ACHIEVING SALVATION FROM SUFFERING: THE BUDDHIST PATH TO LIBERATION

“Setting in Motion the Wheel of Dharma”

After he achieved enlightenment, Shakyamuni (“the sage of the Shakyas”) remained in Bodh Gaya for seven weeks, trying to decide what course of action to take next. His first consideration was to become a religious teacher. However, recognizing the difficulty of communicating his profound religious knowledge to those “beyond the sphere of reason,” Shakyamuni inclined towards a life of privacy and seclusion. It was only after the compassionate god, Brahma Sahampati, appealed to him not to give up on the idea of becoming a religious teacher that the Buddha vowed to proclaim his religious teachings to the world, and the following morning, he set out for the Ganges Valley.

The Buddha eventually came to a park near Benares on the Ganges that had been set aside for royal deer called Deer Park. There, the Buddha was reunited with the five ascetics, each of whom immediately noticed the transformation that had taken place in him. The five ascetics called Shakyamuni a Tathagata (“one who has attained what is really so”), and the Buddha told them that he had finally attained release from the cycle of repeated rebirths by putting an end to craving and ignorance. Then, the Buddha began to deliver a sermon to them. It was the first sermon that the Buddha preached to the five ascetics. The sermon has been preserved as a discourse called “Setting in Motion the Wheel of Dharma.”

THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH

In the context of his sermon, the Buddha told the five ascetics that when he achieved enlightenment “a vision of true knowledge arose in me thus: My mind’s deliverance is unassailable. This is my last birth. Now there is no more becoming.”

Shakyamuni said that he had found a cure for suffering, and that the formula for the cure was contained in the Four Noble Truths. The First Noble Truth – the Noble Truth of Suffering – is believed to be the cornerstone of the Buddha’s teaching. “This, O bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of Suffering (dukkha): Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, sorrow, and lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are suffering, association with the unloved or unpleasant condition is suffering, separation from the beloved or pleasant condition is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering. In short, the five aggregates of attachment is suffering.”

The Three Types of Suffering

The Buddha identified three types of suffering. The first type of suffering was “the suffering of suffering.” This type of suffering includes all forms of physical and mental suffering resulting from birth, sickness, old age, death, association with unpleasant persons and conditions, separation from loved ones, grief, lamentation, distress, not being able to fulfill one’s desires, and so on.

The second type of suffering is “the suffering of change,” which has to do with experiences that we ordinarily recognize as pleasurable because they seem to bring us joy in the beginning. The Buddha taught that this sense of joy is not lasting because, sooner or later, it fades, and the sense of loss that we are left with causes us to experience sorrow. The deluded mind only perceives these states of pleasure as true joy because they appear to bring us happiness in the beginning, when viewed in comparison to more painful experiences. But, this sense of happiness is only temporary, because the sense of joy associated with these kinds of seemingly pleasurable experiences is not permanent. It is therefore impermanent.

The third type of suffering is “the suffering of conditioning.” This type of suffering is predicated on the fact that our bodies are predisposed to suffer because we can never wholly succeed in keeping away things, people, and situations we dislike, or in holding onto those things, people, and situations that we do like, or in getting what we want. The changing, impermanent, and uncertain nature of life itself is such that we are all predisposed to experiences feelings of dissatisfaction, frustration, disappointment, and loss. Such is life!

The Five Aggregates of Attachment

Each of the three types of suffering can be traced to the Five Aggregates of Attachment, which are sometimes called the Five Skandhas. The Five Aggregates of Attachment are: form (rupa-skandha), sensation (vedana-skandha), perception (samjna-skandha), activity (samskara-skandha), and individual consciousness (vijnana-skandha). The Five Skandhas are used to explain what the Buddha called the “deluded mind” and how it operates. The Five Skandhas can be described as “the ‘heaps’ of psycho-perceptual data that fill our minds and create the illusion of a separate self.” The Buddha taught that deepening our understanding of the Five Skandhas would enable us to more fully comprehend what is meant by “the emptiness of the self.”

