Buddhist Hour
Script No. 502
Broadcast live on 3MDR 97.1FM
4 PM to 5 PM
On Sunday 25 November 2007 CE 2551 Buddhist Era

This script is entitled:

"The Buddhist Path & Meditation - Part 1"

The Buddhist Path & Meditation is the second chapter of a book written by our late Founder John D. Hughes in 1977. We will broadcast this chapter over two Buddhist Hour programs with today's broadcast being the first part.

The Buddha was concerned that all persons should learn to look within their own natures. The final goal of Buddhism is to attain Nirvana. It is extremely difficult to describe the nature of Nirvana. Since it is beyond words and form. In the Buddha’s words, ‘I do declare to you, you are the world, and likewise the Way that leadeth to the ceasing thereof’. The goal of Nirvana is a long way away from many persons incarnate on this planet, at this point of time. For some persons who will have done much work on themselves in earlier incarnations it is not all that far away as time goes.

There are many different types of Buddhism taught by different sects, but all are needed since people are different. One type of Buddhism is called Theravada, the Way of the Elders, this became the religion of the south, spreading to Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Theravadins took all that the Buddha had said in a literal way. The exact meanings of the words with the doctrine of Karma all form part of the teachings. In essence Nirvana teaching is concerned with the cleansing of the mind of its impurities, such as hatred, lust and discontent, and replacing these negative emotions by the positive ones of tranquility, joy and confidence. The main practice for this goal was Mindfulness. There are many exercises designed to bring about mindfulness, some are done by imagining as vividly as one can such things as decay, stench, death and other horrors, until they can be faced fully, without reaction.

The practice of watching the breath as it comes into the body and leaves it, is a Theravadin exercise. As thoughts arise, they are noted but not held in the mind. Another type of Buddhism is Mahayana Buddhism, which traveled north to Tibet and China and eventually Japan. This type of Buddhism based itself less on a Buddhist’s knowledge and intellectual powers, than upon his compassionate part. The differences take many variations and the caring aspect of Buddha-Nature came to be personified as a Bodhisattva – One who turns back at the door of Nirvana, refusing to enter until every single soul on earth is enlightened. At this stage, it is interesting to think about the vow of a Bodhisattva (an enlightened being who dedicates himself to helping others obtain enlightenment). One form of a Bodhisattva’s vow is, ‘All beings, however innumerable I vow to carry across to the shore of enlightenment. My evil passions, however indestructible, I vow to conquer. The Dharma, however inexhaustible, I vow to study. The Buddha’s way, however peerless, I vow to attain.’

The Bodhisattva, who comes directly to an awareness of the sufferings of beings sees the cause of suffering arising from the released incarnations of beings.

The Bodhisattva idea arose during the reign of the Ruler Kanishka. Kanishka was converted to Buddhism by Asvaghosha who had himself become a Buddhist convert. The date of Kanishka’s reign has been a subject of controversy, but he probably ruled from A.D. 120 to 162. Kanishka called the fourth and last general Council of the Buddhist Church. It met at Kundalavana Monastery in Kashmir, and was attended by five hundred monks from all parts of India, under the Presidency of the learned Parsva. Many celebrated scholars, including Asvaghosha, Visvamitra and Nargajuna took part; the Council sat for six months.

The council at Kashmir, marks the rise of ‘Mahayana’ Buddhism, which differs as much from Hinayana Buddhism, as medieval Catholicism does from the simple creed of the Christians of the first century. The change was partly due to an attempt to reconcile Buddhism with Hinduism. The theory of ‘Avatars’ from Hinduism and Jainism was adopted by Buddhism. The historical Gautama was regarded as merely the latest of a series of incarnations of the ‘Adi-Buddha’. Parallel to the human Buddhas, were the Dhyani or Spiritual Buddhas, each with his own paradise, and the Bodhisattvas. The most important of the Dhyani Buddhas is Amitabha or Amida, ‘The God of Boundless Light’, which has a large following in Japan. Among the Bodhisattvas is – Avalokiteshvara, ‘The God Who Looks Down.’

At this stage, there is one thought which can still be held strongly; that is the thought that Nirvana shall be attained sooner or later, and that each plane shall be traversed with a minimum of clinging to the thoughts and sensations arising.

It is necessary to understand that there are many meanings to Buddhist literature of the word Nirvana or ‘beyond-sorrow’. The idea that it is the ultimate way of existence – it is ‘sunyata’. In terms of the literal meaning of the words – beyond-sorrow, we can say that emptiness is the natural beyond-sorrow.

This is because, in this context, it is beyond the sorrow, dukkha of true existence; in other words, it is a reputation of true existence. The beyond-sorrow to be obtained has many levels, the highest of which is reached at the stage of full awakening (Buddhahood). It is also known as the beyond side of the Great Vehicle (mahayana). There is residual and non-residual beyond-sorrow. These are difficult to express meaningfully in words. As it says in the White Lotus of the Supreme Truth Sutra (sabdharnapundarika-sutra): ‘Although you are free from the suffering of psychic existence, still you are not completely past beyond-sorrow, therefore seek for the very vehicle for the full awakening.’

