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T H E D H A M M A P A D A
ID
As irrigators g u id e water to their fie ld s ,
as archers aim arrows,
as carpenters carve wood,
the wise shape their lives. (14s)
0:
Also in This Series
D i
T H E D 11 A G A V A D G I T A
T H E U P A N I S H A D S
Introduced &
Translated by
E K N A T H
E A S W A R A N
Nilgiri Press
© 198s, 2007 by The Blue Mountain Center o f Meditation
All rights reserved. Printed in Canada
Second edition. First printing M ay 2007
1 s d n - 1 3 : 9 7 8 - 1 - 5 8 6 3 8 - 0 2 0 - 5
I S B N - 1 0 : 1 - 5 8 6 3 8 - 0 2 0 - 6
Library o f Congress Control Number: 20 0 6 9 34 9 6 7
Printed on recycled paper
Eknath Easwaran founded the Blue Mountain Center o f
Meditation in Berkeley, California, in 1961. The Center
is a nonprofit organization chartered with carrying on
Easwaran’s legacy and work. Nilgiri Press, a department
o f the Center, publishes books on how to lead a spiritual
life in the home and community. The Center also teaches
Easwaran’s program o f Passage Meditation at retreats
worldwide.
For information please visit www.easwaran.org,
call us at 800 475 2369 (US) or 70 7 878 2369
(international and local), or write to us at
The Blue Mountain Center o f Meditation,
Box 256, Tomales, CA 9 4 9 7 1-0 256 , USA.
D : Table of Contents
Foreword 7
Introduction 13
1 Twin Verses 101
2 Vigilance 109
3 M in d 111
4 Flowers 117
Die Immature 119
6 The Wise 12 6
7 Hie Saint 12 9
8 Thousands 1.35
9 E vil 1 3 7 '
10 Fum shm ent i 4i
11 Age 14 7
12 S e lf 153
13 lh e World 159
14 Ih e Awakened One 163
15 J o y 173
16 Pleasure 179
17 A nger 185
18 Im purity 191
19 tstabhshed in u h a rm a 19 7
2 0 The Path 2 0 1
2 1 Varied Verses 209
22 Ihe D ow nward Course 215
23 Ih e Elephant 221
24 I hirst 2 2 7
2s ihetshikshu 239
26 lh e brahm in 2 4 7
Glossary 2 55
N o tes 2$9
I n d e x 2 7 1
F O R E W O R D
D : The Classics of Indian Spirituality
I m a g i n e a v a s t hall in A nglo-Saxon
England, not long after the passing o f K in g Arthur. It is the
dead o f w inter and a fierce snowstorm rages outside, but a
great fire fills the space within the hall with warm th and light.
N ow and then, a sparrow darts in for refuge from the weather.
It appears as i f from nowhere, flits about jo y fu lly in the light,
and then disappears again, and where it com es from and
where it goes next in that storm y darkness, we do not know.
O ur lives are like that, suggests an old story in B edes m edi-
eval history o f England. We spend ou r days in the fam iliar
world o f our five senses, but what lies beyond that, i f anything,
w e have no idea. Those sparrow s are hints o f som ething more
outside - a vast world, perhaps, w aiting to be explored. But
m ost o f us are happy to stay where we are. We m ay even be
a bit afraid to venture into the unknow n. What would be the
point, we wonder. W hy should we leave the wrorld we know?
Yet there arc always a few who arc not content to spend
their lives indoors. Sim ply know ing there is som ething un-
7 in
known beyond their reach makes them acutely restless. They
have to see what lies outside - i f only, as M allory said o f Ever-
est, “ because its there”
This is true o f adventurers o f every kind, but especially o f
those w ho seek to explore not m ountains or jungles but co n -
sciousness itself: whose real drive, we m ight say, is not so
much to know the unknow n as to know the knower. Such
men and wom en can be found in every age and every culture.
W hile the rest o f us stay put, they quietly slip out to see what
lies beyond.
Then, so far as we can tell, they disappear. We have no idea
where they have gone; we can t even imagine. But every now
and then, like friends who have run o ff to some exotic land,
they send back reports: breathless messages describing fan -
tastic adventures, ram bling letters about a w orld beyond ord i-
nary experience, urgent telegram s begging us to come and
see. “ Look at this view! Isn’t it breathtaking? Wish you could
see this. W ish you were here.”
The w orks in this set o f translations - the Upanishads, the
Bhagavad Gita, and the D ham m apada - are am ong the earli-
est and m ost universal o f messages like these, sent to inform
us that there is m ore to life than the everyday experience o f
our senses. The U panishads are the oldest, so varied that we
feel som e unknow n collectors must have tossed into a jum ble
all the photos, postcards, and letters from this w orld that they
could find, without any regard for source or circum stance.
Thrown together like this, they form a kind o f ecstatic slide
show - snapshots o f tow ering peaks o f consciousness taken at
various times by different observers and dispatched with just
the barest kind o f explanation. But those who have traveled
those heights will recognize the view s: “Oh, yes, that’s Ever-
est from the northwest - m ust be late spring. A n d here w ere
south, in the full snows o f winter.”
The D ham m apada, too, is a collection - traditionally, say-
ings o f the Buddha, one o f the v ery greatest o f these explorers
o f consciousness. In this case the messages have been sorted,
but not by a schem e that m akes sense to us today. Instead o f
being grouped by theme o r topic, they are gathered according
to som e dom inant characteristic like a sym bol or m etaphor -
flowers, birds, a river, die sky - that m akes them easy to com -
mit to memory. I f the U panishads are like slides, the D h am -
mapada seem s more like a field guide. This is lore picked up
by som eone w ho know s every step o f the w ay through these
strange lands. He can t take us there, he explains, but he can
show us the w ay: tell us what to look for, w arn about missteps,
advise us about detours, tell us what to avoid. Most important,
he urges us that it is our destiny as hum an beings to make this
jo u rn ey ourselves. Everything else is secondary.
And the third o f these classics, the Bhagavad Gita, gives us
a map and guidebook. It gives a system atic overview o f the
territory, shows various approaches to the sum m it with their
benefits and pitfalls, offers recom m endations, tells us what to
9 :D
pack and what to leave behind. More than either o f the oth-
ers, it gives the sense o f a personal guide. It asks and answers
the questions that you or I might ask - questions not about
philosophy or m ysticism , but about how to live effectively
in a world o f challenge and change. O f these three, it is the
G ita that has been my own personal guidebook, just as it w as
M ahatm a G and hi’s.
These three texts are v ery personal records o f a lan d-
scape that is both real and universal. Their voices, passion -
ately human, speak directly to you and me. They describe the
topography o f consciousness itself, which belongs as much
to us today as to these largely anonym ous seers thousands o f
years ago. I f the landscape seem s dark in the light o f sense
perception, they tell us, it has an illum ination o f its own, and
once o u r eyes adjust we can see in what Western m ystics call
this “divine dark” and verify their descriptions for ourselves.
And this world, they insist, is where we belong. This w id er
field o f consciousness is our native land. We are not cabin-
dwellers, born to a life cram ped and confined; we are meant to
explore, to seek, to push the lim its o f our potential as human
beings. The world o f the senses is just a base cam p: we arc
meant to be as m uch at home in consciousness as in the world
o f physical reality.
This is a message that thrills men and wom en in every age
and culture. It is for such kindred spirits that these texts were
origin ally com posed, and it is for them in our own time that
I undertook these translations, in the conviction that they
deserve an audience today as much as ever. I f these books
speak to even a handful o f such readers, they will have served
their purpose.
Copyrighted material
I N T R O D U C T I O N
D : The Dhammapada
I f a l l o f the N ew Testament had been
lost, it has been said, and only the Serm on on the M ount had
managed to survive these two thousand years o f history, we
would still have all that is necessary for following the teach-
ings o f Jesus the Christ. The b od y o f Buddhist scripture is
m uch more volum inous than the Bible, but I would not hesi-
tate to make a sim ilar claim : if everything else were lost, we
would need nothing m ore than the D ham m apada to follow
the w ay o f the Buddha.
The D ham m apada has none o f the stories, parables, and
extended instruction that characterize the main Buddhist
scriptures, the sutras. It is a collection o f vivid, practical
verses, gathered probably from direct disciples who wanted
to preserve what they had heard from the Buddha him self. In
the oral tradition o f the sixth century before Christ, it must
have been the equivalent o f a handbook: a ready reference o f
the Buddhas teachings condensed in haunting poetry and
arranged by theme - anger, greed, fear, happiness, thought.
Yet there is nothing piecem eal about this anthology. It is a sin -
gle com position, harm onious and whole, which conveys the
living presence o f a teacher o f genius.
D ham m apada means som ething like “ the path o f dharm a”
- o f truth, o f righteousness, o f the central law that all o f life
is one. The Buddha did not leave a static structure o f belief
that we can affirm and be done with. His teaching is an o n -
going path, a “ way o f perfection” w hich anyone can follow to
the highest good. The D ham m apada is a map for this journey.
We can start w herever we arc, but as on any road, the scen-
ery - our values, our aspirations, ou r understanding o f life
around us - changes as we make progress. These verses can
be read and appreciated sim ply as w ise philosophy; as such,
they are part o f the great literature o f the world. But for those
who w ould follow it to the end, the D ham m apada is a sure
guide to nothing less than the highest goal life can offer: Self-
realization.
t h e b u d d h a ’ s w o r l d
The Legacy
When Princc Siddhartha w as born, in the m id -
dle o f the sixth century B.C., Indian civilization was already
ancient. Perhaps fifteen hundred years had passed since w an-
dering A ryan tribes from Central Asia, entering the Indian
subcontinent along the Indus River, had found a civilization
already a thousand years old, in which what I would call the
defining features o f the Hindu faith - the practice o f m edita-
tion and the w orship o f G o d as Shiva and the D ivine M other
- seem to have already been established.
The A ryan s brought with them a social order presided over
by priests or brahm ins, the trustees o f ancient hym ns, ritu-
als, and deities related to those o f other lands, especially Per-
sia, where A ryan tribes had spread. India seem s to have dealt
with this new religion as it has dealt with cultural im ports ever
since: it absorbed the new into the old. A s a result, in even the
earliest o f the Indian scriptures - the Rig Veda, w hose oldest
hym ns go back at least to 1500 B.C. - we find A ryan nature-
gods integrated with the loftiest conceptions o f mysticism.
There is no inconsistency in this integration, only a v ery early
recognition that life’s suprem e reality is described in many
ways. “ Truth is one,” says a hym n o f the Rig Veda; “ the wise
call it by different names.”
From the beginning, then, two subcurrents ran through
the broad river o f Vedic faith. One, followed by the vast
m ajority o f people, is the social religion o f the Vedas, with
brahm ins in charge o f preserving the ancient scriptures and
presiding over a com plex set o f rituals. But another tradition,
at least as ancient, teaches that beyond ritual and the m edia-
tion o f priests, it is possible through the practice o f spiritual
disciplines to realize directly the divine ground o f life.
This ideal is sanctioned in Vedic religion as the human
b ein gs highest vocation. The opportunity is open to an y-
one to w rap up social obligations and retire to an ashram in
the H im alayas or in the forests flanking the G anges to learn
from an illum ined teacher how to realize G od. This choice is
often m isunderstood as w orld-w eariness, and we know that
even in those most ancient tim es India had ascetics w ho tor-
tured their bodies in the desire to free their spirit. But this is
not India’s classical tradition, and the typical ashram o f the
tim es is a retreat where students would live with an illum ined
teacher as part o f his family, leading a life o f outward sim plic-
ity in order to concentrate on inner growth.
Som etim es graduates o f these forest academ ies would
go on to becom e teachers themselves. But it w as at least as
likely that they would return to society, disciplined in b od y
and m ind, to make a contribution to some secular field. Some,
according to legend, becam e counselors o f kings; one, Janaka,
actually was a king. These men and w om en turned inward for
the sam e reason that scientists and adventurers turn outward:
not to run from life, but to m aster it. They went into the fo r-
ests o f the G anges to find G od as a poet turns to poetry o r a
musician to music, because they loved life so intensely that
nothing would do but to grasp it at the heart. They yearned
to know: to know what the hum an being is, what life is, what
death means and whether it can be conquered.
Oral records o f their discoveries began to be collected
around 1000 B.C. or even earlier, in fragm ents called the
Upanishads. Individualistic in their expression, yet com -
plctcly universal, these ecstatic docum ents belong to no par-
ticular religion but to all m ankind. They are not system atic
philosophy; they are not philosophy at all. Each Upanishad
contains the record o f a darshana: literally som ething seen, a
view not o f the world o f everyday experience but o f the deep,
still realm s beneath the sense-w orld, accessible in deep m edi-
tation:
The eye cannot see it; mind cannot grasp it.
The deathless S e lf has neither caste nor race,
Neither eyes nor cars nor hands nor feet.
Sages say this S e lf is infinite in the great
And in the sm all, everlasting and changeless,
The source o f life.
As the web issues out o f the spider
And is withdrawn, as plants sprout from the earth,
As hair grows from the body, even so,
The sages say, this universe springs from
The deathless Self, the source o f life.
(M u n d a k a 1 . 1 .6 - 7 )
Born in freedom and stamped with the jo y o f Self-realiza-
tion, these early testaments o f the Vedic sages are clear ante-
cedents o f the B ud dhas voice. They contain no trace o f world-
denial, no shadow o f fear, no sense o f diffidence about our
place in an alien universe. Far from deprecating physical exis-
tence, they teach that Self-realization means health, vitality,
long life, and a harm onious balance o f inward and outward
activity. With a trium phant voicc, they proclaim that human
destiny lies ultim ately in human hands for those who m aster
the passions o f the mind:
We are what our deep, driving desire is.
As our deep, driving desire is, so is our will.
As our will is, so is our deed.
As our deed is, so is our destiny.
(Brihadaranyaka iv.4.5)
And they insist on know ing, not the learning o f facts but
the direct experience o f truth: the one reality underlying life’s
multiplicities. This is not an intellectual achievem ent. K n ow l-
edge m eans realization. To know the truth one must make it
real, must live it out in thought, word, and action. From that,
everything else o f value follows:
As by knowing one piece o f gold, dear one,
We come to know all things made out o f gold -
That they dilFer only in name and form,
While the stuff o f which all are made is gold . . .
So through that spiritual wisdom , dear one,
We come to know that all o f life is one.
(Chandogya vi.1.5)
The m ethod these sages followed in their pursuit o f truth
was called brahm avidya, the “supreme science,” a discipline
in w hich attention is focused intensely on the contents o f
consciousness. In practice this means meditation. The m o d -
ern m ind balks at calling m editation scientific, but in these
sages passion for truth, in their search for reality as som e-
thing which is the same under all conditions and from all
points o f view, in their insistence on direct observation and
systematic em pirical method, we find the essence o f the sci-
entific spirit. It is not im proper to call brahm avidya a series o f
experim ents - on the m ind, by the m ind - with predictable,
replicable results.
Yet, o f course, the sages o f the U panishads took a differ-
ent track from conventional science. They looked not at the
world outside, but at human knowledge o f the w orld outside.
They sought invariants in the contents o f consciousness and
discarded everything im perm anent as ultim ately unreal, in
the w ay that the sensations o f a dream are seen to be unreal
when one awakens. Their principle w as neti, neti atma: “ this
is not the self; that is not the s e lf” They peeled away person -
ality like an onion, layer b y layer, and found nothing perm a-
nent in the mass o f perceptions, thoughts, em otions, drives,
and m em ories that we call “ I.” Yet w hen everything in divid -
ual was stripped away, an intense awareness rem ained: co n -
sciousness itself. The sages called this ultimate ground o f p er-
sonality atman, the Self.
The scientific tem per o f this m ethod is a vital part o f the
B uddhas background. If, as A ld ous H uxley observed, science
is “ the reduction o f multiplicities to unities,” no civilization
has been more scientific. From the R ig Veda on, India’s scrip-
tures are steeped in the conviction o f an all-pervasive order
(ritam ) in the w hole o f creation that is rcflcctcd in each part.
In m edieval Europe, it was the realization that there cannot be
one set o f natural laws governing earth and another set g o v -
erning the heavens which led to the birth o f classical phys-
ics. In a sim ilar insight, Vedic India conceived o f the natural
world - not only physical phenom ena but hum an action and
thought - as u niform ly governed by universal law.
This law is called dharm a in Sanskrit, and the Buddha
would make it the focus o f his w ay o f life. The word com es
from dhri, which means to bear or to hold, and its root sense
is the essence o f a thing, the defining quality that “ holds it
together” as what it is. In its broadest application, dharm a
expresses the central law o f life, that all things and events are
part o f an indivisible whole.
Probably no word is richer in connotations. In the sphere
o f human activity, dharm a is behavior that is in harm ony with
this unity. Som etim es it is justice, righteousness, or fairness;
som etim es sim ply duty, the obligations o f religion or so ci-
ety. It also m eans being true to what is essential in the human
being: nobility, honor, forgiveness, truthfulness, loyalty, co m -
passion. An ancient saying declares that ahimsa param o
d h a rm a : the essence o f dharm a, the highest law o f life, is to do
no harm to any living creature.
Like the Buddha, the sages o f the Upanishads did not find
the world capricious. N othing in it happens by chance - not
because events arc predestined, but becausc everything is
conncctcd b y causc and cffcct. Thoughts arc included in this
view, for they both cause things to happen and are aroused by
things that happen. What we think has consequences for the
world around us, for it conditions how we act.
All these conscqucnccs - for others, for the world, and for
ourselves - arc our personal responsibility. Sooner or later,
because o f the unity o f life, they will com e back to us. Som e-
one who is always angry, to take a simple example, is bound to
provoke anger from others. More subtly, a man w hose factory
pollutes the environm ent will eventually have to breathe air
and d rink water which he has helped to poison.
These are illustrations o f what Hinduism and Buddhism
call the law o f karm a. Karm a means som ething done, whether
as cause or effect. Actions in harm ony with dharm a bring
good karm a and add to health and happiness. Selfish actions,
at odds with the rest o f life, bring unfavorable karma and pain.
In this view, no divine agency is needed to punish or reward
us; we punish and reward ourselves. This was not regarded as a
tenet o f religion but as a law o f nature, as universal as the law o f
gravity. No one has stated it more clearly than St. Paul: “A s you
sow, so shall you reap. With whatever measure you mete out to
others, with the same measure it shall be meted out to you.”
For the Upanishadic sages, however, the books o f karm a
could only be cleared within the natural world. Unpaid
k arm ic debts and unfulfilled desires do not vanish when the
physical b od y dies. They arc forces which rem ain in the uni-
verse to quicken life again at the m om ent o f conception when
conditions are right for past karm a to be fulfilled. We live and
act, and everything we do goes into what we think at the pres-
ent moment, so that at death the mind is the sum o f e very-
thing we have done and everything we still desire to do. That
sum o f forces has karm a to reap, and when the right context
com es - the right parents, the right society, the right epoch
- the bundle o f energy that is the germ o f personality is born
again. We are not just limited physical creatures with a begin-
ning in a particular year and an end after fourscore years and
ten. We go back eons, and som e o f the contents o f the deepest
unconscious are the dark drives o f an evolutionary heritage
much older than the hum an race.
In this sense, the separate personality we identify ourselves
with is som ething artificial. Einstein, speaking as a scientist,
drew a sim ilar conclusion in replying to a stranger w ho had
asked for consolation on the death o f his son:
A human being is part o f the whole, called by us “ Universe,”
a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself,
his thoughts and feelings, as som ething separated from the
rest - a kind o f optical delusion o f his consciousness. This
delusion is a kind o f prison for us, restricting us to our
personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest
to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison
by widening our circlc o f compassion to embrace all living
creatures and the whole o f nature in its beauty.
The sages o f the Upanishads would find this an entirely
acceptable w ay o f describing both their idea o f person al-
ity and the goal o f life: moksha, freedom from the delusion
o f separateness; yoga, complete integration o f consciousness;
nirvana, the extinction o f the sense o f a separate ego. This
state is not the extinction o f personality but its fulfillment,
and it is not achieved after death but in the midst o f life.
In its broad outlines, the w orldview I have sketched must
have been fam iliar to the vast m ajority in the B ud dhas audi-
ence: the kings and princes we read about in the sutras, the
merchants and craftsm en and courtesans, and o f course the
num berless villagers who, then as now, made up most o f
India. K arm a and rebirth were not philosophy to them but
living realities. M oral order w as taken for granted, and all
looked to dharm a as a universal standard for behavior.
These ideas form the background o f the Buddha’s life and
becam e the currency o f his message. Like Jesus, he cam e to
teach the truths o f life not to a few but to all w ho would listen,
and the w ords he chose to express those truths were ones that
everyone knew.
V ie Buddha's Times
The sixth century B.C. was a time o f creative
spiritual upheaval in most o f the m ajor civilizations o f antiq-
uity. W ithin a hundred years on either side we have C o n fu -
cius in C hina, Zoroaster in Persia, the pre-Socratic p h iloso -
phers o f ancient Greece, and the later prophets o f Israel.
These were also tim es o f cultural expansion, when cen-
ters o f civilization in Europe and A sia were expanding their
spheres o f influence in com m erce and colonization. In the
Buddha’s time at least sixteen kingdom s and republics lay
along the G anges and against the H im alayan foothills, part
o f an increasingly active trade route which ran westward
through the vast Persian empire o f C yru s the G reat all the w ay
to the M editerranean.
These contacts must have contributed to a burgeoning
urban life by the time the Buddha was born. The larger cit-
ies o f this period, prospering from a rapidly grow ing m id-
dle class o f merchants and craftsm en, were well planned
and show a rem arkable sense o f public-m indedness. “ In no
other part o f the ancient world,” w rites A. L. Basham , “ were
the relations o f man and man, and o f man and the state, so
fair and hum ane___ India was a cheerful land, whose people,
each finding a niche in a com plex and slow ly evolving social
system, reached a higher level o f kindliness and gentleness in
their mutual relationships than any other nation o f antiquity.”
These were also the centuries in which ancient India’s sci-
entific tradition began to blossom . Details are difficult to
trace, but by the first century after Christ, astronomy, arith -
metic, algebra, logic, linguistics, surgery, m edicine, and a p sy -
chology o f personality were all well developed. The encounter
between India and Greece when A lexan der the Great reached
the Indus river, 326 B . C . , invites com parison between these
two civilizations and gives us in the West a fam iliar bench-
mark. India, with its decim al system and the potent creation
o f zero, dom inated m athem atics as Greece did geom etry, and
in m edicine and surgery both led the ancient world.
From such observations we can make som e guess at the
kind o f education a doting ru ler like the Buddhas father m ight
have given his only son. Even in those days India had great
centers o f learning from which to draw tutors - one o f the
best known was Takshashila or Taxila, which lay at the cross-
roads between India and the Persian em pire - and we know
that the graduates o f these institutions enjoyed a good reputa-
tion in neighboring lands. It is probably no coincidence that
the Buddha, w hose language is occasionally that o f a ph ysi-
cian, arose in a land with the w orld’s greatest m edical schools.
For most o f India, o f course, religion m eant not the lofty
concepts o f the Upanishads but a web o f Vedic rituals, pre-
sided over by brahm in priests and often overlaid with super-
stition. Yet U panishads were still being created, and for-
est truth-seekers m ay have been even m ore num erous than
in earlier times. They had in com m on the practice o f some
form o f mental discipline (yoga) and som e form o f severe self-
denial (tapas) as aids to releasing spiritual power. Beyond this,
however, we find no m ore agreem ent than am ong the prc-
Socratic philosophers who roam ed Greece and A sia M in o r at
roughly the same time.
M a n y o fth e se figures did not m erely bypass religious o rth o -
doxy but challenged it. We read o f teachers and their disciples
w andering about debating each other and teaching a p erplex-
ing disarray o f views. Som e o f their argum ents - that good
and bad conduct make no difference, for fate decides e ve ry -
thing; that transcendental knowledge is im possible; that life
is entirely material - arc perennial and have their adherents
even today. O thers seem intended to take issue with the U pa-
nishads, or perhaps show what happens when an idea from
the Upanishads is developed without being understood. The
climate has been called pessim istic, even world-w eary. C o n -
sidering the cultural evidence, however, it seem s more likely
that this philosophic hotbed w as one aspect o f an expansive
self-confidence in which old ideas were being challenged on
every side.
Into this world, poised between the Vedic past and a new
high-w ater mark o f Indian culture, the Buddha was born.
Like Jesus, it m ayb e said, he came not to destroy tradition but
to fulfill its m eaning. A n d as Jesus rose out o f the tradition
o f the prophets and yet transcends all traditions and breaks
all molds, the Buddha, though he broke with the rituals and
authority o f the Vcdas, stands squarely in the tradition o f the
U panishads. Vitality, a sublime self-confidence, an em pha-
sis on direct experience in meditation without reference to
any outside authority, and a passionate trust in truth, in the
oneness o f life, and in our human capacity to take our destiny
into our own hands - all these are the v ery spirit o f the U p an i-
shads, and no one em bodies it better than the Buddha.
Yet the Buddha brings to this spirit a genius all his own. The
sages o f the Upanishads sought to know, and their testaments
sing with the jo y o f Self-realization. The Buddha sought to
save, and the jo y in his message is the jo y o f know ing that he
has found a w ay for everyone, not just great sages, to put an
end to sorrow. M editation, once the sublime art o f a v e ry few,
he offers to teach to all - not for som e otherw orldly goal, but
as a w ay to happiness, health, and fulfillm ent in selfless ser-
vice. He argues with no one, denies no faith, convinces only
with truth and love. He brought not so much a new religion as
sanatana dh arm a, “ the eternal dharm a,” the name India has
always given to religion itself. Like an adventurer who paw ns
everything to discover som e priceless jewel, he sought out
India’s spiritual treasure and then gave it away to everyone
who w ould take it, rich or poor, high caste or low, with a free
hand; and for that reason he is loved today, twenty-five h u n -
dred years later, by perhaps one quarter o f the earth’s people.
L I F E & T F A C I I I N G
The early Buddhists were not biographers or
historians, any more than the early C hristians were. Their
first passion, when their teacher was no longer with them in
the body, w as to record not what they knew o f his past but
what he had taught. O f the Buddhas life before illum ination,
therefore, the scriptures record only isolated fragments. From
these has been pieced together the story o f the Buddha as it is
told today. The inconsistencies in the sources need not trou-
ble us. W hatever their value as historical evidence, there can
be no doubt that the story captures a real and deeply appeal-
ing personality.
Siddhartha Gautam a was born around 563 B.C., the son
o f a king called Shuddhodana who ruled the lands o f the
Shakya clan at the foot o f the Him alayas, along what is today
the border between India and Nepal. Though not monarch o f
an em pire like the neighboring kings o f Kosala and M aghada,
Shuddhodana was well-to-do, and his capital, Kapilavastu,
had prospered from its location near the trade routes into the
G anges valley. Apparently his pow er w as not absolute, but
shared with a voting assem bly called the sangha - the same
name the Buddha w ould later give to his m onastic order, one
o f the earliest dem ocratic institutions in the world.
When the child w as born, a holy man prophesied that he
would either becom e an em peror or renounce the world for
a great spiritual destiny. H is parents gave him the name Sid-
dhartha, “ he whose purpose in life has been attained.” Like
most loving fathers, however, King Shuddhodana had little
interest in seeing his son and sole heir w ander o ff into the for-
est in search o f truth. I Ie ordered his m inisters not to expose
the boy to tragedy or allow him to lack anything he desired.
Siddhartha was an extraordinarily gifted child, and we are
told that he received the best education for kingship that the
world o f his day could offer. I Ie excelled in sports and physical
exploits com bining strength with skill - particularly archery,
in which he stood out am ong a people fam ous for their prow -
ess with the bow. He had a quick, clear intellect matched by an
exquisite tenderness, a rare com bination which would stamp
his later life. He showed both when as a youth he saw a bird
shot dow n b y the arrow o f his cousin Devadatta. Siddhartha,
already dim ly aware o f his bond to all living creatures, ten-
derly removed the arrow, then took the bird home and nursed
it back to health. Devadatta, furious, insisted that the bird was
his, and took his case to the king. “ / shot that bird,” he said.
“ It’s mine.” But Siddhartha asked, “ To whom should any crea-
ture belong: to him w ho tries to kill it, or to him w ho saves its
life?”
At the age o f seven o r eight the prince went to the annual
plow ing festival, where his father cerem onially guided the
bullocks in plow ing the first furrow. It w as a long, stressful day,
and when the boy grew sleepy his fam ily set him down to rest
on a platform under a rose apple tree. When they returned,
hours later, they found him seated upright in the same p o si-
tion as they had left him . D isturbed by the ceaseless toil o f
the bullocks and plowm en and the plight o f the tiny creatures
who lost their hom es and lives in the plowing, Siddhartha had
becom e absorbed in reflection on the transience o f life. In
this profound absorption he forgot h im self and his surroun d-
ings completely, and a jo y he had never known suffused his
consciousness.
Siddhartha grew up accustom ed to lu xu ry and ease. Later
he would tell the austere m onks gathered around him , “ I was
delicately nurtured, brothers. When a piece o f silk was not the
very softest grade, I would not wear it next to my skin. O nly
the freshest fruits were sent to me, and a whole staff o f cooks
looked after m y meals.” N othing unpleasant was allowed to
enter his vision.
On attaining m anhood, Siddhartha learned that a lovely
cousin named Yashodhara would choose her husband from
the princes and chieftains who vied for her hand in a con -
test o f archery. Siddhartha showed up on the appointed day,
suprem ely confident o f his skill. One o f the suitors hit the
bulls-eye, but Siddhartha stepped forw ard bold ly and with
one shot split his riv a ls arrow down the middle.
Yashodhara proved to be as loving as she was lovely, and
in tim e the couple had a son named Rahula w ho com bined
the beauty and tender nature o f them both. Siddhartha was
twenty-nine. H is future prom ised every fulfillm ent life could
offer.
By this time, however, gnaw ing questions had begun to
haunt his mind. The innocent pleasures o f his life seemed
fragile, edged with the poign an cy o f som ething not quite real
enough to hold on to. An awareness preoccupied him which
m ost thoughtful people taste but seldom face: that life passes
sw iftly and leaves very little behind.
H is questions must have been old when history began; we
ask them still. Has life a purpose, or is it only a passing show?
Is there nothing more to hope for than a few good friends, a
loving family, some m em ories to savor before one goes? It was
questions like these that sent m any into the forests along the
G anges to the sages o f the Upanishads, and Yashodhara, see-
ing the look in her h u sbands eyes, grew troubled. Even their
newborn son had not brought him peace.
Finally, desperate to case his tormented mind, Siddhartha
persuaded his father to agree to a day outside the walls o f his
estates. Recalling the prophesy at his sons birth, K in g Shud-
dhodana made sure the city w as ready. No one poor, no one
sick, no one unhappy was to be present along the p rin ces des-
ignated route.
Yet despite all precautions, am ong the cheerful, cheering
crowd who turned out to greet him, Siddhartha happened to
catch sight o f a man w hose face was sallow and drawn and
w hose eyes were glazed with fever. “ W hat is the matter with
this man, C h an n a?” he asked his charioteer in horror.
“ That is disease,” C hanna replied. “All are subject to it. If
a man is m ortal, disease can strike him , even if he be rich or
royal.”
Siddhartha continued on his excursion, but he could not
forget the pallor o f the man’s face or the haunted look in his
eyes.
The next day Siddhartha ventured outside the city again.
This tim e he saw a bent, w rinkled wom an faltering on her
staff. Siddhartha regarded her with com passion. “ Is this, too,
disease?” he asked.
“ No,” Channa replied. “ It is only age, which overtakes us
all.”
“ Will m y wife becom e like that?”
“ Yes, m y lord. Even Princess Yashodhara, beautiful as a full
moon in a cloudless sky. One day her skin too w ill be w rin -
kled and her eyes dim , and she w ill falter in her steps.”
“ C hanna, I have seen enough. Take me back!”
But in the palace Siddhartha found no peace. Before long
he ventured out a third time, and on this occasion he saw a
corpse stretched out on a bier for cremation. “ W hat is that,
Channa, which resembles a man but looks more like a log?”
“ That w as once a man, but death has com e to claim him ;
only his b od y remains. Death w ill com e for all o f us, rich or
poor, well or ill, young as well as old.”
“ Even for m y new born son?”
“ Yes, my lord. He too w ill lie like that one day”
The prince closed his eyes and covered his ears. But a bom b
had burst in the depths o f his consciousness, and everything
around him seem ed edged with mortality.
On his w ay home a fourth sight arrested him : a man seated
by the roadside with closed eyes, his bod y upright and still.
“C hanna, what kind o f man is that? Is he dead too?”
“ No. That is a bhikshu, who has left w orldly life to seek
what lies beyond. When the bod y seem s dead but the spirit is
awake, that is what they call yoga.”
Siddhartha rode home deep in thought.
The rest o f that day he found no peace. The roses in his g a r-
den, whose beauty had always caught his eye, now rem inded
him only o f the evanescence o f life. The bright scenes and
laughter o f the palace flowed by like running water. “ E v ery -
thing is change,” he thought; “each m om ent com es and goes.
Is there nothing more, nothing to the future but decline and
death?” These questions are fam iliar from the lives o f saints
and seekers in every tradition, and there is nothing morbid
about them; it is this awareness o f death that brings life into
clear focus. The Buddha-to-be was beginning to wake up.
Shuddhodana noticed with alarm the change that had
come over his son. G one w as the enjoym ent he had always
found in his sports and gam es and the com pany o f his friends;
his m ood was sober and indrawn. The king consulted with
his m inisters and concluded that Siddhartha had grown
w eary o f m arried life and needed diversion. That very night
they arranged a spectacle featuring the loveliest dancing girls
in the land.
The perform ance went on past m idnight. Finally the last
guest left and the dancers fell asleep. One by one the lights
burned out. O nly Siddhartha rem ained awake, scarcely aware
o f the world, brooding over a still unconscious choice.
Som etim e in the early hours o f the m ornin g - it was, the
chronicles tell us, the first full m oon o f spring - Siddhartha
looked around him in the shadow y hall and saw a chilling
sight. The dancers lay snoring in the postures in which they
had fallen asleep, and in the m oonlight the lithe bodies that
had seemed so lovely in silk and m akeup looked coarse and
offensive in their disarray. The chroniclers say it was a con-
ju rin g trick o f the gods, w ho wanted the prince to reject the
pleasures o f the world and seek enlightenm ent. But no such
explanation seem s necessary. For a m om ent the curtain o f
time had gone up, and Siddhartha had seen beneath the tinsel
o f appearance, past the strange illusion that m akes us believe
the beauty o f the moment can never fade.
That m om ent he resolved to go forth from the life he had
known, not to see his fam ily again until he had found a way
to go beyond age and death. For a long moment he lingered
at the d oo rw ay to his bedcham ber, w atching his w ife and son
asleep in each o th ers arm s. Young, delicate, full o f tenderness,
they seemed now to stand for all creatures, so vulnerable in
the face o f time and change. A fraid his resolve m ight fail, he
did not wake them.
In the dark hours before dawn C hanna brought the white
horse Kanthaka, his hooves padded so that no one would
hear his steps in the courtyard. They traveled eastward until
dawn. At the river A nom a the prince dism ounted, slipped the
rings and ornam ents o f royalty from his body, and removed
his robes and sandals. “ Take these back to the palace now,
C hanna. I must go on alone.”
Channa received the bundle with tears in his eyes, for he
had served the prince m any years and loved him deeply. He
pleaded to be allowed to go along, but to no avail. Kanthaka
too, according to the chronicles, wept as C hanna led him
home, and died soon afterw ard o f a broken heart.
