SOULS AND ENLIGHTENMENT
Suffering and Impermanence?
It is often said that the three marks of Buddhism are suffering, impermanence and non-self; but it is not as often known that these three doctrines were taught by the Buddha as provisional means to transcend the phenomenal realm so as to attain the highest Enlightenment, and not as philosophical or religious dogmas. Mainly because of this inadequate understanding, some people mistakenly think that Buddhism is pessimistic, negative and nihilistic. Actually the reverse is true: Buddhism is a religion of joy, eternity and universal self, and this will be made clear in the course of this book. It is also well known that Buddhists, irrespective of their economical, social and political conditions, are generally very cheerful people.
The doctrines of suffering, impermanence and non-self, known in Pali as dukkha, anicca and anatta, are emphasized only in Theravada Buddhism. Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism accept these doctrines too -- in fact they accept all Theravada doctrines as the base of Buddhism -- but they teach that these doctrines are only provisional, applicable only at the phenomenal level. When we have transcended the phenomenal level and attained nirvana, which is the aim of Buddhism, we attain permanence, tranquility, universal self, and bliss, known in Chinese as chang, jing, wuo, and le. This is one of the reasons why Mahayanists and Vajrayanists say that Theravadins have missed the transcendental wisdom of Buddhism.
If these three doctrines of suffering, impermanence and non-self are not properly understood, they can be most mis-leading. According to a shallow understanding of these doctrines, life is full of suffering, there is nothing permanent in the whole universe, and what you think is your mind and body is non-existent. This is true, but only at an elementary level; at a higher level with transcendental wisdom, the understanding is different. Transcendental wisdom is the hallmark of Mahayana Buddhism. The great second century Indian Buddhist master, Nagarjuna, whom many regard as the second Buddha, says that if one does not understand transcendental wisdom, one does not understand Mahayana Buddhism. Transcendental wisdom is fully explained in the Wisdom Sutras, of which the Heart Sutra is the essence.
The first noble truth taught by the Buddha states that life is suffering, but the Buddha does not mean that there is no joy in living. It is well known that the Buddha had a most comfortable, luxurious life as a prince, and towards the end of his mission as the teacher to men and gods, he told his disciples he had led a very happy life. The Buddha's reason for saying that life is suffering is to contrast suffering in samsara with eternal bliss in nirvana, or suffering in the endless cycle of rebirths with bliss in cosmic reality. The Buddha stresses suffering in this phenomenal world, despite its numerous joys, to spur people to work hard towards Enlightenment, just as in Christianity Jesus says that man is a sinner, despite his divine spark, so as to spur him towards the return to God's kingdom.
Similarly, the doctrines of impermanence and of non-self are meant to highlight eternity and universality in transcendental reality experienced in nirvana. With transcendental wisdom we can perceive reality at different levels. At our ordinary human level, a mountain is permanent, but perceived at the sub-atomic scale where all the dharmas, or elemental particles and forces, forming the mountain are constantly changing, or at the scale of kalpas or aeons where whole worlds are created and destroyed, the mountain is impermanent. Your physical body can be perceived as permanent or impermanent in similar ways. If an illness strikes the physical body of a Theravadin monk, it would be unwise of him to ignore it on the basis that his physical body is impermanent and unreal, because he still needs his physical body, which is permanent and real during the interim although it is actually called an "unreal body" even in Mahayana, for his cultivation towards nirvana.
Does the Soul Exist?
The question whether man has a soul -- or whatever name this concept is called, like self, ego, mind, spirit and life force -- has been one of the most controversial issues in Buddhism. It may be surprising to many people, especially most Westerners who understand Buddhism mainly through Theravada sources, that only a minority of Buddhists in the world maintain man does not have a soul. Virtually all Mahayanists and Vajrayanists, which means most of the Buddhists in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet and Mongolia, believe in a soul. On the other hand, virtually all Theravadins, which means most of the Buddhists in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma, do not believe in a soul. In other countries where all the three branches of Buddhism are found, whether the Buddhists believe in a soul or not depends mainly on whether they follow the Mahayana, Vajrayana or Theravada tradition.
Mahayanists and Vajrayanists firmly believe that if they have not attained nirvana in their human lives, but if they have sufficient merits, their souls will go to some heavenly realms, and in Buddhism there are more than twenty heavens to choose from in our Saha world system, and literally millions of heavens in countless other systems. Mahayanists who devotedly recite the name of Amitabha Buddha, for example, will be reborn in Sukhavati, the Western Paradise of Eternal Bliss in a distant galaxy. Vajrayanists believe that their souls will be in the bardo, or the realm of interim existence, while waiting for the next rebirth if not attaining instant liberation.
