A Week to Enlightenment (sutra)

Nyanasatta Thera; Ajahn Brahmali; Dhr. Seven, Amber Dorrian, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly; Quest4pce, Dnl75, Insklndr, RunningInHongKong (photos); COUNTDOWN CLOCK: -7

The Buddha teaches "hearers" (savakas) the way to enlightenment (Dnl75/flickr.com)

There are four things to do with blissful concentration one has developed through full absorption or sufficient neighborhood concentration.

The four are detailed in the Satipatthana Sutra, one of the most significant teachings of the historical Buddha.

Emerge from purifying concentration (samma samadhi) and set up these "foundations of mindfulness" (sati-patthana). Here we skip to the second two foundations:

Foundations of Mindfulness III and IV with Ajahn Brahmali (Dhammaloka Suttas)
 

Four Foundations of Mindfulness Sutra

Wisdom Quarterly abbreviation, based on Ven. Nyanasatta Thera translation

III. Contemplation of Consciousness

How does one live contemplating consciousness in consciousness? Here within this Dharma [Doctrine/Discipline], a meditator knows the consciousness with lust as with lust (raga); the consciousness without lust as without lust. Likewise, one knows [recognizes and is aware] the consciousness with and without:

• hate,
• delusion [confusion],
• the contracted [Note 13],
• the distracted [restless] state [14],
• the developed state [15],
• the undeveloped state [16],
• the state with some other mental state superior to it [17], 
• the state with none higher [18],
• the concentrated state,
• the freed state [19].

So one lives contemplating consciousness in consciousness internally [relating to oneself], externally [relating to another], or internally and externally [relating to both]. 

One lives contemplating origination factors in consciousness, or dissolution-factors, or origination-and-dissolution factors [20]. Or one's mindfulness is established with the thought, "Consciousness exists" to the extent necessary and sufficient for knowledge and mindfulness, and one lives detached, clinging to nothing in the world. So one lives contemplating consciousness in consciousness.

Meditation in the field,monastics and woman with umbrella, Plum Village (Quest4pce/flickr)

IV. Contemplation of Mental Objects

1. The Five Hindrances

How does one live contemplating mental objects in mental objects? One lives contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the Five Hindrances. How?

 

Here within this Dharma, when sense-desire is present, one is clearly aware, "There is sense-desire in me." When it is not present, one knows, "There is no sense-desire in me." One knows how the arising of the non-arisen sense-desire comes to be; knows how the abandoning of the arisen sense-desire comes to be; and knows how the non-arising in the future of the abandoned sense-desire comes to be.

 

When anger is present, one is clearly aware, "There is anger in me" and knows when it is not; knows how it arises; knows how the abandoning of it comes to be; and knows how its non-arising in the future comes to be.

 

When sloth/torpor is present, one is clearly aware of it; knows when it is not; knows how it arises; knows how it is abandoned; and knows how its non-arising in the future comes to be.

 

When restlessness/remorse is present, one is clearly aware of it; knows when it is not; knows how it arises; knows how it is abandoned; and knows how the non-arising of it in the future comes to be.

 

When [skeptical] doubt is present, one is clearly aware of it; knows when it is not; knows how it arises; knows how it is abandoned; and knows how the non-arising of it in the future comes to be.

 

In this way one lives contemplating mental objects in mental objects internally, externally, or internally and externally. One lives contemplating origination factors, dissolution factors, or origination-and-dissolution factors in mental objects [21]. Or mindfulness is established with the thought, "Mental objects exist" to the extent necessary and sufficient for knowledge and mindfulness, living detached, clinging to nothing in the world. So one lives contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the Five Hindrances.

The Buddha's meditation mudra or hand pose (RunnyInHongKong/flickr)

 

2. The Five Aggregates of Clinging

Furthermore, one lives contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the Five Aggregates of clinging [22].
 

How does one live contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the Five Aggregates of Clinging?
 

Here in this teaching one thinks, "Such is material form; such is the arising of material form; and such is the disappearance of material form. Such is feeling; its arising; its disappearance. Such is perception; its arising; its disappearance. Such are formations; such the arising; such the disappearance. Such is consciousness; such is the arising of consciousness; and such is the disappearance of consciousness."
 