At the edge o f the forest, Siddhartha scavenged som e rags
from the graves o f executed convicts. They too had severed
their bonds with the world, and were not all creatures under
sentence o f death? Their color, saffron yellow, has been ever
since the emblem o f a Buddhist monk.
Siddhartha put on his m akeshift robe, burned the rest o f
his clothes, and cut o ff his black hair. Henceforth he would
own no m ore than his robe and a m endicants bowl, and eat
only such food as he might be given. He was ready to plunge
into his quest.
In the forest, Siddhartha studied yoga - meditation - with
the best teachers he could find. W ith each he learned quickly
what they had to teach, m astering their disciplines and m atch-
ing their austerities, and discovered that they had not found
the goal he sought.
Siddhartha then struck o ff on his own. For six years he w an -
dered in the forest, subjecting his b od y to all kinds o f m orti-
fication. Perhaps, he reasoned, his teachers had not been aus-
tere enough to reach the goal. Perhaps through starvation he
could break his identification with his body, w inn in g detach-
ment from its ultimate fate.
D ay by day he reduced his intake o f food until he was eat-
ing only one grain o f rice a day. H is b o d y becam e so em aci-
ated that he could reach into the cavern o f his stomach and
feel his spine. Such pow er o f will attracted attention from
other seekers, and on the banks o f the river Neranjara he w as
joined b y five ascetics w ho becam e his disciples.
With his b o d y so w orn down, however, Siddhartha discov-
ered that he could no longer meditate well. H is m ind lacked
the vitality for intense, sustained concentration. He began
casting about for another approach, and there cam e to his
mind the experience under the rose apple tree so long ago,
where he had tasted the jo y that com es when the clam or o f
the m ind and senses is stilled. “Austerity is not the w ay to the
calm ing o f passion, to perfect knowledge, to freedom,” he
thought. “ The right w ay is that w hich I practiced at the foot o f
the rose apple tree. But that is not possible for som eone w ho
has spent his stren gth ”
At that time, Sujata, the lovely daughter o f a nearby house-
holder, had just borne her first child and wanted to make a
thanksgiving offering. “ 'Hie radiant god to whom you prayed
for a son,” her handm aid reported, “ is sitting under a banyan
tree by the side o f the river. W hy not make your offering to
him directly?” So Sujata prepared her favorite delicacies and
brought them in a golden bow l to the banks o f the N cranjara,
where she offered them to the man whose frail fram e seemed
suffused with light.
Siddhartha ate slowly, and when his hunger w as satisfied
he twisted a w ick from the ragged edge o f his robe, placed
it in oil in the bowl, lighted it, and set his m akeshift lamp
afloat in the rivers slow waters. “ I f I am not to attain complete
freedom,” he declared, “ let this bowl travel with the current
downstream.” It drifted in the eddies, then seem ed to move
slow ly against the flow.
Siddharthas disciples witnessed these peculiar develop-
ments with amazement. Was this the man w ho for six years
had outdone all other seekers in austerity? They had put their
trust in his unbreakable determ ination; when they saw him
w aver and change course, they abandoned him in disgust.
Siddhartha w as again alone.
It w as spring, when the w orld itself was quickening with
new life. The v ery landscape must have rem inded him o f
that ploughing festival so m any years before, when his mind
had spontaneously plunged into meditation. “ When a good
archer first hits the bull’s-eye,” he told his disciples later, “ he
stops and exam ines everything carefully. How was he stand-
ing? How was he holding the bow? How did his fingers let the
arrow go? A nd he tries to make everything the same for the
next shot. In the same way, brothers, I set about sytem atically
tryin g to repeat what had led to success so long ago.”
N ear the city o f G aya he found a tranquil spot under a
sacred fig tree and carpeted a place with fresh, fragrant grass.
Folding his legs beneath him , he drew h im self straight for
meditation and took a solem n vow: “ C om e what m ay - let my
bod y rot, let my bones be reduced to ashes - I w ill not get up
from here until I have found the way beyond decay and d eath ”
It w as dusk and the moon w as rising, the first full moon o f the
first month o f spring.
Thus determ ined, full o f peace, Siddhartha passed into
deep meditation, when the senses close down and concen -
tration flows undisturbed by awareness o f the outside world.
Then, the chronicles say, M ara the tempter came, m uch as
Satan cam e to tempt Jesus in the desert. M ara is Death and
every selfish passion that ties us to a m ortal body. He is “ the
striker,” w ho attacks without w arning and never plays by the
rules. A n y kind o f entrapment is fair.
First M ara sent his daughters, m aidens o f unearthly beauty,
cach a c c o m p a n i e d by exquisi te l a d i e s - i n - w a i t i n g . A n y o f
t he m , Ma r a p r o m i s e d , S i d d h a r t h a c o ul d h a ve as his own. The
B u d d h a - t o - b e sat u n m o v e d and d e e p e n e d his c o n c e n t r a t i o n .
Ne xt Ma r a assailed his m e d i t a t i o n w i t h fierce a r m i e s - lust,
cowardi ce, d ou b t, h ypoc risy, the desire for h o n o r a n d fame.
Like a m o u n t a i n u n s h a k e n by an e a r t h q u a k e , S i d d h a r t h a c o n
t i n u e d his p l u n g e into d e e p e r c o n s c i o u s n e s s .
Finally, as he n e a r e d the f r o n t i e r in c o n s c i o u s n e s s that
divides w h a t is t r a n s i e n t f r o m w h a t is de at hl es s, M a r a a p
p e a r e d a n d c h a l l e n g e d h i m in p e r s o n . W h o h a d given h im
the r i gh t to e scape his r e a l m ?
The B u d d h a did n o t t r y to argue, b u t it is said t h a t he pla ced
his p a l m on the e ar th a n d the e a r t h itself gave wi tn es s. The
voi ces o f m i l l i o n s o f c r ea t u r e s co ul d be h e a r d c r yi ng o ut that
he h a d c ome to re sc ue t h e m f r o m sorrow.
At this Mara o r d e r e d his a r m i e s to retreat. The d a r k w a t e r s
o f the u n c o n s c i o u s closed over S i d d h a r t h a , a nd he s lipped
into t h a t p r o f o u n d stillness in w h i c h t h o u g h t stops a nd the
d i s t i n c t i o n s o f a s ep ar at e p e r s o n a l i t y dissolve. In this p r o
f o u n d state he r e m a i n e d i m m e r s e d t h r o u g h o u t the night.
W h e n d a w n c ame the tree u n d e r w h i c h he sat b u r s t into
b l o o m , a nd a f r a g r a n t spring b r e e z e s h o w e r e d h i m w i t h b l o s
soms. He was no l o n g e r S i d d h a r t h a , the finite p e r s o n a l i t y that
h ad b e e n b o r n in Kapilavastu. He wa s the B u d d h a , "he w h o
is awake " He h a d f o u n d the w a y to t h a t r e a lm o f b e i n g w h i c h
decay and d e a t h can n e v e r t o u c h : n i r v a n a .
C o p y r i g h t e d m a t e r i a l
Unaware o f his body, plunged deep in a sea o f jo y and free
to remain there until the end o f time, the Buddha could have
had only a faint recollection o f those still caught in selfishness
and sorrow. But the needs o f the world cried out to him, the
chronicles say, “and his heart was m oved to pity” That slim
thread o f recollection was enough. Drawn by the will to lead
others to the freedom he had found, the Buddha traced his
way back.
Then M ara played his last trump. “ You have awakened to
nirvana,” he whispered, “and thus escaped from m y realm.
You have plum bed the depths o f consciousness and known a
jo y not given even to the gods. But you know well how d iffi-
cult it has been. You sought nirvana with your eyes clear, and
found it alm ost im possible to achieve; others’ eyes are co v-
ered with dust from the beginning, and they seek only their
own satisfaction. Even in the midst o f sorrow, do you see an y-
one throw the toys o f the w orld away? I f you try to teach them
what you have found, who do you think w ill listen? W ho will
strive as you have? How m any w ill even try to w ipe the dust
from their eyes?”
For a long time the Buddha sat silent, contem plating the
im possibility o f his m ission. These questions shook him to the
depths. In a world o f sleepwalkers, how m any would listen to
som eone returning from a world they would probably never
sec, com ing to say that love always begets love and violence
only breeds more violence? In a world guided b y passions,
how m any would he w illing to make the sacrifices required to
base their lives on these truths?
Slowly his confidence returned. “ Perhaps” he replied,
“there will be a few w ho w ill listen. Dust does cover the eyes o f
all, but for som e it is only a thin film. Everyone desires an end
to suffering and sorrow. To those who will listen, I will teach
the dharm a, and for those w ho follow it, the dharm a itself will
set them free.”
The Buddha rem ained at that spot for weeks, im m ersing
h im self in nirvana over and over. Each time he probed deep
into the heart o f life, the nature o f happiness, and the origins
ofsorrow .
Then, with his teaching worked out, he went forth to teach.
He had not only attained nirvana, he w as established in it -
aware o f life’s unity not on ly during m editation but at every
moment, awake or asleep. Now he could help others to make
the same crossing. A kind o f cosm ic ferrym an, he is repre-
sented as always calling, “ Koi paraga7. A nyone for the other
shore?”
The Wheel o f D harm a
The B ud dhas return is a pivotal moment, one
o f those rare events when the divine penetrates history and
transfigures it. Like M oses returning from Mt. Sinai, like
Jesus appearing in the crowd at the river Jordan to be baptized
by John, a man w ho has left the w orld returns to serve it, no
longer m erely human but charged with transcendent power.
A s the scriptures record o f M oses and Jesus, we can imagine
how the Buddha must have shone that bright spring m o rn -
ing in the I Iim alayan foothills. Dazzled by the radiance o f his
personality, it is said, people gathered about him and asked,
“A rc you a go d ?”
“ No.”
“A re you an angel?”
“ No.”
“ W hat arc you then?”
The Buddha sm iled and answered simply, “ I am awake”
- the literal m eaning o f the word b u ddha, from the Sanskrit
root budhy to wake up.
H is five form er disciples caught sight o f him from a d is-
tance and resolved neither to shun him nor to give him special
attention. But as he drew closer, his face shining with what he
had seen and understood, they found them selves preparing a
place for him and sitting at his feet.
“ Well,” one o f them might have asked, “did the bowl How
upstream or dow n ?”
“ It flowed upstream, brothers,” the Blessed One replied. “ I
have done what is to be done. I have seen the builder o f this
house” - indicating his body, but signifying his old se lf - “and
I have shattered its ridgepole and its rafters; that house shall
not be built again. I have found the deathless, the uncondi-
tioncd; I have seen life as it is. I have entered nirvana, beyond
the reach o f sorrow.”
“ Teach us what you have found.”
Thus to these five, his first students, the Buddha began his
work o f teaching the dharm a, the path that leads to the end o f
sorrow. The place was the D eer Park near the holy city o f V ara-
nasi on the Ganges, and the event is revered as the m om ent
when the Com passionate O ne “set in m otion the wheel o f the
dharma,” which will never cease revolving so long as there arc
men and w om en who follow his path.
In this talk we see the Buddha as physician to the world, the
relentlessly clear-seeing healer w hose love em braces all crea-
tures. In the Four Noble Truths, he gives his clinical o b serva-
tions on the hum an condition, then his diagnosis, then the
prognosis, and finally the cure.
“ The First Truth, brothers, is the fact o f suffering. All desire
happiness, sukha: what is good, pleasant, right, perm anent,
joyful, harm onious, satisfying, at ease. Yet all find that life
brings duh kha, just the opposite: frustration, dissatisfaction,
incom pleteness, suffering, sorrow. Life is change, and change
can never satisfy desire. Therefore everything that changes
brings suffering.
“ The Second Truth is the cause o f suffering. It is not life that
brings sorrow, but the dem ands we make on life. The cause
o f duhkha is selfish desire: trishnat the thirst to have what
one wants and to get one’s own way. Thinking life can make
them happy by bringing what they want, people run after the
satisfaction o f their desires. But they get only unhappiness,
because selfishness can only bring sorrow.
“ There is no fire like selfish desire, brothers. Not a hundred
years o f experience can extinguish it, for the more you feed it,
the m ore it burns. It dem ands what experience cannot give:
perm anent pleasure unm ixed with anything unpleasant. But
there is no end to such desires; that is the nature o f the mind.
Suffering because life cannot satisfy selfish desire is like suf-
fering because a banana tree will not bear mangoes.
“ There is a Third Truth, brothers. A ny ailm ent that can be
understood can be cured, and suffering that has a cause has
also an end. W hen the fires o f selfishness have been extin-
guished, when the m ind is free o f selfish desire, what rem ains
is the state o f wakefulness, o f peace, o f joy, o f perfect health,
called nirvana.
“ The Fourth Truth, brothers, is that selfishness can be
extinguished by follow ing an eightfold path: right under-
standing, right purpose, right speech, right conduct, right
occupation, right effort, right attention, and right meditation.
I f dharm a is a wheel, these eight are its spokes.
“ Right understanding is seeing life as it is. In the midst o f
change, where is there a place to stand firm? W here is there
anything to have and hold? To know that happiness cannot
come from anything outside, and that all things that com e
into being have to pass away: this is right understanding, the
beginning o f w isdom .
“ Right purpose follows from right understanding. It m eans
w illing, desiring, and thinking that is in line with life as it is.
A s a flood sweeps away a slum bering village, death sweeps
away those who are unprepared. Rem em bering this, order
you r life around learning to live: that is right purpose.
“ Right speech, right action, and right occupation follow
from right purpose. They mean living in harm ony with the
unity o f life: speaking kindly, acting kindly, living not just for
on eself but for the welfare o f all. Do not earn yo u r livelihood
at the expense o f life or connive at or support those who do
harm to other creatures, such as butchers, soldiers, and m ak-
ers o f poison and weapons. A ll creatures love life; all crea-
tures fear pain. Therefore treat all creatures as yourself, for the
dharm a o f a hum an being is not to harm but to help.
“ The last three steps, brothers, deal with the m ind. E v e ry -
thing depends on m ind. O ur life is shaped by ou r m ind; we
becom e what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as
the wheels o f a cart follow the oxen that draw it. Joy follows a
pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.
“ Right effort is the constant endeavor to train o n eself in
thought, word, and action. A s a gym nast trains the body, those
who desire nirvana must train the m ind. Hard it is to attain
nirvana, beyond the reach even o f the gods. O n ly through
ceaseless effort can you reach the goal. Earnest am ong the
indolent, vigilant am ong those w ho slumber, advance like a
race horse, breaking free from those who follow the way o f
the world.
“ Right attention follows from right effort. It m eans keep-
ing the m ind where it should be. The wise train the mind to
give complete attention to one thing at a time, here and now.
Those who follow me must be always m indful, their thoughts
focused on the dharm a day and night. W hatever is positive,
what benefits others, what conduces to kindness or peace o f
mind, those states o f mind lead to progress; give them full
attention. W hatever is negative, whatever is self-centered,
what feeds m alicious thoughts or stirs up the m ind, those
states o f m ind draw one downward; turn your attention away.
“ Hard it is to train the mind, which goes where it likes and
does what it wants. A n unruly m ind suffers and causes suffer-
ing whatever it does. But a w ell-trained m ind brings health
and happiness.
“ Right meditation is the m eans o f training the m ind. As
rain seeps through an ill-thatched hut, selfish passion w ill
seep through an untrained m ind. Train yo u r m ind through
meditation. Selfish passions will not enter, and yo u r mind
w ill grow calm and kind.
“ This, brothers, is the path that I m yself have followed. No
other path so purifies the m ind. Follow this path and conquer
M ara; its end is the end o f sorrow. But all the effort must be
made by you. Buddhas only show the way.”
The Years o f Teaching
From Varanasi the Buddha set out to teach
the dharm a, w alking through the villages and cities o f north
India. His fame spread before him, d raw ing crow ds w herever
he stopped, and from each place he took away with him sev-
eral ardent young disciples in saffron robes and left behind
a great m any m ore who, though they could not abandon
their hom es and families, had consecrated themselves to the
dharm a. O nly during the m onsoon season did the Buddha
not travel, taking advantage o f the heavy rains to rest with his
followers in a forest retreat and teach those who lived in the
cities and villages nearby.
In this w ay he completed the second forty years o f his life,
and m any beautiful stories are told o f him during these years
o f w andering. A few o f these w ill give som e idea o f the way
he taught, and why he so sw iftly captured the hearts o f the
Indian people.
The Homecoming
From the day C hanna returned to the palace at Kapilavastu
with his m asters cast-off finery, the B ud dhas fam ily had
mourned. Yashodhara wept for two: little Rahula, new ly born
the night that Siddhartha left, grew up know ing nothing o f
his father except what he heard from the lovin g accounts o f
those who m issed him.
A ccording to ancient Indian custom, those who renounce
the world die to their past and becom e a new person alto-
gether, never to go home again. O f Siddharthas life in the
forest, little more than ru m or could have reached his fam i-
ly’s ears. For seven years Yashodhara m ourned without hope,
while the infant that Siddhartha had left in her arm s grew
straight and tall.
One day Yashodhara’s maids came running with the news
that a buddha, an awakened one, was com ing to Kapilavastu
with a great following o f men all in saffron robes. He taught
about dharm a, they said, as no one had ever taught before,
with an open hand and an open heart, and it was said that he
was none other than the man who had been Siddhartha.
K ing Shuddhodana listened to this news with jo y followed
by anger, for he loved his son passionately and had never for-
given him for abandoning his royal heritage. That same day
he rode out into the forest where the Buddha and his disciples
were staying, and dem anded to see his son.
Even in those days it was Indian custom for children to
greet their father b y kneeling and touching his feet. Yet K ing
Shuddhodana, unprepared for the radiance o f the man who
came to greet him , found h im self kneeling at the feet o f his
son. But then seven years o f frustration burst forth. W hy had
he left those w ho loved him - his father and foster mother, his
wife and little son? They had given him every com fort; i f he
wanted som ething more, did he have to break their hearts to
get it? A nd the crown o f a king - did it mean so little to him
that he had to go and throw it away, leaving his father alone?
The Buddha listened patiently, and even while Shuddh o-
dana scolded, the pain in his heart began to subside. At last,
abashed before this man he could no longer claim as his son,
he fell silent.
Then the Buddha spoke. “ Father, which is the greater ruler:
he w ho rules a sm all kingdom through power, or he who rules
the w hole w orld through love? Your son, w ho renounced a
crown, has conquered all, for he has conquered an enem y
to w hom all bow. You wished for a son to give you security
in your old age, but what son can guarantee security from
changes o f fortune, from illness, from age itself, from death?
I have brought you instead a treasure no other can offer: the
dharm a, an island in an uncertain world, a lamp in darkness,
a sure path to a realm beyond sorrow ”
Shuddhodana listened to these words, and the burden o f
sorrow slipped from his shoulders. lie returned to his palace
with his mind calm and clear, thinking o f the treasure his son
had mentioned and wondering what it would mean to accept it.
The next m orning Yashodhara awoke to the sound o f
tumult in the streets below. H er handm aids ran to the b al-
cony. It had not hccn long sincc the B uddhas illum ination,
but even i f we discount the enthusiasm o f tradition he had
already gathered a large following, and that regal figure at the
head o f a stream o f bright saffron must have made a splendid
sight. “ How like a god he lo oks!” her m aidens called. “ M is-
tress, come and see!”
Yashodhara did not join them, but called Rahula to her
side. “ D o you see that radiant figure,” she said, "w ho owns
only a m endicant’s bowl and robe, yet carries h im self like
a king? That is yo u r father. Run down and ask him for your
inheritance.”
Rahula disappeared down the stairs, and the w om en
watched him reappear in the courtyard below and push
his way through the crowd until he stood squarely in front
o f the man in saffron w aiting at the palace gate. The boy fell
at his fath ers feet and boldly repeated his m other’s words.
Yashodhara’s handm aids could not have heard the exchange,
but they saw the Buddha lift Rahula to his feet with a sweet
smile, and remove the gold-hem m ed w earing cloth from the
b oy’s shoulder to replace it with one o f saffron. Rahula, seven,
had becom e the first and only child perm itted to join the
Buddha’s disciples.
“ Mistress,” Yashodhara’s m aids pleaded, “ you must go
down to him too! There, the king h im self has gone to greet
him . Surely he will see you, even i f he is a m onk and it is
against his vow s to look on a woman.”
“ No,” said Yashodhara. “ I f there is any w orth in m y love, he
will com e to me.”
The maids protested, but through their talk cam e shocked
cries from the crowd below and then the sound o f footsteps
on the stairs. The door opened on K in g Shuddhodana, and
behind him stood the Buddha him self. A s he crossed the
threshold to her cham bers Yashodhara knelt in his path,
clasped his ankles, and laid her head on his feet.
“ Since the day you left,” Shuddhodana said, “she has
m ourned, but she has followed your way. W hen C hanna
brought back you r robes and jew elry, she put aside her fin-
ery. You slept on the forest floor, so she gave up her bed for a
mat. W hen she heard you were eating only once a day, she too
resolved to eat only once a d ay”
The Buddha stooped down and raised her to her feet. “ You
have not yet heard a word o f the dharma,” he said, “ but in
yo u r love you have followed me without question for m any
lives. The time for tears is over. I w ill teach you the way that
leads beyond sorrow, and the love you have shown to me will
em brace the entire w o rld ”
The O rder o f Women
W hile the Buddha was in Kapilavastu m any in his family,
even his father, came to seek perm ission to join the monastic
order he had established for his male followers. There were
no wom en in the Order, however, and although those d ear-
est to his heart - Yashodhara and his aunt and foster mother,
Prajapati - earnestly sought to join, the Buddha refused to
make the precedent. A skin g men and women to live together
in a hom eless life while tryin g to m aster the natural human
passions seemed too m uch to expect o f human nature. For
wom en, his recom m endation was the same as for men who
wanted to follow him but were not prepared to give up home
and family. There is no need to take to the m onastic life, he
told them, in order to follow dharm a. A ll the disciplines o f
the Eightfold Path, including meditation, can be followed by
householders i f they do their best to give up selfish attach-
ment.
Yet this was not enough for Yashodhara and Prajapati.
They had seen through the superficial satisfactions o f life and
longed to dedicate them selves com pletely to its goal. A fter
the Buddha left Kapilavastu they decided to go after him on
foot, like pilgrim s, to press their case.
They caught up with him at Vaishali, alm ost two hundred
m iles away. A nanda, a young disciple who loved the Buddha
passionately and attended to all his personal needs, happened
to see them first, and his heart im m ediately understood their
devotion and m oved him to take their side. But the Buddha
had already m ade his decision, and A nan da could not think o f
any w ay to bring the subject up again. He came to his teacher
that afternoon troubled and preoccupied, not know ing what
to say.
“ What is it, Ananda? There is a cloud over yo u r face today.”
“ Blessed One,” A n an da said, “ m y m ind keeps struggling
with a question I cannot answer. Is it only men who are capa-
ble o f overcom ing suffering?”
The Buddha never answered idle questions, but A nanda
was very dear to him, and clearly there was som ething on his
mind. “ No, Ananda,” he replied. “ Every human being has the
capacity to overcom e suffering.”
“ Is it on ly men who arc capablc o f renouncing selfish
attachments for the sake o f attaining nirvana?”
“ No, A n an da. It is rare, but every hum an being has the
capacity to renounce w orldly attachments for the sake o f
attaining nirvana.”
“ Blessed One, i f that is true, should on ly m en be allowed
to join the sangha and devote themselves completely to the
Way?”
The Buddha must have smiled, for A nanda had caught
him w ith both love and logic. “ No, A nanda. I f som eone longs
as ardently as I have to give up everything and follow the Way,
then man or wom an, it w ould be w ron g to block that persons
path. Everyone must be free to attain the goal.”
A n an d as eyes shone with gratitude. He got up and opened
the door, and there stood the two barefooted wom en waiting
for their reply.
“Ananda,” the Buddha laughed, “ by all this, you have said
and done just as I would have said and done.”
Thus were ordained the first nuns o f the B uddhas order,
and the two branches o f the sangha becam e the w orld’s first
m onastic com m unity.
The M iddle Path
The Buddhas students came from m any different back-
grounds. A nanda and Devadatta, his cousins, left behind
wealth and social position; Shariputra, M audgalyayana, and
Kashyapa were ascetics won over to the Buddha’s path. Upali
had been a barber in Kapilavastu. A n d Sona, also from a
wealthy family, had entertained hopes o f being a m usician, for
he loved to play the vina.
When Sona took to the spiritual life, he did so with such
zeal that he decided everything else must be thrown over-
board. Despite wild anim als and poisonous snakes, he went
o ff into the forest alone to practice meditation - and to undo
the softness o f his pam pered past, he insisted on going b are-
foot.
A fter som e time o f this the Buddha decided to go after him .
The path was not hard to find, for it was stained with blood
from Sona’s feet. In addition to his begging bow l, the Blessed
One brought som ething unusual: a vina, whose strings he
had loosened until they were as lim p as spaghetti.
He found Sona m editating under a banyan tree. The b oy
lim ped over to greet him , but the Buddha did not seem to
noticc. All he said was, “ Sona, can you show me how to make
m usic with this?”
Sona took the instrum ent respectfully and fingered a few
notes. ’lhen he began to laugh. “ Blessed One,” he said, "you
can t produce m usic when the strings arc so loose!”
“ Oh, I see. Let me try again.” A n d he proceeded to w ind the
strings so tightly that Sona winced. When the Buddha tested
them, all that came out was high-pitched squeaks.
“ Blessed One, that w o n t w ork cither. You’ ll break the
strings. Here, let me tunc it for you.” He took the instrument,
loosened the strings gently, and played a little o f a haunting
song.
Then he stopped, for the m usic brought m em ories he was
afraid to awaken. “ It has to be tuned just right to make music,”
he said abruptly, handing the vina back to the Buddha. “ N ei-
ther too tight nor too loose, just right.”
“ Sona,” the Buddha replied, “ it is the sam e for those who
seek nirvana. Don’t let y o u rself be slack, but don’t stretch
y o u rself to breaking either. The m iddle course, lying between
too much and too little, is the w ay o f m y Eightfold Path.”
M ahm kyapulra
The Buddha’s penetrating insight attracted m any intellectu-
als, one o f whom , M alunkyaputra, grew more and more fru s-
trated as the Buddha failed to settle certain basic m etaphysi-
cal questions. Finally he went to the Buddha in exasperation
and confronted him with the following list:
“ Blessed One, there are theories which you have left u n ex-
plained and set aside unanswered: W hether the world is eter-
nal or not eternal; w hether it is finite or infinite; whether the
soul and bod y arc the same or different; w hether a person who
has attained nirvana exists after death o r does not, o r whether
perhaps he both exists and does not exist, or neither exists
nor docs not. The fact that the Blessed One has not explained
these matters neither pleases me nor suits me. I f the Blessed
O ne w ill not explain this to me, I will give up spiritual d isci-
plines and return to the life o f a layman.”
“ M alunkyaputra,” the Buddha replied gently, “ when you
took to the spiritual life, did I ever prom ise you I would
answ er these questions?”
M alunkyaputra w as probably already so rry for his out-
burst, but it was too late. “ No, Blessed One, you never did.”
“ W hy do you think that is?”
“ Blessed One, I haven’t the slightest idea!”
“ Suppose, M alunkyaputra, that a man has been wounded
by a poisoned arrow, and his friends and fam ily are about
to call a doctor. “ Wait!” he says. “ I will not let this arrow be
rem oved until I have learned the caste o f the man who shot
me. I have to know how tall he is, what fam ily he com es from ,
where they live, what kind o f w ood his bow is made from ,
what fletcher made his arrows. W hen I know these things,
you can procccd to take the arrow out and give me an anti-
dote for its poison.” W hat w ould you think o f such a m an?”
“ He would be a fool, Blessed One,” replied M alunkyaputra
shamefacedly. “ I Iis questions have nothing to do with getting
the arrow out, and he would die before they were answered.”
“ Similarly, M alunkyaputra, I do not teach whether the
world is eternal or not eternal; whether it is finite or infi-
nite; whether the soul and the b od y are the same or different;
w hether a person who has attained nirvana exists after death
or docs not, or w hether perhaps he both exists and does not
exist, or neither exists nor does not. I teach how to remove
the arrow: the truth o f suffering, its origin, its end, and the
N oble Eightfold Path.”
Teaching With an Open H and
“ Perhaps,” a disciple suggested discreetly on another occa-
sion, “ these arc matters which the Blessed One h im self has
not cared to know.”
The Buddha did not answer, but sm iled and took a han d-
ful o f leaves from the branch o f the tree under which they sat.
“ W hat do you think,” he asked, “arc there more leaves in my
hand or on this tree?”
“ Blessed One, you know yo u r handful is only a sm all part
o f what rem ains on the branches. W ho can count the leaves o f
a shim shapa tree?”
“ W hat I know,” the Buddha said, “ is like the leaves on that
tree; what I teach is only a small part. But I offer it to all with
an open hand. W hat do I not teach? W hatever is fascinating
to discuss, divides people against each other, but has no bear-
ing on putting an end to sorrow. W hat do I teach? O nly what
is necessary to take you to the other sh o re”
The H andful o f M ustard Seed
Once, near the town ofShravasti, the Buddha was seated with
his disciples when a wom an named Krisha G autam i m ade her
way through the crowd and knelt at his feet. H er tear-streaked
face was wild with grief, and in the fold o f her sari she carried
a tiny child.
T v e been to everyone,” she pleaded desperately, “ but still
my son w ill not move, w ill not breathe. Can’t you save him?
C an’t the Blessed One w ork m iracles?”
“ I can help you, sister,” the Buddha prom ised tenderly. “ But
first I w ill need a little mustard seed - and it must come from
a house where no one has died.”
G id d y with joy, Krisha G autam i raced back to the village
and stopped at the v e ry first house. The w om an who met her
was full o f understanding. “ O f course I w ill give you some
mustard seed! How m uch does the Blessed One need to w ork
his m iracle?”
“ Just a little,” Krisha G autam i said. Then, rem em bering
suddenly: “ But it must come from a house where no one has
died.”
Her neighbor turned back with a smile o f pity. “ Little G a u -
tami, you know how m any have died here. Just last month I
lost my grandfather.”
Krisha Gautam i lowered her eyes, ashamed. “ I’m sorry. I’ ll
try next door.”
But next d oor it was the same - and at the next house, and
the next, and the house after that. Everyone wanted to help,
but no one, even in the wealthiest homes, could meet that one
simple condition. Death had com e to all.
Finally Krisha Gautam i understood. She took her child to
the crem ation ground and returned to the Com passionate
Buddha.
“ Sister,” he greeted her, “did you bring me the mustard
seed?”
“ Blessed One,” she said, falling at his feet, “ I have had
enough o f this mustard seed. Just let me be yo u r disciple!”
The C lay Lam p
O ne o f the greatest adm irers o f the Buddha w as K in g Bim -
bisara o f M agadha. When he heard that the Buddha was
approaching his capital, he hung the city with festive d eco -
rations and lined the m ain street with thousands o f lam ps in
ornate holders, kept lit to honor the Buddha when he passed
by.
In Bim bisara’s capital lived an old wom an who loved the
Buddha deeply. She longed to take her own clay lamp and
join the crowds that w ould line the road when he passed. The
lamp was broken, but she was too po o r to buy a finer one o f
brass. She made a wick from the edge o f her sari, and the co r-
ner shopkeeper, know ing she had no money, poured a little
oil into her lamp.
A stiff breeze had com e up by the tim e she reached the
street where the Buddha would pass, and the old woman
knew there was not enough oil to last long. She did not light
her lamp until the radiant figure o f the Buddha cam e into
view at the city gates.
The wind rose, and K in g Bim bisara must have watched in
agony as a sudden gust extinguished all his lam ps. When the
Buddha passed, only one light rem ained burning: a broken
clay lamp which an old wom an guarded w ith both hands.
The Buddha stopped in front o f her. A s she knelt to receive
his blessing, he turned to his disciples. “ Take note o f this
w om an! A s long as spiritual disciplines are practiced with this
kind o f love and dedication, the light o f the w orld w ill never
go out.”
The Last Entry into N irvana
For over forty years the Buddha walked the length and breadth
o f north India, and throughout the rigors o f a m end icants life
he was careful to keep his b od y fit. But in his eightieth year he
fell so seriously ill that A nanda and some o f the other broth-
ers feared he might die.
Through the pain and fever, however, the Buddhas mind
rem ained clear. He wrestled with death, and after a while the
illness abated and strength returned.
“ I wept,” A n anda confessed, “ for I was afraid you might
leave us. But I rem em bered that you had left no instructions
for us to follow if you were gone.”
“ I f anyone believes that the O rder would fail without
his guidance,” the Buddha replied drily, “ that person surely
should leave careful instructions. For m y part, I know that
the O rder w ill not fail without m y guidance. W hy should I
leave instructions? Be a refuge unto yourselves, A nanda. Be a
lamp unto yourselves. Rely on yourselves and on nothing else.
Hold fast to the dharm a as yo u r lamp, hold fast to the dharm a
as your refuge, and you shall surely reach nirvana, the highest
good, the highest goal, i f that is your deepest desire.”
The next day the Buddha asked Ananda to sum m on all the
m onks in Vaishali. When all had gathered he spoke to them
briefly, urging them to follow the path he had taught them
with diligence and care, so that it m ight safely guide others for
thousands o fy e a rs. “ Remember, brothers, all things that have
come into being have to come to an end. Strive for the goal
with all your heart. W ithin three months, he who has com e
this way to teach you will enter nirvana for the last time.”
“ For I will tell you,” he confided later to Ananda, “ that Mara
has appeared to me again, as I have not seen him since the day
I attained nirvana. ‘You m ay rejoice now,’ I told him , ‘for this
bod y w ill soon leave yo u r kingdom.’ Borne down und er the
weight o f eighty years, A nanda, it creaks and groans like an
ancient cart that has to have constant care to go on. O nly in
deep meditation am I at peace.
“ But, Ananda, you must know that I w ill never leave you.
How can I go anywhere? This b od y is not me. U nlim ited by
the body, unlim ited by the mind, a Buddha is infinite and
measureless, like the vast ocean or the canopy o f sky. I live in
the dharm a I have given you, A nanda, which is closer to you
than your own heart, and the dharm a w ill never die.”
On the follow ing day the Buddha, looking back on the city
ofV aish ali for the last time, left with his disciples for Kusinara.
But his health had not ftilly returned. On the w ay he rested in
the m ango grove o f a lay follower nam ed Chunda, who served
the Buddha and his disciples with an elaborate meal. Again
the Buddhas body was seized b y pain. Again he subdued it,
rousing the others to continue on their journey.
A fter some time he stopped along the road and asked
A nan da to spread a robe beneath a tree for him to rest on.
While he lay there, a man came to speak with him and left so
impressed that he becam e a disciple. When he returned, he
presented the Buddha with a new robe. A nanda, helping him
to put it on, was struck by a change in his appearance. “ How
y o u r face and skin shine, Blessed One! The gold o f their rad i-
ance dulls even the saffron o f this robe.”
“ There arc two occasions when a B uddhas facc and skin
shine so,” replied the Buddha gently: “ when he first enters nir-
vana, and when he is about to enter nirvana for the last tim e”
Later that same day they arrived at Kusinara. There in a
grove o f sal trees the Buddha told A n anda to prepare him a
bed, “ for I am suffering, Ananda, and desire to lie down.” He
stretched h im self out in what is called the lion posture, lying
on his right side with one hand supporting his head, as we
can still sec him represented in the statues and carvings that
depict his last hours.
