The Way of Simplicity, Balance and Wisdom

There are no conditioned things that are eternal – All conditioned things are impermanent – All conditioned things are unsatisfactory – All conditioned things are non-self;
Hunger is the worst disease – Conditioned things are the worst suffering – There is no fire like lust – There is no grip like hatred – There is no net like delusion – There is no river like the 36-streams of craving;
Health is the most precious gain – Contentment is the greatest wealth – Enduring patience is the highest austerity – A trustworthy person is the best kinsman – Purity and impurity depend on none other than oneself – One must strive by himself or herself, the Buddha only shows the Way – The best of all triumphs is conquering oneself;
There are no better spells than loving kindness and compassion – Happily the peaceful live, discarding both victory and defeat – Calm in thought, calm in speech, calm in deeds, these three yield the perfect tranquility – Nirvana is the highest bliss.
I am delighted to start this piece – with the above lines of Shakyamuni Buddha’s (The Tathagata) wisdom taken from different verses of The Dhammapada. Staying calm (more in Hold it There) is the perfect antidote against threats generated by one’s attachments to strong negative emotions like hatred, anger, fear and jealousy (within oneself and in social interactions) – to give the rationality of thought processes (it is further discussed later in Thought Processes – the Karma Initiator Chapter) a breathing space, a time for simplicity and detachment.
Among others, the Buddha demonstrated the power of staying calm during his encounter with the misguided rogue killer Angulimala in Shravasti. The Angulimala Sutta says, in order to save both Angulimala and his mother, the compassionate Buddha appeared from nowhere between the two. Seeing the opportunity, Angulimala decided to kill Buddha instead of his mother. But, unable to catch up with the Buddha walking ahead of him – Angulimala pleaded for Buddha to stop. The serene Buddha replied that he was steady – but that, it was Angulimala who was unsteady, disturbed and agitated. By calm but steadfast swaying – the Buddha managed to settle him down.
Note that the Buddha did not appear with a sword to fight Angulimala to defeat him – instead the Tathagata appeared in Equanimity with Love and Compassion. The deep confidence of the Buddha in the effectiveness of these three – made him fearless and victorious. Buddha’s power of compassion and deftness was able to save the life of Angulimala’s mother – while, at the same time opened the door for the rogue to lead a righteous pious life.
Here is a relevant saying of Richard Gere (1949 –): From a Buddhist point of view, emotions are not real. As an actor, I manufacture emotions. They're a sense of play. But real life is the same. We're just not aware of it. As the Buddha said, all are wrought in mind – the making of mind; therefore the relevance of staying calm comes to the forefront to invalidate the adverse effects of negative emotions – created within oneself or provoked by others.
It affords a perfect window of time – to reflect on things – whether and how to initiate thought processes, communication, bodily-actions and livelihood – in Appamada by being conscientious, heedful and diligent to create kushala-karma – to merit-making activities, virtues. Staying calm is one of the Dasa Paramita – a sublime wholesome quality (The All-embracing Power of Sublimities) in Buddha’s teaching. The power of sublimities was such that – Natural life system used to thrive in Buddha's presence. His encounter with wild creatures – ended up with these lives coming close to him fearless and friendly – venerating and protecting him. Scriptures are full of stories of such gestures and company – e.g. the stories of the monkey king, snake king and elephant herds. The Buddha chose the company of deer at Deer Park Sarnath to deliver his first Discourse to his former five disciples after Buddhahood. The Tibetan Buddha Dharma emblem has two deer holding the Dharma Chakra. The Ashoka Pillar shows the use of both elephant and lion - holding the Dharma Chakra; and snake was shown protecting the meditating Buddha by expanding its hood. The mythical Dragon also appears – and is popularly believed to be one of the protectors of the Dharma.
The enduring patience of staying calm maybe difficult at times, but it is splendid and rewarding nonetheless.
The Buddha saying of the four attributes of the conditioned things make them empty of essence or Sunya – when considered without the conditionings, caused by transience – by interdependence. This is the reality of Nature and social cohabitation – and must be understood before making any attempt to expound the Buddha’s teaching. It is, in a metaphorical sense similar like – Putting the First Button Right. Deep realization of Sunyata makes one feel part of the harmonious whole – in the spirit of Avirodh – making him or her humble and compassionate (more in Symmetry, Stability and Harmony; Enlightenment, Emptiness and Nirvana).
The Dhammapada lines highlight two important premises of the Buddha’s teaching. The First is The Fundamental of Laws of Nature that governs everything in the universe – in its songs of the synchronicity of melodies and rhythms, of collective unison. It says how the dynamic interlink between the ubiquitous presence of Impermanence (time, the Incomplete Circle; conditioned by positive and negative residuals, time translates an incomplete circle into a spiral) and Dependent-origination (space, the ever-changing Eternal Knot configuration) – makes everything in the universe conditioned. This tells us that Buddha’s vision of the universe is 4-dimensional, perhaps even multi-dimensional (in terms of seeding and sprouting of Karma, explained further in The Thought Processes – the Karma Initiator and Rebirth Chapters).
The Buddha saw it long long before the 20th century modern science proved it (see Einstein’s Unruly Hair). Buddha Dharma is very deep in its insights and rationality – and it is important to have a clear understanding of the above Truths to comprehend the Dharma. It is the responsibility of Buddhist teachers, monks, scholars and all – to convey such characteristics of the Dharma elements to devotees and people – in all-encompassing coherence and easily understandable simple terms and methods.
The Second is Buddha’s observation of other truths that follow these two laws. They cover things such as – how the system of unsatisfactoriness – of the absence of desirable degree of happiness in humans work; and how one can steer himself or herself to the direction of happiness – to the Eternal Bliss. In other words, achieving STILL (Something Tranquil and Irreversible in Lucid Liberty) from the processes of SPIRIT (Something Perpetual Irreversible and Reversible in Interdependence and Transience).
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This essay – the 81st piece in WIDECANVAS – is posted in honor of this year’s worldwide Vesak Celebration, on 22 May 2024 – with the hope that people in all walks of life – of all creeds and sects would benefit from them to improve their quality of life.
It is presented first by delving into some basic understandings of the Buddha Dharma – as depicted in the pasted image. The image highlights and summarizes the basic premises of enlightenment – the Way of Simplicity, Balance and Wisdom. They are explained together with 5 other important elements of the Dharma that are integral to understanding it. These chapters are the Buddha’s teaching about Simplicity; Thought Processes – the Karma Initiator; Duality and non-Duality; Non-Self and the Buddhanature; and Rebirth.
Different essays published in this Website represent the viewpoints from my understanding and perspective – the perspective of a scientist and engineer. And it is no exception here. It is the rationality and openness of the Dharma that attracts a curious mind.
In several pieces, as shown in the Widecanvas Home Page and in the Website Links and Profile, I have tried to delve into the vast ocean of the Buddha wisdom – with the timelessness of his teaching – both in essence and in being sync with the findings of modern science. They are delved into – in articles that include: The Fundamental of Laws of Nature; Dharma Conversation; Hold It There; Enlightenment, Emptiness and Nirvana; Some Difficult Things; Revisiting The Jataka Morals -2; Revisiting The Jataka Morals -1; Meditation for True Happiness; Happiness – the Likeness of a Water Drop on Lotus Pad; The All-embracing Power of Sublimities; Symmetry, Stability and Harmony; Let there be Light – and there was Light; and The Power of Mind. And in other Scientific and Engineering articles published in this Website. While writing this piece, in addition to depending on these articles, I have also consulted other miscellaneous website articles and resources. A 1997 book by Dr. PD Santina - The Tree of Enlightenment is an excellent source for having a clear overview of all the schools of Buddha Dharma.
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1. The Way of Simplicity, Balance and Wisdom
This Way is the direction to the Path that one should traverse in his or her lifetime – as a Companion Light in bad and good times – to attain the tranquility of STILL from the processes of SPIRIT. How to get into that Path? The Buddha’s answer to this question is briefly summarized in the image. This image begins with the two fundamental laws on which Buddha’s teaching is based. They are highlighted in the starting paragraph of the Buddha Dharma Trilogy: All conditioned things are impermanent – are unsatisfactory – are non-self . . . Of these, the Buddha chose unsatisfactoriness as the First Noble Truth - because it is something minimizable by an individual effort, to become happy following the Way of Simplicity, Balance and Wisdom.