Emptiness (shunyata) is the word that the Buddha used to describe the fact that nothing in the universe has an independent nature of its own. Buddhism teaches us that emptiness permeates everything in existence. It is emptiness that “allows us to see beyond relativity, beyond duality, and beyond all phenomenal distinctions.” According to the Buddha, emptiness permeates everything in the phenomenal world of our senses and is thus the unifying principle behind the Three Dharma Seals, which are: the truth of impermanence (annica), the truth of no-self (anatta), and the truth of nirvana. (I discuss the Three Dharma Seals in the context of analyzing the Third Noble Truth).

1) The skandha of form (rupa) includes anything that gives rise to the skandha of sensation. Forms can be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched, or perceived. The skandha of form consists of visible (or visual) forms, auditory forms, olfactory forms, gustatory forms, tactile forms, and mental formations.

Visible forms (or sights) are objects that can be seen with the naked eye. Auditory forms are sounds that can be heard. Olfactory forms refer to things that have a scent, which can be smelled, and gustatory forms refer to consumable goods that can be tasted. Tactile forms refer to any objects with which the body can make physical contact, and mental formations have to do with the properties of the brain (or mind), such as thoughts, ideas, dreams, memories, etc.

2) The skandha of sensation (vedana) refers to those mental processes resulting from “immediate bodily stimulation.” Sensation is “an impression on the body or mind produced by the senses.” The mind begins to experience sensations when the organs of the body encounter the physical world.

3) The skandha of perception (samjna) involves the act of observing. Perception implies an awareness of the various elements within the environment, or an awareness of those things that derive from physical sensation. In Buddhism: Core Ideas, Master Hsing Yun defines perception as “a mental act akin to ‘selecting’ something – out of the many impressions contending for its attention, the mind ‘selects’ one. Out of the many sparks produced by the first and second skandhas, the skandha of perception selects just one.”2

4) The skandha of activity (samskara) refers to any kind of behavior resulting from the wrong view of reality, or from a misapprehension of the Dharma (the spiritual teachings of the Buddha). Activity is behavior induced by the skandha of perception.

5) The skandha of individual consciousness (vijnana) is “a product of the first four skandhas and is profoundly conditioned by them,” says Master Hsing Yun. Individual consciousness refers to that state of “self-awareness” produced by any activity (or behavior) that reflects a lack of understanding of the Dharma, or that reflects ignorance of the true nature of reality. According to Master Hsing Yun, “this is the skandha wherein complex thought, discrimination, complex judgment and evaluation occur. This is what we normally think of … as being our ‘self.’”3

Sensations, activity, and individual consciousness are three of the twelve nidanas (or links) in the Twelve-linked Chain of Dependent Origination, which seeks to explain the interconnection between craving, ignorance, and the cycle of repeated rebirths from which the Buddha achieved liberation when he attained enlightenment. Underlying the twelve nidanas is the principle of dependent origination. The Buddha’s purpose for teaching his followers to understand the Twelve-linked Chain in relation to the principle of dependent origination was to enable them to understand the causal relationship between suffering and ignorance. The twelve links (or nidanas) are: Ignorance, Activity, Individual Consciousness, Name and Form, Sensory Organs, Contact, Sensations, Desire, Clinging, Existence, Birth, and Old Age and Death. (I discuss the Twelve-linked Chain of Dependent Origination in greater detail in connection with the Second Noble Truth).

THE SECOND NOBLE TRUTH

“This, O bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the origin suffering: It is craving which produces rebirth, bound up with pleasure and greed. It finds delight in this and that, in other words, craving for sense pleasures, craving for existence or becoming, and craving for nonexistence or self-annihilation.”

The Three Forms of Craving

The Truth of Arising, or the Second Noble Truth, reminds us that there are three types of craving. The first of these is the craving for sensual pleasure. This type of craving takes the form of gratification through the senses. An example of this kind of craving would be the desire to experience pleasant sights, sounds, smells, or tastes.

