A Do-It-Yourself Approach to Happiness

This is the seventh in a 9 part series on learning to practise Buddhism:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

The Perfection of Wisdom

Today we will talk about the fourth Perfection in Buddhist practice, which is the Perfection of Wisdom.

The Macquarie English dictionary defines wisdom as:

“Knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgement as to action.”

The Perfection of Wisdom, as opposed to conventional wisdom, concerns the direct realisation of the Dhamma, or one individual directly perceiving in their mind the truth about the way things really are; the Law of Karma, the Law of Dependent Origination, selflessness and emptiness. These are underlying constructs of the absolute nature of reality the Buddha discovered by his Perfection of Wisdom.

The are many levels of wisdom which can be described. For our purposes we will talk about wisdom of three types only.

The first we could call worldly wisdom. The second we could call “higher” order wisdom and the third we could call the Perfection of Wisdom. All three are important to Buddhist practice because they each offer powerful means to reduce our suffering now and in the future and, finally, it is only wisdom that enables a practitioner to complete the Buddhist Path and be free from all forms of suffering.

The first type, which we call worldly wisdom, deals with methods and means which help us navigate through our lives and enable us to be more effective in what we are trying to do. Things like time planning, goal setting, positive thinking, patience, emotional maturity and self- education are examples we are all familiar with.

They each contribute something to help us to be better equipped to deal with life and the process of looking after our wellbeing and happiness and the others around us as well.

The second type of wisdom, that we’re calling “higher” wisdom, is higher in the sense that it deals with clear insights arising in our minds into how we live, and how we react to life experiences. These insights may deal with the more fundamental aspects of life, or on a smaller scale, they may be insights which help us deal better with particular situations or improve our own reactions to things happening in our life.

These insights have the characteristic of enlightening our mind or, putting it in another way, giving us a brand new view of something so we are better equipped to deal with life sanely. Sometimes a person may hear or realise some aspect of this type of wisdom and it could end up changing their life forever.

One of our students wrote about an example of this second type of wisdom which he experienced when he was about 23 years old as follows:

“I was travelling across a field in a train in Sardinia. The single carriage train just passed over the natural countryside, and at this moment through a field of long grass. As I was looking out from the back deck of this train it occurred to me that I had never found anything in my life which I felt was worth being dedicated to doing. Or as I put it, I hadn’t found anything that was worth my life.

Because when you take on long term commitments it’s your life which you are “spending” to do that thing, or be in that relationship. I had a really fortunate and happy childhood, completed my tertiary education, worked in corporate life for a few years, been in a happy relationship with a girlfriend and spent 12 months travelling around the globe yet I couldn’t identify a single thing which I felt had true substance or consequence or meaning for my life.

Family life is one of the main things people identify as what they feel deeply committed to, but personally it didn’t have that appeal to me. I felt, if there was something of true worth “out there” I should find out what that was first, before I had committed my life to other things. So I had this idea (and this is an example of the second type of wisdom) if I ever found something of “true” worth I would do it 100%. I would not feel torn between that and some other lesser priorities. And that’s in fact what did happen when I started to understand what Buddhism was all about, and it was an initiating cause for me being here now.”

From a Buddhist point of view the chance to learn how to practice the path to full enlightenment is extremely rare. To start with just getting a human birth is considered to be inconceivably rare. A simile the Buddha gave to illustrate this is to imagine there is a small circle floating on the surface of the ocean, much like a lifebuoy. Then imagine a tortoise swimming along deep in the ocean, eventually, after a long time it surfaces. The chance that the tortoise will come to the surface directly inside that lifebuoy circle is equivalent to the likelihood a being will, on average, be born in human birth.

So the Buddhist Teachings say to not waste this incredibly rare human birth. Use it wisely to do what is of most benefit for yourself and others now. Practice the Dhamma for your future wellbeing, for the person you will become.

You may believe it is most important to help others to be well and happy which is certainly a wholesome wish. But then wisdom also says if you really want to help others, first help yourself by fixing yourself up.

If you decide that’s for you, then you need to find out how to structure your life and your time to fix yourself up whilst the opportunity to do so still exists.

