Like a handful of fallen leaves, by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu .

The Buddha refused to have any dealing 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? These questions are not aimed at the extinction of Dukkha. That being so, they are not Buddhist teachings and are not connected with it. They do not lie in the sphere of Buddhism. Also, the one who asks about such matters has no choice but to indis­­crimi­nately believe the answer given, because the one who answers is not going to be able to produce any proof, but is just going to speak according to that person’s 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 it’s 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 could see the truth of every word of his answer without having to blindly believe him, and to see more and more clearly until he understood. 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 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.

There being no one born here, therefore, 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 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.

This being so, it follows that in the sphere of the Buddhist teachings there is no question of rebirth or anything of that nature. Rather, there is the question, ‘Is there Dukkha?’ and ‘How can it be extinguished?’ Knowing the root cause of Dukkha, one will be able to extinguish it. That root cause is delusion, the wrong understanding that there is a self and things 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.

As to the foundations or root principles of Dhamma, there are not great deal. The Buddha said that there was a single handful. A sutta in the Samyutta Nikaya makes this clear: Whilst walking through the forest, the Buddha picked up a handful of fallen leaves and asked the monks present whether the greater amount was the leaves in his hand or the leaves in the forest. They all said that the leaves in the forest were much more, so much so, that it was beyond comparison. Try to imagine the scene here, try to see how greater were the leaves in the forest. The Buddha then said that, similarly, those things which he had realised and which he knew, were equal to all the leaves in the forest, but that which it was necessary to know — those things which should be taught and practised — were equal to the number of leaves in his hand.

So from this it can be taken that, compared to the myriad things that are to be found in the world, the root principles to be practised in order to completely extinguish Dukkha amount to a single handful. We must 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.

An Extract from Heart-wood from the Bo Tree by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu. © 1985 suanmokkh.org

Read more teachings from Buddhadasa Bhikkhu here.

Intuitive Insight, by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu !

Intuitive Insight, by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

Now intuitive insight, or what we call ‘seeing Dhamma’, is not by any means the same thing as rational thinking. One will never come to see Dhamma by means of rational thinking. Intuitive insight can be gained only by means of a true inner realisation. For instance, suppose we are examining a situation where we had thoughtlessly become quite wrapped up in something which later caused us suffering. If, on looking closely at the actual course of events, we become genuinely fed up, disillusioned and disenchanted with that thing, we can be said to have seen Dhamma, or to have gained clear insight. This clear insight may develop in time until it is perfected and has the power to bring liberation from all things. If a person recites aloud: ‘anicca, dukkha, anatta’ or examines these characteristics day and night without ever becoming disenchanted with things, without ever losing the desire to get things or to be something, or the desire to cling to things, that person has not yet attained to insight. In short, then, insight into impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and non-selfhood amounts to realising that nothing is worth getting or worth being.

There is a word in Buddhism that covers this completely, the word ‘sunnata’ (emptiness), the emptiness of selfhood, the emptiness of any essence that we might have a right to cling to with all our might as being ‘mine’. Observation which leads to the insight that all things are devoid of any essence that is worth clinging to is the real core of the religion. It is the key to Buddhist practice. When we have come to know clearly that everything of every kind is devoid of selfhood, we can be said to know Buddha-Dhamma in its entirety. The single phrase ‘empty of self’ sums up the words ‘impermanent (anicca), unsatisfactory (dukkha) and not self (anatta)’. When something is perpetually changing, devoid of any permanent unchanging element, it can also be said to be empty. When it is seen to be overflowing with the property of inducing disillusionment, it can be described as empty of any entity that we might have a right to cling to. And when we discover on examination that it possesses no stable component whatever that could be ‘self,’ that it is simply nature, changing and fluctuating in accordance with the laws of nature which we have no right to call a self, then it can be described as empty of self. As soon as any individual has come to perceive the emptiness of things, there arises in that person the realisation that it is not worth getting or being any of those things. This feeling of not desiring to get or to be has the power to protect one from falling slave to the defilements or to any kind of emotional involvement. Once an individual has attained this condition, he is thenceforth incapable of any unwholesome state of mind. He does not become carried away by or involved in anything. He does not become in any way attracted or seduced by anything. His mind knows permanent liberty and independence, and is free from suffering.

The statement: ‘Nothing is worth getting or being,’ is to be understood in a rather special sense. The words ‘get’ and ‘be’ refer here to getting and being with a deluded mind, with a mind that grasps and clings wholly and entirely. It is not suggested that one could live without having or being anything at all. Normally, there are certain things one can’t do without. One needs property, children, wife, garden, and so on. One is to be good, can’t help being a winner or a loser or having some status or other; one can’t help being something or other. Why then are we taught to regard things as not worth getting or being? The answer is this: The concepts of getting and being are purely relative; they are worldly ideas based on ignorance. Speaking in terms of pure reality, or absolute truth, we cannot get or be anything at all. And why? Simply because both the person who is to do the getting and the thing that is to be got, are impermanent, unsatisfactory (suffering) and nobody’s property. But an individual who doesn’t perceive this will naturally think, ‘I am getting…I have…I am….’ We automatically think in these terms, and it is this very concept of getting and being that is the source of distress and misery.

Getting and being represent a form of desire, namely the desire not to let the thing that one is in the process of getting or being, disappear or slip away. Suffering arises from the desire to have and the desire to be, in short, from desire; and desire arises from the failure to realise that all things are inherently undesirable. The false idea that things are desirable is present as an instinct right from babyhood and is the cause of desire. Consequent on desire, there come about results of one sort or another which may or may not accord with the desire. If the desired result is obtained, there will arise a still greater desire. If the desired result is not obtained, there is bound to follow a struggling and striving until one way or another it is obtained. Keeping this up results in the vicious circle of action (karma), result, action, result, which is known as the Wheel of Samsara. Now this word ‘samsara’ is not to be taken as referring to an endless cycle of one physical existence after another. In point of fact it refers to a vicious circle of three events: desire, action in keeping with the desire, and effect resulting from that action. The inability to stop desiring leads to desiring once more, to action once more, and once again to another effect, further augmenting desire… and so on, endlessly. Buddha called this the ‘Wheel of Samsara’ because it is an endless rolling on. It is because of this very circle of events that we are obliged to endure suffering and torment. To succeed in breaking loose from this vicious circle is to attain freedom from all forms of suffering, in other words, Nirvana. Regardless of whether a person is a pauper or a millionaire, a king or an emperor, a celestial being or a god, or anything at all, as long as that person is caught up in this vicious circle, he is obliged to experience suffering and torment of one kind or another, in keeping with his desire. We can say then that this Wheel of Samsara is well and truly overloaded with suffering. For the rectifying of this situation, morality is quite inadequate. To resolve the problem we have to depend on the highest principles of Dhamma.

An Extract from Handbook for Mandkind (PDF download) by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu.

Read more teachings from Buddhadasa Bhikkhu here.