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මුල් පිටුව | බොදු පුවත් | කතුවැකිය | බෞද්ධ දර්ශනය | විශේෂාංග | වෙහෙර විහාර | ඉංග්‍රිසි ලිපි | පෙර කලාප | දායකත්ව මුදල් |

 

The doctrines of Anicca and Anatta Courtesy
 

Ancient Greeks, without the aid of the then unborn Freud, discovered and named the three impelling forces that motivate man. These, according to them, are the instincts of self-creation, self-preservation and self-destruction. The Hindu Triad, Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara, can be considered as the personification of the principles of Eros, Libidos and Thanatos.

On the nature of “self” however, thinkers, through the ages, have held widely divergent views. The ancients in India found a name for self. They termed it Atman and attributed to it the qualities of externality, immutability and immortality. In the Upanishads reference is found to the Atman, which is the size of a man’s thumb. At the moment of expiry, it ascends to the head of the mortal. It’s egress is through the top of the head.

According to later accounts, manifestation of Atman in separate and individual forms is a relative truth, within the realm of Maya - Illusion. The Atman or permanent Essence originates from the Absolute. Its seeming existence in diverse forms continues in the chains of transmigration until it is liberated when it re-unites or is merged with the God-head or Brahma (Absolute).

Varying accounts of creation

In the Rig Veda, there are varying accounts of the creation and the creator. The creator is Indra or Varuna or Agni, Marut and Indra jointly.

According to the Upanishads, the Universal Soul took upon itself the shape of man, and feeling lonesome created woman from himself (reminiscent of the future Eve’s emergence from Adam’s rib). In another account, the primeval Lord is Narayana floating on a leaf in the Void. From his navel a lotus emerges from which appears Brahma, the self-created.

Buddhists do not admit of a first cause or an immortal and eternal soul. The conception of immortality and eternity is possible by a conception of something that is neither, that is death and time. Time like space, is in the realm of duality and relativity and of little intrinsic worth. The conception of time and space is possible so long as a being is bound in self which is illusion. There is only reality and time and space are not Reality. The Buddha expounded the doctrines of Anicca (impermanence, or the perpetual state of flux) and Anatta (non-existance of Atman or eternal soul). He admits in the conceptual plane, of self or satta (individuality), but even in this plane gives it a different meaning - the most important of which is its essential augustness and its subjection to the law of impermanence.

Admitting death and rebirth, considering that one is bound up in the rounds of Samasara - where did it all begin? When or how or why did self originate? In short, the finite mind craves to know of the first cause.

Buddhist cosmology admits of a cyclic integration and disintegration of the universe, but not a first beginning. Yet our literal and chronology-loving mind presses for an answer. And the answer is: which came first, the tree or the seed? Or when did electricity or gravity begin? To those of us who have the time and inclination it is enough of a riddle to keep us occupied.

Metaphysical speculation

The Buddha, therefore, cautions man and discourages him from indulging in abstruse metaphysical speculation. He says that if a man came to you, mortally wounded and with the shaft of an arrow protruding from his body, would you take out the arrow first, or wait until you found out the name and caste and creed of him who shot the arrow?

In other words, “Get on with it”. And “it” is His philosophy, the Four Noble Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path that leads to salvation, to Nirvana. Nothing exists without a cause and conditioned existence is subject to the Law of Dependent Origination. Nothing is self-existent. When life is manifested in a certain form, the conditions necessary for that particular form exist. If these conditions alter to a degree incompatible with that form of life, the form changes. Life ceases in that form, but manifests itself in another form.

If the temperature on earth changed to boiling point and mankind were wiped out, according to Buddhist thinking, life would go on in other planes of existence so long as the twin forces, Avidya (non-awareness of truth) and Thrusna (desire or craving born of false views and attachment) continue. The life of an individual goes on, changing, but form merely, up and down the wheel of existence (Samsara).

It is said that the Buddha’s great disciple Ananda himself could not achieve Nirvana for a long time because he had an idee fixe - Nirvana. He was unduly attached to the conception of Nirvana, and the essence of Nirvana is release from attachment.

To think, “I am to gain Nirvana” is incorrect. The fallacy of basic existence and separateness of identity has to be discarded long before reaching even the threshold of Nirvana. That is why the Buddha, after gaining Sambodhi, referred to Himself always in the third person, as the Tathagata, “one who has arrived”.

Buddhist Monks too are supposed to inculcate the habit of referring to themselves in the third person, though of course not as the Tathagata.

A follower of the Way attempts to improve Himself through Sila (true morality), samadhi (meditation) and pragna (intelelctual and intuitive faculties). His enemies are loba (greed), dosa (hatred), moha (delusion).

Buddhism is dubbed by some as pessimistic. It is only pessimistic in so far as it believes in truth - pleasant and otherwise; in discarding the false values of self, pelf and power; in cultivating awareness and altruistic, unselfish love. While it is not the religion of the hedonist, it is also not the religion of the morbid or deluded ascetic who believes that inflicting pain, albeit on oneself, is meritorious.

Yet the Buddha admitted that on the whole a man has more pleasurable sensations than otherwise in his lifetime. He showed us the Middle path, the golden mean - as courage is between rashness (too much courage) and cowardice (too little).

Karma is of thought, speech and deed. The first is to be disciplined first because the second and the third are, but the fruition of the first. So our aim is not to stifle or repress our thoughts, but to be aware of them and through our analytic and intuitive faculties to lead them into the right channels.

Apart from the rationalistic character of his religion, the Buddha is unique because of the absence of rigid dogmatism in his teaching. Says the Buddha: “Come, study, test and then accept or reject my teachings”. Then, He says that He is but a man, a teacher of the way; that which He has achieved you can achieve. That man is responsible to Himself; He is the maker of His own destiny.

නවම් පුර අටවක පෝය


නවම් පුර අටවක පෝය පෙබරවාරි 02 වනදා සඳුදා අපර භාග 05.20 ට ලබයි. 03 වන දා අඟහරුවාදා අපර භාග 03.51 දක්වා පෝය පවතී. සිල් සමාදන් වීම පෙබරවාරි 02 වන දා සඳුදා ය.

මීළඟ පෝය පෙබරවාරි 09 වනදා සඳුදා.


පොහෝ දින දර්ශනය

First Quarterපුර අටවක

පෙබරවාරි 02

Full Moonපසෙලාස්වක

පෙබරවාරි 09

Second Quarterඅව අටවක

පෙබරවාරි 16

New Moonඅමාවක

පෙබරවාරි 24

2009 පෝය ලබන ගෙවෙන වේලා සහ සිල් සමාදන් විය යුතු දවස


මුල් පිටුව | බොදු පුවත් | කතුවැකිය | බෞද්ධ දර්ශනය | විශේෂාංග | වෙහෙර විහාර | ඉංග්‍රිසි ලිපි | පෙර කලාප | දායකත්ව මුදල් |

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