LUDWIG: CH.

7 BUDDHIST WORLDS OF MEANING 1

I. THE ULTIMATE AS UNCONDITIONED TRUTH

A. Dharma

i. Dharma in Buddhism means the ultimate truth, the knowledge of what
really is.

ii. It is a transcendental principle immanent and operative in the world, real,
valuable, and normative; at the same time it is infinite and eternal.

B. Dependent co-arising

i. Dependent co-arising is a doctrine of causality, showing the
interconnectedness of everything.

1. Everything and every event are caused by something prior in an
interrelated process.

2. Every condition contributes to the next, but it is itself conditioned by
countless other determining conditions.

C. The Unconditioned State of Nirvana

i. Fully realizing the Dharma means achieving Nirvana.

ii. Nirvana is freedom from samsara and therefore is a permanent,
unconditioned state.

iii. It is eternal, absolute, unconditioned, and ultimate.

D. Emptiness and Suchness

i. Early Buddhist taught that everything is a conglomeration of elements or
dharmas. A distinction was then made between all these dharmas or
conditioned things, and one unconditioned dharma, the state of nirvana.

ii. But Mahayana philosophers began to teach that emptiness (shunyata) is
actually the common predicate of all dharmas, whether conditioned or
unconditioned.

iii. Emptiness means the absence of own-being, that is, something existing
through its own power and having an immutable essence.

iv. Mahayana points out that not only are all conditioned dharmas (that is,
the phenomenal world of samsara) empty, but also the unconditioned
reality of nirvana is empty.

v. This leads to the conclusion that, since both nirvana and samsara are
empty, there is no essential difference between them. Nirvana is samara.

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vi. Emptiness is actually the womb (tathagata-gharbha, womb of the
Buddha) that gives birth to all reality, the creative source of all that is.

II. THE MAHAYANA TEACHING ABOUT THE THREE BODIES OF THE
BUDDHA

A. The doctrine of the Three Bodies of the Buddha, as worked out by the
philosophers of the Yogacara school, is a way of formulating the dimensions of
ultimate reality in terms of Buddha.

B. There are three bodies (kaya) or dimensions of Buddha:

i. The Dharma Body (Darma-kaya)
ii. The Bliss Body (Sambhogakaya)
iii. The Transformation Body (Nirmana-kaya)

C. The Buddha is really the eternal power of the Dharma.

D. The Dharma Body of the Buddha encompasses all aspects of ultimate reality.

E. The human form of Buddha (Transformation Body) now is seen as a kind of
magical-appearance body by which the eternal Dharma body of the Buddha
appeared in our age to lead humans on the path of enlightenment.


III. THE NATURE OF THE WORLD

A. Origin of the World and of Humans

i. Buddhists, like Hindus, think of the universe as virtually endless both in
time and in space.

ii. As the various worlds are destroyed and evolve again, beings are born
from one into another because of karma.

B. The Real Nature of the World and of Humans

i. Like all the people from India, Buddhism accepts the basic idea of karma
and samsara.

ii. But what is distinctive about the Buddhist view is the emphasis on
impermanence, no-self, and dependent co-arising as doctrines about the
nature of the world.

iii. Everything is impermanent, in a process of flux, coming into being and
passing out of being endlessly.

iv. The Buddha says there is no atman (an-atman), no permanent reality we
can call the self.

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v. Rather, that which we call the self or the person is really a changing
process made up of a series of five skandhas or aggregates combined
together for a lifetime.

vi. This process of aggregates includes physical matter, sensations,
perceptual activities, impulses to action, and bits of consciousness. These
aggregates come together for a lifetime, constantly changing, and they
dissipate when the lifetime ends.

vii. For understanding the changing process of the world and especially the
no-self teaching, it is important to remember the central Buddhist
concept of dependent co-arising, which shows the interconnectedness of
everything.

viii. Everything is conditioned by other things, but it is false to assert that
everything happens randomly by chance. Thus there is some continuity
even in this world of change. [Example of the old man. The conditions
that make up the man does not change.]

ix. In Buddhism, nothing goes through the rebirth cycles. Rather each
rebirth is caused by the previous existences in a chain of causation. It is
the karma from one lifetime that combusts the next lifetime.

x. One important idea is the interrelationship of all things: all beings are
one in the ocean of life. What affects one affects all.

xi. The law of karma has a volitional aspect; it is not the working of a
merely mechanical fate, but it involves will and desire. I am who I am
now because of past existences, but every moment I have the freedom to
perform moral rather than immoral actions, thus changing the flow of
karma and my own future existence.



















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IV. THE HUMAN PROBLEM: CLINGING

A. Why do we feel this kind of suffering and anxiety? It is because of clinging,
answers the Buddha (the second Noble Truth).