He sent A nanda into the city o f Kusinara to announce that
he would shed his b o d y during the third watch o f the night, so
that those who so desired could come and sec him for the last
time. They cam e with their whole households, in such great
num bers that A n an da had to present them to the Buddha not
individually but fam ily by family.
When only the m onks o f the O rder rem ained, the B u d -
dha asked i f anyone had a doubt or question about the Way.
A ll were silent. The Buddha was satisfied. “ Then I exhort you,
brothers: remember, all things that com e into being must pass
away. Strive earnestly!”
They were his last words. Entering into deep meditation,
he passed into nirvana for the last time.
T H E S T A G E S O F E N L I G H T E N M E N T
Despite the B ud dh as extraordinary capabili-
ties, we must accept his own testim ony that until the night
o f his enlightenm ent he saw life essentially the w ay the rest
o f us do. Yet after that experience he lived in a world where
concepts like time and space, causality, personality, death, all
mean som ething radically different. W hat happened to turn
ord in ary w ays o f seeing inside out?
In the V inaya Pitaka ( i l l .4) the Buddha left a concise map
o f his jo u rn e y to nirvana - a description o f the course o f his
meditation that night, couched in the kind o f language a bril-
liant clinician might use in the lecture hall. In Buddhism the
stages o f this jo u rn ey are called the “ four dhyanas,” from the
Sanskrit word for meditation, which later passed into Japa-
nese as zen. Scholars som etim es treat passage through the
four dhyanas as a peculiarly Buddhist experience, but the
B ud dhas description tallies not only with Hindu authorities
like Patanjali but also with Western mystics like John o f the
Cross, Teresa o f A vila, Augustine, and M eister Eckhart. What
the Buddha is givin g us is som ething o f universal application:
a precise account o f levels o f awareness beneath the everyday
w aking state.
On that night, he tells us, he seated h im self for meditation
with the resolve not to get up again until he had attained his
goal. Then, he continues,
I roused unflinching determination, focused m y attention,
made m y body calm and motionless and m y mind concen-
trated and one-pointed.
Standing apart from all selfish urges and all states o f mind
harmful to spiritual progress, 1 entered the first meditative
state, where the mind, though not quite free from divided
and diffuse thought, experiences lasting joy.
B y putting an end to divided and diffuse thought, with
my m ind stilled in one-pointed absorption, I entered the
second meditative state quite free from any wave o f thought,
and experienced the lasting jo y o f the unitive state.
A s that jo y became more intense and pure, I entered the
third meditative state, becom ing conscious in the very
depths o f the unconscious. Even my body was flooded with
that jo y o f which the noble ones say, “ They live in abiding
jo y who have stilled the mind and are fully awake.”
Then, going beyond the duality o f pleasure and pain and
the whole field o f m em ory-m aking forces in the m ind, I
dwelt at last in the fourth meditative state, utterly beyond
the reach o f thought, in that realm o f complete purity
which can be reached only through detachment and
contemplation.
This was m y first successful breaking forth, like a chick
breaking out o f its shell___
This last quiet phrase is deadly. O u r everyday life, the B u d -
dha ivS suggesting, is lived within an eggshell. We have no
more idea o f what life is really like than a chicken has before it
hatches. Excitem ent and depression, fortune and m isfortune,
pleasure and pain, are storm s in a tiny, private, shell-bound
realm which we take to be the whole o f existence.
Yet we can break out o f this shell and enter a new world. For
a moment the Buddha draws aside the curtain o f space and
time and tells us what it is like to see into another dim ension.
W hen I read these w ords I rem em ber listening to the far-o ff
voice o f Neil A rm stron g that evening in 1969, telling us what it
felt like to stand on the moon and look up at the earth floating
in a sea o f stars. The B ud dh as voice reaches us from no dis-
tance at all, yet from a place much more remote. li e is at the
center o f consciousness, beyond the thinking apparatus itself.
A s in som e science fiction story, he has slipped through a kind
o f black hole into a parallel universe and returned to tell the
rest o f us what lies outside the b oundaries o f the mind.
To capture this vision will require m any metaphors. Like
snapshots o f the sam e scene from different angles, they will
som etim es appear inconsistent. This should present no prob-
lem to the m odern m ind. We are used to physicists present-
ing us with exotic and conflicting m odels - phenom ena
described as both particles and waves, parallel futures where
som ething both takes place and does not, universes that are
finite but unbounded. The m athem atics behind these m o d -
els is the best that im agination can do. A n d we laym en are
satisfied: we cannot check the mathematics, hut we arc quite
content to get an intuitive sense o f what such radical ideas
mean. Let us give the Buddha the sam e credence. Beneath the
simple verses o f the D ham m apada he will show us a universe
every hit as fascinating as B o h r’s or Einstein’s.
The B uddhas d ry description o f the four dhyanas hides the
fact that traversing them is a nearly im possible achievem ent.
Even to enter the first dhyana requires years o f dedicated, sus-
tained, system atic effort, the kind o f practice that turns an
ord in ary athlete into a cham pion.
This is an apt com parison, for the word the Buddha chose
for “ right effort” is one that is used for disciplined athletic
training in general and gym nastics in particular. W hen the
Buddha m entions with what determ ination he sat down for
m editation that night, I rem em ber the look I have seen on the
face o f cham pionship athletes w aiting to launch the perfo r-
mance that will win them an O lym pic gold medal. They have
trained their body for years, sharpened their concentration,
unified their will, and that m om ent they have one thing on
their mind and one thing only. N othing less is required for
meditation. Behind the Buddha’s apparently effortless p as-
sage through deeper states o f consciousness lie years o f the
most arduous training.
The First Dhyana
W hen a lover o f m usic listens to a concert, she
is likely to close her eyes. I f you call her name or touch her
on the shoulder, she may not even notice. Attention has been
withdraw n from her other senses and is concentrated in her
hearing. The same thing happens as meditation deepens,
except that attention is withdrawn from all the senses and
turned inward. Western m ystics call this “ recollection,” a lit-
eral translation o f what the Buddha calls “ right attention.” No
one has given a better com parison than St. Teresa: attention
returns from the outside world, she says, like bees return-
ing to the hive, and gathers inside in intense activity to make
honey. Sound, touch, and so on are still perceived, but they
make very little im pression, alm ost as if the senses have been
disconnected.
Gradually, as the quiet settles in, we realize we are in a new
world. For a while we cannot see. Like m oviegoers enter-
ing a dark theater for a matinee, our eyes are still dazzled by
the glare from outside. To learn to move about in this world
takes time. A blind man has hearing and touch to help direct
him from place to place, but in the unconscious, with the
senses closed down, there are no landm arks that one can rec-
ognize.
At this level we begin to see how the m ind works. Cut o ff
from its accustom ed sensory input, it runs around looking for
som ething to stimulate it. The Buddha specifies two aspects o f
this: “d ivided thought,” the ord in ary two-track mind, tryin g
to keep attention on two things at once, and “diffuse thought,”
the m ind’s tendency to wander. The natural direction o f this
m ovem ent is outward, toward the sensations o f experience.
To turn inward, this m ovem ent has to be reversed. 'Through-
out the first dhyana the centrifugal force o f the thinking p ro -
cess is gradually absorbed as attention is recalled.
Ordinarily, thought follows a course o f stim ulus and
response. Som e event, whether in the world or in the mind,
sets o ff a chain o f associations, and attention follows. To
descend through the personal unconscious, we need co n -
centration that cannot be broken by any sensory attraction
or em otional response - in a word, m astery over ou r senses
and our likes and dislikes. Most people w ork through the first
dhyana by developing this kind o f self-control during the
day. The Buddha, however, has covered this ground already.
ITis passions are mastered and his mind one-pointed. When
he sits down to meditate, he crosses this region o f the mind
without distraction.
This is only the first leg o f a very long journey, but even in
itself it is a rare achievem ent. The concentration it requires
w ill bring success in any field, along with a deep sense o f w ell-
being, security, and a quiet jo y in living. No great flashes o f
insight come at this level, but you do begin to see connections
between personal problem s and their deeper causes, and with
this com es the w ill to make changes in your life.
The Second Dhyana
To talk about regions o f the m ind like this, I con -
fess, is a little m isleading. Between the first and second d h ya-
nas there is no dem arcation line. Both are areas o f what might
be called the personal unconscious, that sector o f the m ind in
which lie the thoughts, feelings, habits, and experiences pecu -
liar to on eself as an individual. In the second dhyana, how -
ever, concentration is much deeper, and the dem ands o f the
senses - to taste, hear, touch, smell, or see, to experience some
sensation or other - have becom e much less shrill. The quiet
o f meditation is unassailed by the outside world. D istractions
can still break the thread o f concentration, but much less eas-
ily; gradually they seem more and more distant.
Here the struggle for self-m astery m oves to a significantly
deeper level. Associations, desires, and thoughts generated by
the preoccupations o f the day leave behind their disguises o f
rational, unselfish behavior and appear for what they are. The
ego has retreated to m ore basic dem ands: the claim s o f “ I” and
“ mine.” Here, to make progress, we becom e eager for opportu-
nities to go against self-will, especially in personal relation-
ships. There is no other w ay to gain detachm ent from the self-
centered conditioning that burdens every hum an being. The
Buddha calls this “ sw im m ing against the current” : the co n -
certed, deliberate effort to dissolve self-interest in the desire
to serve a larger whole, when cons o f conditioning have p ro -
gram m ed us to serve ourselves first.
This is painful, hut with the pain com es satisfaction in
m astering som e o f the strongest urges in the hum an person-
ality. When you sit for meditation you descend steadily, step
by step, into the depths o f the unconscious. The experience is
very much like what deep-sea divers describe when they lower
themselves into the black waters hundreds o f feet down. The
world o f everyday experience seem s as remote as the oceans
surface, and you feel im m ense pressure in your head, as i f you
were im m ersed under the weight o f a sea o f consciousness.
The thread o f concentration is your lifeline then. I f it breaks,
you can lose your way in these dark depths.
Here all the m in d s attention - even what ordinarily goes to
subconscious urges and preoccupations - is being absorbed
in a single focus. This seem ingly simple state com es sponta-
neously only to men and w om en o f great genius, and it con -
tains im m ense power. The rush o f the thinking process has
been slowed to a crawl, each m om ent o f thought under con -
trol. The m om entum o f the m ind has been gathered into great
reserves o f potential energy, as an object gathers when lifted
against the pull o f gravity.
In these depths com es a revolutionary realization: thought
is not continuous. Instead o f being a sm ooth, unbroken
stream, the thinking process is more like the How o f action in
a movie: only a series o f stills, passing our eyes faster than we
can perceive.
This idea is one o f the most abstract in Buddhism , and
m ovies make such a concrete illustration that I feel sure the
Buddha would have appreciated having a reel o f film around
to show intellectuals like M alunkyaputra. “ You w ouldn’t say a
movie is unreal, would yo u ?” he might ask. “ But the appear-
ance o f continuity is unreal, and confusing a m ovie with real-
ity is not right understanding.”
M ost o f us find it easy to get involved in certain kinds o f
movies. We get caught up in the action and forget ourselves,
and our body and m ind respond as i f we were there on the
screen. The heart races, blood pressure goes up, fists clench,
and the m ind gets excited and jum ps to conclusions, just as if
we were actually experiencing what is happening to the hero
or heroine. The Buddha would say, “ You are experiencing it:
and that is the way you experience life, too.”
This m ay sound heartless, as i f he is saying that excite-
ment and tragedy arc no more than a celluloid illusion. Not
at all. What he m eans is that as human beings, our responses
should not be automatic; we should be able to choose. W hen
the m ind is excited, we jum p into a situation and do whatever
com es automatically, which often only makes things worse.
I f the mind is calm , we see d e a rly and don’t get em otionally
entangled in events around us, leaving us free to respond with
com passion.
Most o f us have never thought much about the m echan-
ics o f film projection, so we arc surprised to learn that every
m oment o f image on the screen is followed by a m om ent o f
no-im agc when the screen is dark. We do not perceive these
m om ents o f emptiness. Action stimulates the m ind; n o -
action bores it. Attention follows the desire to be stimulated
and skips over what the mind finds meaningless. The power
o f im agination ju m p s the gaps between images, h olding them
together in our mind. O nly when the projector is slowed
down do we begin to see the flicker o f the screen.
When this happens in a movie, our interest wanes. Our
attention is not pow erful enough to hold together in a con-
tinuous flow im ages that are broken by more than a fraction
o f a second. Such a feat requires the concentration o f genius. I
think it w as Keynes who said that Newton had the capacity to
hold a single problem in the focus o f his mind for days, weeks,
even years, until it w as solved. That is just what is required
at this depth in meditation. The thinking process is slowed
until you can alm ost see each thought pass by, yet instead o f
one thought follow ing another without rhym e or reason, the
mind has such pow er that the focus o f concentration is not
disturbed.
At this depth in consciousness, the sense world and even
the notion o f personal identity is v e ry far away. Asleep to one’s
body, asleep even to the thoughts, feelings, and desires that
we think o f as ourselves, we are nevertheless intensely awake
in an inner world - deep in the unconscious, near the v ery
threshold o f personality.
The Tliird Dhyana
If thought is discontinuous, we want to ask,
what is between two thoughts? The answ er is, nothing. A
thought is like a wave in consciousness; between two thoughts
there is no m ovem ent in the m ind at all. C onsciousness itself
is like a still lake, clear, calm, and full o f joy.
When the thought-process has been slowed to a crawl in
meditation, there com es a time when - without w arning - the
m ovie o f the m ind stops and you get a glim pse right through
the m ind into deeper consciousness. This is called bodhi, and
it com es like a blinding glim pse o f pure light accom panied by
a flood o f joy.
This experience is not what Zen Buddhists call “ no-m ind.”
It is only, i f I m ay coin a term, “ no-thought.” The thinking
process has such im m ense m om entum that even at this depth,
concentration has pow er enough to stop it only for an instant
before it starts up again. But the jo y o f this experience is so
intense that all your desires for life’s lesser satisfactions m erge
in the deep, d rivin g desire to do everything possible to stop
the mind again.
This point m arks the threshold between the second and
third dhyanas. C rossing this threshold is one o f the most d if-
ficult challenges in the spiritual journey. You feel blocked by
an im penetrable wall. Bodhi is a glim pse o f the other side,
as you get when you drop a quarter into the telescope near
the G olden Gate Bridge and the shutter snaps open for a two-
minute look at sea lions frolicking on the rocks. But these
first experiences o f bodhi are over in an instant, leaving you
so eagerly frustrated that you are w illing to do anything to
get through. You feel your w ay along that wall from one end
to the other looking for a break, and finally you realize that
there isn’t any. And you just start chipping away. It requires
the patience o f som eone trying to wear down the H im alayas
with a piece o f silk - and you feel you arc m aking about as
m uch progress.
This is a rarefied world. Like the outside world, personal
identity is far away. You feel as i f the wall between yo u rself
and the rest o f creation were paper-thin. I f you arc to go fu r-
ther, this w all has to fall. For on the opposite side lies the co l-
lective unconscious: not necessarily what Jung meant when
he coined the term, but what the Buddha calls “storehouse
consciousness,” the strata o f the mind shared b y every in d i-
vidual creature. Here are stored the seeds o f our evolutionary
heritage, the race-old instincts, drives, urges, and experiences
o f a prim ordial past. To dive into these dark waters and stay
conscious, you have to take o ff yo u r individual personality
and leave it on the shore.
Paradoxically, this cannot be accom plished by any am ount
o f will and drive associated with the individual self. It is not
done just in meditation but during the day. D oing “good
works” is not enough; the mental state is crucial. There must
be no taint o f “ I” or “ mine” in what you do, no self-interest,
only you r best effort to see yo u rself in all.
One way to explain this is that karm a has to be cleared
before you can cross the wall. A ll the m om entum o f the
thinking process com es from the residue o f karm a. To clear
our accounts, we have to absorb whatever com es to us with
kindness, calmness, courage, and com passion. Karm a is not
really erased; its negative entries are balanced with positive
ones in a flood o f selfless service.
W hen the books o f karm a are almost closed, the Buddha
says, you “come to that place where one grieves no more.”
Then you see that the mistakes o f yo u r past and their karm ic
payback were part o f a pattern o f spiritual grow th stretching
over m any lives. Once paid for, those mistakes are no lo n -
ger yours. They are the life history o f a person made up o f
thoughts, desires, and m otives that are gone. The karm a o f
those thoughts applied to the old person; it cannot stick to
the new. Then the past carries no guilt and no regrets. You
have learned what w as to be learned. Recollecting past errors
is like picking up a b ook about som eone else, reading a page
or two, and then putting it back on the shelf.
You may wait and wait at this threshold, consum ed in a
patient impatience, doing everything possible during the day
to allow you to break through in y o u r next meditation. This
can go on for days, months, even years; it is not really in your
hands. But then, suddenly, the m ind-process stops and stays
stopped. You slip through, and the waters o f the collective
unconscious close over your head.
Beyond this, w ords are useless. Tim e stops with the mind,
and m any physiological processes arc alm ost suspended. But
there is an intense, unbroken flood o f jo y to which even the
body and nervous system respond.
This experience cannot last. Like a diver, you have to com e
up for air. But unity has left an indelible imprint. N ever again
will you believe y o u rself a separate creature, a finite physical
entity that was born to die. You know firsthand that you are
inseparable from the whole o f creation, and you are charged
by the pow er o f this experience to serve all life.
I h e Fourth Dhyana
Even this is not jo u rn e y s end. Like a traveler
returning from another country, you rem em ber clearly what
you have seen in bod hi; yet during the day, the everyday world
closes in around you again. Such is the pow er o f the m ind that
the m undane soon seem s real, and unity som ething far away.
In the third dhyana the conditioned instincts o f the mind arc
stilled but not destroyed. They rem ain like seeds, ready to
sprout when you return to surface awareness. The experience
o f unity has to be repeated over and over until those seeds are
burned out, so that they can never sprout again.
We know what pow er a com pulsive desire can have at the
surface o f the m ind. In these depths, that pow er is magnified
a thousand times. You feel as i f you are standing on the floor
o f an ocean where no light has ever reached, buffeted by cu r-
rents you cannot understand. Then you know that the m ind is
a field o f forces.
But that docs not tell you how to deal with these forces. In
the unconscious, the will does not operate. Yet to make prog-
ress you have to learn to make it operate, so that you can har-
ness the pow er o f the unconscious in everyday life. That is the
challenge o f crossing the third dhyana, com pared with which
skydiving and w hitewater racing are arm chair exploits.
Your goal is to reach such a depth that even in dream s the
awareness o f unity rem ains unbroken. Then every corner o f
the mind is flooded with light. The partitions fall; conscious-
ness is unified from surface to seabed. You are awake on the
very floor o f the unconscious, and life is a seam less whole.
This is nirvana. The seeds o f a separate personality have
been burned out; they will not germ inate again. W hen you
return to the surface o f consciousness, you pick up the appear-
ance o f personality and slip it on again. But it is the person al-
ity o f a new man, a new wom an, purified o f separateness and
reborn in the love o f all life.
Those who achieve this exalted state, the Buddha says sim -
ply, have done what has to be done. They have fulfilled the
purpose o f life. They m ay be born again, if they choose, in
order to help others to attain the goal. But this is their choice,
not a matter o f com pulsion. Therefore, the Buddha says, this
body is their last. Sam sara, the ceaseless round o f birth and
death, has no beginning, but it has an end: nirvana. N irvana
has a beginning, but once attained it has no end.
A s a word, nirvana is negative. It m eans “to blow out,” as
one would extinguish a fire, and the Buddha often describes it
as putting out, cooling, or quenching the fires o f self-will and
selfish passion. But the force o f the word is entirely positive.
Like the English word fla w less, it expresses perfection as the
absence o f any fault. Perfection, the Buddha implies, is our
real nature. A ll we have to do is rem ove the self-centeredness
that covers it.
Som eone once asked the Buddha skeptically, “ What have
you gained through m editation?”
The Buddha replied, “ N othing at all.”
“ Then, Blessed One, what good is it?”
“ Let me tell you what I lost through meditation: sickness,
anger, depression, insecurity, the burden o f old age, the fear o f
death. That is the good o f m editation, which leads to nirvana.”
What draws one back from this sublim e state? The separate
personality is lost, yet we cannot say nothing rem ains. There
is a kind o f shadow which the Buddha wears, clothing him in
humanity, yet it is so thin that the radiance o f infinity trans-
figures him. Siddhartha dissolved in the fourth dhyana, and
one called the Buddha returned from it; that is all we can say.
There have been m ystics East and West who did not care to
return, who let their bodies go rather than leave this blissful
state. But the Buddha was not o f this kind. He had been born
for a purpose - not just to attain nirvana for him self, but to
bring it to all - and he was not w illing to leave until that pu r-
pose w as fulfilled. Even at these depths, where personality is
gone, a will rem ains that is unbreakable.
t h e b u d d h a ’ s u n i v e r s e
The story o f the Buddha captures the heart o f
this lum inous teacher who, in his own words, loved the world
as a m other loves her only child. But there is more to the Bud-
dha than his heart. A s with a good physician, behind that
im m ense com passion is the penetrating vision o f a scientific
mind.
It is this scientific outlook that I now want to touch on, for
it produced a w orldview o f v e ry contem porary appeal. Som e
years ago the B B C produced a brilliant television series called
Einsteins Universe, show ing how the world w ould look i f we
could see the effects o f relativity. It is a fascinating realm, full
o f bent rays o f light, w arps in time, and black holes in the fab-
ric o f space itself. Just as fascinating is the Buddha’s universe:
his view o f life after attaining nirvana.
Relativity and quantum theory, in fact, provide excellent
illustrations o f this strange w orld, so contrary to com m on
sense. In the Buddha’s universe a personal, separate se lf is an
illusion, just as substance is an illusion to the atom ic physi-
ol 8 0
cist. D istinctions between an “outside w orld” and an “ inner
realm” o f the m ind are arbitrary. Everything in human exp e-
rience takes place in one field o f forces, which com prises both
matter and m ind. Thought and physical events act and react
upon each other as naturally and inescapably as do matter
and energy. But the basis o f the natural world is not physical.
A s Einstein described matter and energy solely in terms o f the
geom etry o f space-tim e, the Buddha describes matter, energy,
and mental events as the structure o f a fabric we can call con-
sciousness. His universe is a process in continuous change - a
seething sea o f prim ordial energy, o f which the m ind and the
physical world are only different aspects.
Personality
Set the Buddha down on another world, like
A rm stron g and A ld rin on the m oon, and he doesn’t stand
around m arveling; he im m ediately starts ferreting out secrets.
Instead o f basking in bliss on the night o f his enlightenment,
he looks around on the seabed o f the unconscious and begins
tracing connections.
In physics, the realization that light is not continuous led
to a new view o f the world. M uch in the Buddha’s worldview
stems from a sim ilar discovery about thought. Like light, we
can say, thought consists o f quanta, discrete bursts o f energy.
The Buddha referred to these thought-quanta as dharm as
- not dharm a in the sense o f the underlying law o f life, but
in another sense m eaning som ething like “ a state o f being.”
When the thinking process slows considerably, it is seen to
be a series o f such dharm as, each unconnected with those
before or after. One dharm a arises and subsides in a moment;
then another arises to replace it, and it too dies away. Each
m om ent is now, and it is the succession o f such m om ents that
creates the sense o f time.
The Buddha would say these dharm as come from nowhere
and they return to nowhere. M ind is a series o f thought-
m om cnts as unconnected as the successive im ages o f a movie.
A m ovie screen does not really connect one m om ents image
to the next, and sim ilarly there is no substrate beneath the
mind to connect thoughts. The m ind is the thoughts, and only
the speed o f thinking creates the illusion that there is som e-
thing continuous and substantial.
For the personal ego, w hich seem s so real and consid-
ers its satisfactions so all-im portant, this does not add up to
an attractive self-im age. The bundle o f thoughts, m em ories,
desires, fears, urges, anxieties, and aspirations that we think
o f as ourselves is largely an illusion: a lot o f separate mental
events tem porarily associated with a physical body, but noth-
ing that anyone could call a whole.
Even in such abstract thinking, the Buddha rem ains in
touch with his audience. Everyone would have been fam il-
iar with the village marketplace, where vendors spread their
wares on mats for passersby to see. W hen som eone wants
spiccs for that nights dinner, the spicc-seller takes a banana
leaf, doles out little heaps o f coriander, ginger, and the like,
w raps them up in the leaf, and ties the bundle with a banana
string. That is how the Buddha describes personality: a blend
o f five skandhas or “ heaps” o f ingredients like these piles o f
spiccs in their banana-lcaf wrapper. These ingredients are
rupiiy form , vedana, sensation or feeling, sam jnay perception,
sam skara, the forces or im pulses o f the m ind, and vijn an a ,
consciousness. W ithout reference to an individual se lf or soul,
the Buddha says that birth is the com ing together o f these
aggregates; death is their breaking apart.
“ Form” is the body, with which most o f us identify ou r-
selves and others. It is the sam eness o f b od y from day to day
that provides the continuity o f who we are. W hen the b od y
dies, what is left? Even in an afterlife, we can’t really im agine
ourselves without form.
For the Buddha, however, this physical identification is as
ridiculous as m istaking the dinner spices for the le a f in which
they are wrapped. The body is only a wrapper. Most o f a per-
son is mind, w hich is a blend every bit as particular as a ph ysi-
cal bod y is. We identify a person b y referring to his big hands,
his dimple, her fingerprints, the mole on his left cheek. The
Buddha would refer to a person s m indprint: his big ego, her
tender heart, her fondness for chocolate, his fear o f being
w rong. But these characteristics are not fixed. The blend is
subtly but constantly changing in response to what we think
and cxpcricncc, just as biologists say the physical body itself
is constantly changing at the chem ical level. The skandhas
are not substances but processes, and the mind, in Buddhist
terms, is a field o f forces.
The second skandha is sensation or feeling. When we id en -
tify with the body, it is only natural that we identify also with
the sensations it experiences, w hether pleasant, painful, or
neutral.
M any people, for exam ple, register a pleasant sensation
when they smell fresh coffee brewing. They will tell you that
coffee has a pleasant smell, as i f this were as factual as saying it
has a brown color. But these attributions are personal, con di-
tioned by past experience and association. In m y native state
o f Kerala, South India, i f people see you drin king colfee they
are likely to ask, “A ren’t you feeling well?” Kerala is tea co u n -
try ; coffee is som ething you w ould drink only i f you were sick.
In reality, the sm ell o f brew ing coffee is neither pleasant nor
unpleasant; it is just a smell. But when we identify ourselves
with the skandhas, we cannot usually see this; we identify
with our response.
The third skandha is usually called perception, but m ore
accurately it is the act o f nam ing the sensation experience. I f
the nose reports a deep, strong arom a o f roasted beans, the
next thing the m ind does is label it: “ C offee!” That name car-
ries all the associations our conditioning to coffee has built up
for us, depending on ou r culture and context.
The fourth skandha is the strong, instinctive, gut-level
reactions triggered by this nam ing. In the case o f coffee, the
Buddha would say, we react not so much to the coffee itself as
to our perception or label o f it: the conditioned habit o f liking
or disliking. The Sanskrit name for this is samskara, which
m eans literally “ that which is intensely done.” Sam skaras are
thought, speech, or behavior m otivated by the desire to get
som e experience for oneself. We can think o f sam skaras as
grooves o f conditioning, com pulsive desires. It is this skandha
which prom pts action - or, m ore accurately, which prom pts
karm a, for “action” here includes thought.
A person with a strong coffee samskara w ill smell it b rew -
ing and think, “ I want som e!” Som eone from Kerala might
say, “ How unappealing!” W hatever the label, i f we act on a
samskara it becom es stronger. The conditioning is reinforced,
m aking it more likely that we will act on that samskara the
next time. Sam skaras are the key to character, but their root is
deep below the level o f conscious awareness. We see what they
do, but we have very little control over the forces themselves.
The last skandha is v\jnana> “consciousness” : the appro-
priation o f each unit o f experience to the mass o f co n d i-
tioning form ed by the experiences o f the past. Vijnana is
like a river, carrying the accum ulated karm a o f all previous
thought and action. When I smell coffee, the sensation m ay
awaken a coffee sam skara. I f it docs, m y response to that sam -
skara becom es one m ore piece o f flotsam in the stream o f
consciousncss, jo in in g the experiences which represent the
whole history o f m y contact with coffee, beginning with the
first time I smelled it brewing.
It is this stream o f consciousness that we identify with a
self, because its experiences seem to have happened to a p ar-
ticular individual. But according to the Buddha, this se lf is
only im agined, superim posed on momentary, unconnected
mental events. If the mind is compared to a movie, vijnana is
like the series o f clicks o f the camera shutter: “ This fram e (and
nothing outside it) is I, this is I, this is I.” The Buddha w ould
ask, “ What is I?” What we see is sim ply not there. We see the
im ages flash b y and think we are watching C lark Gable; but
in reality, o f course, we are watching no one, only a series o f
stills.
The World
This is unsettling enough, but it is only the
beginning. The opening verse o f the D ham m apada takes us
the next step: “ O ur life is shaped by our mind, for we becom e
what we think.”
These simple lines arc both the subtlest and the most p rac-
tical in the D ham m apada. The w ords are too rich for any
translation to convey their full m eaning. Literally they say,
“ M ind is the forerunner o f all dharm as. A ll follow the m ind;
all arc made out o f in in d ”
Dharm as has a double edge here: it means, at the same
time, both “ things” and “ thoughts.” To the Buddha, every-
thing is a dharm a, a mental event. We don’t really experience
the world, he observes; we experience constructs in the mind
made up o f inform ation from the senses. This inform ation is
already a kind o f code. We don’t actually see things, for e xam -
ple; we interpret as separate objects a mass o f electrochem ical
im pulses received by the brain. A n d o f course this inform a-
tion covers only a narrow range o f sensibility, limited to what
the senses can register. But from this scanty data the mind
m akes a whole world.
We have grow n used to the idea that there is much more
“out there” than we can be aware of. But this is not what the
Buddha is saying. He drops the convention o f “out there”
altogether. E verything in experience is m ind. What we call
“ things” are objects in consciousness: not that they are im agi-
nary, but their characteristics are mental constructions. Like
the other skandhas, form is a category o f mind.
As I was driving to the beach for a walk, it struck me that
from tar off, the sand appears solid. O nly when we stand on
it and touch it can we see it is really billions o f particles. The
same is true even with things that are “ really” solid, such as a
boulder at the w ater’s edge. Physicists resolve even subatomic
particles into energy, m aking “ substance” a tool for every-
day com m unication rather than a description o f reality. Sim -
ilarly, the Buddha reduces all experience - o f things and o f
ourselves - to dharm as. Deep in consciousness, a com m on-
sense experience like a beautiful sunset resolves into skandha-
events like “sight-contact o f color patterns accom panied by
pleasurable sensation.” There is no se lf in such events, and no
real distinction between observer and observed.
The Buddha, I think, w ould not have been surprised by
the discoveries o f this century which turned classical physics
upside down. The essential discontinuity in nature observed
by quantum physicists follows naturally from the Buddhas
experience o f the discontinuity o f thought. So docs the idea
that time is discontinuous, which m ay find a place in physics
also.
We have to be v e ry careful o f m isunderstanding here, for
the Buddha is not saying that the physical w orld is a figment
o f im agination. That would im ply a “ real” world to co m -
pare with, and this is the real world. We are not “ m aking it
up,” but neither are we m isperceiving a reality “out there”
where things are solid and individuals are separate. What the
Buddha is telling us is precisely parallel to what the quantum
physicists say: when we exam ine the universe closely, it d is-
solves into discontinuity and a flux o f fields o f energy. But in
the Buddha’s universe the m ind-m atter duality is gone; these
arc fields in consciousness.
When Einstein talked about clocks slowing down in a
powerful gravitational field, or when Heisenberg said we can
determ ine either the m om entum or the position o f an elec-
tron but not both, m ost physicists felt a natural tendency to
treat these as apparent aberrations, like the illusion that a
stick bends when placed in a glass o f water. It took decades
for physicists to accept that there is no “ real” universe, like
the real stick, to refer to without an observer. C locks really
do slow down and electrons really arc indeterm inable; that is
the w ay the universe actually is. Similarly, the Buddha would
say, this universe we talk o f is made o f mind. There is no “ real”
w orld -in -itself apart from o ur perceiving it. This doesn’t make
physical reality any less physical; it o n ly rem inds us that what
we see in the world is shaped by the structure o f conscious-
ness.
This has radical im plications, one o f w hich is that “ m ind”
and “ matter” are different ways o f lookin g at the same thing.
Today we are used to thinking o f m atter as “ frozen energy.”
M ind too can be considered energy in a different form. You
may rem em ber B o h rs principle o f com plem entarity: to get a
whole picture o f light, we have to describe it as waves and as
particles at the sam e time. Similarly, the Buddha would say,
i f we look at experience one w ay - in the o rd in ary w aking
state - we see physical reality; i f we look at it another way, we
see mind. In profound m editation, one goes beyond sensory
appearance and eventually beyond the very structure o f the
phenom enal world: time, space, causality. Tim e stops; there
is only the present moment. Then everything is pure energy,
a sea o f light.
We want to ask, “ M atter and m ind are different aspects o f
what ‘same thing’ ? It’s all very well to say ‘consciousness,’ hut
what does that m ean?” Like most quantum physicists, how -
ever, the Buddha doesn’t try to explain further. The question
doesn’t make sense. It can’t be answered without creating
confusion and contradiction, and anyw ay it is unnecessary.
W hen you ask a physicist what “ ultimate reality” is like, he or
she is likely to reply, “ We can describe accurately, and that’s
enough. The laws are the reality.” The Buddha does the same.
He says, “ This is the w ay the universe is. I f you want to know
more, go see for yourself!’
This is not heady philosophy; it has som e surprisingly
practical implications. One is that we see life as we are. The
world o f our experience is partly o f ou r own m aking, colored
and distorted by the past experiences that each person identi-
fies with a personal ego. M y relationship w ith you is not with
you as you see y o u rs e lf but with you as I see you: a w axw orks
creation in m y mind. A s a result, two people can share the
same house and literally live in different w orlds.
I f these ideas were better understood, they could make our
planet a very different place. We have a story in India about
two men, one high-m inded and generous, the other v ery self-
ish, who were sent to foreign lands and asked to tell what kind
o f people they found there. The first reported that he found
people basically good at heart, not v e ry different from those
at home. The second man felt envious hearing this, for in the
place he visited everyone was selfish, schem ing, and cruel.
Both, o f course, were describing the sam e land. “ We see as we
are,” and our foreign policy follows what we see. Those who
see them selves surrounded by a hostile world preparing for
w ar tend to make that vision a reality.
It follows that when we change ourselves, we have already
begun to change the world. H eisenberg taught physicists that
in subatom ic realms, the observer affects the observation.
The way we ask an experim ental question determ ines the
kind o f answ er we will get. In the B uddhas universe this is
true for all experience. I f a hostile person learns to slow down
his thinking enough to see how much o f what provokes him
is projected by his own mind, his world changes, and so does
his behavior - which, in turn, changes the world for those
around him. “ Little by little,” the Buddha says, “ we m ake our-
selves good, as a bucket fills with water drop by drop.” Little
by little, too, we change the world we live in. Even the grand
earthshaking events o f history have their origins in in d ivid -
ual thought.
K arm a , Death, and Birth
Placing physical phenom ena and m ind in the
same field m ay seem confusing at first, but like E insteins m ar-
riage o f matter and energy, it leads to a view o f the world that
is elegant in its simplicity. Much in the Buddhas universe, in
fact, can be understood as a generalization o f physical laws to
a larger sphere.
