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Reality in Theravāda Buddhism
The Concept of Reality in Theravāda Buddhism
This research work, entitled The Concept of Reality in Theravāda Buddhism : An Analytical Study, is a humble attempt to emphasize and systematize all the Buddhas teachings concerning the reality. The whole research work is based on Buddhist text, especially Pāli Tipitaka as the primary source, and Atthakathās as the standard secondary sources. The modern literature on Buddhism has been used as and where found necessary or useful.
In the Chapter One : Introduction, we attempt to introduce the field of our research. What the Buddha taught is popularly known as Buddhism. Some prefer to call it a religion, others call it a philosophy, still others think of it as both religion and philosophy. It may, however, correct to call it a way of life. But that does not mean that Buddhism is nothing more than an ethical code. The Buddha himself called his teaching Dhamma-Vinaya (the Doctrine and Discipline).
In the Chapter Two. Here, we begin with a brief outline of a background of Theravāda Buddhism. I present the meanings and kinds of reality accordance with Buddhism. And we will also see the aims of classification of reality.
The Buddha said, The self is lord of self; who else could be the lord? With self well subdued a man finds a lord who is difficult to obtain. This may cause one to doubt why the Buddha sometimes denies the existence of the self and sometimes he proclaims the self to be lord of the self. These two statements seem to be a contradiction. Thus, the aim of classification of reality is to make it clear that what is the true teaching given by the Buddha? To understand this properly or see things as they really are, one has to know about the two levels of reality taught by the Buddha : the conventional reality and the ultimate reality.
โดย theerawas [8 พ.ค. 2550 , 21:33:28 น.] ( IP = 58.9.112.27 : : )
สลักธรรม 1The Third Chapter deals with the Conventional Reality (Sammati-Sacca). Conventional Reality : Reality that exists in primary levels, i.e. in the supposed level called Sammati-Sacca. Reality at this level is reality that is supposed by man, viz. : man creates languages as words, i.e. names for denoting various things in the world in order to know and understand identically toward things supposed, to recognize, to call and to use them as instruments for communication among human beings by means of inventing signs for sounds or names with signs for the meanings as the contents of these names. The signs for names and meanings are dependently related to each other; if not, the sounds or words supposed cannot be completely used for communication. Reality in the supposed levels, therefore, are based on human limitation which can be change according to time, ages, and vogues of human beings and local people.
Conventional Realities are the referents of ordinary conceptual thought (Paññatti) and conventional modes of expression (Vohāra). They include such entities as living beings, persons, men, women, animals, and the apparently stable persisting objects that constitute our unanalyzed picture of the world. The Abhidhamma maintains that these notions do not possess ultimate validity, for the objects which they signify do not exist in their own right as irreducible realities. Their mode of being is conceptual, not actual. They are products of mental construction (Parikappana), not realities existing by reason of their own nature.
In the Abhidhamma, the conventional realities are called as Paññatti (Concepts). There are two kinds of Concepts : 1.Attha-paññatti (Concepts-as-meanings) or Concept as what is made known; and 2.Nama-Paññatti (Concepts-as-names) or Concept as what makes known. The former are the meanings conveyed by the Concepts, the latter the names or designations which convey that meaning. For example, the notion of a four-legged furry domestic animal with certain physical features and trait is the Concept-as-meaning of the term dog, the designation and idea dog is the Concept as that which is made known; the Name-Concept is the Concept as that which makes known.
โดย tvb (tvb)
สลักธรรม 2
The Buddha emphasis the practical aspect of his teaching, the application of knowledge to life. The Buddhist principles for a practice in the levels of Conventional Reality : 1. the principles for learning, training and development to be coming the noble beings, 2. The principles leading to prosperity and success, 3. The principles for co-existing or fraternal living peacefully in society, as mentioned above, are the benefits for a householder or lay people. A householder who desires a perfect home life, should always make efforts to attain by abiding according to the Buddhas teaching in the levels of Conventional Reality.
The Fourth Chapter discusses the Ultimate Reality (Paramattha-Sacca). The Ultimate Reality : Reality that really exists in the ultimate sense is called Paramattha-Sacca (ultimate reality). It is the truth in the high level, i.e. in the ultimate level. It is the true state of nature of all things, not depending on the human recognition on consent or negation because it is not a thing created by human beings. Man is only one who discovers and then discloses it. This kind of truth, whether there is one who recognize or not, can exist or be so, viz. : being truth, i.e. being a true stage in itself forever.
