BIRTH
AND SUFFERING
The role of kamma
in the chain of causation is underscored in the teaching sankhara
paccaya vinnanani — "From sankhara there arises rebirth
consciousness." which we have already explained in detail. The dying
person is attached to the signs and visions relating to his kamma and so
on his death their follow kamma-based rupas together with rebirth
consciousness conditioned by his death-bed attachment.
Contact with the
sense-objects gives rise to feeling which in turn produces desire. It does not
matter whether the feeling is pleasant or unpleasant. Pleasant feeling creates
attachment to pleasant objects while unpleasant feeling makes us crave for
pleasant objects. When the desire becomes strong and develops into frantic
craving (upadana) it results in activity or effort for its fulfillment.
People do good or bad deeds which they hope will help to satisfy their needs
and desires. It is this kammabhava rooted in craving that gives rise to
rebirth. Rebirth is bound up with suffering regardless of the world in which it
takes place.
There is no need to
dwell on the sufferings in the animal and other lower worlds. Among human
beings, too, suffering is an inescapable fact of life. A man's suffering begins
while he is in the mother's womb. He has to work hard for his living, he is
harassed by bullies and tyrants. Even if he escapes from the dukkha
inherent in the struggle for survival, he will finally have to face old
age, sickness and death. From the time of his conception man is headed towards
these inevitable evils of life. He is approaching them at every moment. He may
live an apparently care-free, happy life but his 'Namarupas are forever
in the process of ageing and disintegration.
There is an Indian
story which stresses the inevitability of old age, sickness and death. A man
being afraid of old age rose into the air with the elixir of life in his mouth
and hid in the sky. Another man bid under the sea to escape sickness and still
another hid in a cave in Himalayas to avoid death. When their sons searched for
them they found that the first man had become old with all the ugly signs of
decrepitude, the second man was sick unto death and the third man was dead.
Everyone is subject to
old age, sickness and death. Once a man is reborn, there is nothing that will
protect him from these evils of existence. Hence the Buddha's saying in the
Dhammapada that there is no place in the sky, on land or in the sea, where one
can escape death.
GRIEF AND
LAMENTATION
Death and the other two
evils of life are inevitable so long as rebirth takes place within the
framework of disintegrating namarupa. Rebirth leads also to grief,
anxiety, lamentations and anguish.
We grieve when a member
of the family dies. The grief is overwhelming when we lose some one, e.g.
parents or a husband on whom we have to depend or some one e.g., a son or a
daughter whom we love dearly. Another cause for grief is the loss of material
possessions through evil-minded officials, robbers, thieves, destructive fires,
floods, cyclones, and hated heirs. Grief is also caused by the affliction of
disease and decline of health. Some sick persons are so much depressed that
their mental states become a hindrance to their recovery. In the case of
morally scrupulous monks and laymen, any damage to moral life gives rise to
anxiety. Thus the rishi Isisinga suffered terrible anguish when his moral
integrity was undermined by the seduction of a goddess. Anxiety and repentance
also torment those who realize their mistakes after having rejected the right
view in favour of a wrong one under the guidance of a false teacher.
Besides there are many
other misfortunes in life e.g. accidents, viz., victimization by robbers, etc.,
hardship in earning one's living and, securing the necessities of life and so
forth that occasion grief, anguish and lamentation.
There is no need to
dwell on the physical sufferings in hell and the animal and peta worlds.
Because of his consciousness man also suffers anguish whenever he is in contact
with unpleasant sense-objects. As he has thus to suffer mentally into the
bargain, it is for him something like adding insult to injury. This does not
apply to the Arahat or the noble one at the anagami stage for being free
from irritation (dosa), he remains unperturbed in the face of physical
suffering and so does the mindful yogi who is free from ego-illusion that tends
to add to the sense of self-pity. Hence the importance of the Buddha's teaching
that we should be aware unpleasant feeling when we suffer from it.
People are unhappy when
they think of the frustrations and misfortunes that beset them in the past or
at present or that may beset them in future. They feel bitter and upset when
they find themselves in distress and burdened with misfortunes.
