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Chapter - IV J\OBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH and BUDDHIST THOUGHT

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Chapter - IV J\OBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH and BUDDHIST THOUGHT Chapter - IV J\OBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH AND BUDDHIST THOUGHT 4.1 Introduction Research methodology and sources of data for this study were discussed in the preceding chapter. The researcher decided to follow historical method and philosophical analysis to study the Noble Eightfold Path from educational perspective. In this chapter, textual documents and discussions are presented and attempts are made to inquire into Buddhist thought from primary sources. First, a brief history of the Buddha and his teachings are presented as the necessary background of the study. After this introduction, the status of literary sources which contain the Buddha's teaching are critically evaluated. Then, textual documents taken from the primary sources on the Noble Eightfold Path are presented. In the last section, Buddhist thought as reflected in the Noble Eightfold Path is discussed. 4.2 The Buddha, His Teaching and Buddhist Texts There is no dearth of literature on the Buddha and his thought. In A History of Educational Thought, Frederick Mayer (1960, p. 40) wrote: "He [the Buddha] was not only a man of unusual religious insight, but also a philosopher and educator of great depth and penetration." Mayer had attempted to disperse the cloud of numerous legends surrounding the Buddha, in order to reach the path which was advocated by the Buddha. In doing so, Mayer called the Buddha an "outstanding and most provocative saint" in history, because he offered "the best solution" for human problems. However, he had not proved the Buddhist educational thought with persuasive explanation and evidence. In this section, the life of the Buddha, as a philosopher and educator, is introduced with textual evidence taken from primary sources. And it is followed by a brief introduction to his teachings and texts in which his teachings are preserved. 4.2.1 The Buddha One of the earliest texts describing the life of the Buddha was the Ariyapariyesana-sutta of the Majjhima-nikaya?^ Based on the narration in this text, together with other internal evidence drawn from the whole Tipitaka, Buddhist scholars (Berchert, 1991; Nanamoli, 1998; Prebish, 2008; Schumann, 1989) have reached a general agreement that the historical Buddha, bom as Siddhattha Gotama, lived in ancient Northern India in the 5''^ and 6"^ centuries BCE. He was most likely bom in c.563 BCE in Kapilavatthu (a territory of Indian-Nepalese border today) and passed away in c.483 BCE^' in Kusinara (now Kushinagar District, Uttar Pradesh, India). The Buddha was a man of flesh and blood (Schumann, 1989, p. 8), who walked on the rich soil of the Ganges plain over 2500 years ago. He was bom to the Sdkyan clan. By his potentially awakening orientation and strenuous efforts, he became fully-awakened {sambodhi). With Full-Awakening, he was entitled the Buddha or the Awakened One (Schumann, 1989, p. 56). Since then throughout the history, his words have been the source for the development of a unique culture that brings in unparallel prestige to many communities and institutions in Asia (Harvey, 1990, p. 5; Swearer, 2000, pp. viii-xxv), which proclaim their allegiance to his teaching. The Buddha's teaching in brief is called Dhamma, which is bound to the Indo-Aryan culture in which the young Siddhattha Gotama was bom and brought up. Today, the advent of the Buddha and his teaching is perceived in different ways, depending upon background of the person who approaches him. To a historian of religion, the Buddha may represent a consummate enlightened being. To a •"' See Chapter III, Section 3.2.1. "" Though some researchers hypothetically suggest other dates, most of the scholars support the dates 563 - 483 BCE and this dating is generally accepted in the circles of Buddhist studies. 75 philosopher, the Buddha may represent a great thinker or a sage, who reahsed the eternal state of Being. To a meditator, the Buddha represents a yogin, who had attained the intrinsic quality of awareness and so on and so forth. The diversity of view-point reflects the resonance of and shares allegiance to the Buddha's life and his teaching, the Dhamma?^ The students of the Buddha, from the Buddha himself down through all the schools to the present, who wish to learn the Dhamma and attain wisdom, have acknowledged two phases of the path. First comes learning the words of truth that was originally uttered by the Buddha himself; and the second is reflecting and practising his teachings within our own experience. In other words, theory and practice in the Buddha's Dhamma always go together hand in hand.