The second type of craving is the craving for existence, which is characterized as the desire for eternal life. The craving for existence is generally associated with the desire to be reborn into a future paradise, which is free of the sufferings of this life. However, this type of craving ignores the fact “that the self is an illusion and that the persistence of this illusion is the cause of all suffering.”

The third type of craving is the craving for nonexistence, which can lead to the complete and total rejection of the things of this life and even to self-sacrifice. Although the craving for nonexistence is usually associated with the yearning for nothingness and reflects an understanding of the fact that both the pleasures of a future paradise and the pleasures of this life are ultimately transient, the craving for nonexistence is no more desirable than the craving for existence, because the goal, as the Buddha taught us, was to put an end to all types of craving.

The Twelve-Linked Chain of Dependent Origination

The Buddha taught that “the root cause” of the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth is Ignorance, which is the first link in the Twelve-Linked Chain of Dependent Origination. Ignorance, in this sense, refers to the misapprehension of the Dharma, or to a lack of understanding of the true nature of reality. Ignorance may also be understood as the wrong view of reality. The second link in the chain is Activity, which involves any kind of behavior that results from the wrong view of reality. The third link is Individual Consciousness, which grows out of any activity that reflects bad intentions or wrong views. The fourth link is Name and Form, which refers to the mental process by which we name things, or label them, according to their shape or form. The fifth link is Sensory Organs, which help us distinguish between the different types of forms when our sensory organs encounter the material world. Contact is therefore the sixth link in the Twelve-Linked Chain of Dependent Origination. Contact gives rise to those feelings that are established once the mind begins to experience sensations, which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as “a particular feeling or experience that may not have a real cause.” Sensations is thus the seventh link.

The eighth link is Desire, which is understood as the sense of attraction or repulsion that we experience after a sensation has been felt. According to Buddhists, this leads to clinging and attachment. It follows from this that Clinging is the ninth link. Clinging has to do with the sense of attachment that we begin to develop when one or more of our six sensory organs perceives, sees, ears, smells, tastes, or touches some aspect of the material world, thereby producing sensations. This sense of attachment can lead to clinging to a deluded sense of self, clinging to sensory pleasures, clinging to intellectual habits, or clinging to rigid moral rules. The tenth link is Existence, which is the result of clinging and attachment. When we cling for existence, we generate karma. These karmic seeds, in turn, cause new karmic conditions to arise, resulting in new births (or rebirths). Therefore, Birth is the eleventh link. From birth follows Old Age and Death, which is the last of the twelve links. Old Age and Death are a result of the fact that everything that is born must eventually grow old and die at which point the mind is again plunged into a state of ignorance, as the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth continues in an unbroken chain of karmic causes.

The symbol of a wheel is often used to represent the Twelve-linked Chain of Dependent Origination because, like the regular successions of a wheel, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth continues in an unbroken chain. The Buddha called this symbol the Wheel of Life, which represents the realm of samsara (or endless wandering). The Buddha taught that the way to stop the wheel from spinning, or to put an end to the cycle of samsara, was to remove whatever was causing the wheel to spin. Since it is craving and attachment, “bound up with pleasure and greed,” that produce rebirth, then the way to escape the cycle of samsara and to stop the wheel from spinning is to eliminate craving and attachment. For the Buddha, the way to end craving and attachment was to overcome ignorance, and the way to overcome ignorance was by developing a deeper understanding of the true nature of reality. According to the Buddha, this deeper understanding (which simply means Right Understanding) results from following the Noble Eightfold Path. This is what leads to enlightenment.

THE THIRD NOBLE TRUTH

“This, O bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the cessation of suffering: It is the complete cessation of suffering; giving up, renouncing, relinquishing, detaching from craving.”

The Three Dharma Seals

The Third Noble Truth is closely associated with the Third Dharma Seal – that being, the truth of nirvana. The Buddha taught that when craving and attachment cease, nirvana is attained. Nirvana is “the absence of desire” or “the extinction of thirst.” It is therefore often associated with the absence of pain, or with the presence of joy and happiness. Nirvana implies the cessation of suffering, or the “cessation of belief in a separate self,” or the cessation of the birth, death, and rebirth of that illusory “self.”

