Two Enlightened Buddhist Kings

Dhr. Seven, Ven. Chandananda, Wisdom Quarterly based on G.P. Malalasekera (aimwell.org), Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names (Pukkusati); Bhikkhu Bodhi (audio); Wirajhana-eka (art)

The Buddha teaching in the superior space world of Tusita, Kushan Dynasty carving, Gandhara, Pakistan (wikicommons)

 

At the time of the Buddha, far to the west, there lived a king in Afghanistan named Pukkusati or Pushkarasarin.

 

At that time what is now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan were part of India's frontier lands. Gandhara was located on the grand northern main road (Uttarapatha) and was a center of international commerce. It was an important channel of merchandise and communication with ancient Iran and Central Asia.

Pukkusati's story begins much, much earlier when, together with Bahiya of the Bark Cloth, he strove to gain enlightenment under a previous buddha named Kassapa.

A wealthy king in Gandhara in the middle of the sixth century BC, Pukkusati was a contemporary of another more famous Buddhist king to the east, a great patron of the Buddha: King Bimbisara of Magadha.

• [Along with Dr. Ranajit Pal, Wisdom Quarterly contends that Shakyamuni Buddha ("the Sage of the Shakya clan") was from ancient Afghanistan. The capital was Kapilavastu, part the rich Shakyan people's territorial holdings, on ancient India's northwest frontier. Others in the region -- Gandharas, Kurus, Kambojas, and Bahlikas -- were cognate people, and all had Iranian affinities.^{[Note 20]} According to Dr. T.L. Shah, Gandhara and Kamboja were two neighboring provinces of one empire.^[21] Gandhara was often linked politically with the neighboring regions of Kashmir and Kamboja (Wiki).]

Spiritual Quest

Why do good sons and daughters set out from home-life to homelessness? (K8rry/flickr)

  

The young spiritual seeker had been King of Takkasilā (Taxila, formerly India, now part of Pakistan) when King Bimbisāra ruled Magadha from Rajgir (Rajagaha) -- the site of Vultures Peak, where the Buddha frequently stayed -- having left his home country as Siddhartha the spiritual seeker from the vicinity of Gandhara.

 

A friendly alliance was established between the two kings by merchants who traveled between the two territories to trade. In time, although they had never met in person, there grew up between them a deep bond of affection. 

King Pukkusāti once sent to King Bimbisāra a gift of eight priceless garments in lacquered caskets. This gift was accepted at a special meeting of the king's entire court. Bimbisāra, who was a stream enterer devoted to the Buddha and therefore not nearly as materialistic as he had once been, wanted to send something precious to Pukkusāti. But what could possibly demonstrate his affection for his friend?

He conceived of an idea. What if he acquainted Pukkusāti with the appearance in the world of the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha? 

Bimbisara had a giant beaten golden plate. It was four cubits long and a span in breadth. Inscribed on it were descriptions of these Three Jewels and of various tenets of the Buddha’s teachings and meditation instructions such as the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the 37 Requisites of Enlightenment. 

The plate was placed in the innermost of several nested caskets made of various precious substances. It was taken in procession on the back of the state elephant to the frontier of Bimbisira’s kingdom. Similar honors were paid to it by the chiefs of other territories, through which lay the route to Takkasilā.

In the solitude of his chamber where by nature (owing to practice in past lives) he would resort to meditate in peace, Pukkusāti read the inscription on the plate. He was so filled with boundless joy that he decided to renounce the world. 

Like Prince Siddhartha before him, he cut off his hair, donned the saffron robes of a wandering ascetic, and left the palace alone amid his weeping subjects. He traveled the 192 leagues to the prosperous city of Sāvatthi, passing the gates of Jetavana. 

Having understood from Bimbisāra’s letter that the Buddha was at Rājagaha, he did not inquire about him in Jetavana. Instead he traveled on 45 leagues more to Rājagaha, only to find that the Buddha was all the time in Sāvatthi. 

It was evening, so he took lodging in the potter Bhaggava’s house. The Buddha, with his psychic eye, saw what was in store for Pukkusāti. So he traveled by foot from Sāvatthi and reached Bhaggava’s house at sundown. Waiting for his opportunity -- since Pukkusāti thought nothing of this young wanderer until he saw how well he meditated through the last watch of the night, far outstripping the king's advanced ability to attain absorption (jhana) -- the Buddha was silent.