Therefore, Ultimate Realities are things that exist by reason of their own intrinsic nature (Sabhāva). These are the Dhammas : the final, irreducible components of existence, the ultimate entities which result from a correctly performed analysis of experience. Such existents admit of no further reduction, but are themselves the final terms of analysis, the true constituents of the complex manifold of experience. Hence the word Paramattha is applied to them, which is derive from Parama = ultimate, highest, final, and Attha = reality, thing.
โดย theerawas (tvb)
สลักธรรม 3The important point is that by the Ultimate Reality (Paramattha) we mean something which cannot be changed into another thing or divided up into other things. It can neither be created nor destroyed by man. It really exists in nature and it holds on its characteristics till it perishes. It can stand the tests or the investigation by any method about its reality and real existence.
In the Suttas the Buddha usually analyzes a being or individual into five types of ultimate realities, the Five Aggregates (Pañcakkhandha) : Matter, Feeling, Perception, Mental Formation, and Consciousness. In the Abhidhamma teaching the ultimate realities are grouped into the four categories :
1. Citta (Consciousness or Mind) : Citta is defined as consciousness of the senses or awareness of an object. The characteristic of Citta is the knowing of an object (Vijañāna). Its function is to be a forerunner (Pubbangama) of the mental factors in that it presides over them and is always accompanied by them. Its manifestation - the ways it appears in the meditators experience - is as a continuity of processes (Sandhana). Its proximate cause is mind-and-matter (Nāma-rūpa), because consciousness cannot arise alone, in the complete absence of mental factors and material phenomena.
2. Cetasika (Mental Factors). The Cetasikas are mental phenomena that occur in immediate conjunction with Citta or consciousness, and assist Citta by performing specific tasks in the total act of cognition. The mental factors cannot arise without Citta, nor can Citta arise completely segregated from the mental factors. But though the two are functionally interdependent, Citta is regarded as primary because the mental factors assist in the cognition of the object depending upon Citta, which is the principle cognitive element. The relationship between Citta and the Cetasikas is compared to that between a king and his retinue. Although one says the king is coming, the king does not come alone, but he always comes accompanied by his attendants. Similarly, whenever a Citta arises, it never arises alone but always accompanied by its retinue of Cetasikas.
โดย tvb (tvb)
สลักธรรม 4Cetasikas arise and cease together with consciousness. There are four characteristics of the mental factors (Cetasikas) that are common to them all : 1.Arising together with consciousness (Ekuppada); 2.Ceasing together with consciousness (Ekanirodha); 3.Having the same object as consciousness (Ekalambana); and 4.Having the same base as consciousness (Ekavatthuka). Thus, Cetasikas (mental factors or mental concomitants) arise and perish together with Citta. They depend on Citta for their arising and they have influence on Citta. The fifty-two states that are associated with consciousness, that arise and perish together with consciousness, that have the same object and basis as consciousness are known as Cetasikas, or mental factors. So, there are 52 kinds of Cetasikas : 1.Aññasamana Cetasikas (The Ethically Variable Factors) are 13 in number; 2.Akusala Cetasikas (The Unwholesome Factors) are 14 in number; 3.Sobhana Cetasikas (The Beautiful Factors) are 25 in number.
3. Rūpa (Matter) : The Pāli word for matter, Rūpa, is explained by derivation from the verb Ruppati, which means to be deformed, disturbed, knocked about, oppressed, broken. The commentators maintain that matter is so called because it undergoes and imposes alteration owing to adverse physical conditions such as cold and heat, etc.
The Abhidhamma enumerates twenty-eight types of material phenomena, which are briefly comprised in two general categories : 1.The four great essentials (Mahābhuta Rūpa) are the primary material elements earth, water, fire, and air. These are the fundamental constituents of matter which are inseparable and which, in their various combinations, enter into the composition of all material substances, from the most minute particle to the most massive mountain. 2.Derived material phenomena (Upādāya Rūpa) are material phenomena derived from, or dependent upon, the four great essentials. These are twenty-four in number. The great essentials may be compared to the earth, the derivative phenomena to trees and shrubs that grow in dependence on the earth.
โดย tvb (tvb)
สลักธรรม 54. Nibbāna (Salvation). Nibbāna is termed supramundane, and is to be realized by the knowledge of the four paths. It becomes an object to the paths and fruits, and is called Nibbāna because it is a departure from craving, which is an entanglement. It thus signifies the extinguishing of the worldly fires of greed, hatred, and delusion. But the Pāli commentators prefer to treat it as the negation of, or departure from (Nikkhantatta), the entanglement (Vāna) of craving, the derivation which is offered here. For as long as one is entangled by craving, one remains bound in Samsara, the cycle of birth and death; but when all craving has been extirpated, one attains Nibbāna, deliverance from the cycle of birth and death.
