TheDhamma

AndSomeCurrentMisconceptions

By

BhikkhuKhema

BuddhistPublicationSocietyKandy•SriLanka

BodhiLeavesNo.19Firstpublished:1963

BPSOnlineEdition©(2011)

DigitalTranscriptionSource:BPSTranscriptionProject

For free distribution. Thisworkmay be republished,reformatted, reprinted and redistributed in anymedium. However, any such republication and

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redistributionistobemadeavailabletothepublicona free and unrestricted basis, and translations andother derivative works are to be clearly marked assuch.

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T

TheDhammaAndSomeCurrentMisconceptions

he objection is sometimes raised byWesterners that the Dhamma belongs toanother cultural pattern altogether, and isthereforeunsuitedtotheWesternoutlook.

Buddhism arose among the Indo-European peopleof northern India some 2,500 years ago, while thepredominant religion of the West came from theSemitic tradition of the Near East, which has alsoproducedJudaismandIslam.Consequently,itishardtounderstandinwhatrespectSemiticcultureisnearerto that West than Indo-European culture itself. NorshouldoneforgetthatChristianityexpandedfromtheNear East by way of the Roman empire toWesternEurope and America, while Islam is established insuchdissimilar culturalareasasWestAfrica,Malayaand Indonesia. If it be objected that there have beenchangestosuit localconditions,whathappenstoouroriginal criticism? It is true that the majority ofindividuals in a culture have to face the sameproblems and this suggests the conclusion that these

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problems have been created by the specific lifeconditions existing in that culture. That they do notrepresent problems common to human nature seemstobewarrantedbythefactthatthemotivatingforcesand conflicts in other cultures are different fromours. [1]But thisdoesnot imply that thebasisof thehumancondition found in, for example, birth,death,thesearchforthepleasantandtheavoidanceofpain,isnot thecontext inwhichall theculturesareboundtofunction.

In present Western conditions it may be hard toappreciatetheDhamma,andnodoubtpeopleareputoffwhentheycomeincontactwiththe“cocktail-partyBuddhism,”whichisaby-productoftheinsistenceoflooking at life as an intellectual exercise. For similarreasons Jung found occasion to animadvert againstthoseWesternerswhopractiseEasternyoga.

Itissquitetruethatmuch,probablymost,oftheso-called yoga practice indulged in by Westerners isfoolishandmisguided.That is,however,notbecauseit is“eastern” inorigin,butbecause it isnotpursuedfor the right reason.” [2] In both these casessuperficialityorcrankinessaretherootofthetrouble.

Adistinctionshouldbemadebetween the locationintimeandplaceoftheDhammaandthequestionofitsvalidity.References in thePaliCanon to externals

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are historical and should be distinguished from theessentials,suchastheFourNobleTruths,eachpersonbeing left to put them to the test for himself. Thepresent international situation should also providefoodfor thoughtonmettā,or lovingkindness,surelyas necessary now as at the time of the Buddha.However, it is formulated theDhamma remains trueto itsdescriptionas “ehipassika,” something to comeand see for oneself. This should suggest thatBuddhism is more than a bundle of notions. Theperson who is used to intellectual and speculativeedifices isnotusually in thehabitof testing thembythecriterionofpersonalexperience.Contrastthiswiththewordsof theBuddha:“I teachyoua teaching forthe rejectionof, thegetting ridof, any self, awaybywhich impure conditions can be put away and pureconditionsbroughttoincrease.Bywhichone,eveninthis very life, may attain unto the fulfilment andgrowth of perfect wisdom, realising it by one’s owndirect knowledge, and therein to abide.Now itmaywellbe that this thoughtwilloccur toyou:“Yes, thismaybedonebutyetoneremainssorrowful.’Butthatisnotthewaytolookatit,forwhenthisisdone,therewill be as a result joy, zest, calm, mindfulness, self-possession and the happy life. And if others shouldask us this question: ’But what is that getting of aphysical-body self, amind-made self, a formless self