All these sufferings
are rooted in rebirth. Life is all suffering without the ego and without
anything good even if there were such ego to enjoy it.
According to the
doctrine of Paticcasamuppada, the only thing that links one existence with
another is the cause-and-effect relationship. From craving, kammic
effort, etc., based on ignorance in one existence, there arise five effects,
viz., consciousness, body and mind, sense- organs, contact, and feeling. These
effects begin with rebirth and end in death with old age, anxiety and other
sufferings in between them.
This teaching of the
Buddha will not appeal to common people who harbour illusions of happiness and
ego-entity. But impersonality and suffering are the unmistakable facts of
existence and life in the deva-world is no exception. Some earth-bound devas
have to struggle hard for survival and are more miserable than human beings.
They are called vinipatika devas and they comprise ghosts, devils, etc.
that belong to lower order of devas. Some devas in heavens are not happy
because they do not have good abodes and enough attendants. Even Sakka, the
king of devas, admitted to the elderly thera Mahakassapa that he was not very
much luminous as his attainment of deva-world was due to the good kamma
which he did long before the proclamation of Buddha dhamma and that he had
to hide himself when he saw the devas who outshone him as they had done good
kamma in the time of the Buddha.
Thus Sakka was not
always happy and so were his female attendants who told Maha Kassapa that they
were wretched and miserable since they counted for little among the
high-ranking queen-goddesses. Some devas become unhappy on the approach of
death that is heralded by the withering of their bedecked flowers, the sweating
from their armpits and other signs of senility. Some devas die suddenly while
indulging in celestial pleasure just like a man whose life is cut off by
stroke. Death may be a matter of seconds like the extinction of the flame of a
candle. This is borne out by the story of Subrahma deva.
STORY OF SUBRAHMA DEVA
Subrahma deva was
having a good time when his attendants, the goddesses who were singing and
plucking flowers on the tree died suddenly and landed in hell. Subrabma deva
saw them suffering in hell and at the same time he foresaw that he too would
die in a few days and share the fate of his attendants. Being much frightened,
he came to the Buddha and asked the Lord to show him the place where he could
live without fear. The Lord then says that he sees no way to salvation for
every living being other than the practice of bojjhanga dhamma (links of
enlightenment such as mindfulness), the dhutanga (ascetic Practices) and
sammuppadhana (right exertion), that serve to put an end to defilements,
the control of senses (indriyasamvarasile) the control of that helps to
keep off the defilements and Nibbana which means renunciation of everything.
On hearing this, the
deva and his attendants attained the first stage on the holy path. What we
should note here is the sudden death of the goddesses. The fate of those who
thus die suddenly while engaged in the pursuit of pleasure is indeed terrible
for they are likely to land in hell as a result of unwholesome kammic
impulses. If there is any sign that heralds the approach of death, it creates
fear and adds to their suffering.
Suffering that stems
from attachment to pleasure is not confined to the sensual sphere. For it is
the lot, too, of the Brahmas in their immaterial or formless (arupa)
world. In the Brahma world there is no pleasure of sex or any other sensual
pleasure. The Brahmas only see, hear or think and the objects of their seeing,
etc. have no sexual overtones. But as Visuddhimagga says, some people
develop a craving for the sensual pleasures of the Brahma world because they
believe either through hearsay or speculation that such pleasures are superior
to those of the human and deva-worlds. It is no other than their sensual
craving that leads to the attainment of rupajhana, arupa jhana,
samapatti and finally lands them in the rupa or arupa brahma
worlds.
It is not surprising
that some people think or speak of the sensual pleasure in the Brahma world.
Those who are well aware of the true teachings of the Buddha will reject the
idea but it probably appeals to ignorant people. The Indian religious books
portray Brahma with his wife and some regard even Nibbana as a heavenly abode
with celestial mansions where we can dwell with our families and attendants.