Wisdom is to use the resources of time and opportunity you have in your life to do things that are worthwhile and beneficial for yourself and others. Even perceived negative situations that occur to us usually offer the possibility of Buddhist practice.

An example of this would be when someone unjustly blames us or criticizes us. Some Buddhist Teachers of the past have said people who give you the hardest time can be your best teachers. In the difficulty of the situation you can make a concerted effort to maintain wholesomeness, and to build the quality of patience as a means to deal with the unpleasant.

Wisdom is to not follow your habitual kamma when it causes suffering for yourself or others. That’s a really simple statement on the surface but it requires us to recognise and analyse our thoughts, speech and actions to see what they produce. There are things we do which are creating suffering for ourselves or others every day. We may even know what some of them are. Wisdom is to recognise the unwholesome actions, thoughts and attitudes and abandon those things.

Conversely, wisdom is to not give up doing the good things when we know they are beneficial. It means if we can see something is really worthwhile for ourselves or others then don’t give it up because of laziness, procrastination, anger or any other defilement.

It is wisdom to develop mindfulness as much as you can. The Buddha was once asked to describe the essence of his teachings in one word. His answer was mindfulness. The thing about the practice of mindfulness is you can do it anytime, anyplace. You don’t need more spare time, or more money, more anything, you just need the will.

In the words of a great Buddhist monk, Venerable Piyadassi Maha Thera, who visited our Centre just around the corner in Brooking Street in 1981:

“You know about this discourse on mindfulness. Be mindful of everything. Be mindful. Practice it, then you get used to it. Then you see the advantages. People today, because they don’t have mindfulness, must create trouble for themselves unnecessarily. Because of this lacking of mindfulness they get all sorts of troubles. You can run mindfully without tension. (without creating stress) You go driving your car. You come to traffic lights. Most people, you know, when they see the green turning to amber, they get agitated. “Oh it is red” Impatient. It is red so the best thing to do, the sensible thing is when you see the red, to not get agitated. There is a little rest for you. Leave the wheel, take a deep breath, you see and patiently wait for the green. No tension.”

The thing is, a lot of our suffering comes from little things like this. Our own behaviour from minute to minute contributes to our immediate experience of either some form of happiness or some form of suffering. If we think that it is not important to deal with the little things, that we should concentrate on “big” ideas or radical changes to live more happily, we will not realise the real key to happiness is to understand how to train our minds. We will have every worldly thing we want but we will not know how to be happy.

It is the ability to promote wholesome minds and wholesome actions for as long as we can which brings forth the experience of happiness. You can say “how many minutes of happy heart did I experience today?” If you find this number of minutes per day of happy heart is increasing on average from week to week you are going in the right direction.

We say happy “heart” to distinguish this form of happiness from the type of happiness which comes from getting something we want in the world. We want to build happiness which “comes from within” because the happiness that depends on external conditions which we can’t control is completely unreliable. It’s not good enough. Our girlfriend or boyfriend runs away and we become instantly miserable.

It is wisdom to cultivate loving kindness and compassion rather than negative emotions when we see the suffering in the world around us. One can cultivate loving-kindness and compassion through having empathy with the situation of the other beings. They are facing life’s complexities, uncertainties and difficulties just as we are. You can see it is hard for them. Life is complex, for many persons life is a constant struggle, and for many others they don’t have even the basics to make a go of their life.

You can see the fragile and perilous nature of animal and insect birth. The being is caught in that unfortunate kamma. You can see most human beings in the world are worse off than we are living in Australia.

“All desire happiness, all fear pain. In this, we are all alike. All living beings are alike. Recognizing this, one should not place oneself above others, one should not regard oneself differently from the way in which one would regard others. This recognition of the fundamental equality of all living beings is basic to the cultivation of loving-kindness and compassion. All want happiness just as I want happiness. Understanding this, one ought to regard all living beings with loving-kindness and compassion. One ought to cultivate this wish that all living beings may be happy. Just as I fear suffering and pain, and wish to avoid it, so do all living beings fear suffering and pain, and wish to avoid it. Understanding this, one develops and cultivates an attitude that wishes to see all living beings free from suffering.” 1

It is wisdom to recognise with broad view the full scope of the sentient beings true condition like this. We develop a more realistic appreciation of why it is urgent to not waste these precious conditions of having the Dhamma appear in our world, which grants us the possibility to cut off of birth in the lower planes of existence forever.