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aboutwhich you say all this?’ Thenwe should thusreply:“Itisthesameselfofwhichwespeak,foratthemomentwhenanyoneofthesethreemodesofselfisgoingonitisnotreckonedasoneoftheothertwo:itisonly reckoned by the name of the particularpersonality which prevails. For all these are merelynames, terms, ways of speaking, definitions ofeverydayuse. Theseweusewhenwe speak, butweare not deceived by them.” [3] This cuts acrossWestern lines of thought. Many scholars, howeversympathetic they may have been on the intellectuallevel,missed the point because they tried to deducewhere the Dhamma leads instead of combiningintellect with experience. How many of those whoindulged in the hair-raising speculations aboutNibbānaforinstanceeverdidanymeditation?

Another extreme is represented by those whosought to smuggle in esoteric teachings. Since theBuddha explained that he was not holding backanything, that was conductive to the welfare andprogressofanyonewhowasinterested,inthe“closedfirstoftheteacher,”therecanbelittlejustificationforthis. He stated that he knew more than he waspreparedtodivulgeashewasonly interested in thatwhich was of practical application. Speculation maybe entertaining but it is incompatible withconcentratingon the taskwhich canbringbeneficent

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results in the immediate future. The Dhamma is forthe individual and not vice versa and this is onereasonwhyitisbasedontheFirstNobleTruth,whichstates that life involves suffering. Everyone hasexperiencedittosomeextentinhisownlife.

So, far from being alien to the Western person,Buddhismcanappealtohimonhisownground.SincetheRenaissancethebestoftheEuropeantraditionhasaimed at a humanistic training, in which theindividual is urged to think for himself. Comparableto this is the advice given by the Buddha to theKālāmas, who complained about the difficulty ofassessingthevariousteachingsincirculation:“Donotbeledbytheauthorityofreligioustexts,norbymerelogicorinference,norbyconsideringappearances,norby delight in speculative opinions, nor by seemingpossibilities,norbytheidea‘ this isourteacher.’Butwhenyouknowforyourselvesthatcertainthingsareunwholesome then give them up. And when youknowforyourselvesthatcertainthingsarewholesomethenacceptthemandfollowthem.”[4]Thisresolvesthe problem of “ faith,” which has caused to muchdiscussion in theWest,particularlywhen ithasbeenopposed to modern science. Galileo suffered for hisviews,anditwaslongtimebeforeitwasadmittedinsomequartersthatthisworldwasnotthecentreoftheuniverse butmerely part of a galaxy. It was only in

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1950thatthePopeliftedthebanonDarwin’stheoryofevolution.

Man cannot change the world overnight, but theDhamma shows the practical possibility of theindividual bringing about a healthy change in hisattitudeandtherefore inhisattitudeandtherefore inhisactions;whichisboundtoaffecttheenvironment.Whetherhedoessoishisownbusiness,andunlessheappreciates the reasons for doing so it is literallymeaningless to try and force him to understand. AstheDhammapadasays:

“Byoneself, indeed, is evil done; by oneself is oneinjured.Byoneselfisevilleftundone;byoneselfisonepurified. Purity and impurity belong to oneself. Noonepurifiesanother.”[5]Purityistobeunderstoodinthesenseofthepurityofachemicalsubstanceandnotmerely according to moral or ritual convention. TheDhammapadaexplainsthatjustasawater-potisfilledgraduallybysmalldropsofwater,soapersonmaybegradually filled by healthy aims, or else by thosewhichleadtopainfulresults.Onlythosewhoarenotstuckinthemudthemselvescanpullanotherout.

A contemporarypsychoanalyst remarks: “TheEastwasnotburdenedwiththeconceptofatranscendentfather-saviour in which the monotheistic religionsexpressedtheirlongings.TaoismandBuddhismhada

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rationality and realism superior to that of Westernreligions … Paradoxically, Eastern religious thoughtturns out to be more congenial toWestern religiousthought than does Western religious thoughtitself.” [6] He further [7] comments on the cheerfulmood of humanistic doctrines, contrasted to thefeelings of guilt which arise in theistic religion, inwhich the devotee is likely to deprive himself of allgoodqualitiesbyprojectingthemontoasupernaturalagency.Inthiscaseitisnotsurprisingthatheendsupwith the feeling of being a worthless sinner. Norshould the implications of religious masochism beoverlooked, in which an apparently acute self-criticismmasksarroganceanddelusion.TheodorReikdealtwithsomeoftheseproblemsinhis“MasochisminModernMan.”Suchmechanismsdeludethepersoninto thinking he is getting the best of both worlds,whereas it is hindering him from taking the stepswhichmaybereasonablyexpectedtobeconducivetobetterresults.

