Essential points of the Buddhist teachings

Category: Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

• By Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

On the occasion of giving a special talk, I feel I should deal with those important subjects that most adequately sum up the principles of Dhamma (Ultimate Truth; the truth of nature; the duty of all that lives; the teachings of the Buddha.) So I have resolved to speak on "The Essential Points of the Buddhist Teachings" in a hope that a grasp of them will greatly facilitate a wide-ranging advance on your studies. If these points are not grasped, it will be confusing. You will feel that there are a great number of things to be known and that they keep increasing until there are too many to understand and practice. This is the root cause of failure, for it results in discouragement and an interest that becomes more and more unfocused and imprecise. In the end, it's as if one is carrying around a great load of knowledge without being capable of studying or practicing so as to make use of it.

So please set your mind on some revision, on order to grasp the essential points of the Buddhist Teachings, so as to realize the knowledge that is the foundation for a correct understanding of Dhamma. I emphasize that it is the foundation, because there is knowledge that is not a foundation, just as there is incorrect understanding, understanding of the sort that deviates little by little until it is no longer Buddhist teaching. Or if it is still Buddhist teaching, it is an offshoot of it that is continually branching away from the trunk.

To call something the foundation of the Buddhist Teachings is only correct if firstly, it is a principle which aims at the extinction of Dukkha (the suffering, unsatisfactoriness or imperfection of every experience or state clung to as being "I" or "mine") and, secondly, it has a logic that one can see for oneself without having to believe others. These are the most important constituents of a foundation.

The Buddha refused to have any dealings with those things which don't lead to the extinction of Dukkha. Take the question of whether or not there is rebirth. What is reborn? How is it reborn? What is its kammic inheritance? (kamma-is volitional action by means of body, speech or mind.) These questions are not aimed at the extinction of Dukkha. That being so, they are not Buddhist teaching and they are not connected with it. They do not lie in the sphere of Buddhism. Also, one who asks about such matters has no choice but to indiscriminately believe the answer he is given, because the one who answers is not going to be able to produce any proofs, he's just going to speak according to his memory and feeling. The listener can't see for himself and so has to blindly believe the other's words. Little by little the matter strays from Dhamma until its something else altogether, unconnected with the extinction of Dukkha.

Now, if one doesn't raise those sort of problems, one can ask instead, "Is there Dukkha?" and "How can Dukkha be extinguished?" To these questions the Buddha agreed to answer, and the listener can see the truth of every word of his answer without having to blindly believe them, see more and more clearly until he understands. And if one understands to the extent of being able to extinguish Dukkha, then that is the ultimate understanding. One knows that, even at this moment, there is no person living; one sees without a doubt that there is no self or anything belonging to a self. There is just a feeling of "I" and "mine" arising due to the foolishness whereby one is deluded by the beguiling nature of sense-experience. Therefore, there being no one born here, there is no one who dies and is reborn. So, the whole question of rebirth is utterly foolish and nothing to do with Buddhism at all.

The Buddhist teachings aim to inform us that there is no self and nothing belonging to a self, there is only the false understanding of the ignorant mind. There is merely body and mind, which are nothing but natural processes. They function like a mechanism that can process and transform data. If they do so by the wrong method, it gives rise to foolishness and delusion, so that one feels that there is a self and things which belong to a self. If they do so by the correct method, those feelings do not arise; there is the primal truth-discerning awareness (satipanna), the fundamental true knowing and clear seeing that there is no self and nothing belonging to a self.

The matter of "I" and "mine" is the single essential point of the Buddhist teachings. It is the one thing which must be completely purged. It follows that here lies the knowing, understanding, and practice of all the Buddhist teachings without exception. So please pay full attention.

In regards to the foundations or root principles of Dhamma, there aren't a great deal. The Buddha said that there was a single handful. A sutta in the Samyutta Nikaya makes this clear. While walking through the forest, the Buddha picked up a handful of fallen leaves and asked the monks who were present, which was the greater amount - the leaves in his hand or all the leave in the forest. They all said that the leaves in the forest were much more, so much that it was beyond comparison. Even now, try to imagine the scene and see the truth of this, how much more they are, The Buddha then said that, similarly, those things which he had realized and which he knew were a great amount, equal to all the leaves in the forest - but that which was necessary to know, those things which should be taught and practiced, were equal to the number of leaves in his hand.

So from this it can be taken that, compared to all the myriad things that are to be found in the world, the root principles to be practiced to completely extinguish Dukkha amount to a single handful. We should appreciate that this "single handful" is not a huge amount, it's not something beyond our capabilities to reach and understand. This is the first important point that we must grasp if we want to lay the foundations for a correct understanding of the Buddhist teachings.

Here we reach the phrase, "the Buddhist Teachings". Please understand the phrase correctly. These days, that which is labeled as the "Buddhist Teachings" is a very nebulous thing - that is to say it is extensive without much definition. In the Buddha's time, a different word was used, the word "dhamma"; it referred specifically to the dhamma which extinguishes Dukkha. The dhamma of the Buddha was call