In this way one lives contemplating mental objects in mental objects internally, externally, or internally and externally. One lives contemplating origination, dissolution, or origination-and-dissolution factors in mental objects [23]. Or mindfulness is established with the thought, "Mental objects exist" to the extent necessary and sufficient for knowledge and mindfulness, living detached, clinging to nothing in the world. So one lives contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the five aggregates of clinging.

3. The Six Internal and External Sense Bases

Meditating (Quest4pce/flickr)

Furthermore, one lives contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the six internal and the six external sense-bases. How?
 

Here in this teaching one knows the eye and visual forms and the fetter [bond] that arises dependent on both (the eye and forms) [24]. One knows how the arising of the non-arisen fetter comes to be; one knows how the abandoning of the arisen fetter comes to be; and one knows how the non-arising in the future of the abandoned fetter comes to be.
 

One knows the ear and sounds... the nose and smells... the tongue and flavors... the body and tactile objects... the mind and mental objects, and the fetter that arises dependent on both; one knows how the arising of the non-arisen fetter comes to be; one knows how the abandoning of the arisen fetter comes to be; and one knows how the non-arising in the future of the abandoned fetter comes to be.
 

In this way one lives contemplating mental objects in mental objects internally, externally, or internally and externally. One lives contemplating origination factors, dissolution factors, or origination-and-dissolution factors in mental objects [25]. Or mindfulness is established with the thought, "Mental objects exist," to the extent necessary and sufficient for knowledge and mindfulness, living detached, clinging to nothing in the world. So one lives contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the six internal and the six external sense-bases.

The Buddha teaches more and more  "hearers" (Dnl75/flickr.com)

 
4. The Seven Factors of Enlightenment

Furthermore, one lives contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment. How?
 

In this teaching, when the enlightenment-factor of mindfulness is present, one knows, "The enlightenment-factor of mindfulness is in me," or when the enlightenment-factor of mindfulness is absent, one knows, "The enlightenment-factor of mindfulness is not in me"; and one knows how the arising of the non-arisen enlightenment-factor of mindfulness comes to be; and one knows how perfection in the development of the arisen enlightenment-factor of mindfulness comes to be. [These are the four phases of "right effort" or samma vayama.]
  

One knows when the enlightenment-factor of the investigation of mental objects is present, is absent, how its arising comes to be, and how its perfection in development comes to be.
 

One knows when the enlightenment-factor of energy is present, is absent, how its arising comes to be, and how its perfection in development comes to be.
 

One knows when the enlightenment-factor of joy is present, is absent, how its arising comes to be, and how its perfection in development comes to be.
 

One knows when the enlightenment-factor of tranquillity is present, is absent, how its arising comes to be, and how its perfection in development comes to be.

 
One knows when the enlightenment-factor of concentration is present, is absent, how its arising comes to be, and how its perfection in development comes to be.
 

One knows when the enlightenment-factor of equanimity is present, is absent, how its arising comes to be, and how its perfection in development comes to be.
 

In this way one lives contemplating mental objects in mental objects internally, externally, or internally and externally. One lives contemplating origination-factors, dissolution-factors, or origination-and-dissolution-factors in mental objects [26]. Or mindfulness is established with the thought, "Mental objects exist," to the extent necessary and sufficient for knowledge and mindfulness, living detached, clinging to nothing in the world. So one lives contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment.

5. The Four Noble Truths

Fourth noble truth: Path (buddhaweekly.com)

Furthermore, one lives contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the Four Noble Truths.

How?
 

In this teaching one knows, "This is suffering" according to reality; one knows, "This is the origin of suffering" according to reality; one knows, "This is the cessation of suffering" according to reality; one knows, "This is the road leading to the cessation of suffering" according to reality.
 

So one lives contemplating mental objects in mental objects internally, externally, or internally and externally. One lives contemplating origination-factors, dissolution-factors, or origination-and-dissolution-factors in mental objects [27].  Or mindfulness is established with the thought, "Mental objects exist" to the extent necessary and sufficient for knowledge and mindfulness, living detached, clinging to nothing in the world. So one lives contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the Four Noble Truths.
 