KAMAUPADANA MEANS ALL
KINDS OF EXCESSIVE CRAVING
Kamaupadana here
means not only the excessive craving for sensual pleasure. It means also the
developed forms of craving for the material and immaterial (rupa and
arupa) worlds hence according to Visuddhimagga the yogi can do
away with this inordinate craving only at the last stage of the holy path and
it is this craving that lies at the root of every effort to attain rupa
or arupa jhana. For ordinary people such jhana means rupa
or arupa kammic effort based on sensual craving and this leads to
rebirth in rupa or arupa world of Brahmas. From the time of
rebirth there arises the ceaseless ageing (jara) of namarupa or
either of the two phenomena of life. The senility of the Brahma is not apparent
like that of a human being but still it leads to decay and when his course is
run, he cannot avoid death.
Being free from hatred,
the life of a Brahma is not subject to grief, worry, anxiety and so forth; and
the lack of physical sensitivity makes him free from physical suffering. He
cannot, however, escape birth, old age and death that are inherent in every
kind of existence.
So escape from old age
and death presupposes the effort to rule out the possibility of rebirth. In
order to avoid rebirth, we must seek to avoid wholesome or unwholesome kamma
and negation of kammic existence calls for negation of attachment
and craving. For this purpose the mental process must end in feeling and stop
short of developing the desire for anything. This denial of desire through the
contemplations, anicca, dukkha and anatta of everything arising
from the senses is the only way to avoid craving, rebirth and other links in
the causal sequence that leads to old age and death. This means the temporary
extinction of suffering which the yogi can overcome once and forever when he
develops vipassana insight on the holy path.
ATTACHMENT TO BELIEF
AS THE CAUSE OF REBIRTH
Ditthupadana
means the attachment to the view which rejects future life and kamma.
Hence ucchedaditthi which insists on annihilation after death is a
kind of ditthupadana. A person who holds such a belief will have no need
to do good or avoid evil. He will do nothing for other worldly welfare and seek
to enjoy life as much as possible by fair means or foul. As he has no moral
scruples, most of his acts are unwholesome kammas that create death-bed
visions and lead him to, the lower worlds. This is evident in the story of
Nandaka peta.
Nandaka was a general
in the time of king Pingala who ruled Surattha country that lay north of the
present province of Bombay in West India. He clung to false views suck as that
it was useless to give alms and so forth. After his death he became a peta
on a banyan tree but when his daughter offered food to a monk and shared
her merit with him, he had an unlimited supply of celestial drinks and food. He
then realized the truth of the kammic law and repented of his adherence
to false views in his previous life. One day he led king Pingala to his abode
and entertained the king and his followers to a celestial feast. The king was
much surprised and in response to his inquiry, the peta gave an account of his
rebirth in the lower worlds as a kammic result of his false views,
immorality and vehement opposition to alms-giving; and the sudden change of his
fortune following his sharing of merit acquired by his daughter. He also
described the suffering that he would have to undergo after his death, the
terrible suffering in hell that he was to share with those who held wrong views
and vilified the holy men during their earthly existence.
The moral of the story
is that attachment to wrong views (e.g. that an act has no kammic
result, etc.) leads to unwholesome acts and rebirth in the lower worlds.
The commentary also
says that clinging to uccheda (annihilation) belief leads to deva or
Brahma worlds if annihilation is supposed to follow demise or those higher
planes of existence, but devas and Brahmas apparently do not believe in their
annihilation after death. By and large the belief in annihilation makes people
prone to misdeeds.
Kammic deeds may
also be motivated by eternity-belief (sassataditthi). The belief creates
the illusion of personal identity, the illusion which makes a man believe that
it is his permanent self that will have to bear the consequences of his good or
bad deeds in a future life. So he devotes himself to what he regards as good
deeds. Some of his deeds may be bad in fact but in any case his deeds, whether
good or bad, that arise from eternity-belief leads to rebirth and suffering.
Still, another mainspring of kammic deed is superstitious belief. There
pare many superstitions, as for example, that seeing a man of low class brings
about misfortune, that the bee-hive or a guana in a house is a sure omen of
poverty. Under the influence of such beliefs, a person may do evil, such as
treating an outcast cruelly or killing the bees. This is borne out by the
Cittasambbuta jataka. In the jataka the bodhisatta was a man of low chandala
class called Citta. Ananda was then his cousin named Sambhuta. They made their
living by dancing with bamboos. One day the daughter of a merchant and the
daughter of a high-caste brahmin who were very superstitious went for a picnic
with their attendants. At the sight of the two dancers, they considered it an
ill omen and returned home. Their irate followers then beat the two men for
denying them the pleasure of the picnic.
