The Basic Buddhist Teaching

Guang Xing
Centre of Buddhist Studies
The University of Hong Kong
guangxin@hku.hk
1. Introduction
Unlike other religions, Buddhism never considers its teachings which are called Dharma
as a divined revelation but merely as an instrument for mental training as it shows in the
well known Buddhist simile that the Dharma is similar to a raft for crossing over the
stream of sasra.
Hence the Buddhist teachings are not dogmas to be followed and practiced without
questioning, but on the contrary, it encourages critical reflections and analytical
understanding because it is only through intuitive wisdom, ignorance, the root of all
human bondage and sufferings, can be dispelled. The Buddha said, The destruction of
the cankers, monks, is for one who knows and sees, I say, not for one who does not know
and does not see.1 This freedom of thought as Venerable Rahula said, is necessary
because, according to the Buddha, mans emancipation depends on his own realization of
Truth, and not on the benevolent grace of a god or any external power as a reward for his
obedient good behaviour.
Even the Buddha is neither a creator nor a saviour but only a teacher who guides his
disciples and followers to practice the Dharma he discovered and this Dharma is nothing
but a way to realize truth. It is in this sense that the Buddhist teachings are philosophy of
life that serves as practical guides for the sole purpose of eradication of human sufferings
and they are not to satisfy intellectual curiosity about metaphysical and ontological issues
such as the beginnings of the universe and human race.
2. Dependent Arising
The doctrine of dependent arising or origination (Pai: Paticcasamupada, Skt:
Prattyasamutpda) or sometimes called causality is the central philosophy of Buddhism
because all other philosophical teachings such as the four noble truths, karma and rebirth,
no-soul and impermanence are based on this foundation. Hence it is said, One who sees
dependant origination sees the Dhamma, and one who sees the Dhamma sees dependent
origination.2 Thus, an insight into the doctrine of dependant arising is an insight into the
very heart of the Dhamma, the Buddhist teachings. This means that all Buddhist doctrines
pertaining to ontology, epistemology, psychology and ethics are all based on the principle
of dependant arising. The basic formula of dependent arising is found in the dialogues of
the Buddha with Sakuludayi, the ascetic, When this exists, that comes to be; with the
arising of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be; with the
1
2

CDB: 553. Sayutta Nikya II, 29 (SN 12.23).

The translation is adopted from Bhikkhu Bodhi, MLDB: 283. Majjhima Nikya I, 191.

cessation of this, that ceases.3

According to the Buddhist tradition, the Buddha is only a discoverer as well as an
expounder of this truth, he is neither a creator nor an inventor of it. Therefore, whether
there is an arising of Tathgatas or no arising of Tathgatas, that element still persists, the
stableness of the Dhamma, the fixed course of the Dhamma, specific conditionality. A
Tathgata awakens to this and breaks through to it. Having done so, he explains it,
teaches it, proclaims it, establishes it, discloses it, analyses it, elucidates it.4 This
statement refers to what is actually happening in the phenomena world which operates
uninterrupted and uncontrolled by any external agency or power of any sort. But it does
not refer to an abstract structural principle called Dependent Arising which should be
viewed as permanent or everlasting.
The doctrine of dependent arising is also called the Middle Teaching because it rejects the
two extreme views of the human condition that have polarized reflective thought through
the centuries: one is the metaphysical thesis of eternalism and the other extreme is
annihilationism. The first represents an extreme form of realism which asserts that
everything exists absolutely and the second an extreme form of nihilism, which asserts
that absolutely nothing exists. Here the first represents a monistic view that everything is
reducible to a common ground, some sort of self-substance and the second the opposite
pluralistic view that the whole of existence is resolvable into a concatenation of discrete
entities.
What the theory not intended to explain
It should be understood that this theory does not try to explain how the universe started,
the ultimate beginning and it also makes no attempt to solve the riddle of an absolute
origin of life because according to Buddhism, these two issues or questions are not
immediately connected with the problem of human suffering and its eradication. The
Buddha emphatically declared that the first beginning of existence is something
inconceivable.5 Therefore, it is futile to search for Buddhist answers to these issues
because the Buddha refused to answer such metaphysical questions which are known as
the unanswered questions in the Buddhist literature. It is equally futile to ask the question
why the Buddha did not answer it because the Buddha is a practical teacher and he was
not interested in questions that do not lead to any useful conclusions.
What the theory intends to explain
The theory of dependent arising explains the conditionality, or dependent nature, of all
the manifold mental and physical phenomena of existence; of everything that happens, be
it in the realm of the physical or the mental as Venerable Nyanaponika put it. In other
words, the theory explains how things work and proceed rather than how things are
formulated and begin. It explains how the phenomena in the world arise and disappear,
particularly the process of human life.
3

The translation is adopted from Bhikkhu Bodhi, MLDB: 655. Majjhima Nikya II, 32, Sutta No. 79 and
III, 63, Sutta No.115.
4
Sayutta Nikya II, 25 (S.12.20); CDB: 550.
5
Sayutta Nkya II, 178; English translation is adopted from the Kindred Sayings II, 118.