Verily, meditators, whoever practices these Four Foundations of Mindfulness in this manner for seven years, then one of these two fruits may be expected -- highest knowledge (full enlightenment) here and now or, if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the state of non-returning [28].

O, let alone seven years! Should any person practice them in this manner for six years... five years... four years... three years... two years... one year, then one of these two fruits may be expected -- highest knowledge here and now or, if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the state of non-returning.
 

O, let alone a year! Should any person practice them in this manner for seven months... six months... five months... four months... three months... two months... a month... half a month, then one of these two fruits may be expected -- highest knowledge here and now or, if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the state of non-returning.
 
O, let alone half a month!  

The Path (BBC.co.uk/religion)

Should any person practice these Four Foundations of Mindfulness in this manner for a week, then one of these two fruits may be expected -- highest knowledge here and now or, if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the state of non-returning.

 

Because of this it was said: "This is the way, meditators, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruction of suffering and grief, for reaching the right path, for the attainment of nirvana, namely the [fourfold setting up of the] Foundations of Mindfulness."
 

So said the Buddha. Gladdened, those who heard him approved of his words.

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The World is on Fire!

Seven, Amber Dorrian, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly translation, The Fire Sermon (SN 35.28)

Calm, cool, and collected, the Buddha at Ayutthaya,Thailand (Perstephone/flickr.com)

  

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

("Fire and Ice," Robert Frost)

"self" immolates (xfilledwithdoubt-)

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Buddha was living in Gaya, on Gaya Hill, together with a thousand ascetics. There he addressed them.

"Meditators, ALL is burning! What 'all' is burning?

"The eye is burning, forms [seen by the eye] are burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning, and whatever is felt as either pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact as supporting condition, that too is burning!
 

But I'm not burning, right? (Megan Fox/ArticMonkeyss/tumblr.com)

 
"Burning with what? Burning with the fire of craving [lust, greed, selfishness], with the fire of aversion [fear, hate, revulsion], with the fire of delusion [wrong view, ignorance, illusion].

"I say it is burning with rebirth, aging, and death, with sorrow, weeping, pain, grief, and despair.

"The ear is burning, sounds [heard by the ear] are burning... The nose is burning, odors [sensed by the nose] are burning... The tongue is burning, flavors [savored by the tongue] are burning... The body is burning, tangibles [felt by the body] are burning...

"The mind is burning, ideas are burning, mind-consciousness is burning, mind-contact is burning, and whatever is felt either as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact as supporting condition, that too is burning!

"Burning with what? Burning with the fire of craving, with the fire of aversion, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with rebirth, aging, and death, with sorrow, weeping, pain, grief, and despair.

 

The world is on fire -- the whole world known through the senses (winds-of-desolation).

 
"Meditators, when a noble follower who has heard (the Dharma) sees this, one becomes estranged [alienated and indifferent] regarding the eye, regarding forms, regarding eye-consciousness, regarding eye-contact, and whatever is felt as either pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact as supporting condition. With regard to all of these, one becomes estranged.
 

Cool (Rzoont/flickr.com)

"One becomes estranged regarding the ear... sounds... One becomes estranged regarding the nose... odors... One becomes estranged regarding the tongue... flavors... One becomes estranged regarding the body... tangibles...

"One becomes estranged regarding the mind, regarding ideas, regarding mind-consciousness, regarding mind-contact, and whatever is felt as either pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact as supporting indispensable condition. With regard to all of these, one becomes estranged.

"When one becomes estranged (alienated, disaffected, indifferent), passion fades out. 

"With the fading of passion, one is liberated. When liberated, there comes certainty that one is liberated. 

Nirvana is extinguishing, cooling

Cooling (Rzoont/flickr.com)

"One understands that, 'Birth is exhausted, the supreme life has been lived, what can be done has been done, and there is no more [suffering] beyond.'"

That is what the Buddha said. Those gathered were glad and approved of his words.

Now during his utterance, the hearts of those thousand ascetics were liberated from the taints by abandoning clinging.