Then when the fellow family clan member (kulaputta, M.iii.238; J.iv.180 and DhA.ii.35) Pukkusati was ready to listen and take it in, he taught him the CLASSIFICATION OF THE ELEMENTS.

• AUDIO: Dhātu-vibhanga Sutra (Bhikkhu Bodhi)

The wanderer Pukkusāti was already at Bhaggava's house occupying the guest quarters, the potter's shed or workshop. The Buddha asked to be allowed to share it, to which Pukkusāti agreed.

 

They sat together for some time meditating in silence. Only then did the Buddha teach the Dhātu-vibhaṅga Sutta, and it was only after it that Pukkusāti recognized the Buddha.

He begged pardon for not having paid him due honor; he then requested to have the higher ordination of a Buddhist monk conferred on him. 

The Buddha consented and sent him to procure a requisite alms bowl and robe. But like Bahiya of the Bark Cloth, on the way Pukkusāti was gored to death by a cow. [Cows do this and it frequently happens that they are protecting their young or possessed by some yakkha.]

• The cow is said to have been a yakkhinī who was a cow in one hundred rebirths. In her last birth as a cow, she also killed Bāhiya of the Bark Cloth, Tambadāthika, and Suppabuddha the leper (DhA.ii.35).

When this was reported to the Buddha, he explained that Pukkusāti was a non-returner (third stage of enlightenment) who had now been been reborn in the highest Pure Abode (aviha) never more to return (M.iii.237 47).

Commentarial literature

In his comments on the Dhātu-vibhaṅga Sutra, Buddhaghosa gives a long account of Pukkusāti (MA.ii.979 ff. Cp. the story of Tissa, King of Roruva, ThagA.i.199f.)

After his untimely death by cow, Pukkusāti was born in the Pure Abodes where, together with six others, he became fully enlightened right at the moment of his rebirth. (See S.i.35, 60 for the names of the others).

 

The commentary explains that Pukkhusāti was one of seven monks at the time of the former Buddha Kassapa who decided to abstain from eating until they attained enlightenment. To avoid being disturbed, they moved to the top of a mountain plateau and kicked down the ladder used to climb up.
 
The senior monk attained the final goal, the second became an non-returner, but the remaining five refused offerings of food from the two who attained, and they died of starvation. They were reborn in the space world known as Tusita, a superior Sense Sphere world.

In this age they became, respectively, Pukkusāti, Kumāra Kassapa, Bahiya Dārucīriya, Dabba Mallaputta, and Sabhiya (Ap.ii.473; DhA.ii.212; UdA.81; but see MA.i.335, where only three are mentioned Pukkusāti, Dārucīriya, and Kassapa).

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A Morning, Evening with Bhikkhu Bodhi (live)

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; BodhiMonastery.org; AgainsttheStream.org

• Live at Claremont Graduate School (10:00 am, Oct. 31, 2012)
• Live at Univ. of the West (10:00 am, Admin. 208, Oct 30, 2012)
• Live at ATS Monday (Oct. 29th), Santa Monica (see below)
• Live at Dharma Seal, Rosemead (10:00 am, Oct. 28, 2012)

Against the Stream is welcoming America's most prolific scholar-monk, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi -- translator and author of The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (Majjhima Nikaya), The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (Anguttara Nikaya), The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Samyutta Nikaya), a "best of" collection called In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon (The Teachings of the Buddha), and many other less massive texts.

• FREE AUDIO: Bhikkhu Bodhi Online Lectures
• MORE AUDIO: "In the Buddha's Words"

Buddhist Publication Society (bps.lk)

Bhikkhu Bodhi was born in America, got his Ph.D. at Claremont Univ., then travelled to Sri Lanka to become a Buddhist monk. He became editor of the Buddhist Publication Society (BPS), a leading Theravada Buddhist publisher of ancient Buddhist texts from India and Southeast Asia that grew to greatness by the astounding efforts of German and British ex patriot scholar-monks who came to the island to translate and give the gift of the Dharma (Dhamma-dana) to the English-speaking world. 

