Belief

We all bring our own desires in our journey of Buddhist practices. When our desires are not met, will we feel dispirited? Will we stop and reflect: do these desires accord with the core education of Buddhism? In the process of studying Buddhism, how should we strengthen our confidence?

This Dhamma talk is given on the Pavarana Day Celebration hosted by Santavana Forest Hermitage.

中文

Transcription of the Talk (translated from Chinese):

Hi everyone, today I am going to share with you a story about Sunakkhatta, the son of Licchavis in Vesāli, who was living at the time of the Buddha. According to the Buddhist texts, he eventually left the Dhamma and Discipline, that is, he left the Order of the Sangha. Both Dīgha Nikāya 24 and Dīrgha Āgama 15 have made references to him.

Despite Sunakkhatta having taken up the ascetic life as a Buddhist bhikkhu, he did not possess the right view. Sunakkhatta was found to admire, and repeatedly adorned and praised the naked ascetics. In particular, he was fascinated with some of their extreme eccentric practice, like taking up animal behavior such as crawling, eating excrement and other filths off the ground. It was obvious that he practiced in order to acquire psychic powers beyond the capacity of ordinary men. The Buddhist texts contain numerous references to Sunakkhatta requesting the Buddha to demonstrate the wonder of his psychic potency, and to explain to him the beginning of things. Sunakkhatta was depicted as a kind of person who was obsessed with mystic experience.

Supernormal power, which Sunakkhatta sought after, as it was made clear, is not the core value of Buddha’s teachings, nor was it advocated by the Buddha. However, Sunakkhatta repeatedly beseeched the Buddha to satisfy his personal curiosity, particularly to manifest wonder to him. His entreaty, according to Buddhist texts, had largely fallen on deaf ears, which heightened Sunakkhatta’s dissatisfaction. Sunakkhatta eventually left the Order, as stated in MN 12, the Mahasihanada Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Lion’s Roar.

We know Sunakkhatta was at one time a follower of other religious beliefs before he was converted to the views of Buddhism. Sunakkhatta Sutta (MN 105), a sutta which bears his name in the title, contains a lengthy discourse by the Buddha before he joined the Sangha. After Sunakkhatta left the Sangha, he went about defaming the Buddha. The Mahasihanada Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Lion’s Roar, for example, described an incident in which Sunakkhatta made a statement before the Vesāli assembly about him having gone forth following the Buddha, but the Buddha did not possess any supernormal power, nor any distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones (Pāli: ariyañāṇadassa). He claimed that the Buddha had not attained true realization from the first fruit to the fourth fruit. Further, he believed that the dhamma taught by the Buddha on the destruction of suffering was merely hammered out by reasoning, following his line of inquiry as it occurred to him instead of realization through direct knowledge. Such accusations in The Great Discourse on the Lion’s Roar are typical in Sunakkhatta’s defamatory remarks on the Buddha.

The sutta then continues with Sariputta reporting Sunakkhatta’s saying to the Buddha, and asking the Buddha for advice on how one should react to such an encounter. The Buddha noted that Sunakkhata’s words were spoken out of anger. Driven by anger, he went about to discredit his teacher, the Buddha. Because of a lack of faith, Sunakkhata did not understand the real accomplishments of the Buddha, and the various kinds of supernormal power, such as the Ten Tathāgatha powers, the Buddha possesses. Without having seen, nor heard of these supernormal power, his wish was not satisfied.

We know people often come to Buddhism with a certain inclination, but what is the core value of Buddhism? Does the Buddha recognize supernormal power? Sure he does. We need not deny, as some people assert, that the Buddha does not approve of supernormal power. Without a doubt, Buddhism is about destruction of suffering, and liberation of the mind. Buddha teaches in order to steer his disciples onto the path of arahantship, to become a noble person through completely eradicating all defilements, a kind of practice which Buddhism refers to as the ultimate goal of the Dhamma. We all know the attainment of arahantship is explicitly advocated in Buddhism as the ultimate goal, and Buddhist disciples consider Buddhist practice as the way leading to the ultimate goal. Yet, the concept of “ultimate perfection” (Pāli: niṭṭhā) is not unique to Buddhism. If we examine scriptures and texts from other spiritual practices, it is not difficult to discover that non-Buddhists also regard their practice being able to reach the ultimate goal.

