                       BHAVANA SOCIETY NEWSLETTER 
                               (excerpts)
                                          
                             Vol. 10, No. 1
                          January-March, 1994
                                          
                                          
                     Copyright 1994 Bhavana Society
                                          
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                          High View, WV 26808
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                                CONTENTS
  
  
              "Catching The Next Bus" by Petr-Karel Ontle
                                          
      "Have You Seen Hells and Heavens?" (excerpt from S. iv, 126)
                                          
         "The Social Teachings Of The Buddha" by Bhikkhu Bodhi
  
  
                                          
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                         CATCHING THE NEXT BUS
                                          
                          By Petr-Karel Ontle
  
       
       Some say that it is no longer possible for people to become 
  enlightened, that is, to attain Nibbana. They claim that it has not 
  been possible for anyone to do so for decades, or even for centuries. 
  These individuals try to tell us that while the Buddha knew that 
  Truth, and effectively taught the Unique and Perfect Path to 
  Liberation, the best we can do now, in our day, is to honor the 
  Buddha, respect the Dhamma, and support the Temples and the monks. And 
  then, supposedly, we should content ourselves with earning merit for a 
  good rebirth, in hopes that in the age of the next Buddha, the Buddha 
  Metteyya (Maitreya in Sanskrit) we may again earn a place in line, as 
  it were, to receive the 'new teaching' and attain Nibbana in the 'new 
  dispensation'.
       
       Where, how, and why this view came into being probably no one 
  knows. Nor does it matter. What is important is for us to see the 
  foolishness and danger inherent in it.
       
       More than twenty-five centuries ago, the Buddha Gotama was born 
  into His last existence in the conditioned realm of Samsara. At the 
  age of thirty-five, well before the mid-point of His eighty-year life, 
  He attained Full Liberation, Enlightenment, Freedom, Nibbana... call 
  it what you will. After that highest point in His life, for forty-five 
  years, He taught both the theory and practice of that same Attainment 
  to any and all who would listen. Whenever the Buddha spoke, there were 
  monks sitting at His side who heard every syllable, and remembered it. 
  Memorized it. They in turn repeated it to other monks, also specially 
  trained, or naturally gifted with powerful memories, who in their turn 
  preserved the Dhamma as an oral tradition for centuries.
       
       Vast numbers of men and women, young and old, rich and poor, 
  high-born and low-caste, healthy and ill, monastic and lay, and of 
  varying degrees of intelligence, also listened to the Buddha's 
  Teaching. Laymen and monastics alike, they followed His instructions, 
  undertook the same practice of self-purification which is called the 
  Noble Eightfold Path and includes Vipassana meditation, and in due 
  course attained the same Liberation, the same Freedom, the same 
  Nibbana, in their present, in their here-and-now, while they were 
  still alive. And from that point they were for the rest of their lives 
  witnesses, living testimonials, to the effectiveness and genuineness 
  of That Which The Buddha Taught.
       
       At the age of eighty, the Buddha Gotama passed away never to 
  re-arise in the conditioned realm. The Buddha is no longer with us. 
  Although He was urged to do so, He appointed no one to take His place 
  as leader or teacher. He refused to, and that is most significant. He 
  had done all that could be done; He pointed the Way to Freedom, and He 
  gave clear instructions. After that it was -- and still is -- up to 
  each and every follower to take up the map, and walk the distance on 
  his own. No one can do it for us. This map, these instructions, they 
  are the Teaching, The Dhamma, The Buddha-Word. The Dhamma alone, is 
  our guide.
       
       Eventually, with the adoption of writing, the monks meticulously 
  wrote down what they had memorized, and from that time, the Dhamma has 
  been passed down through the centuries in written form, both in the 
  original Pali language, and in translation in many other languages of 
  Asian peoples. Now, at last, very fine translations are also being 
  made from the original Pali into Western Languages, especially into 
  English.
       
       How accurate are these memorized 'hand-me-downs' and their later 
  written counterparts? How accurate are the translations? Very accurate 
  indeed. Let us not forget that all the ancient world used the same or 
  similar memory-mnemonic systems to preserve all manner of historical 
  and literary material. The great epics of GILGAMESH, the ILIAD and the 
  ODYSSEY are but three examples of enormously long poems that were 
  composed by illiterate men (Homer was blind to boot) and preserved to 
  modern times in the memories of other illiterate men and women until 
  the time that writing was invented!
       
       The modern translations are done by Buddhist scholars who 
  painstakingly check every syllable against the original Pali. And 
  finally, there is the best proof: seeing through application and 
  experience "whether it will fly."
       