 

Wisdom Quarterly is made possible only because we are standing on the shoulders of these giants, namely, Nyanaponika Thera (the first BPS editor, author of Heart of Buddhist Meditation), the German nun Ayya Khema, Ven. Nyanatiloka (Buddhist Dictionary: A Manual of Buddhist Terms), Ven. Nanamoli, Francis Story and Sister Vajira (The Last Days of the Buddha), Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya (Bhikkhu Bodhi's teacher), Ven. Piyadasi (who invited Bhikkhu Bodhi to ordain in Sri Lanka), and other Western Buddhist nuns and monks who, like the great commentator Buddhaghosa, revived the Buddha's Teaching through inspired scholarship.
    

Bhikkhu Bodhi: Meditation and Dharma Talk

• Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, Santa Monica
  
• Monday night, Oct. 29th, 7:30-9:00 pm
• 1001a Colorado Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90401 (MAP)

• Bhikkhu Bodhi live at Dharma Seal, Sunday (Oct. 28th)
• 3207 Del Mar Ave., Rosemead, CA 91770, (626) 288-5567

Dharma Punx's weekly meditation west usually features alternating teachers Noah Levine and Matthew Brensilver. But this Monday is a very special night suitable for people just learning to meditate as well as those with previous experience. No registration required. No set fee. Classes are donation-based. Mondays in Santa Monica, Wednesdays in Hollywood on Melrose Ave.

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Bhikkhu Bodhi WALKS to Feed the Hungry

Bhikkhu Bodhi (Buddhist Global Relief, FirstGiving.com); Wisdom Quarterly

Bhikkhu Bodhi, prolific translator

LOS ANGELES, California - On Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 beginning at 9:00 am, American Buddhist scholar-monk Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is helping raise money to provide for the hungry. All are invited to meet like minded fellows and have a great time! Donate now. Registration will start at 9:00 am at Santa Monica's New Crossroads School (3131 Olympic Bl., Santa Monica), where some parking is available. The walk will start at 10:00 am and follow a three-mile route ending at Against the Stream (1001a Colorado Bl.) in Santa Monica, where a potluck lunch will be served. Participants are welcome to drop off food and beverages at Against the Stream before the walk. More

• Contact: Tom Moritz
• 310-963-0199
• tom.moritz@gmail.com

The mission of Buddhist Global Relief (BGR) is to provide relief to the poor and needy throughout the world regardless of nationality, ethnicity, gender, or religion. Bearing in mind the Buddha's statements that "Hunger is the worst kind of illness" and "The gift of food is the gift of life," BGR focuses on providing food aid to those afflicted by hunger and food-insecurity. Its long-range goal, however, is to combat all manifestations of poverty that detract from the inherent dignity of human life.

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American Buddhists walk to feed the hungry

Bhikkhu Bodhi (firstgiving.com); Wisdom Quarterly

This October the world's leading American Buddhist scholar-monk, advocate for women, and teacher of Wisdom Quarterly's editors, Bhikkhu Bodhi, will be walking, walking, and walking to feed the hungry.

  

Join the walk in New York, Los Angeles, and Escondido! Why? Every year hunger and hunger-related illnesses claim the lives of ten million people, half of them children. Knowing this breaks not only the heart of this preeminent monk and translator, but of all compassionate Americans. It's even worse knowing that instead of funding endless wars, just a few dollars can do much to relieve this needless human suffering.

• Bhikkhu Bodhi to visit Dharma Punx, Santa Monica, Oct. 29

Ven. Bodhi is an inspiration to Buddhists worldwide with his acclaimed translations of the Buddha's collection of sutras that have become the standard.
  
After giving so much of his life to studying and translating the Buddha’s discourses, he has gone a further step to show us the importance of putting compassion into action. 

As the great empire of force, theft, and violence, we must also help -- really help -- where it’s needed most. Buddhist Global Relief (BGR) exists because of his efforts, and it continues to be guided by his wisdom, compassion, and virtue. BGR is dedicated to combating global hunger and effectively changing and saving lives.

  

Individual stories may break our hearts, but they also lift our spirits, inspiring us to keep on walking for the benefit of the helpless. Walks such as these give poor and hungry people the resources, tools, and hope they need to live healthy, productive lives and become a source of help to others.

  

Do something

Now you have the chance to support Bhikkhu Bodhi’s walk to help change the course of someone’s life. Every dollar given makes a real difference, enabling children to eat, girls to go to school, farmers to grow more crops, and women to support their families. Learn more about how BGR works and hear Bhikkhu Bodhi’s words of encouragement at buddhistglobalrelief.org.