As far as theWest is concerned, thepresent age isoneof scienceandanalysis.Howdoes this affect theDhamma?Psychologists[8]cantellushowthis“self”isgraduallybuiltupintheoriginally“selfless”infant,how it expands and becomes more complex withexperience, how strains in the imperfectly integratedexperiencemaysometimesdistortandsplititintotwo

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ormoreseparate“personalities,”andhowthesemaybe welded into one again by harmonising theconflicting stresses. Truly do they teach, as theBuddha taught long before, that in all this there isnothing immortal, nothing permanent, no hardchangeless centre in the ever-changing flux ofexperience which could in truth be called a self(conventionally speaking, B. K.). This self that weprize sodearly and towhichwe subordinate all is amere emptiness, the empty heart of a whirlpool, amathematical point which changes its position, notonlyfromyeartoyear,butevenfromhourtohour,asa man shifts from his “business integration to thatwhichismanifestedathishomeorclub.”Thislackofan abiding substance or ego-entity in the ultimatesense(anattā),impermanence(anicca)anddukkhaarethe three characteristics of life and are so closelyrelated that it is hard to appreciate them as separateconcepts. Whether it is the cells of the body,arrangements of atoms or just external events theelementoftransitorinessisnoticeableinlife,andfromthisitiseasiertoseethelackofanabidingegoentityand hence the incomplete and sometimesunsatisfactory or painful side of it. Anyone mayobservethefluxofhisthoughtsandemotions,butifitistobeofrealhelptohimthesethreecharacteristicsoflifemustbeunderstoodorrealisedmoredeeplythan

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as purely intellectual concepts. “Dukkha” has nosingle equivalent inEnglish adequate to the rangeofall it implies. To call it simply “suffering” ismisleading. It isobvious that this isnot thewholeoflife, and it would be an error to assume that theDhamma iseitherpessimisticoroptimistic: Itsaim isto see life as it really is, which does not depend onfeelingsonewayortheother.

Thismaybecomparedtotheaimofascientist,anditfollowsthatsofarfromfearingscientificinquirytheDhamma welcomes it. But neither science nor logiccan“prove”nordisprovethevalidityoftheDhamma,since itmust be personally experienced. The presenttheoryofmatter[9]asenergyormotionseemsneartothe Buddhist view of anicca or impermanence, butthen it is clear that the atomic theory of the lastcentury would not have been so sympathetic. Whatwillsciencesaytomorrow?Physicsmaybeappliedtotheenvironment,butfortheindividualitmaybemorefruitfultolookwithin,notinthesenseofbroodingormullingovertheprojectionsofthemind.UntilrecentyearstheWesthas largelyneglectedthis infavourof“conquering nature” but in depth psychology inparticularthereisamovetowardsdealingwithlevelsof the mind which are normally unconscious. Thisdoes not mean they are inoperative, even if manypeople ignore them. The works of Fromm already

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referred to are an interesting bridge between certainaspectsoforientaldoctrineanddepthpsychology,butit is especially in meditation that the Dhamma hassomethingofgreatvaluetooffertotheWest.

The struggle between dogmatism and science inEuropehashad far-reaching results. Formany it hasposed the false antithesis of either accepting theisticreligion, with its demands of faith, or rejecting allreligion forsome formofmaterialismornihilism.Tojudgeby the increase inneuroses and thenumberofpatients inmental hospitals, and perhaps thosewhoshouldbe thereaswell, thepresent trend inWesternculture would not appear to be a healthy one.Previously patients complained of specific disordersandsufferedfromdefinitesymptoms[10]butnowthemajority complainof“mal de siècle”: the sickness [11]oftheage,whichdespitematerialaffluence[12]seemstogetintodistress.Thefree-for-allofthepresentdoesnotprovidethepleasure, letalonehappiness, thatonpaperitmightleadonetoexpect.