Also in the Peerless Continuum (Uttaratantra by Mitreye): ‘Therefore until full awakening is attained beyond-sorrow is not attained.’ If we take these quotations literally, it seems we must say that the Lesser Vehicle beyond-sorrow is not beyond-sorrow at all. However, this is not what is meant. If you mix two things as one it is a perfect reason for not understanding either of them. In Tibet Journal Vol. 1 No1, is an article "What is Nirvana?", it points out great care is needed when using the word Nirvana, otherwise if various explanations are written about these works taking the literal meanings as the actual one, there will be a danger of completely losing the assertions of the author. It is probably better to bear in mind the desire for Nirvana without endeavouring to too precisely form models of what Nirvana is or is not.

The model to think is probably at this stage ‘I shall by my own efforts, practising the teachings of the Buddha, obtain Nirvana in a future incarnation!’ This thought may be held as a model to assist the traversing of the various planes without being side-tracked on any particular plane. Thought of obtaining Nirvana is to be held at a later date after thought is held of the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattvas teach the Dharma to sentient beings while foregoing their own entry into Nirvana. The thought ‘entering Nirvana’ is a problem because it is a craving and sufficient to keep a person from achieving such a state. It shall be seen the Bodhisattva’s view overcomes the problem. The Bodhisattva does not have Karma to rebuild this world of the physical plane, since craving has ceased.

The Buddha taught everything happens because of conditions. There is no accident. As actions are performed in three ways; by body, mind and speech, every action of importance is performed because there is desire for result. The desire, no matter how mild is a form of craving. It is the result of craving that Karma arises. It is a good practice to remind yourself of the fact that your deeds, words and thoughts first of all act and react upon your own ‘Mind’. The first result is a sort of ‘self conditioning.’ The sights, sounds, smells and tastes, and the bodily impressions which you perceive and your mental functioning of various kinds, conscious and unconscious create the world in which you live. As your conditioned being changes so the world around you changes, hence if there were no Karma ripening in the sphere of the sense, there would not appear any sensual existence. Hence Karma is the true creator of the world and this includes ourselves. It is said that Karma is the womb from which we all have sprung and through our Karmic actions and deeds, words and thoughts we are unceasingly engaged in building and rebuilding this world and worlds beyond. Even our good actions, as long as they are still under the influence of craving contribute to this world of suffering.

As Nyanaponika Thera has written in ‘Reflections on Kamma and its Fruit’ in the Wheel Publication, published by the Buddhist Publication Society (1975 Sri Lanka) "The Wheel of life is like a tread mill set into perpetual motion by Kamma and chiefly by the three unwholesome root causes of it – greed, hatred and delusion. The end of the world cannot be reached by working in a treadmill that creates only the illusion of progress. It is only by stopping the vain effort that the end of the toil can be attained. Yet our keeping life’s treadmill in motion is a deep-rooted habit; an age-old addiction that is hard to break. And here again is a hopeful message in the fourth truth with its eight-fold therapy that can cure that addiction and can gradually lead to the final cessation of suffering. The therapy proper which aims at the root of the illness starts with the right understanding of the true nature of Kamma and thereby man’s situation in the world." Kamma causes the arising of what happens to you.

The Buddha states: ‘One oneself is the guardian of oneself, what other guardian would there be?’ (Dhammapadam, 160). When the action ripens of the result of the craving, it comes into the world of tables and chairs.

It is hard to see that the things that happen in this life are the result of ‘thoughts’ you may have thought in a former incarnation. There are many well documented cases of remembrance of earlier lives in literature – to mention one – The Case for Rebirth by Francis Story, Buddhist Publication Society 1973. Story documents several cases; without quoting these cases in detail it is sufficient to say that the cases are in many countries of the world.

When you look at objects in a museum, which people of certain cultures judge to be precious, you tend to be bemused at the simplicity of mind of some people. If you become more mindful, you would see that certain objects you consider pleasant, may not be. In my house I have many precious objects. They are precious in the worldly sense that certain paintings are expensive. I have some other objects which are equally as precious to me but which are by conventional standards of no worldly value whatsoever. For example; I have some weather-worn rocks, pine cones and bird feathers; these have either been given to me or I have picked them up. Many people have looked at everyday objects for the first time because they are arranged alongside conventionally precious objects. They formed in their mind the value of objects. It might be thought that without a Value system that all objects are equally beautiful. This may or may not be true. Certain objects generate aversion, because of their nature. It is interesting when we consider the reception of certain works of art in their day and age. The critics in Beethoven’s day judged his symphonies as uncouth. The effect of objects on your mental state can be quite marked. From sensations thoughts arise, and there exist certain objects which due to the nature of the karma arising can have an effect on you.

