5 Ws The Buddha and His Teachings by Narada Thera | 1988 |
Buddhism Chapter XLIV - The Problems of Life
Who? Whence? Whither? Why? What? are some important problems that affect
all humanity.
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1) Who is man? is our first question.
Let us proceed with what is self-evident and perceptible to all.
Man possesses a body which is seen either by our senses or by means of
apparatus. This material body consists of forces and qualities which are in
a state of constant flux.
Scientists find it difficult to define what matter is. Certain philosophers
define "matter as that in which proceed the changes called motion, and
motion as those changes which proceed in
matter."
[Ouspensky, *Tertium Organum*, p. 8.]{KR: NOT Vedic Philosophy followed by
Buddha}
The Pali term for matter is rūpa. It is explained as that which changes or
disintegrates. That which manifests itself is also another explanation.
According to Buddhism there are four fundamental material elements. They
are prṭhavī, āpo, tejo, and vāyo.(KR: again Philosophy of Buddha had the
four Brahmin Gurus under whom studied the Vedas.)
Prṭhavī means the element of extension, the substratum of matter. Without
it, objects cannot occupy space. The qualities of hardness and softness
which are purely relative are two conditions of this element. This element
of extension is present in earth, water, fire and air. For instance, the
water above is supported by water below. It is this element of extension in
conjunction with the element of motion (vāyo) that produces the upward
pressure. Heat or cold is the tejo element, while fluidity is the āpo
element.
Ápo is the element of cohesion. Unlike prṭhavī it is intangible. It is this
element which enables the scattered atoms of matter to cohere and thus
gives us the idea of body.
Tejo is the element of heat. Cold is also a form of tejo. Both heat and
cold are included in tejo because they possess the power of maturing
bodies, or, in other words, the vitalizing energy. Preservation and decay
are due to this element.
Vāyo is the element of motion. The movements are caused by this element.
Motion is regarded as the force or the generator of heat. Both motion and
heat in the material realm correspond respectively to consciousness and
kamma in the mental.
These four powerful forces are inseparable and interrelated, but one
element may preponderate over another, as, for instance, the element of
extension preponderates in earth; cohesion, in water; heat, in fire; and
motion, in air.
Thus, matter consists of forces and qualities which constantly change not
remaining the same even for two consecutive moments. According to Buddhism
matter endures only for seventeen thought-moments. (time of flashing of
lightning within which thoughts would arise).
At the moment of birth, according to biology, man inherits from his parents
an infinitesimally minute cell thirty-millionth part of an inch across. "In
the course of nine months this speck grows to a living bulk 15,000 million
times greater than it was at outset. This tiny chemico-physical cell is
the physical foundation of man.
According to Buddhism sex is also determined at the moment of conception.
Combined with matter there is another important factor in this complex
machinery of man. It is the mind. (mind is considered by Buddha) As such it
pleases some learned writers to say that man is not mind plus body, but is
a mind-body. Scientists declare that life emerges from matter and mind from
life. But they do not give us a satisfactory explanation with regard to the
development of the mind
Unlike the material body immaterial mind is invisible, but it could be
sensed directly. An old couplet runs:
What is mind? No matter.
What is matter? Never mind.
We are aware of our thoughts and feelings and so forth by direct sensation,
and we infer their existence in others by analogy.
There are several Pali terms {KR: Foreign Buddhism started only with Palism
they knew, as Europe started from Greek lines} for mind. Mana, citta,
viññāṇa are the most noteworthy of them. Compare the Pali root man, to
think, with the English word man and the Pali word manussa which means he
who has a developed consciousness.(KR: Sanskrit was so earlier to all
languages)
[*Pāli language*, classical and liturgical language of the Theravāda
<https://www.britannica.com/topic/Theravada> Buddhist
<https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism> canon, a Middle Indo-Aryan
language <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Indo-Aryan-languages> of north
Indian origin. On the whole, Pāli seems closely related to the Old
Indo-Aryan Vedic and Sanskrit
<https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sanskrit-language> dialects
<https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialects> but is apparently not
directly descended from either of these.
