Buddhism -2/10
The Mind is Circle of the Moving Fire Band
The job of a teacher is to guide the student to attain true knowledge. But when the teacher has attained enlightenment and hence knows the Truth, he gives the Truth to his/her pupil.
The First Truth: Pratityasamutpaada
What is the truth of this existence? What is that one answer that faithfully describes the state of everything that exists? Surely Science gives an explanation to observable phenomena, but what underlies all these explanations? What is that one universal truth? The Buddha says that it is Dependent Origination (Pratityasamutpaada); which basically means that every current event is dependent upon a previous event. For example: I am eating snacks because I was hungry, an object falls to the ground because it was thrown upwards, ice melts if it is kept out of the refrigerator, etc. Such dependency can be observed and reported by any knowledgeable individual but yet its emphasis as the Truth is significant. What has to be noted is that this dependency is not a necessary dependency: it isn’t necessary that the current event be dependent on a previous event; there’s only a sort of correlation between the two events. But now, where does this truth lead us? Deductive logic tells us that if the premises of a statement are true, then its conclusion will be unavoidably true. So, if my premise is Dependent Origination, then, when I trace back every other dependent event, there will be more dependent events; at no point in the past will this series of dependent events stop. To even speculate that there is a beginning to dependent events is to deny the premise, that is, Dependent Origination. Therefore, there is no beginning or end, there is only becoming. This is called Anantha-Vaada.
The Second Truth: Suffering (Dukka)
People usually wonder, is there a soul? Is there God? Is there an afterlife? etc. All these questions lead to different theories, arguments and beliefs. Theorising leads to further theorising, debate leads to more debate, arguments leads to more arguments; this is observed. Anybody who indulges himself/herself in such theorising gets lost in the theories and forgets that all theories and arguments spring from Experience, and there is one truth that is universally present in the experience of every human being; this is Suffering. The emphasis of this truth is paramount to Buddhism since it directly affects every living thing, and it easy to get mesmerized by the pleasures of life and forget this truth. In realising this truth, the Buddha gives the four-fold truths:
- There is Suffering (Dukka)
- There is Cause for this suffering (Dukka Kaarna)
- There is Cessation of the Suffering (Dukka Niroodha)
- There is a path to the cessation of Suffering (Dukka niroodha Maarga)
In the process of understanding the cause for suffering, the Buddha will uncover why there has to be rebirth. Since we already know Dependent Origination, we will apply it to instances in life and try to trace back the cause for it all.
● There is suffering (Dukka). But why is there suffering?
● Because of birth (Jata). If one were never born, one would never suffer. But why is one born?
● Because one has a will to become (Bhaava). But why does one have a will to become?
● Because one has some mental clingy or grasping (upadhana) the objects of the world. But why does one have this mental clingy to objects?
● Because one has thirst (Trshna) or craving to enjoy objects that give pleasure. But why does one have this thirst or desire?
● Because of sense-experience which remembers the pleasures of life without grasping the truth that is suffering. But how can one have sense-experience before one was born?
● Because one’s senses have previously (before birth) had contact (Sparsha) with objects. But how can one have contact with objects?
● Because one has had sense organs (Skandhas). But how can sense organs exist independently?
● Correct, they can’t exist independently. Therefore, one has had body-mind (naama- Ruupa). But this body and mind cannot exist independently, right?
● Right, it can’t. Therefore, consciousness (vijnana) had to have descended upon it in its mother’s womb. But why does consciousness descend on the fetus?
● It does so because one hasn’t realised the truth about existence, that is, suffering. This is because of ignorance (avidhya)
Therefore, the root cause for suffering is Ignorance of the truth of existence. These twelve links are called Bhaava-Chakra. One thing that might baffle an individual trained in the sciences is why these twelve points contain mental properties like mental clingyness, desire and suffering. This is because, firstly, dependent origination is the universal truth about everything that exists, even mental states like suffering, depression, happiness, desire, etc. Secondly, our thoughts and feelings can have effects in the external world. For example: one might get angry and throw a javelin. The javelin will follow the laws of physics, but the throw arises from a feeling. This here, is the beauty of Indian Philosophy — its holistic. The whole of the universe is explained by considering material objects and also immaterial things like thoughts and feelings.
The Third Truth: Nirvana
Since we know the cause of suffering, the purpose of existence is to escape this cycle of suffering. Killing oneself will not do, because one will be reborn and continue to experience suffering. Therefore, for this end of achieving true escape, the Buddha presents the Eight-fold path. And one who follows this path will achieve enlightenment, which is called Nirvana. When one achieves Nirvana, they arrest the cycle of Dependency. This dependent cycle is represented as a burning candle. Every line of wax burns out and gives rise to the next. This is why the Nirvana is represented as an extinguished flame of a candle. Once enlightened, one does actions with prefect insight into the real nature of the universe and without attachment; such actions do not lay the seed of Karma. Whereas actions done under the influence of attachment (raaga), hatred (devsha) and infatuation (moha) strengthens our desire to cling to the world and generates the seeds of Karma, causing rebirth.
The Fourth Truth: There is no Consciousness (or mind) independent of the body.
What is everything made up of? If the answer is that everything is made up of Material stuff, then what about language and thoughts? The thoughts that we have aren’t ‘material’. Secondly, I can imagine myself without any external stimuli but I cannot imagine myself without my mind. Because if I start to do so, I will still have thoughts, and hence a Mind. Therefore, for the forgoing reasons, some philosophers suggested that the Mind is an independent substance. The Buddhists deny this claim on the grounds that it is an error to propose the Mind as an independent substance. Consider a ‘guitar’. If I ask, where is the guitar? This question is important because any independent substance has an independent location. My laptop is placed in front of me on the table, a point is on a cartesian plane (or graph) marked by points (x, y), my tea mug in on the table, etc. So, coming back to the question, where is the ‘guitar?’ Is the guitar on the neck? Is it on the fret? Is it on the bridge? Is it on the strings? Is it on the pick? Clearly, the guitar doesn’t lie in any of these parts, but is made up of all these parts. This is same for the Mind. To be clear, the Buddhist’s, do not deny the existence of mind, they only deny that the mind exists as an independent substance. To make this explanation intelligible, the Buddhists give the analogy of a moving fire band. When we hold a fire band still, we observe a burning fire and the band. It is only when the band is turned around that we get the sight of a fire circle. This fire circle is not independent of the movement or the fire or the band, but arises because of all the three. Such is the existence of the Mind. Now, what is the consequence of this argument? If the Mind is an independent substance, creation or origination has to be explained taking into account both independent substances: Material and Mind. Since the Buddhists have denied the claim of independent existence of the Mind, creation or origination can be explained without taking the Mind into account. Anyways, we have seen the Buddhists philosophical creation account in the First truth; and as predicted, there is no mind in their account.
This is the basics of Buddhists philosophy. There is no beginning or end, suffering and death is the truth of one’s existence, escape from suffering is the purpose of one’s existence, there is no independent mind and finally Nirvana is stage of enlightenment. One who achieves Nirvana will be untouched by suffering and will never be reborn to experience more suffering. This much is what one needs to know about Buddhism. This is the philosophy of Buddhism as expounded by Buddha himself. Later on, Buddhism got divided into different schools and developed Buddhists philosophy based on the words Buddha. The Buddhist philosophy is very practical and gives practical solutions for life. The eight-fold path gives prescriptions for good interpersonal relationships as well as for good personal development through mediation. It is truly a philosophy for mankind.