The "World"?
Ven. Nyanaponika Thera ("Karma and its Fruit")

"World" as self (weakonomics.com)

"In this fathom-long body with its perceptions and thoughts there is the world, the origin of the world, the ending of the world, and the path leading to the ending of the world" (AN 4.45).

 

The "world" of which the Buddha speaks is comprised in this aggregate [heap, collection, composite] of body-and-mind. For it is only by the activity of our physical and mental sense faculties that a world can be experienced and known at all. 

The sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and bodily impressions which we perceive, and our various mental functions, conscious and unconscious -- this is the world in which we live. 

And this world of ours has its origin in that very aggregate of physical and mental processes that produces the karmic act of craving for the six physical and mental sense objects.

[The Buddha asked:] "Ananda, if there were no karma ripening in the sphere of the senses, would there appear any sense-sphere existence?" — "Surely not, venerable sir!" (AN 3.76)

Thus karma is the womb from which we spring (kamma-yoni), the true creator of the world and of ourselves as the experiencer of "the world."

 

And through our karmic [intentional] actions in deed, word, and thought, we unceasingly engage in building and rebuilding this world and [rebirth in] worlds beyond. Even our good actions, as long as they are still under the influence of craving... More

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Zen: Charlotte's Empty Rowboat

Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen

Empty rowboat drifts along on Long Pond bumping other boats (Whitney Wolf/osteologos)

  
Suppose we are out on a lake, and it’s a bit foggy... and we’re rowing along in our little boat having a good time. And then, all of a sudden, coming out of the fog, there’s this other rowboat, and it’s heading right at us. And… crash! 

  

Well, for a second we’re really angry -- What is that fool doing? I just painted my boat! And here he comes -- crash! -- right into it. 

  

And then suddenly we notice that the  rowboat is empty. 

 

What happens to our anger? Well, the anger collapses... I’ll just have to paint my boat again, that’s all. But if that rowboat that hit ours had another person in it, how would we react? You know what would happen! 

  

Now our encounters with life, with other people, with events are [all] like being bumped by an empty rowboat. 

  

But we don’t experience life that way. We experience it as though there are people in that other rowboat, and we’re really getting clobbered by them. 

 

What am I talking about when I say that all of life is an encounter, a collision with an empty rowboat? What’s that all about? More

Rowboats are like that

Empty man (cloudkooky)

Roshi Beck is talking about anatta ("not-self," the Buddhist teaching that the Five Aggregates of existence and clinging are ultimately impersonal). It is a very advanced teaching to be realized and seen directly. It is perceiving the emptiness of phenomena. In an ordinary way, of course, things are things. And we regard them as continuing stable through time. But they are so unstable as to be insubstantial. Physicists know it. But mystics know-and-see it directly. All the constituents of being are falling away. We identify with them even as they drop away. We regard the replacement phenomena as identical with the things we cling to. We cling to ourselves -- our bodies, sensations, perceptions, formations, and (reflexive) consciousness. But when the mind becomes still, it has the chance to see things as they really are. Then it is liberated. We escape to reality. And having seen nirvana, we are happy here and everywhere. But so long as we see things as personal, we are bumped into, oppressed and offended. Even our rowboat is empty. The Heart Sutra says it far more beautifully. But that is its message, for this stunning and impossible realization is the "perfection of wisdom."

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Supernatural Science: Between Life and Death

TheDocumentarySite; Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Thousands of people claim to have had near-death experiences. Do these experiences offer proof for the existence of an afterlife? Or do they tell us something about the human brain's response to extreme stress?

Soul and Not-Soul

What is the "soul" (gandhabba) commonly referred to as spirit or ghost? In Buddhism it is a transient phenomenon composed of five "heaps" or aggregates. These factors are functionally-integrated by the mysterious power of karma that can bear results at a time distinct from an action undertaken. What are the five groups?

The first group is labelled "form." It is composed of four heaps, referred to as earth, wind, fire, and air but explained by the Buddha as actually being qualities of materiality: solidity, motion, temperature, and cohesion. Buddhist physics articulated in the Abhidharma go into great deal about these qualities. Moreover, instructions are given for seeing/experiencing them first hand as objects of insight meditation practice. (Success in such meditation is dependent on the depth and strength of concentration -- serenity, absorption, mastery of samadhi -- one has previously developed and has at his or her disposal. The strength of the mind is only available in the absence of hindrances, defilements, and taints.