The two dancers then went to Taxila and
disguised as brahmins they devoted themselves to learning. Citta became a
student leader by virtue of his intelligence. One day their teacher sent them
to a place where they were required to recite the brahmanical parittas.
There having got his mouth burnt by drinking hot milk unmindfully, Sambhuta
uttered "Khalu, Khalu" in his dialect and Citta was so absent- minded
as to say, "niggala, niggala" "spit out, spit out," these
slips of the tongue led to their undoing for their high caste brahmin students
found out their secret. They were beaten and expelled from school.
On the advice of their teacher they
became rishis (forest ascetics or hermits). After their death they
passed on to the animal world, first as two deer and as two eagles in their
next existence. Then citta became the son of the chief Brahmin and remembered
his three previous lives. He led the life of a hermit and attained Jhana
and psychic powers. Sambhuta became a king, he remembered his low caste
life as a sow Caste and spent his time in the pursuit of sensual pleasure.
By means of his psychic power, Citta
knew his brother's spiritual immaturity and after waiting for 50 years he came
to the king's garden. The king recognized the hermit as his brother in a
previous life and was prepared to share royal pleasures with him. But being
aware of the kammic effects of good and bad deeds, the bodhisatta had
pledged himself to a life of self-restraint, renunciation and detachment. He
reminded the king of their close associations in their previous lives, to wit,
as low-caste chandalas, as deer and as birds. His object was to point out the
erratic course of kammic life and to urge the king to become an ascetic
for further spiritual progress. But it was hard for Sambhuta to give up his
worldly pleasures. So the bodhisatta returned to the Himalayas. Then the king
became disenchanted with his worldly pleasures and went to the Himalayas where
he was welcomed by the hermit. There as a hermit he devoted himself to
spiritual exercises and attained jhana and psychic powers.
SUPERSTITION AND EVIL
REBIRTH
What we wish to
emphasize in this story is the evil kammas that arise from
superstitions. The role of superstition as the cause of evil deeds is also
evident in the story of Koka, the hunter.
In the time of the
Buddha there was a hunter called Koka in a certain village. One day he set out
with his dogs to hunt in the forest. On the way he met a monk who was out on
his begging round. The hunter considered this encounter an omen that boded no
good. As luck would have it, he did not get any animal for food on that day. On
his return he again met the monk. Now blind with fury and ill-will, he set his
dogs on the monk. The monk had to run and climb up a tree. He sat on a branch
that was not very high. The hunter poked at the feet of the monk with the sharp
end of an arrow. The latter had to lift his feet one after the other and at
last his robe got loose and slipped down. It fell upon the hunter and seeing
him thus wrapped up in the robe, the dogs mistook him for the monk and attacked
him. Thus he was killed by his own dogs. Then realizing that they had killed
their master, the dogs ran away.
The monk got down from
the tree and reported the matter to the Buddha. Thereupon the Lord says,
"The foolish man wrongs a person who has never wronged another. He wrongs
a person who is free from defilements. But his evil deed boomerangs on him just
like the particle of dust that returns to us when we throw it against the
wind."
Here the hunter's
terrible death, his rebirth in the lower worlds and suffering arise from an
evil deed that in turn is rooted in his superstition. Some people get alarmed
when an astrologer says that the position of planets bodes no good for them. So
they offer flowers and candles to the Buddha image, give dana to the
monks, hear the sermons and practise meditation. Some have the parittas
recited by monks to stave off the impending evil that they associate with their
unpleasant dreams. Their good deeds lead to good rebirth but like the other
rebirths that stem from evil deeds, it too is fraught with suffering.
Some ignorant people
do evil to keep off the misfortunes that might befall them. The jatakas mention
the animal sacrifice of some kings that involves the killing of four goats,
four horses, four men and so forth as propitiatory offerings to gods. On one
occasion this kind of rite was planned by king Kosala in the time of the
Buddha.
