any degree of coherence or insight when it is perpetually effervescent and confused . This is apparent even as regards the ordinary business of life, wherein a great deal of psychic energy is wasted and diffused. To the highest degree, therefore, is samatha an imperative when the intention is not only to conserve energy but to pierce beyond the veil of sense-data and penetrate into the vistas of Ineffability.

Thus the 40 subjects of meditation are devices provided to suit the mentality and disposition of the particular audience in hand, not two of which coincide, some requiring something physical and crude, others something impalpable and refined. Meditation on corpses in various stages of decomposition, for instance, is designed for those who possess an unnaturally lustful and materialistic nature, and they are therefore recommended to consider in earnest the state of decreptitude and disintegration to which all delight in the niceties of physical charm inevitably declines. And so forth.

But whereas most of the kasinas are external devices by which one-pointedness of concentration is achieved, the Method as applied and explained in the following text is an internal process and no artificial device. As stated of old:

"Even in this body, six feet in length, with its sense-impressions, thoughts, and ideas, is the world, the origin of the world the cessation of the world, and the way leading to the cessation thereof." ³

Now the goal of samatha is to attain jhana, of which there are eight: 4 Rupajhanas, 4 Arupajhanas.

The 4 Rupajhanas are as follows:

The 4 Arupajhanas are 'formless' attainments (samapatti):

To which a ninth state is added, namely:

Now the records show that the yogis of ancient India practiced these jhanas long before Buddha's time, and he himself practiced and attained them under two teachers of yoga. Dissatisfied by finding in them nothing ultimate, however, he abandoned them in disgust and turned his attention to severe austerities of mind and flesh. These austerities, however, neither culminated in enlightenment nor the extinction of passion and rebirth. And why? In his struggles under the Bodhi-tree we witness him reflecting upon the fact that it is impossible to kindle a fire by rubbing wet green sticks. Even so, those ascetics no matter how they carried their self-tortures to extremity, attained neither enlightenment nor release because of the passion and lust unextinguished within. Thus if ascetics perished in any of the above jhanas they took up their abode among the deities of the Brahma or Arupa-Brahma planes, remaining there often for kalpas (aeons, or world-cycles). Their merits exhausted, however, rebirth became an inevitability.

We may gather from this, therefore, that although the jhanas seem ideal and conducive to equanimity (upekka), they nevertheless in no way achieve the extinction of the defilements (asavas) of ignorance, egoism, and all attachment to sangsaric existence. Even if deviously concealed in consciousness these seeds remain - to sprout again as soon as occasion affords. Even the last and final attainment (sanna vedayita nirodha) in no way extinguishes the asavas-least of all is it to be confused with the attainment of Nibbana.

In the Maha Parinibbana Sutta (Sutta of the Great Ultimate Release) we observe that Buddha is recorded as entering into the first Jhana, passing from it into the second, third, fourth, and so on up to the ninth, clarifying his faculties by direct (anuloma) process. Thence he passed from the ninth to the eighth, seventh, sixth, and so on down to the first by inverse (patiloma) process. From the first he arose again to the fourth, Whence with mind directed thereto, he attained Nibbana without residue (anupadhi-sesa).

The question, therefore, remains: if the yogis could attain the fourth jhana, why then couldn't they attain Release? Primarily because they failed to make the asavas extinct. Failed to discover the knowledge (asavakhaya nana) of annihilating the defilements of ignorance, egoism, and attachment to sangsaric existence. The fact is that they had attained only to Samatha, whose scope includes the nine jhanas, but not to, Vipassana - whose scope- includes an intense analytic perception into all component phenomena, both organic and psychic, by which perception and ultimate elimination, the asavas are finally rendered null and void.

It would be folly, however, to assume by this that Nibbana is a state of ultimate extinction. That it is not a self-hypnotized state is obvious, since there is no cessation of perception and feeling as in the ninth jhana. On the contrary, perception-or rather, supra-perception is directed to the full at the Nibbanic plane. What is annihilated and rendered extinct are the asavas, together with the five rebirth-aggregates (pancupadanakkhandha), which are extinguished without residue.

We observe, therefore, that although Samatha is an essential factor it is insufficient in sofar as analytic perception and permanent emancipation are concerned. Once the mind has become concentrated through Samatha, however, the path is clear for Vipassana.

Now if any progress whatsoever in Samma Samadhi is to be expected, it depends (as a first step) upon the essential factor of morality (sila). Where there is no sila there will be no samadhi. And where there is no samadhi no wisdom (panna) will arise. This is an ancient rule.

Before commencing this practice of Samma Samadhi, therefore, it is of prime importance to accept and observe the 5 basic precepts of morality. These precepts are usually accepted from a Bhikkhu (a mendicant disciple of the Buddha). If circumstances do not permit, however, it can be done by oneself before an image of the Buddha, or even without one if unavailable. ⁴

Taking The 3 Refuges and 5 Precepts

Only after such conditions have been fulfilled need a man bother to consider the possibilities of attaining that which earnest men 'going from a home to a homeless life' seek and attain. But whether one will attain it in seven years, seven months, or seven days, is a matter of maturity of merit, dependent on the fertility of the soil. It is obvious that there can be no sudden growth, even as there is no sudden fruit (phala) ⁵. If one may take seven days, for another even seven thousand lifetirnes may be too little. Be that as it may, before beginning it would be of the greatest benefit for the aspirant if he were to first invoke all the external aid he can receive. The external aid, that is, of those who through numberless past aeons discovered by themselves the knowledge leading to final integration and release. None less than the great enlightened Buddhas.

The Pre-Meditation Chant

End of Introduction.

Notes:

1. Sutta 24: Patika Sutta DN III.1
2. Ibid.
3. Rohitassa Sutta AN IV.45
4. It may he objected that all this bowing and scraping is intolerable to modern 'civilized' man. if so, then more's the pity for the modern 'civilized' man, for he has still to learn the lesson of humility. In this context, where nothing is compulsory. if the aspirant does not care to pay respect where respect is due, he may as well forget the whole thing and go his ways.
5. "Just as, 0 Bbikkhus, the great ocean deepens and slopes gradually down, hollow after hollow, not plunging by a sudden precipice. Even so, 0 Bbikkbus, in this doctrine and discipline the training is gradual, progress is gradual, it goes step by step, there is no sudden penetration to insight."