The law o f karm a, for example, which seem s so exotic
when m ind and matter are relegated to different worlds, sim -
ply states that cause and effect apply universally and that the
effect is o f the nature o f the cause. Every event, mental or
physical, has to have effects, w hether in the mind, in action,
or in both - and each such effect becom es a cause itself.
To the Buddha, the universe is a vast sea where any stone
thrown raises ripples am ong billions o f other ripples. Karm a
raises ripplc-effects within personality and without, for both
arc in the same field o f forces. When we pursue our own self-
interest, we are adding to a sea o f selfish behavior in which
we too live. Sooner or later, the consequences cannot help but
come back to us.
K arm a is stored in the m ind. What we call personality is
made up o f karm a, for it is the accum ulation o f everything we
have done and said and thought. So karm a follows w herever
we go. “ Fly in the sky, burrow in the ground,” says the Buddha,
“ you cannot escape the consequences o f your actions.” You
can run, but you cannot hide. A ll o f us have karm ic scores to
settle, a book o f debits and credits that is constantly grow ing.
The end o f the bod y cannot d e a r these accounts, for
although the skandhas o f personality come apart, I-con-
sciousness is not destroyed. Thus we come logically to the
last theme o f the Buddhas universe: the cycle o f death and
rebirth.
Here again let me illustrate from Einstein, who proposed
that instead o f talking only about particles, we talk also about
fields. A t very small distances, the field we call an electron is
so intense that it behaves like a particle. At a greater distance
the strength o f the field drops o ff rapidly, but strictly speaking
it never vanishes. For practical purposes, it has local defini-
tion. But a universe o f such fields is a whole, not a collection
o f parts, and to speak o f particular fields as separate is like
isolating currents and w hirlpools in the ocean: som etim es
practical, but superficial.
To the Buddha, the field o f forces we think o f as person -
ality is sim ilar: it can be talked about meaningfully, yet it is
not separate from the rest o f life. A s a subatom ic particle
seem s to form out o f states o f energy and then dissolves into
energy again, individual creatures com e into physical exis-
tence and pass from it again and again in the ceaseless p ro -
cess called satnsara, the flux o f life. However, w hile the cre-
ation or destruction o f an electron m ay be a matter o f chance,
I-consciousness reenters physical existence according to the
karm a that rem ains to be worked out. We choose the context
in w hich we are born - not consciously, o f course, but by the
sum o f our previous actions and desires.
Think o f the w ay an oak tree propagates itself. A n acorn
ripens and falls, germ inates when physical conditions are
right, and grow s into another oak. We see two separate oaks,
but on the atom ic level a biologist can trace a continuous
flow o f energy from tree to acorn to tree. In a sim ilar way, the
Buddha would tracc the individual packet o f forces we call
personality. When these forces are expressed physically, that
is the interval between birth and death. But after death, just
as the basic characteristics o f the oak tree lie dorm ant in the
acorn s genetic code, the forces o f an individual personality
still cohere, waiting to burst into life again when the proper
conditions are present.
Personally, I find this no more m iraculous than what the
acorn does. A seed docs not contribute much m aterially to
the plant it grow s into; the material com es from the soil, sun-
light, water, and air. W hat the seed contributes is inform ation.
It has the sam e D N A as e very other living entity, but when its
genes begin to be expressed, it pulls from the environm ent
what is needed to make a plant o f just a particular kind. We
w onder at this, but we accept it because it is physical. The
Buddha finds personality processes just as real.
Those w ho question him on this level o f observation play a
dangerous game, for no one is m ore relentlessly logical. I f we
object that what he calls a “ person” is not the same from one
life to the next, he w ill ask, “A re you the same from one day to
the next?” We think o f ourselves as the same individual who
went to school in Des M oines m any years ago, but what is the
basis for such a claim? O u r desires, aspirations, and opinions
may all have changed; even our bones are not the same.
Yet, somehow, there is continuity. “ I wasn’t the same then,”
we object, "but that wasn’t a different person either.” The
Buddha replies, “ That is the relationship between you in this
life and ‘you’ in a past life: you are not the same, but neither
are you different. Death is only the tem porary end o f a tem -
po rary phenomenon.” To those who grasp this, death loses its
fear. It is not the end, only a d oo r into another room.
N irvana
D u rin g the first watch o f the night o f his
enlightenm ent, the Buddha tells us, he traced the person al-
ity know n as Siddhartha Gautam a back over m any lives. In
the second watch, he saw the world “as i f in a spotless m ir-
ror” - the countless deaths and rebirths o f other creatures,
their context in life determ ined by the karm a o f past action.
“A n d com passion welled up within him,” for he saw only blind
paths o f stim ulus and response: no understanding o f the laws
that govern what we call “ fate,” no awareness that we can take
our lives into our own hands.
In the last hours before dawn, he focused his attention on
how to break this chain o f suffering once and for all.
The first link, he saw, is ignorance. Instead o f seeing life as
a flux, we insist on seeing what we want it to be, a collection
o f things and experiences w ith the pow er to satisfy. Instead
o f seeing our personality as it is - an im perm anent process
- we cling to what we want it to be, som ething real and sepa-
rate and perm anent. From this root ignorance arises trishna,
the insistent craving for personal satisfaction. From trishna
com es duhkha, the frustration and suffering that arc the
human condition.
With our glim pse into the B uddhas universe, it is clear why
human grasping seemed to him so ignorant and blind. We are
tryin g to get from life som ething that is not there - tryin g to
find a real C lark G able in a movie, tryin g to find som e exp e-
rience that will last. And what we are trying to hold on with
isn’t there either. We want to gratify a process with a process.
The ego cannot be satisfied, and the more we try, the more we
suffer.
But the frustration o f this grasping, because it derives
from ignorance, is not real. It is a shadow w hich can be dis-
pelled b y seeing life as it really is. The Buddha says succinctly,
“ This arising, that arises” : w henever there is ignorance o f life’s
nature, suffering has to follow. “ This subsiding, that subsides” :
as self-will dies, we awaken to o u r real nature. Then personal
sorrow com es to an end.
What is this real nature? Here the Buddha rem ains silent,
l i e com es to us to point the way, to show a path, but he stead-
fastly refuses to lim it with words w hat we w ill find.
Yet he does tell us that there is more to life than flux and
process and the m echanical w orking out o f karm a. “ There
is som ething unborn, unbecom e, not m ade and not co m -
pounded. I f there were not, there would be no m eans o f
escape from what is born, becom e, made, and com pounded.”
In the lim itless sea o f samsara, in the m idst o f change, there
is an island, a farther shore, a realm o f being that is utterly
beyond the transient w orld in which we live: nirvana.
When the m ind is stilled, the appearance o f change and sep -
arateness vanishes and nirvana remains. It is shunyata, em p-
tiness, only in that there is literally nothing there: “ no-thing.”
But em ptiness o f process means fullness o f being. N irvana
is aroga, freedom from all illness; $hiva> happiness; kshem a,
security; abhaya, the absence o f fear; shanta, peace o f m ind;
anashrava, freedom from com pulsions; ajara, untouched by
age; am atay unaffected by death. It is, in sum, param a sukhay
the highest joy.
Those w h o attain the island o f nirvana can live thereafter
in the sea o f change without being swept away. They know
what life is and know that there is som ething more. Lacking
nothing, craving nothing, they stay in the world solely to help
and serve. We cannot say they live without grief; it is their
sensitiveness to the suffering o f others that motivates their
lives. But personal sorrow is gone. They live to give, and their
capacity to go on giving is a source o f jo y so great that it can-
not be m easured against any sensation the world offers.
W ithout understanding this dim ension, the Buddha’s
universe is an intellectually heady affair that offers little sat-
isfaction to the heart. When we hear that our personality is
no more real than a movie, we m ay feel dejected, abandoned
in an alien universe. The Buddha replies gently, “ You don’t
understand.” I f life were not a process, i f thought were contin-
uous, wc w ould have no freedom o f choice, no alternative to
the hum an condition. It is because each thought is a moment
o f its own that we can change.
“O u r life is shaped by ou r mind, for we becom e what
wc think.” That is the csscncc o f the B uddhas universe and
the whole theme o f the D ham m apada. I f wc can get hold
o f the thinking process, we can actually redo our personal-
ity, rem ake ourselves. D estructive ways o f thinking can be
rechannclcd, constructive channels can be deepened, all
through right effort and m editation. “A s irrigators lead water
to their fields, as archers make their arrows straight, as car-
penters carve wood, the w ise shape their lives.”
“ The universe is hostile,” W ernher von Braun once said,
“only when you do not know its laws. To those who know and
obey, the universe is friendly.” When understood, the B u d -
dhas universe too is anything but alien and inhibiting. It is
a w orld full o f hope, where everything we need to do can be
done and everything that matters is within hum an reach. It
is a world where kindness, unselfishness, nonviolence, and
com passion for all creatures achieve what self-interest and
arrogance cannot. It is, simply, a world where an y human
being can be happy in goodness and the fullness o f giving.
We have the path to this world in the D ham m apada.
Oi
T H E D H A M M A P A D A
SO
Translated by Eknath Easwaran
Chapter Introductions by Stephen Ruppenthal
Buddhist scriptures are divided into three pitakas or “baskets” By fa r
the largest and most important o f these is the Sutra Pitaka (in Pali,
Sutta Pittaka) or “basket o f d isc o u rsesw h ic h consists mostly o f
talks by the Buddha or one o f his direct disciples. The Dhammapada,
though not considered a sutra, is included in this collection. The other
two collections are the Vinaya Pitaka or “basket o f discipline," con-
taining the rules o f the monastic order, and the Abhidharma Pitaka
or “basket o f metaphysics,” containing works analyzing the philosophy
behind the Buddhas teachings.
The oldest version o f this canon to have survived is in Pali, a vernacu-
lar descendant o f Sanskrit. The Dhammapada is best known in its Pali
form, and that is the version translated here. Buddhist terms, how-
ever, appear here in Sanskrit, because it is in Sanskrit rather than Pali
- n irv a n a rather than nibbana, dharm a rather than dhamma, karma
rather than kamma, and so on - that these words have become fa m il-
iar in the West, largely due to the influence o f Mahayana Buddhism
and particularly o f Zen. For consistency, wc have also kept the San-
skrit version o f proper names, though Buddhist tradition often pre-
serves the Pali as the morefamiliarform.
C H A P T E R S O N E & T W O
0: Twin Verses&Vigilance
T h e S U T R A S O R discourses o f the B ud-
dha preserved in the Buddhist Pali canon were largely aimed
at the m onks and nuns o f the Buddhist order. But the D ham -
m apada was meant for everyone. Its 423 verses are m uch more
than wise aphorism s to he read and reflected over. They con -
tain that part o f the Buddhas teaching which can be grasped
and put into practice by the greatest num ber o f people, by
follow ing the disciplines o f the Eightfold Path. E very reader
knows that one book which becom es part o f ones life m eans
m ore than a thousand others. The D ham m apada was meant
as such a book, and its method for transform ing ou r lives is
given right in the first chapter.
The title “ Twin Verses” gives the cue: chapter 1 presents
pairs o f possibilities for human conduct, each leading to a d if-
ferent kind o f destiny. There arc ten verse pairs, and usually
it is the negative possibility, the kind o f conduct catering to
conditioned human wants, that is presented first. Then com es
the positive one, which runs contrary to human nature. The
first alternative usually is easily accom plished and tem porar-
ily satisfying. The second, however, goes against the con di-
tioning o f the pleasure principle, and to im plem ent it requires
hard effort on the Eightfold Path. But in the long run, the
sweet and easy w ay leads to more suffering; the hard way, to
nirvana. Ihe Buddha can only point the w ay (276); the hard
choice wc must make ourselves, again and again, until it
becom es part o f our personality.
Ih e Buddha says later (290), “ I f one who enjoys a lesser
happiness beholds a greater one, let him leave aside the lesser
to gain the greater.” This is the “greater happiness” - the sec-
ond, more difficult path - w hich w ill com e to any human
being who recognizes the choice there is in every action,
even in every thought, and has the will and discrim ination
to choosc wisely. Robert Frosts fam ous lines from “ The Road
Not Taken” provide a model for the crossroads at which every
human being stands:
Two roads diverged in a w ood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
W hy can’t a person just pass by the easy road and take “ the
one less traveled by” if it leads to perm anent happiness? The
obstacle is the mind. It is one’s mental state that determ ines
which o f these possibilities a person w ill act on. The mind
can be said to be a product o f the human b ein gs evolutionary
drive to look out for on eself first. Its natural response to any
situation is to take the easiest, least unpleasant course to per-
sonal fulfillm ent. The Buddha calls this sw im m ing with the
current, taking the easy path traveled by the many. To find
happiness, one has to go against the current, against every
selfish impulse.
Here one can see the dilem m a the Buddha faced as a
teacher: how w ill anyone believe that the hard w ay really leads
to the happiness that all seek? In his experience o f enlighten-
ment, he had seen for h im self that eternal principles oper-
ate in human affairs; hatred, for example, cannot put an end
to hatred no matter w hat the circum stances or pretext (5).
But how could he motivate others to act on these principles
unless they experienced the truth for themselves? Like Jesus,
the Buddha had to find ways to make things and events that
everyone was fam iliar with reverberate with the pow er o f
what he had understood in the depths o f meditation.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the D ham m apada, where
deep, subtle truths take on the garb o f com m on village scenes
fam iliar to the audiences the Buddha addressed. One can
im agine his using verses like 13 - 14 to explain the real causes
o f a village quarrel, or even o f a war. Everyone would have
known that a poorly thatched ro o f w ill leak d uring the m on -
soon rains. Now they could understand how conflicts arise
when hostile thoughts leak into an untrained mind.
'lo the Buddha, o f course, training the mind meant m edi-
tation: the regular discipline o f concentrating the mind and
m aking it one-pointed at will. Even in the D ham m apada -
that is, even for his lay followers - the Buddha em phasizes the
practice o f meditation above all else. But m editation is a ter-
ribly difficult discipline. W hy did the Buddha take such pains
to com m unicate his lofty m eaning to m asses o f people who
w ould probably never have time or m eans to practice m edita-
tion? The answ er is that the Buddha was an incorrigible opti-
mist. “ I am confident,” he once said, “confident with the h igh -
est o f confidence.” When writers call him a “spiritual dem o-
crat,” they mean he felt sure he could go anyw here in India and
find that needle in the haystack, the person who would come
up after the serm on and say, “ I want to know more about how
to prevent hostile thoughts from arising. Please teach me.”
The serious student is what every teacher seeks, and the B ud-
dha found enough o f them in these crow ds to build a m ove-
ment that has had a powerful and enduring effect on people’s
hearts and lives for centuries.
- S . R.
i o: Twin Verses
1 A ll that we are is the result o f what we have
thought: we are form ed and m olded by our
thoughts. Those w hose m inds arc shaped by selfish
thoughts cause m isery when they speak or act.
Sorrow s roll over them as the wheels o f a cart roll
over the tracks o f the bullock that draws it.
2 A ll that we are is the result o f what we have thought:
we are form ed and molded by our thoughts. Those
w hose m inds arc shaped by selfless thoughts
give jo y w henever they speak or act. Joy follows
them like a shadow that never leaves them.
J “ IIe insulted me, he struck me, he cheated
me, he robbed me” : those caught in
resentful thoughts never find peace.
4“ Hc insulted me, he struck me, he cheated
me, he robbed me” : those who give up
resentful thoughts surely find peace.
5 For hatred docs not ccasc by hatred at any time:
hatred ccascs by love. This is an unalterable law.
6There are those who forget that death will come
to all. For those who remember, quarrels come to
an end.
7Those who live only for pleasure, who eat
intcmperately, who are lazy and weak and lack
control over their senses, arc like a tree with shallow
roots. A s a strong w ind uproots such a tree, Mara
the Tem pter will throw such a person down. 8But
those who live without looking for pleasure, who
eat tem perately and control their senses, who arc
persevering and firm in faith, are like a mountain.
As a strong wind cannot uproot a mountain,
M ara cannot throw such a person down.
’ W h o e ve r puts on the saffron robe but is self-
w illed , sp eak s u n tru th fu lly, an d lacks self-
control is not w o rth y o f that sacred garm en t.
10But those w ho have vanquished self-will,
w ho speak the truth and have mastered
themselves, are firm ly established on the
spiritual path and w orthy o f the saffron robe.
11 H ie deluded, im agining trivial things to be vital
to life, follow their vain fancies and never attain the
highest knowledge. 12But the wise, know ing what
is trivial and what is vital, set their thoughts on the
supreme goal and attain the highest knowledge.
11 A s rain seeps throu gh a p o o rly thatched roof,
passio n seeps into the u n train ed m ind.
14 A s rain cannot seep through a well-thatched roof,
passion cannot seep into a well-trained mind.
15Those w h o are selfish su ffer here and suffer
there; th ey su ffer w h e re ve r th ey go. Th ey suffer
and fret o ver the d am age they have done. 16But
those w h o are selfless rejoice here and rejoice
there; th ey rejoice w h e re ve r th ey go. T h ey rejoice
and delight in the g o o d th ey have done.
17 The selfish person suffers here, and he suffers
there; he suffers w herever he goes. He suffers as he
broods over the dam age he has done. He suffers more
and more as he travels along the path o f sorrow.
18The selfless person is happy here, and he is happy
there; he is happy w herever he goes. He is happy
when he thinks o f the good he has done. He grow s in
happiness as he progresses along the path o f bliss.
19Those who recite m any scriptures but do not
practice their teachings are like a cowherd counting
another’s cows. They do not share in the jo y s o f
the spiritual lif e .20 But those w ho m ay know few
scriptures but practice their teachings, who overcom e
all lust, hatred, and delusion, live with a pure m ind
in the highest wisdom . They stand without external
supports and share in the joys o f the spiritual life.
2 o: Vigilance
21 Be vigilant and go beyond death. If you lack
vigilance, you cannot escape death. Those who
strive earnestly w ill go beyond death; those w ho do
not can never come to life. “ The wise understand
this, and rejoice in the wisdom o f the noble ones.
“ M editating earnestly and striving for nirvana,
they attain the highest jo y and freedom .
24 I f you meditate earnestly, pure in m ind and kind
in deeds, leading a disciplined life in harm ony with
the dharm a, you will grow in g lo r y .25 I f you meditate
earnestly, through spiritual disciplines you can make
an island for y o u rself that no flood can overw helm .
26Thc im m ature lose their vigilance, but the wise
guard it as their greatest treasure. 27Do not fall
into w ays o f sloth and lust. Those who meditate
earnestly attain the highest happiness.
28O vercom in g sloth through earnestness, the wise
climb beyond suffering to the peaks o f wisdom .
They look upon the suffering multitude as one
from a mountaintop looks on the plains below.
29Earnest am ong those who arc indolent, awake
am ong those who slumber, the wise advance like a
racehorse, leaving others behind. ,0 It was through
earnest effort that Tndra becam e lord o f the gods.
The earnest arc always rcspcctcd, the indolent never.
31 The earnest spiritual aspirant, fearing sloth,
advances like a fire, burn ing all fe tters.,2 Such seekers
will never fall back: they arc nearing nirvana.
C H A P T E R S T H R E E 8c F O U R
0: Mind & Flowers
C o n t r o l o f t h e m i n d , the theme
o f chapter 3, is the m ost challenging and the m ost rew ard-
ing o f human tasks, and the Buddha docs not underestimate
its difficulties. The mind, he suggests, has a depth far greater
than the deepest sea, and all the w ay dow n it churns with em o-
tional tem pests o f which we arc barely conscious, but which
virtu ally dictate thought and behavior.
A ccording to the Buddha, we don’t need any hell or after-
life to look for the devil. The mind itself - quick, fickle, and
exceedingly difficult to focus - is the realm o f Mara (34). In its
depths lie untapped sources o f great power: desires and drives
o f such m agnitude that the mind is rarely under any real co n -
trol; it sim ply moves about as it likes (35). To train these forces
to obey the conscious will, the Buddha says, is the only w ay
to be free from the m in d s race-old urges and proddings. But
this kind o f training, M ahatm a G andhi once said, requires the
patience o f som eone trying to em pty the sea with a teacup.
The method for training the mind is m editation. One way
to visualize what happens in meditation is to think o f the raw
stuff o f consciousness as clay, shaped on the potter’s wheel
o f the mind. The shapes this clay has taken - strong desires,
fears, attitudes, and aspirations, every habitual way o f think-
ing - determ ine a person’s behavior. Meditation slowly allows
access to a level o f awareness where these rigid shapes can be
softened and made pliable again, until finally consciousness
becom es like am orphous clay. Then the m ind has no habits. It
rests in its native state - calm, clear, adaptable, and endlessly
responsive. A ction then is no longer a matter o f stim ulus and
response; it becom es unconditioned, spontaneous, and free.
This achievem ent is exceedingly difficult, however, because
the m ind churns with distracting thoughts that prevent us
from going deep enough in meditation to make the neces-
sary changes. H owever one tries to concentrate, the m ind has
subtle ways o f w andering away to some desire or activity over
which we have little conscious control. It is hard to im agine a
more apt sim ile than verse 34, where the mind is com pared to
a fish out o f water, gasping and thrashing about.
One who has truly learned to meditate, the Buddha says,
can aim thoughts with the accuracy and pow er o f a skilled
archer (33); instead o f thoughts goin g in all directions, each
one finds its m ark. These m artial associations are appropri-
ate, for m editation is a battle and this arrow is “ the weapon o f
w isdom ” (40). No conqueror, not even Napoleon or A lexan -
M ind & Flowers ID
der, ever fought a battle more significant than that waged for
control over one’s own m ind. To w in, the Buddha says in a
later verse (103), is a greater feat than conquering a thousand
tim es a thousand men on the battlefield. It means, ultimately,
the conquest o f death itself (21), an achievem ent no w orldly
conqueror can claim.
Until this victory is gained, however, the m ind is still out
o f control; and an undisciplined mind not only cannot be
relied on, it cannot avoid doing harm. Verse 41 provides a
grim glim pse o f the inevitable fate o f those w ho fail to train
the mind. This is an example o f w hat Buddhists call a m edi-
tation on b od ily decay - a device used in m onastic circles to
resist the pow erful physical passions and longings that assault
a person tryin g to master the mind. M onastics m ay have p u r-
sued this grim line a little more vigorously than the Buddha
recom m ended on what he called the M iddle Path. N everthe-
less, it can surely be said that nothing caused him more g rie f
than the human being’s shortsighted pursuit o f satisfactions
that cannot last. That is w h y he so pressingly urged e very-
one to shun ephem eral activities in order to pursue the only
accom plishm ent that lasts. In the Sutta Nipata (10 9 2-9 4 ) a
youth named Kappa asks: “ Tell me about an island where all
this suffering will be no more.” A nd the Buddha replies:
Kappa, for those struggling in midstream, in great fear o f
the flood, o f grow ing old and o f dying - for all those I say,
an island exists where there is no place for impediments,
no place for clinging: the island o f no going beyond. I call it
nirvana, the complete destruction o f old age and dying.
It m ay seem surprising that the Buddha devotes so much
attention to suspending the operations o f that v ery instru-
ment which people associate with human progress. A ll o f
the m ajor material accom plishm ents o f ou r civilization - the
developm ent o f the machine, the conquest o f disease, the
trium ph o f technology - stem from creative thought. H ow -
ever, no one today would claim that such exploits have taken
hum anity beyond suffering, much less that they can free a
person from death: both o f which, the Buddha claims, come
when the mind is stilled.
Moreover, less laudable feats - the poisoning o f the en vi-
ronment, the production o f w eapons pow erful enough to
destroy all o f life - also can be traced to creative thought.
So long as the mind is not under control, the Buddha says,
destructive thoughts cannot be kept out, and selfish m otives
cannot help bringing undesirable results as well as desirable
ones. The inertial drift o f m illions o f such minds, not evil but
sim ply uncontrolled, can take the world to a precipice. Yet
as the Buddha im plies in a later verse, the pow er o f a well-
trained m ind is such that one clearheaded, com passionate
individual, appealing deeply to what is best in hum an nature,
can be enough to reverse a destructive course o f action.
- S . R .
3 o: Mind
33 A s an archer aim s an arrow, the wise aim their
restless thoughts, hard to aim, hard to restrain.
34 A s a fish hooked and left on the sand thrashes
about in agony, the mind being trained in meditation
trembles all over, desperate to escape the hand o f
Mara.
JSHard it is to train the mind, w hich goes where it
likes and does what it wants. But a trained mind
brings health and h a p p in e ss.36The wise can direct
their thoughts, subtle and elusive, w herever they
choose: a trained m ind brings health and happiness.
37 Those who can direct thoughts, which arc
unsubstantial and wander so aimlessly, are freed
from the bonds o f M ara.
38 They are not wise whose thoughts arc not steady
and m inds not serene, who do not know dharm a,
the law o f l i f e .19 They arc w ise w hose thoughts
are steady and m inds serene, unaffected by good
and bad. They are awake and free from fear.
40 Remem ber, this bod y is like a fragile clay pot.
Make your m ind a fortress and conquer M ara with
the weapon o f w isdom . Guard your conquest always,
41 R em em ber that this body will soon lie in the earth
without life, without value, useless as a burned log.
42M ore than those who hate you, more than
all yo u r enem ies, an undisciplined mind does
greater h a r m .45 More than you r mother, more
than your father, more than all your family, a
w ell-disciplined m ind does greater good.
4 D: Flowers
44 A s a garland-m aker chooses the right flowers,
choose the well-taught path o f dharm a and go
beyond the realm s o f death and o f the g o d s .45 A s
a garland-m aker chooses the right flowers, those
w ho choose the well-taught path o f dharm a will
go beyond the realm s o f death and o f the gods.
46 Rem em bering that this bod y is like froth, o f the
nature o f a mirage, break the flower-tipped arrows
o f Mara. N ever again w ill death touch you.
47 A s a flood sw eeps away a slum bering village, death
sweeps away those who spend their lives gathering
flo w e rs.48 Death sweeps them away while they are
still gathering, caught in the pursuit o f pleasure.
49 But the wise live without injuring nature, as the
bee d rin ks nectar without harm ing the flower.
50 Do not give your attention to what others do
or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do.
51 Like a lovely flower, full o f color but lacking
in fragrance, arc the w ords o f those w ho do
not practicc what they p r e a c h .52 Like a lovely
flower full o f color and fragrance are the words
o f those who practice what they preach.
“ M any garlands can be made from a heap o f
flowers. M any good deeds can be done in this life.
54 The scent o f flowers or sandalwood cannot
travel against the w ind; but the fragrance o f the
good spreads everyw here. “ N either sandalwood
nor the tagara flower, neither lotus nor jasm ine,
can com e near the fragrance o f the good.
56 Faint is the scent o f sandalw ood or the tagara,
but the fragrance o f the good rises high to reach
the g o d s .57 M ara can never come near those
who are good, earnest, and enlightened.
58-S9 a true follower o f the Buddha shines am ong
blind m ortals as the fragrant lotus, grow ing in the
garbage by the roadside, brings jo y to all who pass by.
C H A P T E R S F I V E & S I X
0! The Immature & The Wise
T h e t i t l e O F chapter 5 is usually trans-
lated as “ The Fool” and that o f chapter 6 as “ The Wise,” as if
they dealt with utterly opposite tem peraments. However,
bala means not on ly “ fool” but “child.” A fool’s behavior is not
likely to improve, but a child is sim ply im m ature; given time
and experience, children grow up. The Buddha was a com pas-
sionate teacher whose path was open to people o f all capaci-
ties; he would not deprecate anyone’s ability to grow. Translat-
ing bala as “ im m ature” gives all o f us the benefit o f the doubt,
as the Buddha alw ays did.
But the Buddha was also a realist, and these verses show it.
In the Anguttara N ikaya (1.59) he defines the immature per-
son succinctly:
Monks, there arc two kinds o f immature people: those who
do not see their own mistakes as mistakes, and those who
do not forgive mistakes committed by someone else.
The evolution from im m aturity to w isdom is a long road,
longest o f all for those who do not base their actions on
some deeper purpose in life. The w ord samsara in verse 60,
w hich refers to the cycle o f birth and death, means literally
“ that w hich is m oving intensely,” that is, the everyday world
o f incessant change. Im mature people, living unreflectively
from m om ent to moment, drown in the instability o f sam -
sara, which drags on as endlessly as night for the insom niac.
That is because this kind o f im m aturity is not that o f a child,
but o f the adult who is not sensitive to that m om ent o f d is-
crim ination when one choice will lead toward w isdom and
the other to bitter pain (66). Lacking that sensitivity, he has
to undergo a good deal o f pain to learn from life, for even the
bitterest suffering does not carry his understanding very far
forward. Like a spoon that cannot savor the taste o f soup, he is
im pervious to w isdom even when it is in the v ery air around
him (64).
Yet an im m ature person can always learn to grow. K n ow l-
edge itself cannot lead such people to wisdom because, lack-
ing sound discrim ination, they will m isuse it so badly that
they will “ break their heads” against it (72). But i f those who
are im m ature have enough self-knowledge to realize that
they are immature, that is the beginning o f w isdom (63); it
will save them from having to undergo the painful experience
that m any unwise actions would otherw ise have inflicted on
them.
One o f the main distinctions between im m aturity and w is-
dom lies in ones ability to assimilate teaching. The im m ature
person was com pared to a spoon in soup; the wise can taste
the soup and savor the subtleties o f its flavor (65). Instead o f
being victim ized b y experience, they make conscious use o f
it to remove undesirable traits, reshaping their character as a
carpenter shapes a piece o f w ood (80). W hile the im m ature
look for opportunities to gain praise, the wise seek out som e-
one who w ill help them “ reveal hidden treasures” (76), even
though such a person might well criticize their weaknesses
or keep them from doing som ething which, though pleasant,
w ill only prove injurious. The role o f the teacher in this p ro -
cess is sim ply that o f a wise advisor. The Buddha teaches us to
rely on ourselves to do what is necessary to gain the goal. “All
the effort must be made by you,” he says in a later verse (276).
“ Buddhas only show the way.”
Verse 89 mentions the “seven fields o f enlightenm ent” :
m indfulness, vigor, joy, serenity, concentration, equanimity,
and “ penetration o f dharm a” - that is, seeing the workings
o f dharm a everyw here, even in the events o f everyday life. In
Buddhism , enlightenment (sam bodhi or bodhi) is an instan-
taneous experience in which mental activity is m om entarily
suspended com pletely and sleeping realms o f consciousness
are dazzled into full wakefulness. Bodhi is not nirvana. It is
a tem porary stilling o f the mind, which brings illum ination
o f consciousness; nirvana, the perm anent release from all
sources o f suffering, is attained only when the experience o f
enlightenm ent has been repeated so often that it, not o rdin ary
conditioned awareness, has become ones constant state. O nly
when the insights o f bodhi arc com pletely absorbed into ones
character and conduct would the Buddha call a person truly
awake.
- S.R.
5 D: The Immature
60 Long is the night to those who are awake; long is
the road to those w ho are weary. Long is the cycle o f
birth and death to those w ho know not the dharm a.
61 I f you find no one to support you on the spiritual
path, w alk alone. There is no com panionship with the
im m atu re.62 They think, “ These children arc mine;
this wealth is mine.” They cannot even call themselves
their own, much less their children or wealth.
6i The immature who know they arc im m ature
have a little w isdom . But the im m ature who look
on themselves as wise are utterly fo o lish .64 They
cannot understand the dharm a even i f they spend
their whole life with the wise. How can the spoon
know the taste o f soup? 65 I f the mature spend even
a short time with the wise, they will understand
dharm a, just as the tongue knows the taste o f soup.
66 The immature arc their own enemies, doing
selfish deeds which w ill bring them sorrow.
*7 That deed is selfish w hich brings rem orse and
suffering in its w a k e .68 But good is that deed which
brings no remorse, only happiness in its wake.
69Sweet are selfish deeds to the im m ature until they
see the results; when they see the results, they suffer.
70 Even i f they fast month after month, eating with
only the tip o f a blade o f grass, they are not w orth a
sixteenth part o f one who truly understands dharm a.
71 A s fresh milk needs time to curdle, a selfish deed
takes tim e to bring sorrow in its wake. Like fire
sm oldering under the ashes, slowly does it burn the
immature.
72 Even i f they pick up a little knowledge, the immature
m isuse it and break their heads instead o f benefiting
from it.
73 The im m ature go after false prestige - precedence
o f fellow monks, pow er in the monasteries, and
praise from a l l . 7‘ “ Listen, m onks and householders,
I can do this; I can do that. I am right and you are
wrong.” Thus their pride and passion increase.
75C h oose the path that leads to nirvana; avoid the
road to profit and pleasure. R em em ber this always, O
disciples o f the Buddha, and strive always for w isdom .
6 o: The Wise
76 I f you see som eone wise, who can steer you
away from the w rong path, follow that person
as you would one w ho can reveal hidden
treasures. O nly good can com e out o f it.
77 Let them adm onish or instruct or restrain
you from what is wrong. They w ill be loved
by the good but disliked by the bad.
78 M ake friends with those who are good and
true, not with those who are bad and false.
79 To follow the dharm a revealed by the noble
ones is to live in jo y with a serene mind.
80 A s irrigators lead water where they want, as
archers m ake their arrow s straight, as carpenters
carve wood, the wise shape their minds.
81 A s a solid rock cannot be moved by the wind, the
wise are not shaken by praise or b la m e .82 When
they listen to the w ords o f the dharm a, their m inds
becom e calm and clear like the waters o f a still lake.
8J G o o d people keep on w alking whatever happens.
They do not speak vain words and are the same in
good fortune and b a d .84 If one desires neither children
nor wealth nor p ow er nor success by unfair means,
know such a one to be good, wise, and virtuous.
85 Few are those who reach the other shore; most
people keep running up and down this shore.
86But those who follow the dharm a, when it
has been well taught, will reach the other shore,
hard to reach, beyond the power o f death.
87-88 They leave darkness behind and follow the
light. They give up hom e and leave pleasure behind.
C allin g nothing their own, they p u rify their hearts
and re jo ic e .89 Well trained in the seven fields o f
enlightenment, their senses disciplined and free from
attachments, they live in freedom , full o f light.
Copyrighted material
C H A P T E R S S E V E N & E I G H T
0: The Saint & Thousands
C h a p t e r 6 d e a l t w i t h t h e m a n o r
w o m a n s t e a d i l y i n c r e a s i n g i n w i s d o m ; c h a p t e r 7 t r e a t s t h e
p e r s o n w h o i s c o m p l e t e l y i l l u m i n e d : arhant, l i t e r a l l y “o n e
w h o i s d e s e r v i n g . ” A n a r h a n t i s t h a t p e r s o n w h o , h a v i n g
d e v e l o p e d t h e f u l l n e s s o f h u m a n i t y b y a t t a i n i n g n i r v a n a , n o w
t r u l y d e s e r v e s t o b e c a l l e d a h u m a n b e i n g .
If life is conceived o f as a school where all arc training for
full spiritual developm ent, the arhant is the graduate. “ P ro -
found, m easureless, unfathom able is the arhant, like the great
ocean,” says the Buddha. “ The concept ‘reborn docs not apply
to such a person, nor ‘not reborn,’ nor any com bination o f
such words.” Dozens o f monks, nuns, and lay followers are
said to have attained this state within the Buddha’s lifetime.
Arhantship is the goal o f the spiritual journey, fourth and
last o f the phases passed through in the coursc o f attaining full
realization o f the Buddhist ideal. In the first o f these phases
the aspirant is called a “stream -w inner” (srotaparma). While
the immature are said to run up and down this shore o f sor-
row, m aking no intentional use o f their experience to further
spiritual grow th, the “stream -w in n er’ has begun to practice
the Eightfold Path; such people have plunged into the stream
that leads to nirvana. Their direction is not with the current
but upstream, against all the norm al urges o f human condi-
tioning.