All conditioned things are impermanent – imply that things are fluid as opposed to being rigid, highlighted in Nature and Social Interactions. It does not connote instability either in one’s personal, family or social life. The essays on, The Fundamental Laws of Nature, Fluidity of Nature and Social Fluidity – were my attempts to capture this understanding. As outlined there, Fluidity is characterized by the Four: Continuity, Resilience, Adaptation, and Balance and Dynamic Equilibrium. Anyone attached to the notion of permanency or rigidity of things – is bound to face disappointments and suffering of different sorts – at one time or another. But, at the same time – one must be aware that the law of impermanency may be abused by some – in particular, by those on the seats of power with evil motives  – to instigate instability and cause suffering on the well-being of lives and livelihoods.
What make things conditioned? The answer to this question can best be explained by looking at things from two perspectives. The first, as we all know is the good and bad consequences of our social interactions – some of which are affected and governed by the seats of power – by their good or bad overriding actions – the RULES. Also important, especially in modern times – are AIPPS, facilitated by internet and social platforms (more in Artificial Intelligence – the Tool of No Limit). The present accelerated Warming Climate and associated consequences – have been conditioned to a greater extent by ignorant human actions in the past.
These are some of the realities – and we have been experiencing their effects in our lifetime in many ways - becoming aware of them. Not equally and similarly though – but differently, conditioned by the differences in our cognitive processes (such as shallow/deep, ignorant/enlightened, unskilled/skilled, biased/neutral), and other personal and societal factors.
The second is from the high and deep levels of perspectives. There comes the scriptural outlays of the godly religions, and the Natural Laws. Buddha Dharma is exceptionally different from other religions in its elaboration of the conditioning of things – and relies on Natural Laws and Social Interaction factors. Let us attempt to understand all these in a nutshell.
In godly-religions, the answer is the God, gods or goddesses whose dictations make things conditioned – that are conveyed to humans through the priestly classes and scriptures. These godly beings, in essence, are assumed to be the puppeteers of the show. The conditioned shows, as such, have no rational causative factors justifying them – as the godly beings did not teach anything (apart from what are conveyed by the priests or priestly classes). All there is – is that the existence of these beings lies in a devotee's mind.
Buddha’s answer to that question is one of a systematic approach – the likeness of a modern scientific mind. In scientific terms – the conditioning factors are known as the independent variables – which propagate onto the dependent variable – onto the conditioned (more in Uncertainty Propagation). The variables positioned on the left and right sides of an Equation - are related together through balancing interactions. Buddha has realized that by being dependent on spiritual entities – one gets masked and loses the freedom of thinking and figuring out the answers for themselves – that is, in correctly deciphering the Natural Laws. Therefore something different, innovative and unique appeared in the Buddha’s teaching – discussed in this piece, in The Fundamental Laws of Nature and in other Articles on this Website.
In Buddha Dharma – the puppeteers of the show – are not any supernatural or imaginary being – but the Naturals Laws that govern the whole universe. It says that bad conditioning is caused by one’s ignorance of not knowing such laws and other truths. The ignorance of not seeing the conditioning causes – the Fundamental Laws of Nature – that are compounded by the implanting and sprouting of one’s karma seeds or knots (further in Thought Processes – The Karma Initiator Chapter). The ignorance of not seeing the causes and effects of societal factors – of not seeing the conditioned reality of birth-growth-decay-demise of life, of things. The ignorance of not seeing the significance of thought processes in generating the karmic processes and the consequences that result from such actions.
Of course, there are always the possibilities that human-made conditioning – by those on the seats of power – will always be there. Depending on where one lives – especially in the case of bad Governance – such human-made conditioning may overwhelm the Natural Laws on short time-scales and contexts – causing instability and suffering.
Things are conditioned by the dynamic interlink between the two Natural processes governed by the Fundamental Laws – that’s the reason why the conditioned things cannot be designated as something eternal and self-made – that nothing exists without a cause, without causing an effect.
Another way of saying this is that the knot configuration of the net is not rigid – being impermanent, its fluidity continuously tries to balance itself in attempts to reach equilibrium. Responding to different forces and constraints – the configuration is always in adjustment-readjustment dynamic mode. It is amazing to realize – how such balancing dynamic mode can be visualized when one considers the engineering analysis of Ship Motion and Mooring Restraints.
What are these forces and constraints in our life? They have both internal and external sources – internal by one’s own thought processes and actions-reactions – external by the actions-reactions of the surrounding (e.g. by human-made hazards; more in Upslope Events and Downslope Processes) – of the social framework and governance where one lives (therefore, the relevance of harmony or Avirodh becomes important in Buddha’s teaching, more in Symmetry, Stability and Harmony).
It is similar like the spacetime fabric that constantly changes its configuration in response to the propagation of gravitational waves (more in Einstein’s Unruly Hair). Actions on and shifting of the positions of each knot or node also generate waves in the universe of one’s mind – in the universe of the Immaterial world. And, as I stated in The Power of Mind – similar to the gravitational waves – they likely propagate in the domain of an Electromagnetic Force Field Wave (The Quantum World). Now, if one looks at an individual element of the knot-fabric – one cannot say it really exists independent of others. Therefore, the concept of Sunyata or Emptiness comes in – to aptly characterize the Truth.
This brings us to the reality that while the dynamic link of the laws makes everything in the universe conditioned – the conditioned things themselves make the knot-fabric non-eternal or impermanent. In Nagarjuna (150 – 250 CE) commentaries: There are no causes with conditions; there are no causes without conditions. There are no conditions without causes; there are no conditions with causes. In order to clarify further, let us say, a cause makes a certain condition to happen – that condition acts as a cause for another to happen. Thus creating an interdependent loop of causes → conditions → causes (cause and condition become one, Yogocara school of the Buddha Dharma, more in Xuanzang). One must understand this fundamental theme of Buddha Dharma. As we shall see later – between causes and conditions, there is something in the middle to break-off from the loop – something right, practical and peaceful.
Once the above premises are understood and accepted – the next question comes in: why it is unsatisfactory? One obvious and simple answer to that – our scale of doing things is not same as the knot-fabric dynamism – therefore not heeding to this dynamics is bound to cause suffering, unsatisfactoriness, thus unhappiness. For example, the knot-fabric dynamic scale may appear something stationary in human scale of perceiving thing – but, in reality subtle conditioning of Natural Laws affect everything. If one tries to narrow it down further – one soon realizes that failure to remain healthy and content – not realizing the significance of wisdom in non-pursuance of unwholesome practices such as affliction, hatred, and avarice – are some other important causes.
Clinging to such causes – makes our regular experience of happiness flitty and ephemeral – thus jeopardizing the balance of attachments – both in scale and quality. More causes and conditions are discussed in Happiness – the Likeness of a Water Drop on Lotus Pad; Meditation for True Happiness; Enlightenment, Emptiness and Nirvana; Dharma Conversation and others. If and when all the temptations of clinging to unwholesome practices are conquered, the causes → conditions → causes loop is balanced and the fabric breaks off – yielding to the achievement of something amazing – in joy and freedom – it is called STILL or NIRVANA.
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1.1 The Four Noble Truths
Now, let me attempt to explain the rationality of the way of Simplicity (it is further elaborated in a separate Chapter), Balance and Wisdom by relying on the pasted image I have created. First, in quests to head towards the direction of STILL, one must be aware or awake to see the rationality of the Four Noble Truths (Ariya Sacca).
The First Truth says that unsatisfactoriness or unhappiness is real, and is a predominant impression in human mind, irrespective of who we are – with all the rise and fall as everything else in Nature. The Four Noble Truths - the First, among his many discourses - was delivered by the Buddha in Sarnath to his five former disciples. It is famously known as the Turning of the Dharma Wheel Discourse - the Dharma-Cakra-Pravartana Sutra. By delivering this Sutra - a turning point in his life after Enlightenment - the Buddha launched his teaching. 