The implications of the theory are as follows:

1. Everything in this world is interdependent, therefore, nothing is permanent.
2. Everything in this world is interrelated, therefore, nothing is independent.
3. Everything in this world is relative, therefore, nothing is absolute.
Hence, everything in this world is interdependent, interrelated and relative.
According to this theory, (1) there is no single cause leading to a single effect for any
given phenomena. This also rejects the God creation of the universe and human beings.
Therefore, there is utterly no place in Buddhist thought for the theory and concept of a
single creator who rewards and punishes the good and bad deeds of the creatures of his
creation. There is also no permanent everlasting substance that can be called a soul within
the ever changing flux of psychical and physical phenomena of a human being.
(2) There is no single cause leading to multiple effects and equally there are also no
multiple causes leading to a single effect. Some Indian teachers both from the Brahmana
and Sramana traditions taught these theories, some taught that a single cause leads to
multiple effects and some taught that multiple causes lead to a single effect. Buddhism
rejects all these theories.
(3) According to Buddhism, it is always the fact that multiple causes lead to multiple
effects in the phenomena world. The Buddha spoke of conditionality and according to
whom, the entire world is subject to the law of cause and effect, in other words, action
and reaction. We cannot think of anything in this cosmos that is causeless and
unconditioned. All social and personal issues and problems are interconnected and
interrelated. Thus the Buddhist theory of Dependent Arising rejects many ancient Indian
causal theories which are considered as imperfect.
(4) This theory also rejects the views that everything happens haphazardly. Praa
Kassapa, one of the six sramana teachers, held the theory that there is no cause and effect,
everything happens fortuitously.6 The Buddhas criticism to this theory is that it breaks
the morality, the basis for a peaceful society.
(5) Fatalism and determinism are also rejected. Fatalism and determinism are the same
and both say that humans actions are determined or caused by any external force or
forces. However, according to the Buddhist theory of dependent arising, humans actions
depend on his own will, not on any external causes. So Buddhism rejects all forms of
fortune telling because our future is not settled yet, and it is largely dependent on what we
decide to do now and here. How can a fortune teller to tell your future if the future is not
fixed yet?
It is on this principle that the Buddha explained the process of the human life, the
conditional arising of all those mental and physical phenomena conventionally named as
living being, or individual, or person. According to this theory, life is not an
6

CDB: 903. (S 22. 60; PTS: iii 68) Praa Kassapa is described as holding the theory of inefficacy
(akiriyavda) in CDB: 995. (S. 24:6; PTS: iii 209)

identity, it is a becoming. It is a flux of psychological and physiological changes, a

conflux of mind and body. Just as Bhikkhu Bodhi said, The ultimate purpose of the
teaching on dependent origination is to expose the conditions that sustain the round of
rebirths, samsara, so as to show what must be done to gain release from the round.7
The Buddha further explains the process of human life into twelve factors with an aim to
illustrate the human bondage and his freedom. It is expounded in two orders by way of
origination to explain the arising of suffering and by way of cessation to explain the
ending of suffering.
Dependent on ignorance arises moral and immoral conditioning activities, dependent on
conditioning activities arises (relinking) consciousness, dependent on (relinking)
consciousness arise mind and matter, dependent on mind and matter arise the six spheres
of sense, dependent on the six spheres of sense arises contact, dependent on contact arises
feeling, dependent on feeling arises craving, dependent on craving arises grasping,
dependent on grasping arises becoming, dependent on becoming arises birth, dependent
on birth arise decay, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. Thus this whole
mass of suffering arises.
Then the dependent arising is explained by way of cessation. With the cessation of
ignorance, conditioning activities cease, with the cessation of conditioning activities
(relinking) consciousness ceases, with the cessation of (relinking) consciousness, mind
and matter cease, with the cessation of mind and matter, the six spheres of sense cease,
with the cessation of the six spheres of sense, contact ceases, with the cessation of contact,
feeling ceases, with the cessation of feeling, craving ceases, with the cessation of craving,
grasping ceases, with the cessation of grasping, becoming ceases, with the cessation of
becoming, birth ceases, with the cessation of birth, decay, death, sorrow, lamentation,
pain, grief, and despair cease. Such is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering.
However, one should not misunderstand or take ignorance as the Buddhist explanation of
ultimate beginning or the first cause which is not discussed in the Buddhist literature as
discussed above. In fact, the dependent arising with its twelve factors forms a circle.
There is no beginning and no end to it. This method of dividing up the factors should not
be misconstrued to mean that the factors are mutually exclusive, but they may rise
together. So whenever there is ignorance, then craving and clinging invariably come
along; and whenever there is craving and clinging, then ignorance stands behind them. It
is the arising of ever changing conditions dependent on similar evanescent conditions.
Here there is neither absolute non-existence nor absolute existence, only bare phenomena
roll on.
3. Four Noble Truths
The four noble truths are the fundamental teaching of Buddhism and it is the Buddhist
philosophy of life. According to the Book of Discipline, the Buddha himself discovered
and realized the four Noble Truths by his own intuitive knowledge at the foot of the
Bodhi tree. Whether the Buddhas arise or not in this world these truths exist and it is a
7

CDB: 517.

