Buddhist Talks
CROSSING THE REALM OF DEATH
Those who in this well-expounded
Dhamma Practice in accordance with the Dhamma - These people
go to the far shore Of the realm of Death so very hard to
cross.
In South Asia, during the rainy season, the monsoons rains come
pouring down mightily and heavily. When the rains pour down, the
rivers swell up and widen, and their current becomes fierce and
tumultuous. Seemingly out of nowhere, many streams previously
non-existent appear throughout the countryside. The water from the
rain sweeps down over the mountains and hills, filling up the creeks
and brooks until they too become rivers. Yet despite the arrival of
the rainy season, people still have to move from place to place --
for business, shopping, or family affairs -- and to travel to
distant destinations they often have to cross these rivers. For this
reason the image of crossing a river, of moving from this shore to
the far shore, plays a prominent role in the different forms of
Indian religion and spirituality, and Buddhism too makes ample use
of this image.
Within this image, "this shore" represents samsara, the round of
rebirths through which all unenlightened sentient beings have been
roaming and wandering without any first point in time. Samsara is
divided into various realms. Those beings who run up and down "this
shore" are those who move from one plane of existence to another,
without seeing any route of escape. Sometimes they go from a lower
realm to a higher realm, sometimes from a higher realm to a lower
realm. But, whether they go up or down, they are like animals in a
cage, just running in circles without getting anywhere. What keeps
us bound to this round of rebirths, according to the Buddha, is our
ignorance and craving, which in conjunction with our volitional
actions (karma) drive us to one realm or another.
Some modern interpreters of Buddhism say that this whole teaching
about karma and rebirth is part of ancient Indian mythology that the
Buddha just accepted and took on board as part of his Indian
cultural heritage. They say that if we are to make Buddhism
meaningful for modern people, we should strip away all these ancient
cultural accretions and devise a version of Buddhism that applies
exclusively to life here and now. If we take this attitude, it seems
we're directly challenging the enlightenment of the Buddha. The
Buddha didn't say that these teachings of karma and rebirth should
be accepted because they belong to the Indian spiritual heritage. He
says, rather, that he has realized and seen these things for
himself. To remove these teachings from Buddhist doctrine is in
effect to remove the world-transcending aspect of the Dharma,
leaving us with a version of Buddhism that is little more than a
sophisticated ancient psychotherapy. It's a little bit like taking a
car and then thinking, "Why should we keep the tires on the car? It
would really look much better without them." So we remove the tires,
convinced that now we have a really super-looking car. But if we get
in and try to drive, we don't get anywhere. From this we can see how
important it is to preserve the integrity of the original teaching
by retaining these doctrines.
So, in the Buddhist worldview, this shore is samsara, the cycle
of rebirth driven by ignorance, craving, and karma; and the far
shore is Nirvana, the birthless and deathless. Whereas samsara is
the realm of suffering and commotion, Nirvana is the state of
supreme bliss and peace. The task the Buddha sets before us is to
move from this present shore of samsara to the far shore of Nirvana;
and what takes us across from the near shore to the far shore is the
Buddhist path. That is why the Buddha compares his teaching to a
raft: it enables us to cross the stream and reach the far shore.
In the verse the Buddha says: "those who in this well-expounded
Dhamma practice in accordance with the Dhamma." If we examine the
discourses spoken by the Buddha, we can easily see that they are
well expounded. First, they're completely clear. Even though they
might be deep in meaning, the thinking they display is razor sharp,
not at all vague or muddled. The teachings are consistent; they all
fit together into one piece. Ethically, the teachings are
impeccable; one can't find any faults in them. They are realistic in
that they describe things the way they really are; the teachings
don't lead us down a garden path into realms of wishful fantasy. The
Buddha's approach is non-dogmatic and experiential. When one
practices the Dhamma, one can see for oneself that it brings
beneficial results right here and now. On this basis, one can
develop the confidence that if one practices diligently one will
eventually win liberation from all suffering.
In order to gain liberation from the realm of death, it's not
enough just to have an excellent or well-expounded teaching. Above
all, it's of prime important to practice it. The practice of the
teaching unfolds methodically and systematically, stage by stage.
One has to begin by leading a moral life, by accepting the precepts
and disciplining one's conduct in harmony with the precepts. By
accepting and following the precepts, one transforms one's behavior
so that it conforms to the ideal standards of the noble ones.
Then, on the basis of morality, one has to develop concentration
or samadhi. Concentration is the process of learning how to make the
mind calm, composed, and inwardly focused. When the mind is
concentrated, one undertakes the development of prajña, wisdom.
Wisdom is the insight or understanding that arises from direct
contemplation of phenomena. It discerns, perceives, and recognizes
the true nature of things, their true characteristics.
The true characteristics of phenomena as taught by the Buddha are
threefold. The first is the impermanence of all conditioned
phenomena. The second is the unsatisfactoriness of all conditioned
phenomena, the fact that all conditioned phenomena are in some way
bound up with suffering, unable to satisfy our yearning for perfect
security. The third is the selfless nature of all phenomena, the
fact that all phenomena are devoid of any substantial self or
intrinsic essence. Of these three characteristics, the deepest and
most difficult to see is selflessness, yet it is just this that must
be seen if we are to cut the bonds that hold us to the round of
birth and death
As our wisdom matures, it cuts through subtler and subtler layers
of ignorance and craving, until it cuts off the fetter of ignorance
entirely, just like cutting through a leather strap. As we cut
through the fetter of ignorance, the four bonds fall away. With the
first cut, the bond of wrong views falls away. With the next cut,
the craving for sense pleasures falls away. With the third cut, the
craving for continued existence falls away. And with the last cut,
the subtlest bond of ignorance falls away. When we accomplish this,
we have crossed the stream and reached the final goal - the far
shore of Nirvana.
|