This impression has multiple roots - ranging from Natural causes and conditions – to the makings of one’s mind – to the causes and conditions of the surrounding societal factors. Among the Three Universal Characteristics that Define all Existence in SPIRIT: All conditioned things are impermanent – All conditioned things are unsatisfactory – All conditioned things are non-self – the second characteristic defines the 1st Noble Truth. The compassionate Buddha selected this one – to say that unsatisfactoriness is something minimizable by one’s wholesome efforts – to head towards the direction of happiness with the energy and power of Simplicity, Balance and Wisdom. And, while in that direction and when the processes of causes ↔ conditions become one – STILL or Nirvana can be finally achieved. One must accept this reality of the 1st Noble Truth to move forward towards the direction to happiness. This Truth led Buddha Dharma to develop as a quest for finding ways to be happy – by relying on one’s strength and endeavor.
There is another aspect of suffering or unsatisfactoriness – that is also the making of mind – but, this stress is created by Cetana to achieve something (see The Power of Mind). Students and individuals aspiring to achieve something great are prime examples. These, including meditation pursuits are part of the efforts necessary in life. They have some elements of hidden joy and hope in them – and are fundamentally different than what the First Noble Truth says.
Next, one has to identify the cause of unhappiness – and the Buddha identified it as ignorance – as elaborated before, the ignorance of not understanding the 36-streams of craving - the ignorance of not understanding the causes and conditions of unhappiness. The Dependent-origination discourse, delivered in the Paticca-Samupadha-Vibhanga Sutta – elucidates the processes of how ignorance leads to – and causes the conditioning of unhappiness through the 12 links of causes → conditions → causes. This Sutta shows how ‘Craving’ arises from ‘Ignorance’ – ignorance or wrong view being the root cause of unhappiness. This is the reason why ‘Ignorance’ is used in my description instead of ‘Craving’. In the end, both the terms lead to the same conditioning of unhappiness. The Sutta description of the 12 links of the step-by-step causes and conditions reads like this:
Ignorance or Wrong View (1) → Unwholesome Karma Seeding (2) → Arising of Misguided Perception (3) → Delusive Name and Form (4) → Six Sense Doors to Cognition (5) → Mental Recursive Processes of Subjectification-Objectification (6) → Emotional State of Feeling (7) → Craving for the Deluded Name and Form (8) → Attachment or Clinging (9) → Sprouting of Karma Seeds or Birth (10) → Consequences of Unwholesome Sprouting (11) → Unhappiness, Sorrow, Suffering or Demise (12).
When many ignorant karma seedings abound, the loop gets spread out into multiple dimensions – and a flexible entangled net of knots is formed from which escaping becomes difficult.
Thus wisdom or awakening comes into the rationality of the 2nd Noble Truth. This diagnosis of the cause of unhappiness and the prescriptive measure in the virtues of the Enlightened Way - gave rise to the popular visualization of him as the Medicine Buddha. Similarly, wisdom, compassion and Dharmakaya gave birth to the popular embodiment of these virtues as the Buddha Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara and Amitabh, respectively.
The rationality of the dependent-arising of unhappiness as in the 2nd Noble Truth – tells something very important. That at any step of the causes ↔ conditions, an individual can break the flexible net by stopping the processes – thus, by escaping from the complexity of the loop to simplicity. This freedom leads to the next – to the rationality of the 3rd Noble Truth. The beauty of the step-by-step interdependent causes ↔ conditions, taught by the Buddha is such that – it can also be formed in terms of Right View in order to initiate wholesome karma – to go to the direction of happiness.
This has been reinforced by the Buddha's own experience and achievement – saying that all have the inherent Buddhanature or Bodhicitta (discussed further later in a separate Chapter) and the capability within themselves. This message of confidence and hope in the 3rd Noble Truth is conveyed by him to all humans – by using the beautiful Lotus flower as a simple metaphor. By his discourses of the 10-Perfections to Wisdom, and the 7-Factors of Enlightenment – the Buddha directs one to pursue the goal with energy, power, skill and investigative zeal (more in Enlightenment, Emptiness and Nirvana).
The 3rd Truth says that – the Buddha is neither a conditioner nor a puppeteer – but a venerable friend and a Dharma teacher – the Samma Sambuddha – who shows the direction to a way of happiness – the Enlightened Way. He blesses and loves each and everyone of us – irrespective of who we are – to elevate all to the realization of the potential to enlightenment. In Buddha’s teaching – there is no cursing, no blaming, and no threats of punishment. Buddha’s Way is one of Simplicity, Balance and Wisdom steeped with love, compassion and joy in the calmness of mind.
Let us attempt to draw a summary of The Four Noble Truths through a modern method of assigning an acronym to it. Let us do it in terms of what the truths tell us to aim at:
The 1st Truth tells us to aim for – Peace and happiness in our life, and in lives of all sentient beings to unentangle the cobweb of suffering and unsatisfactoriness;
The 2nd Truth tells us that – the light of Awakening or wisdom is imperative to understand the causes and conditions of suffering and unsatisfactoriness;
The 3rd Truth tell us to – keep in mind the metaphor of Lotus – to develop hope and Confidence that – all of us have Bodhi within ourselves to attain peace and happiness in life;
The 4th Truth leads us towards – the Enlightened Way – The Way of Simplicity, Balance and Wisdom – The Noble Eightfold Path.
Thus, the acronym PEACE is an easy way to comprehend the rationale and purpose of the Four Noble Truths.
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1.2 The Enlightened Way
The Enlightened Way – is the compassionate Buddha’s helping hand to teach and guide all – to overcome the cobweb of unhappiness to liberty, to the eternal bliss. The teaching elaborated in the 4th Noble Truth is famously known as the Noble Eightfold Path.
This Way, enlightened to a sublime and grandeur scale – is derived from the Laws of Nature and the realities of the human mind processes. It is said that the rationality of the Four Noble Truths can best be understood by those who are Ariya or Noble – the calm, righteous, upright, ethical, wholesome and brave ones. Contrary to the conventional understanding of the term, ‘noble’ – this definition in Buddha’s teaching has nothing to do with one’s aristocratic, elitist or wealthy lineage of birth. Instead, they are the Ariya Truths – as a Way to go beyond Sammuti Sacca, the Conventional Truth – to the direction of realizing the Paramattha Sacca, the Ultimate Truth - to the deep realization of the Truths - some of which are outlined in the starting paragraph of this article. By this definition – the Buddha wanted people to think beyond coterie interests and pursuits – instead laid the foundation of democratic values and principles in 6th century BCE – the first time it happened in history.
The Virtues of the Path consist of Eight interlinked spokes on a rim – each spoke or the constituent – is presented on a wheel on way to complete the circle. Note the extraordinary wisdom and vision of Shakyamuni Buddha – he said, the wheel-circle is a rolling system in spacetime that has neither the beginning nor the end – all are interdependent. This means that the benefit of each constituent – begins to bear commendable fruit when all the Eight are striven for in a complementary pursuit.
The Way is customarily described in three groups of Virtues in order to achieve the purities of View, Morality and Mind. Buddhist scripture describes them in that order. Following this age-old tradition – I have described them similarly in this piece. But, at the same time, one has to realize the Buddha’s emphasis on human mind: mind precedes all states of actions and reactions – they are all wrought in the mind – and mind is their chief. One has to understand, as well, as outlined before, that all constituents of the Way are interlinked with – and are interdependent on one another.
The elaboration of the Way, shown in the pasted image, is covered in earlier pieces: The Fundamental of Laws of Nature; Dharma Conversation; Enlightenment, Emptiness and Nirvana; Some Difficult Things; Meditation for True Happiness; Happiness – the Likeness of a Water Drop on Lotus Pad; The All-embracing Power of Sublimities; and Symmetry, Stability and Harmony.