Nibbāna is onefold according to its intrinsic nature. Nibbāna is a single undifferentiated ultimate reality. It is exclusively supramundane, and has one intrinsic nature (Sabhāva), which is that of being the unconditioned deathless element totally transcendent to the conditioned world. Nevertheless, by reference to a basis (for distinction is the presence of the five aggregates) it is twofold, namely, 1.The element of Nibbāna with the residue remaining (Sa-upādisesa) or the extinguishment of the defilements (Kilesa-parinibbāna) : because, though the defilements have all been extinguished, the residue of aggregates acquired by past clinging remain through the duration of the Arahants life, and 2.The element of Nibbāna without the residue remaining (Anupādisesa) or the extinguishment of the aggregates (Khandha-parinibbāna) : because the five aggregates are discarded and are never acquired again. It is threefold according to its different aspects, namely, 1. Nibbāna is called the void (Suññata) because it is devoid of greed, hatred, and delusion, and because it is devoid of all that is conditioned; 2.Nibbana is called signless (Animitta) because it is free from the signs of greed, etc., and free from the signs of all conditioned things; 3.Nibbana is called desireless (Appanihita) because it is free from the hankering of greed, etc., and because it is not desired by craving.
โดย tvb (tvb)
สลักธรรม 6The Reality that really exist in the level of Conventional Reality and Ultimate Reality, one must depend on each other. We can know and understand the ultimate reality depends on the supposed truth as the basics of understanding by means of studying the principle of the Buddhas teachings. The Buddha, truly, was enlightened in the ultimate reality, even though he had to be dependent on the supposed language in revealing and disclosing that ultimate reality.
The Chapter Five investigates the Non-Self Reality. In the relations to these two levels of truth : the conventional and ultimate realities. The doctrine of Non-Self (Anattāis the similar characteristic of both conventional reality and ultimate reality. So, it was discussed in chapter five. The characteristic of Non-Self is the mode of being insusceptible to exercise of mastery, that is, the fact that one cannot exercise complete controls over the phenomena of mind and matter.
These two kinds of reality have one correlation i.e. Anattalaksana meaning the sign of selflessness or non-self, Theravāda Buddhism confirms that Attā or self exists only in the attachment, Attā or Self cannot be found any more therefore, the characteristics of the Buddhas teachings, both in the supposed truth and the ultimate one are those things that really exists in selfless manner.
โดย theerawas (tvb)
สลักธรรม 7The Self (Attā
Anattā means Not-Self, Non-Ego, Egolessness, Impersonality, that is the last of the Three Characteristics of Existence (Tilakkhana). The Anattā doctrine teaches that neither within the bodily and mental phenomena of existence, nor outside of them, can be found anything that in the ultimate sense could be regarded as a self-existing, real ego-entity, soul or any other abiding substance. This is the central doctrine of Buddhism, without understanding of which a real knowledge of Buddhism is altogether impossible.
In the Chapter Six : Conclusion and Suggestion. From the foregoing discussion, we arrive at a conclusion that The result of this research work indicates that the reality that really exists in Theravāda Buddhism is Saccadhamma enlightened and disclosed by the Lord Buddha, and Saccadhamma according to the principle of the Buddhas teachings is of the two levels, viz. : 1. The Conventional Reality 2. The Ultimate Reality.
โดย tvb (tvb)
สลักธรรม 8The Buddha realized no essence of life that is full of suffering, various obstacles and problems, so, he announced the world and took monkhood in order to search for truths and finally was enlightened in those truths and disclosed and revealed them for the sake of and benefits to countless mankind. It can be said that all of the teachings of the Buddha containing in the Tipitaka (The Buddhist Canon), commentaries and other Buddhist scriptures are the truths (reality) from his Enlightenment. So, the reality that really exists according to the view of Theravāda Buddhism is of two levels, viz : 1.Reality that supposedly exist called Sammatisacca (Conventional Reality) and 2.Reality that really exist in the ultimate level called Paramathasacca (Ultimate Reality)
The Buddha is only a teacher who points out the way and guides the followers to then individual deliverance. A Buddhist takes refuge in the Buddha (Buddham Saranam Gacchāmi) but not in the hope that he will be saved by the Master. A sign board at partings of roads, for instance, indicates directions and it is left to the wayfarer to tread along the way watching his steps. The board certainly will not take him to his desired destination.
According to Buddhism, all human beings have the potential to become perfect or reach Nibbāna (the end of suffering) if they follow the Eightfold Path. The Buddha confirmed the fruit of pursuing the Path in Mahāparinibbāna-sutta to the wanderer Subhadda. He said that the Eightfold Path exists only because of the Dhamma and Vinaya and that as long as people follow the Path the world will forever have noble people and Arahants.
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