The word Dhamma has been defined by one Buddhist monk as that teaching which enables us to completely destroy the possibility of being reborn in the lower planes of existence at any future time.

Wisdom knows to plan a life to create sufficient leisure time to practice the Dhamma.

Wisdom knows it is hard to practice charity if you are poor.

Wisdom knows our life is totally dependent on the work and kindness of others. Develop gratitude.

Wisdom knows to respect the truth and keep the precept to refrain from lying makes it easier to understand and learn what is needed.

The third type of wisdom is referred to as being the highest wisdom or Ultimate Wisdom and is regarded as The Perfection of Wisdom. Ultimate Wisdom, as opposed to conventional wisdom, concerns the direct recognition of what is real, realisation of the Dhamma; the law of dependent origination, selflessness and emptiness.

To begin our consideration of what is meant by the Perfection of Wisdom we will read the Buddha’s account of the night of his own enlightenment which occurred more than 560 years BC.

He had sat under the Bodhi Tree vowing that his body could turn to dust before he will move from this spot as he sought his Enlightenment.

The Consummate One gained knowledge of his prior lives during the 1st watch of the night:

“When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my past lives. I recollected my manifold past lives, i.e. one birth, two… five, ten… fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of cosmic contraction & expansion: ‘There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.’ Thus I remembered my manifold past lives in their modes & details.

“This was the first knowledge I attained in the first watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.

But the very pleasant feeling that arose by this did neither invade my mind, nor remain.

When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of beings. I saw by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma.

These beings who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech & mind, who reviled noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell. But these beings who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech, & mind, who did not revile noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.’ Thus by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human I saw beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma.

This was the second knowledge I attained in the second watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.

But the satisfaction that arose here did neither invade my mind, nor remain. “When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the ending of the mental fermentations. I discerned, as it had come to be, that ‘This is stress… This is the origination of stress… This is the cessation of stress… This is the way leading to the cessation of stress… These are fermentations… This is the origination of fermentations… This is the cessation of fermentations… This is the way leading to the cessation of fermentations.’ My heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, was released from the fermentation of sensuality, released from the fermentation of becoming, released from the fermentation of ignorance. With release, there was the knowledge, ‘Released.’ I discerned that ‘Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.’

This was the third knowledge I attained in the third watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose — as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.” 2

Thus fully and perfectly Enlightened – The Buddha – perceiving this immense glory, spoke these 2 verses, which never has been omitted by any of countless billions of prior Buddhas:

Through this round of countless existences have I searched, but yet failed to find “the Creator”, who framed this construction: What Suffering indeed is such endless birth, ageing, decay, sickness and ever repeated death! Now I see that “the Constructor” of this structure is Craving…!!! Never shall this construction be built again, since all the rafters are shattered and the main beam is busted and completely broken… At this calming of all Craving, the mind was finally, irreversibly and ultimately stilled… Then, friends, this revelation of certainty arose in me: This release is indeed immutable, this is the very last rebirth, this endless reappearance has finally come to a happy end… Nibbāna is verily the Highest Bliss!”

References

  1. Peter Della Santini. Fundamentals of Buddhism, 2005. Published by The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan. Reprinted under Public Domain Mark 1.0. This work has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law. http://archive.org/details/tree-enlightenment.
  2. Dvedhavitakka Sutta: Two Sorts of Thinking” (MN 19), translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Sujato for www.suttacentral.net. Reproduced in accordance with Creative Commons Zero (CC0 1.0 Universal) allowing copying, altering, redistribution, presentation, performance, conveyance, or making use of any or all of this material in any way. This includes all text, design, software, and images created by Sutta Central or persons working for Sutta Central, on the domain suttacentral.net, or any domains or sub domains owned or managed by Sutta Central, unless otherwise specified.