The gist of Buddha’s teaching---3

The gist of Buddha’s teaching---3

Bhikkhu Dhammavaro
Buddharatana Monastery of Australia

The Noble Truth of the Origin of suffering

The second truth is the noble truth of the origin of suffering, the Buddha said: “This is, O Bhikkhus, the Noble Truth of the Origin of suffering: it is this craving (Tanhā) which produced rebirth (ponobhavikā), bound up with pleasure and greed. It finds fresh delight now here and now there, namely: craving for sense pleasures (kama-tanhā), craving for existence (bhava-tanhā) or becoming and craving for non-existence or self annihilation (vibhava-tanhā).”
This second truth of cause of suffering, in broad sense, it means the attachment to life and the happiness therein.
Tanhā can be rendered as thirst (pipāsa), desire (chanda), lust (rāga), greed (gedha), delight (nandi), attachment (rati), love (pema), affection (sineha), passion (parilāha), etc. As it is conditioned, so the Buddha had shown us with his own experience that when craving ceases, the suffering also ceases to be.
This is absolutely true with all of us, we are all bound up by all sort of desires and craving. When we are healthy, we want to enjoy the various kinds of food, clothes, and possessions; when we are sick, we are scare and don’t want the illness; when we are told that we are going to die, we are absolutely frantic and not willing to die, we want to live for ever! When we know that there is no more hope of recovery, we want to go to heaven! For those people who can’t escape from their troubles, they want the easiest way out by killing themselves!
Our craving on the six sense doors of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind and the six sense objects of sights, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects are twelve cravings, they increase threefold for the craving for sense pleasure, craving for beings and the craving for the non-beings; they are multiplied again by the three periods of time for past, present and future, thus making it a hundred and eight types of cravings!
The dependent origination is perhaps the hardest to understand, there are twelve factors, and some of the text listed as few as five factors. The important one is the consciousness attaches to the namarupa, Buddha explained to Ananda: “if the consciousness doesn’t enter the womb, will nama and rupa attach to one another?” Ananda replied No! Consciousness has six types; i.e. eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, and mind consciousness. In every existence, being enters a new form or body, from there he/she uses the various sense doors and consciousness starts to operate and accumulate, and in each existence, the total sum of consciousness from a previous existence is then transferred to the new body, from there consciousness starts to accumulate again. Therefore the consciousness is an ever changing sankhara or phenomena, it is not a permanent entity as most people have understood.

The wheel of life depicting the twelve dependent originations can be seen in the paintings of Tibet, Avijja or ignorance is depicted as a pig, greed as a rooster, and hatred as snake. Our mind is like that of a monkey!

There are verses in Dhammapada which explains the craving; “From craving springs grief, from craving springs fear. For him who is wholly free from craving, there is no grief; where is the fear?” (verse 216) “Just as a tree cut down sprouts up again if its roots remain uncut and firm, even so, while the latent craving that lies dormant is not rooted out, suffering springs up again and again.” (verse 338)

There are three types of craving, the craving for sensual pleasure (kama tanhā), the craving for being (bhava tanhā), and the craving for non-being (vibhava tanhā).

With the craving for sensual pleasure (kama tanhā), the Buddha explained how he overcame his craving to an ascetic Magandiya; “Having understood as they (craving) actually are the origin; the disappearance, the gratification, the dangers, and the escape in the case of sensual pleasures, I abandoned craving for sensual pleasures and I abide without thirst, with a mind inwardly at peace. I see other beings who are not free from lust for sensual pleasures being devoured by craving for sensual pleasures, and I do not envy them, nor do I delights therein. Why is that? Because there is, Magandiya, a delight apart from sensual pleasures, apart from unwholesome states, which surpass divine bliss. Since I take delight in that I do not envy what is inferior, nor do I delight therein.” (MN I)

The craving for being (bhava tanhā) is the craving that there is a permanent being or soul within one’s body. When a person finds gratification in visible forms, thinking that form is permanent, lasting, eternal, then lust arises with an eternalist view, then it is craving for being, the craving for becoming. This being survives death, and is reborn again and again to experience life or to do spiritual practice, craving that the soul finally departs from this world, he/she will be united with a God or Brahma. The Buddha has mentioned fifty five eternalist views in the Brahmajala Sutta.

The craving for non-being (vibhava tanhā) is the opposite of the above. They don’t recognize there is a permanent being; we are merely a psycho-physical entity which exists once only, after death there is nothing left. When one thinks: “Form is annihilated, destroyed, and does not exist after death.” the lust arises with an annihilationist view, then it is craving for non-being. People holding such view think that the life is short and exists only temporarily; therefore one should enjoy life while one can. This kind of erroneous view is prevalent, and it prevents a person from taking on religious life. The Buddha has mentioned seven types of nihilist views in the Brahmajala Sutta.

With these three cravings in the mind, and the craving is one of the taint (asava) which is supported by the taint of ignorance, then personality or ego arises. Ignorance then acts as a condition to reinforce craving. This is why the first point of ignorance is beginning-less and not determinable. Due to ignorance, there arises this whole mess of sufferings.