Pāli’s use as a Buddhist <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism>
canonical <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/canonical> language
came about because the Buddha
<https://www.britannica.com/biography/Buddha-founder-of-Buddhism> opposed
the use of Sanskrit, a learned language, as a vehicle for his teachings and
encouraged his followers to use vernacular
<https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vernacular> dialects. In time,
his orally transmitted sayings spread through India
<https://www.britannica.com/place/India> to Sri Lanka
<https://www.britannica.com/place/Sri-Lanka> (*c.* 3rd century BCE),
(Ashoka time) where they were written down in Pāli (1st century BCE), a
literary language of rather mixed vernacular origins. Pāli eventually
became a revered, standard, and international tongue. The language and the
Theravāda canon known as *Tipiṭaka
<https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tipitaka>* (Sanskrit: *Tripiṭaka*) were
introduced to Myanmar <https://www.britannica.com/place/Myanmar> (Burma),
Thailand <https://www.britannica.com/place/Thailand>, Cambodia
<https://www.britannica.com/place/Cambodia>, Laos
<https://www.britannica.com/place/Laos>, and Vietnam. Pāli died out as a
literary language in mainland India in the 14th century but survived
elsewhere until the 18th.]
In Buddhism no distinction is made between mind and consciousness.
(KR: Thus, Brahmam is avoided which is consciousness in Vedas) Both are
used as synonymous terms. Mind may be defined as simply the awareness of an
object since there is no agent or a soul that directs all activities. It
consists of fleeting mental states which constantly arise and perish with
lightning rapidity. "With birth for its source and death for its mouth it
persistently flows on like a river receiving from the tributary streams of
sense constant accretions to its flood." Each momentary consciousness of
this ever-changing life-stream, on passing away, transmits its whole
energy, all the indelibly recorded impressions, to its successor. Every
fresh consciousness(KR: Each thought) therefore consists of the
potentialities of its predecessors and something more. As all impressions
are indelibly recorded in this ever-changing palimpsest-like mind, and as
all potentialities are transmitted from life to life, (KR: a kind of
rebirth is admitted by Buddha, where each birth is not continuous; but
sufferings was forced to be explained differently) irrespective of
temporary physical disintegrations, reminiscence of past births or past
incidents becomes a possibility. If memory depends solely on brain cells,
it becomes an impossibility.( explaining forgetfulness even in this birth
as well as the earlier)
Like electricity, mind is both a constructive and destructive powerful
force. It is like a double-edged weapon that can equally be used either for
good or evil. One single thought that arises in this invisible mind can
even save or destroy the world. One such thought can either populate or
depopulate a whole country. It is mind that creates one's heaven. It is
mind that creates one's hell.
Ouspensky writes: "Concerning the latent energy contained in the phenomena
of consciousness, i.e., in thoughts, feelings, desires, we discover that
its potentiality is even more immeasurable, more boundless. From personal
experience, from observation, from history, we know that ideas, feelings,
desires, manifesting themselves, can liberate enormous quantities of
energy, and create infinite series of phenomena. An idea can act for
centuries and millenniums and only grow and deepen, evoking ever new series
of phenomena, liberating ever fresh energy. We know that thoughts continue
to live and act when even the very name of the man who created them has
been converted into a myth, like the names of the founders of ancient
religions, the creators of the immortal poetical works of antiquity,
heroes, leaders, and prophets. Their words are repeated by innumerable
lips, their ideas are studied and commented upon.
"Undoubtedly each thought of a poet contains enormous potential force, like
the power confined in a piece of coal or in a living cell, but infinitely
more subtle, imponderable and potent."
Observe, for instance, the potential force that lies in the following
significant words of the Buddha:
Mano-pubbaṇgama dhammā
mano-setthā-manomayā.
Mind precedes deeds; mind is chief,
and mind-made are they.
Mind or consciousness, according to Buddhism, arises at the very moment of
conception, together with matter. Consciousness is therefore present in the
foetus. This initial consciousness, technically known as
rebirth-consciousness or relinking-consciousness (paṭisandhi viññāṇa), is
conditioned by past kamma of the person concerned. The subtle mental,
intellectual, and moral differences that exist amongst mankind are due to
this kamma conditioned consciousness, the second factor of man.
To complete the trio that constitutes man there is a third factor, the
phenomenon of life that vitalises both mind and matter. Due to the presence
of life reproduction becomes possible. Life manifests itself both in
physical and mental phenomena. In Pali the two forms of life are termed nāma
jīvitindriya and rūpa jīvitindriya—psychic and physical life.
