Q30 What is the highest good for humanity?

Q30) Now,“What is the highest good for humanity?”

THE ENLIGHTENED ONE once said, “All Buddhas say nibb?na is the supreme thing.” Supreme thing means “the ultimate and highest good for humanity.” In the international language of ethics, it is known by the Latin term summum bonum, the utmost good- ness, the best and highest thing attainable by a human being in this very life. Buddhist students agree that if there is a summum bonum in Buddhism, then it must be nibb?na itself. So if a foreigner asks what the summum bonum
of Buddhism is, you should answer “All Buddhas say nibb?na is the supreme thing.”

—————————————————————–

Q29 Can the lower animals attain nibbana?

Q29) Now to give you a clearer and deeper under- standing of this subject, we shall consider the question “Can the lower animals attain nibbana?”

IN ONE OF his discourses, the Buddha uses the words parinibb?yati and parinibbuto in reference to animals that have been trained until their self-assertiveness has been eliminated. For a dog, an ele- phant, a horse, or anything whatever that is trained until it is tame and no longer unruly, we can use the word parinibbuto, the same word used regarding an arahant (one who  has eliminated the de?le- ments completely). These two words are applicable to one who has put out the ?res completely, a person who is completely cooled down. In the Pali language as spoken at the time of the Buddha, the  word “parinibb?na” could be used in this way, also. When applied to a human being, it meant the achieving of the extinction of de?le- ments, or arahantship (spiritual perfection).

When applied to a lower animal, it meant attaining the extinction of self-assertiveness. Applied to a ?re, it referred to the going out and becoming cool of the embers. In speaking of boiled or steamed rice which had been served into a bowl and had become cool, the word used was parinibb?na. It was an ordinary word, used in a general way for everyday worldly things, to indicate something become cool, something rendered harmless.

So we ought to take good advantage of nibbana and not remain worse o? than the beasts to which words like these also can be applied. Don’t put it o? until death comes. That is the height of stupidity, wasting the Buddha’s invaluable gift. Let us study afresh the terms “nibbana” and “parinibb?na” with its derivative “parinibbuto”.Then there will arise the courage and ardour for the job of penetrating to and attaining that which is called “nibbana”. Let us not shrink back like those people who on hearing the word “nibb?na” become drowsy, apprehensive, or just bored.

I ask all of you to interest yourselves in the word “nibb?na”. The getting rid of harmful infuences, even the passing of one’s youth,may be called a sort of nibb?na. Just as with animals which have been trained until their dangerous self-assertiveness has been eliminated, these are parinibbuto, that is, coolness, complete coolness.So let us be completely cool people who have nothing that can set ?re to us and burn us. Let us not  thoughtlessly produce heat, but rather win the prize that is nibb?na. To begin with the kind known as sandi??hika-nibb?na or di??hadhamma-nibb?na, then by degrees we can work up to the level of real nibbana.

Q28 Here is a question that defnitely should be brought up: “Is nibbana attained after death or here is this life?

Q 28) Here is a question that defnitely should be brought up:
“Is nibbana attained after death or here is this life?”

TEACHERS WHO  LECTURE in the fancy preaching halls only talk about nibbana after death. In the Tipitaka, however, we don’t and this. There are expressions such as sandi??hika-nibbana (nibb?na which a practitioner sees personally) and di??hadhamma- nibb?na (nibb?na here and now). We are told that the blissful states of consciousness experienced in the four rapa-jh?nas and the four ar?pa-jh?nas (eight degrees of deep concentration) are sandi??hika- nibb?na or di??hadhamma-nibb?na. But for the present purpose,we may understand these states to be a foretaste of nibb?na. They have the ?avour of, but are not identical with, real nibb?na. Because these states are not perfect and absolute, they have been called sandi??hika-nibb?na or di??hadhamma-nibb?na.

