Befriending Buddhist Sutras

John T. Bullitt, "Tips on Reading the Pali Discourses" (accesstoinsight.org); Wisdom Quarterly

(Linc060/flickr.com)

 

(Linc060/flickr.com)

"Thus should one train: 'We will listen when discourses -- words of the Wayfarer, deep, profound, transcendent, impersonal -- are being recited. We will lend ear, will set our hearts on knowing them, will regard these teachings as worth grasping and mastering.' That is how one should train." (SN 20.7)

 

The ancient Pali canon contains thousands of sutras (Pali, suttas) or discourses, of which more than 1,000 are now available in English Access to Insight. When faced with such a vast store of riches, three questions naturally spring to mind:

1. Why should I read the sutras?
2. Which ones should I read?
3. How should I read them?

There are no simple cookie-cutter answers to these questions; the best answers will be the ones discovered on one's own. Nevertheless, here are a few ideas, suggestions, and helpful tips from years of experience.

Why read sutras?
Interested in exploring the original teachings of the historical Buddha? Then the Pali canon is the place to turn for authoritative advice and support through discourses. These sutras are the primary source of Buddhist teachings. We need not worry whether the exact words in standardized/chanted/memorized discourses were uttered by the historical Buddha. Who can prove such a thing? Keep in mind that the teachings in discourse form have been practiced -- with success -- by countless followers for 2,600 years. If we want to know whether the teachings really work, we study and put the teachings into practice and thereby find out firsthand.
 

They present a complete body of teachings. The teachings, taken in their entirety, present a complete roadmap guiding the follower from one's current state of spiritual maturity onwards toward the final goal. No matter what our current state may be (skeptic, outsider, dabbler, devout lay practitioner, or celibate monastic), there is something in the sutras to help us progress another step further along the path towards the goal. As one reads more and more widely in the canon, we may find less of a need to borrow teachings from other spiritual traditions, as the Buddha's discourses contain most of what we need to know.  

The Buddha addresses the Five Ascetics as well as countless devas.

 

They present a self-consistent body of teachings. 

  

The consistency of the canon is characterized by a single taste [Ud 5.5] -- that of freedom. As we wend our way through them, however, from time to time we encounter things to question. Contradiction, apparent or real, presents a need for a nuanced understanding of the Dharma translated into words and symbols. The truth simply is; the Dharma is a systematic attempt by the Sangha to present the message of the Buddha.

 

As we reflect deeply on any stumbling blocks, conflicts often dissolve as a new horizon of understanding opens up. It was our understanding that was deficient, not the Dharma's. For example, we might conclude from reading one sutra [Sn 4.1] that Buddhist practice should be to avoid all desires. But upon reading another [SN 51.15], we learn that wholesome-desire itself is a necessary factor of the path. 

 

Only upon reflection does it become clear that what the Buddha taught is that there are different kinds of desire. Sensual craving  is not the same as an aspiration for the goal of ending all suffering. 

 

Some things are actually worth desiring -- most notably, the extinction of all harmful craving.

 

This is not the Dharma changing. It is our understanding that needs expanding into unfamiliar territory to encompass both sutras; the apparent "contradiction" evaporates. Over time we learn to recognize apparent conflicts not as inconsistencies in the discourses themselves but as an indication that we have been carried to the frontier of our understanding. It is up to us to cross beyond the boundaries of ignorance.

  

Sutras offer lots of practical advice. We find a wealth of practical information on a host of relevant real-world topics such as: 

• how families can live happily together [DN 31],
• how to safeguard material possessions [AN 4.255],
• what sorts of things are worth talking about [AN 10.69],
• how to cope with grief [AN 5.49],
• how to train the mind even on our deathbeds [SN 22.1],
• much, much more. 

In short, the Buddha's teachings offer very practical and realistic counsel on how to find happiness, no matter what our life-situation may be, no matter whether or not we call ourselves "Buddhist." There is even instruction on how to meditate [e.g., MN 118, DN 22] although writings cannot take the place of a competent teacher/guide. (This may be very hard to accept in the West, but it has been understood to be a necessity throughout India's spiritual history).

 

Sutras bolster confidence in the Buddha's wisdom. As we explore we come across things we already know to be true from our own direct experience. The Buddha said them 26 centuries before we had a chance to experience them. We may already be well acquainted with the hazards of alcoholism [DN 31]. Perhaps we've already tasted the kind of wholesome pleasure that naturally arises in a concentrated mind/heart [AN 5.28]. 

 

Reading is not believing; experience is (Keira Sutra baby/Hansong/flickr.com)

  

Seeing our own experience validated in the sutras makes it easier to accept the possibility that the more refined or advanced experiences the Buddha describes may be true. And some counter-intuitive and difficult teachings may, in fact, reflect realities we were not yet familiar with. This validation can inspire renewed confidence and energy to help our meditation, daily practice, and understanding move into new territory.

  

Energy and confidence support and further energize our meditation (bhavana, self-cultivation) practice. When we read about other people's meditation experiences, we may begin to get a feel for what we have already tasted or accomplished in our own practice and what remains to be done.

 

Reading them is just plain good for us. Instructions contained in them are entirely of a wholesome nature. For they are all about the cultivation of skillful qualities such as generosity, virtue, patience, joy, concentration, mindfulness, and so on. 

