REFLECTIONS ON THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, KARMA AND NIRVANA
Jeremy S. Eliab
Ateneo de Manila University
FOR MANNY DY ... a friend always on call ....
And what, monks, is the Middle Path,
Of which the Tathagata has gained enlightenment,
Which produces insight and knowledge, and tends to calm,
To higher knowledge, enlightenment, Nirvana?[Burtt 1955, 30]
In the world that seemingly endless suffering and agony are experienced, many "quick fix" philosophies and psychology are shooting up from time to time. Doomsday cults and religions offer momentary direction to the lost and the confused. Renewal activities are organized to answer the search of the true meaning of human life in the midst of emptiness and spiritual thirst. This spiritual dryness seems to be a common phenomenon when human beings, though more or less pleased by the plethora of sensual pleasures and technological luxury, are not really fulfilled and contented. Deep within the innermost self, the spirit is suffering in the midst of external bliss and material gratification. The craving or thirst itself is the cause of pain, as Buddha realized. After the series of temptations (of Mara), the Enlightened became aware that the roots of all evil are lust (greed), hatred and ignorance (delusion).
Siddartha Gautama experienced the same inner conflict as a young man. He grew amid indulgence and encompassed by the amenities of a luxurious life. His father’s palace safeguarded him from the usual human anguish and torment. Later, he gave up the majestic life by reason of his restlessness and realization of the tragic truth about old age, disease and death [Burtt 1955, 21]. He wandered in the wilderness, ask the counsel of sages and lived an ascetic life. His ascetic rejection of the body’s material conditions prompted him to realize that this was not the appropriate path.
Eventually he gave up this approach as fruitless and instead adopted a middle path between the life of indulgence and that of self-denial. Sitting under a bo tree, he meditated, rising through a series of higher states of consciousness until he achieved the enlightenment for which he had been searching. Once having known this ultimate religious truth, the Buddha underwent a period of intense inner struggle. He began to preach, wandering from place to place, gathering a body of disciples, and organizing them into a monastic community known as the sangha. In this way he spent the rest of his life.
At the core of the Buddha's enlightenment was the realization of the Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering (dukkha). This aims at diagnosing the human predicament and condition. This is more than a mere recognition of the presence of suffering in existence. It is a statement that, in its very nature, human existence is essentially painful from the moment of birth to the moment of death. Even death brings no relief, for the Buddha accepted the Hindu idea of life as cyclical, with death leading to further rebirth [Lester 1975, 25]. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation. These eight are usually divided into three categories that form the cornerstone of Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration.
The Four Noble Truth is a worldview which is very much realistic and pragmatic. It is an analogy of practical medical science where one first determine the state of the patient. Suffering is a disease and a symptom. The discreet diagnosis of the physician leads to the root cause of the pain. When the source of agony is identified, the doctor contemplates and deliberates on the possible cures. After deciding what remedy is appropriate, an application follows which usually takes a disciplined process, a therapy.
Buddhism probes human existence as made up of five aggregates or "bundles" (skandhas): the material body, feelings, perceptions, predispositions or karmic tendencies, and consciousness. A human person is only a temporary combination of these aggregates, which are subject to continual change [Humphreys 1962, 17]. No one remains the same for any two consecutive moments. Buddhists deny that the aggregates individually or in combination may be considered a permanent, independently existing self or soul (atman). Indeed, they regard it as a mistake to conceive of any lasting unity behind the elements that constitute an individual. The Buddha held that belief in such a self results in egoism, craving, and hence in suffering. Thus he taught the doctrine of anatman, or the denial of a permanent soul [Coomaraswamy 1956, 88]. He felt that all existence is characterized by the three marks of anatman (no soul), anitya (impermanence), and dukkha (suffering). The doctrine of anatman made it necessary for the Buddha to reinterpret the Indian idea of repeated rebirth in the cycle of phenomenal existence known as samsara. To this end he taught the doctrine of pratityasamutpada, or dependent origination. This 12-linked chain of causation shows how ignorance in a previous life creates the tendency for a combination of aggregates to develop. These in turn cause the mind and senses to operate. Sensations result, which lead to craving and a clinging to existence. This condition triggers the process of becoming once again, producing a renewed cycle of birth, old age, and death. Through this causal chain a connection is made between one life and the next. What is posited is a stream of renewed existences, rather than a permanent being that moves from life to life—in effect a belief in rebirth without transmigration.
Closely related to this belief is the doctrine of karma. Karma consists of a person's acts and their ethical consequences. Human actions lead to rebirth, wherein good deeds are inevitably rewarded and evil deeds punished. Thus, neither undeserved pleasure nor unwarranted suffering exists in the world, but rather a universal justice. The law of karma operates through a kind of natural moral law rather than through a system of divine judgment. One's karma determines such matters as one's species, beauty, intelligence, longevity, wealth, and social status. According to the Buddha, karma of varying types can lead to rebirth as a human, an animal, a hungry phantom, a inhabitant of hell, or even one of the Hindu gods.
Although never actually denying the existence of the gods, Buddhism denies them any special role. Their lives in heaven are long and pleasurable, but they are in the same predicament as other creatures, being subject eventually to death and further rebirth in lower states of existence. They are not creators of the universe or in control of human destiny, and Buddhism denies the value of prayer and sacrifice to them. Of the possible modes of rebirth, human existence is preferable, because the deities are so engrossed in their own pleasures that they lose sight of the need for salvation. Enlightenment is possible only for humans.
In conclusion, the ultimate goal of the Buddhist path is release from the round of phenomenal existence with its inherent suffering. To achieve this goal is to attain nirvana, an enlightened state in which the fires of greed, hatred, and ignorance have been quenched. Not to be confused with total annihilation, nirvana is a state of consciousness beyond definition. After attaining nirvana, the enlightened individual may continue to live, burning off any remaining karma until a state of final nirvana (parinirvana) is attained at the moment of death.
Thus, the ethic that leads to nirvana is detachment and inner-oriented. It involves cultivating four virtuous attitudes, known as the Palaces of Brahma: loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. The ethic that leads to better rebirth, however, is centered on fulfilling one's duties to society. It involves acts of charity as well as observance of the five precepts that constitute the basic moral code of Buddhism. The precepts prohibit killing, stealing, harmful language, sexual misbehavior, and the use of intoxicants. By observing these precepts and cultivating the four virtues, the three roots of evil—lust, hatred, and delusion—may be overcome. One attains inner peace and happiness.
Reference List:
Burtt, Edwin A. ed. 1955. The teachings of the compassionate Buddha. New York: New American Library, Inc.
Coomaraswany, Ananda. 1956. Buddha and the gospel of Buddhism. Bombay: Asia Publishing House.
Humphreys, Christmas. 1962. Buddhism. London: Cox & Wyman Ltd.
Lester, Robert C. 1973. Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press.