       By the time the Buddha had passed away, His teaching had spread 
  far and wide throughout the land, in the hearts and minds of his 
  enlightened followers. He rediscovered for His age the Technique of 
  Liberation. The Technique, the original Teaching, the Dhamma, Theory, 
  Application, and Practice, preserved intact in the Pali Canon, has 
  served to Liberate uncountable numbers of His disciples right up to 
  the present day, and continues to do so even as you read.
       
       It is true that in the distant future, the day will come when 
  through the carelessness of the people, and perhaps the interplay of a 
  variety of causes and effects, not the Dhamma, but the 
  knowledge-of-the Dhamma will become seriously weakened and diluted, 
  broken and corrupted, and the veil of Ignorance will again fall. The 
  day will come when Truth is forgotten altogether, and the name of the 
  Buddha will mean nothing if it is indeed even remembered or spoken at 
  all. In those times it will indeed be impossible to attain to 
  Enlightenment, and those who live in those dark days will have no hope 
  of escape from Samsara until the coming of the new Buddha, the Buddha 
  Metteyya, who will again re-discover the Truth that is always around 
  us, obscured only by the veils of our own Nescience and ego.
       
       This cycle of Dhamma-uncovering, Its spread, and Its eventual 
  loss has been played out innumerable times in the beginningless past, 
  and will continue in the endless future.
       
       But here we are, in the middle of a flourishing Buddha-Cycle. The 
  Dhamma has not lost its potency, its strength, its validity. It is 
  still pristine and pure as ever. Its spark is still ready to banish 
  the Nescience from our minds.  We have the same undiminished 
  opportunity to practice intensively, and to attain the same 
  Enlightenment as those who preceded us throughout the ages.
       
       It is sheer foolishness to even hint that we can afford to wait 
  for the next Buddha. There is no need for it, nor any advantage to be 
  had from it. All the Buddhas re-discover and teach again the self-same 
  Dhamma. There is only One Dhamma, One Truth ! It will be no different 
  under the dispensation of the coming Buddha, or the next One, or the 
  One after that, down through the ages.
       
       If we apply ourselves fully now, there is no reason why we cannot 
  reach full enlightenment, or at the very least, Stream-Entry, now, in 
  our present day. It depends only on the strength of our defilements, 
  and the degree of our determination. And that latter factor is a 
  potent trap. It is where complacency undermines urgency.
       
       Under the hype and hooplah of today's technology, materialism has 
  become deeply rooted in most people's minds.
       
       Relatively speaking, never in the recorded history of humanity 
  have there been so many gadgets and trinkets and toys to distract 
  adult and child alike. The cult of consumerism spends billions of 
  dollars worldwide to convince billions of people that they simply must 
  have the Latest, the Biggest, the Shiniest, the Fastest. Advertising 
  moguls invent ever new ways to convince us that unless we possess at 
  least one of whatever it is they just happen to be peddling, life is 
  hardly worthy living. Add to this the Hollywood-MTV cult of eternal 
  youth physical beauty, and pleasure, and we are kept busy every waking 
  moment from womb to tomb in the non-stop pursuit of non-stop sex, more 
  money, and ever-greater glamour and fame.
       
       Materialistic Western culture has brainwashed us into believing 
  that Samsara is FUN! A veritable carnival! We are mesmerized by what 
  we perceive as pleasure. We are content to play in Samsara's sugary 
  enticements, like insects on the deadly blossoms of the Venus 
  Fly-Trap, or the Pitcher Plant. Our priorities do not include so much 
  as a glance at the real meaning of life, at Reality, and what we are 
  up against in Samsara. Not until it is too late.
       
       Samsara for us is not so bad. We are having a decent enough time; 
  wine, women, and song intoxicate us; pleasure, and success give us a 
  false feeling of security. We think that Samsara will always treat us 
  this way. It isn't so bad. We can enjoy this and put up with an 
  occasional splinter or bruise here and there. We're too busy having 
  fun, too close to success now. We will work on Liberation later.
       
       We'll 'catch the next but to Nibbana'. It will be newer, better 
  equipped, less crowded, airconditioned, heated. We invent a thousand 
  reasons to procrastinate. All sorts of rationalizations to justify 
  waiting till next time. Later. We have no sense of urgency. we cannot 
  smell the danger.
       
       The sense of urgency is born of suffering. It begins to stir as 
  we grow older, as the body begins to fail, as things around us go 
  wrong. Family and friends die, material security is lost, sometimes 
  suddenly and totally.
       