The reason that the truth of nirvana is so closely associated with the Third Noble Truth is that the attainment of nirvana is contingent upon the cessation of suffering. Before one can achieve nirvana, one must first put an end to suffering. The concept of nirvana is therefore inseparably linked to the idea of “the cessation of suffering.”

The attainment of nirvana is also equivalent to the realization of ultimate truth. In fact, nirvana is synonymous with ultimate truth. The concept of nirvana is therefore embodied in the doctrine of the Two Truths, which are conventional truth (or historical reality) and ultimate truth. Since nirvana is equivalent to ultimate truth, it is believed to operate beyond the phenomenal world, or, at least, outside the law of cause and effect insofar as nirvana is neither a cause nor an effect. In other words, nirvana is neither the effect of the extinction of craving, nor the immediate result of the elimination of craving. However, before nirvana can be achieved, craving and attachment must cease. Once these conditions are met, nirvana can be achieved. The Buddha taught that when the thirst (or craving) for existence is quenched, meaningless attachments cease to exist, and when attachment ceases, the endless wandering associated with the cycle of repeated rebirths likewise comes to an end.

The Truth of impermanence is the First Dharma Seal, and the truth of no-self is the Second Dharma Seal. The truth of impermanence, the truth of no-self, and the truth of nirvana are called The Three Dharma Seals because the Buddha believed them to be the three marks of all conditioned phenomena. The truth of impermanence states that all phenomena are impermanent. This means that all phenomena are subject to change. Thus, nothing in life remains the same. The Buddha’s way of expressing this concept was to state “that nothing in life is permanent” because everything in the phenomenal universe is dependent upon certain causes and conditions for its existence, and if the causes and conditions that either produce or sustain a particular phenomenon are removed then that phenomenon ceases to exist.

The idea that everything in life is empty of self-nature is central to the Second Dharma Seal, which states that all things are devoid of self-nature. The Second Dharma Seal affirms the truth of no-self nature in two basic ways: First, it asserts that human beings are empty of self-nature, meaning that there is no such thing as the existence of a “self,” because the body is merely “a delusion caused by a brief congregation of the physical and mental components of existence,” all of which can be reduced to “a manifestation of karma.” Second, the truth of no-self asserts that everything else in the phenomenal world, outside of the human species, both animate and inanimate, is also empty of self-nature. Since everything in life is empty of self-nature, nothing has any intrinsic value of its own. Therefore, whatever identity we attach to things is contingent upon the interaction of our minds with the material world – thus, the interdependence of perception and reality.

The principle underlying the Buddha’s teachings on impermanence and no-self is the universal law of cause and effect. The Buddha taught the ideas of impermanence and no-self to help us overcome meaningless attachment to the idea of an independent self, which Shakyamuni saw as the primary obstacle in the path of enlightenment. Buddhism teaches us that all things are subject to change. Therefore, nothing in life is permanent. Another way of expressing this concept is to say that all things are impermanent.

The Buddha also taught that everything in the phenomenal universe is interdependent upon something else within the universe to the extent that everything in existence is dependent on the presence of a cause and on the presence of the right conditions for that phenomenon to exist. It follows from this that no human being or phenomenon has an independent self-nature (or soul). Thus, everything in the universe is empty of self-nature, or of anything pertaining to the self.

The Law of Karma

The universal law of cause and effect also underlies the law of karma. The Buddha distinguished between three types of karma: “karma generated by acts of the body, karma generated by acts of speech, and karma generated by acts of the mind.” “O bhikkhus, it is volition (cetana) that I call Kamma. Having willed, one acts through body, speech, and mind.”

Each type of karma can be said to refer to a different aspect of the universal law of cause and effect, which explains how desirable experiences of joy and happiness arise from the causes and conditions resulting from positive actions, speech, and thoughts. The universal law of cause and effect also explains how undesirable experiences of pain and suffering result from negative actions, speech, and thoughts. The law of karma reminds us of the importance of living a moral life. For Buddhists, to live a moral life means to live in accord with the Dharma; and to live in accord with the Dharma means to live a moral life. Living in accordance with the Dharma leads to happiness, fulfillment, and salvation, while transgressing the Dharma leads to continual becoming in the endless cycle of rebirth.