After a good deal o f arduous effort, generally over m any
lives, the aspirant becom es a “once-returner” (sakridagam in),
one who has sighted the other shore o f nirvana but not yet
reached it. For such a person, the crossing can be completed
in just one more life.
Those who finally reach the other shore becom e a “ never-
returner” (anagam in). Their purpose in life is fulfilled, and
therefore they need never be born again. They m ay then
become an arhant - one whose path in life cannot even be
traced (92-93) because their actions no longer leave behind
the residue o f karm a. Their responses to life are not dictated
by what happens to them, whether good or bad; they act in
complete freedom . The cycle o f birth and death no longer
contains them (95). Since they lack nothing, there is nothing
that life has to offer that they need or desire.
Yet the Buddha would still prod such people to make their
fullest contribution to others. He said to his disciples:
G o forth, therefore, brethren, on your journey, for the jo y o f
the many, for the happiness o f the many, out o f compassion
for the world. Teach the dharma which is beautiful at the
beginning, beautiful in the middle, and beautiful at the end.
Let not any two o f you go together. (Vinaya Pitaka 1.2 0 - 2 1)
Despite such statements, some maintain that the arhant
ideal, full freedom from the cycle o f birth and death, is not
the highest. M ahayana Buddhists went so far as to call the
arhant a “ private Buddha” (pratycka-bu ddha), im plying that
such people do not share the fruits o f their attainment, desert-
ing a suffering hum anity to bask in nirvana. The M ahayana
ideal w as called bodhisattvay literally “one w hose nature is
enlightenment.” In early Buddhism , as in the present-day
Thcravada tradition, the w ord bodhisattva referred solely to
that being who, before becom ing the Buddha, had vowed to
becom e a Buddha over m any lives in the distant past, and
w ho finally attained nirvana in his life as Prince Siddhartha.
To the later M ahayanists, bodhisattva cam e to mean anyone
w ho vow s to be reborn countless times, never to enter final
nirvana until the last sentient being is rescued from samsara.
Because o f the divergence o f the M ahayana and Thera-
vada schools, the ideals o f arhant and bodhisattva arc co m -
m only contrasted, and from a philosophical standpoint they
seem very different. The arhant has won perm anent release
from samsara, while the bodhisattva chooscs to return to it
until the very end o f time. The distinction, however, m ay be
o f no m ore than philosophical interest. To som eone actually
tryin g to practice the Buddhas disciplines, the arhant has the
same inestimable value as the bodhisattva in term s o f what
they give to the rest o f life. Both supply us with the loftiest
possible image o f the human being; both arc living em bod i-
ments o f that goal toward which all hum anity blindly gropes.
When the brahm in Sangarava criticized the Buddha for the
supposed selfishness o f his spiritual ideal, the Buddha traced
out the carcer o f an enlightened person and let the brahm in
draw his own conclusions. A Buddha, he explained,
speaks like this: “Com e, this is the Way, the practice which
I have followed. I laving fully mastered it, and having by
m y own powers o f knowing plunged into the incomparable
bliss o f the spiritual life, 1 have told that Way to others.
Com e and follow likewise, so that you too, having mastered
the practice and, by your own powers o f knowing, plunged
into the incomparable bliss o f the spiritual life, may abide
in it.” In this w ay the teacher teaches dharm a, and others
follow to attain that goal. Such tcachcrs, moreover, number
m any hundreds, m any thousands, m any hundreds o f thou-
sands. If this be the case, do you think the merit o f having
taken to the spiritual life benefits just one person or many?
(Anguttara Nikaya 1.16 7 - 16 8 )
In a world w hose survival is in doubt from day to day,
those who have conquered the passions that wreck relation-
ships and precipitate w ars serve their fellow creatures cease-
lessly in a way that no one else can, and in a way that will not
end w ith death. That fact transcends any philosophical differ-
ence between the arhant and the bodhisattva.
— S . R .
7 »: The Saint
90They have completed their voyage; they have
gone beyond sorrow. The fetters o f life have fallen
from them, and they live in full freedom .
91 The thoughtful strive always. They have no fixed
abode, but leave hom e like sw ans from their lake.
92 Like the flight o f birds in the sky, the path o f the
selfless is hard to follow. They have no possessions,
but live on alm s in a world o f freedom . 9i Like
the flight o f birds in the sky, their path is hard to
follow. With their senses under control, temperate
in eating, they know the m eaning o f freedom .
94 Even the gods envy the saints, whose senses
obey them like well-trained horses and who are
free from p r id e .9S Patient like the earth, they stand
like a threshold. They arc pure like a lake without
mud, and free from the cyclc o f birth and death.
*« W isdom has stilled their m inds, and their
thoughts, words, and deeds are filled with peace.
97 Freed from illusion and from personal ties, they
have renounced the world o f appearance to find
reality. Thus have they reached the highest.
98 They make holy wherever they dwell, in village or
forest, on land or at sea. 99 With their senses at peace
and m inds full o f joy, they make the forests holy.
8 o: Thousands
i°° Better than a speech o f a thousand vain words is
one thoughtful word which brings peace to the mind.
101 Better than a poem o f a thousand vain verses is
one thoughtful line which brings peace to the mind.
102 Better than a hundred poem s o f vain stanzas is one
w ord o f the dharm a that brings peace to the mind.
103 One who conquers h im self is greater than another
who conquers a thousand tim es a thousand men
on the battlefield. 104 , 0 5 Be victorious over y o u rself
and not over others. When you attain v icto ry over
yourself, not even the gods can turn it into defeat.
106 Better than perform in g a thousand rituals month
by month for a hundred years is a m om ents homage
to one living in w isd om . 107 Better than tending the
sacrificial fire in the forest for a thousand years is
a m om ents homage to one living in wisdom .
108 M aking gifts and otfcrings for a whole year to
earn m erit is not worth a quarter o f the honor
paid to the w is e .109 To those who honor the wise
and follow them, four gifts w ill come in increasing
m easure: health, happiness, beauty, and long life.
110 Better to live in virtue and w isdom for one
day than to live a hundred years with an evil and
undisciplined m in d .1,1 Better to live in goodness
and w isdom for one day than to lead an ignorant and
undisciplined life for a hundred y e a r s .112 Better to
live in strength and wisdom for one day than to lead
a weak and idle life for a hundred y e a r s .1,3 Better to
live in freedom and w isdom for one day than to lead
a conditioned life o f bondage for a hundred years.
114One day’s glim pse o f the deathless state is
better than a hundred years o f life without
i t . 115 One d a y s glim pse o f dharm a is better
than a hundred years o f life without it.
C H A P T E R S N I N E & T E N
0! Evil & Punishment
W r o n g A C T I O N S A R E central to the
concept o f p a p a , “sin” or “evil,” which is the theme o f chap-
ter 9 and continues on into chapter 10. In Buddhism there is
no one sitting in judgm ent to punish us for w rong actions,
nor is there anyone to reward us for o u r good works. Instead,
reward and punishm ent issue from the self-fulfilling law o f
karm a, which perm eates every aspect o f the Buddhas teach-
ings. Put simply, the law o f karm a states that as we sow, so
shall we reap: everything we do, say, or even think has conse-
quences, good o r bad, and sooner or later those consequences
must come back to us. Karm a was already an ancient idea in
India when the Buddha taught, and it can safely be said that
his audience took for granted that the law o f cause and effect
governs not only physical events, but every event in human
experience.
Like any physical law, the law o f karm a operates e very-
where and at every moment. It is totally im personal, requir-
ing no agency other than ourselves. The Buddha taught that
for an action to produce karm a, it has to he accom panied by a
conscious will, w hich presupposes the capacity o f free choice.
I f a small child hits another child, there is probably no karm ic
residue, because he is still innocent and does not fully acqui-
esce in the action as an adult would have to; he may be play-
ing happily with the same child minutes later. But when an
adult says an gry w ords to som eone, the w ill is an accom plice,
and the action will bear fruit (136). It is im possible to escape
the karm ic result o f action no matter where we m ay try (127).
The karm a must return in kind, w hether good or bad, even
though it m ay take time for the right circum stances to come
around (119 -12 0 ).
According to the Buddha, a large part o f ou r experience
is sim ply the m echanical return o f the karm a ou r previous
actions have accum ulated. “ Previous actions” here, o f course,
extends to previous lives. llie s e ideas too were an integral
part o f the B u d dh as Hindu background, but no one else in
Indian m ysticism worked out their significance with greater
breadth and precision. D harm a is a seam less web in which
physical and mental events are inescapably intertwined, and
even disasters or m isfortunes m ay be a delayed karm ic reac-
tion to som ething we did in this life or in some previous life
(13 7 -14 0 ).
One aspect o f the law o f karm a receives special attention
in this chapter: that is the concept o f samskarasy or karm a-
formed states. A sam skara involves not just one action and its
Evil & Punishment ID
karm ic return, but a mental inclination to act in a certain way.
The reason the Buddha cautions us against repeating w rong
actions - and recom m ends repeating good actions ( 117 - 118 )
- is that such habits cut a track in consciousness upon which
future actions in sim ilar circum stances are likely to run.
If wc continue to com m it a mistake - say, an outburst o f
anger - cach repetition m akes it easier to make the same
mistake again, so that gradually anger becom es part o f o ur
character. That is very close to what the Buddha means by a
sam skara: a habit o f thinking which karm ically locks us into
patterns o f behavior over w hich wc have less and less control
with every succeeding repetition. In a sam skara like anger,
karm a acts on the individual not just in his external en viron -
ment, but also from within. A n anger-prone person m ay get
anger returned to him from other individuals, but he m ay also
suffer karm ic harm within: increased anxiety, risk o f heart
disease or other behavior-aggravated ailments, the turm oil o f
an unruly mind.
Becausc it is easiest to follow the worn path o f stim ulus
and response, harm ful sam skaras are easy to form and to get
trapped in. Actively asserting the responses that do not come
naturally - forgiveness, paticncc, com passion in the facc o f
hatred - is the only w ay to avoid gradually succum bing to evil
(116): that is, to avoid becom ing internally laced with harm ful
samskaras. In a very real way, we are what ou r sam skaras are:
as the network o f choicc-pathw ays in us, they constitute the
karm ic legacy o f all o u r previous choices. Evil in Buddhism
thus becom es a question o f rightly understanding how a per-
son becom es prone to harm ful action and what courses o f
action can set the situation right.
The B ud dhas em phasis is always on choice, and his p ro g -
nosis is always hopeful. He shows us the pow er o f evil habits,
then rcm inds us that good habits arc just as strong (12 1-12 2 ) . If
we do not try to shape our lives, the conditioning o f our sam-
skaras w ill shape them for us, little by little; but i f we do try
- again, little by little, in the num berless decisions o f everyday
life - then any one o f us can becom e good, as a bucket is filled
drop by drop.
— S . R .
9 o; Evil
116Hasten to do good; refrain from evil. I f you
neglect the good, evil can enter your mind.
117 I f you do what is evil, do not repeat it or take
pleasure in m aking it a habit. An evil habit will cause
nothing but su ffe rin g .118 I f you do what is good,
keep repeating it and take pleasure in m aking it a
habit. A good habit will cause nothing but joy.
119 Evildoers m ay be happy as long as they do
not reap what they have sown, but when they
do, sorrow overcom es t h e m .120 Ihe good m ay
suffer as long as they do not reap what they have
sown, but when they do, jo y overcom es them.
121 Let no one think lightly o f evil and say to himself,
“ Sorrow will not come to me.” Little by little a person
becom es evil, as a pot is filled by drops o f water.
122 Let no one think lightly o f good and say to him self,
“ Joy will not com e to me.” Little by little a person
becom es good, as a pot is filled by drops o f water.
121 A s a rich merchant traveling alone avoids
dangerous roads, as a lover o f life avoids poison,
let everyone avoid dangerous deeds.
124 I f you have no w ound on yo u r hand, you can touch
poison without being harm ed. No harm com es to
those who do no h a r m .12S I f you harm a pure and
innocent person, you harm yourself, as dust thrown
against the w ind com es back to the thrower.
126 Som e are born again. Those caught in evil ways go
to a state o f intense suffering; those who have done
good go to a state o f joy. But the pure in heart enter
nirvana.
127 Not in the sky, not in the ocean, not in mountain
canyons is there a place anywhere in the w orld where
a person can hide from his evil d e e d s .128N ot in
the sky, not in the ocean, not in mountain canyons
is there a place where one can hide from death.
io of Punishment
129 Everyone fears punishm ent; everyone fears death,
just as you do. Therefore do not kill or cause to kill.
1,0 Everyone fears punishm ent; everyone loves life,
as you do. Therefore do not kill or cause to kill.
151 If, hoping to be happy, you strike at others who
also seek happiness, you will be happy neither
here nor h ereafter.132 If, hoping to be happy,
you do not strike at others who are also seeking
happiness, you will be happy here and hereafter.
133 Speak quietly to everyone, and they too will
be gentle in their speech. I Iarsh w ords hurt,
and come back to the sp e a k e r.134 I f yo u r mind
is still, like a broken gong, you have entered
nirvana, leaving all quarrels behind you.
115 A s a cowherd with his staff drives cows to
fresh fields, old age and death lead all creatures
to new liv e s .1,6 The selfish, doing harm , do not
know what is in store for them. They are burned
as i f by fire by the results o f their own deeds.
1 ,7If one harm s the innocent, suffering will
come in these ten w a y s .138 They m ay suffer grief,
infirmity, painful accident, serious illn e s s ,1,9loss
o f m ind, legal prosecution, fearful accusation,
fam ily bereavem ent, or financial lo s s ;140 or their
house m ay burn down, and after death they
m ay be thrown into the fire o f suffering.
141 G o in g about with matted hair, without food or
bath, sleeping on the ground smeared with dust or
sitting m otionless - no am ount o f penance can help
a person whose m ind is not p u rifie d .1,2 But those
w hose m ind is serene and chaste, w hose senses are
controlled and w hose life is nonviolent - these are true
brahm ins, true m onks, even i f they w ear fine clothes.
14J A s a well-trained horse needs no whip, a well-
trained mind needs no proddin g from the world
to be g o o d .144 Be like a well-trained horse, swift
and spirited, and go beyond sorrow through faith,
meditation, and energetic practice o f the dharm a.
145 A s irrigators guide water to their fields,
as archers aim arrows, as carpenters carvc
w ood, the wise shape their lives.
Copyrighted material
C H A P T E R E L E V E N
0: Age
J a r a , “ o l d a g e , ” is a Sanskrit word
origin ally applied to a w orn-out, dilapidated building. The
second Noble Sight that led Prince Siddhartha to renounce
w orldly life and seek nirvana was o f an ancient, disfigured
man barely able to walk. 'Hie sight plunged him deep into con -
sciousness to confront the decay for w hich every b od y is d es-
tined. Few people look forward to the onset o f w rinkles and
stiff joints, but only a spiritual genius confronts the full m ean-
ing o f old age all at once, seeing age as a process that begins
the moment we arc conccivcd. This chapter begins on a sober
note, with a pica that all take note o f the fire o f advancing age
rather than lightly m aking m erry (146).
M any o f the verses in this chapter are meant to instill a fear
that old age w ill overtake us before we have realized our real
purpose, m aking life a tragic waste. Yet it would be a m is-
take to conclude that the Buddhas message was life-denying,
or conclude from verses 14 7 -14 8 that he viewed the human
body with distaste. I Ic has the greatest rcspcct for the human
body, and in fact maintained that human birth is the highest
o f blessings because it is only as human beings that we can
strive for and attain nirvana. These verses are sim ply meant
to com m unicate what little value he sees in a purely physi-
cal existence, spending our time on pleasing the b od y and
senses instead o f using each d ay o f an all-too-short life to take
another step toward the goal.
The view o f the Buddha on this subject is glim psed in
verses 153-154 , perhaps better than anyw here else in Buddhist
literature. These arc the celebrated “ housebuilder verses,”
said to have been uttered by the Buddha im m ediately after
his enlightenm ent under the bodhi tree: the paean o f jo y that
issues from his lips when he realizes that life’s goal is won.
A fter w andering in sam sara life after life, he has finally come
face to face with selfish craving, the architect o f separate exis-
tence, and put an end to it once and for all.
In Hindu and Buddhist psychology, craving is a force
which keeps seeking physical em bodim ent - another birth -
for the satisfaction o f physical desires. Yet the physical body
cannot help aging, becom ing less and less able to deliver sat-
isfaction; and the less it can please, the more insistent craving
becom es. The Sanskrit poet Bhartrihari captures this process
in his “ C en tu ry o f Verses on Renunciation” :
M y facc is overrun with wrinkles,
My head is marked with gray.
M y limbs have gone flaccid;
C raving alone keeps its youth and vigor.
(Vairagya Shataka i$6)
Each life not spent in reducing selfish craving, therefore,
im pels a person into the next life with cravings that are fiercer
than ever. It is in this sense that selfish craving is the architect
o f b od y and personality, and that its extinction brings free-
dom from all selfish conditioning.
The Buddha expresses enlightenm ent not as a m eeting
w ith G od or an im m ersion in bliss, but as the disassem bling o f
the conditioned personality and the exhilaration that com es
with perfect freedom . Through his own effort he has undone
the force that has conditioned his entire m aking, from the
sm allest unicellular organism at the dawn o f evolution to the
w onder o f the individual that w as Prince Siddhartha. B urst-
ing through to the Unconditioned, he has destroyed craving;
never again can he be compelled by karm a to return to life as
a separate creature.
- S . R .
11 D: Age
146 w h y is there laughter, w hy m errim ent, when
this world is on fire? When you are living in
darkness, w hy don’t you look for light?
147-148 This body is a painted image, subject
to disease, decay and death, held together by
thoughts that com e and go. ,49W hat jo y can
there be for those who see that their white bones
will be cast away like gourds in the autumn?
150 A round the bones is built a house, plastered
with flesh and blood, in which dwell pride and
pretence, old age and d e a th .151 Even the chariot o f
a king loses its glitter in the course o f tim e; so too
the body loses its health and strength. But goodness
does not grow old with the passage o f time.
152 A man who docs not learn from life grow s old
like an ox: his body grows, but not his wisdom .
1SJI have gone through m any rounds o f birth and
death, lookin g in vain for the builder o f this body.
Heavy indeed is birth and death again and again!
154 But now 1 have seen you, housebuilder; you shall
not build this house again. Its beam s are broken; its
dom e is shattered: self-will is extinguished; nirvana
is attained.
155 Those who have not practiced spiritual
disciplines in their youth pine away like old
cranes in a lake without fis h .156 Like w orn-out
bows they lie in old age, sighing over the past.
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C H A P T E R T W E L V E
D : Self
A t m a n o r “ s e l f , ” the subject o f this
chapter, has stirred more controversy than any other subject
in the Buddhas teachings. Several tim es throughout the Pali
canon the Buddha says that the hum an being is anatm an,
“ without a self,” thus apparently contradicting a principle that
is the v e ry basis o f the Hindu faith: that at the core o f every
creature is a divine S e lf (Atm an) which is not different from
the transcendent reality (B rah m an ) and is therefore utterly
beyond the world o f change and death. D iscussing how a
transcendent S e lf can relate to an im perm anent personality
naturally plunged Indian philosophers into deep m etaphys-
ical waters. But the Buddha never indulged in metaphysics.
Ilis concern was relentlessly practical: life is full o f suffering,
the cause o f that suffering is selfishness, and selfishness can be
rem oved by practicing the Eightfold Path. A n ything else is a
distraction. On what lay beyond the im perm anent world o f
ego and change, his attitude w as simply, “ First go there; then
you will see for yourself.”
On one occasion, a monk asked the Buddha i f belief in a
perm anent S e lf can prove harm ful. The Buddha replied that it
can. “ Suppose,” he explained,
that a man has the following view : “ The universe is that Self,
and I shall be that after death: permanent, abiding, everlast-
ing, unchanging. 1 shall exist as that for eternity.” Then he
hears the Tathagata [the Buddha] or a disciple preaching
that dharma which aims at the destruction o f all views . . .
at the extinction o f craving, at detachment, at stopping,
at nirvana. Then that man thinks, “ I will be annihilated,
destroyed, and be no m ore!” So he m ourns, laments, and
weeps, beating his breast, and becom es confused. Thus, O
m onk, there is a possibility that one w ill become tormented
when som ething permanent within oneself is not found.
(Majjhima Nikaya 1.22)
Scholars and orthodox Buddhists alike have cited such
instances as p ro o f that the Buddha denied the existence o f a
perm anent Self, beyond all change and unaffected by death.
O thers cite m ore affirm ative statements to assert that the
Buddha did believe in a Self: in this chapter o f the D h am m a-
pada, for example, he exhorts us to rely solely on our s e lf and
seek 110 other support. Part o f the am biguity lies in the lan-
guage. D epending on the context, the Sanskrit word atman
can mean se lf in the conventional sense o f “ m y self” and
“ yourself,” or it can refer to the transcendent S e lf o f the U p a-
nishads. H undreds o f books have debated which the Buddha
w as denying, se lf or Self, so that m any m aintain his stand on
se lf to be the most distinctive mark o f his teaching.
It is, however, hard to im agine that the Buddha h im self
w as interested in this controversy. His concern was in putting
an end to self - that is, an end to ego. N agarjuna, the brilliant
Buddhist dialectician o f the second century, claim ed that se lf
w as used by the Buddha only as a teaching device and that he
actually took no stand whatever on it:
There is the teaching o f S elf
A nd there is the teaching o f not-Self.
But by the Buddhas neither Self nor not-Self
I las been taught as som ething that exists.
(Mulamadhyamika Karika x v n .6 )
He did not raise the question at all; it had no bearing on the
actual practice o f the Eightfold Path.
When the w anderer Vacchagotta cam e asking about the
existence o f the Self, for example, the Buddha would not even
give him an answer. This occasion, called the Buddhas Noble
Silence, contains his real answ er to all m etaphysical specula-
tion. Though probably the most brilliant intellect o f his time,
the Buddha m aintained no intellectual positions whatever.
They would be counter to his on ly purpose, which was to
inspire greater effort in spiritual practice. How can intellec-
tual opinions about the unity o f life help a person as long as he
believes he is a separate ego? What difference does his opinion
about eternity make as long as he is still caught up in time? By
offering no m etaphysical supports, the Buddha prom pts us to
plunge deep in meditation and sec for ourselves what wc d is-
cover. In this chapter, his em phasis is on putting forth utmost
effort to develop self-reliance. In one o f the most celebrated
statements on this theme, he addresses these w ords to his d is-
ciple Ananda:
Therefore, A nanda, live having self for an island, self for
refuge and no other; having dharm a for an island, dharma
for refuge and no other.
(Samyutta Nikaya v.162)
The se lf he speaks o f in this passage and throughout this
chapter is the human will, the only se lf w orthy o f strengthen-
ing and cultivation.
- S . R .
12 o: Self
157 I f you hold yo u rself dear, guard yo u rself diligently.
Keep vigil d uring one o f the three watches o f the night.
158 Learn what is right; then teach others, as
the w ise d o . 159Before trying to guide others, be your
own guide first. It is hard to learn to guide oneself.
160 Your own se lf is your m aster; who else could be?
With y o u rself well controlled, you gain a master very
hard to find.
161 The evil done by the selfish crushes them as a
diam ond breaks a hard g e m .162 A s a vine overpow ers
a tree, evil overpow ers those w ho do evil, trapping
them in a situation that only their enem ies would
wish them to be i n . 163Evil deeds, which harm the
doer, are easy to do; good deeds are not so easy.
164 Foolish people who sco ff at the teachings o f
the wise, the noble, and the good, follow ing false
doctrines, bring about their own downfall like the
khattaka tree, which dies after bearing fruit.
165 B y oneself is evil done; by o n eself one is
injured. Do not do evil, and suffering will
not come. Everyone has the choice to be pure
or impure. No one can p u rify anodier.
166 Don’t neglect your own duty for another,
how ever great. Know yo u r own duty and perform it.
C H A P T E R T H I R T E E N
D : The World
T h e S U B J E C T O F this chapter is loka,
“ the w orld ” : that environm ent into which wc have been born.
The Buddha com pares this world to a royal chariot dcckcd
out in gaudy colors, all paint and show (171), which the wise
know to be no more perm anent than a bubble or a mirage.
Unattached to its pleasures, they arc dctachcd too from its
sufferings; thus they rise above its law o f physical decay and
death (170).
The Buddha speaks o f states o f consciousness as different
worlds, all as real as everyday life to those having direct exp e-
rience o f them. Som e o f these arc alluded to in this chapter:
this world, the next world, the realm o f the gods. But his p ri-
m ary distinction is between two essentially different levels o f
reality: sam vriti-satya, “conventional reality” or the world o f
d ay-to-day life, and param artha-satya, “absolute reality.” The
sam vriti world has only a provisional reality because it is not
the same from instant to instant; all o f the experiences one
has exist for a m om ent only, then vanish into nothingness.
But beneath this conventional level is a perm anent ground o f
being: param artha, which is com pletely unaffcctcd b y change.
Sam vriti is still real, but it has a lesser degree o f reality, just as
a dream experience belongs to a low er level o f reality than the
w aking state.
In the everyday world, o f course, the vast m ajority o f us arc
unaware o f a higher reality. Those few who have glim psed it
are com pared by the Buddha to the fortunate birds who escape
the hun ters net (174). The great ideal o f M ahayana Buddhism
is to remain in this world, so tem pting and full o f snares, but
at the same time attain this awareness o f the Absolute which
underlies it, thus rem aining free while helping others to free
themselves. N agarjuna captures the essence o f this state when
he proclaim s,
There is no difference at all between samsara and nirvana;
There is no difference at all between samsara and nirvana.
— S . R .
1 3 k The World
167 Don’t follow w rong laws; don’t be
thoughtless; don’t believe false doctrines.
Don’t follow the w ay o f the world.
168-K9 Wake up! Don’t be lazy. Follow the
right path, avoid the wrong. You will be
happy here as well as hereafter.
170 Look on the world as a bubble; look on it
as a mirage. Then the K ing o f Death cannot
even see you. 17,C om e look at this world! Is
it not like a painted royal chariot? The wise
see through it, but not the immature.
172 When those w ho arc foolish becom e wise, they
give light to the w orld like the full m oon breaking
through the clouds. ,7iWhen their good deeds
overcom e the bad, they give light to the world like
the m oon breaking free from behind the clouds.
174 In this dark world, few can see. Like birds that
free them selves from the net, only a few find their
way to heaven. 175Swans fly on the path o f the sun
by their w onderful pow er; the wise rise above the
world, after conquering Mara and his train.
176 He who transgresses the central law o f life, who
speaks falsely or scoffs at the life to come, is capable
o f any evil.
177 M isers do not go to the world o f the gods; they
do not want to give. The wise are generous, and go
to a happier world.
178 Better than ruling this world, better than attaining
the realm o f the gods, better than being lord o f all
the worlds, is one step taken on the path to nirvana.
C H A P T E R F O U R T E E N
0: The Awakened One
“ t h e a w a k e n e d o n e , ” o f course, is
the literal m eaning o f the word B uddha, and most o f the verses
in this chapter describe the qualities cultivated and perfected
by the Com passionate Buddha h im se lf But to understand
verses like 184, where the Buddha calls patience a supreme
spiritual discipline, it is helpful to recall the backdrop o f re-
incarnation that lies behind all the B uddhas statements. The
kind o f patience he is referring to is not just a matter o f keep-
ing yo u r tem per when som eone is late for an appointm ent;
it is a deeply-rooted resolution not to swerve from dharm a
even in the face o f a threat to life itself. Thus it connotes in fi-
nite com passion, unqualified good will for all creatures in all
circum stances. In order to perfect such qualities, tradition
tells us, the Bodhisattva or Buddha-to-be had to build up his
endurance for m any lives, strengthening his capacities with
one-pointed determ ination.
This saga is said to have begun m any thousands o f in carn a-
tions ago in the Bodhisattvas life as Mcgha, a brahm in youth
w ho met the great D ipankara, the Buddha o f that age. So
taken w as he with this resplendent figure that M cgha vowed
he would undertake w hatever disciplines m ight be required
to becom e a Buddha him self, how ever m any lives it might
take. Interestingly enough, he also meets in that life a girl who
exacts from him a vow that he w ill take h er as his wife in every
life - the future Yashodara. There is not space here to treat
such Jatakas, or tales o f the Buddha’s previous births, in the
depth they deserve; one can sim ply rem ark how they show
the Bodhisattva’s zeal in perfecting qualities such as patience
and selfless courage, preparing him for final, complete aw ak-
ening in his life as Prince Siddhartha.
From another point o f view, however, the Buddha’s story
begins much earlier. The Bodhisattva’s lives p rior to human
birth arc narrated in the Jataka stories, which illustrate m ov-
ingly w hy the Buddha exclaim s that human birth is a rare
privilege (182), gained only after m any lives o f undoing, as
far as possible on that level, the prim al instincts and urges o f
the anim al realm. The D eer Jataka, for example, tells o f the
Bodhisattva’s life as king o f the Banyan deer, who offers his
own life to a hum an king in order to save a pregnant doe from
death. Sacrifice for others carries him one step nearer his goal.
W hether he lives or dies is im m aterial to him, for there will be
countless other lives to come; the only question asked is how
fully one has used life’s precious opportunities for spiritual
growth. Just as a human being, over billions o f years, evolves
biologically from a unicellular organism , the Buddha-to-
be evolves spiritually into the Buddha by m aking the hard,
unnatural effort to put others’ welfare and safety before his
own, in life after life, placing h im self for an even greater leap
next time.
The Buddha docs not suggest that ord in ary people try to
imitate such intense feats o f renunciation. Like a brilliant
com et blazing in the sky, he inspires us but does not leave a
personal trail (179). O urs is to catch fire from his example, as
one lights a torch from a sacrificial fire (392).
Verses 19 0 - 19 2 refer to the Three Refuges o f the Buddhist:
the Buddha, the dharm a, and the sangha. D riven by fear, p eo -
ple com m only seek reassurance from the world outside them;
but in this transient world there is no refuge that is safe (188-
189). The Three Refuges require one to turn inward, depen d-
ing increasingly on on eself alone, for that is the path to free-
dom from fear.
The three are closely interrelated. “ Taking refuge in the
Buddha” docs not mean expecting deliverance from him as
a personal savior; it m eans following his exam ple through
the practice o f his teachings: that is, by “ taking refuge in the
dharma.” This in turn is m ost effectively done in the com pany
o f the sangha: those o f like m ind who arc attempting to follow
the same difficult path.
A ccording to the Buddhist concept o f Trikayay literally
“three bodies,” there arc three form s in which the Buddha
- or, more precisely, the Buddha-principle - is manifested
throughout the universe as a refuge for all creatures.
First is n irm anakaya, that human form the B u d d h a-p rin -
ciple took on to answ er the needs o f a suffering world. The
Gospel o f John says, “And the Word becam e flesh and dwelt
am ong us, full o f grace and truth.” The same principle is
described in the Bhagavad Gita (4 :7-8 ), where Lord Krishna
says, “ W henever dharm a declines and the purpose o f life is
forgotten, I manifest myself. I am born in age after age to p ro -
tect the good, to destroy evil, and to reestablish dharma.”
That particular Buddha born as Prince Siddhartha in Kap-
ilavastu came to reinvigorate the religious practices o f his
time, which had calcified, on the one hand, into supersti-
tion and w orship prompted by fear, and on the other hand
into endless m etaphysical speculation. This incarnation as
the Buddha inspired an intense awakening in m any peoples’
hearts o f spiritual self-reliance: the faith to look within one-
se lf and take spiritual grow th into one’s own hands, indepen -
dent o f any outside influcncc.
When the Buddha shed his body, Buddhists w ould say, the
nirm anakaya was reabsorbed into cosm ic form lessness, and
that particular chapter o f his work which was dependent on
his physical intervention cam e to an end. A ccording to this
doctrine, however, the Buddha was never m erely an in divid -
ual human being but, like St. John’s Word or Logos, an eter-
nal principle tem porarily made flesh. Therefore, he cannot be
said to have ceased to exist when his physical bod y died. Me
rem ains active in the w orld as a living force which continues
to exercise a beneficial influence.
For his devotees, for example, the Buddha is still with us
in his second form: the sam bhogakaya, literally the “ body
o f intense joy,” a glorified manifestation o f the Buddhas
im m ense spiritual pow er and splendor which, like St. Teresa’s
visions o f her Jesus, can be experientially revealed to those
w ho earnestly practice his teachings. It is this “ body o f bliss”
that the faithful pray to and attempt to represent in painting
and sculpture. “ Bliss” refers to the experience, testified to by
the Buddha’s followers, that when dharm a is fully realized
and assimilated into daily action, the mind is flooded with
joy. 'Ihe m ystics o f M ahayana Buddhism would add that if
one is established in dharm a at every level o f awareness, from
the everyday to the unconscious, then at the time o f death
this jo y is not broken. This state is im possible to describe, but
its prom ise is im plicit in the Buddha’s teachings, where it is
placed within reach o f all human beings.
Third and most abstract o f the Buddha’s form s is the
dharm akaya, the “ body o f dharma.” This is the cosm ic aspect
o f the Buddha-principle, one with the Absolute, the u ncon-
ditioned ground o f every living creature. The Buddha may
have shed his physical body, but the dharm akaya, the force
he drew upon to set the wheel o f dharm a in motion, contin-
ues to operate. N ever born, it can never die. M ahatm a G andhi
said once that we can talk about a supreme reality either as the
Law giver (dharm akarta) or as the Law (dharm a). Similarly,
the Buddha can be looked upon as em bodied in the dharm a
that he taught: the law that all o f life is one and indivisible.
The dharm akaya, however, is not an abstraction; it is the
all-pervasive Buddha-principlc acting throughout creation
to relieve human distress. When the Buddha says in verse 5,
for example, that “ Hatred never ceases through hatred, only
through love,” he is, as he says, stating an “eternal law” which
describes a binding, healing force. In the language o f B u d -
dhism , the Buddha is still active in the world in his “dharm a
body,” inspiring and w orking through human instruments.
— S . R .
14 D: The Awakened One
179 He is the conqueror who can never be conquered,
into w hose conquest no other can ever enter.
By what track can you reach him, the Buddha,
the awakened one, free o f all conditioning?
180 How can you describe him in human language -
the Buddha, the awakened one, free from the net
o f desires and the pollution o f passions, free from
all conditioning?
181 Even the gods emulate those who arc awakened.
Established in m editation, they live in freedom , at
peace.
182 It is hard to obtain human birth, harder to live
like a human being, harder still to understand the
dharm a, but hardest o f all to attain nirvana.
185 Avoid all evil, cultivate the good, p u rify yo u r
mind: this sum s up the teaching o f the Buddhas.
184 Cultivate the patience that endures, and attain
nirvana, the highest goal o f life. D o not oppress others
or cause them pain; that is not the way o f the
spiritual aspirant.
185 D o not find fault with others, do not injure
others, but live in accordance with the dharm a. Be
moderate in eating and sleeping, and meditate on the
highest. This sum s up the teaching o f the Buddhas.
186 Even a show er o f gold cannot quench the
passions. They are wise who know that passions
are passing and bring pain in their wake.
187 Even celestial pleasures cannot quench the
passions. They are true followers o f the Buddha
who rejoice in the conquest o f desires.
us D rjven foy fcar, people run for security to
m ountains and forests, to sacred spots and
sh rin e s .189 But none o f these can be a safe refuge,
because they cannot free the m ind from fear.