       What are you waiting for? Do you first need to experience urgency 
  as a starving refugee in a Somalia? As a terrorized victim in a 
  Bosnia-Hercegovina? As a victim of some future Pol Pot or Hitler? Or 
  just as the inhabitant of one of the hell-hole ghettos, the 
  drug-and-violence ridden cities of the world, not the least of which 
  is Washington DC itself, capital of what is touted as the greatest and 
  richest and most powerful nation on earth?
       
       But what good does their sense of urgency do for those poor 
  wretches who are in these positions right now? Many have never heard 
  of the Buddha. Preach the Dhamma to them, and It will fall on deaf 
  ears. They are too cold, hungry, and terrified to ponder anything. And 
  those who have heard the Dhamma, such as the Cambodians, they are none 
  of them in the position to apply the Dhamma, to undertake the study 
  and meditative practices that would liberate them. Relentless, cutting 
  misery destroys their bodies, spirits, and minds.
       
       If we allow ourselves, in our present sojourn, in the relative 
  safety and comfort of our fragile ivory towers, for whatever reason, 
  to believe that there is no possibility of attaining Liberation in our 
  day, or even that it is too difficult, or that it is too late for us 
  to start now, there is no telling to what depth of misery, nor for 
  what expanses of time, we are condemning ourselves!
       
       No one of us knows what horrors lie latent in our kamma-vipaka, 
  ready to materialize under the appropriate circumstances. The 
  opportunity to break the chain of kamma-vipaka through meditation is 
  in our hands right now. Let us not let the rare moment escape.
       
       The 'next bus' will surely come, but will we be there at the 
  bus-stop to meet it? Will we be able to board it? Will we even 
  recognize it?
       
       That is the big question.
       
  
  
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                    HAVE YOU SEEN HELLS AND HEAVENS?
  
  
       "Bhikkhus, it is gain for you, it is great gain for you, to have 
  found the moment for living the divine life out. Bhikkhus, I have seen 
  hells that provide the six bases for contact. There whatever the form 
  one sees with the eye, one sees only the un-wished-for, never the 
  wished-for, sees only the undesired, never the desired, sees only the 
  disagreeable, never the agreeable. Whatever the sound one hears with 
  the ear...odour one smells with the nose...flavour one tastes with the 
  tongue...tangible one touches with the body...Whatever the idea one 
  cognizes with the mind, one cognizes only the un-wished-for never the 
  wished for, cognizes only the undesired, never the desired, cognizes 
  only the disagreeable, never the agreeable. 
       
       "Bhikkhus, it is gain for you, it is great gain for you, to have 
  found the moment for living the divine life out. Bhikkhus, I have seen 
  heavens that provide the six bases for contact. There whatever the 
  form one sees with the eye, one sees only the wished for, never the 
  un-wished-for, sees only the desired, never the undesired, sees only 
  the agreeable, never the disagreeable. Whatever the sound one hears 
  with the ear...odour one smells wit the nose...flavour one tastes with 
  the tongue...tangible one touches with the body...Whatever the idea 
  one cognizes with the mind, one cognizes only the wished for, never 
  the un-wished-for, cognizes only the desirable, never the undesirable, 
  cognizes only the agreeable, never the disagreeable. Bhikkhus, it is 
  gain..." (S. iv, 126) [G. 236 Translated by Bhikkhu anamoli]]
  
  
  
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                   THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE BUDDHA
                                          
                            By Bhikkhu Bodhi
                                          
  
  [Transcriber's Note: The following text was transcribed from cassette 
  #9 of the ten cassette educational program, "The Buddha's Teaching As 
  It Is".  I was considering writing an article myself on the aspects of 
  the Dhamma that deal specifically with the "practical world".  
  However, I had also been listening to the Bhikkhu Bodhi tapes in my 
  car and was very impressed.  His description of the Buddha's social 
  teachings is superb and I wanted to share his wording.  The following 
  excerpt begins side two of the tape.     --Chris O'Keefe]
  
  
  
       Buddhism...tends to promote economic well-being in society by its 
  stress on the virtue of generosity.  The Buddha teaches all his 
  disciples, whether they be monks or lay-people, to practice giving.  
  To be generous and bountiful towards others, living with open hands.  
  The wealthy, in particular, in Buddhist society, have the duty and 
  obligation to give to the poor.  To help and to assist the poor.
       