The second group is labelled "feelings" -- not emotions but sensations. Emotions are more complex, and while they may be felt in the body, they are more likely categorized under mental/heart formations. There are six sense bases, the ordinary five and mind. Feelings are pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, and may be therefore thought of as 18 (6 x 3) in all. They also serve as objects of insight and are much easier to become aware of in a stable way than the kalapas (particles of perception) in Buddhist physics.

The third group is labelled "perceptions." When the six sense bases apprehend, perceive, or note in accordance with their types of objects (eye sensitivity sees forms, ear sensitivity hears sounds, etc.), perception takes place. Feelings and perceptions are two types of mental/heart formations, but they are so salient and important in our experience, that the Buddha singled them out for special attention. Perceptions arise from the six sense bases. Note that the eye does not see, but rather what sees is that property of the eye -- what might today be called the rods and cones of the retina -- that sends its impulses (mind moments, cittas?) to the nervous system's bulbous processing center we call the brain.

The fourth group is labelled "mental formations" but should not be regarded as exclusive to the brain. Much of the process of being aware actually emanates and returns to the heart, the literal heart area where the "mind door" is located -- a greenish mirror reflecting sensory experience. There is absolutely no need to believe this, for one may experience it directly. Seeing replaces believing, so one should not remain satisfied with an admixture of religious faith and skeptical doubt when investigation and verification are available and urged. The Buddha is famous for saying of the Dharma, of his teachings, "Come see." There are 50 groups under this rubric, in addition to the fact that the two previous groups are also special kinds of mental formations. They serve the important function of conditioning karma as skillful, unskillful, or neutral. See more at sankhara.

The fifth group is labelled "consciousness." Together with the previous three, this group forms what may be referred to as "mind." it is not a tangible thing but an interdependent process. The first group, form, is "body." A body is not limited to gross sensual bodies; fine-material (rupa) bodies, such as those of ghosts and spirits and light-beings (devas) also qualify as form. Not everyone, however, has a body. Ghosts have bodies but they long for sensual bodies. Beings in heavenly worlds have (fine material) bodies and are glad to be done with these dense material frames. The most rarefied beings in the four Immaterial Sphere (arupa loka) planes of existence are formless (arupa). But these four are the only exceptions. Otherwise, these Five Aggregates are always together, just as the qualities of materiality are bound up with one another and only analyzed (dissected, set apart) for the purposes of discussion (analysis) and the development of insight. Consciousness is awareness, which depends and influences the other aggregates.

So it is never correct to say, when conventionally speaking, that there is no self or that the Buddha teaches that there is no soul or no self. There is a soul (atta), there is a self (atta), there is an ego, there is a spirit (a subtle material body we may regard as "light" or ordinary matter in an extraordinary state such as a flux or higher energy state).

Likewise, it is never correct to say, when ultimately speaking, that there is a soul or self. There is NO soul or self. But this must not be taken on faith, for faith may supplant direct experience and lead to absurdities such as making the claim, "There is no soul, no self." Such claims by mystics who have seen is fine. But such claims by lay Buddhists is ridiculous and leads to doubt, scorn, and/or dismissal of Buddhism's philosophy leading to liberation. Philosophy does not lead out, practice does. With practice the philosophy makes perfect sense. With scholarship, it breaks down. So it is more important to practice meditation than to study ideas.

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Meditation on Growing Younger (video)

Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly

 

(Matt Groening/Highvoltageilene)

Buddhism has an interesting teaching. It is redeath. Time is cyclical, circular, spiraling. We imagine a straight line and do not see it bend away to come around again -- in much the same way, but not exactly the same way.

   

Death after death, there is life. Life keeps coming. One grows young again and again and again. What people mostly misunderstand is that it is not us. No one is reborn. What is reborn is a process. The process does not stop, so it cannot really be said to start again with each death and rebirth.