Three words must be understood that are essential qualifiers of the Enlightened Way. They are: the Middle Way, the Right Way, and the Balanced Way. These three phrases are just the three ways of expressing the same Path – what is in the middle is the right – what is right is in the middle – what is balanced is in the middle. Following the explanation and interpretation presented in the above pieces – Right indicates the processes of heading towards the right direction – being neither too tight nor too lax. And in analogues with the examples of Nature (more in Ocean Waves, Duality and Multiplicity in Nature and Einstein’s Unruly Hair) – one soon realizes that clinging either to the top crest or the bottom trough is no good – because these two positions of the waveform are unstable dual manifestations of the same phenomenon – the phenomenon of propagating energy. Instead, the Dharma says that one should seek a middle position that is well-balanced, stable and peaceful.
Conventional designation of a social structure – like the middle class (high, middle, low, etc) – is a simple example of how the middle position displays a relatively better stable position in the structure. In traditional societies in all cultures, the middle class – especially the middle middle class – afforded a comfortable life of balance and stability. These families did not have much and were not rich in monetary measures – but was the source of neat harmonious family life raising children to good moral and ethical values – helping them to have good education and life. They were the important foundation in any society – and all earlier societies striven hard to condition this foundation thrive. If one compares them with the tumultuous life of very rich – and of course, of the poor or of lower strata of the middle class – one would find that these classes are the examples of something in constant stress – and in breaking phases of different sorts. The poor and the lower middle class – are mostly the victims of bad societal policies, rules and conditioning. One has many reasons to believe that – with the advent of the 18th century mechanical civilization – and its continuous transformation to the modern day systems – this valuable middle foundation is thinning out to a frighteningly low level. All these are further expanded in the Duality and non-Duality Chapter.
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2. Simplicity
In the introductory paragraphs of Artificial Intelligence – the Tool of No Limit, I have quoted the wisdom of Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895 – 1986) and Steve Jobs (1955 – 2011) – who emphasized the necessity of being simple to understand things – to do things Right. A line of wisdom from Leo Tolstoy (1828 – 1910) ‘there is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth’ reinforces such a necessity for doing things Right.
Their emphases reverberate with the teaching of the Buddha (The Tathagata) – which says to empty and clean the mind processes before moving on – to be able see and grasp things as they are. When one is able to do that – once you get there, you can move mountains. Unquestioned seeing and grasping of things – through the lens of others – or through one’s poorly developed cognitive processes – ignorant, biased or otherwise – distract one away from the Right Path (more in Hold it There). Simplicity opens a door to the freedom of thinking and understanding – by avoiding the constraints imposed by cognitive blunders, such as those caused by  arrogance and hubris.  
Simplicity is understood as the quality of being upright, uncomplicated, direct and easy to do or understand things. Its antonyms are complexity, convolution and pretense. Being simple means the freedom of heading towards the clear direction of achieving something. In the Noble Eightfold Path shown in the pasted image – by including Right Livelihood or Samma Ajiva as one of the constituents – the Buddha emphasized the importance of simplicity.
In this piece, let us attempt to go deeper into understanding simplicity – by looking into the Karaniya Metta Sutta or the Verses on practicing Loving Kindness (this Sutta is compiled in the Samyutta Nikaya of the Pabitra Tripitaka). Some introductory lines of the Sutta says: . . . Let them be able and upright – Straightforward and gentle in speech – Humble and not conceited – Contented and easily satisfied – Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways – Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful – Not proud and demanding in nature . . .
The Buddha identified these 16 attributes (underlined ones) associated with being simple. The enlightening principle conveyed by the Sutta is that whatever one does and whoever one is dealing with – one must do that with love, sincerity and respect – that is one of the reasons why the Buddha included them in the Loving Kindness Sutta. All these attributes let one to rise above disorganization, wrongdoing, unfairness, impropriety, indecency, dishonesty, violence and corruption - to live a well-disciplined moral and ethical life.
Therefore the words like able, gentle, humble and not conceited, peaceful, calm, wise, skillful, not proud and demanding – came into the matrix of simplicity definition. And words like, contented and easily satisfied say that to be simple – it is essential for one to remain balanced and upright by avoiding inclinations and attachment to things that lead one to complications. Unlike any other definitions of simplicity – the Buddha saw the importance of these attributes to be simple. One must heed to them in peaceful and calm frame of mental formation that must not be clouded with conceit, pride and demands.
In Chan and Zen meditation practices silence is emphasized as a way to be mindful – to be simple – to be present at the moment. In such temples, in the processes of emptying – extravaganza are avoided to create a simple and calm environment for meditation. The life of the 7th century Buddhist monk scholar Xuanzang – is one of simplicity and renunciation in quests for the Truth he held dearest to his heart. Gandhi’s life and sacrifice (more in The Mahatma – a Tribute) is one of simplicity and renouncement.
If we try to explain in terms of the two Fundamental Laws of Nature – simplicity is like an illuminating torch that helps one to Complete the Circle and untie the Eternal Knot. Simplicity ensures the freedom of mind in Sunyata – emptying or freeing it from other current and previous thoughts, influences, distractions and intricacies – to be independent of them by renunciation. This freedom of simplicity opens the door – to the brightness of clarity to see things as they are – to the direction of the Enlightened Way.
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3. Thought Processes – the Karma Initiator
Karma literally means actions and reactions. It also connotes the residual or lingering effects of such actions – the actions that bear fruit when conditions are right (discussed further in the Rebirth Chapter) – if not, intervened or interfered in the meantime. Which means the effects may be immediate or may occur at a later instance. So, karma is multidimensional, getting seeded somehow and somewhere – with all the potentials to sprout when the conditions are right. Buddha Dharma has elaborate treatises on it.
In the Sanskrit Tradition of the Dharma – the seeding and later sprouting of karma get extensive debate attention – and many popular metaphors and cultural themes resulted from such deliberations. It is said that karma gets seeded in different frequencies, phases and intensities – in positives and negatives. The right frequency resonates only when the conditions are right – to cause karma to bear fruit. In popular terms it is known as destiny or fate – and is assumed something preordained in godly religions – but, in Buddha Dharma it is seen – as the sprouting of karma-seeds with the right conditions taking effect.
The 20th century science of Quantum Mechanics sheds further light on many such aspects of the Buddha Dharma. In an effort to reconcile the General Theory of Relativity (more in Einstein’s Unruly Hair) with Quantum Mechanics – theoretical physicists propose the possible existence of a multidimensional universe. In one such version of String Theory, the so-called M-theory – the existence of a 11-dimensional universe is envisioned.
According to Buddha Dharma, all of one’s karmic actions and reactions begin within the mind matrix – in the processes of thoughts. Aspects of our thought processes leading to experiencing – the SUBJECT’s efforts of experiencing – the reality of anything and anyone – the OBJECT – occur through the systematic processes of Panch Khandhas or Five Aggregates. The processes explain the ever changing experiences of the fluxes of mind and matter – all having different life cycles and strengths. The five, from arising to fruition, are: Matter → Sensation → Name and Form Perception → Conditioning of Mental Formation → and finally to Consciousness or Chitta. Matter consists of the elements of solidity, fluidity, heat, wind, and the 5 body senses. The quality and multitude of the conscious experiences of the object thus developed – depend on the sphere of influences from where they originate: the unwholesomeness of matter – the wholesomeness of matter – and the Immatter sixth-sense. The role of cognition and some concomitant factors of the Chitta – comes in next to contribute to the development of awareness of the object. The nature of the awareness is governed by the Fundamental Laws of Nature: Impermanence and Interdependence; by the Subject ↔ Object and the Causes ↔ Conditions relationships.
An apt parallel with quantum mechanics – as explained in The Quantum World is that – multiple consciousness of the object are like fuzzy quantum probabilistic waves – and becoming aware of the object through cognitive processes is like measurements – at which the waves succumb to a single state of particle.
Perhaps it is helpful to clarify the significance of thought processes further. How do the thought processes cause the conditioning of Karma in Buddha Dharma? I will rely answering this question following what are summarized in the Enlightenment, Emptiness and Nirvana Article. The Buddha taught the significance while addressing the nature of deeds or karma – the nature of things we do everyday – and the residuals they generate. These deeds originate in Citta Samskara or Mental Formations – the Kushala Mula and the Akushala Mula defining the roots of wholesome and unwholesome deeds, respectively. These formations defining the Causes are the habitual occurrences in human mind – some are short in life, others are long – some are damaging (14 Akushala Mula), while others are beneficial (25 Kushala Mula). They are the causative factors – responsible for generating karma, Conditioning them.