According to the aṭṭhakathā of Majjima Nikāya, Buddhism is not the only school of thought which conceptualizes a religious summit as the ultimate objective of its practice. Buddhism has its ultimate goal set in arahantship. The Buddha is called an arahant, which means a holy person who has eliminated all defilements. Many different philosophies and schools of thoughts contemporary with Buddhism in India, with cultivation of practice as its means, also aim at perfection of virtue. Brahmanism, for instance, has heavenly rebirth in the Great Brahma as the most ultimate perfection. Other non-Buddhist ascetics who devote to religious austerities (Pāli: tapassin) have rebirth in the Ābhāsvara (Pāli: abhassara, Streaming Radiance) realm as their ultimate goal. Yet other wandering, wayfaring ascetics have their ultimate goal in the Śubhakṛtsna (Pāli: subhakinna, Refulgent Glory) plane. Still other non-Buddhist ascetics like the Ājīvakas who led their own religious mendicant-like livelihood aim at rebirth in an infinite conscious and no-perception state, a state akin to the Asaññasattā realm as the ultimate goal. Buddhism, in comparison, has its ultimate goal in the state of arahantship. In fact, one can easily determine the core value of different schools of thought based on where they set the ultimate goal of their religious aspiration.

As one takes stock of various religious beliefs prevailing in the world, one can understand their cosmological view by how they construe their notion of “heaven”. A religion whose “god” is one with strong emotions, capable of having a temper, is likely to be a deity in the material world. He could be a deva in the sensuous world, or an asura, a being dwelling in the deva plane. If the heavenly deity depicted seems to be relatively removed from pleasures of the five senses, he might be residing in one of the higher heavenly planes. A god who is completely devoid of pleasures of the five senses might belong to the fine-material world. Every religion has its own construct in its cosmology. The Buddhists call this paññatti.

The Buddha has once said “the law of dependent arising I expound, so you come to know”. Paññāpeti is a causative case of the verb pajānāti, meaning “to know”, “to understand”. The causative case is used to convey the meaning “to make known”. When the verb pajānāti is used, it is typically used to refer to a teacher who, having fully penetrated the meaning, with thorough realization, comes to know. Therefore, when he teaches, he is able to summarize on the basis of his direct knowledge, and make known to others. This is the context in which the word paññāpeti is used. Say a teacher expounds a certain dhamma, he needs to fold out and present the nuances such that the students can understand and distinguish the details, and then they know how to put it in practice.

Dependent Arising, the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eight-fold Paths are just a few of doctrines the Buddha expounds. Of the Four Noble Truths, dependent arising explains from the perspective of the two truths of suffering and the cause of suffering, whereas the Noble Eight-fold paths conceptualize the path leading to the cessation of suffering. It is not until one has developed a profound insight and comprehension of reality of certain depth through direct experience then one can articulate and conceptualize such notion. Then with the use of analytical precision and words, one is able to make known the true nature of such dhamma. “Truly understand” (Pāli: yathābhūtam pajānāti) in Buddhism means he who announces, who teaches has comprehension through direct knowledge, as such the concept can be made known (Pāli: paññāpeti ).

The fundamental value of Buddha’s teaching lies in the attainment of Buddhahood. The Buddha teaches his path to enlightenment to his disciples such that they can become arahants. He also praises paccekabuddhas who are enlightened by himself in the absence of a Buddha teacher. The commonality among these three types of holy people is that they have all extinguished the defilements and thereby have attained nibbāna. Thus the core value of Buddhism is the realization of enlightenment and complete abandonment of defilements. The Buddha does teach his disciples to cultivate merits, but it is only to lessen the suffering in samsara, and it should not be taken as the core of his teaching. Cultivation of merits is a foundation to liberation, not the ultimate goal. If one trains as a Buddhist, and focuses mainly on the cultivation of merits, the practice of meditation, attainment of longevity, or acquisition of supernormal power, although one cannot be considered mistaken, one is certainly not capturing the real core value of Buddhist philosophy.

Next, let’s talk about belief. There are several types of beliefs, according to how it is built. Some belief is purely founded on faith, some are convictions reached after thorough reflection, and carries a stronger certitude, yet there is one which contains an added assurance because one has direct knowledge in it. Let me give you an example. I have been spending some time in the suburb of Denver, Colorado in the past two years. Now Denver is located in central western part of the United States. It is easy to mistake Denver as a plain because of the extent of its flat landmass. However, Denver is actually located on a plateau. The average elevation of the city is around 2,000 m (around 6,000 feet), so much so that some people, on their first arrival in this city, might even experience some shortness of breath.