  

What is now? Some body, feelings, perceptions, willed formations, consciousness. They are altering every moment. They do no reoccur but utterly pass away. If we are them, we are dying. If we are something else, an owner or watcher of them, the owning and watching are dying. It's redeath, redeath, redeath.

   

The body passes quickly, but the mind passes much more quickly.

  

And with each death there is "again becoming." For all the aging, sickness, and falling away, there is rearising, health, and again-coming-to-be. What then would it be like to talk to ourselves, to say to the young ignorant version of the future that keeps reiterating?

   

My pets? They're all dead. My friends? Gone. My family? They wished you well. But all of these tend very strongly to come back again. They are not lost to us completely, just in this form, which utterly passes away as they hurtle toward destruction.

  

But what about me? Dead. My consciousness (awareness)? Gone. My feelings? They wished me well.

   

I'll be young again! But it isn't living "forever" if it isn't living for even two moments.

  
In the future I may become male or female or indeterminate (neuter or androgynous), any race, any nationality, any caste, any planet, any form (a deva, being of light, or dense), any kind of being in 31 very general "planes" of existence.

   

What would I say to that newborn? If it is a deva, it comes fully formed without birth parents. Similarly, if I slip into the Downfall, perdition, the Great Waste (subhuman planes of existence), rebirth is immediate, even if it is into an intermediate state, it comes fully formed. But on the human and animal planes, transformation and impermanence are very obvious.
  

Meditate. End all suffering.

There is no need to "meditate" to see youth fleeting. But meditation, whether as contemplation or profound stillness in non-discursive awareness, is necessary to see ourselves cyclically growing younger only to die again.
  
It works in our favor and can be taken for granted only so long as we have wholesome karma to exhaust. When the profitable is exhausted, we painfully face what the Buddha warned about suffering and taking the Dharma for granted as if it were always available to us.

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The Green Tara Mantra (video)

Buddhist Light

   

Om Tare Tuttare Ture Svaha

  

Green Tara (Leighton Cooke)

OM represents Tara's sanctified body, speech, and mind.

TARE means liberating from suffering, the disappointment and pain of samsara, the Five Aggregates of Clinging (skandhas, heaps, groups, constituent factors) under the control of delusion and karma.

TUTTARE means liberating from the eight fears, the external and internal dangers, delusion, and karma.

TURE means liberating from the ignorance of the true nature for the ego, self, soul. It shows the way to the real cessation of suffering.

SVAHA means "May the meaning of this mantra take root in my mind."

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Buddhism and Abortion.

(Note: These words are purely mine and represent my views and reflections alone. I am not a Buddhist teacher nor represent a specific tradition or teacher) There has been some heated discussion in my last post about whether a Buddhist can be pro-choice (allowing women a legal right to an abortion). But before I get into my views of abortion I think it is helpful to speak to the sutras/texts first. It is true that it appears that Buddha advised against abortion in the sutras and cannons but there is a certain amount of faith that one must have that all of these sutras/texts indeed were the historical words of Buddha. I say this because the earliest texts only go back to the 1st century whereas the Buddha lived and taught 400-500 years earlier.

It is probable that some of his teachings changed over time and some even lost. It is also probable that at least some of the teachings of the Buddha were the work of monks (not Buddha) who came years after his death. And just because one is a monk does not mean that they have the best interests of all at heart. Therefore it can be argued that some of the teachings on abortion and other issues could have come from the minds of others with political, patriarchal or other personal motives. I realize that Theravadans and other Buddhists claim the sutras and texts to be the literal words of the Buddha but many scholars and other Buddhists disagree.

So what are we to do? Well we all have to decide for ourselves and for me I use the Kalama Sutra or Buddha's charter of free inquiry as my measuring stick. In my opinion the sutra exists for one of two reasons: 1). One is that it actually took place where the Buddha advised the Kalama people on how to know what religious teachings to accept as truth. From Wikipedia: The Buddha tells the Kalamas to not just believe religious teachings because they are claimed to be true by various sources or through the application of various methods and techniques. He urges that direct knowledge from one's own experience should be called upon.