The Five Precepts

Buddhism expresses its moral code of conduct in the form of moral duties. The most general form of duties is found in the Five Precepts, which represent the fundamental foundation for all Buddhist morality. The Five Precepts are: (1) no killing, (2) no stealing, (3) no lying, (4) no sexual misconduct, and (5) no use of drugs or alcohol.

The precept against killing “teaches us to practice compassion and to think deeply about the needs and rights of others.” Although the killing of insects and animals is also considered to be a violation of the first precept, the killing of another human being is by far the worst form of killing and is considered a very serious offense.

The precept against stealing, which “is defined as taking anything that does not belong to you,” is believed to be “one of the hardest precepts to keep because all of us are often tempted to take things or hold onto things that do not belong to us.” Violating the precept against lying is also a serious offense. Lying is generally defined as not telling the truth, or “as any kind of deceit, duplicity, forgery, distortion, or presentation of misinformation.” The precept against sexual misconduct prohibits “any sexual behavior that violates the laws or mores of society,” and the precept against the use of drugs and alcohol reminds the individual of the dangers of “mind-altering substances,” which can lead “to serious lapses in good judgment” and can cause a person to violate one of the other precepts or to stray from the Noble Eightfold Path.

THE FOURTH NOBLE TRUTH

“This, O bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering. It is simply the Noble Eightfold Path, namely: Right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right awareness, and right concentration.”

The Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path can be divided into three groupings called the Three Higher Enlightenment Trainings. They are Morality Training, Wisdom Training, and Meditation Training. Morality Training is considered the first of the Three Higher Enlightenment Trainings because it is the foundation for Wisdom and Meditation Training, and because Morality Training is essential to spiritual growth. Morality leads to the development of good concentration, and good concentration leads to the cultivation of wisdom, which implies the ability to see beneath the surface of things, that is, to see the emptiness of being in this world. In the Buddhist world, wisdom is characterized as the ability to distinguish between conventional reality and ultimate truth.

The first two stages of the Noble Eightfold Path are Right Understanding and Right Thought, which are aspects of Wisdom Training. Because living a moral life means living in accordance with the Dharma, the first thing we must do before we can start living a more moral life, is to develop the Right Understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. Then, we can begin to practice good moral conduct. Acquiring Right Understanding (or Right Views) simply means that our views are in accordance with the Dharma. In other words, when we have Right Understanding, we have a clear understanding of the Four Noble Truths; the Noble Eightfold Path; the doctrine of the Two Truths; the principle of dependent origination; the law of karma; the Five Precepts; the Three Dharma Seals; and the concept of emptiness.

Right Thought is based on Right Understanding. When our understanding of the Dharma is correct, the right thoughts will flow naturally. Right Thought comes about after we have disentangled our minds from the delusions of greed, anger, and ignorance.

Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood are the next three stages of the Noble Eightfold Path. They are each an aspect of Morality Training. Right Speech refers to speech that is not slanderous, irritating, insulting, or overly critical. On the most basic level, Right Speech is defined as not lying, not backbiting, not being two-faced, and not being rude, harsh, abrasive, sarcastic, or impolite. Right Speech can also be defined as not engaging in idle gossip, or conversation that is foolish or futile.

Right Action promotes good moral conduct by encouraging us to follow the Five Precepts. Right Action involves anything that we can do with our bodies to generate good karma, including “good sleeping and eating habits,” “work habits,” and “proper rest and exercise.”

Right Livelihood (or Right Work) means that our profession should not bring harm to anyone. Nor should it encourage anyone to do harm to others. Right Livelihood means that we shouldn’t work in any profession that kills animals, or in any profession that involves the sale of arms or harmful intoxicants. Right Livelihood also means that our occupation should not cause us to do anything, or cause anyone else to do anything, that would violate the religious teachings of Gautama Buddha.