*Matter, mind, and life* are therefore the three distinct factors that
constitute man. With their combination a powerful force known as man with
inconceivable possibilities comes into being. He becomes his own creator
and destroyer. In him are found a rubbish-heap of evil and a storehouse of
virtue. In him are found the worm, the brute, the man, the superman, the
deva, the Brahmā. Both criminal tendencies and saintly characteristics are
dormant in him. He may either be a blessing or a curse to himself and
others. In fact man is a world by himself.
2) Whence? is our second question.
How did man originate?
Either there must be a beginning for man or there cannot be a beginning.
Those who belong to the first school postulate a first cause, whether as a
cosmic force or as an almighty being. Those who belong to the second school
deny a first cause for, in common experience, the cause ever becomes the
effect and the effect becomes the cause. In a circle of cause and effect a
first cause is inconceivable. According to the former life has had a
beginning; while according to the latter it is beginningless. In the
opinion of some, the conception of a first cause is as ridiculous as a
round triangle.
According to the scientific standpoint, man is the direct product of the
sperm and ovum cells provided by his parents. Scientists while asserting "Omne
vivum ex vivo"—all life from life, maintain that mind and life evolved from
the lifeless.
Now, from the scientific standpoint, man is absolutely parent-born. As such
life precedes life. With regard to the origin of the first protoplasm of
life, or "colloid" (whichever we please to call it), scientists plead
ignorance.
According to Buddhism man is born from the matrix of action
(kammayoni). Parents merely provide man with a material layer. As such
being precedes being. At the moment of conception, it is kamma that
conditions the initial consciousness that vitalises the foetus. It is this
invisible kammic energy generated from the past birth that produces mental
phenomena and the phenomenon of life in an already extant physical
phenomenon, to complete the trio that constitutes man.(KR: Kamma is Karma)
Dealing with the conception of beings the Buddha states:
"Where three are found in combination, there a germ of life is planted. If
mother and father come together, but it is not the mother's period, and the
'being-to-be-born' (gandhabba) is not present, [karma palan] then no germ
of life is planted. If mother and father come together, and it is the
mother's period, but the 'being-to-be-born' is not present, then again, no
germ of life is planted. If mother and father come together, and it is the
mother's period, and the 'being-to-be-born' is also present, then, by the
combination of these three, a germ of life is there planted."
Here gandhabba (= gantabba) refers to a suitable being ready to be born in
that particular womb. This term is used only in this particular connection,
and must not be mistaken for a permanent soul.
For a being to be born here a being must die somewhere. The birth of a
being corresponds to the death of a being in a past life; just as, in
conventional terms, the rising of the sun in one place means the setting of
the sun in another place.
The Buddha states: "a first beginning of beings, who, obstructed by
ignorance and fettered by craving, wander and fare on, is not to be
perceived."
This life-stream flows ad infinitum as long as it is fed with the muddy
waters of ignorance and craving. When these two are completely cut off,
then only does the life-stream cease to flow; rebirth ends as in the case
of Buddhas and arahants. An ultimate beginning of this life-stream cannot
be determined, as a stage cannot be perceived when this life force was not
fraught with ignorance and craving.
The Buddha has here referred merely to the beginning of the life-stream of
living beings. It is left to scientists to speculate on the origin and the
evolution of the universe.
3) Whither? is our third question.
Where goes man?
According to ancient materialism which, in Pali and Sanskrit, is known
as lokāyata, man is annihilated after death, leaving behind him any force
generated by him. "Man is composed of four elements. When man dies the
earthy element returns and relapses into the earth; the watery element
returns into the water; the fiery element returns into the fire; the airy
element returns into the air, the senses pass into space. Wise and fools
alike, when the body dissolves, are cut off, perish, do not exist any
longer. There is no other world. Death is the end of all. This present
world alone is real. The so-called eternal heaven and hell are the
inventions of imposters." [Sri Radhakrishnan, *Indian Philosophy*, Vol. 1.
p. 278.]
Materialists believe only in what is cognisable by the senses. As
such matter alone is real. The ultimate principles are the four
elements—earth, water, fire and air. The self conscious life mysteriously
springs forth from them, just as the genie makes its appearance when
Aladdin rubs his lamp. The brain secretes thought just as liver secretes
bile.(Dualism started KR).
In the view of materialists the belief in the other world, as Sri
Radhakrishna states, "is a sign of mendaciousness, feminism, weakness,
cowardice and dishonesty."