Yet there are still better words than these. On one occasion the Buddha described the cessation of lust, hatred, and delusion as “sandi??hika?. akalika?, ehipassikam opanayika?, paccatta? veditabba? vinn?hi”, that is, “directly visible, giving immediate results, inviting all to see, leading inward, and to be individually experienced by the wise”. These terms imply a living person who has realized, felt, and tasted nibb?na, and who can call his friends to come and see what he has found. This shows clearly that he has not died, and he knows the taste of nibb?na in his heart.

There are other expressions as well. Anup?d?-parinibb?na is something attained while life still remains. Parinibb?yati refers to the eradication of su?ering and de?lements without any need for the extinction or disintegration of the ?ve aggregates (the body-mind complex), that is to say, without one’s needing to die physically.

Now this word “nibb?na” in ordinary everyday language simply means “coolness, absence of heat, absence of su?ering”. Thus,I should like you to consider the wisdom of our Thai forefathers who had a saying “Nibb?na is in dying before death.” You probably have never heard this saying, but it is very common  among rural people.

They say:
Beauty   is to be found in the dead body.
Goodness  is to be found in relinquishment.
The monk is to be found, in earnestness.
Nibb?na  is to be found in dying before death.

Are we their descendents, more clever or more foolish than our forefathers? Do ponder over this saying “Nibb?na is in dying (to selfhood) before death (of the body).” The body doesn’t have to die.But attachment to the self-idea must. This is nibb?na. The person who realizes it has obtained supreme bliss, yet continues to live.

—————————————————-

Q27 We speak of a person ?nding satisfaction in nibbana. What ought we to call that satisfaction?

Q 27) “We speak of a person ?nding satisfaction in nibbana.  What ought we to call that satisfaction?”

WE  BUDDHISTS TEACH that one ought not to go about liking and disliking, anding satisfaction in this and dissatisfaction in that. So if someone ands satisfaction in nibbana, what are we to call that? It has been said that satisfaction in nibbana is Dhamma-raga (lust for Dhamma) or Dhamma-nandi (delight in, Dhamma). On hearing this, there may be some alarm at the use of a Pali word like raga (lust) together with the word “Dhamma”. But we must understand that the raga in Dhamma-raga is not the kind that desires visual objects, sounds, odours, tastes, and tactile stimuli; it is not sensual lust. It means satisfaction as intense as that which the ordinary householder ?nds in sensuality, but in this case the satisfaction is found in emptiness, in immortality, in nibbana.

At the present moment we fear and hate nibbana, and do not want to go near it. As soon as we hear the word we shake our heads. We have never had any desire for Dhamma or for nibbana. Our desires are all directed towards sensuality: colours and shapes,sounds, odours, and tastes. To be fair to ourselves we ought to ?nd as much   satisfaction in nibbana as we  now ?nd in colours and shapes, sounds, odours, and tastes. Then our practice towards the transcending of sufering will go ahead easily. These words “Dhamma-raga” and “Dhamma-nandi” were used by the Buddha in this sense.

————————————————————–

Q26 What is nibbana?

Q 26) “What is nibbana?”

IF YOU COME across someone who insists on raising this question, answer that nibb?na is the immortal-element (amatadh?tu). Sayit is the element that does not perish. All other elements perish, but this one does not perish, because it is free of lust,hatred, and delusion. When there is freedom from delusion, there is no self-idea, there is no grasping or clinging to selfhood, and thus there is no perishing. Because it is what puts an end to perishing, it has been called the immortal element. This immortal element is the cessation of the mortal element.

Q25 What is it when there is total emptiness?

25) “What is it when there is total emptiness?”

TOTAL EMPTINESS  OR  freedom is called “nibbana” (Sanskrit,nirvana). The condition of emptiness resulting from the complete and thorough elimination of the self-idea is nibb?na. This can be summarized by saying “Nibbana is supreme emptiness.” It is that unique vision that transcends ordinary knowledge. We can
transcend the various types of ordinary knowledge through seeing that “nibbana is supreme emptiness.”

Nibbana is supreme emptiness, or supreme emptiness is nibbana.Do remember that the perfection of emptiness is what we refer to as “nibbana”.