190 Take refuge in the Buddha, the dharm a, and the
sangha and you will grasp the Four Noble Truths:
191 suffering, the cause o f suffering, the end o f
suffering, and the Noble Eightfold Path that takes
you beyond suffering. 192 That is you r best refuge, your
only refuge. When you reach it, all sorrow falls away.
19JOne like the Buddha is hard to find; such a one
is not born everyw here. W here those established
in w isdom are born, the com m unity flourishes.
194 Blessed is the birth o f the Buddha, blessed is the
teaching o f the dharm a; blessed is the sangha, where
all live in harmony.
195-196 Blessed beyond measure are they who pay
homage to those w orthy o f homage: to the Buddha
and his disciples, who have gone beyond evil, shed all
fear, and crossed the river o f sorrow to the other shore.
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C H A P T E R F I F T E E N
D : Joy
T h e P A L I w o r d sukkha (Sanskrit su-
kha) is usually translated as happiness. A s the opposite o f
duhkha, however, it connotes the end o f all suffering, a state o f
being that is not subject to the ups and dow ns o f change - that
is, abiding joy.
It w ould be difficult to find a more thoroughly researched
definition o f jo y than the Buddhas. I f we can trust that at least
the outline o f truth rem ains in the legends o f his life, then his
questionings just before going forth to the Four Noble Sights
were chiefly concerned with the search for absolute joy. What
anyone could want o f w orldly happiness, Prince Siddhartha
surely had, with the prom ise o f much more. But the young
prince scrutinized the content o f w orldly happiness much
more closely than the rest o f us, and his conclusion was that
what people called jo y was a house o f cards perched precari-
ously on certain preconditions. W hen these preconditions
are fulfilled, the pleasure we feel lasts but a moment, for the
nature o f human experience is to change. And when they arc
not fulfilled, there is longing and a fn istratin gly elusive sense
o f loss; we grasp for what we do not have and nurse the g n aw -
ing desire to have it again. To try to hold on to anything - a
thing, a person, an event, a position - merely exposes us to its
loss. A n ythin g that changes, the Buddha concluded, anything
in our experience that consists o f or is conditioned by com -
ponent sensations - the B ud dhas word w as samskaras - p ro -
duces sorrow, not joy. Experience prom ises happiness, but it
delivers only constant change.
After the Four Noble Sights, Prince Siddhartha could
not even enjoy natural beauty because he felt so keenly how
swiftly it passes. N or could he feel secure that the jo y he took
in his fam ily would be lasting, once he had seen in his heart
that change, disease, age, and death must com e to all. He knew
first-hand that a man can have everything and still be dissat-
isfied; but he had also seen - it w as his fourth Noble Sight -
that one can also have nothing and live in joy. C learly jo y w as
an internal state, with no neccssary connection with external
conditions.
Popular etym ology som etim es derives duhkha from du h ,
a prefix m eaning som ething w rong or evil, and kha, empty
space. O rd in ary experience is a void that cannot be filled
by anything; it is nothing but change. Yet the Buddha, with
his characteristic twist, proclaim s that real jo y can be found
within that v e ry stream o f change. I f one truly understands
that life’s v ery nature is change, then the burning desire to
Joy :D
wrest perm anence from a world o f passing sensations begins
to die; and as it dies, the m ind begins to taste its natural state,
which is jo y: not a sensation, but a state o f consciousness
unaffected by pleasure and pain (373).
This is decidedly not a negative realization. Once we know
for certain what cannot give joy, wc arc ready for nirvana, the
highest jo y (203). The path to jo y lies not in depending on
external conditions, but in undoing the conditioning o f plea-
sure and pain which excites the mind to search for satisfac-
tion in the world outside. When the m ind is stilled through
meditation, one d rinks the jo y o f dharm a, which lies beyond
the scope o f anything conditioned (205).
It is worth m entioning that the Buddha classed all con -
ditioned experience as duhkha, even the bliss o f heavenly
realm s sought by the orthodox devout. Just as in dream s one
can enjoy the sensations o f w orldly experience without the
fetters o f space, time, and physical existence, the B ud dh as
audience believed that in heavens like the “ realm o f the gods,”
those with favorable karm a could satisfy desires uninhibited
by the harsh laws o f worldly experience. But with or without a
body, experience is still conditioned; it cannot last. Even from
heaven one must be reborn in the w orld again, to learn to go
beyond the pleasure principle and attain life’s goal, nirvana.
On the night before his illum ination, the Buddha h im self was
tempted by the subtle, intense jo y s o f the deva-w orld when a
group o f dcvas, prom pted b y M ara, offered to free him from
gross food and nourish him through the pores o f his skin
with heavenly nectars. Even these jo y s he spurned as obsta-
cles in his path to nirvana. For him , jo y is attainable on this
very earth when a person purges h im self o f all im pedim ents
(200). The goal o f life, attainable on ly on earth and in a body,
gives the only jo y the Buddha taught as lasting and w orthy o f
all the effort required to attain it (381).
In this chapter the Buddha tells us how we can recognize
those who have attained this inner jo y: they live not to exp eri-
ence pleasure but to give, to relieve others’ sorrow s and return
good for evil (19 7-19 8 ). One has only to think o f the w ork o f
M other Teresa o f Calcutta to realize what the Buddha m eans
in verse 198, o r o f M artin Luther King for verse 197. The B u d -
dha was a stickler for verifyin g any spiritual attainment in
adverse conditions, as well as for sharing its richness with
those in the greatest need. W hen we find fulfillm ent in k in d -
ness, com passion, and selfless service, even when it m eans
suffering, sorrow cannot touch us at all. A n d in the Buddha’s
term inology, when sorrow is absent, what rem ains is our
native state: intense, abiding joy.
— S . R .
15 o; Joy
197 Let us live in joy, never hating those w ho hate us.
Let us live in freedom , without hatred even am ong
those w ho hate.
198 Let us live in joy, never falling sick like those
who arc sick. Let us live in freedom , without
disease even am ong those who are ill.
199 Let us live in joy, never attached am ong those
who arc selfishly attached. Let us live in freedom
even am ong those who arc bound by selfish
attachments.
200 Let us live in joy, never hoarding things am ong
those who hoard. Let us live in grow ing jo y like the
bright gods.
201 Conquest breeds hatred, for the conquered
live in sorrow. Let us be neither conqueror
nor conquered, and live in peace and joy.
202 There is no fire like lust, no sickness like
hatred, no sorrow like separateness, no joy
like peace. 203No disease is worse than greed,
no suffering worse than selfish passion. Know
this, and seek nirvana as the highest joy.
204 Health is the best gift, contentment the best
wealth, trust the best kinsm an, nirvana the greatest
joy. 205 D rink the nectar o f the dharm a in the depths
o f m editation, and becom e free from fear and sin.
206 It is good to meet the wise, even better to live
with them. But avoid the com pany o f the immature
i f you want joy.
207 Keeping com pany with the immature is like
going on a long jo u rn ey with an enemy. The com pany
o f the wise is joyfu l, like reunion with one’s family.
208 Therefore, live am ong the wise, who are under-
standing, patient, responsible, and noble. Keep their
com pany as the m oon m oves am ong the stars.
C H A P T E R S I X T E E N
0: Pleasure
T h e b u d d h a i s som etim es m isinter-
preted as tryin g to squelch human affection in pursuit o f
som e im personal spiritual ideal. N othing could be further
from the truth. What he w arns against in this chapter is not
affection as such, but self-centered attachment to what is p er-
sonally pleasant.
Attachm ent to pleasure is one o f the most serious obstacles
to spiritual growth. Aspirants can lose themselves in pleasure
and abandon their quest for life’s suprem e purpose (209); and
even i f they continue to strive, they can get addicted to having
pleasant things and people around them, so that they cannot
face life’s inevitable unpleasantnesses without suffering (210).
The person who sees life as it is understands that the pleasant
contains the unpleasant. Pleasant and unpleasant are not sep-
arate or separable; they arc two sides o f one experiential fact:
that life is change. This apparent paradox is well expressed in
Keats’s “O de on M elancholy” :
She dwells with Beauty - Beauty that must die;
A nd joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to Poison w hile the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple o f delight
Veiled Melancholy has her sovran shrine . . .
W hat blocks spiritual grow th is not pleasurable things
and experiences themselves, but selfish attachm ent to them
(211). In a Zen story, two m onks approaching a river see a
young wom an who has no m eans o f getting across. O ne o f
the m onks carries her over and gently puts her down on the
other side. On the w ay to the monastery, the other m onk is so
obsessed by what his friend has done that he can talk o f noth-
ing else. “A m onk is not even supposed to touch a woman,” he
keeps saying, “ let alone carry her around in his arm s. What
have you done?” Finally his friend puts an end to it. “ I left that
wom an on the bank,” he retorts. “ You are still carryin g her.” In
Buddhism , it is the mental state created by experience that is
all-im portant. Without the em otional charge, the experience
itself is insignificant. The Buddha would agree with the m o d -
ern neuroscientist: we never really experience the world; we
experience only o u r own nervous system.
All the dualities o f human experience - pleasure and d is-
pleasure, praise and blame, success and defeat - produce suf-
fering if we cannot face them with equanim ity: that is, w ith-
out the em otional response o f attachment or aversion, which
conditions us to crave or avoid such experiences the next
time. In “ Believing in Mind,” Seng-tsan, the Third Patriarch
o f Zen, conveys the loss one suffers by getting caught up in
life’s dualities:
The Great Way knows no impediments;
It docs not pick and choose.
When you abandon attachment and aversion
You see it plainly;
Make a thousandth o f an inch distinction,
Heaven and earth spring apart.
I f you want it to appear before your eyes,
Cherish neither “fo r” nor “against.”
To compare what you like with what you dislike,
That is the disease o f the mind.
Then you pass over the hidden meaning;
Peace o f mind is needlessly troubled.
The “ hidden meaning,” o f things as they really are, lies
beyond dualistic experience, w aiting to be discovered by
those who can travel upstream against conditioning (218).
The last two verses o f this chapter, which bring in the con-
cept o f reincarnation, were the kind that the Buddha might
have spoken to som e village skeptic - som eone wanting a
guarantee that if he took to the Noble Eightfold Path and
failed to attain nirvana, his effort would not go to waste. The
Buddha likens his good deeds and spiritual practices to close
relatives; just as his near ones wait to welcom e him back from
a long journey, his good deeds wait, and after deaths long
journey, they reward him with a splendid context for his next
life (2 19 -2 2 0 ). I f he does not get far on the path in this life, the
quest is sim ply suspended until he takes it up again in a new
context: with conditions more suitable than his present ones,
but otherw ise exactly where he left off.
- S . R .
1 6 o: Pleasure
209 Don’t run after pleasure and neglect the practice
o f m editation. I f you forget the goal o f life and
get caught in the pleasures o f the world, you will
come to envy those who put meditation first.
210 N ot seeing what is pleasant brings pain; seeing
what is unpleasant brings pain. Therefore go beyond
both pleasure and pain.
211 Don’t get selfishly attached to anything, for
tryin g to hold on to it will bring you pain. W hen
you have neither likes nor dislikes, you will be free.
212 Selfish attachment brings suffering; selfish
attachment brings fear. Be detached, and you will
be free from suffering and fear.
21 * Selfish bonds cause grief; selfish bonds cause fear.
Be unselfish, and you will he free from g r ie f and fear.
214 Selfish enjoym ents lead to frustration; selfish
enjoym ents lead to fear. Be unselfish, and you will
he free from frustration and fear.
215 Selfish desires give rise to anxiety; selfish desires
give rise to fear. Be unselfish, and you w ill be free
from anxiety and fear.
216C ravin g brings pain; craving brings fear. Don’t yield
to cravings, and you will be free from pain and fear.
217 Those who have character and discrim ination,
who are honest and good and follow the dharm a
with devotion, win the respect o f all the world.
218 I f you long to know what is hard to know and
can resist the tem ptations o f the world, you will
cross the river o f life.
219-220 your fam ily and friends receive you with jo y
when you return from a long journey, so w ill your
good deeds receive you when you go from this life to
the next, where they will be w aiting for you with jo y
like yo u r kinsm en.
C H A P T E R S E V E N T E E N
0: Anger
T h e B U D D H A I S not am ong those who
praise “righteous indignation.” W hen he exhorts us to give
up anger, he docs not list under w hat specific conditions
this should be done: it should sim ply be given up, and that
is all. His concern is with mental states, and since an angry
m ind is out o f control, the Buddha naturally counsels against
it. Even i f getting an gry gives a sense o f trium ph or seem s to
ease pent-up tensions, anger is linked with duhkha, suffering.
Free y o u rself from anger, the Buddha says, and duhkha can -
not touch you (221). Since freedom from duhkha is the goal
o f his entire teaching, he puts a high priority on the conquest
o f anger.
M ahatm a G an d h i offers his own exam ple o f how the
en ergy dissipated in anger can be conserved and harnessed
for a selfless goal:
I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme les-
son to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is trans-
muted into energy, even so our anger controlled can
be transmuted into a power which can m ove the world.
Anger is controlled b y “ non-anger,” here translated as gen -
tleness or com passion (223). I f a person is 011 the point o f
an angry outburst, the Buddha expects him to try to brake
it, just as a driver would brake a fast-m oving chariot (222).
But a more practical solution is not to let anger arise. A s a
suprem e physician, the Buddha takes a preventive approach.
In the same w ay that anger becom es part o f personality by
indulging on es tem per over and over and over, anger can be
rem oved from personality by cultivating gentleness, com pas-
sion, and patience, all o f which are part o f what “ non-anger”
means. The complete absence o f anger, resentment, and hos-
tility, then, is not a negative state o f repression; it is a v e ry p o s-
itive state, as G andhi implies, and full o f power.
N on-anger begins with right conduct, the control o f one’s
b od y and actions - for example, not striking another person
out o f anger. Simultaneously, though generally with greater
difficulty, one strives for right speech, never uttering harsh
w ords (232). But most difficult is elim inating anger from
the mind. When one has finally ceased even to think angry
thoughts, even in sleep, anger has been erased completely.
W hat rem ains is the U nconditioned: consciousness in its nat-
ural state.
In the context o f a com prehensive spiritual program with
a supreme goal, this kind o f discipline is not repression. Psy-
chologists rightly caution that repression o f anger can have
disastrous physical and em otional consequences. On the
Eightfold Path, however, wc arc not asked to repress anger
but to learn to channel its raw pow er before it explodes in an
outburst o f destructive behavior, draw ing on that pow er for
spiritual growth.
Alw ays a pragm atist, the Buddha even goes to the extent o f
saying that he would welcom e an outburst o f anger if it really
could help bring an end to suffering. It is precisely because
it docs not help end suffering that he urges us to curb anger
at its source. The Zen poet Han-shan o f Tang dynasty China
said:
Anger is fire in the mind
Burning up the forest o f your merits and blessings.
If you want to w alk in the path o f the bodhisattvas,
Endure insults and guard your mind against anger.
M astery o f the practice o f non-anger thus ends in the
precious capacity to return love for abuse, an ideal o f all the
w orld ’s m ajor religions.
- S . R .
i j o: Anger
221 G ive up anger, give up pride, and free y o u rself
from w orldly bondage. No sorrow can befall
those w ho never try to possess people and things
as their own.
222 Those who hold back rising anger like a rolling
chariot arc real charioteers. Others m erely hold the
reins.
22i C onquer anger through gentleness, unkindncss
through kindness, greed through generosity, and
falsehood by truth. 224Be truthful; do not yield to
anger. G ive freely, even i f you have but little. The gods
w ill bless you.
22S Injuring no one, self-controlled, the wise enter the
state o f peace beyond all sorrow. 226 Those who are
vigilant, who train their m inds day and night and
strive continually for nirvana, enter the state o f peace
beyond all selfish passions.
227 There is an old saying: “ People will blame you
i f you say too much; they w ill blame you i f you
say too little; they w ill blame you i f you say just
enough.” No one in this world escapes blame.
228 There never w as and never will be anyone who
receives all praise or all blame. 229-2J0But who
can blam e those who are pure, wise, good, and
meditative? They shine like a coin o f pure gold. Even
the gods praise them, even Brahm a the Creator.
2,1 Use your b od y for doing good, not for harm. Train
it to follow the d h a rm a .2,2 Use your tongue for doing
good, not for harm . Train it to speak kindly. 2 ,,Use
your m ind for doing good, not for harm . Train your
mind in lo v e .2,4 The wise are disciplined in body,
speech, and mind. They are well controlled indeed.
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C H A P T E R E I G H T E E N
0! Impurity
T h e b r i l l i a n t t h e r a v a d a co m -
mentator Buddhaghosa, in a precise, detailed w ork called 7 he
Path o f Purification ( X X I I . 6 1 ) , specifies three basic kinds o f
im purity: greed, hatred, and infatuation. “ They are known
as impurities,” he explains, “ because they are dirty them -
selves, like oil and mud, and because they d irty other things.”
Because personality is a process, an im purity spreads, cor-
rupting other traits little by little.
The Buddha’s exam ples elucidate this idea further. The
b od y loses health when it does not get enough exercise; there-
fore indolence is an im purity in physical health. A house dete-
riorates when one does not take care o f it; carelessness ruins
the w ork o f a watchm an; stingy reservations taint even a lav-
ish gift (2 4 1-2 4 2 ). An impurity, in other words, is any habit,
mistake, or foible that corrodes or coarsens som ething good.
Gradually, through the continual production o f unfavorable
karm a, it eats away at personality as a spot o f rust corrodes a
piece o f iron (240). The worst o f all such taints is ignorance,
because it prevents us from seeing other im purities that con -
sume us from within (243).
As always, the Buddha contrasts the consequences o f two
opposite choices. I f we do nothing to remove im purities from
our character, the habits they foster w ill grow stronger. Even-
tually they cannot help outstripping o u r will, so that we have
no protection against serious lapses o f judgm ent which will
gradually drain us o f vitality and health (24 6-24 8). Rather
than face death in such a condition, the Buddha exhorts us,
it is better to strive to rem ove im purities little b y little every
day, as a smith gradually rem oves the dross from silver (239).
Once free from all im purities, we are an island unto ourselves,
beyond the reach o f corrosion.
The key concept here is ashrava, translated as “com pul-
sion” in verse 253. Its literal meaning, “outflow,” suggests a
com pulsive, only partially conscious seepage o f vitality and
mental energy into external desires and activities. Like tooth-
paste squeezed inadvertently from a tube, energy drained by
an ashrava has nowhere to go but out; it is com pletely wasted.
The exam ple given here is focusing com pulsively on anoth-
er’s faults and becom ing angered by them - an activity which
consum es a good deal o f energy but accom plishes nothing.
O ther exam ples m ight be any com pulsive habit or strong,
obsessive desire.
But ashrava has another connotation, for the word also
refers to an intoxicating beverage extracted from flowers or
trees. On his tours through village India, the Buddha must
have becom e fam iliar with the w ay in which coconut milk is
hung out in pots from the trees to ferment, producing a toddy
that m any villagers still drin k after a hard day in the fields.
A lw ays alive to the range o f experience in his audience, the
Buddha m ay have had this connotation in mind when he
chose the w ord ashrava to describe the genesis o f an impure
mental state, which goes on ferm enting in consciousness and
transform ing more and more o f the mind. Resentment and
fixation on others’ faults is a perfect exam ple o f how a heady
ashrava can brew in the unconscious until a person reels
under its influence, losing control w henever a situation or
person provokes him . Practice o f right speech and right con -
duct arc essential steps in stopping this ferm enting process.
- S . R .
18 D: Impurity
235 You are like a withered leaf, w aiting for the
m essenger o f death. You are about to go on a long
journey, but you arc so unprepared. 236 Light the
lamp within; strive hard to attain w isdom . Becom e
pure and innocent, and live in the world o f light.
237 Your life has com c to an end, and you arc in the
presence o f death. Ihere is no place to rest on this
journey, and you are so unprepared. 238 Light the lamp
w ithin; strive hard to attain w isdom . Becom e pure and
innocent, and you w ill be free from birth and death.
239 M ake your m ind pure as a silversm ith blows
away the im purities o f silver, little by little, instant
b y in sta n t.240 A s rust consum es the iron which
breeds it, evil deeds consum e those who do them.
241 The mantram is w eak when not repeated;
a house falls into ruin when not repaired; the
body loses health when it is not exercised;
the watchm an fails when vigilance is lost.
242 Lack o f m odesty is a draw back in w om en; lack
o f generosity taints those who g iv e .241 Selfish deeds
are without merit here and hereafter. But there
is no im purity greater than ignorance. Rem ove
that through w isdom and you will be pure.
244 Life seem s easy for one without shame, no better
than a crow, a m ischief-m aker who is insolent and
dissolute. 245 Life is hard for one who is humble,
gentle, and detached, who tries to live in purity.
246 They dig their own graves who kill, lie, get drunk,
or covet the wealth or spouse o f another. 247 Those who
drink to intoxication are digging up their own roots.
248 A n y indiscipline brings evil in its wake. Know this,
and do not let greed and vice bring you lingering pain.
249 Som e give out o f faith, others out o f friendship.
Do not en vy others for the gifts they receive, or
you will have no peace o f m ind by day or night.
“ "T h ose who have destroyed the roots o f jealou sy
have peace o f m ind always.
251 There is no fire like lust, no jailer like hate,
no snare like infatuation, no torrent like greed.
252 It is easy to see the faults o f others; we winnow
them like chaff. It is hard to see our own; we
hide them as a gam bler hides a losing draw.
2S} But when one keeps dwelling on the faults
o f others, his own com pulsions grow worse,
m aking it harder to overcom e them.
254 There is no path in the sky; there is no
refuge in the world for those driven by their
desires. But the disciples o f the Buddha live in
freedom . 255 There is no path in the sky; there
is no refuge in the world for those driven by
their desires. All is change in the world, but the
disciples o f the Buddha are never shaken.
C H A P T E R N I N E T E E N
0! Established in Dharma
T h e s u b j e c t O F this chapter is the per-
son whose life has becom e established in dharm a. But the
w ord here has a fuller connotation than the Buddhas Eight-
fold Path, for dharm a w as an ancient concept in India even
when the Buddha was born. The word probably com es from
the root d h ri, “to support.” Volum es have been written on
the different m eanings it has acquired, but from a practical
standpoint the core m eaning is sim ply “that which supports.”
D harm a is the very underpinning o f existence, the underlying
unity o f life, the essential support o f all; it stands for the cos-
mic order - the order o f an indivisible whole - and therefore
for the moral order in human life, and so it also m eans “ law ”
in the sense o f a central law o f creation. When the Buddha
saw the w orkings o f dharm a in his cosm ic ecstasy under the
bodhi tree, he chose this w ord to describe the goal o f human
life: not Self-realization or union with G od, but sim ply living
in complete harm ony with life’s cosm ic interdependence. In
this chapter he describes the person who lives a life nourished
by the dharm a, as well as the one w ho flouts it.
M any verses reiterate that living in harm ony with dharm a
has nothing to do with external appearances or social p o si-
tion. A person w ho speaks on the dharm a with eloquence and
conviction is not necessarily established in it (258-259); even
a m onk or bhikshu should not be considered established in
dharm a by virtue o f vows alone (264, 266). Similarly, a thera
or elder does not earn this title just by the graying o f his hair
(260). The true follow er o f the dharm a is that person w ho has
passed beyond the reach o f good and evil (267): that is, who
110 longer has to deliberate between right and w rong; har-
m ony with the dharm a is as natural and necessary as breath-
ing. A n d i f one is tru ly an elder, conduct w ill surely show it,
for such a person will be free from all im purity (261). The
Buddha despised any religious authority due solely to p o si-
tion, particularly i f the person w as corrupt. For him, author-
ity emanated o nly from true spiritual attainment.
The B uddhas qualifications for an upholder o f dharm a
are given in verse 259. One need not preach the dharm a elo-
quently nor even hear it preached often. What is im portant is
that meditation be deep enough to see d harm as cosm ic order
and align on es conduct with it. This is a v ery rare attainment,
for it means that self-will - the insistent urge to pursue o n es
own desires instead o f living for the whole - has to be extin -
guished. For the Buddha, however, nothing could substitute
for the direct experience o f meditation. “ D o not accept som e-
thing m erely from tradition or out o f blind faith ” he says. “ Do
not accept it even on the w ord o f yo u r teacher. Ehi passika:
go and see for yourself, through the practice o f meditation.”
To be established in dharm a m eans not only seeing it face to
face in enlightenment, but repeating the experience over and
over until unity is m ore real than the passing show wc know
through the senses. O nly then will one’s actions never fall
back into the tyranny o f lower laws (364).
A person w ho understands the reason behind a law is
more likely to obey it intelligently than som eone who is sim -
ply ordered to obey. Sim ilarly, the person w ho sees life inter-
dependently linked in dharm a’s cosm ic web w ill know exactly
w h y controlling selfish urges is essential in conduct; there will
be no need to take som eone clscs word for it. It is through
direct, intimate, personal know ledge o f dharm a, rather than
a high moral code or social pressure, that selfless, righteous
actions arise.
- S . R .
19 d; Established in Dharma
256 257 They are not following dharm a who resort to
violence to achieve their purpose. But those who lead
others through nonviolent m eans, know ing right
and wrong, may be called guardians o f the dharm a.
258 One is not w ise because he talks a good deal. They
are wise who arc patient, and free from hate and fear.
259 D harm a is not upheld by talking about
it. D harm a is upheld by living in harm ony
with it, even i f one is not learned.
260 G ray hair does not make an elder; one can grow
old and still be im m a tu re .261A true elder is truthful,
virtuous, gentle, self-controlled, and pure in m ind.
262 N either pleasant w ords nor a pretty face can
make beautiful a person w ho is jealous, selfish, or
d e c e itfu l.261 O nly those who have uprooted such
im purities from the m ind are fit to be called beautiful.
264 Shaving o n es head cannot make a m onk o f
one who is undisciplined, untruthful, and driven
by selfish desires. 265 l i e is a real m onk who has
extinguished all selfish desires, large and small.
266 Begging alm s does not make a bhikshu; one must
follow the dharm a completely. 267 He is a true bhikshu
who is chaste and beyond the reach o f good and evil,
who passes through the w orld with detachment.
268-269 O bserving silence cannot make a sage o f one
who is ignorant and immature. li e is wise who,
holding the scales, chooses the good and avoids
the bad.
270 One is not noble who injures living creatures.
They arc noble who hurt no one.
271-272 N ot by rituals and resolutions, nor by much
learning, nor by celibacy, nor even by meditation
can you find the supreme, im m ortal jo y o f nirvana
until you have extinguished your self-will.
C H A P T E R T W E N T Y
D : The Path
T h e B U D D H I S T P A L I canon is several
tim es as long as the Old and N ew Testaments com bined, yet
not even a fraction o f this literature directly deals with the
steps o f the Buddhas Eightfold Path. Instead there is much
discussion o f insights attained on that path, and the p h ilo -
sophical doctrines derived from those insights - so much, in
fact, that the reader o f Buddhist scriptures might tend to for-
get that the actual practice o f the Eightfold Path w as the B u d -
dhas central teaching. It is, he assures us, the same path that
he h im self traveled to reach the end o f suffering (275). Had it
not been practiced and mastered, b y him and m any others,
there would have been no one to make the dazzling insights
o fla ter Buddhist philosophy.
One o f the reasons so little is said about the Eightfold Path
is the highly intellectual bent o f m any Buddhist thinkers,
who might have found matters like right occupation rather
m undane. A nother explanation m ay be the fact that until
very recent tim es, practical spiritual instruction in India has
always been oral, direct from teacher to student, so that in any
case we should not expect to find written instruction in the
Eightfold Path. W hatever the explanation, the Path rem ains
far more im portant than the philosophy. It is, in the Buddha’s
own estim ation, his forem ost gift to m ankind.
That being said, one must also note that three o f the most
philosophically significant verses in the D ham m apada
o ccu r in this chapter. Verses 277 through 279 present the
three m arks or characteristics o f all conditioned things (sam -
skaras): im perm anence (anitya), suffering (du h kh a), and the
absence o f a personal self (anatm an). Right understanding,
the first step on the Eightfold Path, m eans seeing clearly that
such flaws are an inescapable part o f every human experience.
The other seven steps arc there to enable us to build ou r lives
on the only foundation that endures, the dharm a.
- S.R.
20 o: The Path
271 O f paths the Eightfold is the best; o f truths the
Noble Four arc best; o f mental states, detachm ent is
the best; o f human beings the illum ined one is best.
274 This is the path; there is no other that leads to
the purification o f the mind. Follow this path and
conquer Mara. This is the path; there is no other that
leads to the purification o f the m in d .275 This path
w ill lead to the end o f suffering. This is the path I
made know n after the arrow s o f sorrow fell away.
276 All the effort must be made by you; Buddhas
only show the way. Follow this path and practice
meditation; go beyond the pow er o f M ara.
277 A ll created things are transitory; those
w ho realize this are freed from suffering. This
is the path that leads to pure wisdom .
278 All crcatcd beings are involved in sorrow ;
those w ho realize this are freed from suffering.
This is the path that leads to pure wisdom .
279 All states arc without self; those who
realize this arc freed from suffering. This
is the path that leads to pure wisdom .
280 N ow is the tim e to wake up, when you
arc young and strong. Those who wait and
aver, with a weak will and a divided mind,
will never find the w ay to pure wisdom .
281 G uard your thoughts, words, and
deeds. These three disciplines will speed
you along the path to pure wisdom .
282 M editation brings w isdom ; lack o f meditation
leaves ignorance. Know well what leads
you forw ard and what holds you back, and
choose the path that leads to wisdom .
28 J Cut down the whole forest o f selfish desires,
not just one tree only. Cut down the whole forest
and you w ill be on you r w ay to liberation.
284 I f there is any trace o f lust in yo u r m ind, you
are bound to life like a suckling c a lf to its mother.
285 Pull out every selfish desire as you would an
autumn lotus with yo u r hand. Follow the path
to nirvana with a guide w ho know s the way.
286“ I will make this my w inter home, have
another house for the monsoon, and dwell
in a third during the summer.” Lost in such
fancies, one forgets his final destination.
287Death com es and carries o ff a man absorbed
in his fam ily and possessions as the m onsoon
flood sweeps away a sleeping village.
288 N either children nor parents can rescue one
whom death has seized. 289 Rem em ber this, and
follow without delay the path that leads to nirvana.
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C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - O N E
0! Varied Verses
T h e o p e n i n g v e r s e o f this chapter
gives the entire theme o f the Dham m apada. Its message is not
confined to ancient India, nor docs it end with the Buddha’s
times, because it em bodies his pragm atic spirit:
It* one who enjoys a lesser happiness beholds a greater one,
let him leave aside the lesser to gain the greater.
G row in g up in luxury, with the opportunity to taste all
life’s pleasures, the Buddha does not deny that they can bring
a m easure o f transient happiness. But faced with the choice
between such a small happiness and the vastly greater h ap-
piness o f an intentional life and a w ell-trained m ind, he says,
any intelligent human being w ould forsake the lesser to enjoy
the greater. The rest o f the D ham m apada only elaborates this
choice and helps us choose with w isdom and full resolve.
The last six verses o f this otherw ise m iscellaneous chapter
are some o f the most lyrical in the D ham m apada. They give
a m em orable picture o f the “greater happiness” o f those who
follow the Noble Eightfold Path:
I h e disciples o f Gautama are wide awake and vigilant,
absorbed in the dharm a day and night.
The disciples o f Gautam a are wide awake and vigilant,
rejoicing in compassion day and night.
'Ihe disciples o f Gautama arc wide awake and vigilant,
rejoicing in meditation day and night. (297, 3 0 0 -3 0 1)
To the Western reader, nothing could be more rem iniscent
o f the joyfu l brotherhood o f the early disciples o f St. Francis.
- S . R .
2i D: Varied Verses
290 I f one who enjoys a lesser happiness beholds a
greater one, let him leave aside the lesser to gain
the greater.
291 Don’t try to build you r happiness on the
unhappiness o f others. You w ill be enm eshed in
a net o f hatred.
292 D o not fail to do what ought to be done, and do not
do what ought not to be done. O therw ise y o u r burden
o f suffering will grow heavier. 293 Those w ho meditate
and keep their senses under control never fail to do
what ought to be done, and never do what ought not
to be done. Their suffering w ill come to an end.
294 Kill m other lust and father self-will, kill the
kings o f carnal passions, and you w ill be freed
from sin. 295 The true brahm in has killed m other
lust and father self-w ill; he has killed the kings
o f carnal passions and the ego that obstructs
him on the path. Such a one is freed from sin.
296 The disciples o f Gautam a arc wide awake and
vigilant, with their thoughts focused on the Buddha
day and night.
297 The disciplcs o f Gautam a arc wide awake and
vigilant, absorbed in the dharm a day and night.
298 Tlie disciples o f Gautam a are wide awake and
vigilant, with their thoughts focused on the sangha
day and night.
299 The disciples o f Gautam a are wide awake and
vigilant, with their thoughts focused on sense-
training day and night.
300 The disciples o f Gautam a are wide awake and
vigilant, rejoicing in com passion day and night.
301 The disciples o f Gautam a are wide awake and
vigilant, rejoicing in meditation day and night.
102 It is hard to leave the world and hard to
live in it, painful to live with the w orld ly and
painful to be a wanderer. Reach the goal;
you will wander and suffer no more.
301 Those who arc good and pure in conduct arc
honored w herever they go. 304 The good shine like
the Him alayas, whose peaks glisten above the
rest o f the world even when seen from a distance.
Others pass unseen, like an arrow shot at night.
305 Sitting alone, sleeping alone, going about alone,
vanquish the ego by y o u rself alone. A biding jo y
will be yours when all selfish desires end.
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C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - T W O
0: The Downward Course
T h e t o r m e n t s O F hell have exer-
cised a strong hold over orthodox believers in all religions.
Buddhism , which alludes to hell often, is no exception, and
the descriptions in some o f the later scriptures are gruesom e
enough to rival any o f the horrors fam iliar in the Christian
tradition. The one difference is that in Buddhism the sinner
docs not go to eternal dam nation. Perhaps the only fortunate
thing about the Buddha’s concept o f im perm anence is that it
extends to all states: hell, like heaven, is not lasting. A person
rem ains there, suffering intensely, only until the unfavorable
karm a from past evil deeds is exhausted. Then that person is
reborn again on earth, with a fresh opportunity to learn that
actions which harm life contain the seeds o f their own p u n -
ishment. I Iell in Buddhism really is educative, not vengeful,
and it is not the sentence o f a wrathful deity but the natural,
unavoidable result o f actions that violate dharm a. Suffering
drives home the lesson that certain ways o f living bring pain
to o n eself as well as to others, because life is an indivisible
whole; after that lesson, one gets the opportunity to correct
one’s direction in a new life.
Hell, in other words, em bodies and intensifies the truth o f
duhkha. For som eone who understands that a life prompted
by selfish conditioning has to involve duhkha, suffering is
inherent in any experience conditioned by karm a. Such a p er-
son is more sensitive to the nature o f life than the m ajority
w ho believe that pleasure can be pursued without pain, and
that very sensitivity means greater responsibility and greater
anguish i f one slips. For som eone committed to the spiritual
life, the pain o f having com m itted a serious mistake can be
so excruciating that it is hell here on earth; no reference to
another world is necessary. A s in the case o f som eone who
com m its adultery (30 9 -310 ), suffering need not o ccu r in the
punishm ent o f som e afterlife; it creates its own hell in the
m inds o f those involved.