Thoughts, trained thoughts to be precise, are very powerful. Here are few lines from Einstein’s Unruly Hair. His approach was rather to start with thinking about the problem in mind in the physics domain of arguments and counter-arguments, attempting to finding answers – and then moving on to mathematical elaborations. His capability of visualization on the plane of thoughts – of things as complex as astrophysics – is an incredible rarity. Great works begin in our trained mind – and the Buddha rightly saw its importance 2.5 millennia ago. This is another unique feature of the Dharma – therefore thought of discussing it briefly.
I like to begin with a few lines taken from The Power of Mind . . . mind has the ability to do some works – works in this case refer to the thought processes, speeches or talks, actions and reactions. People talk about peace of mind, greedy mind, angry mind, caring mind, loving mind, etc. In all these cases mind is understood to represent the person with his or her state of mind . . . As well, people often say, I lost my my mind, or loosing mind - referring to their irrational behaviors when acting or reacting in episodes of anger, hatred, fear, etc. Such spontaneous statements indicate the necessity of the presence of mind to do things Right - to behave rationally. In the Margaret Atwood (1939 - ) novel ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ a character expresses the realization . . . You can’t help what you feel, but you can help how you behave . . .
In the industrialization progress of standardization processes – communicative propaganda is emphasized as a necessity to manipulate peoples’ mind in favor of capitalism and other interests. The same tactic is also used in sociopolitical processes, advertisements and international relations.
Before moving further, a distinction has to be made. In Heaven and Hell – a clarification is introduced: . . . The Buddhist definition of karma is distinct; and has nothing to do with the pleasure or displeasure of gods and goddesses like in Hinduism; but is solely the consequences of one’s wholesome or unwholesome volitional activities . . .
The Noble Eightfold Virtues shown in the pasted image – describes that the sublime karma processes consist of four constituents. They are: Right Thought or Samma Sankappa; Right Speech or Samma Vaca; Right action/reaction or Samma Kammanta; and Right Livelihood or Samma Ajiva. The first belongs to the Purity of View group, the last three belong to the Purity of Morality group. They are explained earlier with an elucidation of what ‘Right’ means. In modern contexts, Vaca means all forms of communications – verbal, written and gestures. Thought processes enter into the karma-stream through the actions of the Five Aggregates and Cognitive Processes or Vithi (more in The Power of Mind).
As a simple and right metaphor – communication processes can be thought of – as their similarity to the physics of a propagating wave. As soon as a wave is born – it is subjected to several transformative processes of actions and reactions – such as absorption, transmission and reflection. The result is that a born wave in the upstream source – is not same as the downstream receiving end. The downstream wave is likely to be characterized by spacetime asymmetry, attenuation, accentuation and decomposition into multiple frequencies, phases and intensities within the composite envelope wave. The same happens with an information wave – a certain receiving end could only resonate to the right frequency and phase of the incoming wave – because, the phenomenon of reception depends on synchronicity of the source ↔ receiver. Like the physics of a wave, the received information is further transformed during the transmission processes – bearing the characteristics of the transmitting individual.
In my discussion contributions to a Forum of the American Society of Civil Engineers – I have attempted to throw some light on The Art of Effective Communication. Some of the following – are adapted from that contribution.
Communication is to relate ourselves with others – in actions and reactions. It takes the forms of talks, speech, writings like in texts, mails and emails (and others as in documents, publications, etc), and body-languages. Talks, speech and body-languages or gestures are face-to-face communications. With internet – this type also occurs through video-link. Nature of communication begins with our thought processes – it is the instigator – a clean and healthy process lets us communicate lucidly. A bad one does the opposite. These processes have another dimension – it is the state of mind at a certain time and place. For all different reasons, this state can be agitated, calm – or something in-between.
Communicative actions and reactions vary among people. The difference is due to the personality type as well as by those qualities or lack of them – that are imparted to us during our childhood by parents, neighbors, friends and teachers. They range in various degrees in terms of courtesy, politeness, respect, humility, appreciation and thankfulness. With internet – another influence is added to qualify communication (more in Artificial Intelligence – the Tool of No Limit). Social-networks and other forms of to-and-fro communications are prime examples. These are already consuming considerable part of our time.
Wisdom says that one should stop communicating when mind is agitated. Because, when thought processes manifest themselves in communications and gestures – they cannot be taken back. Therefore, staying calm or becoming composed is so much necessary before launching any form of communication. By staying calm, one soon realizes – that the things he or she wanted to communicate with an agitated mind – do not make sense whatsoever. But, a communication is multi-dimensional. The immediate two are source ↔ receiver, which means, a certain communication may appear different to a receiver – depending on his or her state of mind. In a face-to-face communication the receiver may influence the source – through provocation and that sorts of behavior. In other words, it is the subject-object relationship.
Such a relationship is not always strong, because a receiver can display calmness without showing any responsive behavior. This entails that the source communicator –owns his or her communicating behavior – and must take responsibility for it. Therefore, staying calm – as a remedy comes into relevance. Staying calm – is like freeing oneself from bad emotions – to let them go. Here Time comes with a hand to help. But, it is far from easy, because – enduring patience is the highest austerity – and people rarely like to go in the direction of austerity – unless they understand the importance of it for their own benefit or when they feel it absolutely necessary. Therefore the relevance of meditation or mind training comes into the forefront.
All these – entail that one must take care of the immatter within oneself, the mind – to keep it clean and healthy. It is one of the contexts for specifying the importance of Purity of Mind in the Noble Eightfold Path. The purity leads one to create good karma – by avoiding or shunning away from creating the bad ones. Therefore, the Buddha emphasized so much on . . . calm in thought, calm in speech, calm in deeds . . .
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4. Duality and non-Duality
This is often considered the most difficult theme of the Dharma – yet the Buddha teaching is very clear on that. One of the difficulties arose from the fact that – we are very accustomed to the Conventional Truth – the phenomenal, but subjective realities that we experience everyday – the Sammuti Sacca. Going beyond that – to realize the Ultimate Truth – the Paramattha Sacca, like Sunyata or Emptiness – indeed needs deep philosophical insight and intellectual cultivation. Western scholars have been fascinated of the duality and non-duality principle – in particular, attracted by the brilliant works of 2nd century Buddhist monk Nagarjuna (150 – 250 CE). His treatise, Mulamadhyamakakarika – the Philosophy of the Middle Way expounded the Buddha teaching to a new height. The 7th century Buddhist monk Chandrakirti (600 – 650 CE) in his treatise Madhyamakavatara elaborated the conventional truth as consisting of three: (1) truth conditioned by the screen of ignorance; (2) truth conditioned by mutuality (like those resulting from the subject-object cognition; and those believed by certain groups, entities or political parties); and (3) the behavioral truth conditioned by societal or worldly norms. As can be understood, some of these conventional truths - have their roots in cognitive blunders and biases.
In the Dhammapada Verse #113, the Buddha said in Thousands Chapter: Better it is to live one day seeing the rise and fall of things than to live a hundred years without ever seeing the rise and fall of things. The phenomenon of the duality of rise and fall – is something we experience everyday in our emotions, activities, life and in social interactions (Duality is just another way of describing Relativity).
It is also vivid in Natural processes – if one is mindful in observing them meticulously. The rise and fall of the wave processes are rarely circular or symmetric in Nature. This is another indication of action-reaction processes – an example of how the universal knot fabric is formed and distorted – thus not being able to complete the circle.
In scientific observations, here is something written in Characterizing Wave Asymmetry: The asymmetric processes begin right after a wave is born – in the energy transformations of action-reaction-duo of different frequencies, phases and amplitudes – caused by those that impart energy to those that interact and dissipate it. In the end, a visible Natural wave is a showcase of imbalance or asymmetry built by multiple waves – sometimes portraying an incomplete circle or closure – at other times leaving an overflowing residual in the direction of dominant motion.