B. The truth is that there is nothing to cling to, since everything is passing, so we
lose what we try to hold on to, and in the process we experience suffering.

C. Twelve conditions of becoming, each condition causing the next condition:

i. Ignorance, causing volitional actions
ii. Volitional actions, causing consciousness
iii. Consciousness, causing personal existence
iv. Personal existence, causing the mind and the senses
v. Mind and senses, causing mental and sensorial contact
vi. Mental and sensorial contact, causing sensations and feelings
vii. Sensations and feelings, causing craving
viii. Craving, causing grasping
ix. Grasping, causing new becoming-forces
x. Becoming-forces, causing rebirth
xi. Rebirth, causing aging and dying
xii. Aging and dying causing ignorance again




























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V. NIRVANA AND THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH

A. The conditions on which craving depends are depicted in the twelve-spoked
wheel of existence: ignorance, wrong intentions, impure consciousness, the
illusion of self, and so forth.

B. Eliminating these conditions, and thus eliminating craving, will bring cessation
of suffering. And this is the state of nirvana.

C. Nirvana

i. Nirvana (blowing out, cooling off) is the experience of full life and
meaning achieved by eliminating all forms of grasping and attachment.

ii. Nirvana is complete freedom from conditions and limitations, permitting
life to be lived in the full richness of the present moment, without fear or
anxiety.

D. The Buddha was more concerned with practical spiritual results than with
philosophical speculations about existence.

E. The noble Eightfold Path sets forth a whole way of life leading progressively to
higher levels of spiritual transformation:

i. Right understandingWisdom
ii. Right intention.Wisdom
iii. Right speech....Moral Conduct
iv. Right action.Moral Conduct
v. Right livelihood...Moral Conduct
vi. Right effort..Contemplation
vii. Right mindfulness....Contemplation
viii. Right concentration..Contemplation

F. Forms of Meditation

1. Samantha or calm meditation involves concentration and focusing the
mind on an object or idea, leading to the calming of the mental processes
and even to higher states of trance and supernormal experiences.

2. Vipassana or insight mediation is an analytic method based on
mindfulness, observation, and total awareness of reality as it is. The
Buddha suggested that such insight mediation might profitably deal with
four areas of life: the body, the feelings, the mind, and intellectual
subjects.

G. Through meditation one becomes totally aware of the operation of the mind. By
becoming totally aware and thus seeing reality directly as it is, one facilitates the
cessation of clinging and false sense of self, moving toward the experience of
nirvana.


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VI. MAHAYANA ENLARGEMENT OF THE PATH OF TRANSFORMATION

A. Nirvana is understood as realizing ones Buddhahood, and this path is open to
laypeople as well as monastics. The model to follow on the path is bodhisattva
rather than the arhant.

B. Become the Buddha: The Broad Path

i. Since Mahayanists believe the Dharma Body of the Buddha is the source
and essence of all reality, the goal of the path can be rephrased in terms
of realizing ones Buddha-nature.

ii. Since Buddha-nature (or nirvana) is not a state apart from this life but is
in fact identical with the samsara world, the goal is to awaken the
Buddha-nature of this very life.

iii. The place to start is certainly the discipline of the Eightfold Path. But
since the emphasis is on realizing the Buddhahood of all beings, the path
stresses the awakening of the thought of enlightenment and the
cultivation of compassion.

iv. The arhant is one who perfects himself or herself through spiritual
disciplines, roots out all clinging, and finally attains nirvana. Whereas
the arhant cultivates compassion as a virtue, the ultimate goal is release.

v. But the bodhisattva, according to the Mahayana vision, is a great being
who aeons ago grasped the thought of enlightenment and took vows to
work incessantly for the welfare and salvation of all living things, thus
starting on the bodhisattva course.

vi. An important factor in the idea of the bodhisattva is the Buddhist notion
of merit, which is built up by moral, selfless deeds.

C. Two Ways on the Path

1. It is possible, on the one hand, to practice mediation and see
directly into ones Buddha-nature and the Buddha-nature or
reality.

2. On the other hand, the compassionate nature of the Buddha
reality makes it possible to receive help along the path from
various bodhisattvas and Buddhas who are dedicated to the
salvation of all beings.

3. The strong Mahayana ideas about the universal Buddha essence,
the virtue of compassions, and the model of the bodhisattva
mean that the path of transformation can include reliance on
power from Buddhas as well as self-power for transformation
and salvation.

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4. There is the nirvanic path followed by Theravada monks and
nuns, leading to arhantship.

5. The laypeople follow the karmic path of building up merit for
better rebirths.

6. In some Mahayana schools the path of Buddhahood-realization
is followed through meditation and ritual.

7. Other Mahayana Buddhists follow the salvation-through-saving
power path.