Buddha who reveals them to the deluded world. So the four noble truths are the Buddhist
analysis of life and its problems as well as the solutions to these problems.
The logical sequence between the Four Noble Truths shows that the significance of each
cannot be understood in a context from where the other three are excluded. Each assumes
significance in relation to the other three. If the truth of suffering is sought to be
understood in isolation from the rest, such an understanding will necessarily lead to the
conclusion that Buddhism advocates a pessimistic view of life.
The Four Noble Truths are: (1) Dukkha, suffering or unsatisfactoriness, (2) the arising or
origin of dukkha, (3) the cessation of dukkha, (4) the way leading to the cessation of
dukkha.
The Buddha taught the four noble truths to his five disciples in the first sermon, This,
monks, is the noble truth that is suffering. Birth is suffering; old age is suffering; illness is
suffering; death is suffering; sorrow and grief, physical and mental suffering, and
disturbance are suffering. Association with things not liked is suffering, separation from
desired things is suffering; not getting what one wants is suffering; in short, the five
aggregates of grasping are suffering.8 Although there lists many different forms of
suffering, both physical and psychological, but Buddhism mainly analyzes the last, the
grasping or attachment to the five aggregates. Elsewhere the Buddha distinctly defines
dukkha as grasping of the five aggregates: O bhikkhus, what is dukkha? It should be said
that it is the five aggregates of grasping or attachment.9
So here why and how the five aggregates of grasping are said to be suffering? According
to the Buddhist analysis of the empiric individuality, a person consists of five aggregates
which are a combination of the ever-changing physical and mental forces or energies.
They are the aggregate of matter, the aggregate of sensations or feelings, the aggregate of
apperceptions, the aggregate of mental formations, and the aggregate of consciousness.
The first one is physical which serves as the basis for the rest four which are
psychological. It is called a sentient being or a human being when the five aggregates
work together. In other words, the human personality can therefore be defined as their
sum total.
These five aggregates are inseparably linked together working as a whole. There can be
no consciousness without a body; although there could be a body without consciousness,
but it would not be sentient. The five aggregates are interrelated, interdependent and
interconnected to one another working according to the laws of dependent arising. Thus
they have the three distinctive characteristics of impermanence, no-self and suffering.
This differs from the familiar concept of body and soul. The soul goes to somewhere
either to enjoy or suffer leaving the body behind.
The five aggregates are all impermanent, all are constantly changing. (1) Each of the five
such as matter or consciousness is impermanent and (2) the combination of the five
8
9

CDB: 1844 (PTS: S v. 421).

CDB: 963. Dukkha Sutta, S iii.158.

together is also impermanent. They are not the same for two consecutive moments as they
are in a flux of momentary arising and disappearing.
As the five aggregates are all impermanent, there is no unchanging substance in this
process of human life. Hence there is nothing that can be called a permanent self or soul
or individuality, or anything that can in reality be called I.
According to the Buddhist teaching, whatever is impermanent is suffering, dukkha. For
the impermanent nature of everything can but lead to one inescapable conclusion:
suffering. This is the true meaning of the Buddhas words: In brief the five Aggregates
of Attachment are dukkha. As everything is impermanent, they cannot be made the basis
of permanent happiness.
However, in the Buddhist definition of suffering it is not the five aggregates themselves,
but the five aggregates of grasping that are characterized as suffering. Although the five
aggregates in themselves are not suffering, but they can be a source of suffering when
they become objects of grasping. Thus there is a clear distinction between the five
aggregates on the one hand and the five aggregates of grasping, on the other.
Strictly speaking, what Buddhism calls the individual is not the five aggregates, but the
five aggregates when they are grasped or appropriated. This explains why in the Buddhist
definition of suffering, the reference is made to the aggregates of grasping and not to the
aggregates themselves.
The five aggregates of grasping takes place in our mind, because it is our mind that
appreciates and grasps the five aggregates. In short, dukkha can be explained as the
problems in our lives. As long as we grasp the five aggregates as ourselves so we have
problems.
The so-called individual can thus be reduced to a causally conditioned process of
grasping. And it is this process of grasping that Buddhism describes as suffering. Hence
the Buddhist conclusion is that life, at its very bottom or core, is characterized by
suffering.
This process of grasping manifests itself in three ways: This is mine, this I am, and this is
myself. The first is due to craving; the second is due to conceit; and the third is due to the
mistaken belief in a self-entity. It is through this process of three-fold self-identification
that the idea of 'mine', 'I am' and 'my self' arises.
It is in this sense that Buddhism concentrates on the analysis of psychological problems
rather than physical ones as the Sallatha Sutta of the Samyuttanikya says,
Bhikkhus, when the instructed noble disciple is contacted by a painful feeling, he does not
sorrow, grieve, or lament; he does not weep beating his breast and become distraught.
He feels one feeling-a bodily one, not a mental one If he feels a pleasant feeling, he
feels it detached. If he feels a painful feeling, he feels it detached. If he feels a neither6

painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he feels it detached.10

Thus, those who have liberated still feel bodily pain, but not mental pain. In Chinese
Buddhism the often used word is fanniao which means klea, the psychological problems
we have.
Causes of suffering
The Buddhist emphasis on the universality of suffering could also be understood from the
causes of suffering. One of the major causes of suffering is the self-centred desire which
manifests itself in many forms.
The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta says, It is the craving that produces renewal of
being accompanied by enjoyment and lust, and enjoying this and that; in other words,
craving for sensual desires, craving for being, craving for non-being.11
The technical term for craving is tanha in Pali language. The Buddha said in the Fire
Sermon that all is burning, the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are burning,
burning with craving.12 The image of fire connotes all-consuming movement within the
mind of a person, something hot, dangerous, destructive, and potentially out of control.
The implication is that craving in the form of lust and hatred is a fire that inflames every
aspect of a person all the aggregates and thus brings suffering in its wake.13
However, craving is not the only cause in the Buddhist analysis of the causes of suffering,
but one of the causes as discussed in the dependent arising because Buddhism always
thinks of multiple causes leading to multiple effects. The twelvefold formula of
dependent arising is a chain of causes and effects and this is the origin of this whole
mass of suffering. (M 927) But in this chain ignorance is the key factor in consideration
and it is ignorance that leads to craving and hatred which in turn lead to more grasping
and becoming.
Sometimes, the Buddha also gave three causes of suffering: craving, hatred and delusion
which are all psychological. Here delusion is equal to ignorance which is the root cause
for craving and hatred. But craving and hatred lead to more ignorance as they defile the
mind.
According to the Buddhist philosophy, ignorance means the lack of understanding of the
four noble truths and dependent arising. Hence, the ignorant person regards the
impermanent as permanent, the painful as pleasant, the soulless as soul, the impure as
pure, and the unreal as real. Thus he entertains wrong views and does wrong deeds which
lead him to further suffering. Therefore in the Buddhist analysis, the causes of suffering

10

CDB: 1246-5 (SN 36:6; S iv 208).

CDB: 1844.
12
CDB: 1143.
13
Gowans, 128.
11

are found within us, not outside, and in the same way, the solutions to suffering are also
found within us.
4. The Concept of Nirva
Nirva or nibbna is the third of the four noble truths, so it is the complete elimination
and cessation of the main causes of dukkha, which are craving, hatred and ignorance.
Therefore nirva is also known by the term Extinction of Craving, Extinction of Hatred,
and Extinction of Ignorance. If craving is compared to a fire as in the Fire Sermon
quoted above, then nirva is compared to a fire gone out when the fuel is finished and
no more fuel is added so it cannot be kindled again.
Nirva is always explained in negative terms in the Buddhist literatures because it is
outside of our ordinary human experience as the human language is designed in such a
way to express the human sensory experience.
Although nirva is described in negative terms but the experience of it is not negative
but positive and happy as the poems written by those who have liberated demonstrate in
the two books of the Thergata and the Thergata.
Five ways to understand nirva
Since nirva is described in negative terms how can we understand it? So we can
understand the Buddhist concept of nirva in the following five ways.
(1) From the moral point of view, nirva is the highest level of moral perfection,
because it is the highest form of cultivation of morality.
For one who has attained nirva, all unwholesome motivational roots such as greed,
hatred, and delusion have been fully eradicated with no possibility of their ever becoming
active again.
As the noble eightfold path which leads to nirva starts with morality and it also ends
with moral perfection, so at the end of the practice, the person becomes a perfect person
in morality as he or she naturally leads a moral life.
In this sense, nirva is an ethical state, to be reached in this birth by ethical practices,
contemplation and insight. It is therefore not transcendental. The first and most important
way to reach nirva is by means of the eightfold Path, and all expressions which deal
with the realisation of emancipation from lust, hatred and delusion apply to practical
habits and not to speculative thought.
(2) From the experiential point of view, nirva is the highest level of happiness, because
all kinds of suffering are eliminated as a corollary in the formula of four noble truths. The
Buddha taught Mgandiya,
The greatest of all gains is health,
8

