(Bwaters23/Flickr.com)In response to a frequent criticism of Buddhism that it is too focused on "suffering," I propose the following retelling. The whole of the Buddha's message is summed up in a statement the Buddha frequently asserted: "I teach only suffering and the end of suffering." This is Buddhism in a nutshell.
But what does it mean to "teach suffering"? More importantly, what is the "end of suffering"?
These two questions are summed up in the Four Noble Truths. (These four ennobling truths should be understood as mundane and supramundane, a distinction which is crucial but rarely made). The Buddha was following Indian medical custom when he formulated the Four Noble Truths.
That model, then as now, first states the problem or diagnosis, then the cause, then the solution or prognosis, and finally a therapeutic regimen is given. If the "cure" or the therapy were for the Buddha to wave his hand in blessing over someone to bring them to enlightenment, he would have done that. But that does not lead to enlightenment. What does? Putting the Four Noble Truths into practice is the beginning of the practice. The culmination of the practice is the supramundane realization of the Four Noble Truths -- knowing and seeing with direct insight.
- There is suffering. That's our medical condition. This is a terrible translation of a very subtle and wide-ranging Indian word, dukkha. A better translation is unsatisfactoriness or perhaps better yet, disappointment. Life disappoints, experience disappoints, but it is possible to get beyond this disappointment.
- There is a cause of suffering. In fact, there are numerous causes. So why is it said that desire (tanha, craving) is the cause of suffering? The reason is because when one is working through Dependent Origination in the practice of insight meditation, one comes to understand that desire is the weak link. It is at this point that one is most effectively able to undo this entire mass of suffering. It may be argued that the actual overarching cause of suffering is ignorance. However when striving to overcome suffering, one does not seek to put an end to ignorance directly. One seeks to directly undermine craving -- which is possible to do when one sees the true nature of existence. This in turn will undo ignorance. The undoing of ignorance is enlightenment. But one pulls the vital piece out of the structure holding up suffering, and that vital piece is unwarranted desire for what is not beneficial. If it were beneficial, the Buddha would not have ever recommended that one strive to overcome it. But because overcoming it leads to the end of all suffering, then it is recommended and desire is pointed to as the "cause of suffering."
- There is an end to suffering. What is the end of all suffering? Nirvana, the unsurpassable dissolution of all formations is the highest happiness. It is a happiness that transcends sensual pleasure. It is a happiness that transcends spiritual bliss (the kind of happiness found along the way to nirvana by practice of the jhanas). It is a happiness that even transcends equanimity (impartiality) leading to peace and composure and an unutterable joy.
- There is a path that leads to the end of suffering. Because suffering or disappointment is the problem we face, the Great Physician has revealed a therapy that brings about the cure and restores us to our original happiness and the mind's luminosity. The cure does not come about from knowing the solution. The cure comes from putting the solution into practice. And what is the solution? The Noble Eightfold Path is the solution. Often spoken of as separate from the Four Noble Truths, this "therapy" is in fact the fourth Noble Truth.
But many people practice the Noble Eightfold Path and are not anywhere near enlightenment. Why is that? It is because, first of all, they are not aware of the technical definitions of these eight factors, choosing instead to go by their own "common sense" definitions of very particular Buddhist technical terms in rough translation and, second, it is not the mundane conceptual path that leads to enlightenment but the supramundane realization of what is and what is not Path(magga). For example, what could "right concentration" (samma samadhi) possibly mean? It means me concentrating, right? No!
Samma means full or perfected, and samadhi is defined by the Buddha as the first four meditative absorptions (jhanas or levels of Zen). We can "concentrate" a little, but can we reach full and steady absorption? Momentary full absorption is not enough; that is not the path factor called "right concentration." So without the purification that comes from skillfully practicing the absorptions, why would think we could reach enlightenment? We go from our defective, imperfect concentrating (trying to collect and focus the mind) onto "right mindfulness"? Are we mindful? Most people have at best a very sketchy idea of what "mindfulness" (sati) even means.
Similarly with the other path factors: people do not bother to secure the Buddha's definitions. And therefore they come to believe the Noble Eightfold Path is nice, obvious, and not really something that leads to enlightenment and nirvana, or the end of all suffering. (The supramundane Noble Eightfold Path, when known-and-seen, leads to enlightenment. Taking up the mundane Noble Eightfold Path is just a beginning).
They start taking up other practices, seeking other goals, reinventing Buddhism (as the Mahayana and largescale devotional movements like SGI did) in the image of their own thinking and assumptions. That's fine. Let's all do good, wait for the coming of the Maitreya (which as we have demonstrated is the origin of the word Messiah), and then we'll strive.
The path is here now. The historical Buddha's teaching is preserved and in rare places actually practiced as he laid it out (with the help of commentaries, which get a very bad rap by independent thinkers who resist being told what anything means or how anything "should" be practiced or how anything was practiced and understood by the ancients).
What's the hold up? Why is Buddhism -- which holds out not only the promise of ultimate happiness -- deemed "pessimistic"? It seems it's a matter of emphasis. Readers see this horrible and hard to bear word "suffering" popping up again and again and they think, "Gee, give us some Good News." It's all good news! So we propose a new iteration of the Four Noble Truths. They do not change, but the emphasis does to not only be positive but to sound positive and solution-oriented in line with the new Law of Attraction, "The Secret," abundance model of living:
- There is happiness (nirvana).
- There is an end to happiness (dukkha)
- There is a cause of unhappiness (tanha).
- There is a path that leads to happiness (magga).