Right Effort, Right Awareness, and Right Concentration are the last three stages of the Noble Eightfold Path. They each fall under the category of Meditation Training. Right Effort “means becoming wiser, calmer, and more correct morally.” Once we have acquired Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood, we can begin to make Right Effort (or Right Progress). What this means is that each day that we come to understand a little more of the Dharma, we come closer to understanding how to apply it in our daily lives. Right Effort encourages us to prevent bad and unwholesome states of mind from arising; to get rid of bad and unwholesome states of mind that have already arisen; to produce good and wholesome states of mind that have not yet arisen; and to develop and bring to perfection those good and wholesome states of mind that have already arisen.

Right Awareness (or Right Mind) means dwelling in the awareness that the universe is as it should be, and that all that any of us can really do is to cultivate wisdom and compassion within ourselves, so that we can bring a little more goodness into the world. When we have achieved Right Awareness, we will be able to dwell “within the inherent purity of the Buddha mind that lies within” each of us, undisrupted by the Three Poisons of greed, anger, and delusion.

Finally, Right Concentration (or Right Meditation) teaches us that before we can become fully conscious and aware, we must first become mentally focused and concentrated. Thus, Right Concentration is designed to give us the calm and surrender that we need to contemplate the inner workings of the Dharma. When we learn how to practice Right Concentration, we will begin to discover the immutable truths of the Buddha’s spiritual teachings in mental states that lie beyond spoken language.

ENDNOTES

2) Master Hsing Yun, Buddhism: Core Ideas, transl. by Tom Graham. (New York & Tokyo: Weatherhill, 2002), p. 35.

3) Ibid, p. 37.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Armstrong, K. 2001. Buddha, New York: Penguin Books.

Batchelor, S. 1997. Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide To Awakening, New York: Riverhead Books.

Boorstein, S. 1995. It’s Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness, San Francisco: HarperCollins.

C’hen, K. 1968. Buddhism: Light Of Asia, New York: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.

Das, L. S. 1997. Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World, New York: Broadway Books.

Epstein, M. 1995. Thoughts Without A Thinker: Psychotherapy From A Buddhist Perspective, New York: BasicBooks.

Gyatso, V.L. 1994. The Four Noble Truths, Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications.

Gyatso, T., the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. 1995. Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart, San Francisco: HarperCollins.

“___________”. 1998. The Four Noble Truths, Boston: ThorsonsElement.

“___________”. 1997. The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace, San Francisco: Harper Collins.

“___________”. 1994. The Way to Freedom, San Francisco: HarperCollins.

“___________”. 1995. The World of Tibetan Buddhism, Boston: Wisdom Publications.

Hanh, T.N. 1998. The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation, New York: Broadway Books.

Harvey, P. 1990. Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Humphrey, C. 1985. Buddhism: An Introduction And Guide, New York: Penguin Books.

Kyabgon, T. 2001. The Essence of Buddhism: An Introduction to Its Philosophy and Practice, Boston: Shambala Publications, Inc.

Lowenstein, T. 2000. The Vision of the Buddha: Buddhism—The Path to Spiritual Enlightenment, London: Duncan Baird Publishers.

Novick, R.M. 1999. Fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism, Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press.

Rahula, W. 1959. 1974. What the Buddha Taught, New York: Grove Press.

Ross, N.W. 1980. Buddhism: A Way of Life and Thought, New York: Vintage Books.

Smith, H. and Novak, P. 2003. Buddhism: A Concise Introduction, San Francisco: HarperCollins.

Trainor, K. 2001. Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide, New York: Oxford University Press.

Yun, H. 2002. Buddhism: Core Ideas, New York & Tokyo: Weatherhill.

“________”. 2000. Lotus In A Stream, New York & Tokyo: Weatherhill.

In 1986, Derek Reeves graduated from the University of Rochester with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. Derek is also a graduate of Harvard Divinity School. In 1991, he received his master’s degree in theological studies. Derek works as a security guard in Queens. He lives in the Bronx.