Nibbna is the greatest happiness,

The eightfold path is the best of paths,
For it leads safely to the Deathless.14
According to Buddhism, happiness is the peace of mind or tranquillity of mind in
ordinary sense, free from all worries and troubles. The Buddha said, Monks, I know not
of any other single thing that brings such happiness as the mind that is tamed, controlled,
guarded and restrained. Such a mind indeed brings great happiness.15
However, the librated one is not free from physical pain but subject to physical
discomfort, however there is no emotional reaction to physical pain or psychological
discomfort resulting from pain. He experiences physical pain without complaining,
without self pity, without developing thoughts of hatred towards others.
(3) From the point of knowledge, nirva is the highest level of wisdom. This is because
the fourth of the four noble truths is the noble eightfold path which leads to the
attainment of wisdom. According to the Buddhist teaching, the ultimate cause of dukkha
or suffering is ignorance and in order to destroy ignorance, one has to attain wisdom, to
see things as they really are.
It is in this sense that nirva is also defined as the attainment of knowledge. The Rsiya
Sutta of the Samyuttanikya says, the noble eightfold path leads to peace, to direct
knowledge, to enlightenment, to nibbna.16 This knowledge is the true vision of things
as they truly are so it is an insight into the nature of the phenomenal reality.
According to Buddhism the five aggregates represent the totality of our experience, the
totality of conditioned experiences. This means that the knowledge of things as they truly
are refers the knowledge of the five aggregates as the Parijnanasutta of the
Samyuttanikya informs us that it is only through full comprehension of the five
aggregates that one is cable of destroying suffering.17
Thus this knowledge is the final awakening to the true nature of the world of our own
sensory experience, but not the knowledge of a higher reality. According to Buddhism,
when one attains the highest knowledge he sees the same phenomenal reality, our own
world of experience, but the difference is this: he sees it in the true sense, he sees things
as they truly are. So what takes place when Nibbna is attained is not a change in the
nature of reality, but a change in our perspective of the nature of reality.
(4) From the psychological point of view, nirva is the highest level of mental
emancipation, the freedom of our mind, because all the polluting factors that restrict and
restrain the mind such as selfish desire, hatred, ignorance, conceit, pride, so on and so
14

MLDB: 613 (M i 508). It is also found in the counterpart sutra in the Chinese Madhyamgama. (CBETA,
T01, no. 26, p. 672, b23-24)
15
Anguttaranikaya: Adanta Suttas: Untamed: AN 1.31-40; PTS: A i 5; Gradual Sayings, I 4.
16
S iv 331. CDB: 1350.
17
CDB: 1140-42.

forth are eliminated, so the mind is pure and healthy. It is full of universal love,
compassion, kindness, sympathy, understanding and tolerance.
Negative emotions restrict an individual's psychological freedom; therefore greed, hatred,
and ignorance are described as poisons in the Buddhist literature because they
circumscribe an individual's freedom. Greed, hatred, and ignorance are roots of
unwholesome mental states which fetter the individual within sasra. So when all these
bad mental elements are removed, our mind becomes truly free.
(5) From the point of ultimate reality, nirva is the highest truth. The Dhatu-vibhanga
Sutta of the Majjhimanikya says:
His deliverence, being founded upon truth, is unshakable. For that is false, monks, which
has a deceptive nature, and that is true which has an undeceptive nature -- Nibbna.
Therefore, a monk possessing [this truth] possesses the supreme foundation of truth. For
this, monk, is the supreme noble truth, namely Nibbna, which has an undeceptive
nature.18
When one attains nibbna, one realizes the truth of life, one understand things as they
truly are, the three characteristics of life: impermanence, suffering and no-self.
Nirva in this life
According to the Buddhist teaching, this kind of nirva is realizable in this world and in
this life if it is mature.
The Dhammakathika Sutta of the Sayuttanikya says: If through revulsion towards
aging-and-death, through its fading away and cessation, one is liberated by nonclinging,
one is fit to be called a bhikkhu who has attained nibbna in this very life.19
If through revulsion towards ignorance, through its fading away and cessation, one is
liberated by nonclinging, one is fit to be called a bhikkhu who has attained nibbna in
this very life.20
This nirva can be attained in this world now and here. The Satipahna Sutta of the
Majjhimanikya says,
Let alone half a month, bhikkhus. If whoever should develop these four foundations of
mindfulness in such a way for seven days, one of two fruits could be expected for him:
either final knowledge here and now, or if there is a trace of clinging left, non-return.21
The Bodhirjakumra Sutta (No. 85) of the Majjhimanikya says,

18

M iii 245; CDB: 1093.

CDB: 545. S ii 18.
20
CDB: 545. S ii 18.
21
MLDB: 155. M i 63.
19

10

Let alone one day and night, prince. When a bhikkhu who possesses these five factors of
striving finds a Tathagata to discipline him, then being instructed in the evening, he
might arrive at distinction in the morning; being instructed in the morning, he might
arrive at distinction in the evening.22
5. Noble Eightfold Path
The fourth of the four noble truths is the noble eightfold path which is also called the
middle path because it is not a compromise but transcends the two extremes in practice,
two misguided attempts to gain release from suffering.
One extreme is the indulgence in sense pleasures by gratifying desires which gives
enjoyment but not happiness because enjoyment or pleasure is gross, transitory, and
devoid of deep contentment. The Buddha recognized that sensual desire can exercise a
tight grip over the minds of human beings, and he was keenly aware of how ardently
attached people become to the pleasures of the senses. Thus the Buddha describes the
indulgence in sense pleasures as low, common, worldly, ignoble, not leading to the goal.
The noble eightfold path avoids the extreme of sensual indulgence by its recognition of
the futility of desire and its stress on renunciation. Desire and sensuality, far from being
means to happiness, are springs of suffering to be abandoned as the requisite of
deliverance.
The other extreme is the practice of self-mortification, the attempt to gain liberation by
afflicting the body. This practice may be motivated by genuine aspiration for deliverance,
but it is guided by a wrong view that the body is the cause of bondage, when the real
source of trouble lies in the mind the mind obsessed by greed, aversion, and
delusion.23 To rid the mind of these defilements the affliction of the body is not only
useless but self-defeating, for it is the impairment of a necessary instrument. Thus the
Buddha describes this second extreme as "painful, ignoble, not leading to the goal."
The Buddhist renunciation does not mean physical renunciation, but psychological one.
Because the causes of human suffering is within the human mind not outside. This idea is
very well brought out in the Anguttaranikya as follows:
In passionate purpose lays mans sense desire,
the worlds gain glitters are not sense desire,
in passionate purpose lays mans sense desire,
the worlds gain glitters as they abide,
but the wise men hold desire, therefore, in check.24
M i 95-96: MLDB: 707-8. if a monk (bhikkhu) has the following five factors of striving, (1) faith in the
Tathgatas enlightenment, (2) free from illness and affliction, (3) honest and sincere, (4) energetic in
abandoning unwholesome states and in undertaking wholesome states, (5) wisdom regarding to rise and
disappearance, he can attain enlightenment in a day.
23
Bodhi 1994: 15.
24
Gradual Saying 291. A iii 411. The same saying is also found in the Nasantisutta of the Samyuttanikya,
Mrs Rhys Davids translated it as The manifold objects in the world This in itself is not desires of sense.
22