• Pacifica Radio out to save the world 
• Torturing accused in Los Angeles jails
• "Food Playground," permaculture in LA 
• Walk? Take Three Simple Steps
• VIDEO: Dr. Sebi cures all diseases

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Audio Dharma by Bhikkhu Bodhi

Bhikkhu Bodhi, Tricycle.com, Chaung Yen Monastery

Afghan (Gandhara) style Buddha (San Francisco Asian Museum)

  

From the wide range of meditation subjects found in the Buddha’s discourses [sutras], the ancient teachers of the Theravada tradition have selected four subjects and grouped them into a set known as “the four protective meditations”: 

1. Recollection of the Buddha
2. Loving-kindness meditation
3. Contemplating the Unattractive Nature of the Body
4. Mindfulness of Death

The four are called “protective” meditations because each offers protection from a particular unwholesome tendency and reinforces a beneficial quality essential to the path. 

  

The four can be developed either as a preparation for a more intensive type of meditation or as independent subjects.

1. Recollection of the Buddha protects against dissatisfaction and generates faith [confidence] and devotion, which in turn give rise to joy. 
2. Loving-kindness is the antidote to ill will and generates feelings of friendliness and altruistic concern.
3. Contemplating the unattractive nature of the body debilitates sensual lust and inclines the mind toward disenchantment and [liberating] dispassion. 
4. Mindfulness of death is a potent remedy for heedlessness, reminding us of the transience of everything we cherish.

Over the next four weeks [the American monk] Bhikkhu Bodhi* will explain each of these meditation subjects in turn and conduct each as a guided meditation.

• Buddhist Global Relief
• A Critique of Bhikkhu Bodhi
• Reading Bhikkhu Bodhi's translations and copious commentary, one clearly understands he has a dry-insight method bias [characteristic of the Theravada school of the past few centuries], to the detriment of absorption practice (jhana).
• The Appeal of Buddhism in the West
• Padmasambhava predicted that, "When the iron eagle flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered over the Earth and the Dharma will go to the land of the red man" (Westerners were considered reddish pink by Asians).

*Ven. Bodhi teaches at Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York. He is currently translating the Anguttara Nikaya, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha.

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The "only" way to enlightenment?

GROWING UP MARA (2) with Mara Schaeffer and Dharmachari Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

"IGNORANCE CHEERFULLY RETURNED IF NOT COMPLETELY ENLIGHTENED"

 
MARA: I insist that different traditions have somewhat different visions of "enlightenment" -- referencing Alan Watts, Joseph Goldstein, Adyashanti, [B. Alan Wallace, etc.].

  

Yes, Rodney, we can all just get along.

SEVEN: Yes! That's kind of the problem. The historical Buddha meant something very specific. But various Buddhist schools use the same word to describe altogether different things.
   
And of course other religions and movements have different goals though they may think the Buddha's goal was the same, that we are all moving toward the same final goal. We are not. Theravada and Mahayana do not have the same goal, even if it's blurred and assumed to be ultimately the same. Across Buddhist schools (Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana, Zen, Nicheren, Vipassana, Lamaism, Esoteric, Tantra), the problem becomes one of watering down the historical Buddha's original message. There are other things besides enlightenment -- saving the world, nonduality, samadhi, miracles, healing, world peace, becoming a buddha, teaching, stream entry, getting to heaven, full absorption, a good human rebirth, supporting one's parents... satori. So when we speak of Buddhist "enlightenment" (bodhi), let's be perfectly clear: When would Shakyamuni (the Buddha Gautama) use that term, and when are we using it to describe other wonderful things in beautiful traditions far from what the Buddha described as enlightenment?

Meditators are beset on all sides by hindrances.

MARA: I worry when we as Buddhists insist that there is only one right, true, correct way of experiencing enlightenment, like [some] Christians insisting that they alone are saved and everyone else is hopelessly damned to hell.

  

This can lead to exploitation on many levels. For instance, "My way is right; your way is wrong! = Pay me $1,500 for my way; we take PayPal." It denigrates the gorgeous diversity of spiritual and religious experience existing today. But quality standards are definitely helpful. And I think we've clarified much of what has been mis-written about enlightenment, especially the Buddhist rebound effect in Hinduism. (Or at least we got the self-examination started and the conversation rolling. The Buddha really did have something different to say).