Even in Theravada scriptures the soul is described. In the Digha Nikaya, for example, profound topics like the nature of the soul, and whether the soul is conditioned or unconditioned, are discussed. Actually among the Hinayana schools, of which Theravada is one of them although the term "Theravada" is now generally used for all Hinayana schools, there were many who believed in the soul. The Pudgalavada, a major Hinayana school which later branched out into numerous schools, put up convincing evidence to show the existence of the soul. In fact the name of this school is derived from pudgala, which means "self".
The Buddha himself mentioned many times about his previous lives in which the same self existed. In one life, for example, out of compassion for starving vultures, he even cut his own flesh to feed them! His teaching on the self or soul is found in many Mahayana sutras, like the Garland Sutra and the Lotus Sutra. Although on some occasions he kept a noble silence when questioned on the soul, because he did not want to confuse those who had not reached the spiritual level to comprehend, the Buddha never categorically declared there was no soul or self. In fact, there are occasions when he even mentions that believing in non self is a perverse view. For example, in the Subbasava Sutta, an important Theravada scripture in the Majjhima Nikaya collection, and which is, interestingly, often quoted by Theravadins to support their non-self doctrine, the Buddha refers to the view "no self exists for me" as perverse. Let the relevant passage of the sutra speaks for itself:
When he (an untaught ordinary person) attends unwisely in this way, one of six views arises in him. The view "self exists for me" arises in him as true and established; or the view "no self exists for me" arises in him as true and established; or the view "I perceive self with self" arises in him as true and established; or the view "I perceive not-self with self" arises in him as true and established; or the view "I perceive self with not-self" arises in him as true and established; or else he has some such view as this: "It is this self of mine" that speaks and feels and experiences here and there the result of good and bad actions; but this self of mine is permanent, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change, and it will endure as long as eternity. This speculative view, bhikkhus, is called the thicket of views, the wilderness of views, the contortion of views, the vacillation of views, the fetter of views. Fettered by the letter of views, the untaught ordinary person is not freed from birth, ageing and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair; he is not freed from suffering, I say.
Perhaps embarrassed by the fact that the Buddha refers to the belief "no self exists for me" as "the thicket of views, the wilderness of views, the contortion of views, the vacillation of views, the fetter of views", Bhikkhu Nanamoli (an English scholar-monk) and Bhikkhu Bodhi, the two translators of the Majjhima Nikaya from which the above quotation is taken, mention in their endnotes that the view "no self exists for me is not the non-self doctrine of the Buddha, but the materialist view that identifies the individual with the body and thus holds that there is no personal continuity beyond death." While these two distinguished Theravada monks have undoubtedly enriched our understanding of Buddhism by translating the Pali scriptures into English for us, their endnote here, however, reveals a typical confusion or contradiction Theravadins often exhibit concerning the question of soul or self. Their contention that the materialist view of no personal continuity beyond death is perverse, implies their belief that there is personal continuity beyond death, which is only logical if the doctrine of reincarnation, which is accepted by all Buddhists, is to have any meaning. Theravadins may not want to call this personal continuity soul or self, but the concept is the same.
Why, then, does the Buddha teach the doctrine of non-self? This is an expedient means to help people to free themselves from attachment to their own self, mind, soul, personal continuity or by whatever name this concept is called, because at the transcendental level which a being experiences in nirvana, all dualism or differentiation disappears, and the individual self, mind or soul IS the universal self, mind or soul. If a person clings to his personal self, mind or soul, at the best he would win rebirth in some heavenly realm, but he would not be able to attain perfect Enlightenment.
In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, the three most important marks or characteristics are not suffering, impermanence and non-self, but emptiness, wisdom and compassion. These three characteristics are introduced right at the start of the Heart Sutra, as quoted at the head of this chapter.
A passage each from the Heart Sutra will be quoted and studied in some detail in various chapters. The literal English translation of Xuan Zang's version is used, but some minor improvements to grammar and syntax are added to make the reading smoother. The parts of the passage that are explained in the respective chapter are italized, and the various passages are numbered for easy reference. As the wisdom contained in each passage is both concise and profound, its explanation may sometimes need more than one chapter, in which case the passage is quoted again at the head of the relevant chapters.
The Bodhisattva of Great Compassion
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is one of the most important Bodhisattvas in Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. A Bodhisattva is an Enlightened being, but because of his great compassion, instead of becoming a Buddha and enjoys eternal bliss, he returns to the phenomenal world to help others. A bodhisattva (especially spelt with a small letter "b") also refers to a spiritual cultivator who has vowed to save others. The Chinese word for Bodhisattva is Pu Sa (pronounced like "Bodh Satt"), which is a shortened form of the Sanskrit word Bodhisattva.