So while I follow the sutras in many cases, I also use my meditations, scholarly works, mind-set, values instilled by my family, pondering and personal reasoning to come to that direct knowledge of what I believe to be "truth." I try to use various methods to exhaust all avenues because I do not like to make decisions lightly. 2). The other reason being that it is possible that some monks realized that there were parts of these texts that contradict each other and that faith alone isn't sufficient for everyone. Thus a teaching was needed to help others who are more reason based folks to come to a decision of what the Dharma means in their lives. And thus, the creation of the Kalama Sutra.

Now some argue that the Buddha wasn't saying this method of inquiry should be applied to his teachings but seeing how Gautama was speaking to a group of non-Buddhists surely in his perfect wisdom he knew that they would do just that--apply that very admonition to his teachings as well as to the other holy men and wandering aesthetics. Why would one who didn't set out to start a religion say to those honestly seeking spiritual enlightenment to question every other teacher/source but to not question his teachings and to blindly accept them? And why would an enlightened one be threatened of people questioning and testing his claims on their own? Especially knowing that one can not force enlightenment upon another or give it to you but that it is, in the end, up to you to realize it. That is not to say that we shouldn't place a high importance upon his "words/teachings" when making our spiritual decisions and forming our beliefs because we should.

So now I'm finally getting to abortion, it is because of the Kalama Sutra that I don't agree that we know for sure that the Buddha actually said that abortion is wrong and/or wrong in all cases (It's possible that he didn't even address it. He was known to not answer many philosophical questions and that it was added later by monks looking to set up a codified religion). I say this because the scriptures saying that the Buddha was against abortion in all cases just don't jive with other things he has taught such as the five aggregates/skandhas that make up human life (at least according to the Mahayana tradition and the "Tathagatagarbha" scriptures). Other sources that the five aggregates make up human life: Source 2. Source 3. Source 4. Source 5. I will go into detail a bit about these which are also called the skandhas a bit later but first some information/statistics about abortion:

-Over 90% of abortions are done in the first trimester (the first three months from conception). At two months only half of the brain is formed and while the embryo responds to touch and while pain sensors have appeared, the path ways between the brain and pain sensors are not connected thus most conclude the embryo can not register pain at this stage.

And if you have an abortion earlier (within one month of becoming pregnant) the embyro is only 1/5" and looks something like a tadpole. It has no arms and legs but a tail and fish like gills that eventually become the throat.

Now, with that information let's have a look at the skandhas (the five aggregates of human life/being). I believe in the skandhas because I have meditated upon them, pondered them, can see logically how they would make up life and they ring true to me based on my use of the advice in the Kalama Sutra. So let's see how they match up to the above information which is widely accepted by the medical community:

First Skandha: Form. Which consist of the six sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and touch) but in order for form to be life there must also be corresponding material objects of those senses. (eyes-visible objects, ears-audible objects, nose-olfactory objects, tongue-objects of taste and touch-tangilble objects). Vision is the last sense to develop and using the Buddhist aggregates there are no eyes yet that can see just holes (according to the world renowned Mayo Clinic eyes are still shut in the first week of the third trimester so a baby certainly can't see during the first trimester when most abortions occur and my measuring stick of when abortions are acceptable) And an embryo (embryo is the name used during the first trimester) can't hear anything (a fetus can hear at week 18-20 which is well after the first trimester and the first trimester is when most abortions occur). There isn't a fully functioning tongue for tasting until week 13-15 within the second trimester. While not unanimous, most medical studies show that a fetus can not feel pain or register touch in it's brain until the 28th week (seventh month). Well after the first trimester when I believe abortion is acceptable:

Fetuses cannot feel pain until at least the 28th week of gestation because they haven't formed the necessary nerve pathways, says Mark Rosen, an obstetrical anesthesiologist at the University of California at San Francisco. He and his colleagues determined that until the third trimester, "the wiring at the point where you feel pain, such as the skin, doesn't reach the emotional part where you feel pain, in the brain." Although fetuses start forming pain receptors eight weeks into development, the thalamus, the part of the brain that routes information to other areas, doesn't form for 20 more weeks. Without the thalamus, Rosen says, no information can reach the cortex for processing.