False antithesis has indeed become part or aningrained habit of dualistic thinking in the West.Without the comforting labels of good and bad, hotandcold,pleasantandunpleasant,peoplegetlost,butdonotconsiderwhethersuchlabelsmeananything;inmostcasestheyarehighlysubjectiveandtheresultsofpast conditioning. “People are so fond of

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discriminatinglabelsthattheyevengotothelengthofputting them on human qualities and emotionscommon to all. So they talk of different ‘brands’ ofcharity, as for example of Buddhist charity orChristiancharity,andlookdownonother“brands”ofcharity. But charity cannot be sectarian; it is neitherChristian, Buddhist, Hindu norMoslem.” [13] Manyof these mistakes could be avoided if the threecharacteristicsof life,especiallyanattā,wereborne inmind,butWesternthoughtasawholeisbasedonthetacit assumptionof the ego,whicheven in itsmilderformsdistortsperception. Itmaybeobjected that thePali Canon abounds in discriminative labelling andthat Buddhist analysis is exhaustive in its lists ofcategories.This is true, but it shouldbe rememberedthat the texts are the basis of practice, and not asubstituteforit.Buddhastatedthateventuallyonehastogobeyondsuppositionsorconcepts,andinawell-knownsuttaoftheMajjhima-NikāyaitisstressedthattheDhammaisthemeanstotheend.Theimageusedisthatofaraft,whichoneusesforcrossingariveranddoes not, if one is wise, carry on one’s backafterwards.Araftondrylandisaburden.

Theway out of the discriminative impasses is theMiddlePath. It ischaracteristicof theDhammain itsavoidance of extremes. It recognises conventionaltruth (vohāra-sacca) and ultimate truth, (paramattha-

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sacca).The former is foreverydayuse,and lifeasweareboundtoliveitwouldbeimpossiblewithoutit.A“person” for instance is not an ultimate truthaccording, to the Buddhist view, but obviouslymustbe treated as humanity and common sense suggests.The two sorts of truth do not therefore exclude oneanother, and theDhamma aims at a healthy balancebetweenthem.Each individual issoconditionedthathe can see only a little objectively, in the ordinarysense, while in the ultimate sense his mind is sounconcentratedandundisciplinedthathemistakestheimpermanent for the permanent, the unpleasant forthepleasant,andissoattachedtotheideaoftheegothatheisrootedinignorance(avijjā).Thushisrelationto his own existence and the world is based on afundamental error, and it is hardly surprising if herunsintodifficulties.TheMiddlePathaimstocorrectthese errors and their results. Man is not theexclusively intellectual creature some writers wouldhaveusbelieve,andthePath isdesignedtocater forthewholebeing. Ithasoftenbeendescribed, [14]butunless it is trodden it can scarcely be expected toproduceresults.Asananalogyonemightthinkofthedifferencebetweenathirstytravellerhavingadrinkofwater, and the same traveller just discussing thenatureofdrinkingwaterasanacademicproposition.

To classify the Dhamma, which is based on

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Buddha’s experience, is superfluous. The goal isNibbāna and it represents, among other things, asolution to the problem of discriminative thinking:“Justasarockofonesolidmassremainsunshakenbythewind, even so neither visible forms, nor sounds,norodours,nortastes,norbodilyimpressions,neitherthedesirednortheundesired,cancausesuchaonetowaver. Steadfast is his mind, gained is hisdeliverance.” [15] This does not sound like thenihilismthatsomecriticshavereproachedBuddhismwith, and if anything has been annihilated it is onlythebogusego-feeling.IntheCala-Māluṅkya-sutta[16]theBuddhaexplainsthatfollowingthePathdoesnotdependonspeculativeviewsastowhethertheworldisinfiniteornot,andinthisforeshadowsthemodernapproach,whichprefersempiricalexperienceandthetangible.Thisisofrelevancetothepresentsituationinthe West, where there is a disparity betweenintellectual achievement and ordinary happiness.Quite rightly the Westerner is not willing to take aleap in the dark, and the Dhammamay be put to apractical test.Eventuallyeven rightviewshave tobeputaside,astheyarebutthemeans.TheDhammaisnotauthoritarian,demanding thatapersoncondemnother views, but shows how views arise. Nor is itsuggested that liberation can be attained by formalmethods: “Better than reciting a hundred verses

