Buddhist Soteriological Ethics: A Study of the Buddha’s Central Teachings: Four Noble Truths

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Bhiyyobhava “becoming more (bhuyas),” the Faring in the grand between of the universes, was the greatest potential, the long “Way of Becoming,” the Yana, from which there was no more turning back, as we saw ourselves as further-farers. The Digha-nikaya 33. 1. 11 says, “that good values may persist, may be clarified, for their becoming More, for their expansion, for the making of them “Become”, for the protection of them, he brings forth will, he endeavours, he stirs up energy, he makes firm the mind, he struggles”.Venerable Thich Nhat Tu articulates this “more” in the manifold interpretations of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the soteriological ethics arising therefrom. The realization of the statement of dukkha, its arising, its ceasing, and the path leading to its ceasing, make an ordinary person an enlightened being. Ven. Nhat Tu clarifies from the Pali tradition that the Teaching is neither nihilist nor pessimist, but a way to reach the highest happiness (nibbanam paramamsukham).The Tibetan renders nibbana as mya.nan.las.hdas. pa “transcending sorrow / soka”. Dukkha is an analogy formation after sukha: du is an antithetic prefix implying perverseness, badness, with kha=akasa “sky, space”: the unpleasant and painful causing misery. No word in English covers the same ground as dukkha. It is a central term in early Buddhism as the very first sermon of the Buddha deals chiefly with dukkha. Buddhaghosa says in the Visuddhimagga 494, “idha du iti ayam saddokucchite dissati, kucchitam hi puttam dupputto ti vadanti. Kham-saddo pana tucche. Tuccham hi akasam khan ti vuccati,” which means “du is used in the sense of despicable, since they speak of a despised son as dupputto. The word kham means empty, as the empty space is spoken of as kham”. Dukkha as a philosophical category is a contribution of Buddhism tohuman thought, which has to be transcended into the highest happiness of nibbana. The word dukkha does not occur in the Rigveda and other Samhitas, though we find it in the Satapatha-bramana 14.7.2.15 or in the Chandoyga-upanisad 7.26.Ven. Nhat Tu presents a succinct account of its factual nature and varieties, theories of its origin and its cessation in nibbana. The presentation is lucid and categorized in clear terms. The eight theories of the origin of dukkha prevalent during the lifetime of the Buddha are negated by the Bhagavan as leading to sassatavada “eternalism” or ucchedavada annihilationism.” Lord Buddha explains dukkha in terms of the Middle Path and Dependent Origination.Ven. Nhat Tu gives a precise and definite formulation of this central tenet and also analyses the ignorance (avijja) of the Four Noble Truths as a negative function, a hindrance on several levels: mental and ethical, social and individual, physical and methodological. To sunder ignorance is to comprehend wisdom, that leads to nibbana.Ven. Nhat Tu discusses various etymologies of the word nirvana to find its underlying semantics. The Ratana-sutta explains it as the blowing out of the lamp (nibbanti dhira yathayam padipo), or the extinguishing of the fires in nibbana without residue when all illusions are destroyed (indhanaksayad ivagnir nirupadhi-sese nirvana-dhatau parinirvrtah), or the end of all desires (vana=tanha), or to go beyond the path of rebirth (vana “path of rebirth”). Nibbana is a many-splendoured metaphysicalphenomenon which is the quiescence of the transitory, wherein illusion is destroyed, which extinguishes all karmas, and effects detachment from the things of this world (Majjhima-nikaya 24).Ven. Nhat Tu sums up this complex transphenomenon as the “psychologically free state of mind” (cetovimutti cetaso vimokkho), the highest happiness, the timeless ending of dukkha. He discusses the wrong interpretations of nibbana conditioned by the theistic background of scholars and gives its nontranscendental interpret

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0003384

294.3 T0885BU 2014

ห้องสมุดบัณฑิณศึกษา DCIGS (อาคาร 1 ชั้น 3)

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294.3 T0885BU 2014

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: ., 2014

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