11

So what the Buddha wanted to convey is that the manifold objects in the external world
do not constitute our craving. What constitute our craving is the lustful intention, lustful
desire within us, not things themselves, but lustful desire towards them.
So the true renunciation is not completely withdrawn from the world physically, but the
cultivation of particular attitude of mind within us. So mental culture is not based on the
suppression of senses, but to develop the senses to see the phenomena as they truly are.
Thats why the Buddha returned to the world after enlightenment and he even advised his
disciples to go and preach his teachings when there were sixty arahant disciples around
him.
Therefore, the practice of renunciation does not entail the tormenting of the body. It
consists in mental training, and for this the body must be fit, a sturdy support for the
inward work. A sound mind is in a sound body. Thus the body is to be looked after well,
kept in good health, while the mental faculties are trained to generate the liberating
wisdom.
The Noble Eightfold Path gives rise to vision, gives rise to knowledge, and leads to
peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbna.25 The noble eightfold path is
the whole of Buddhist training leading one to perfection both mentally and morally. This
training can be summarized as:
To abstain from all evil, to cultivate the good, and to purify one's mind this is the
teaching of the Buddhas. (Dhammapada 183).
The noble eightfold path consists of eight factors as follows:
Division
Eightfold Path factors
1. Right understanding or view
Wisdom
2. Right intention or thought
3. Right speech
Ethical conduct 4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
Meditation
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration
The eight factors are not step by step training but they are components of training and
thus should be practiced simultaneously as they are interdependent and interrelated. The
Lustful intention is mans sense-desire. That manifold of objects doth endure; The will thereto the wise
exterminate. (S:1.34; PTS: S I 22, trans. I 32) (CDB: 111) and also in Chinese Sayuktgama Sutra No.
752 (CBETA, T02, no. 99, p. 198, c27-p. 199, a12).
25
CDB: 1843. SN 56.11; PTS: S v 420. Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.

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eight factors are usually divided into three groups: (i) the moral discipline including right
speech, right action, and right livelihood; (ii) the meditation including right effort, right
mindfulness, and right concentration; and (iii) the wisdom including right thought and
right view.
The moral discipline which is based on the universal love and compassion for all living
beings is training in verbal and physical behaviors and it aims at promoting a happy and
harmonious life both for the individual and for society. Moral discipline is indispensable
for mental training, meditation, the main practice of Buddhism, which aims at cleansing
the mind of impurities and disturbances and cultivating such qualities as concentration,
awareness, intelligence, etc. Thus meditation will lead finally to enlightenment, the
attainment of highest wisdom which sees the nature of things as they are. The Buddhist
concept of wisdom is the perfection in both morality and intelligence so it is different
from what ordinarily we understand as wisdom as it includes only intelligence. It is in
this sense that the Buddhist training aims at the perfection of man in two qualities that
should be developed equally: compassion and intelligence. In other words, the noble
eightfold path leads one to the attainment of wisdom that dispels ignorance, the root of
human lifes problem. As the Buddha says: The element of ignorance is indeed a
powerful element.26
Significance of the noble eightfold path
1) In the Noble Eightfold Path, you do not find any prayer, ritual formalism or worship,
ceremony. So it can be accepted and practiced by all people without changing their life
style and belief.
There is no mention of faith which is the foundation for other religions in the world. In
other words, faith is no so important in Buddhism as it serves only at the beginning. Once
when the practitioner progresses, faith is not necessary.
There is even no mention of rebirth in the noble eightfold path. This means that even in
this life itself, the practice of the noble eightfold path is meaningful. In other words, even
for those do not believe in next life, the practice of the noble eightfold path is useful.
2) The noble eightfold path lies its emphasis on human effort for liberation, not on the
power of an outside supernatural agent because it is a practice of self-discipline in body,
speech and mind, self-development and self-purification.
So it is a path starting from moral practice leading to the realization of ultimate reality, to
complete freedom, happiness and peace through moral, spiritual and intellectual
perfection.
3) The Noble Eightfold Path is to be followed by all those who work for their happiness,
it is a way of life to be followed, practiced, and developed by each and every individual.
26

CDB: 637. S ii 153; SN 14:13.