The real significance o fh e ll is th at it is a m e n ta l state caused
by th e c o n te n t o f a p e r s o n ’s ow n t h o u g h t s a n d actions. W rong
a ction s b r in g th e ir ow n p u n is h m e n t, w h e th e r from w ithin
o r from w ithout, or, m o s t tragically, by d a m a g in g o n e ’s h a r d -
won spiritual progress.
“The m i n d is its ow n place,” M ilton says in P aradise Lost,
“a n d in itself / C a n m a k e a heaven o f h e ll o r hell o f heaven.” In
an a n c ie n t In d ia n story, a kin g called V ipashchit b r e a th e d his
last and jo u r n e y e d to th e afterlife. l i e h a d been suc h a kind
ruler, a m o d e l for all kings, th a t th e devas in heaven were all
anxious to set him up as their teacher and guide. When he
reached his destination, he w as welcom ed with sm iles and
em braces and even tears o f gratitude.
Som e time passed, and Vipashchit settled down in sat-
isfaction to his new life. I leaven, he remarked to one o f his
new com panions, w as a happier place than even he had ever
dream ed it could be. “ H eaven?” the man replied. “ This isn’t
heaven, you r majesty! This is hell. The people here are m iser-
able. But in your presence their suffering turns to joy.”
Just then some heavenly m essengers arrived with abject
apologies; a terrible mistake had been made. “All o f us in
Heaven are waiting for you, O Great King,” they said.
Vipashchit looked around and smiled. “ 1 am staying here,”
he replied. “ I have already found my heaven.”
The mental state is param ount; it can make life hell or
heaven whatever the surroundings. Ih e kind o f experience
one undergoes depends on the choices one makes. A s always,
the Buddha leaves this up to each individual.
- S . R .
22 d; The Downward Course
306One who says what is not true, one who denies
what he has done, both choose the downward course.
A fter death these two becom e partners in falsehood.
307 Those who put on the saffron robe but remain
ill-m annered and undisciplined arc dragged
down by their evil deeds. 308 It is better for an
undisciplined m onk to sw allow a red-hot ball o f
iron than to live on the charity o f the devout.
309 A dultery leads to loss o f merit, loss o f sleep,
condem nation, and increasing s u ffe rin g .310On
this downward course, what pleasure can there
be for the frightened lying in the arm s o f the
frightened, both going in fear o f punishm ent?
Therefore do not com m it adultery.
311 A s a blade o f kusha grass can cut the finger when
it is w rongly held, asceticism practiced without
discrim ination can send one on the dow nw ard course.
112 An act perform ed carelessly, a vow not kept,
a code o f chastity not strictly observed: these
things bring little r e w a r d .313 I f anything is worth
doing, do it with all you r heart. A half-hearted
ascetic covers h im self with more and more dust.
314 Refrain from evil deeds, which cause suffering later.
Perform good deeds, which can cause no suffering.
315 Guard yo u rself well, both within and without,
like a well-defended fort. Don’t waste a moment, for
wasted m om ents send you on the downward course.
316 Those who are ashamed o f deeds they
should not be asham ed of, and not ashamed
o f deeds they should be asham ed of, follow
false doctrines on the downward course.
317 Those who fear what they ought not to fear,
and do not fear what they ought to fear, follow
false doctrines on the downward course.
118 Those who see w rong where there is none,
and do not see w rong where there is, follow
false doctrines on the downward course.
119 But those who see w ron g where there is
wrong, and sec no w rong where there is none,
follow true doctrines on the upward course.
C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - T H R E E
0: The Elephant
T h r o u g h o u t I n d i a n s c rip tu re and
folklore, the elephant ranks first am ong all anim als in im por-
tance. A n d no w onder: for m any centuries, the Indian p eo -
ple had trained elephants to lift and transport burdens much
heavier than the human being or any other draft anim al could
manage, as they still do today in the Indian tim ber industry.
The trained elephant, highly intelligent and fiercely loyal, also
played a decisive role on the battlefield, and from the time o f
the Buddha onw ards they were considered the most im por-
tant division o f an Indian army.
In this chapter the Buddha plays o ff danta, “ trained” or
“self-restrained,” with danti> one o f the com m on names for
the elephant. With its strength, endurance, gentleness, and
rem arkable restraint, the elephant has long sym bolized to
the Indian mind the enorm ous pow er locked up within every
hum an being. Just as an elephant can uproot a tree, wrap its
trunk around it, and carry it like a toy, the hum an being, the
Buddha says, can gain access to im m ense resources o f health,
energy, patience, and pow er through the disciplines o f the
Eightfold Path. The Buddha h im sclfw as called “the Great E le-
phant.” By taking the analogy o f the trained elephant, whose
im m ense pow er has been transform ed into loving human
service, he m anages to convey to his Indian audience both the
difficulty and the rew ards o f spiritual discipline.
- S . R .
2 3 o: The Elephant
320 Patiently I shall bear harsh w ords as the
elephant bears arrow s on the battlefield. People
arc often inconsiderate.
321 O nly a trained elephant goes to the battlefield;
only a trained elephant carries the king. Best
am ong men arc those who have trained the
mind to endure harsh w ords patiently.
322 M ules arc good anim als when trained; even better
arc w ell-trained Sind horses and great elephants.
Best am ong men is one with a w ell-trained mind.
323 No anim al can take you to nirvana; only a well-
trained m ind can lead you to this untrodden land.
124 The elephant Dhanapalaka in heat w ill not eat
at all when he is bound; he pines for his mate in the
elephant grove.
125 Eating too much, sleeping too much, like an
overfed hog, those too lazy to exert effort arc born
again and again.
126 Long ago m y m ind used to w ander as it liked and
do what it wanted. N ow I can rule m y m ind as the
mahout controls the elephant with his hooked staff.
327 Be vigilant; guard your m ind against negative
thoughts. Pull y o u rself out o f bad ways as an elephant
raises itself out o f the mud.
128 I f you find a friend who is good, wise, and loving,
walk with him all the way and overcom e all dangers.
329 I f you cannot find a friend who is good, wise, and
loving, w alk alone, like a king who has renounced
his kingdom or an elephant roam ing at will in the
forest. 330 It is better to be alone than to live with
the immature. Be contented, and w alk alone like an
elephant roam ing in the forest. Turn aw ay from evil.
1.1 It is good to have friends when friendship is
mutual. G o o d deeds are friends at the time o f
death. But best o f all is going beyond sorrow.
1.2 It is good to be a mother, good to be a father,
good to be one who follows the dharm a. But best
o f all is to be an illum ined sage.
1,1 It is good to live in virtue, good to have faith,
good to attain the highest w isdom , good to be pure
in heart and mind. Joy will be yours always.
Copyrighted material
C H A P T E R T W E N T Y - F O U R
D : Thirst
I t h a s B E E N said that Buddhism is
essentially a psych ology o f desire. The second Noble Truth
proclaim s selfish desire or craving as the cause o f all the suf-
fering in life, and its im portance in Buddhist thought is evi-
dent in the fact that the Buddha uses at least fifteen terms for
it. The c h ief o f these is trishna, which literally m eans “ thirst.” It
is an apt w ord, for in a tropical country like India, the intense
craving for water on a scorching, d ry day makes a vivid m eta-
phor for the fiercest o f human drives.
Trishna is that force w hich drives all creatures to seek per-
sonal satisfaction o f their urges at any cost, even at the expense
o f others. It is the deadliest and subtlest o f snares because its
gratification alm ost always brings a surge o f satisfaction, rein-
forcing the com pulsion to act on that desire again. It is only
later that the consequences o f pu rsuing self-centered desires
begin to burn like coals sm oldering under the ashes (71).
A n y action undertaken for personal aggrandizem ent, any
human activity or institution that prom otes one person or
group at the expense o f any other, the Buddha would trace to
the root cause o f selfish desire. A s often, the determ ining fac-
tor is the mental state behind the activity - the motivation o f
profit, power, pleasure, prestige, possession - even more than
the activity itself.
In Buddhist psychology, each desire is an isolated m om ent
o f mental activity - a d h a rm a , in the Buddhist’s technical
vocabulary - rising up in the mind. It can be ignored, or one
can choose to yield to it. If one yields, the next wave o f desire
w ill have greater pow er to com pel attention, and the mental
agitation it causes will be more intense. On the other hand,
i f one chooses to defy a strong desire, the pain can be con -
siderable. “ K now me to be the pow er called Thirst,” Trishna
dem ands o f the Buddha on the eve o f his enlightenment, “and
give me my due o f worship. O therw ise I will squeeze you with
all my might and w rin g out the last o f your life!” However, if
one succeeds in not giving in to selfish desires as they arise,
the m ind grad ually quiets down, leaving a longer and longer
interval between waves o f desire in which the mind is calm.
This calm ness is our natural birthright, a state beyond the su f-
fering entangled w ith desire. A ll the Buddhas teachings come
round to this one practical point: to find perm anent joy, we
have to learn how not to yield to selfish desire.
This conclusion is so contrary to hum an nature that it is
not surprising to hear even experts m aintain that in preach-
ing the extinction o f desire, the Buddha w as denying evcry-
thing that m akes life w orth living. But trishna does not mean
all desire; it m eans selfish desire, the conditioned craving for
self-aggrandizem ent. Far from denigrating desire, the B u d -
dha knew it is the pow er o f desire that fuels progress on the
Noble Eightfold Path. He distinguishes raw, unregulated, self-
directed trishna from the unselfish and uplifting desire to d is-
solve ones egotism in selfless service o f all. The person who
makes no effort to go against the base craving for personal
satisfaction is headed for more bondage and more sorrow
(349)5 but he can transform such cravings into virya, vigor,
which is intense desire directed toward spiritual growth:
If, while holding on to concentration and one-pointedness
o f m ind, one emphasizes desire, that is concentration o f
desire. One generates desire for the non-arising o f unwhole-
some states that have not yet arisen; he puts forth effort and
mobilizes e n e rg y .. . . He generates desire for the arising
o f wholesome states that have not yet arisen; he puts forth
effort and mobilizes energy. (Samyutta Nikaya v.268)
Therefore, mobilize vigor to attain vvhal is unattained, to
master what is unmastered, to realize what is unrealized. In
this way your taking to the spiritual life will not be barren,
but fruitful and ever-growing. (Samyutta Nikaya 11.29)
How could such intense effort be made without desire?
Spiritual dynam ics is not a matter o f crushing base desires but
o f transform ing them, draw ing on their pow er to master the
Eightfold Path.
The B u d d h a divides trish n a in to th re e categories:
It is selfish desire, bound up with passion and greed, which
produces separate existence and leads to future births, and
which keeps lingering pleasurably here and there: that is,
the desire for sense pleasure (kama-trishna), the desire for
birth in a world o f separateness (bhava-trishna), and the
desire for extinction (vibhava-trishna).
(Samyutta Nikaya V.421J
The most obvious o f these, o f course, is the craving for
sense pleasure, which the Buddha explains as the force o f
desire attaching itself to objects in the external w orld (341).
A n y craving for an experience that one thinks will add to
personal pleasure, com fort, or happiness is an expression o f
kam a-trishna, w hose soft bonds to objects o f sensory satisfac-
tion arc stronger than iron chains or fetters o f w ood or rope
(345). Even o f him self, the Buddha says that if he had had to
contend with another desire as strong as that o f sex - the most
pow erful expression o f kam a-trishna - then he would not
have been able to achieve his goal. M ara is the personification
o f the strong hold such desires have (7).
The o t h e r two k in d s o f craving are o p p o s in g drives deep
in th e h u m a n unconscious: b h a v a -trish n a , to w a rd existence
as a separate creature; v ib h a v a -tris h n a , to w a rd e x tin g u is h
ing th a t existence. B hava-trish n a is th e urge to go o n u p h o l d
ing a n d s tr e n g th e n in g on e’s individuality, in p u r s u it n o t only
o f wealth, fame, and pow er but also o f beliefs, opinions, and
dogm as.
With virtually everyone driven by the craving for personal
aggrandizem ent and sensory satisfaction, it is obvious that
there will be clashes as egos collide. The Buddha would trace
every conflict, even war, back to these basic selfish drives,
occasionally couched in self-righteous language or elevated
into national or corporate policies. This is another reason the
Buddha m aintained that peace is best served by individ u -
als taking in earnest to his Eightfold Path. The m ore people
there arc who understand the ccntral role that selfish desire
plays in hum an m otivation and behavior, the more intelli-
gently its disastrous effects can be mitigated. A deeper and
fuller knowledge o f ones own inner dynam ics o f desire helps
in developing right understanding o f w orld conflicts.
The Buddha takes the thirst for personal aggrandize-
ment even beyond the international sphere. Trishna has no
self-lim iting principle; the more it is fed, the higher it w ill
flame. It cannot be term inated just by satisfying the desires
o f one lifetime. According to the Tibetan B o ok o f the Dead,
these desires remain in consciousness at death. Because o f
their power, they condition the choice o f a new context for
another life, where satisfaction o f the same desires w ill again
be pursued. A s long as it rem ains in consciousness, the m as-
ter desire for more w orldly experience w ill go on generating
more desires, even i f som e o f them seem to he brought under
control. Like a m onkey sw inging from tree to tree in the for-
est, the Buddha says, desires keep us leaping from life to life
pursuing ever-elusive satisfaction (334). In other discourses
he personifies the deep desire for separate satisfaction as an
enterprising seamstress, sew ing one life to another and still
another with her endless supply o f desires.
'Ihe third kind o f selfish desire, vibhava-trishna, is the crav-
ing to end existence, the very opposite o f the drive to go on
experiencing and self-building. But this is far from the desire
for nirvana, the release from the cycle o f birth and death. N ir-
vana is release from trishna itself, from the torment and con -
ditioning o f selfish desire; its characteristic features are joy,
vitality, good health, and the highest o f all purposes in life,
the desire and capacity to give - all the things that make life
worth living. Vibhava-trishna, by contrast, is the oppressive
desire for self-oblivion or self-destruction, prompted in B ud-
dhist psychology b y the revulsion with life that com es as the
fruits o f selfishness turn rotten or bitter. This self-destructive
urge is often not consciously expressed, but when it does find
expression, it in no wray ends ones separate existence; it only
draws a tem porary cover o f oblivion over the burdens and
stresses o f selfish behavior. A person who jum ps o ff a bridge
to end his life, the Buddha w ould say, sim ply gets reborn to
face the same desperate situation all over again.
In Buddhist psychology, any activity that is potentially
self-destructive stem s from th e urge for e x tin ctio n. Even
th a t se c o n d d o u b le m a r ti n i in te n d e d to dea d e n th e stra in s o f
th e d a y is an ex am p le o f th e urge to escape o n e se lf for a few
h o u rs. This desire for e x tin c tio n is p r e s e n t in everyone, b u t in
a n o rm a l, h ealthy p e rso n it is held in balance by the desire for
beco m ing .
Verse 353, one o f the m ost fam ous in all Buddhism , shows
that the Buddha was a humble man but not a m odest one. He
is well aware o f the difficulty and significance o f his stupen-
dous accom plishm ents, which he has achieved with no help
apart from his own efforts. Because he had no teacher, some
have claimed that he tried to lessen the bond to the guru so
prized in H induism . C ertain ly he put the greatest o f faith in
self-effort, but that is essential on the spiritual path in any reli-
gion, with a teacher o r without one. A ll o f the stories handed
down in the scriptures show the deep bond the Buddhas own
disciples felt for him as their teacher, and that bond continues
for serious students on all Buddhist paths today.
- S . R .
2 4 D: Thirst
334 The com pulsive urges o f the thoughtless grow
like a creeper. They jum p like a m onkey from one
life to another, looking for fruit in the forest.
335 When these urges drive us, sorrow spreads
like w ild g r a s s .336 C o n q u er these fierce
cravings and sorrow will fall away from you r
life like drops o f water from a lotus leaf.
337 Therefore I say, dig up craving root and all,
as you would uproot birana grass, i f you don’t
want M ara to crush you as the stream crushes
reeds on its banks. 338 A s a tree, though cut down,
recovers and grow s i f its roots are not destroyed,
suffering will com e to you m ore and more i f
these com pulsive urges are not extinguished.
1,9 W herever the thirty-six stream s flow from the
mind toward pleasure, the currents will sweep
that unfortunate person away. 340 The currents
flow everyw here. C reepers o f passion grow
everywhere. W henever you see one grow ing
in your mind, uproot it with w isdom .
341 All human beings are subject to attachment and
thirst for pleasure. H ankering after these, they arc
caught in the cycle o f birth and d e a th .342 D riven
by this thirst, they run about frightened like a
hunted hare, suffering more and m o r e .343 Driven
by this thirst, they run about frightened like a
hunted hare. O vercom e this thirst and be free.
344 Some, i f they manage to come out o f one
forest o f cravings, are driven into another.
Though free, they run into bondage again.
345 Fetters o f wood, rope, or even iron, say the
wise, are not as strong as selfish attachment to
wealth and fa m ily .346 Such fetters drag us down
and are hard to break. Break them by overcom ing
selfish desires, and turn from the w orld o f
sensory pleasure without a backward glance.
147 Like a s p id e r c a u g h t in its ow n web is
a p e r s o n d riv e n by fierce cravings. Break
out o f th e web, a n d t u r n away fro m th e
w orld o f s e n s o ry pleasu re a n d sorrow.
348 I f you w a n t to reach the o t h e r shore o f existence,
give up w hat is before, b e h in d , a n d in betw een. Set
y o u r m in d free, a n d go be y o n d b ir th a n d death.
349 I f you w an t to reach th e o t h e r shore, d o n ’t let
do ub ts, passions, a n d cravings stre n g th e n y o u r fetters.
350 M editate deeply, d isc rim in a te betw e e n th e pleasant
a n d th e p e r m a n e n t , a n d break th e fetters o f Mara.
351 Those w h o are free from fear, thirst, a n d sin
have rem oved all the t h o r n s from t h e ir life. This b o d y
is t h e ir last.
352They are su p re m e ly wise w ho are free from
com pulsive urges a n d a tta c h m e n ts, an d w h o
u n d e r s t a n d w h a t w o rd s really sta n d for. This b o d y
is t h e ir last.
353 1 have c o n q u e r e d m yself a n d live in purity.
I k n o w all. I have left e v e ry th in g b e h in d ,
a n d live in freedom . H aving ta u g h t myself,
to w h o m shall I p o i n t as te a c h er?
,S4 There is n o gift b e tte r th a n th e gift o f the d h a r m a ,
no gift m o re sweet, no gift m o re joyful. It p u ts
an e n d to cravings a n d th e so rro w th ey bring.
jss W ealth h a r m s the greedy, b u t n o t th o se w ho
seek n irv a n a . O f little u n d e r s ta n d in g , th e g reed y
h a r m them selves a n d th o s e a r o u n d th e m .
3S6G re e d r u in s the m in d as w eeds r u in fields.
Therefore h o n o r th o s e w h o arc free from greed.
iS7Lust ru in s the m i n d as weeds ru in fields.
Therefore h o n o r th o se w h o are free from lust.
3S8 H a tr e d r u in s th e m i n d as w eeds ru in fields.
Therefore h o n o r th o se w h o are free from hatred.
,S9 Selfish desires r u in th e m i n d as w eeds ru in fields.
Therefore h o n o r th o se w h o arc free from selfish desire.
Copyrighted material
D : The Bhikshu & The Brahmin
T H E S E C O N C L U D I N G T W O c h a p -
ters d c sc r i h c w h a t m i g h t he called the B u d d h a s spiritual elite:
t h o s e w h o have given up ev er y k i n d o f w o r l d l y a m b i t i o n to
d e di ca t e t h e i r lives c o m p l e t e l y to the E i g h t f o l d P at h. The titles
are r ev eal ing. C h a p t e r 26 is "The B r a h m i n " a r e fe r en ce to
the h ighest , p r ie s t l y caste o f the H i n d u s . Yet the B u d d h a , as
always, j u d g e s a p e r s o n n o t by e x t e r n a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s - bi rt h,
status, r e sp e c t a b i l i t y - b u t by spiritual g r o wt h. " W h o is a true
b r a h m i n ? Th at one I call a b r a h m i n w h o has t r a i n e d the m i n d
to be still and r e a c h e d t he s u p r e m e goal o f life. . . . It is not
m a t t e d h a i r n o r b i r t h t h a t m a k e s a b r a h m i n , b u t t r u t h a nd the
love for all o f life w i t h w h i c h o n e s h e a r t is full" (386,393).
U nl i ke t he b r a h m i n in the H i n d u t r a d i t i o n , w h i c h he
so u gh t to change, the B u d d h a s b r a h m i n clearly o we d n o t h i n g
to f a m i l y or h e r ed i t y ; here "caste" is due solely to success
in f re e in g o n e s e l f f r o m selfish desire (396). This h ig h estate
also s ho ws itself in a p a t i e n c e w h i c h is like an army, h o l d i n g
up agai nst blows, v er ba l abuse, or any o t h e r attack (399). A
b r a h m i n has crossed th e to rre n tia l river o f craving o n ce and
for all. Those w h o have le a rn e d w h a t life has to teach are not
co m p elled by p a st k a r m a to take on a b o d y again.
These criteria clearly apply to householders - the laity - as
readily as to monastics. They are, in principle, within reach
o f anyone w illing to follow the Eightfold Path with complete
dedication. Nevertheless, like the founders o f the great C h ris-
tian m onastic orders, the Buddha understood that in his
time the most suitable environm ent for w orking toward such
attainments w as aw ay from the world, with ties only to others
engaged in the same quest. That is w hy he initiated an order
o f m onks and an order o f nuns, whose ideal is the theme o f
chapter 25.
The Sanskrit name for a Buddhist m onk is bhikshu, from
the root bhiksh> “to beg for alms.” Bhikshus have no set home
and no possessions save robe and begging bowl. They are reli-
gious m endicants who go about from village to village, sub-
sisting on the alm s obtained from generous householders. A
bhikshu docs not verbally beg, but sim ply waits at the door
in silence, and is bound to accept w hatever is given. This was
a prevalent m onastic tradition in the B uddhas time, and it is
still preserved in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.
A s with the B ud dhas use o f the word brahm in, however,
bhikshu here seem s to refer less to a m em ber o f an established
monastic order than to anyone w holeheartedly com m itted to
a life based on spiritual practice. One is a bhikshu, at least in
spirit, who accepts with an equable m ind w hatever life brings,
w ithout basing his response on w hether w hat he receives is
pleasant or unpleasant (365). Such a person lives not to get
but to give. H aving set about undoing all set m olds o f past
conditioning, the ideal bhikshu abides in m aitri, good will
toward all life no matter w hat one’s situation (368). The clear
application o f such verses is not m erely to those who w ear the
saffron-colored robe o f a Buddhist m onk or nun, but to the
spiritual efforts and attainment that are the insignia o f anyone
dedicated to the path o f dharm a.
In the Buddha’s time, with few exceptions, all who seri-
ously aspired to follow in the Buddha’s footsteps becam e
m onks and nuns in his orders, including even his father, King
Shuddhodana, his wife, Yashodara, and his son, Rahula. That
w as the way to live as much as possible in the sight and pres-
ence o f one o f the greatest spiritual figures the world has ever
seen. W herever it has flourished, however, m onasticism has
developed som e serious drawbacks, and the Buddhist orders
were no exception. In ages much more receptive to the culti-
vation o f the inner life than our own, m onks and nuns were
generally adm ired for living an austere life and turning their
backs on the pleasures and pursuits that most human beings
hold dear. W hat w as not so conducive to spiritual grow th,
however, was their often harsh treatment o f the body. In the
attempt to smash self-will and break the hold o f sensory crav-
ings, m any m onks and nuns resorted to strangling the senses
and breaking down not only self-w ill but the spirit o f the
human being. Such practices arc diam etrically opposed to the
spirit o f the Buddha’s M iddle Path, even though m any later
m onastic followers o f the Buddha practiced such m ethods
with zeal.
With verses like 369 - “ Bhikshu, em pty yo u r boat! It will
go faster” - it is easy to understand an ardent young m onk or
nun w anting to throw out every personal attachment, even
at the expense o f physical health, to reach the alluring goal o f
nirvana. In their im m ense enthusiasm to move in exactly the
opposite direction in which their senses were pulling, how -
ever, they often forgot that the Buddha also em phasized the
im portance o f keeping the body strong and fit. He rejected
asceticism completely. It is incorrect to think o f the Buddha
as a shaven-headed m endicant who ate only leftovers put in
his bowl. In the Indian tradition, alive even today, when such
a one as the Buddha arises, villagers happily set aside the best
they have to put in his bowl, even i f it m eans their fam ilies
must do with less. O vcrzcalous followers m ay have starved
and wracked their bodies, just as m onks and nuns have done
in other religious traditions, but the Buddha h im self advo-
cated a long, healthy life in the service o f all.
T ho u gh a d d re s se d to a m o n a stic c o m m u n i t y over two
th o u s a n d years ago, th e tr u t h s in these two c h a p te rs are ju st
as valid today, and th e joyful states o f c o n scio u sness are still
w ith in reach o f everyone. W hile it is unlikely th a t th e e x tr a
ord in ary affluence o f our age will reverse itself in a rush to
renounce the world, the volu n tary sim plicity o f the M iddle
Way is an ideal with grow ing appeal. In these verses wc can
see the outline o f a life perm anently fulfilled on every human
level.
- S . R .
2 5 o: The Bhikshu
360 Train y o u r eyes a n d ears; tra in y o u r nose a n d
to ngue. The senses arc g o o d frie n d s w h e n th e y arc
t r a i n e d . 361 Train y o u r b o d y in deeds, tr a in y o u r
to n g u e in words, train y o u r m i n d in th o u g h ts.
This tr a in in g will take you b e y o n d sorrow.
362 He is a tr u e b h ik sh u w h o has tr a in e d his hand s,
feet, a n d speech to serve others. He m ed ita te s
deeply, is at peace with himself, a n d lives in joy.
363 He is a tr u e b h ik s h u w ho keeps re p eating his
m a n tr a m , lives simply, a n d explains th e d h a r m a
in sweet words.
364 H e is a tr u e b h ik sh u w h o follows th e d h a r m a ,
m e d ita te s o n the d h a r m a , rejoices in the d h a r m a ,
a n d therefore n ev er falls away from th e d h a r m a .
165 He is a b h ik sh u w h o is c o n tc n t w ith w h a t he
receives a n d is never jealou s o f others. Those w h o
are jealou s c a n n o t do well in m e d ita tio n .
J66 £ vcn t h c g od s praise th e b h ik s h u w h o is co n te n te d
a n d lives a p u r e life o f selfless service. 367 Free from the
desire to possess people a n d things, he d o e s n o t grieve
over w hat is n o t . 368 W ith frie n d sh ip tow ard all and
faith in th e B u d d h a s teachings, he will reach th e holy
state w h ere all is peace.
J69Bhikshu, e m p ty y o u r boat! It will go faster. Cast
o u t g reed an d h a tre d a n d reach nirvana.
370 O v e r c o m e th e five obstacles, ruse above th e five
selfish a tta c h m e n ts, a n d you will cross th e river o f life.
371 M editate, bh ik sh u , m editate! D o n o t r u n after sense
pleasures. D o not swallow a r e d -h o t iro n ball a n d th e n
cry, “I am in g reat p a in !”
372 There can be no m e d ita tio n for th o s e w h o are n o t
wise, a n d n o w isd o m for th o se w h o d o n o t m editate.
G ro w in g in w is d o m th r o u g h m e d ita tio n , you will
surely be close to n irv a n a .
373 When a hhikshu stills his m ind, he enters an empty
house; his heart is full o f the divine jo y o f the dharm a.
374 U nderstanding the rise and fall o f the elements that
make up the body, he gains the jo y o f immortality.
375 Learn to be wise, O bhikshu! Train you r senses;
be contented. Follow the teachings o f the dharm a
and keep pure and noble fr ie n d s .176 Be a friend
o f all. Perform you r duties well. Then, with yo u r
jo y ever grow ing, you will put an end to sorrow.
377 A s the varsika plant sheds its faded flowers, O
bhikshu, shed all greed and hatred. 378IIe is a bhikshu
w ho is calm in thought, word, and deed, and has
turned his back upon the allurem ents o f the world.
379 Raise y o u rself by yo u r own efforts, O bhikshu; be
you r own critic. Thus self-reliant and vigilant, you
will live in joy. 380 Be yo u r own master and protector.
Train your mind as a merchant trains his horse.
381 Full o f peace and jo y is the bhikshu who follows
the dharm a and reaches the other shore beyond
the flux o f mortal life. 382 Full o f light is the young
bhikshu who follows the dharm a. l i e lights up
the world as the moon lights a cloudless sky.
26 of The Brahmin
381 C ross the river bravely; conquer all your
passions. G o beyond the w orld o f fragm ents
and know the deathless ground o f life.
384 C ross the river bravely; conquer all
you r passions. G o beyond you r likes and
dislikes and all fetters will fall away.
385 W ho is a true brahm in? That one I call a
brahm in who has neither likes nor dislikes
and is free from the chains o f fear.
386 W ho is a true brahm in? That one I call a
brahm in who has trained the mind to be still
and reached the supreme goal o f life.
387 The sun shines in the day; the m oon shines
in the night. The w arrio r shines in battle, the
b r a h m i n in m e d ita tio n . But day a n d n ig h t the
B u d d h a shines in ra d iance o f love for all.
188That on e I call a b r a h m i n w h o has shed all
evil. I call th a t o n e a recluse w h o se m i n d is
serene; a w anderer, w h ose h e a r t is pure.
i89That o n e I call a b r a h m i n w h o is never angry,
n e v e r causes h a r m to o th e rs even w h e n h a r m e d
by th e m .
190 That o n e I call a b r a h m i n w h o clings n o t
to pleasure. D o n o t cause so rro w to others;
no m o re so rrow will co m e to you.
J91 That o n e I call a b r a h m i n w h o d o e s not
h u r t o th e rs w ith u n k i n d acts, w ords, o r
th o u g h ts. B oth b o d y a n d m i n d obey him .
592That one I call a b r a h m i n w h o w alks in
th e footsteps o f the B ud d ha. Light y o u r
to r c h fro m the fire o f his sacrifice.
39} It is n o t m atted h a ir n o r b irth th a t m akes a
b r a h m in , b u t tr u t h a n d the love for all o f life w ith
w h ich one’s h e a r t is f u l l . 394 W h a t use is m atted
h a ir? W h a t use is a d eersk in o n w h ic h to sit for
m e d ita tio n if y o u r m i n d still seethes w ith lust?
195 Saffron ro be a n d o u tw a r d show d o n o t m ake
a b r a h m in , b u t tr a in in g o f th e m i n d a n d senses
th r o u g h p ra c tice o f m e d ita tio n . 396 N e ith e r riches
n o r high caste m akes a b r a h m i n . Free y o u r s e lf from
selfish desires a n d you will b e c o m e a b r a h m i n .
397 The b r a h m i n ha s th r o w n off all chains a n d
tre m b le s n o t in fear. No selfish b o n d s can e n sn a re
such a one, no im p u r e t h o u g h t pollu te the m in d .
398That o n e I call a b r a h m i n w h o has cut th r o u g h
th e strap a n d t h o n g a n d chain o f k a rm a . Such
a o n e has got u p from sleep, fully awake.
399 That o n e I call a b r a h m i n w h o fears
n e ith e r p ris o n n o r death. Such a one has
the p o w e r o f love no a r m y can defeat.
400 That o n e I call a b r a h m i n w h o is n ever angry,
n e v e r goes astray from the path, w h o is p u re
a n d self-controlled. This b o d y is t h e last.
401 That one I call a brahm in who clings not to
pleasure, no more than water to a lotus le a f or mustard
seed to the tip o f a needle. 402 For such a one no
more sorrow will come, no m ore burden will fall.
401 That one I call a brahm in whose wisdom is
profound and whose understanding deep, who by
follow ing the right path and avoiding the w rong
has reached the highest goal.
404That one I call a brahm in w hose wants are few,
w ho is detached from householders and hom eless
m endicants alike.
405 That one I call a brahm in who has put aside
weapons and renounced violence toward all creatures.
Such a one neither kills nor helps others to kill.
406That one I call a brahm in who is never hostile to
those w ho are hostile toward him, who is detached
am ong those who are selfish and at peace am ong
those at war.
407 That one I call a brahm in from whom passion
and hatred, arrogance and deceit, have fallen away
like mustard seed from the point o f a needle.
408 That one I call a brahm in who is ever true,
ever k in d .409 Such a one never asks what life
can give, only ‘ What can I give life?’
410That one I call a brahm in who has found his
heaven, free from every selfish desire, free from
every im p u rity .4,1 Wanting nothing at all, doubting
nothing at all, m aster o f both b od y and mind,
such a one has gone beyond tim e and death.
412That one I call a brahm in who has
gone beyond good and evil and is free
from sorrow, passion, and impurity.
411 That one I call a brahm in who has risen
above the duality o f this world, free from
sorrow and free from sin. Such a one shines
like the full m oon with no cloud in the sky.
414 That one I call a brahm in who has crossed
the river difficult and dangerous to cross,
and safely reached the other shore.
415That one I call a brahm in who has turned
his back upon him self. Homeless, such a one
is ever at hom e; egoless, he is ever full.
416 Self-w ill has left his m ind; it will never return.
Sorrow has left his life; it will never return.
417 That one I call a brahm in who has overcom e
the urge to possess even heavenly things
and is free from all selfish attachments.
418That one I call a brahm in who is free from
bondage to human beings and to nature alike,
the hero who has conquered the world.
419That one I call a brahm in who is free from I,
me, and mine, w ho know s the rise and fall o f life.
Such a one is awake and will not fall asleep again.
420That one I call a brahm in w hose way no
one can know. Such a one lives free from past
and future, free from decay and death.
421 Possessing nothing, desiring nothing for their
own pleasure, their own profit, they have becom e
a force for good, w orking for the freedom o f all.
422 That one I call a Brahm in who is fearless, heroic,
unshakable, a great sage who has conquered death
and attained life’s goal.
421 Brahm ins have reached the end o f the w ay; they
have crossed the river o f life. A ll that they had to
do is done: they have becom e one with all life.
Copyrighted material
D : Glossary
T h i s B R I E F g l o s s a r y is a guide only
to Sanskrit and Pali term s in this volum e. Words used once
and explained in context arc not included. A s a rough guide,
Sanskrit and Pali vowels may be pronounced as in Italian or
Spanish. The com binations thy d h yp h , and bh are always p ro -
nounced as the consonant plus a slight h sound: th as in hot-
head (not as in tiling); ph as in haphazard (not as in phone).
arya [Skt.; Pali ariya] Noble, civilized, cultured; in Buddhism ,
holy, a saint.
ashrava [Skt. “ flow” ; Pali asava] The outflow o f attention or consciousness inherent in a conditioned mental state.
atman [Skt. “s e lf” ; Pali atta] Self, oneself; in Sanskrit, also a technical term for the transcendent Self o f the Upanishads.
bhikshu [Skt. “one who seeks alm s” ; Pali bhikkhu] A religious
mendicant; a fully ordained Buddhist monk.
bodhi [Skt. 8c Pali “awakening” l Enlightenment; the illum ina- tion o f consciousness that comes when the mind has been
stilled.
bodhisattva |Skt. “one whose nature is enlightenment”; Pali bodhisatta] One who strives to become a Buddha through
m any lives; the Buddha before his enlightenment; in
M ahayana, a Buddha who vows to go on being reborn in
order to help others.
