What the Buddha taught
Walpola Rahula
Chapter I
THE BUDDHIST ATTITUDE OFMIND
Among the founders of religions the Buddha (if we are permitted to callhim the founder of a religion in the popular sense of the term) was theonly teacher who did not claim to be other than a human being, pureand simple. Other teachers were either God, or his incarnations indifferent forms, or inspired by him. The Buddha was not only a humanbeing; he claimed no inspiration from any god or external power either.He attributed all his realization, attainments and achievements tohuman endeavour and human intelligence. A man and only a man canbecome a Buddha. Every man has within himself the potentiality of becoming a Buddha, if he so wills it and endeavours. We can call theBuddha a man
par excellence.
He was so perfect in his ‘human-ness’that he came to be regarded later in popular religion almost as ‘super-human’.Man’s position, according to Buddhism, is supreme. Man is hisown master, and there is higher being or power that sits in judgmentover his destiny.‘One is one’s own refuge, who else could be the refuge?[1]saidthe Buddha. He admonished his disciples to ‘be a refuge to themselves’,and never to seek refuge in or help from anybody else.[2]He taught,encouraged and stimulated each person to develop himself and to workout his own emancipation, for man has the power to liberate himself from all bondage through his own personal effort and intelligence. TheBuddha says: ‘You should do your work, for the Tathāgatas[3]only teachthe way.’[4]If the Buddha is to be called a ‘saviour’ at all, it is only inthe sense that he discovered and showed the Path to Liberation,Nirvāna. But we must tread the Path ourselves.
It is on this principle of individual responsibility that the Buddhaallows freedom to his disciples. In the
Mahāparinibbāna-sutta
theBuddha says that he never thought of controlling the
Sangha
Sangha
to depend on him. He said thatthere was no esoteric doctrine in his teaching, nothing hidden in the‘closed-fist of the teacher’ (
ācariya-muttbi),
or to put it in the otherwords, there never was anything ‘up his sleeve’.[6] The freedom of thought allowed by the Buddha is unheard of elsewhere in the history of religions. This freedom is necessary because,according to the Buddha, man’s emancipation depends on his ownrealization of Truth, and not on the benevolent grace of a god or anyexternal power as a reward for his obedient good behaviour.The Buddha once visited a small town called Kesaputta in thekingdom of Kosala. The inhabitants of his town were known by thecommon name Kālāma. When they heard that the Buddha was in theirtown, the Kālāmas paid him a visit, and told him:‘Sir, there are some recluses and brāhmanas who visit Kesaputta. They explain and illumine only their own doctrines, and despise,condemn and spurn others’ doctrines. Then come other recluses andbrāhmanas, and they, too, in their turn, explain and illumine only theirown doctrines, and despise, condemn and spurn others’ doctrines. But,for us, Sir, we have always doubt and perplexity as to who among thesevenerable recluses and brāhmanas spoke the truth, and who spokefalsehood.’Then the Buddha gave them this advice unique in the history of regilions:‘Yes, Kālāmas, it is proper that you have doubt, that you haveperplexity, for a doubt has arisen in a matter which is doubtful. Now,look you Kālāmas, do not be led by reports, or tradition or hearsay. Benot led by the authority of religious texts, nor by mere logic or inference,nor by considering appearances, nor by the delight in speculativeopinions, nor by seeming possibilities, nor by the idea: ‘this is ourteacher’. But, O Kālāmas, when you know for yourselves that certainthings are unwholesome (
akusala)
, and wrong, and bad, the give themup… And when you know yourselves that certain things are wholesome(
kusala
According to the Buddha’s teaching, doubt (
vicikkcchā)
is one of the five Hindrances (nīvarana)[9]to the clear understanding of Truth andto spiritual progress (or for that matter to any progress). Doubt,however, is not a ‘sin’, because there are no articles of faith inBuddhism. In fact there is no ‘sin’ in Buddhism, as sin is understood insome religions. The root of all evil is ignorance (
avijjā)
and false views(
micchā ditthi
). It is an undeniable fact that as long as there is doubt,perplexity, wavering, no progress is possible. It is also equallyundeniable that there must be doubt as long as one does not understandor see clearly. But in order to progress further it is absolutely necessaryto get rid of doubt. To get rid of doubt one has to see clearly.There is no point in saying that one should not doubt or oneshould believe. Just to say’ I believe’ does not mean that you understandand see, When a student works on mathematical problem, he comes to astage beyond which he does not know how to proceed, and where he isin doubt and perplexity. As long as he has this doubt, he cannot proceed.If he wants to proceed, he must resolve this doubt. And there are waysof resolving that doubt. Just to say ‘I believe’, or, ‘I do not doubt’ willcertainly not solve the problem. To force oneself to believe and to accepta thing without understanding is political, and not spiritual orintellectual.The Buddha was always eager to dispel doubt. Even just a fewminutes before his death, he requested his disciples several times to askhim if they had any doubts about his teaching, and not to feel sorry laterthat they could not clear those doubts. But the disciples were silent.What he said then was touching: ‘If it is through respect for the Teacherthat you do not ask anything, let even one of you inform his friend’ (i.e.,let one tell his friend so that the latter may ask the question on theother’s behalf).[10]Not only the freedom of thought, but also the tolerance allowedby the Buddha is astonishing to the student of the history of religions.Once in Nālandā a prominent and wealthy householder named Upāli, awell-known lay disciple of Nigantha Nātaputta (Jaina Mahāvīra), wasexpressly sent by Mahāvīra himself to meet the Buddha and defeat himin argument on certain points in the theory of Karma, because theBuddha’s views on the subject were different from those of Mahāvīra.[11]Quite contrary to expectations, Upāli, at the end of thediscussion, was convinced that the views of the Buddha were right andthose of his master were wrong. So he begged the Buddha to accept himas one of his lay disciples (
Upāsaka).
