Outline Lecture Five—The Path Out of Suffering: The Buddha

I) Existence as Source of Suffering

A baby’s cry is foreshadowing of the pain and suffering that will come throughout the rest of
their life.
a) The Rationale behind Buddhism’s “Pessimistic” Outlook
i) Cycle of rebirth or samsara understood as a vicious cycle of suffering
Cycle of suffering occurs within a particular existence
Throughout our lifetime we go through cycles of suffering – we can talk about the cycles
of suffering we go through during our lives
ii) What makes life itself a cycle filled with suffering?
(1) Suffering from a thirst, a craving we cannot assuage
(2) Anxiety and stress of anticipation maybe anticipation of a job or trip, of longing,
of expectation
(3) Suffering from attachment to possessions, to persons, to life itself
We spend so much time waiting and anticipating and even when we receive the object of our
waiting the thing does not last long – it is very fleeting
iii) Life as a “hedonist treadmill” (Robert Wright) Suffering cycle
(1) (Sanscreit term for suffering = “Dukka”) literally means “perpetual
dissatisfaction”
Similar to the highs and crashing lows of addiction
Gilgamesh is so obsessed with not losing what he has – his life, that he ironically forgets to
live
What about all the happy moments? Sure, but it’s a cycle. There are highs and lows
b) What is Nirvana?
i) Literally, “the total annihilation of self-existence”
ii) Practically speaking, enlightened state of mind, beyond craving, beyond suffering
Being born over and over is not a good thing, it is something to be escaped
Existence is to be escaped
Nirvana doesn’t have to be attained after we die or after countless rebirths
In Nirvana you are no longer suffering or craving
There is no suffering and no consciousness and no rebirth
Object of the Buddha’s teaching

II) The Middle-Path between Extremes

a) Path between Indulgence and Asceticism
i) Avoiding excessive and extreme indulgence in our appetites
Food, sex, material things are only good in moderation
Just learn to moderate – not so far as what the buddhisatva did, not so extreme
Wanting is a huge cause for suffering
b) Avoidance of Extreme Stridency in Views
Why did Buddha stay around at his father’s house instead of pursuing is aforementioned purpose
of discovering the answer to suffering
i) Siddhartha’s respect for Indian tradition in spite of being a sannyasin
Even after leaving his place as a prince he still returned and saw his family, father and son
Being in the Middle Path he wanted to still show that he loved his family
 (1) Familial duties: Father, Yasodhara, the Sakyas
(2) His fatherly duties towards Rahula
Later he accepted Rahula into the Order
ii) Traditional role of women in regards to religious cultivation
(1) Mahaprajapati’s request along with 500 noble-women
His most difficult decision
Why? India was incredibly patriarchal when it came to religion
(2) “Do not long for the initiation of women into the order or for their ordination”
Three times: he didn’t say yes or no
This is causing anguish to my chief disciple: Ananda
Can women achieve nirvana in other times and with other Buddhas?
Then how can you not let them into the Order?
Now my teachings will only be 500 years instead of 1000
The monks will always take precedent over the nuns
This was incredibly radical from tradition where normally women were rejected form religion
He added many stipulations in accepting women into the community
It is a risk taking in women
It follows the Middle Path
iii) Controversial acceptance of women into the Sangha
(1) Reluctant acceptance
(2) Monks’ oversight over nuns through the Eight Precepts for Nuns
Things that only nuns would have to follow
Records say that many women in the Order actually took on leadership roles
It is hard to reconcile the egalitarianism and practicality of these measures
The egalitarian measures of the Buddha during this society was very contrasting to the Indian
backdrop
c) The Social Challenge of the Middle-Path
i) Why did Buddhism fade in India merely 500 years after its founding?
Buddhism thrived and spread to other places but in India it died
Because it went so against many norms of the society
It also focuses so much on inward spirituality so it could never compete with the rich backdrop
of cultural religions with colorful and ‘frivolous’ rituals and displays
ii) Its slow self-cultivation of wisdom less appealing than the instant gratification and
spectacle of ritual and sacrifice
It is not gratifying to most people
It is too slow “I want wisdom/redemption now”