SEVEN: That's true. You're right. Of course different traditions have different definitions. Moreover, they are right in their differing definitions. It leads them to what they call "enlightenment." But are they all talking about the one the Buddha meant, which is not subjective?
  
Once the Buddha was asked by a Brahmin something regarding the ultimate goal, like will everybody get to it, or what percentage will? The Supremely Enlightened One remained nobly silent. But Ananda, concerned that the Buddha's silence not be misconstrued, explained using an analogy:

(Hooper Project)

BRAHMIN: "Will all the world reach enlightenment and liberation, or half, or a third of the world?"
 
The Buddha remained silent.

  
ANANDA (taking the Brahmin aside): Imagine a city surrounded by a flawless and impenetrable wall with a gatekeeper standing guard at its single gate. The wise gatekeeper walks around inspecting the wall and sees that there is not so much as an opening big enough for a very flexible cat to slip through. Being wise the gatekeeper realizes there is no sense in pondering how many people will come into the fortress or when. Nevertheless, one thing is known with certainty: Whoever gets inside the safe fortress will have come through the gate. In just the same way, the Buddha does not contemplate on how many people will or will not reach enlightenment. Yet the Awakened One knows with certainty that anyone who reaches the ultimate goal will have gotten there by traversing the same path he found: abandoning the obstacles to meditative success and gaining liberating-insight by establishing natural mindfulness on these four foundations: body, feelings, mind, and mind-objects.

There's One and Only Way?

MARA: But what about the claim of old English translators of the sutra on the "Four Foundations of Mindfulness" (MN 10 and DN 22)?

"This is the one and the only way for the purification [of the hearts/minds] of beings, for overcoming sorrow and lamentation, for the cessation of physical and mental pain, for attainment of the Noble Paths, and for the realization of nirvana -- that is, the four foundations of mindfulness."

SEVEN: Yes, fortunately modern English translators have since clarified just as the ancient scholars had tried to explain. This is a pivotal discourse, and it has gotten a great deal of extra attention thanks to the rise of the Vipassana (insight meditation) movement almost independent of its Theravada Buddhist roots.

  

The "one and the only way"? Ekayano maggo means that this is the only way which surely leads to the benefits listed. It may mean simply that this is the direct way, that is, leading only to this goal rather than another goal. This path was the one being taught by the Buddha as the sure path, the straight path, the most expedient path. In any case, it is verifiable by one's own experience (DN 22). British scholar Maurice O'C. Walshe clarifies.

 

Buddhaghosa, the great commentator

WALSHE: "[This is] sometimes translated 'the only way' or the 'one and only way' with, on occasion, a slightly triumphalist connotation. DA [Buddhaghosa's commentary to the collection of long discourses] in fact offers a number of possibilities, thus showing that the old commentators were not entirely sure of the exact meaning. Ekaayana can be literally rendered "one-going," which is ambiguous. Nyanamoli has 'a path that goes one way only.' In any case  it should not be confused with the term times found in Buddhist Sanskrit ekayaana 'one vehicle' or 'career'" (Note 626, The Long Discourse of the Buddha, Wisdom Publications).

SEVEN: One could say that there is no other way that it will go if one continuously practices because this way (maggo) leads only to this goal. But the American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi translates the line more simply.

 

BODHI: "This is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of pain and grief, for the attainment of the true way, for the realization of nirvana -- namely, the four foundations of mindfulness" (The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, MN 10, p. 245).
   

Bhiikkhu Bodhi emerging

Furthermore, according to Bhikkhu Bodhi, Ven. Nyanaponika Thera (born Siegmund Feniger), the great German scholar and author, points out that the key phrase in question has the unambiguous contextual meaning in MN 12.37-42 of "a path that goes one way only."

  

And the commentary to the middle length discourses explains the phrase as: "a single path, not a divided path; as a way that has to be walked by oneself alone, without a companion; and as a way that goes to one goal," nirvana. (See more of Bhikkhu Bodhi's explanatory comments in The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Note 135, p. 1188).

• Is "Satori" Enlightenment?

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In Defense of the Kalama Sutra.