In Chinese, Avalokitesvara is known as Guan Shi Yin, or just Guan Yin (Kuan Yin); in Japanese as Kannon, Kwannon or Kanzeon; and in Tibetan as Chen-re-zig. "Avalokitesvara" or "Guan Shi Yin" means "looking at and hearing the cries of the suffering world". Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, therefore, is an embodiment of great compassion.
But in his translation, like many other translators of the Heart Sutra, Xuan Zang translates "Avalokitesvara" not as "Guan Shi Yin" but as "Guan Zi Zai", meaning "looking naturally and spontaneously". Nevertheless, Guan Zi Zai and Guan Shi Yin refer to the same Bodhisattva.
In India, Avalokitesvara appears in the masculine, but in China Guan Yin appears in the feminine. The tremendous popularity of Guan Yin Bodhisattva (and Amitabha Buddha) is evident from the Chinese saying "In every household is worshipped Guan Yin Bodhisattva, and everywhere is recited Amitabha Buddha." Guan Yin Bodhisattva is sometimes referred to as the Goddess of Mercy, which is quite incorrect because in Buddhist hierarchy, a Bodhisattva is far higher than a goddess.
Why is the Bodhisattva both masculine and feminine? At the transcendental level, there is no duality, no masculine and feminine. Thus, when a Bodhisattva appears in the phenomenal world he can appear as masculine or feminine.
In the Heart Sutra, the speaker is Avalokitesvara, sharing his Enlightenment experience. This may seem odd to some people who know that sutras are records of the Buddha's own words. The exceedingly extensive Buddhist scriptures are classified into three categories, namely sutras, vinayas and sasteras (or the Abhidhammas in Theravada Buddhism). Hence the Buddhist Canon is collectively called the Tripitaka, meaning "three baskets", containing records of the Buddhist teaching. Sutras record the words spoken by the Buddha himself, unless specifically stated otherwise; vinayas are records of monastic rules and relevant stories; sasteras are treatises written by masters commenting on or explaining the Buddha's teaching.
Why then is the Heart Sutra spoken by Avalokitesvara and not by the Buddha? Actually of the ten different Chinese versions of the Heart Sutra still extant, only two -- by Xuan Zang and by Kumarajiva, and they happen to be the most popular two -- start straight away with Avalokitesvara. The other eight versions start in the traditional way of sutras, like the version by Fa Yue (738) below:
Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was in Rajagrha at the Linjiu hills with thousands of monks and Bodhisattvas, the most important being Bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara, Manjusri, Maitreya and others....
With only a few exceptions, all sutras begin in this way. A research scientist, Yuan Zhi Biao, voiced his surprise that in just a few words, Buddhist sutras provide "six points of confidence", which scientific report writers are only emulating now, as in stating the name of the researcher, his assistants, time, place, objectives of research and apparatus used, before writing the report proper. The six points of confidence shown in all sutras are faith, evidence, time, host, place, and audience. In the above example, "Thus" indicates faith in the reliability of the sutra, "have I heard" indicates that the reporter (the Venerable Ananda, the Buddha's personal attendant) is ready to verify the reliability, "at one time" indicates the time, "the Buddha" indicates the host, "in Rajagrha" indicates the place, and "monks and Bodhisattvas" including Avalokistesvara, Manjusri and Maitreya, indicate the audience.
In this gathering, the Buddha led his followers in meditation where Avalokitesvara attained perfect Enlightenment. After coming out of his meditation, Avalokitesvara described his Enlightenment experience for the benefit of the others, and his discourse was confirmed and praised by the Buddha. This background information which actually forms the Introduction of the other versions of the Heart Sutra, was not included by Kumarajiva and Xuan Zang in their versions.
Some Examples of Cultivation
The beginning passage of the Heart Sutra (please see Passage 1 at the start of this chapter) explains that in his perfect Enlightenment or nirvana, attained through transcendental wisdom as a result of his deep meditation, Avalokitesvara perceives that his body as well as the bodies of all beings are actually empty. How did Avalokitesvara attain Enlightenment? The Bodhisattva attained Enlightenment through coursing deeply in prajna-paramita, which means meditating deeply on transcendental wisdom.
The whole practice of Buddhism, which probably has the widest range of cultivation methods of and philosophical explanation for spiritual fulfillment among the world's great religion -- a claim that will be substantiated in the course of this book -- may be summarized in the Buddha's own words:
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Avoid all evil,
Do good,
Purify the mind.