If you could obtain an object of your last incarnation, it would produce subtle effects upon your being. It would assist your ‘awakening’. It is perhaps a waste of time to spend too much time in pursuing the ‘holy grail’, which may be an aid to your understanding of yourself. You may be ‘directed’ towards some object. Walking around the art gallery or the museum, in a mindful manner, may bring your attention to some object. You may recall some incident of a former existence. Many examples of ‘awakening’ exist. One musician heard Beethoven, ‘I do not recall clearly’ he wrote, ‘what I was intended to become, but I remember that one evening I heard Beethoven’s symphony for the first time, that I had an attack of fever thereafter, and that when I had recovered I had become a musician. This may explain why, although in course of time I became familiar with other beautiful music, I still loved and worshipped Beethoven above all. I ceased to know any other pleasure but that of immersing myself in the depth of his genius until I came to imagine myself a part of him.’ The musician was Wagner. The music of Beethoven is profoundly moving and it is of a nature somewhat different to most other classical music. I mentioned in passing with regard to the Mantra ‘Aum’ that it could be heard in the opening bars of one of his symphonies.

It may or may not move you in his manner but I suggest that it may be worthwhile to listen to it with mindfulness. The things that can have an effect on you are likely to be close at hand and can be an aid to awakening your chakras.

The chakras reside on the ‘subtle body’. In fact it is more accurate to say there are several types of body sheaths and the chakras become visible to the ‘sixth sense’ first on the coarser subtle body. With exercise, nadis and other more subtle chakras become seen.

The ‘subtle body’ and chakras is the subject of much Tantra art and Hatha yoga drawings. The Tibetan Buddhists assert there is a significant difference between their pattern of the subtle body and the normal Hindu one. The apparent difference will be discussed later.

Indian medicine, which had developed extremely sophisticated practices by about A.D. 400 shared the view of the ‘inner man’ with the Hindu and Buddhist religions. The body as Westerners know it, is the physical body. But the physical body is fed with vital energies (prana) via the subtle body. In ‘ordinary’ man or woman there are kinds of energy or prana which distribute power to all the sense faculties; sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell, as well as to the mental activities of perceiving/conceiving and also to the sexual/procreative activity. In reality the ‘world’ is void of particular ‘objects’ but the pranic energies make it possible for a ‘person’ to experience objective things. The energised projection of the world is wasteful according to the theory of Yoga. To achieve effective states of consciousness, it is not desirable to destroy the illusion of the physical body with asceticisms. The physical body should be kept reasonably fit but there is no need to go to extremes in any way. As mentioned, Hindu and Buddhist systems vary in the number of chakras they recognise. Hindus know a basic six, Buddhism sometimes confines itself to four. Chinese Taoism knows a similar subtle body. Sufi Symbolism refers to a subtle body. The goal of working on chakras is to awaken energies by linking the chakras via nadis. The usual term for this is ‘Awakening Kundalini’. Kundalini takes the form of a subtle snake. The continuation of the meditative process consists of allowing Kundalini or in Buddhist theory Bajravarahi upward into higher chakras or ‘lotuses’ in turn. In each of them a transformation occurs ‘Awakening the Lotuses’.

In Buddhist positions, the Buddha figure representing the meditator’s own personality will be seen. In other systems, this emphasis on the subtle body takes other forms, but basically it is not the word that mattes but the awakening of the various bodies.

Gurdjieff’s teachings recognise the physical body and talk of another three bodies composed of finer and finer materials. In his system, matter consists of cosmic and psychic attributes, and the finer bodies have particular cosmic and psychic properties. The ‘consciousness’ of each of the successive bodies is capable of controlling not only itself, but also the coarser body in which it had been formed. Gurdjieff maintained that there was another way of developing these bodies which he sometimes called the way of the sly man. It has been given that name because those who followed it were in possession of certain knowledge which he stated was unknown to the Fakir, the Yogi or the Priest and which was of great profit to him. The advantage claimed was that it did not require complete retirement from the world and that it worked on all the centres simultaneously so that progress was more likely to be rapid than on the better known ways of the yogi or the monk. The complicated movements and eastern dances taught by Gurdjieff were just an introduction to the working on the subtle bodies. Eckankar is another system which relies on the subtle body. Paul Twitchell describes different planes and states that the entities are invisible to physical eyes because of their higher vibrations and that they cannot be known except by those who have developed their psychic sight.

The various things described by many different writers (although their details differ) show they are, in effect, talking of the same matters. The power to leave one’s body consciously and ‘astral travel’ is not a particularly important attribute taken by itself, but it leads the way to what in Buddhism is known as the first absorption. I have met many persons who have experienced astral travel and although they are in some ways wiser than the average man, their obsession with such practices only delays their path to Nirvana. As psychic powers develop and become firmly fixed within the mind, it should be realised that it is folly from the karma viewpoint to waste time with such rediscovered old skills. It is often somewhat of a hindrance to obtain psychic powers, since old karmic cravings from past incarnations arise and the person desires to run out that karma by using the psychic powers, for what can only be described as Ego reasons. It is here that the need to follow the Middle Path becomes more apparent than ever.

Next week we will continue with Part Two of "The Buddhist Path & Meditation" written by the late John D. Hughes.

May you be well & happy.

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