The essays, Storm Surge; Tsunami and Tsunami Forces and Upslope Events and Downslope Processes – discuss the physics of wave transformation further. Indeed, all energy propagation in us, in social interactions, in international-relations and in Nature – occur in wave-forms of rise and fall, rarely showing any sign of circularity. Therefore, Buddha’s teaching tells us to see deep into the phenomena and implications of the Duality of Rise and Fall in things.
Why non-duality then? Non-duality does not mean absence of duality – rather that sticking to the dual phases of unstable positions is not something sensible – instead, one must seek for something in the middle – something balanced and stable. Let us attempt to understand this interesting aspect of the Buddha’s teaching in simple terms.
First, it is important to see, in simple terms what Nature tells us. The Buddha saying immediately reverberates to my own experience as an engineer and scientist – working in coastal and ocean environments. The phenomenon of duality is obvious in the most visible manifestation of the top wave crest and the bottom wave trough.
If we go further to understand the physics of wave dynamics (more in Ocean Waves, Duality and Multiplicity in Nature) – it becomes clear how the crest and trough are related to each other within the framework of elastic resistance to deformation – the trough is forced by the flow of energy to work up to the phase of the crest, while the gravitational pull drags the crest to work down to the phase of the trough. This entangled process of push and pull is associated with a forward motion and a compensating reverse motion of the medium particles – as a way required to complete the loop. The balancing act between the excitation energy and gravity restoration indicates that the crest and trough work together to attain stability and equilibrium in time. It further says that – at the fundamental level, all motions are characterized by the wave-particle duality (more in The Quantum World).
The discussed physics of Natural waves – shows us the wisdom to see that duality does not mean that there are just the two of something – but that the two are the inseparable and complementary components of the unity – union of the two opposites entangled together in the pursuits to reaching the symmetry of stability.
Now, it is time to see how Madhyamika or the Middle Way is illustrated by the wave processes. When the phase of the wave changes – in its oscillatory motion – it always passes through a middle position. And as the wave energy subsides – the visible duality succumbs to that middle position of tranquility – to non-duality. In physics of coastal water waves – it is called the Mean or Still Water Level. And it happens whether the wave is monochromatic or spectromatic – whether it is linear or non-linear (that has a tail and leaves a residual).
The same energy principle of wave motion in duality and non-duality manifestations – works in every motion – in all forms of the Fluid, Solid and Life System. Buddha’s Middle Way says that – one must seek that stable and balanced position for peace and happiness. It is at this level, where causes→conditions→causes of the system of oscillatory motions find the Right Position of Stability.
In popular Buddha Dharma (more in the Enlightenment, Emptiness and Nirvana – the Middle Way, represented as the Dharmakaya, is symbolized as the Four Faces of Unity (Sculptural depiction of the Four Faces – is portrayed in the shape of Buddha face). These Four are: the Duality (1st & 2nd) of the Opposites – its qualifications, the Entanglement (3rd) of the Dualities, and the Complementarity (4th) of the Dualities. This simple but superb depiction is apparent in the findings of modern physics (see Einstein’s Unruly Hair and The Quantum World).
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5. Non-Self and the Buddhanature
According to the Buddha Dharma Trilogy defining all existences in the Matter-Immatter Dyanmics: All conditioned things are impermanent – All conditioned things are unsatisfactory – All conditioned things are non-self - are intricately related and complementary. The third says that one’s soul or self is conditioned by the Processes of the Dependent-Origination (elaborated in The Four Noble Truths Section of The Way of Simplicity, Balance and Wisdom Chapter) – the processes of interdependence. Due to such processes giving rise to the development of one’s self – it acquires the characteristics of FLUIDITY as opposed to RIGIDITY. Therefore the concept of a rigid soul – as in other beliefs and religions – is not something tenable in the Dharma. Thus, the fluidity of one’s self tantamounts to the reality of non-self.
In the Anatta-lakkhana Sutta, the Non-self Discourse, the Buddha said, by illustrating his teaching on the Five Aggregates (more in The Power of Mind) – how the deep understanding of the reality of non-self leads to liberation: . . . Name-Form is non-self . . . Sensation is non-self . . . Perception is non-self . . . Conditioning is non-self . . . Consciousness is non-self . . . Name-Form is impermanent . . . Sensation is impermanent . . . Perception is impermanent . . . Conditioning is impermanent . . . Consciousness is impermanent . . . any kind of Name-Form, Sensation, Perception, Conditioning, Consciousness . . . whatever, whether past, future or presently arisen, whether gross or subtle, whether in oneself or external, whether inferior or superior, whether far or near, must with right understanding . . . be regarded thus: 'This is not mine, this is not I, this is not myself’ . . . when a Noble follower who has heard (this Truth) and sees thus . . . finds estrangement in Name-Form . . . finds estrangement in Sensation . . . finds estrangement in Perception . . . finds estrangement in Conditioning . . . finds estrangement in Consciousness. . . when the person finds estrangement, passion fades out. With the fading of passion, the person is liberated. When liberated, there is knowledge and the person is liberated. These are indeed, another explanation and requirement of Simplicity.
Now, let us begin with the theory of the rigid soul (Atma). Born with the person – it is considered to be a part of the divine dictation. Its root dates back to Hindu religious beliefs – saying that inferior castes have bad soul – resulting from wraths and curses of gods and goddesses. Therefore they must be punished – and must pay for it in lives after lives doing all kinds of menial dirty works as a service to the superior castes. It has been used in the past, and is still being used by different religious affiliations riding on the seats of power – to perpetuate the superiority of higher castes, and inferiority of the rest. This deplorable superiority-inferiority complex opened the door to initiate and perpetuate caste-based Varna discrimination – which is still alive in different disguises (albeit laws are enacted against such discrimination) – some of it transformed into race-based discrimination. In the race-based cases – instead of birth-origin, skin-color is used as a criterion.
In fact, Varna discrimination has its roots in skin-color views. This is how it occurred when the fair-skinned Aryans invaded the Indian Subcontinental regions. These victor settlers elevated themselves to a higher hierarchy – and reduced the status of dark-skinned locals down into lows and the lowest (colonial subjugation displayed the same psyche, does it not?). The resulting religion known as the Hinduism today – adopted this view and justified it through scriptural writings in which Brahmins had monopoly. It was popularized and ingrained in peoples’ minds at a later time – through Ramayana and Mahabharata epics. These literary fictions – likely took shape and written during the post-Buddha period – were nothing but the stories of family feuds among the higher-caste Brahmins and Kshatriya – intervened by gods and goddesses. The lead mythical characters were elevated to the ranks of reincarnated gods and goddesses – to attract worshippers and invoke godly devotions and fear.
Discriminatory practices as such – are a double-edged sword – they give birth to arrogance in the privileged, who have not earned any of what are given to them – and scars of rejection, depression and hopelessness in those who are in no position to escape from their fate to lead a meaningful life.
The supremely compassionate Buddha cannot accept such an explanation and justification. The two Fundamental Laws of Nature – he discovered do not support the rigid Atma paradigm – and the Buddha denied the existence such a soul. One important thing about soul or self – is that, as the theory or concept suggests – it belongs to the Immaterial domain of the matter-immatter dynamics (that may come with different qualifiers for its description – like good and bad).
By this very characterization – soul is something that must be the making of one’s mind, something of the conventional truths – a function of immatter within an individual. This means it is a conditioned phenomenon – and its existence is subjected to the processes of causes→ conditions → causes. Therefore, the Buddha’s teaching says that, like all conditioned things – the nature of self in an individual – must agree with the laws of Impermanence and Dependent-origination. Such an agreement invalidates the theory of rigid soul. Instead, it establishes the non-self nature of things.
Now, one may ask – what is the Buddhanature or Bodhicitta in an individual then?Buddhanature has nothing to do with the rigid soul – it’s rather born out of non-self to awakening to the realization of the truths – the universal laws. Understanding Buddhanature - is tied to have a clear view of Bodhi and Buddhahood.