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4) The Noble Eightfold Path is both a means as well as an end as it starts with moral
training and ends up with moral perfection. Two factors are achieved when one follows
the path: right knowledge and right liberation.
5) The Noble Eightfold Path begins with right view because, according to the Buddha,
nothing is more dangerous than wrong view.
The Buddha himself says that he sees no single factor so responsible for the arising of
unwholesome states of mind as wrong view, and no factor so helpful for the arising of
wholesome states of mind as right view.27
What is the right view? Sariputta explains in the Sammaditthi Sutta: When, friends, a
noble disciple understands the unwholesome, the root of the unwholesome, the
wholesome, and the root of the wholesome, in that way he is one of right view, whose
view is straight, who has perfect confidence in the Dhamma, and has arrived at this true
Dhamma.28
Here the wholesome refers to the Ten Kusala Dhamma (the ten virtues) and the
unwholesome refers to the opposite, while the root of unwholesome is greed, hatred and
delusion, the root of wholesome is non-greed, non-hatred and non-delusion.
6) Dogmatic attachment to any view is wrong. Although right view is good, but
attachment to right view is also condemned by the Buddha, because dogmatic attachment
to any view may lead one to suffering.
Because a view is only a guideline to action, even the Buddhist teaching is only like a raft.
Thats why the Buddha says that he does not hold any view.
The Buddha says in the Sallekha Sutta, we shall not misapprehend according to
individual views nor hold on to them tenaciously, but shall discard them with ease thus
effacement can be done.29
6. Karma and Rebirth
First let us look at the definition of karma given in the early Buddhist literature. In the
Anguttaranikya, one of the five collections of Buddhist teachings, we find this saying of
the Buddha:
I declare, O Monks, that volition is Kamma. Having willed one acts through body,
speech and thought.30
(1) The word karma or kamma literally means action or doing, but in the Buddhist
27

A i 28. The Gradual Sayings, i 27-28. NDB: 116-117.

M iii 178-79.
29
M i 43. Sutta No.8, Sallekha Sutta.
30
The Gradual Sayings, iii 294. (A iii 415, Nibbedhika Sutta-A Penetrative Discourse).
28

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theory of karma it does not mean any action, it is only the volitional action. Involuntary,
unintentional or unconscious actions, though technically deeds, do not constitute karma,
because volition, the most important factor in determining karma, is absent. Karma or
action is performed in three ways, by the mind, speech and body.
(2) The Buddhist theory of karma is the theory of cause and effect, action and reaction.
As volition can be morally good or bad so karma also can be morally good or bad. Thus,
good volitional actions produce good effects or fruits and vise versa.
The nature of karma is determined by its motives. According to the Buddhism, any action
motivated by desire or attachment, hate or aversion and ignorance or confusion is morally
bad and unwholesome. On the other hand, any action is motivated by the absence of
greed, hatred and ignorance is morally good and wholesome.
(3) Karma is a law in itself which operates according to the principle of dependent arising.
There is no intervention of any external, independent ruling agency or power. Even the
Buddha is neither a creator nor the controller of karma. The Buddhist doctrine of kamma
thus places ultimate responsibility for human destiny in our own hands. It reveals to us
how our ethical choices and actions can become either a cause of pain and bondage or a
means to spiritual freedom.
(4) Karma is similar to the natural law, but not exactly the same, so karma cannot be
interpreted as tit for tat as the Lonaphala Sutta says,
Monks, for anyone who says, 'In whatever way a person makes kamma, that is how it is
experienced,' there is no living of the religious life, there is no opportunity for the right
ending of suffering. But for anyone who says, 'When a person makes kamma to be felt in
such & such a way, that is how its result is experienced,' there is the living of the
religious life, there is the opportunity for the right ending of suffering.
In the case of a person who has not properly cultivated his character, mind, intellect
even a trifling evil deed leads him to a lower destiny. On the other hand, in the case of a
person of opposite (good) character, the consequences of such trifling acts are
experienced in this very life and sometimes may not appear at all.31
(5) Karma does not necessarily mean only past actions, it embraces both past and present
deeds. Hence, in one sense, we are the result of what we were, we will be the result of
what we are. In another sense, we are not totally the result of what we were, we will not
absolutely be the result of what we are.
In the Buddhist scriptures, the present action (karma) is more emphasized because past
actions are also done and we cannot change them. It is the present actions that contribute
to build our future life. It is in this sense that every moment we are creating our future.
Every moment then we must be careful. For instance, a criminal today may be a saint
31

The translation is adopted from the Book of Gradual Sayings i. 227. NDB: 331-332. (PTS: A i 249, Pali
Text: A 3.99)

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tomorrow, a good person yesterday may be a vicious one today.