Q24 Now, why is a mind in this state of awareness described as an empty or free mind (Thai, จิตว่าง)

24) “Now, why is a mind in this state of awareness described as an empty or free mind (Thai, cit waang)?”

THERE IS A verse in the Texts which says, “That is truly empty which  is  empty  of lust,  hatred,  and delusion.”  A mind is empty (unencumbered, disengaged, or free) when it is free of lust,hatred, and delusion.

When, by whatever method or means, a mind has been rendered free of all traces of lust, hatred, and delusion, it can be said to be an empty or free mind (cit waang). But we are referring here only to what is done actively. When one is asleep, the mind is also empty! That state is likewise one of true emptiness, but we have not actively produced the state, we have not brought it about intentionally. This is not practising Dhamma; it doesn’t belong in that category. But if we have made an e?ort in some way so that the mind becomes emptied of lust, hatred, and delusion, even if only for a moment, then the mind if said to be free, void, empty. This freedom and emptiness can be increased in degree until it becomes complete — absolute freedom and emptiness. An arahant (fully perfected individual)
is absolutely free. Ariyans at lower stages of development are largely free. An ordinary worldling can be free and empty occasionally.

If at any moment there is freedom from lust, hatred, and delusion, then in that moment there is no idea of self. This is known as empty or free mind (cit waang).

—————————————————————–

Q23 Why is it held that all things are empty, that this world, that every world, is an empty world?

23) “Why is it held that all things are empty, that this world, that every world, is an empty world?”

OLLOWERS OF OTHER  religions will ask you these questions: “Why do you  say the world is empty when it contains all these things? Isn’t there matter? Isn’t there mind? Isn’t the world just full
up with things?”
The point is that it is empty of any self or of anything belonging to a self. There is nothing that can be taken as being a self or belong-ing to a self. Self cannot be found  in anything, not in mind, nor in matter, nor in the various products that arise out of mind and matter. The Buddha said that the assertion that all things are empty refers to nothing other than the awareness that they are empty of selfhood.

————————————————————-

Q22 What sort of inner life did the Buddha lead?

22) “What sort of inner life did the Buddha lead?”

THE BUDDHA  ONCE said concerning himself, “The Tath?gata dwells in the Temple of Emptiness (su??at?-vih?ra).” This “temple” is a spiritual temple, not a physical one. “Temple” (vih?ra) refers to a spiritual dwelling place, that is, a state of mind. The Temple of Emptiness is an ever-present mental state devoid of any ideas of “self ” or “belonging to self ”. To dwell in the Temple of Emptiness is to live in full awareness that all things are devoid of selfhood. This is su??at?, emptiness, and what is called the Temple of Emptiness. The Buddha dwelt in the Temple of Emptiness, ex- periencing supreme bliss continuously. This is what the Master said of himself.

Q21 Did the Buddha bring about the cessation of his kamma?

21) “Did the Buddha bring about the cessation of his kamma?”

IF ASKED THIS, we must be sure not to degrade the Buddha by answering carelessly or recklessly. In fact we can never really vitiate the Buddha, but our words may belittle his worth.

The Buddha must have brought about the complete cessation of his kamma because he wiped out the mental de?lements, which is the meaning of “ending kamma”. He transcended every kind of kamma,and it was this very fact that made him famous, that constituted his glory. The sage Gotama had become a sabbakammakkhaya?-patto,
that is, one who  has succeeded in bringing about the cessation of all his kamma. The news of this event spread through India until it reached the adherents of other sects and religions. For instance, a certain brahmin called Bavari sent sixteen disciples to the Buddha,to ask him questions and obtain knowledge from him. Others came to test him. Because of the news that the sage Gotama had become a sabbakammakkhaya?-patto, had achieved the complete cessation of his kamma, people in India at that period were full of admiration. They were overjoyed at hearing the words “sabbakammakkhaya? patto”. It was for just this reason that people became  so interested in the Buddha.

We too ought to follow the example of the Buddha and set about the task of putting an end to kamma.

———————————————————