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composedofmeaninglesswordsisonetextonhearingwhichonebecomespeaceful.” [17]Buddhadescribedattachment to rites .and rituals as a hindrance. Suchattachmentsaresubjective,sothattheyhinderaclearviewofrealityandrepresentcraving.RitesandritualsarelikelytodeludeapersonanddeflecthisattentionfromtheeffectivepartsofthePath,suchasmeditationormindtraining.

Misconceptions about meditation abound in theWest.Somethinkitisanartificialinductionofesotericstates,andothersthinkitisday-dreamingandawasteof time because themeditator does not appear to be“doing” anything. An English classic remarks: “ThetendencyofIndianmysticismtoregardtheUnitivelifewholly in its passive aspects, as a total self-annihilation,adisappearanceintothesubstanceoftheGodhead results, I believe, fromadistortion of truth(duetotemperament).TheOrientalmysticpressesontolosehislifeupontheheights,buthedoesnotcomebackandbringtohisfellow-menthelife-givingnewsthat he has transcended mortality in the interests oftherace.”[18]

Leaving aside the use of theistic terminology, itwould be a grave error to suppose that Buddhabecame enlightened by purely passive means. Histrials in the forestwere facedwith determination. IntheMajjhimaNikāyahefrequentlyadvisesthemonks

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not to be slothful, but tomeditate, in order to avoidregrets later. Finally, it is difficult to ignore hisexposition of the Dhamma during the last forty-fiveyears of his life. After this it was transmitted orally,andlaterwrittendown.[19]

Meditation requires a basis of calm, which resultsfromacertainethicalstandard,and it requireseffort.Oneofthefactorsofenlightenmentgiveninthetextsis energy (viriya). Those who doubt whether thisapplies tomeditation shouldnot take it on trust, buttry it for themselves … the benefits that may beexperiencedareconsiderable.

“Ehi-passika”…

ReprintedfromSangha,February1962

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Notes

1. K.Homey,TheNeuroticPersonalityofourTime,W.W.Norton,NewYork,p.34.[Back]

2. S. K. Prem, The Yoga of the Bhagavat Gita, I: M.Watkins,London,p.xv.[Back]

3. Digha-Nikāya,no.9,PoṭṭāpādaSutta.[Back]

4. AnguttaraNikāya,PaliTextSociety,London,vol.Ip.188.TranslatedbySomaTherainTheWheelNo. 8, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy.[Back]

5. Dhammapada, transl. S. Radhakrishnan, OxfordUniversityPress,Verse145.[Back]

6. E. Fromm, Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis,Harper,NewYork,p.80.[Back]

7. E. Fromm, Psychoanalysis and Religion, YaleUniversityPress,P.50.[Back]

8. Prem,op.cit.p.39.[Back]

9. VideW.Heisenberg,PhysicsandPhilosophy,AllenandUnwin,London.[Back]

10. Vide Breuer and Freud, Studies on Hysteria,HogartPress,London.[Back]

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11. Fromm, Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis, p. 85.[Back]

12. Horney,op.cit.[Back]

13. W. Rāhula, What the Buddha Taught, GordonFraser,Bedford,p.5.[Back]

14. Rāhula,op.cit.p.45.[Back]

15. AIII378.[Back]

16. MN63.[Back]

17. Dhammapada,Verse102.[Back]

18. E.Underhill,Mysticism,Methuen,London,p.434.[Back]

19. It is still common in countries such as Burma tofind peoplewho have committed awhole book,ormore,tomemory[Back]

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TableofContents

Titlepage 2TheDhammaAndSomeCurrentMisconceptions 4

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