According to Christianity there is no past for man. The present is only
a preparation for two eternities of heaven and hell. Whether they are
viewed as places or states man has for his future endless felicity in
heaven or endless suffering in hell. Man is therefore not annihilated after
death, but his essence goes to eternity.
"Whoever," as Schopenhauer (KR: He is the supporter of Indian vedanthic
philosophy) says, "regards himself as having become out of nothing must
also think that he will again become nothing; or that an eternity has
passed before he was, and then a second eternity had begun, through which
he will never cease to be, is a monstrous thought."
The adherents of Hinduism who believe in a past and present do not
state that man is annihilated after death. Nor do they say that man is
eternalised after death. They believe in an endless series of past and
future births. In their opinion the life-stream of man flows ad infinitum
as long as it is propelled by the force of kamma, one's actions. In due
course the essence of man may be reabsorbed into ultimate reality
(paramātma) from which his soul emanated.
Buddhism believes in the present. With the present as the basis it argues
the past and future. Just as an electric light is the outward manifestation
of invisible electric energy even so man is merely the outward
manifestation of an invisible energy known as kamma. The bulb may break,
and the light may be extinguished, but the current remains and the light
may be reproduced in another bulb. In the same way the kammic force remains
undisturbed by the disintegration of the physical body, and the passing
away of the present consciousness leads to the arising of a fresh one in
another birth. Here the electric current is like the kammic force, and the
bulb may be compared to the egg-cell provided by the parents.
Past kamma conditions the present birth; and present
kamma, in combination with past kamma, conditions the future. The present
is the offspring of the past, and becomes in turn the parent of the future.
Death is therefore not the complete annihilation of man, for though that
particular life span ended, the force which hitherto actuated it is not
destroyed.
After death the life-flux of man continues ad infinitum as long as it is
fed with the waters of ignorance and craving. In conventional terms man
need not necessarily be born as a man because humans are not the only
living beings. Moreover, earth, an almost insignificant speck in the
universe, is not the only place in which he will seek rebirth. He may be
born in other habitable planes as well.
If man wishes to put and end to this repeated series of births, he can
do so as the Buddha and arahants have done by realising *Nibbāna,* the
complete cessation of all forms of craving.
Where does man go? He can go wherever he wills or likes if he is fit for
it. If, with no particular wish, he leaves his path to be prepared by the
course of events, he will go to the place or state he fully deserves in
accordance with his kamma.
4) Why? is our last question.
Why is man? Is there a purpose in life? This is rather a controversial
question.
What is the materialistic standpoint? Scientists answer:
Has life purpose? What, or where, or when?
Out of space came Universe, came Sun,
Came Earth, came Life, came Man, and more must come.
But as to Purpose: whose or whence? Why, None.
As materialists confine themselves purely to sense-data and the present
material welfare ignoring all spiritual values, they hold a view
diametrically opposite to that of moralists. In their opinion there is no
purposer—hence there cannot be a purpose. *Non-theists, to which category
belong Buddhists as well, do not believe in a creative purposer*.
"Who colours wonderfully the peacocks, or who makes the cuckoos coo so
well?" This is one of the chief arguments of the materialists to attribute
everything to the natural order of things.
"Eat, drink, and be merry, for death comes to all, closing our lives,"
appears to be the ethical ideal of their system. In their opinion, as Sri
Radhakrishna writes: "Virtue is a delusion and enjoyment is the only
reality. Death is the end of life. Religion is a foolish aberration, a
mental disease. There was a distrust of everything good, high, pure, and
compassionate. The theory stands for sensualism and selfishness and the
gross affirmation of the loud will. There is no need to control passion and
instinct, since they are nature's legacy to men."
The Sarvadarṣana Saṇgraha says:
While life is yours, live joyously,
None can escape Death's searching eye;
When once this frame of ours they burn,
How shall it e'er again return?
"While life remains let a man live happily, let him feed on ghee even
though he runs in debt."
Now let us turn towards science to get a solution to the question "why."
It should be noted that "science is a study of things, a study of what is
and that religion is a study of ideals, a study of what should be."
Sir J. Arthur Thompson maintains that science is incomplete because it
cannot answer the question why.
Dealing with cosmic purpose, Bertrand Russell states three kinds of
views—theistic, pantheistic, and emergent. "The first", he writes, "holds
that God created the world and decreed the laws of nature because he
foresaw that in time some good would be evolved. In this view purpose
exists consciously in the mind of the creator, who remains external to his
creation.