But the Buddha asked him toreconsider it, and not to be in a hurry, for ‘considering carefully is goodfor well-known men like you’. When Upāli expressed his desire again, the
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What the Buddha Taught
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Hi Everybody! I just thought that someone might like to know that when I talk to people about how there are those people who either distort the Buddhas teachings out of ignorance or purposefully this is one of the first books that I refer to! Concerning the Chapter in this book on meditation, and the story that the Buddha found that concentration meditation did not lead to enlightenment, NOWHERE in ANY Buddhist scripture in the world does this story exist! CERTAINLY NOT IN THE PALI CANON TIPATAKA!When talking anywhere about jhana being a happy and peaceful place but good for nothing more only up to the third jhana is being discussed like this. In the Majjhima Nikaya sutta #36 Ven.Gotama calls Jhana or "concentration" meditation THE path to enlightenment. This is only one of many places one could look for this sort of thing. In the Maha-Satipatthana sutta (the author calls it the Satipatthana sutta confusing it with the Satipatthana sutta of The Majjhima Nikaya) of The Digha Nikaya (#22) the Buddha starts with Vipassana but ends with Jhana! Why? Because his offering of Vipassana as a "road map" was his unique contribution to the "Vehicle" of Jhana meditation which,yes they already knew about!I would suggest looking up the Jhana Sutta of the Anguttara Nikaya (AN.9.36)at the accesstoinsight.org website as well you might try the "Tranquility and Insight" samadhi sutta of the Anguttara Nikaya as well,I believe there are seven such different samadhi suttas in the Anguttara Nikaya, six concentration suttas, one sutta on immeasurable concentration and the sutta on tranquility and insight. While we are at it let us make a note of the fact that anapanasati meditation is a form of CONCENTRATION /TRANQUILITY meditation taught by the Buddha. When you focus on your breathing (breathing in and out)you are not focusing on anything else are you? If you ever hold a copy of this book in your hands and read some of the supplementary material you will know then that the man who wrote this book Dr. Walpola Rahula got his doctorate in medicine NOT Buddhist studies! This is why instead of reading a book about what the Buddha Supposedly taught or not, it is ALWAYS much better to go to the scripture and read THAT instead! The pali Canon Tipataka is the oldest know extant written record of what the Venerable Gotama taught his disciples for dhamma (teaching). Now lets all go to accesstoinsight.org and find out what to the best of our knowledge the Buddha actually taught (overall) shall we? There might be areas of disagreement amongst some scholars about this sutta or that sutta etcetera, BUT at least you'll be working with the scripture ITSELF. I wish you all the best of all things spiritual! Bhikkhu aggacitto revaggacitto7@gmail.com By the way,I have a few things that I have published at Scribd.com as well!You can look any of that up by the search words Bhikkhu aggacitto.
Hi Everybody! I just thought that someone might like to know that when I talk to people about how there are those people who either distort the Buddhas teachings out of ignorance or purposefully this is one of the first books that I refer to! Concerning the Chapter in this book on meditation, and the story that the Buddha found that concentration meditation did not lead to enlightenment, NOWHERE in ANY Buddhist scripture in the world does this story exist! CERTAINLY NOT IN THE PALI CANON TIPATAKA!When talking anywhere about jhana being a happy and peaceful place but good for nothing more only up to the third jhana is being discussed like this. In the Majjhima Nikaya sutta #36 Ven.Gotama calls Jhana or "concentration" meditation THE path to enlightenment. This is only one of many places one could look for this sort of thing. In the Maha-Satipatthana sutta (the author calls it the Satipatthana sutta confusing it with the Satipatthana sutta of The Majjhima Nikaya) of The Digha Nikaya (#22) the Buddha starts with Vipassana but ends with Jhana! Why? Because his offering of Vipassana as a "road map" was his unique contribution to the "Vehicle" of Jhana meditation which,yes they already knew about!I would suggest looking up the Jhana Sutta of the Anguttara Nikaya (AN.9.36)at the accesstoinsight.org website as well you might try the "Tranquility and Insight" samadhi sutta of the Anguttara Nikaya as well,I believe there are seven such different samadhi suttas in the Anguttara Nikaya, six concentration suttas, one sutta on immeasurable concentration and the sutta on tranquility and insight. While we are at it let us make a note of the fact that anapanasati meditation is a form of CONCENTRATION meditation taught by the Buddha. When you focus on your breathing (breathing in and out)you are not focusing on anything else are you? If you ever hold a copy of this book in your hands and read some of the supplementary material you will know then that the man who wrote this book Dr. Walpola Rahula got his doctorate in medicine NOT Buddhist studies! This is why instead of reading a book about what the Buddha Supposedly taught or not, it is ALWAYS much better to go to the scripture and read THAT instead! The pali Canon Tipataka is the oldest know extant written record of what the Venerable Gotama taught his disciples for dhamma (teaching). Now lets all go to accesstoinsight.org and find out what to the best of our knowledge the Buddha actually taught (overall) shall we? There might be areas of disagreement amongst some scholars about this sutta or that sutta etcetera, BUT at least you'll be working with the scripture ITSELF. I wish you all the best of all things spiritual! Bhikkhu aggacitto revaggacitto7@gmail.com By the way,I have a few things that I have published at Scribd.com as well!You can look any of that up by the search words Bhikkhu aggacitto.