Brahma [Skt.J G od as Creator (not to be confused with Brah-
man, the transcendent Godhead o f the Upanishads).
brahmin [Skt. brahmana] Mem ber o f the priestly caste. Buddha [Skt. “awakened” ) A title for one who has attained
enlightenment.
deva [Skt.] A god or divine being, superhuman but not the
supreme Deity.
dharma [Skt. from dhri “ to support” ; Pali dhamma] Law, duty,
justice, righteousness, virtue; the social or moral order; the
unity o f life; the Buddhas teaching or Way; also, in a sepa-
rate sense, a mental state or moment or unit o f thought
dhyana [Skt. “meditation” ; Pali jhana] In Buddhism , a stage o f meditation or level o f consciousness.
duhkha [Skt. “suffering” ; Pali dukkha] Suffering in the most
general sense; the human condition.
Four Noble Truths The essential teaching o f the Buddha: life is
full o f suffering; the cause o f that suffering is selfish desire;
selfish desire can be removed; it can be rem oved by follow -
ing the Eightfold Path.
Four Sights The four scenes (age, illness, death, and renuncia- tion) that prompted Siddhartha to seek nirvana.
Gautama Siddharthas clan name.
Indra Forem ost o f the devas. Jataka Talcs o f the Buddhas form er lives.
karma [Skt. “som ething done” ; Pali kamma] Action; an event,
physical or mental, considered as both cause and effect;
the sum o f what one has done, said, and thought. The law
o f karma states that every event is the result o f a previous
event and must have consequences o f the same nature.
loka [Skt. “ world, people” ] The world; humanity, people in gen-
eral; a realm o f existence, not necessarily physical.
Mahayana [Skt. “ large vehicle” ] The later o f the two branches
o f Buddhism , followed in Tibet, Mongolia, China, Japan,
Korea, and Vietnam.
mantram [Skt. also mantra] A short prayer or spiritual formula. Mara [Skt. from mri “to die” ] Death, the Striker or Tempter;
em bodim ent o f the selfish attachments and temptations
that bind one to the cycle o f birth and death.
nirvana [Skt. « /r“out”, va “to blow” ; Pali nibbana] Extinction of selfish desire and selfish conditioning.
samsara [Skt. “ that which is in incessant movement” ] The cycle o f birth and death; the world o f change. The only thing that
is not sam sara is nirvana.
samskara [Skt. “ intense d oer” ; Pali sankhara] A deep men- tal impression produced by past experiences; a mental
or behavioral complex; the element o f personality that is
the agency o f karm a; a thing considered as an object in
consciousness, com pounded o f mental components. In
the Buddhas last words - "all things arc transient; strive
earnestly” - the word for “ thing” is samskara. sangha [Skt. & Pali “gathering” ] The order o f m onks and nuns.
skandhas [Skt. “pile” ; Pali khandha] The five elements o f the body-m ind complex.
smriti [Skt. "recollection” ; Palisr?f/] Recollection o f attention,
m indfulness.
sutra [Skt. “thread” ; Pali sutta] The basic principles o f a subject
arranged for study; a scriptural discourse said to represent
the Buddhas own words.
thera [Pali, from Skt. sthavira “elder” ] A n elder at least ten years
past his higher ordination, or whose sanctity has earned
general respect.
Theravada The older branch o f Buddhist tradition, followed in
Sri Lanka, Burm a, Cam bodia, Laos, and Thailand. Its scrip-
tures are preserved in Pali.
trishna [Skt. “ thirst”; Pali tanha] The craving for personal or
selfish satisfaction.
D : Notes
I N T R O D U C T I O N
References are to page number
8 The word dhammapada is Pali and is traditionally derived from
dhamma, the dharm a, and pada, path or way. Som e scholars take pada to mean “ w ord” or “ verse” ; dhammapada then means
“ Verses on D h a rm a”
29 Some versions say the prince was taken to the harvest festival
not as a child but between the times o f the third and fourth
Noble Sights, on an outing meant to distract him from his
heavy thoughts. The scriptures rarely agree in such details, and
anyone piecing together the Buddha’s life is forced to choose
am ong variations at almost every point.
36 Two o f the Buddhas forest teachers arc known to us by name,
Arada (in Pali, Alara) and Udraka. We know nothing o f their
teachings, but can assume they taught Siddhartha how to m edi-
tate.
42 “Are you a go d ?” etc.: Anguttara Nikaya (11.38). This version fol-
lows that o f Huston Smith in The Worlds Religions.
4 3 -4 7 This su m m ary o f the Buddha’s teachings docs not follow
the actual Sermon at Sarnath, but draws on various sources to
convey the essence o f the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold
Path.
43 The word “ right” (Sanskrit samyak) in the Buddhas eight disci-
plines means not m erely “true” or “correct” but “ lined up with,
headed in the same direction.” The eight steps are aligned with
each other and with dharm a. Each step supports the others, and
all are intended to be practiced together in a harm onious inte-
gration o f inward and outward activity - a “middle w ay”
44 Sankalpa, translated as “purpose,” means also thinking, willing,
and desiring. Buddhism does not rule out desire, only selfish
desire.
44 Right occupation is more than sim ply avoiding wrong occupa-
tion. To the Buddha, the purpose o f w ork is not merely to make
a living, but to undo self-centered behavior and unfavorable
karma by w orking for the good o f the whole.
45 Right effort is training the will to operate below the conscious
level. The Buddha, an unsurpassed psychologist, specialized in
ways o f doing this. “ These are the four right efforts: an aspi-
rant kindles intense desire, strives, generates motivation, exerts
his mind, and does his best to see that unwholesome mental
states that have not arisen shall not arise; that unwholesome
m ental states that have arisen shall be expunged; that w hole-
some mental states that have not arisen shall arise; and that
wholesom e mental states that have arisen should be sustained,
nurtured, augmented, developed, matured, and brought to fru i-
tion. In this way, m any o f my students have achieved perfection
through a new kind o f knowledge” (Digha Nikaya 111.2 2 1).
46 Smriti, “recollection” or “attention,” is also translated as “ m ind- fulness” when part o f the Buddhist technical vocabulary. In
certain schools, m indfulness exercises include watching one’s
thoughts without personal involvement in them. Shantideva,
an eighth-century monk, wrote: “ This in b rief is the m ark o f
complete wisdom: again and again, the capacity to watch the
changes taking place in the body and mind.”
54 -6 7 These traditional stories are drawn from various sources in
addition to scripture, including the Jataka, Ashvaghoshas life
o f the Buddha, and the com m entaries o f Buddhaghosha. For
the full account o f M alunkyaputras questions, see the M ajjhima
Nikaya, sutta 63. The story o f the Buddhas last days is told in
the Digha Nikaya, sutta 16 . M any more stories and parables are
told o f the Buddha; two very readable collections are 'Ihe Gospel
o f Buddha by Paul Carus (Open C ourt, 19 1 5 ) and Footprints o f
Gautama the Buddha by Marie Byles (Theosophical Publishing House, 1967).
74 “ N o-m ind” is a concept from the Chinese Buddhist texts. Both
“ no-thought” and “no-m ind” arc accurate translations o f the
Chinese wu-hsin, for hsin means “m ind” or “ thought” without
distinction. However, since “ no-m ind” is the fam iliar English
term, “no-thought” is used here for a prelim inary state, a fleet-
ing glim pse o f no-m ind.
8 1 The theory o f dharm as and the “doctrine o f momentarincss,”
kshanikavada, arc greatly elaborated by the Abhidharm ist
schools o f Buddhist philosophy. These paragraphs do not su m -
marize Buddhist doctrine, but use key ideas to illumine what
happens in meditation.
T h e d h a m m a p a d a
References are to verse number
1 - 2 These two verses use the Buddhist term s manas and dham-
ma, which are difficult to render into English. Here manas is
roughly “ thought, mind ” and dhamma (from Sanskrit dharma) has the special m eaning o f “ mental state, moment or unit o f
thought or experience” The translation here is an effort to give
an effective English rendition that catches the m eaning o f the
Pali: that all experiences arc a result o f thought, that the mind
shapes our lives.
7 -8 Mara is a personification o f all that binds us to the cycle o f
birth and death. He is always portrayed as an active opponent
o f the Buddha, “the Striker” who tries to im pede the Buddhas
progress towards enlightenment.
9 - 1 0 The saffron robe is the traditional garb o f the monastic. There
is a play on words here between the Pali for “stain” and “saf-
fron robe,” which are very similar. Like m any other Sanskrit and
Pali texts, the Dham m apada shows a skill with puns and word
play. Verses o f this kind are difficult to translate because it is all
but im possible to capture the double m eanings and subtleties
in English.
1 5 - 1 6 The Buddhist scriptures refer to m any “ worlds (lokas),” many
states o f being in which one can be reborn. A s suffering follows
a selfish deed in this life, it also determines a painful result in
the next life, while good actions lead to a better future. Hindu
and Buddhist scriptures share this underlying b elief in the law
o f karma and a multitude o f births in m any worlds.
2 1 A favorite word o f the Buddha’s - appamada, "vigilance, ear- nestness, enthusiasm” - gives this chapter its title.
27 Meditation is a central teaching o f the Buddha. Here the verse
says simply to meditate earnestly, with enthusiasm.
30 The D ham m apada at times m entions the Vedic gods, in this
case Indra, who became lord o f the gods through effort. The
devas, the gods o f the Hindu pantheon, were part o f the culture
in which the Buddha lived, but they seem to have been m inor
figures in his inner life: his constant emphasis is on human will,
the ability o f each person to shape his or her own destiny. But
the devas are still a part o f the cultural climate, and also m ean-
ingful personifications o f natural and supernatural forces.
44 Yama is Death, or the god o f death and ruler o f the dead in In -
dian mythology. The Buddha at times seems to look upon these
figures, the devas, as personifications o f physical and mental
forces. The devas are not im m ortals, because after enjoying long
lives in the heavenly worlds, they are eventually reborn. The
fully awakened Buddhas go beyond even the realms o f the gods,
into the im m ortal state o f nirvana.
46 In Hindu m ythology it is Kam a, the god o f eros, who is armed
with a bow and arrows tipped with flowers. Anyone hit with
such a flower arrow is overcome with passion. Here the image
is applied to M ara, the Buddhas antagonist, the figure who ob-
structs him on the spiritual path.
60 The word used in this verse is samsara, literally “ the world o f
change and becoming,” which is the cycle o f birth and death
- that is, the world o f im perm anence in which we live.
6 6 In this verse “selfish deeds” is a free translation o f the Pali papa, s o m e tim e s ren d ered as “sin.”
79 “ Noble ones” is the translation o f the Pali ariya (from Sanskrit
arya, "noble” ). The Buddha gives a spiritual m eaning to this an-
cient word, originally a name for the Indo-European peoples
who migrated to India in the second m illennium B.C.
85 N irvana is often referred to as “ the other sh o re” and the Buddha
as a boatman calling, “ W ho wants to go across?”
89 The Buddhist scriptures reveal a penchant for numbering, per-
haps as an aid to m emorization. Here the reference is to “ the
seven fields o f enlightenment,” which one com m entary glosses
as “ m indfulness, w isdom , vigor, joy, serenity, concentration,
and equanimity.”
97 This verse is a type o f riddle that can be translated in at least two
distinct ways. These word games were not u n c o m m o n in Pali
an d Sanskrit.
98 The word arahant (Sanskrit arhat, “w o rth y ”) is used here for the
saints and B u d d h as w h o have reached the end o f the way.
129 'Hie Pali (and Sanskrit) word danda gives this chapter its title. Danda literally means “staff,” but also “government, punish-
ment.”
1 3 1 Literally, “ If you strike at others with a staff (danda)!'
13 6 “The selfish” here translates dummcdho. W hile dummedho literally m e a n s “o f faulty u n derstanding,” “selfish” is a helpful
translation, for w h at could be m o r e foolish th a n selfishness?
14 2 In the Hindu tradition, a brahmin is a member o f the priestly
caste. Here the Buddha spiritualizes the term and makes it practical.
144 The word translated here as “ meditation” is samadhi, a yoga
term for an advanced stage o f meditation.
146 This verse echoes the famous Fire Serm on o f the Buddha, in
which he states again and again that “all is burning; the whole
world is burning.”
149 At times the Buddha uses very strong language to shock his
listeners out o f complacency. Perhaps the gourds left on the
ground after the autumn harvest are meant to remind us o f the
skull, the image o f death.
1 5 3 - 1 5 4 According to tradition, these are the words the Buddha
uttered upon reaching nirvana. Here he calls the ego-driven
personality a house that will never be constructed again. The
separate life can never be built for him again.
175 There is another reading: “Swans fly on the path o f the sun;
those with m iraculous powers [iddhi] fly in the air.” Super-
natural powers like levitation are said to be accessible through
spiritual disciplines. The Buddha consistently stressed that the
spiritual life has nothing to do with such powers, which are ob-
stacles that only extend the power o f the ego.
1 9 0 - 19 2 For an explanation o f the Four Noble Truths and the
Eightfold Path, see pages 4 3 -4 6 o f the introduction. The sangha
is the com m unity o f Buddhist faithful. The three traditional ref-
uges arc the Buddha, the dharm a, and the sangha.
19 7 The Pali and Sanskrit word sukha gives this chapter its title.
Sukha is often translated “ease,” b u t also m ay m ean “delight, happiness, jo y ” It is always contrasted with Pali dukkha (S a n
skrit duhkha), “lack o f case, pain, unhappiness.” The Sanskrit
prefix su m eans all things that are good, agreeable, to be sought
after, while the prefix duh m eans all that is painful, distasteful,
and to be avoided.
2 0 2 -2 0 3 These verses use the earthy term khandha (Sanskrit skan- dha), “ heap,” which is here translated as “separateness.” The five
khandhas are the five “ heaps” o f which a separate identity is
com posed: form , feeling, perception, thought, and conscious-
ness. The fourth skandha is sankhara (Sanskrit samskara), of- ten translated as “ thought” blit more particularly a conditioned
thought, a deep mental im pression produced by past experi-
ences. This translation is an effort to render these verses into
nontechnical language.
226 “ Selfish passions” are the asavas (Sanskrit ashrava), the “ flow-
ing out” or dissipation o f consciousness into fruitless channels,
usually said to be four: sensuality, w rong views, becom ing, and
ignorance.
230 Brahma is the creator god o f the Hindu pantheon, not to be
confused with Brahm an, the transcendent godhead that is b e-
yond attributes.
235 The “messenger o f death” is Yama, the lord o f the dead.
238 Dipa m eans “lamp” a n d also “island,” so this im p o r ta n t verse
has two possible translations. This verse echoes the final i n
s tru c tio n s o f the B u d d h a to his close disciples: “Be a lamp u n to
yourselves. Rely on yourselves and on n o th in g else. Hold fast to
the d h a r m a as y o u r lamp.”
2 5 4 -2 5 5 Here the Buddha is called the Tathagata, “One who has
gone this way,” a charm ing name that m ay have the connotation,
“one who has walked in our shoes and shown us the way.”
260 Viera is “elder,” a respected upholder o f the dharma. Thera-
vada, “ the doctrine o f the elders,” is a name o f one branch o f
Buddhism .
26 4 -26 5 The Buddhist m onks shaved their heads. These verses play
on a popular explanation that a samana or homeless ascetic is one who quiets (sam) the mind (mano).
266 Sanskrit bhikshu (Pali bhikkhu) comes from the Sanskrit root
m eaning “ to beg,” and thus m eans a m onk or mendicant. This
verse states that sim ply relying on alms for livelihood does not
make one a spiritual aspirant. Bhikshu is “ m onk” ; there is also a
feminine form m eaning “nun.”
268-269 M uni means both “silent” and “a sage.” A gain, the verse
points out that observing a vow o f silence alone is not sufficient
for being honored as a sage. A muni is one who has taken a vow
o f silence or, in another interpretation, one whose self-will is
silent.
270 This verse contains the ancient word arya, “ n oble” Here the Buddha applies it in a fresh way: it is not “ noble” to injure any
creature.
283 This verse plays on two m eanings o f the word \'ana: “forest”
and “selfish desire.” Nirvana in this play on words is nir-vana,
“ without vana”
285 Sugata - “the one who has gone well, the one who has gone by
a good path” - is an epithet for the Buddha. Here it is translated
as “one w h o know s the way.”
29 4 -5 These verses clearly refer to allegorical killings, not o f the
people m entioned but o f obstacles to nirvana. This is a com -
mon rhetorical device in Indian spiritual literature. The brilliant
comm entator Buddhaghosha, for example, says that trishna
and asmimana, selfish craving and self-will, are the “father and m other” in that they create the sense o f a separate personality.
Samuel Beal, an early translator o f the Dhammapada, cites a
passage in the Lankavatara Sutra, book 3, in which the Buddha
makes a statement sim ilar to these verses and then explains the
allegory in the same way.
296 Gautama (Gotam a in Pali) is the Buddha.
298 Sangha is the com m unity o f the faithful. In both Hindu and
Buddhist traditions, satsang, “spiritual fellowship,” is looked
upon as an essential practice.
307 “ Those who put on the saffron robe” : the monastic followers o f
the Buddha dyed their clothing with saffron.
3 22 The horses o f Sind, now a province o f Pakistan, were highly
prized.
324 This verse mentions a particular elephant, Dhanapalaka, by
name. The comm entaries note that even though this elephant
was owned by the King o f Kashi and received the best o f care,
he longed to return to his native forest.
339 “ The thirty-six streams” is another example o f the Buddhist
practice o f numbering. Often wc come across Buddhist refer-
cnccs to specific numbers: Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path.
Here, the reference to thirty-six “streams,” o r forms o f craving,
is obscure.
344 This verse is again playing on the two m eanings o f vatta: “for-
est” and “craving.”
350 A m o re literal translation would be “reflect on what is not
p le a s a n t” but the idea b e h in d it is to counteract the natural te n
d e n c y o f the m in d to dwell on the pleasant, in o rd e r to achieve
d e ta c h m e n t.
3 5 1 The liberated soul has n o n eed to take on a n o th e r b o d y a n d be
re b o rn again.
3 6 2 -3 6 5 Bhikshu m e a n s “m e n d ic a n t, monk.” There arc b o th m a s
culine an d fem inine form s o f this word in Pali. In o u r m o d e r n
context, p e rh a p s it is m o re helpful to th in k o f these verses as
applying to any sincere follower o f the Buddha.
3 8 3 -4 2 3 These verses were translated especially for use in medita-
tion, so some complexities in the original have been rendered in
a more easily understood and poetic form.
392 This reference is to the sacred fire used in Vedic ritual.
3 9 3 - 3 9 4 Matted hair an d the deerskin are traditional m ark s o f an
ascetic. The B u d d h a is p o in tin g out that these are merely exter
nals, not the heart o f practice.
R e f e r e n c e s
Citations in the text refer to the following volumes. Following tradition, references are to volume and page number unless otherwise specified.
The Anguttara Nikaya. R. M orris and E. Hardy, eds. Vols. 1 and 5.
London: Pali Text Society, 18 8 5, 1900.
The Digha Nikaya. T. W. Rhys D avids and J. E. Carpenter, eds. Vols.
2 and 3. London: Pali Text Society, 19 0 3, 1 9 1 1 .
The Majjhima Nikaya. V. Treckner, ed. Vol. 1. London: Pali Text
Society, 19 3 5 .
The Samyutta Nikaya. L. Feer, ed. Vols. 3 and 5. Pali Text Society,
London, 18 8 4 ,18 9 8 .
[Sutta Nipata] Buddhas Teachings; Being the Sutta-Nipata or
Discourse Collection. R. Chalm ers, ed. H arvard Oriental Series,
vol. 37. Cam bridge: Harvard University Press, 19 3 2 .
Udanam. P. Stcinthal, cd. London: Pali Text Society, 1885.
Vinaya-pitakam. H. Oldenberg, cd. Vol. 3. London: W illiams and Norgate, 18 8 1.
D i Index
abhaya, 2 2 Bhartrihari. 148-49 Abhidharma Pitaka, 100 bhikshu. 198. 239-46 absolute reality, is9-6o Bible, 1 203; see also Jesus the Christ age, 147-51 Bimbisara. King. 59-60 ajara, 22 bliss, 132,149,167,17S Alexander the Great, 25 bodhi. 74-77, lii am ata, 92 bodhisattva, 131,165-64 an agam in , 130 body, as wrapper, 81; see also Ananda, 52-54.61. 62. 6 %. is6 human body anashrava, gz Brahman, defined, 153 anatm an, 153. 204 brahm avidya, 18-19 an«er, 139.185-89 brahmins, is, 247-53 Anguttara Nikaya, 119 the Buddha: birth of, as Buddhist anitya, 204 refuge. i65;clav lamp story. 59-60; arhant, 129. 131-32 comparison with Jesus the Christ, aroga, $ 7 23,26-27.103; death of, 63-64; a ry a, 255 defined, 163, 256; education, 25; his Aryan tribes, 14-15 times, 23-27; homecoming story, asceticism, 242 47-51; last entry into nirvana, ashrams, i£ 61 64; literal meaning of word. 16^ ashrava, 1.92-93 256; Malunkvaputra story, 56 57; atm an, 19, 153-56\ see also Self middle path story, 54-55; mustard attachments. 179 82 seed story. 58 59; open hand story. attention, one-pointed, 57 58; monastic order of women
68-69 story. 51-54I return of, 41-43; Augustine, St., 64̂ teaching of dharma, 43-64 the awakened one. 163-71 Buddhaghosa, 191 awakening. 163-68
cause and effect, sec karnta bala, 119 Channa, 32,35, 51 Basham, A. L., 24 Christian mystics: St. Augustine, 64; Bhagavad Gita, 9-10.166 St. Francis of Assisi, 210: St. John
of the Cross, 64; St. Teresa of Avila, 64. 68. i67:.<tv also Jesus the Christ
Chunda, 62 clay lamp story, so-6o compulsive desires, 85* 227-37 concentration, 70-73: see also attention,
one-pointed consciousness: in the Bhagavad Gita,
9-10; in the Dhammapada, £; and dhyanas, 64 80; focus 011 contents of, 18 ig; and levels of reality, 159- 60: states as different worlds, is9 : in the Upanishads, 8 9; vijnana as, 8̂ . 8s-86; see also mind
contemplation, see meditation conventional reality, isq-60 craving, 148-49; see also Irisluta
darshanas, y j
death, 9 2 - 9 S. 117.194 desire: coffcc analogy, 85] for self-
aggrandizement, 229: for self- destruction, 232-33: selfish vs. unselfish, 227-33: for sense pleasure, 230. 24s: see also samskara
Devadatta (Siddharthas cousin), 2 .̂ 54. devas, 17s Dhammapada: compared with New
Testament, 13; meaning of term, 14; overview, 2. in—14
dh arm a: the Buddha’s qualifications for upholders of, 198 99: the Buddhas teachings, 43-64: as Buddhist refuge, 16s: core meaning as “that which supports,” 197 202; defined, 20. 138; eternal, 2£, joy of, 175; as moment of mental activity, 228: as universal law, 20̂ 23,168: wheel of, 4 3 . 4 4 .167
dharm akarta,
d h arm akaya , 167-68 dharmas, as state of being, 81 82. 228 dhri, 20,197 dhyanas: defined, 2S6; first, 68-6q;
fourth, 77-80: introduction, 64-67; second, 70- 7 V. third, 7 4 - 7 7
Dipankara, 164 downward course, 21S-20
duhkha: and anger, 185; as arising from trishna, 261 as characteristic of conditioned things, 204: defined, 4V, hell as embodiment of, 216: as opposite of joy, 173.174- 7 S
earnestness, 109, 263 Eckhart, Meister, 64 <?go, 2 ^ 1 5 1 ,^ 2 Eightfold Path: as the Buddhas central
teaching, 203-4; considered the Buddha’s foremost gift to mankind, 204; as Fourth Truth, 44; and householders, 52; learning to channel anger, 187; the path, 203-7; right action, 45; right attention, 46; right effort, dS-46. 67; right meditation, 46; right occupation, 4S. 203; right purpose, 45; right speech, 45* 193; right under- standing, 4 4 - 4 S. 204: role of Dhammapada, 101. m2
F.instcin, Albert, 22-23. 80. 81. 88. 91. 92-93
elephants, 221-2S enlightenment, stages of, 64-80; see
also bodhi evil conduct, 137-42; see also karm a
field of forces: mind and matter as, 2 ^ 81* 84; personality as, 2^ 23: samskara as, 8^ 85
flowers, 111-14.117-18 forest academics, 16 form (rupa), 83 - 84 Four Noble Truths, 43 44,171, 227 Four Sights, 173-74,255 Francis of Assisi, St., im Frost, Robert, kl2
Gandhi, Mahatma, 10, in, 167-68. 18S-86
Greece, 25,26
I Ian-slian, 182 I Iciscnbcrg, Werner, 88 -80.21 hell, 21S-17: see also suffering Ilinduism: and Aryans, 14-is
human body: and aging, 147-49'. monastic treatment of. 241-42
Huxley, Aldous, uj
immaturity, n q - 2 S impermanence, 204. 215 impurity, 191-96 India: earliest civilizations in, 1 4 - i s ;
at time of the Buddha, 24-26
Janaka, King, i £ ja ra , 14 7 Jataka, 164 6s Jesus the Christ: comparisons with the
Buddha, 2jj 26-27.38,41-42. 103; and karma, u i as teacher, 13,23
John of the Cross, St., 64 John the Baptist, £i joy: the Buddhas definition, 171-78;
and dhyanas, 7^ 2 2 Jung, Carl, 25
Kanthaka,35 Kappa, 113 karm a: cause and elfect, 221 defined,
21; as living reality, 2£ and natural world, 21-22; and personality, <£2; reward and punishment, 137-38; and third dhyana, 76
Kashyapa (student), 54 Keats, John, 179-80 Keynes, John Maynard, £2 King, Martin Luther, 176 knowing, defined, iS Krisha Gautami, s8 SO kshema, 22
loka, isq-6o. 256
Mahayana Buddhism. 100.131,160. 167,256
Malunkyaputra (student), s6 S7 Mara, 38-39. 40.6 2 , 111,17s, 230 meditation: in ancient India, 1 4 - i s :
the Buddha’s enlightenment, 38-40. 64-66: for controlling mind, m-14; and four dhyanas, 64-80: impact of teaching of Buddha, 2j \
science of, 18-19; Siddhartha’s studies. 3S - 3 6 : as way to train mind, io3-4
Mcgha, 163-64 middle path, S4 -SS. 113. 242 Milton, John, 216 mind: control of, 111 14; as forerunner
of dharm as, 86-88: life shaped by, 98; as obstacle to happiness, 102; and physical phenomena, 8q 01; role of meditation in training, 103- 4; as series of thought-momcnts, 82: see also thoughts
moksha, 23 monastic orders, 54. monks, sec monastic orders Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 126 mustard seed story, S8 - S 9
Nagarjuna, 155, uSfl neti, 12 never-returner. 130 New Testament, 13, 203; sec also Jesus
the Christ Newton, Isaac, J i N irm a n ak a ya, 166-67 nirvana: vs. bodhi, 121-22: the Buddha’s
first experience of, 39-41; the Buddhas last entry into, 61 64: defined, 2J, 257; described, zJL 221 filing short, 181-82: as fourth dhyan a, 78-80; readiness for, 175— 76; as release from trishna, 232; as 'Ihird Noble Truth, 44; vs. vibh ava- trishna, 232; Vinaya Pitaka as map of the Buddhas journey to, 64
Noble Silence, 155 nuns, order of, 54, 240
occupation, sec right occupation old age, 1 4 7 - si once-returner, 130 one-pointed attention, 68-69 order of monks, sec monastic orders order of nuns, 5^ 2 4 0 Pali canon, 1 0 1 . 1S3. 203 papa, 137: sec also karm a Paradise Lost, iifi
p a ram a sukha, gj param artha-satya, iso 60 Patanjali, 64 the path, 203-7; sec also Eightfold Path perfection, 14̂ 2 2 personality: as artificial, 22-23:
as blend of skandhas, 83-86; and forces, 93-94; and karma, 32
physics, 88 <n pitakas, 100 pleasure, 6 s-6 6 .17s. 179-84 Prajapati, 52 punishment, 137-40.143-4S;
see also karma
quantum theory, 88-gi
Rahula, 47-48. so, 241 reality, conventional vs. absolute,
L5£Ll6o rebirth. 23.9 2 -gs reincarnation, 163-68 Rig Veda, is. 19 right action, 45 right attention, 46 right conduct, 186.193 right effort, 4S-46.67 right meditation, 46 right occupation, 4 5 . 203 right purpose, 45 right speech, 45, right understanding, 4 4 - 4 S. 204 ritam , 212 rupa, 83 84
the saint, 129 34 sakridagantin, 130 Sam bhogakaya, 167 sam bodhi, Lil sam jua, 8j, 84 samsara, 2 2 , SLL 2 *ii 120.148.160 samskara, 8^ 5Si 138-40.174.204 sam vriti-satya, 1S9-60 Sangarava, 132 sangha, 28» 5^ 165 Satan, 38; see also Mara satva, i s q - 6o
science: and Buddha’s background, 1 9 - 2 0 : and meditation, 1 8 - 1 9 ; see also physics
self, 1S3-S8 Self-realization: in ancient India, 1 7 - 1 8 ;
vs. immaturity, 12 0 ; and sages of Upanishads, 22
selfishness, 44^ 132* 153] see also compulsive urges; trishna
Scng-ts’an, i&i sensory desires, 1 4 8 - 4 9 . 2 3 0 Sermon on the Mount, 13 shanta, 37 Shariputra (student), 54 shiva, 22 Shuddhodana, King, 28, 3 3 - 3 4 . 4 8 49.
i i . 2 4 1 shunyata, 2Z Siddhartha: bccomcs the Buddha,
3 9 - 4 0 ; birth and childhood, 2 8 - 3 0 ; first ventures outside estate walls, 3 1 - 3 3 : leaves home alone, 34 -3 9 : tracing personality over many lives, gs; see also Buddha
sin. see Evil Conduct skandhas, 83 sm rili, 257. 261 Sona (student), S4-SS srotapanna, 1 2 9 - 3 0 stream-winner, 1 2 9 - 3 0 suffering: and anger, 1 8 5 -8 9 ; and
attachments, 179 84; in Buddha’s universe, 9S- 9 7 ; cause of, as Second Truth, 43; as First Truth, 43
Sujata, 2Z sukha, ^ 1Z1 sukkha, see sukha Sutra Pitaka, 1 0 0 sutras: compared with Dhammapada,
Li Sutta Nipata. 113 Takshashila, 25 tapas, 26 Taxila, 25 Teresa of Avila, St., 64̂ 68, 162 thera, 108 Tlicravada Buddhism, 1 3 1 , 191 thirst. 43. 227-37
Cu-.yi-jhl! 3 ti.'-hjii<‘
thoughts, 111-16 thousands, 129-u . ns-36 Three Refuges, 165 Tibetan Book of the Dead, 2ji Trikaya, 165-66 trishna, 230-31; defined,
overview, 227-32; role of ignorance, 95-96; types of, 210-31
twin verses, 101-7
Upali (student), 54 Upanishads: Buddha as spirit of, 27;
and cause and effect, 20-21; and karma, 21-22; origin of, 16-17.19; overview, 8-9; at time of Buddha, 25-26; vi. Vedic rituals, 25,22
Vacchagotta, 155 varied verses, 209-n
vedana, 8^ 84 Vedic religion, is 16. 20. 2s. 27 vigilance, 109-10 Vigor, 22£
vijnana, 8^ 8s-86 V in a y a P ita k a , 6 ^ i q d
Vipashchit, 216-17 virya, 225 von Braun, Wernher, 38
wheel of d h arm a, 4^ 167 the wise, 119-22,126-27 women, first ordained as nuns, y work, see right occupation the world, 159-62
Yashodhara (wife of Siddhartha), 30, 31. 47-48, 50-51,52.16^241
yoga, 2 i 26,^s-36
Copyrighted material
T H E C L A S S I C S OF
I N D I A N S P I R I T U A L I T Y
Introduced & Translated by
H K N A T H E A S W A R A N
T I I E B II A G A V A D G I T A
T II E D II A M M A P A D A
T I I E U P A N I S H A D S
“No one in m o d e r n times is more qualified - no, make that as
qualified’ - to translate the epochal Classics o f Indian Spirituality'
than Eknath Easwaran. And the reason is clear. It is impossible to
get to the heart o f those Classics unless you live them, and he did live
them. My adm iration o f the m a n a nd his works is boundless.”
- H U S T O N s M I t h , a u th o r o f
Ihe Worlds Religions
Introduced & Translated by
E K N A T H E A S W A R A N
T he U panishads arc a m o n g the oldest o f the Indian w isdom texts.
They are the records o f teaching sessions given by illum ined sages
to th eir students, w h o were asking the fu n d a m e n ta l questions o f
life: W h o am I? W h a t h appens to me after death? The sages’ r e
sponses take the form o f flashes o f insight, their direct experience
o f en co u n ters with tra n sc e n d e n t Reality.
Easwaran’s reliable a n d readable translation is consistently the
bestseller in its field. It includes an overview o f the cultural and
historical setting, with ch ap ter in tro d u c tio n s, notes, a n d a Sanskrit
glossary. But it is Easwaran’s u n d e rs ta n d in g o f the discoveries o f
the U panishads, and th eir significance to the m o d e r n reader, that
makes this edition truly o utstanding.
Each U panishad appeals in different ways to the read er’s head a n d
heart. In the end, Easwaran writes, “The U panishads belong not
just to H in d u is m . They are India’s m o s t precious legacy to h u m a n
ity, and in that spirit they are offered here.”
T H E B II A G A V A D G I T A
Introduced & Translated by
E K N A T H E A S W A R A N
The Bhagavad Gita, “The Song o f the Lord,” is the best k n o w n o f
all the In d ian scriptures, an d E knath Easwaran’s reliable, readable
version has consistently been the best-selling translation.
Easw arans in t ro d u c tio n places the Gita in its historical setting
a n d brings o u t the universality a n d timelessness o f its teachings.
C h a p te r i n tro d u c tio n s give clear explanations o f key concepts, and
notes and a glossary explain Sanskrit terms.
The Bhagavad Gita opens, dramatically, on the battlefield, as the
w arrio r A rjuna tu r n s in anguish to his spiritual guide, Sri Krishna,
for answers to the f u n d a m e n ta l questions o f life.
But, as Easwaran points out, the Gita is not what it seems - its
n o t a dialogue betw een two mythical figures at the dawn o f
Indian history. “The battlefield is a perfect backdrop, but the Gita’s
subject is the war within, the struggle for self-mastery that every
h u m a n being m u s t wage” to live a life that is meaningful, fulfilling,
and worthwhile.
Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication Data
(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)
Tipitaka. Suttapitaka. Khuddakanikaya. Dhammapada. English.
The Dhammapada / introduced & translated by Eknath Easwaran. — 2nd ed.
p. ; cm. - - (Classics o f Indian spirituality)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
IS B N -13: 978- 1- 58638- 020-5
I S B N -10: 1- 58638- 020-6
1. Buddhism. I. Easwaran, Eknath. II. Title.
BQ1372.E54 E192 2007
294.3/823 2006934967
- cover
- Title page
- C o n t e n t s
- Foreword
- Introduction
- The DHAMMAPADA
- 1. Twin Verses
- 2. Vigilance
- 3. Mind
- 4. Flowers
- 5. The Immature
- 6. The Wise
- 7. The Saint
- 8. Thousands
- 9. Evil
- 10. Punishment
- 11. Age
- 12. Self
- 13. The World
- 14. The Awakened One
- 15. Joy
- 16. Pleasure
- 17. Anger
- 18. Impurity
- 19. Established in Dharma
- 20. The Path
- 21. Varied Verses
- 22. The Downward Course
- 23. The Elephant
- 24. Thirst
- 25. The Bhikshu
- 26. The Brahmin
- Glossary
- Notes
- Index