"In the 'pantheistic' form, God is not external to the universe, but is
merely the universe considered as a whole. There cannot therefore be an act
of creation, but there is a kind of creative force in the universe, which
causes it to develop according to a plan which this creative force may be
said to have had in mind throughout the process.
"In the 'emergent' form the purpose is more blind. At an earlier stage,
nothing in the universe foresees a later stage, but a kind of blind
impulsion leads to those changes which bring more developed forms into
existence, so that, in some rather obscure sense, the end is implicit in
the beginning."
We offer no comments. These are merely the views of different religionists
and great thinkers.
Whether there is a cosmic purpose or not a question arises as to the
usefulness of the tapeworm, snakes, mosquitoes and so forth, and for the
existence of rabies. How does one account for the problem of evil? Are
earthquakes, floods, pestilences, and wars designed?
Expressing his own view about cosmic purpose, Russell boldly declares:
Why in any case, this glorification of man? How about lions and tigers?
They destroy fewer animals or human lives than we do, and they are much
more beautiful than we are. How about ants? They manage the corporate state
much better than any Fascist. Would not a world of nightingales and larks
and deer be better than our human world of cruelty and injustice and war?
The believers in cosmic purpose make much of our supposed intelligence, but
their writings make one doubt it. If I were granted omnipotence, and
millions of years to experiment in, I should not think Man much to boast of
as the final result of all my efforts.
What is the purpose of life according to different religions?
According to Hinduism the purpose of life is "to be one with Brahmā" or "to
be re-absorbed in the Divine Essence from which his soul emanated."
According to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, it is "to glorify God and to
enjoy him for ever."
Will an average person of any religion be prepared to give up his earthly
life, to which he tenaciously clings, for immortality in their ultimate
havens of peace?
Very doubtful, indeed!
Now, how does Buddhism answer the question "why?"
Buddhism denies the existence of a Creator. As such from a Buddhist
standpoint there cannot be a fore-ordained purpose. Nor does Buddhism
advocate fatalism, determinism, or pre-destination which controls man's
future independent of his free actions. In such a case free will becomes an
absolute farce and life becomes purely mechanistic.
To a large extent man's actions are more or less mechanistic, being
influenced by his own doings, upbringing, environment and so forth. But to
a certain extent man can exercise his free will. A person, for instance,
falling from a cliff will be attracted to the ground just as an inanimate
stone would. In this case he cannot use his free will although he has a
mind unlike the stone. If he were to climb a cliff, he could certainly use
his free will and act as he likes. A stone, on the contrary, is not free to
do so of its own accord. Man has the power to choose between right and
wrong, good and bad. Man can either be hostile or friendly to himself and
others. It all depends on his mind and its development.
Although there is no specific purpose in man's existence, yet man is free
to have some purpose in life.
What, therefore, is the purpose of life?
Ouspensky writes: "Some say that the meaning of life is in service, in the
surrender of self, in self-sacrifice, in the sacrifice of everything, even
life itself. Others declare that the meaning of life is in the delight of
it, relieved against 'the expectation of the final horror of death.' Some
say that the meaning of life is in perfection, and the creation of a better
future beyond the grave, or in future life for ourselves. Others say that
the meaning of life is in the approach to non-existence; still others, that
the meaning of life is in the perfection of the race, in the organisation
of life on earth; while there are those who deny the possibility of even
attempting to know its meaning."
Criticising all these views the learned writer says: "The fault of all
these explanations consists in the fact that they all attempt to discover
the meaning of life outside of itself, either in the nature of humanity, or
in some problematical existence beyond the grave, or again in the evolution
of the Ego throughout many successive incarnations—always in something
outside of the present life of man. But if instead of thus speculating
about it, men would simply look within themselves, then they would see that
in reality the meaning of life is not after all so obscure. It consists in
knowledge."
In the opinion of a Buddhist, the purpose of life is supreme enlightenment
(sambodhi), i.e., understanding of oneself as one really is. This may be
achieved through sublime conduct, mental culture, and penetrative insight;
or in other words, through service and perfection.
In service are included boundless loving kindness, compassion, and absolute
selflessness which prompt man to be of service to others. Perfection
embraces absolute purity and absolute wisdom.
KR IRS 211122
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