My writings lately on the Kalama Sutra being a Buddhist version of the "scientific method" have sparked a discussion about its essence. Found here. And, so, I decided to make a new post using my comments addressing the points of the readers Dylan and Jayavara. Dylan mentioned a discourse of the Kalama Sutra by the Theravadan monk Bhikkhu Bodhi. I won't speculate on Dylan's intentions in posting that link but I do disagree slightly with the Bhikkhu's analysis on the sutra. I want to make it clear that I'm not ascribing any of the following Bhikkhu Bodhi comments as being the same of Dylan. In the discourse, the Bhikkhu seems to reject the idea of using the Kalama Sutra as a guide for knowing when a teaching of Buddha's is helpful. Bhikkhu Bodhi said:

Now does the Kalama Sutta suggest, as is often held, that a follower of the Buddhist path can dispense with all faith and doctrine, that he should make his own personal experience the criterion for judging the Buddha's utterances and for rejecting what cannot be squared with it? It is true the Buddha does not ask the Kalamas to accept anything he says out of confidence in himself, but let us note one important point: the Kalamas, at the start of the discourse, were not the Buddha's disciples. They approached him merely as a counselor who might help dispel their doubts, but they did not come to him as the Tathagata, the Truth-finder, who might show them the way to spiritual progress and to final liberation.

James: I am not saying in my post that Buddhists should dispense with all faith and doctrine because of this sutra. I think you should be balanced with both faith and reason. As for this sutra being specifically for the Kalama people and not applying to actual Buddhists; I would disagree because many who first read the sutra are already Buddhist practitioners. Additionally, to say that certain sutras are only for Buddhists and others for non-Buddhists is a form of dividing people and denying the oneness of all beings that Buddha taught. All of us can learn from the sutras whether we are full blown, card carrying, Buddhist or just investigating Buddhism. To say some teachings are just for Buddhists seems somewhat elitist. All of us come to Buddha to dispel our doubts and answer our questions of life. Not just Kalamas. To suggest otherwise is to say that Buddhists don't need to dispel doubts or answer questions. It seems to suggest that Buddhists already have it all figured out, which clearly isn't true.

Bhikkhu Bodhi goes on to say: Thus, because the Kalamas had not yet come to accept the Buddha in terms of his unique mission, as the discloser of the liberating truth, it would not have been in place for him to expound to them the Dhamma unique to his own Dispensation: such teachings as the Four Noble Truths, the three characteristics, and the methods of contemplation based upon them. These teachings are specifically intended for those who have accepted the Buddha as their guide to deliverance, and in the suttas he expounds them only to those who "have gained faith in the Tathagata" and who possess the perspective necessary to grasp them and apply them.

James: Here the Bhikkhu seems to be saying that the four noble truths are only for Buddhists. How then do you teach someone about Buddhism (as the 4 noble truths are apart of the very foundation of Buddhism) without mentioning the four noble truths? The idea that Buddha would categorize those seeking his wisdom doesn't jive with my own experience and with other teachings of his in other sutras. And I gain that insight from using the admonitions in the Kalama sutra to use (in-part) one's own experiences and observations as a guide. Not the only guide but a necessary tool to help figure out what makes causes less harm and what doesn't. Then Bhikkhu Bodhi seems to contradict himself and agree with the line of thinking that I was expounding upon.

Thus the discourse to the Kalamas offers an acid test for gaining confidence in the Dhamma as a viable doctrine of deliverance. We begin with an immediately verifiable teaching whose validity can be attested by anyone with the moral integrity to follow it through to its conclusions, namely, that the defilements cause harm and suffering both personal and social, that their removal brings peace and happiness, and that the practices taught by the Buddha are effective means for achieving their removal. By putting this teaching to a personal test, with only a provisional trust in the Buddha as one's collateral, one eventually arrives at a firmer, experientially grounded confidence in the liberating and purifying power of the Dhamma. This increased confidence in the teaching brings along a deepened faith in the Buddha as teacher, and thus disposes one to accept on trust those principles he enunciates that are relevant to the quest for awakening.

James: Here he seems to be backing up the idea of using the Kalama Sutra as a "control" to assess further the core of Buddha's wisdom and enlightenment. He calls it an "acid test" (which is a scientific test). Just like the idea of it being a form of the "scientific method." In the end, you have to make up your own mind about this sutra by putting it to the test. Like all of the Buddha's teachings in the Sutras. While I do put a lot of weight behind the Kalama Sutra I also advocate (as the Bhikkhu does) cultivating faith and adhering to doctrine that one finds helpful. I don't agree that the Kalama Sutra only applies to non-Buddhists. If it's not a sutra that Buddhist practitioners should listen to then why is it in the "sanctioned" Pali Canon?