The king had taken a
fancy to a married woman and so one day he sent her husband on an errand to a
distant place. Should he fail to accomplish the task entrusted to him and
return to the capital on the same day, he was to be punished. The man carried
out the king's order and returned before sunset but the city-gate was closed
and so being unable to enter the city, he spent the night at Jetavana
monastery.
Overwhelmed with lust
and evil desire, the king could hardly sleep in his palace. He heard the voices
of the four men who were suffering in hell for having committed adultery in
their previous lives. It was perhaps by virtue of the Buddha's will and psychic
power that the king hears these voices from hell. The king was frightened and
in the morning he sought the advice of the Brahmin counsellor. The Brahmin said
that the voices portended imminent misfortune and that in order to stave it off
the king should sacrifice elephants, horses, etc., each kind of animals
numbering a hundred.
The king made
preparations for the animal sacrifice. How cruel is human nature, that dictates
the sacrifice of thousands of lives to save one's own life! Among the potential
victims there were human beings and hearing their cries, Queen Mallika
approached the king and asked him to seek the advice of the Buddha.
The Buddha assured the
king that the voices had nothing to do with him. They were the voices of four
young men who having seduced married women in the time of Kassapa Buddha were
now suffering in Lohakumbhi hell. They were now repentant and belatedly trying
to express their desire to do good after their release from hell. The king was
very much frightened and vowed never to lust for another man's wife. He told
the Buddha how the previous night had seemed very long because he could not
sleep. The man who had fetched what the king wanted said too that he had
travelled one yujana the previous day. There upon the Buddha uttered the
verse: "To one who cannot sleep, the night seems long; to the weary
traveller, a yujana is a long distance.
Similarly for the
foolish man who does not know the true dhamma, the life-cycle is long."
After hearing this
gatha, many people attained sotapanna and other stages on the
holy path. The king ordered the release of all living beings that were to be
sacrificed. But for the Buddha's words, he would have done unwholesome kammas
and this story shows how superstitious beliefs lead to evil deeds.
FANATICISM OR
RELIGIOUS UPADANA
Good or evil kammas
are also born of religious attachments. By and large people believe that
theirs is the only true religion, that all other religions are false. So they
try to spread their religion, convert other people by force or otherwise
persecute the non-believers. All these evils had their origin in religious
upadana or fanaticism.
Again kammic
deeds may stem from attachment to ideology or views on worldly matters. Some
people seek to impose their creed on other people by every means in their
power; they propagate it in various ways and they discredit or slander or
undermine the unity of those who do not agree with them. All these efforts and
activities form the kamma-bhava due to upadana.
In short, all
obsessions with practices, and beliefs other than the ego-belief mean excessive
attachment to views that leads to kammic deeds.
SILABBATUPADANA:
ATTACHMENT TO WRONG PRACTICES
Some people believe
that they can attain salvation through certain practices that have nothing to
do with the four noble truths. Such a belief is called silabbatupadana
It is silabbatu padana too to worship animals, to adopt the animal
way of life, to perform certain rites and ceremonies in the hope of attaining
salvation
According to
Visuddhimagga, some people rely on these practices as the way to
salvation and do kammic deeds that lead to rebirth in the human world,
the deva world and the material (rupa) and immaterial (arupa)
worlds.
The
Visuddhimagga refers only to kammas leading to the human and
other higher worlds. It makes no mention of the kammas leading to the
lower worlds. It does not follow, however, that silabbatupadana does not
give rise to bad kammas. The commentary does not mention the evil
kamma arising from silabbatupadana only because it is too obvious
to need allusion. It is said in the Kukkuravatika and other suttas that a man
is reborn as an ox or a dog if he lives to the latter like those animals in
deed, word or thought or he is reborn in hell or an animal world if he accepts
the false belief but does not practise it fully. Needless to say, the killing
of animals as a sacrifice to gods that arises from this upadana leads to
the lower worlds, and so do other misdeeds resulting from the upadana
that is bound up with certain forms of worship, rites and ceremonies.
In short, every belief
in the efficacy of a practice as an antidote to evil is silabbatupdddna.