A few Buddhist lay disciples here have succeeded in growing ridge gourds. A very nice Madame Chen once invited me to visit her. She said, “Venerable, I reserve a big ridge gourd for you, I will serve it when you come.” I was curious how she was able to grow this vegetable in Denver, “But Denver has a long winter with heavy snow, how are you able to grow ridge gourd here?” She then told me how she starts to prepare the young seedlings such that when temperature rises in late April or early May, she is ready to plant. After a few months, she is usually able to harvest in the fall. She said if one is able to utilize the short time between late spring and the fall, one has a growing season for this vegetable of almost a little less than half a year. Madame Chen has lived in Denver for several decades, so she is able to formulate, according to her experience, what is the best season for planting, and what is the best season for harvest. For us who are first arrivals and have yet to form our own experience, it is best to trust the experience shared by people who have lived here for a long time. This kind of belief is based on a lack of prior knowledge, so we trust those people who have been through it. This is the first type.

Some people, when told to plant in May and harvest in September or October, will wonder why they need to adhere to such a schedule. Madame Chen will then be able to explain the reason behind this. With a thorough analysis based on the principles, reasons and logic, one might be more convinced of the validity of the teaching. This is why I choose to share with you the story behind Madame Chen’s ridge gourd.

From this perspective, the Buddha is the same. He, who having accomplished all these worthy achievements, advises us to follow his footsteps, and commit to meritorious acts and not evil acts such that we can avoid falling into the evil realms. Some people, after being shown the goal, heed his advice without needing further reflection. They choose to believe because they know they do not yet have the wisdom of the Buddha and they accept that there are intricate details they might not be able to comprehend right away.

There are people who need to understand the connection between evil deeds and their consequences in evil realms, why virtuous living can prevent one from falling into the evil realms. They, therefore, need to listen to Buddha’s teachings. With parables and narratives illustrative of the doctrines, they examine what they see and what they hear using direct perception or direct cognition. They experience and comprehend such logic and reasoning with firsthand knowledge, then they come to be fully convicted of the causal relationship. This becomes as clear as the logic behind why one has to sow the seeds in May in order to harvest in September and October. Such a belief is a strong conviction.

Eventually one finds meaning in Buddha teachings, his teachings about morality, concentration and wisdom (Pāli: sīla, samādhi and pañña), and about giving and elimination of unwholesome dispositions. As one starts to cultivate merits, and experiences the benefits of such merits, one’s conviction is strengthened. Finally one is able to see the path, cultivate the path and live the path. Such conviction is much more solid.

In fact, how one comes to one’s resolution has to do with one’s temperament. People of a faithful temperament only need to follow and go by means of faith. Some people build their resolution based on the Dhamma, and they insist on getting to the bottom of things and are Dhamma devotees. Strictly speaking, we cannot be called either a true faith devotee or a true Dhamma devotee. We can only be called having a disposition to faith or Dhamma.

People of these two temperaments can be easily discerned through how they approach the Right Dhamma. The faithful devotees are content to just follow whatever the Buddha teaches. People of this temperament have their strengths. Why is that? They tend to be much more ready to undertake what is needed. The Dhamma devotees, who do not give their trust lightly until they have delved into the root of things, tend to be strong believers once they are convinced. People of these two temperaments have their shortcomings as well. The risk of faith devotees is that it is easy for them to fall prey to wrong teachings if they meet the wrong type of teachers and are exposed to wrong views. Those who are Dhamma devotees, on the other hand, have trouble committing to beliefs until their questions are adequately answered. You may find them studying books after books but still having trouble committing to giving, to abiding by the five precepts, and to practicing meditation. Because after years and years of searching, they find their questions still unanswered.

What we have learned from these Buddhist scriptures and parables, is to be a little more trusting while avoiding falling into these two extremes. Just as when we arrive in a new place, before we form our own experience about planting, we should take the words of the locals, we should heed the advice of the Buddha when we study Buddhism. From that first step, it will be best if we try to understand why the Buddha teaches us to do what we should do, for there must be an underlying principle. We can then put them in practice step by step. In this way, we can slowly experience, and our belief can then be strengthened one step at a time. Such kind of conviction is stable and difficult to revert.

Today’s dhamma talk continues with our previous discussion, given on Buddha’s Day, on “belief”. As we speak, we are still in the midst of this rare coronavirus pandemic, which does not occur once every few hundred years. This year the Santavana Forest Hermitage has been closed to the public since the beginning of the vassa because of the pandemic. I know a lot of people are eager to visit the Hermitage, listen to dhamma talks, and look forward to attending activities, including the 21-day retreat on the Four Protective Meditations which was originally planned for the end of the year, but unfortunately this event needs to be cancelled because of the uncertainty of the pandemic. May this dhamma talk serve to remind you to observe the relationship between karmic causes and effect. There is a uniqueness in each individual karmic cause and effect. Let us take the opprtunity to learn to act in line with the karmic cause and effect. While we take necessary precaution to prevent the disease, we also use the time to continue our learning.

This concludes today’s dhamma talk.

English Translation: Dianxin