A nose doesn't even begin to form until at least the last week of the first trimester let alone be able to smell because their isn't a fully formed nervous system or brain to register the messages of smell sent through nerve pathways.

The form aggregate also includes secondary elements. The first are the Five sensory receptors: Eye, nose, tongue and body which we basically discussed above. Then four sense data: These are color, sound, smells and taste. And above I argued that a fetus in the first trimester can not sense these things. Form aggregate also includes life faculty which is the faculty that vitalizes the body and keeps it alive. An embryo in the first trimester (up to week 12) can not keep itself alive without the host body of it's mother. Form aggregate also includes mental base which the mind for Buddhists is not a simple unit, but a complex cooperative activity involving four factors: Feeling, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness: It can be argued that an embryo has consciousness though we don't know for sure and despite that a form must have all four to be considered a life if we follow the teachings on the five aggregates. And since an embryo does not have a fully formed and functioning brain and nervous system it can not register mental feelings, perceptions and mental formations.

Second Skandha: (Sensation or feeling). Which is being able to sense an object/phenomenon as either pleasant, neutral or negative. So given that an embryo in the first trimester doesn't have a fully formed brain and nervous system then they can not sense something as pleasurable, neutral or negative.

Third Skandha: (Perception, conception, appreciation, cognition, discrimination) Registers whether an object of phenomenon is recognized or not (for instance the sound of a bell, of the shape of a tree). This again requires a fully functioning brain, nervous system.

Fourth Skandha: (Mental formations, volition or conceptional factors). This includes all types of mental habits, thoughts, ideas, opinions, compulsions and decisions triggered by an object. Loving kindness is also considered a mental formation. These are not possible in the first trimester due to the lack of a fully developed brain and nervous system.

Fifth Skandha: (Consciousness). It is argued by some that consciousness is present from the minute of conception but that only fulfills one of the five skandhas/aggregates and according to the majority of sources that I've read all five must be present for something to be considered human life. In conclusion, I have submitted in this essay that an embryo (which is the potential human being) during the first trimester does not meet the requirements of all five skandha/aggregates and is therefore persmissable to believe in first trimester abortion as a Buddhist. I do not, however, agree with late term abortions except if the life of the mother is in jeopardy.

So I am for abortion during the first trimester and only for abortion in the second trimester in cases of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is at risk. In regards to the second trimester and rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk then I believe the middle path must be used to create these exceptions out of compassion for the mother. This is because the mother's life is extremely developed and would therefore experience more suffering than a child just being born with no life experience or even a sense of its presence in this world.

Imagine the suffering of a young woman forced to raise a child of her rapist or perpertator of incest. She would most likely not be capable emotionally or otherwise capable to raise that child with the love and caring that it needs to survive. Both mother and child would suffer needlessly. And suppose the child looks exactly like the perpetrator, both the mother and child would suffer greatly. The mother would re-experience and be reminded of the suffering she endured by that person with the same face as that child and chances are she'd avoid all connection with that child from subconscious self-protection. And the child would suffer from lack of love and caring on the mother's part.

Of course adoption is a more than acceptable way to go, however, many unwanted children needlessly suffer from being exported from one foster home to another where many foster parents are abusive and only take on the children for the financial gain. And besides, I do not believe it is my right to choose if a teen-age mother wishes to keep a rapist's child or one that came about via incest. And what kind of quality of life does an incest baby have? Most would be born with severe deformaties that would often die within a few months.

As for making the case for abortion in the second trimester and partial birth in regards to the life of the mother at risk the same argument for me applies because again like I argued above, the mother's life is extremely developed and would therefore experience more suffering than a child just being born with no life experience or even a sense of its presence in this world. And I especially support it when other children are already apart of the mother's life. It is not compassionate in my opinion to sacrifice the life of the mother who is the main care-giver of the existing children for the life of a fetus that has no presence of itself and that it is even alive.

The Dalai Lama has said about abortion that it should be a case by case evaluation. I don't believe in a world that is black and white, it simply does not exist. Yes somethings are black and white but there is much grey area too. Simple observation and mindfulness reveals that truth in my mind.

---End of Transmission----

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