(6) Many people misunderstand karma as an occult power or as an inescapable fate. If
karma is fate then it is like determinism or fatalism. However, karma is neither because
the future of our life is not determined as we are now still creating our future.
(7) In the working of karma its most important factor is the mind. All our words and
deeds are colored by the mind or consciousness we experience at such particular
moments. As the Citta Sutta says:
The world is led around by mind;
By mind its dragged here and there.
Mind is the one thing that has
All under its control.32
If one speaks or acts with a wicked mind, pain follows one as the wheel, the hoof of the
draught-ox." "If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows one as the
shadow that never departs.33
That is why, as discussed above, the Buddhist training aims at the cleansing the mind of
impurities on one hand and cultivating good mental qualities on the other.
So according to Buddhism human behaviors are conditioned by causes and it is followed
by correlated consequences. This correlation between action and its consequence
constitutes the doctrine of karma in Buddhism.
Vipka
1) The correlated consequences of action (karma) are called vipka which means fruit in
Buddhism.
As karma is action so vipka is its consequence or result. Karma may be ethically good or
bad, so Vipka, fruit, is also ethically good or bad. Karma is mental, so Vipka too is
mental; it is experienced as happiness or bliss, unhappiness or misery according to the
nature of the karma seed.
As we sow, so we reap somewhere and sometime, in this life or in a future birth. What we
reap today is what we have sown either in the present or in the past.
The Samyuttanikya states:
Whatever sort of seed is sown,
That is the sort of fruit one reaps:
The doer of good reaps good;
The doer of evil reaps evil.
By you, dear, has the seed been sown;
32
33

CDB: 130. (S.1.62. Cittasutta Mind).

Dhammapada, verse No.1&2.

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Thus you will experience the fruit.34

The fruits or consequences of karma are many different kinds dependent on the nature of
karma and rebirth is the most important fruit of karma. At the moment just preceding
death, the death-proximate kamma may take the form of a reflex of some good or bad
deeds performed during the dying persons life. This determines the nature of the linking
consciousness that serves as a condition to next birth. Thus, the accumulation of good
karma in life ensures one a good rebirth.
As Buddhism does not accept the concept of an eternal soul as an agent of performance,
then who is the performer of karma? Who reaps the fruit of karma? In answering these
subtle questions, the fifth century commentator Buddhaghosa wrote in the
Visuddhimagga, (the Path to Purification):
No doer of the deeds is found,
No one who ever reaps their fruits;
Empty phenomena roll on:
This only is the correct view.
As discussed above, according to the Buddhist analysis of a human being or an individual,
it is only a combination of the five aggregates and there is no permanent self or soul
within or outside to control and dictate. Hence volition or will is itself the doer, feeling is
itself the reaper of the fruits of action. Apart from these pure mental states there is none to
sow and none to reap as life itself is an ever changing flux and behind this flux there is
nothing serving as an agent. Everything is a process and in this process there is no eternal
and unchanging substance.
King Milinda questioned the Venerable Ngasena, Where, Venerable Sir, is Kamma?
Ngasena said, Kamma is not said to be stored somewhere in this fleeting consciousness
or in any other part of the body. But dependent on mind and matter it rests manifesting
itself at the opportune moment, just as mangoes are not said to be stored somewhere in
the mango tree, but dependent on the mango tree they lie, springing up in due season.
In conclusion, the basic Buddhist teachings concentrate on the analysis of life, how life
goes on from one birth to another, how our ethical behaviors affect our life, our lifes
problems and their causes and solutions. The practical aim of this teaching is to lead one
to attain wisdom through practice called three trainings: morality, concentration and
wisdom, because as the root cause of our lifes problems is ignorance so wisdom is the
only solution. Nirvana is nothing but wisdom with which one can see things as they truly
are.
Reference
A = Aguttaranikya. 2000. Oxford: the Pali Text Society (PTS). Reprint.
34

CDB: 328. (S. i. 227; PTS trans. i 293)

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Bhikkhu Bodhi. 1994. The Noble Eightfold Path, The Way to the End of Suffering. First
edition 1984 published as Wheel Publication No. 308/311, Second edition (revised)
1994 Buddhist Publication Society.
CDB = Bhikkhu Bodhi. 2000. (trans.) The Connected Discourse of the Buddha, A
Translation of the Sayuta Nikya. Boston: Wisdom Publication.
Gowans, Christopher. 2003. Philosophy of the Buddha, London and New York:
Routledge.
M = Majjima Nikya. 2000. Oxford: the Pali Text Society. Reprint.
MLDB = Bhikkhu amoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi. 1995. (trans.) The Middle Length
Discourse of the Buddha, A New Translation of the Majjima Nikya. Boston:
Wisdom Publication.
NDB = Bhikkhu Bodhi. 2012. (trans.) The Numerical Discourse of the Buddha, A
Translation of the Aguttara Nikya. Boston: Wisdom Publication.
Rahula, Walpora. 2000. What the Buddha Taught. London and New York:
S = Sayutanikya. 2000. Oxford: the Pali Text Society. Reprint.
Woodward, F. L. 2000. (trans.) The Book of Gradual Sayings, Vol. I. Oxford: The Pali
Text Society.

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