Views of the Absolute in World Religions
Center for Media and Independent Learning - University of California Extension
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Buddhism
Course Guide written by Mike Fedel
The Teaching of the Buddha
[7]
The streams of craving flow everywhere.
The creeper of craving grows wild,
Through the six sense doors.
Being aware of the strangling vine,
Cut it off at the root through insight.
[8]
Pleasurable sensations arise in living beings.
The feelings are heightened by craving,
And these beings cling to these sensations.
Not letting go,
They are compelled to experience suffering
Over and over again.
- from the Dhammapada, ch. 24
The teaching of the Buddha centered on the very practical question of suffering and the
end of suffering. Siddhartha Gautama undertook his meditation practice when his experiences
caused him to question the comfortable life he had been living. He saw that others were suffering,
might he someday suffer too? These experiences and questions led him to meditate and become an
enlightened being--a Buddha [see Novak 1-12]. When he attained the clarity of vision that came
with enlightenment, he saw and understood the workings of the world around him and realized his
Four Noble Truths and the fact of craving (tanha) as the root cause of suffering. We need to
keep these ideas of suffering and craving in mind as we investigate some other aspects of the
Buddhist religion.
THE BUDDHIST RELIGION?
When we study Buddhism, we are immediately confronted with a challenge to our ideas about religion. Smith (pp. 92-93) points out six features which have generally been assumed when we talk about religions, then explains how the Buddha avoided them. For example, the Buddha did not preach about the a god who created the world and metes out reward and punishment based on our behavior. The Buddha did not implement a set of rituals and prayers which are to be recited daily to appease the gods. He preached a way of life which led to enlightenment and the end of suffering.So then, how can Buddhism be considered a religion? The answer lies in looking at the question itself. The word "religion" is difficult to define. Since much of the scholarship with which we are usually acquainted is European and Christian in background, it has been our tendency to define "religion" with Christian categories. For instance, we expect religions to talk about ideas like 'God', 'sin and redemption', 'heaven and hell', and 'the human soul'. This definition works when looking at Judaism and Islam, and to a lesser degree when looking at Hinduism or the Native American traditions. But Buddhism is not such an easy fit.
There is, however, another way of looking at religion. Religion can be seen as a way to answer the deep questions which we have about our existence: What is the meaning of my life? Why is there evil? How can this life be improved? This goes directly to the heart of the question and allows us to reinterpret the category. The challenge of Buddhism helps us see the limitation of our definition. The definition of religion as "talking about God and heaven and hell" is inadequate to address the range of possibile responses to the deep questions we have about our own existence.
The technique of looking back at your questions you ask rather than simply looking at the answers is helpful if you choose to go forward in a field such as Religious Studies or Philosophy. Looking closely at the questions and the kinds of questions you ask and the assumptions they contain can help you overcome your own natural tendencies to see things through the lens of your own philosophical or religious tradition.
BUDDHISM AND HINDUISM
The end of suffering is central to the Buddha's message. We can see some connections here with Hinduism, out of which Buddhism grew. The Hindu genius was to recognize that getting all of the things we want will not satisfy us. At some point, we tire of each of them and realize that we want something more. The Hindus say that what we truly want is infinite bliss, infinite knowledge, and infinite being. The Buddha also understood that our desires are somehow connected with our dissatisfaction but he did not substitute a different class of things to desire (as did Hinduism) but rather claimed that the problem lies in the very process of wanting (craving, tanha). In other words, it is not that we want the wrong things, it is that we want.The Buddha talked about specific types of wanting as well as about the causes and implications of wanting. For our purposes, a good general sense is given in Smith p. 102: "tanha is a specific kind of desire, the desire for private fulfillment." This statement needs to be elaborated as you become more familiar with the different Buddhist teachings, but in general it stands. And it reflects an understanding we saw in the section on Hinduism: the more we accept the illusion of ourselves as separate beings, the more unsatisfactory we find our lives, the deeper we bind ourselves to the wheel of rebirth, and the further away we are from release into nirvana.
NIRVANA
The concept of nirvana is one which is open for interpretation and argument. Different teachers and interpreters of Buddhism have stressed different aspects of the Buddha's teaching about nirvana. We have also received different interpretations as Buddhism was transplanted into American culture. But, there are certain statements which we can safely make.First, any definition of nirvana in positive terms will be misleading. Nirvana is always defined as release from bonds or fetters: freedom from attachment, ending of conceit, cessation of consciousness, extinction of 'thirst', the Unconditioned, the Uncompound, and, finally, 'blowing out'. The difficulty with any positive definition is that it will require the use of language which is always conditioned by the cultural and historical period in which it evolves and is therefore always limited.
Second, nirvana is not the result of our efforts, it is not a prize we win or a condition we create. It is beyond the categories of cause and effect. It is not the created result of the end of craving, it is a condition we release ourselves into by letting go of craving. Walpola Rahula, in What the Buddha Taught states that
NIRVANA IS. The only thing you can do is to see it, to realize it. There is a path leading to the realization of Nirvana. But Nirvana is not the result of this path. You may get to the mountain along a path, but the mountain is not the result, not an effect of the path.Third, though described negatively, nirvana is not to be understood as a negative state. The extinguishing of our desire and the 'blowing out' of our consciousness is not the same as saying (along with empiricists or materialists) that "when we're dead, we're dead and that's all there is to it." It is true that nirvana cannot be adequately described except through negation, but this is because it is beyond all categories and descriptions, not because there is nothing there to describe. The Godhead-which-is-beyond-God is also beyond description and this is certainly not because Christians do not believe in God.
THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS AND THE EIGHTFOLD PATH
Smith has described for us two Buddhist themes with which we need to be familiar: the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. In this section, we will make some further comments which will address some few additional points.It is important to note that in the First Noble Truth (life if dukkha) the Buddha is not complaining about how unfair the world is to him or about how his bones ache. He is making an analysis of the entire range of human activity. Everything about life is somehow out of joint, and the more we realize and understand this, the more likely we are to be able to deal with it. To see life as suffering only when we are miserable or overcome with troubles is to misunderstand what he is describing. Even when life is good, it is still problematic. The good is good within the confines of a limited existence. At worst, the good situation will end and, even at best, it distracts us from progressing along the path to nirvana. Seeing the First Noble Truth in this way helps us not become complacent about our spiritual needs when things are going well.
The word tanha in the Second Noble Truth (which is usually translated as 'craving') is also problematic. It is not original to teach that unbridled self-interest and greed are to be avoided, most religions teach this. But the Buddhist analysis goes further than most religions. For instance, the desire to hold onto beliefs and opinions, theories and concepts is included as something to be overcome. This is not usually present in our idea of the word 'craving'. We need to stop short of the discussion about whether 'the desire to go on living' and 'the desire for enlightenment' are seen as 'craving', those discussions are ongoing among different interpreters of Buddhism. (There is evidence that 'the desire for enlightenment' is not to be avoided, and, in fact, does not produce karma. 'The desire to go on living' is more difficult and can be interpreted in different ways.) A better initial understanding of the word might come through ideas such as obsession or compulsion which are more familiar to the western ear. But keep in mind that these only provide a starting point. Craving is a problem even when it has not become obsession.
In one way, the Eightfold Path demonstrates the centrality of the will in the initial stages of Buddhist practice. The path contains several admonitions about efforts we should make. The fact that Right Intent, Right Views, and Right Effort are three separate categories also points to the importance of the will. Rather than making a single statement such as 'adhere to the path', we are reminded that our intention is not enough: it needs to be reflected in our views and our efforts. Likewise, our efforts and views inform our intention as we go forward on the path.
The Eightfold Path is very practical. These are good general rules of conduct which would be applauded in any tradition. In this way, Buddhism is an infinitely accessible religion. The Buddha did not require the acceptance of certain dogma to become a Buddhist. He did not promote theological speculation nor the creation of a hierarchy of priests to minister to the laity (though he did institute an ordination ritual for monks and nuns). What he did propose was that each individual reach the truth of the position for herself. The practice was to be done, the results were to be reached, and the speculation was not seen as helpful. In this way, the Buddha hoped to avoid the endlessly confusing and difficult arguments which arise in other traditions. His emphasis was always on the practice, on seeing for yourself.
BRANCHES OF BUDDHISM
That different branches of Buddhism arose was probably inevitable. In most traditions, at least some differences are articulated and living traditions evolve ways to support these differences. We can speculate as to the causes for these differences emerging. There are theories such as Hegel's which posit that each 'system' carries within itself its own opposite: this opposite will eventually become articulated and the two will (hopefully) reach some synthesis of the two positions. There is another theory that periodic renewals, such as the Buddha's response to Hinduism or Jesus' response to Judaism, are part and parcel of the historical realities of religion and culture. For whatever reason, it is helpful to realize that this situation exists in most religious systems. This allows us to be less surprised and less critical when we see that not all adherents for a faith behave or believe exactly alike.The differences between a Tibetan and a Theravadan, for instance, are as stark as night and day to the observers. While one group dresses in colorful robes and chants and dances, the other group sits quietly, developing awareness of their own thoughts. Yet, the goal is the same: release from this existence into nirvana. Though the external forms and practices may look incompatible, they take their cue from the same source: the teaching of the Buddha concerning the end of suffering.
In Novak's readings, you can see for yourself some of the differences in the ways instruction is given in different traditions. Read his sections on Tibetan and Zen teachers for instance to see how these traditions differ from each other.
THE ABSOLUTE IN BUDDHISM
For the Buddhist, the goal is the end of suffering, not the creation of a particular view of the universe, not the appeasement of a god, nor living a good life in order to be rewarded upon death. The Buddha said:I have not elucidated . . . that the world is not eternal; I have not elucidated that the world is eternal; I have not elucidated that the world is finite; I have not elucidated that the world is infinite; I have not elucidated that the soul and the body are identical; I have not elucidated that the soul is one thing and the body another; I have not elucidated that the saint exists after death; I have not elucidated that the saint does not exist after death.An important point in the Buddha's teaching was that speculation about metaphysical reality is not necessarily helpful to attaining nirvana. What we think about heaven and how we get there are two different things. The focus in Buddhism is on practice, not speculation.
Additionally, there are practical reasons that speculation is not always helpful. All speculation is expressed in language and our language is always conditioned by the culture in which it is created. Therefore, it is limited and can only be used to describe other limited things. Even our perceptions are conditioned. As has been noted in contemporary Western philosophy, we construct reality as we experience it. Everything we see is seen through an interpretive framework (a conceptual system) of some sort. A tree may be seen as a manifestation of God's creation, as the source of paper and pulp or as a nuisance obstructing our view of the landscape. Yet, the tree remains what it is, only our ideas about it change. When all of the conditioned ideas about the tree are done away with, what is left? The tree as it is in reality.
This is one way of talking about conditioned and unconditioned reality. The Buddhist interpretation goes further, though how much further is up for debate among different Buddhists. What can be safely said about an Absolute is that it is that which remains when all of our conditioned understanding has been stripped away. And, on a more specific note, it is us becoming unconditioned--attaining nirvana.