III) Prajnaparamita—The Perfection of Wisdom considered the jewel of Buddhism

a) The Jewel of Buddhism
i) Collection of roughly 40 sutras on the perfection of wisdom (1st century B.C.E.)
(1) Key texts: The “Diamond Sutra” and the “Heart Sutra”
About 400 or 500 years after the Buddha – it focuses on the theme of emptiness
The Heart Sutra is considered the perfect synthesis of the teachings of the Prajnaparamita
b) The Dialectic of Sunyata (Philosophical Paradox of Emptiness or Void)
i) “Form is precisely emptiness, emptiness precisely form” (Heart Sutra)
Key line to enter this path of understanding
Paradox
ii) Understanding “emptiness” through the metaphor of a “flowing stream”
(1) “Empty” of permanent form and independent nature
There is no change in the water in the cup but the cup is a cause or condition that effects the form
of the stream
Empty of any independent nature
No phenomena has completely independent nature
(2) Why insisting on “emptiness” is not about negating existence
It is not saying things don’t exist
Empty of permanence and independent nature
iii) Aggregates/components that make up our notion of “self”—the five skandhas
One candle is lit and you use that candle to light the next one in the line: is that candle the same
as the previous one? Yes and no, it contains aspects of it but it is not the exact same
(1) Form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness
Equal impermanence of the body, soul and situation
Our own body’s are not the same form second to second to second
Our cells are constantly dying and coming back
We are never the same person from moment to moment

We are never the same mentally and emotionally from second to second – more volatile than
cells – constant change

iv) E.g. Nagasena’s responses to King Menander

c) What does all this have to do with suffering?
i) Non-attachment to the five skandhas (form, feeling, perception, formation,
consciousness)
Each of these skandhas becomes a form of suffering because we are attaching our self to
something that is fundamentally impermanent and conditioned by a multitude of aspects

In Buddhism the self is made up of an aggregate of things

(1) Foremost, to overcome our habitual attachment or aversion to form
The detachment from this self gives us less suffering
Most prone to attaching to: Form (beauty, desire, etc)
Beauty it impermanent and ever-dependent on external conditions and causes

The four encounters: Sidartha goes out and for the first time realizes that beauty is impermanent
One of the first times he pierces through the veil of beauty
Changes in perception contribute to the impermanence of beauty

Our sense organs enslave us

Draws us to certain things
Basing our judgment and assertions on things that are ‘shaky’

Equanimity: an evenness of mind

Not to be on the roller coaster, just to have an een state of mind that is not super high or low
(2) Relate to the Law of Dependent Origination
 (a) E.g. two monks at the river
Master and younger monk: on the banks is a young, attractive, scantily clad woman
Woman: “Masters I need to get home to my village but I can’t swim please take me
across the river”
Master: “No problem” he takes her across no problem and she goes on her way
The young monk on the way back is filled with distress and is utterly puzzled, the master
asks what is wrong? He feels as if his master was wrong in having such bodily contact
Young monk: “I can’t understand how a holy man like you could allow that to happen”
Master: “After crossing the river I put her down but it seems you haven’t put her down
yet.”
The master saw beyond the woman and her attractiveness, he easily let go of it
(3) The skandha of feelings
Of course we’re attached to all the other four skandhas as well
ii) The Suffering of Patācārā like Job – loses everything (her family, her friends)
Goes crazy because of her loss of everything dear to her
(1) “Sister, regain awareness, acquire mindfulness”
The Buddha is there and she is watching his lecture. The Buddha notices her and says the quote
After this she could get everything back together and gained enlightenment
The Buddha never says follow me in order to get x, it is all about self-emancipation – utterly
reliant on the person

She had succumbed to her pain and misery

Just like form our feelings are also impermanent and are conditioned to a multitude

iii) The plight of the “second arrow”

The second arrow: the thing that we get hit with if we get too wrapped up in the pain and
suffering of life
We can’t avoid the first arrow (the pain of living), but we can avoid the second arrow (the
arrow pain and suffering we put on ourselves when we can’t let go of the pain of the first arrow)

iv) Self-emancipation through wisdom

(1) His own diligence in cultivating wisdom to the very end of his life
(2) “All component things are perishable; work diligently on your own salvation”
His last words