 

Therefore, when we read we are filling our heart/mind with wholesome things. Consider by contrast all the harmful impressions modern media bombards us with. A little regular sutra becomes an island of sanity and safety in a dangerous sea. Take good care. Whereas reading a sutra is a great first step, it is taking good advice to heart that bears the fruits of wisdom and compassion. More

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Meditation: gaining "absorption" (jhana)

Gary Sanders (Dharma Punx), edited by Seth Auberon, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

Every counterpart sign or nimitta is different prior to jhana (lemeach/tumblr.com)

 

(simpsoncrazy.com)

I have purposely not done a lot of reading on the meditative absorptions (jhanas). My thinking has been, "The Buddha mastered them and found they weren't the 'be all, end all,' so why bother?" This was what I thought until a retreat I sat this summer.

A big motivation for going on a retreat in Northern California at Spirit Rock led by Theravada Buddhist nuns was

• to push myself
• to step outside of my comfort zone
• to go on retreat with teachers I wasn't already friends with
• to be  surrounded by people I'm not closely connected to
• to visit a place I haven't been before. 

The week-long retreat started off great. The first two days were a relief, decompressing from the daily grind of being a suburban working father of two, a husband, an Against the Stream Buddhist Mediation Society recovery group leader, a Santa Clarita [Saint Clare/Sainted Clarity] Valley mindfulness meditation circle facilitator, and music lover.

Spirit Rock is beautiful, very peaceful with rolling landscapes, and I felt great to be there. Then came the pain. I'd never experienced pain this bad on retreat. It started with my knees leading me to escape to a chair for a bit. Then it got worse. My lower back was screaming in pain, and more of my sitting had to be done in a chair. I even graduated to standing when pain and sleepiness got overwhelming. That was all just "pain," which could not compare to the "suffering" to come:

"What, me worry?"

Doubt and anger started creeping in. I began imagining, "These nuns are sadistic! How can we do silent hour-long sits WITHOUT guidance!?" "If I can't handle this, all these old people must really be hurting!!" "I can't even do metta (loving-kindness meditation) anymore; I'll never be able to do it again!"

We had exit interviews on the second to last day. I talked a little about what was arising. Then to my good fortune, before the last sit of the night, I ran into one of the nuns outside the quiet zone. We talked about my practice, and I got some answers. 

I described what had been happening for awhile in my practice, which turned out to be "access concentration." The nun told me about a technique -- picking one spot on the tip of the nose or nostrils and just staying exclusively on that single spot. She told me more, but apart from the subtleties, this was the salient point. Stick with a single spot to the exclusion of everything else.

I went into the last 60 minute sit of the night, taking to the cushion in Burmese pose, focusing just on a point inside one nostril. I stayed there like a cat at a mouse hole. 

Success

"Heyyy, it's all good!"

Before long, ALL of the hindrances fell away. With persistent effort, I stayed on that spot the whole sit. I sat like a ROCK. No pain, no discomfort, and to my astonishment, I felt an overwhelming joy (piti) washed through me. [Perhaps my earlier pain had been a clearing or an obstacle hindering me and encouraging me to give up like my very own struggle with "Mara"?]

The bell rang an hour later as the group called it a night. I was still glowing. The rest of the night, I felt blissful, effervescent, full of joy. It was spilling out of me. My original intention for going on retreat came to mind. I was flooded with total appreciation for both nuns leading. I slept like a baby.

The next morning was our first and only sit of the day. I went right to the single point of focus again. BUT this time it didn't take much effort at all. With zero hindrances, I sat like a rock, euphoric, saturated with joy. Time FLEW by.

Cut to today. I've read up on the meditative absorptions, the jhanas, a bit. I have been practicing the single point of focus a lot, but not necessarily as a daily practice. And I have not been reaching the joy and bliss I experienced on retreat. 

Recently, I read [Ayya Khema's student] Leigh Brasington's instructions on reaching the first jhana. I followed his instructions thoroughly. I started with loving-kindness for myself then went to the single point of concentration. 

Joy

"Who me, worried? Ha!"

Once the breath started to become barely noticeable [because the real object of meditation is not gross breathing but this very subtle breath, the calmed breath, which one could speculate may be prana], I stayed with that then switched to the pleasant feeling of the semi-smile I'd been holding most of the sit.

 

[Where attention goes, energy flows.] As that pleasant feeling built up more and more, I felt my smile grow bigger than my head. It was smiling on its own. I didn't will it. I wasn't trying to smile. The pleasant wholesome sensation -- which was more pleasing than the sensual pleasure I'd been chasing all my life -- seemed to be swirling, flowing, in motion. It was taking over my whole head, then my whole body then, surprisingly, it just kept expanding outside of my body, my environment... 

Not sure how long it was, but I stayed with it until it seemed to just fade a little. Once I felt grounded in my own body, I got off the cushion. It was quite late at night, and I felt very joyful and contented. Again I got to sleep like a baby. [Maybe this is what Zen means by beginner's mind, throttling back the breath to the softest purr, a sweet infantile innocence and peace.]

The Five Hindrances

Wisdom Quarterly edit of Wikipedia entry hindrances

(Quest4pce/flickr)

Five negative mental states impede success with meditation (jhāna and bhāvanā) and lead away from enlightenment and nirvana. These states are:

1. Sensual desire: craving for pleasurable stimulation of the senses
2. Anger or ill-will: feelings of malice, annoyance, aversion
3. Sluggishness-sleepiness (sloth-torpor): lack of physical or mental energy
4. Restlessness-worry: the inability to calm the mind
5. Skeptical doubt: lack of conviction, confidence, trust

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