Let us attempt to delve into these aspects in a similar manner as the dialogue between the Bactrian King Milinda and a highly skilled Buddhist monk Nagasena (more in Jataka Morals). Who, within one’s being says – I need to pursue the Seven: Energy, Investigation, Equanimity, Mindfulness, Meditative concentration, Joy and Tranquility to be enlightened. Who within one’s being says I rejoice chanting Om – MaNi – PadMe – Hum. Who within one’s being says I need to pursue Gate – Gate – Paragate – Parasamgate – Bodhi – Svaha to be a Bodhisattva. Who within one’s being says – all have the inherent capacity within themselves (the 3rd Noble Truth) to be enlightened.
The answers to these questions – which are in fact one – is simply that it is certainly not the rigid soul – but, certainly born out of the non-self, or the non-ego. It must be led by  something transformative – that does not contradict with The Fundamental Laws of Nature. This something is lucidly explained by Ven. Dogen Zenji (1200 – 1253), the founder of the Soto School of Zen Buddhism in Japan, the Zazen. He writes: Therefore, the very impermanency . . . is Buddhanature . . . of men and things, body and mind, is the Buddhanature . . . supreme and complete enlightenment, because it is impermanent, is the Buddhanature . .  . Ven. Zenji saying asks for deep deliberation.
What and who are impermanent? The answer is: as the Buddha said, all conditioned things – everything and everyone in the universe – both matter and immatter. It has both time and space connotations. Things are not same from one instant of time to the next – from one point in space to the next. Net configuration of the knots has the similar nature of fluidity in spacetime. This characteristic signature of impermanence – has a modern name – it is called uncertainty. Again, like many other aspects, Buddha’s teaching and vision precede many of modern scientific findings and proof. This characteristic signature of conditioned things lead to discovering Buddhanature in all of us.
It entails, therefore that, who is not ‘I’ – as we like to call it. Because, the young ‘I’, the middle-aged ‘I’ and the old ‘I’ are all different. Although the biological person or the matter is the same – the immatter is different. Similarly, ‘I’ living in one place is not the same ‘I’ – who has moved to another place. In each case, these ‘I’s – are a Dependently-originated self – that developed and got transformed following one’s interactions with the surrounding in time and space. This is just the nature of things.
Therefore the Buddhanature or Bodhicitta is something in the middle between causes and conditions – something Noble, the Truths. In other words, something potential waiting to get awakened or enlightened – like the potential of a Lotus rising and blooming on to air – on to the light out of muddy water. According to the Buddha Dharma: the jewel of Buddhanature is within all of us – some just look somewhere else without ever realizing that they have it – yet some others are unaware of it – only very few find it. It does not discriminate – whether one is male or female – rich or poor. It does not see individuals through the lens of one’s origin of birth or of skin-color.
As outlined in the Thought Processes – the Karma Initiator Chapter – unlike other consciousnesses that develop through the processes of Five Aggregates (more in The Power of Mind) – the Bodhicitta originates in the Lokuttara sphere of the person – with all the potentials for the Citta to flower into Bodhi, if causes ↔ conditions are Right. This sphere represents a high supramundane level – in the sixth-sense sublime, spiritual and intellectual sphere. It is preceded and sustained by the developments of Rupa-Loka Citta, originating in the wholesome fine material sphere; and the Arupa-Loka Citta, originating in the wholesome immaterial sixth-sense sphere.
What is the state of the Bodhicitta before awakening - awakening to the realization of the truths, the Ultimate Truth – the Paramattha Sacca in Buddha’s teaching. They are the Fundamental Laws of Nature, the Four Noble Truths, the matter-immatter dynamics, the phenomena of mind – the necessity of cleaning and training the mind. Only some have the potential to discover it by going beyond, utterly beyond – to awakening to the brightness of enlightenment.
Bodhicitta is neither dormant nor awakened – it is rather in a state of transience and transformation. Perhaps another metaphor would be the transformative life of a larvae in a cocoon. This life, if strong and persistent – if not interfered and prevented by external forces – and if on the right track endowed with the forces of the Seven – would shatter the barrier to get out to freedom – to a new life when the causes ↔ conditions are perfectly aligned.
In other words, with the right causes ↔ conditions, Bodhicitta (the likeness of a Lotus plant root in muddy soil) gives birth to Bodhi (the likeness of a Lotus bud) through a sort of cognitive (Vitthi) crystallization and growth of the Bodhicitta. At this stage the person goes beyond – utterly beyond in meditative cultivation and wholesome pursuits to attain Bodhi. It is distinguished by the six: tranquility, wisdom, malleability, wieldiness, proficiency and integrity. Once endowed with such distinctions, the person is known as the Arahat or Bodhisattva. While an Arahat aims to achieve the next step of full enlightenment, a Bodhisattva chooses to delay the enlightenment by taking Bodhisattva vows to emancipate all sentient beings – from suffering to happiness through the processes of wholesome pursuits and teaching.
The full enlightenment is like a bloomed open Lotus – the perfect awakening to Buddhahood – a rarely achievable irreversible grandeur of eternal bliss, the Nirvana.
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6. Rebirth
Let me begin by following the premises presented in The Fundamental Laws of Nature – that unless attained the eternal bliss of Nirvana – one’s life is an incomplete circle – packed with knots of the untied net. Life is not something of matter only – as the ordinary view suggests – but as a being consisting of both matter (Rupakaya) and immatter (Arupakaya) – that continuously evolves responding to the matter-immatter dynamics. Therefore in Buddha Dharma, life is not portrayed as a circle (unless completion occurs with the untied knots as in Nirvana, STILL. But, is also portrayed as an aspirational context in the metaphor of a full moon) – rather as a wheel that grinds along the expanse of spacetime – on way to attain STILL (if on the right track). The question that ensues is what happens with the unshattered net – with the imbalanced residuals loaded with the seeded karma – that are caused by one’s matter-immatter dynamics.
The matter passes away – what about the immatter? The dynamics of the two is such that one is energized by the other – and vice versa. The residual or the imbalanced energy of the immatter likely looks for new sources of material – in a new body. In the Entropy piece, the spectacular metamorphoses of dragon flies, moths and butterflies from larvae to adulthood is cited as an irreversible process. What connects such a transformation? A biologist’s answer to this question – would be gene that connects the phases. To be precise – it is the matter-gene of Rupakaya that connects the biological transformation phases.
In analogous to this – one may dare to suggest that rebirth is caused by the immatter-gene of Arupakaya – that likely connects the passed away with another body or matter – a new born. This immatter-gene powered by one’s accumulated karma seeds – determines the nature of rebirth. And like the biological transformation – the rebirth process is irreversible. If we accept this premise, a follow-up question appears: is it certain like in the biological transformation? The Buddha Dharma answers this question too.
To answer this question, I like to rely on some materials written in Einstein’s Unruly Hair . . . Reincarnation is something we recognize – in transmigration or metamorphoses of knowledge, ideas and customs. Civilization as a human advancement is built upon such reincarnations – it only became more robust since the discovery of printing, documentation and digital processing. How about rebirth/reincarnation of sentient beings? Hinduism has a straightforward answer to that. It says in the Upanishads (collection of ancient Indian Vedic philosophical concepts) that soul or Atma (the understanding of this theory is elaborated in the Non-Self and Buddhanature Chapter) as a permanent indestructible soul – transmigrates to a new body after death. Buddha Dharma does not give such a straightforward answer – because the concept of soul must not contradict with the Laws of Impermanence and Dependent-origination.
What does the Buddhist rebirth mean then? In the 1996 Scientific Acceptability of Rebirth Dr G Dharmawardena – a well-known nuclear scientist – elucidated Buddhist definition of rebirth as: “the re-embodiment of an immaterial part of a person after a short or a long interval after depth, in a body, whence it proceeds to lead a new life in the body more or less unconscious of its past existences, but containing within itself the “essence” of the results of its past lives, which experience goes to make up its new character or personality”.
In Buddha Dharma, this essence is likely the remnants of some levels of transformative consciousness - often described as the 7th and 8th. They represent one's continuously evolving klesha (a source of unsettled inner discursiveness that consumes most of one’s mental activities) and Vijnana (that instigates activity in the mental sphere – having a chance to get transformed into wisdom through cognitive processes and meditation), respectively (more in The Power of Mind).