The ultimate aim of purifying the mind is to attain nirvana or Enlightenment. However, as not all people are spiritually ready to attain nirvana in this life, the immediate aim of many Buddhists is to improve their blessings and merits so that they may be reborn at a higher spiritual level in their next human lives, or to be reborn in some heavenly realms.
There are many ways or expedient means to purify one's mind. Perhaps the simplest is to chant the name of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. It is also very effective, but because it appears so simple many people, especially those who are intellectually inclined, tend to doubt its effectiveness. It is too long to explain here the mechanics and psychology of its effectiveness, but it may suffice to say that this method is taught by the Buddha himself, and that countless people including many great minds who have put the method into practice have testified to its effectiveness. After you have read more of this book, you will understand why such chanting can lead to nirvana or to rebirth in heaven.
The Pure Land School, whose principal cultivation method is to recite the name of Amitabha Buddha, is the most popular school of Buddhism in the world today. Basically the method is to recite with a one-pointed mind hundreds or thousands of times "Namo Amitabha Buddha", or its equivalent in any language. In Chinese the recitation is "Nan Mo A Mi Tuo Fo". In Japan, where the Pure Land School is known as the Jodo School, more than half the Japanese population recite "Namu Amida Butsu" everyday.
Besides reciting the name of a Buddha or a Bodhisattva, another simple and effective way of spiritual cultivation is to recite a mantra or a dharani. A mantra is a group of words of mystical sounds. A mantra is in Sanskrit, but its sounds may be transliterated into other languages. A dharani is like a long mantra. Probably the best known Buddhist mantra is "Om Mani Padme Hum", which is widely used in Vajrayana Buddhism. A very popular dharani is the Dharani of Great Compassion. Both the mantra and the dharani mentioned here are directly related to Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. Mantras and dharanis will be explained in greater detail in a later chapter.
One may also cultivate by reciting or chanting a sutra, such as the Heart Sutra described in this book. A sutra is a record of the Buddha's teaching spoken in his own words originally in Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Magadhalese or some other Indian dialects, and now translated into Chinese, Singhalese, Tibetan and other languages. Sometimes the main speaker in a sutra may not be the Buddha but another Enlightened being, and his (or her) teaching is always approved and praised by the Buddha. Some examples of sutras popularly chanted by Mahayanist Buddhists are the Amitabha Sutra, Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra, Diamond Sutra, and Lotus Sutra.
All these cultivation methods by chanting the name of a Buddha or Bodhisattva, a mantra or dharani, or a sutra, are collectively called cultivation by chanting, and are widely used in Mahayana Buddhism. The philosophy that explains why these chanting methods can lead to spiritual fulfillment is profound, but because many people have not understood this philosophy, these methods are sometimes erroneously regarded as fit only for dull minds. Some of the most brilliant Buddhist masters, classical as well as modern, such as Asvaghosa, Bodhiruci, Dao An, Genshin and Yin Sun, have advocated these chanting methods of cultivation.
On the other hand, the cultivation method of Zen is often said to be meant only for the best minds. "Zen" is the Japanese word for the Chinese "Chan", which in turn is a transliteration of the Sanskrit "Dhyana", which means "meditation". A frequently used cultivation tool in Zen Buddhism is the "gong-an", or "koan" in Japanese, which is a Zen story often involving a seemingly non-sensical question. Two classic examples of such questions are "What is your face like before you were born?" and "What is the sound of clapping with one hand?" Finding answers to such questions intuitively, and not intellectually, is a method to purify the mind.
While these cultivation methods like chanting and solving gong-ans are important expedient means in Mahayana Buddhism, they are generally not employed by Theravadins. In Theravada Buddhism, the principal approach to cultivation is the Noble Eightfold Path, which involves understanding the Buddha's teaching, developing moral purity, and practising meditation.
Meditation is the essential path to Enlightenment in all the three traditions of Buddhism -- Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Nevertheless, the meditation approaches used in these three traditions are characteristically different. Generally, Theravadins aim for a one-pointed mind, Mahayanists meditate on the void, whereas Vajrayanists use visualization extensively in their meditation. Moreover, Vajrayanists often use expedient means like mantras, mudras (finger-formations) and mandalas (mystical representation of the cosmos in geometrical designs), which manifest their cultivation of speech, body and thought, in their meditation.
As meditation is very important in Buddhism, it will be explained in more detail in other parts of this book. In the next chapter an example each of the meditation techniques taught by famous masters from Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana is given.
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