According to the
commentaries on Visuddhimagga it is silabbatupadana even to rely
entirely on conventional morality and mundane jhana as the way to
liberation. The arupa jhanas attained by Alara and Udaka originated in
this upadana and so do the deeds of many people that are based on faith
in God. All these upadana leads to rebirth and suffering.
ATTAVADUPADANA:
ATTACHMENT TO EGO-BELIEF
The last upadana
(attavadupadana) is attachment to ego-belief. It is the strong conviction
about the ego-entity, the firm belief that the ego exists permanently, that it
is the agent of every deed, speech and thought.
Few people are free
from this upadana. The average man believes that it is "I" who
sees, hears, moves, etc. This illusion of ego entity is the mainspring of
self-love and concern about the welfare of one's self. The universality and
omnipotence of self-love are underscored in Queen Mallika's reply to king
Kosala.
Mallika was originally
the daughter of a flower vender. One day she met the Buddha on the way and
offered her food. After eating the food, the Lord told Ananda that the girl
would become the queen of king Kosala. On that very day king Kosala who was
defeated in the battle fled on horseback. Utterly exhausted and forlorn, the
king rested in the flower-garden where he was tenderly attended on by Mallika.
Being much pleased, the king took her to the palace and made her his chief
queen. The Buddha's prophecy came true because of her recent good kamma
and her good deed in the past existence.
But
Mallika was not as good looking as other lesser queens. Moreover, as a woman
born of a poor family, she felt ill at ease among the courtiers. So in order to
cheer her the king one day asked her whom she loved most. The answer which he
expected was "Your Majesty. I love you most." He would then tell her
that he too, loved her more than anyone else and this demonstration of his love
would, so he thought, increase their intimacy and make her more at home in the
palace.
Nevertheless, as an intelligent woman who had the courage of conviction,
Mallika replied frankly that she there was no one one whom she loved more than
herself. She asked the king whom he loved most. The king had to admit hat he
too loved himself more than any one else. He reported this dialogue to the
Buddha. Then the Lord said, "There is no one in this world who loves
another person more than himself. Everyone loves himself or herself most. So
everyone should have sympathy and avoid ill-treating another person"
In
this saying of the Buddha the word "self" or Pali: atta
does not mean the atta or atman of the ego-belief. it refers only
to self in its conventional sense or the self that a man speaks of to
distinguish his own person from other living beings. But the ego-belief is also
a source of self-love. The more Powerful the belief is, the greater is the love
of oneself.
We do
not love anyone more than our own selves. One loves one's wife or husband or
child only as a helpmate, an attendant or a support. Marital or parental love
is no more real than love of precious jewelry. So if a person says that his
love of someone is greater than his love of himself, his words must be taken
with a large grain of salt. In case of life-and-death crisis even a mother will
not care for her child.
Once
a woman travelling with a caravan across the desert was left behind with her
child as she was asleep when the caravan departed. As the sun rose higher in
the sky, the sands became hotter and she had to place her basket and then her
clothes under her feet. Still the heat became more unbearable till at last she
was forced to put down her child under her body. Hence the saying that even a
mother will sacrifice her child for self-preservation
Because of this self-love
based on ego-belief, man seeks his welfare or the welfare of his family by fair
means or foul. He does not hesitate to do evil that serves his interests. But
the belief in a permanent self also leads to good kammas. Some people
are motivated by the belief and so they practise sila, dana, jhana,
etc., for their welfare in afterlife. As a result they land in deva and
Brahma worlds but there they have to face again old age, death, and other evils
of existence.
In
short, every effort to seek one's welfare in the present life or hereafter is
rooted in ego-belief. Such kammic effort differs from that arising from
kamupadana only in that its mainspring is obsession with personal
identity whereas in the case of the latter the driving-force is craving for
sensual pleasure. Nevertheless for those who are strongly attached to
ego-belief, egoism is closely bound up with sensual desire.
As
for the Ariyas who are wholly free from ego-belief, they are motivated
only by kamupadana when they do good. Thus the dana, sila and
bhavana of Anathapindika, Visakha, Mahanama and others on the holy path
may stem from their desire for better life in the human and deva-worlds or for
the attainment of higher stages on the path.
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