Buddha Dharma says that rebirth of the described essence or karmic seed (in a deeper view it is just an individual’s evolving energy field; implying that an individual with residuals {both negative and positive} has more potential to be reborn than the one who is tranquil and has completed the circle and untied the universal knot – attaining STILL) sprouts into a new life only when conditions are right. The seed may sprout right after death if the conditions are right, may remain dormant waiting for the right time, or may not sprout at all if the seed loses its vitality over time or is destroyed in the meantime. This Buddhist explanation of rebirth has no contradiction with modern scientific principles.
Shakyamuni Buddha’s Bodhisattva lives – were an example of the incremental accumulation of good karma – of positive energies. The immatter-gene of his pious past lives – sprouted into the auspicious birth of Buddha in 624 BCE, in Anuttara Samma Sambodhi – when causes ↔ conditions were congruent and perfectly aligned.
It entails, therefore that the remnants of some levels of consciousness – the essential residuals or the immatter-gene (as I called it in this piece) may reborn into a new being – if and only if – the loop of causes ↔ conditions gets aligned. Thus, one may conclude that – in Buddha Dharma the rebirth potential is there, but it is not certain.
If the rebirth is certain – it would contradict The Fundamental Laws of Nature – the Buddha taught. It is also uncertain – because the Buddha saw his past lives only during the processes of enlightenment. It is said that he first developed the ability to see his past lives (these lives covered different spectrum of Life Forms with the Buddha earning and accumulating merits) realizing the interconnectedness of all sentient beings – followed by the universal laws that govern everything and then the Way to Nirvana he discovered and taught. All these mean that one’s past lives, if reborn – are likely to remain obscure to that person unless the vision of enlightenment is attained.
Uncertainties notwithstanding – the notion of rebirth has a profound beneficial effect on human mind. For example, when negative attitudes like anger or hatred arise in our mind – we can invoke the idea of rebirth to think that the object of negativity could have been our son/daughter, brother/sister or father/mother in another life, in another time. In a similar vein, if we see other life forms in danger or being abused – we could think that they could have been related to us in another life, in another time. The deep compassion and fellow-feeling of oneness generated by such a chain of rebirth-related thinking – is not attainable by any other means. It has the profound power to cross barriers – the barriers of race, ethnicity, color or creed. In the Buddha’s teaching, this system of thinking is aptly termed as the skill in means to achieve something great. The 19th century discovery of the evolution of life by Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882; The Origin of Species) tells us that we are all connected as the Buddha’s Skill in Means – enlightens us.
An ugly abuse of the rebirth-related thinking was the unfortunate concoction – that we see in the caste-system – in which the curses of gods and goddesses are said to be the causes to conditioning the birth of some in the lowest social hierarchy – the untouchables. Note here that good and bad karma causes are not given any value to condition the birth – instead, according to the priestly classes, the imaginary gods and goddesses have the veto power to negate any good karma effects! This dictation is against any sort of the Laws of Nature. The system has been deliberately conceived and developed to justify and establish the superiority of some against others (in modern systems, similar principles are visible in color, race, ethnicity, gender and age discrimination and prejudices). It is so inhuman, heinous and cruel that – those who are born in the untouchable category and their progeny – must have to remain in that caste in life and after life – without ever having a chance to cross the caste-barrier. Although the system has been constitutionally abolished in India since 1950, the socioeconomic caste-barrier has yet see to the full light of the abolition law.
What is certain – is the present moment – the fleeting present, that is real and is right in front of us. Buddha Dharma says one should try to remain awake to see this reality – to own the fleeting present to veer it to the direction of the Right Way, to wholesomeness – the Way of Simplicity, Balance and Wisdom. It says to be present in what one is doing – by being mindful and composed in the togetherness of Rupakaya (matter) and Arupakaya (immatter). The Dharma meditation or mind training technique opens the door to attain this.
The Buddha’s message is clear – that while the rebirth possibility is there in the uncertainty sphere – it should not come in any way to say that one’s birth is low or high. Either way of thinking is detrimental – because it could bog one down or give the false feeling of complacency.
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This is the 5th piece of the annual series – remembering and honoring Shakyamuni Buddha – his auspicious Birth, Enlightenment, and MahapariNirvana. This year’s Vesak, the Buddha Day celebration, occurs on the full-moon day on 22 May 2024. The previous posted pieces were on: 5 May 2023 Buddha Dharma Conversation; 16 May 2022 The Tathagata; 26 May 2021 the Enlightenment, Emptiness and Nirvana; and 7 May 2020 Revisiting The Jataka Morals. I have spent more time than others in preparing this article – this is because there are lots of grounds to be covered and understood (yet may not be complete) – to deeply delve into the rationality of the Buddha teaching.
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Before finishing, I like to revisit the 49th verse of the The Flowers Chapter in the DHAMMAPADA. It says: As a bee gathers honey from the flower without injuring its colour or fragrance, even so the sage goes on his alms-round in the village. It is about an ancient Buddhist practice of alms-round – of Buddhist monks going around the neighborhood in a silent sublime mood with both-hands holding an alms-bowl. In the Dhammapada verse – as a way of monastic practices – the Buddha indicated three very important practices – a monk or nun must be mindful of: (1) that they must appreciate the kind gift in thankful mood, and respect the villagers by not infringing upon their lives and livelihood as the bee does; and (2) that in return and in appreciation – as the bee does by acting as an agent of pollination – they must reciprocate the gift by blessing, and if the villagers need and are ready – must also give a certain gift of kind and enlightened words as a food to enrich the villagers’ mind. (3) As a third, the Buddha introduced the practice of going on alms-round – only one-time during the daytime before noon – and they must only accept food needed for the day – without any discrimination by practicing non-attachment to any preferential taste they might have.
By following the above, monks and nuns abstain from disturbing the villagers’ lives and livelihoods – their day-and-night-time family life contingencies. This means that, monastic communities are required to forego the lay-people practice of having the evening meal. Instead, they must devote this time in teaching, Dharma cultivation and meditation. Thus, by using the flower-bee metaphor – the Buddha clarified the necessity of being simple in purpose and practices to be a true renunciate. It turns out that skipping evening meal is healthy – as statistics show that most Buddhist monks and nuns have a longer life expectancy than the average people.
As time passed by and as the Dharma took root in different cultures – the practice of going on alms-round – evolved into different dimensions. This is the strength and power of the Buddha Dharma – which is flexible and adaptable according to the needs of time and space – at the same time without making any compromises on the core values and principles. Nowadays, alms-round is practiced mostly in Pali-tradition countries as a ceremonial task on special occasions. It is the responsibility of the Buddha Sangha to address and deliberate on the changed circumstances in space and time to define any changes if needed.
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Seeing YouTube videos of some beautiful Songkran Festivals and Parades in Southeast Asian Buddhist majority countries (the Festival originated in Thailand) – including the spectacular parades in Xishuangbanna, in the beautiful Peacock province of Yunnan in China – took me to recollect the experience of Chaitra-Songkranti Festival in the Buddhist communities of Bangladesh. Our Bengali new year Festival (it even coincides with the time of Southeast Asian Festival) used to start early in the morning with communal bathing in the river – decorating the house with wild fresh flowers and fresh buds of herbal leaves, spreading river water on house tops and yards – afternoon temple visit and Buddha praying – ending with evening-time singing around a bonfire of collected weed heaps. Specially prepared snacks and bitter-tasted curries of seasonal vegetables and herbs (assumed to ensure better health in the future) sharing them with each other were another enjoyable attraction of the Festival. In Mahatma Gandhi piece, a short recollection of the Bengali Buddhist New Year Festival is described. The Songkran Festival comes with praying for the Buddha blessing of longevity, nobility, happiness, strength and wisdom. It is amazing to realize how interconnected we were – how cultures were integrated together somehow during those ancestral years of difficult travels.
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Happy Vesak the Buddha Day!!! On this Auspicious Full-Moon Day – let Metta touch everyone’s heart by the vast ocean of the Buddha’s wisdom to bring Peace and Harmony across the Globe. Have a joyous life – by being conscientious, heedful and diligent – whenever – wherever – whatever

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- by Dr. Dilip K. Barua, 22 May 2024

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