^^ One balances and corroborates the other. In this connection, theory or study of the theory is a stepping stone towards our practice. Studying the Buddha's Dhamma from educational perspective, and more importantly in education discipline, makes sense only when the combination of theory and practice is kept in mind. 4.2.2 The Dhamma The Buddha's Dhamma can be summarised, in brief, in the Four Ennobling Truths: the suffering {diikkha), the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering and the way leading to the cessation of suffering. The first truth points to the reality of life, which is inherently impermanent, non-substantial in nature and "" Dhamma is a multiplex term. Essentially, Dhamma is a means, a raft for crossing over from the shore of ignorance and suffering to the shore of wisdom and peace (Nanamoli & Bodhi, 1995, p. 25; MN.22.13). To know more about the philosophical significance of the variety and variability of usages and applications of Dhamma, see Bodhi's discussion on this term in his introduction to Nanamoli's translation of the MaJJhima- nikaya, The Middle Lenghth Discourses of the Buddha, and also to his translation of the Samyittta-nikaya, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. •' The Buddha's emphasis on this inseperable combination is depicted in the Dhammapada 19-20. The Buddha likened the bookish scholars to cowherds, who protected other people's cows without themselves getting the benefits of milk and milk products. Theory without practice becomes a mere intellectual game; while practice without theory tends to journey without direction. 76 causing pain and suffering in life. With the second truth, the Buddha identifies craving as the main cause of suffering. The third truth points to Nibbana, the highest state of well-being, which he had realized by walking on the Middle Path {majjhimd-patipadd). This path is the fourth truth, which is also called the Noble Eightfold Path (Ariya-atthahgika-magga). It includes: 1. Right-view {samma-ditthi) 2. Right-resolve {sammd-sankappo) 3. Right-speech (5(7wwfl-vaca) 4. Right-action {sammd-kammanto) 5. Right-livelihood {sammd-djivo) 6. Right-effort {sammd-vdydmo) 1. Right-mindfulness {sammd-sati) 8. Right-concentration {sammd-samddhi) During his teaching career, the Buddha also explained the Dhamma in terms of the threefold training (ti-sikkhd), the four foundations of mindfulness (satipatthdna), the seven enlightenment factors (bojjhanga), and so on, to meet the individual differences. In this process, he also introduced some philosophical doctrines such as the five aggregates (pafica-khandha), dependent-arising {paticcasamiippdda) and moral efficacy of action (kamma). In this study, attempt is made to focus on the Noble Eightfold Path. In fact, all these teachings are included in the Noble Eightfold Path. Therefore, they will be discussed when the Noble Eightfold Path is presented and explained. 4.2.3 Buddhist Texts After the Buddha's demise, his teachings were collected and gathered by his immediate disciples. They compiled them into the three parts, viz. Vinaya-pitaka (collection of disciplines), Sutta-piiaka (Collection of Discourses) and Abhiddhamma-pitaka (Collection of higher Teaching). They are all preserved in an Indian ancient language, named Pali. The Sutta-pitaka contains approximately 77 12,632 discourses of varied lengths given by the Buddha (some by his great disciples, and approved by him). They were compiled into five main collections (Table 4.1). The rich themes in these numerous discourses include almost all aspects of thoughts and practices of human life. For this reason, the Sutta-pitaka is selected as the primary source for this study. Table 4.1: Number of Suttas Sutta-pitaka More than 12,632 discourses DTgha-nikaya 34 discourses Majjhima-nikaya 152 discourses Samyutta-nikaya 1889 discourses A nguttara-nikaya 9557 discourses Kh uddaka-nikaya 15 minor collections of short discourses However, Dipak Barua (1966, pp. 2-3) points out that there are some late interpolations in the Sutta-pitaka. Part 1 of the DTgha-nikaya, the Assalayana- sutta of the Majjhima-nikaya, the Mara-samyutta and the Bhikkhuni-samyutta of the Samyutta-nikaya, among others, are some of such instances where interpolations are evident. Norman (1983, p. 37) also proves that there are some later additions in the Pali texts. According to him, many passages were added to the Mahaparinibbana- sutta (DN.16) as we have today, which contains the story of the wanderings of the Buddha during the last few months of his life. Norman also points out some other evidence of later insertions in the DTgha-nikaya. Most of these later insertions are related to miraculous and mythical elements (Norman, 1983, pp. 38-39). He (p. 84) especially emphasised that a large number of stories found in the Jataka 78 collection of the Khuddaka-nikaya were composed and added after the development of different Buddhist schools. As regards the evolution of ideas, there are a number of doctrinal differences in early Buddhist texts (Bronkhorst, 1993, pp. 112-122; Gombrich, 1996, pp. 131- 132), and it is very difficult to distinguish which formulations can be considered to be authentic (Wynne, 2003, p. 1). The distance from the Buddha's time to the period of compiling the Sutta-pitaka is considerable.
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