Then, my friend Jayavara said the following when addressing my last post: I think we are in danger of over cooking the (so-called) Kālāma Sutta. Yes, it is a charter for an empirical approach, but to what?. But there are quite a number of limitations on this approach. The Buddha seems to be only talking about the moral sphere in that discourse. He is telling the Kālāmas that they should decide what is ethical on the basis of what they know to be good. There was then, as now in our societies, some doubt as to the basis of morality. Specifically moralities based on ideas of karma and rebirth of which there were a number of variations at the time.

This can be seen in the varied ways that karma is talked about in the Pāli texts themselves, and in texts which are likely to date from near that time like the early Upaniṣads, particularly the Bṛhadāranyaka. The Buddha was suggesting natural morality to the Kālāmas - i.e. that they don't go on ideology, but on "what they know to be right". But I don't think he goes beyond this into the sphere of meditation or wisdom and there we cannot use it as a measure for judging any teachings per se, but only for judging the suitability our own actions. Because of the subjective nature of Buddhist morality - it's all about what's going on your mind when you act - it makes applying the scientific method quite difficult. Science is all about repeatability and on the level of individual actions, none is ever repeatable.

So we tend to look in hindsight, and to try to assess actions collectively. At best it gives us broad brush strokes like: "refrain from acting when angry otherwise you will cause harm, or at least unhappiness." This is indeed the kind of truism that 'social scientists' come up with after years of research, which make us wonder why we fund such 'science'. I've trained in both disciplines - Science (I have a B.Sc in chemistry) and Buddhism. I do find some cross fertilisation. But it's more a spirit of enquiry and observation, than a full blown application of scientific method. And since it is all very subjective, all about knowing my own mental states, the scientific method has little to get a purchase on. In short there is nothing to measure. Learning from experience is not necessarily the scientific method - everyone does it. The only way to know if a teaching 'works' is to try it out for yourself.

James: Just because Buddha is mainly speaking to the Kalamas about karma and rebirth doesn't mean that the wisdom can't be applied to other teachings that one is doubting or investigating. For example, the heart sutra applies to many situations. As does the Diamond sutra and others. I think compartmentalizing his teachings as addressing only the people he is directly speaking to in a particular sutra; and about only that specific situation presented, is limiting the impact of the Dharma. We are limiting the Buddha's scope. Faith also requires us to have faith in ourselves that we can adapt Buddha's teachings to guide us in all situations. Otherwise, none of us should be following ANY of the sutras because they were all spoke to people that are long dead. So how can any of the sutras apply to us if we are to only look at them in the context of who he was historically addressing?

To teach otherwise seems to be focusing more on protecting a particular tradition or dogma than encouraging direct experience based on the faith in Buddha as a wise teacher. As we know, there are many varied schools of Buddhism. So, if it's possible to have such diverse styles of practicing the Dharma then surely it's possible to interpret the sutras several ways. And apply them to several time periods and situations. It feels like limiting the scope of Buddha's wisdom. I would only somewhat disagree with you that all actions aren't repeatable. If Buddha is specifically saying in the Kalama Sutra that testing his teachings will help you realize whether they help cause less harm or not then I think testing them to see if greed (for example) causes harm is pretty repeatable. As millions throughout varied ages have discovered the same reality that greed is harmful using the directions from Buddha to not accept anything that causes you harm.

I don't mean to say that the advice in the Kalama Sutra is EXACTLY like the scientific method. But that there are similarities, which would seem to be beneficial in understanding the wisdom of the Dharma to the modern mind that is so influenced by science. I agree that the only way to know if a teaching works is to try it. Just like the only way to know if a scientific hypothesis is right is to try it in a test. That's why I compared such advice to the scientific method. Again, they aren't exactly the same but both provide a way to test ideas based on direct, concrete actions. I also don't suggest that we should only follow our direct experience and intuition. Of course, faith and trust in our teachers is important as well.

~Peace to all beings~

PHOTO CREDIT: Students in the Emory Tibet Science Initiative take turns, looking through a microscope. Emory University.

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