       The things that can be given, these the Buddhist text classify 
  very minutely.  The main objects are the basic requisites of 
  existence: clothing, food, dwelling places and medicine.  Secondary 
  objects include seats, vehicles, lights, books, utensils and so forth.  
  All of these get classified very minutely.  But the Buddha praises, 
  especially, the giving of food.  He says that if people knew the value 
  or benefit of giving food -- the rewards they would get for themselves 
  by giving food -- they would not sit down to eat even a single meal, 
  without giving something to eat to somebody else if there is an 
  opportunity to do so.  He says that one who give food gives five 
  things: he gives life -- long life, he gives beauty ( or good 
  complexion), he give happiness, strength (physical health) and he 
  gives intelligence.  Because the person who receives the food and who 
  eats it then he gets...his life gets extended...he acquires a good 
  complexion, he feels happy...pleasure over receiving the food, he 
  gains health and his mind is able to function properly and to utilize 
  its intelligence.  
       
       The Buddha says that one who gives food gives these five things 
  and in turn he receives these five things back.  That is, the karmic 
  result of giving food is to obtain for oneself long life, and if not 
  in this lifetime then in some other lifetime.  You obtain yourself 
  beauty, happiness, health and intelligence.  All of this comes through 
  giving.  
       
       Then on many occasions, the Buddha has given practical bits of 
  advice to lay-people on how to deal with their economic affairs.  One 
  time a group of lay-people came to the Buddha and said, "Bhante, we 
  aren't monks living in the forest, we don't know much about meditation 
  or philosophy.  But we need something that's practical, something that 
  can help us right here and now.  And also something that will help us 
  advance in future lives.  Teach us what is appropriate for us."  Then 
  the Buddha taught them four things that lead to happiness hear and 
  now.  He said, first, the first thing that's required, is energy and 
  diligence.  If you work at some job, some profession, trade or 
  business, you have to be energetic and diligent in performing your 
  work.  The second factor is security.  Because when you acquire 
  wealth, you have to protect it carefully, to make sure it remains 
  safe.  The third thing is good friendship.  You have to associate with 
  good friends, true friends, with virtuous people who will help you and 
  protect you.  Then fourthly, you have to maintain a balanced 
  livelihood.  You shouldn't be too bountiful, spending more than your 
  means permit.  And you shouldn't be niggardly, clinging to your 
  wealth.  But you should avoid these extremes and spend in proportion 
  to your income.  
       
       Those are the four things the Buddha taught leading to welfare 
  here and now, then he went on to teach four things that lead to long 
  term benefit in the future.  That is faith, or confidence, in 
  spiritual values, generosity, moral discipline and wisdom.
       
       The Buddha also got down to the very practical matters of the 
  right ways of acquiring wealth.  The four standards of right 
  livelihood to which the lay-follower should conform.  That is, he 
  should acquire wealth only by legal means, not by illegal means.  He 
  should acquire it without violence.  He should acquire it honestly and 
  he should acquire wealth in ways which do not harm others.  Then, 
  having acquired wealth in these ways, the Buddha went on to teach five 
  uses that the lay-person should make of his wealth.  
       
       Firstly, he should use it to provide for his own household -- his 
  family, relatives, children and so on.  Secondly, he should use the 
  wealth to make gifts to friends, to entertain them, to give them 
  presents at the holiday season, and so on.  Thirdly, he should use 
  wealth to protect and repair his property and his dwelling.  Fourth, 
  he should pay taxes and make the oblations to the deities.  And fifth, 
  he should use wealth to offer alms and requisites to the monks and 
  brahmins.  This deals with the...some of the aspects of the Buddha's 
  economic teachings.  
       
       Now coming to the specific social teachings of the Buddha, the 
  teachings that are designed for molding and transforming society.  Now 
  from the Buddhist viewpoint, society itself is an abstraction, not a 
  reality.  Society is a collective whole made up of individuals, and 
  the quality of society reflects the individuals who compose it.  If 
  the individuals are corrupt, the society will be corrupt.  If the 
  individuals are noble and pure, the society will be noble and pure.  
  Since society merely reflects the individual...its individual members, 
  the Buddha aimed at transforming society by giving individuals new 
  standards of conduct, new ideals and patterns of behavior which would 
  elevate and transform their conduct.  Then changes in the social order 
  would follow as a matter of course.  
       
       There are various codes of conduct taught by the Buddha which 
  fulfill this requirement.  These codes were designed originally for 
  individual observance, but when put into practice, they bring about 
  far reaching changes in the social order.  Some instances we might 
  mention are the five precepts, to abstain from killing, from stealing, 
  from sexual misconduct, from false speech, and from intoxication.  
  Though these lines of conduct help improve our individual conduct but 
  when they're observed by many people throughout the society, then they 
  purify and elevate the society.
  
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