[Buddha-l] Re: Core teachings

[Benito Carral]

On Monday, January 30, 2006, Jim Peavler wrote:

> I  had  hoped  that  either  Benito  or Vicente might
> respond  to  my  posting about the questions asked by
> Malunkyputta.

   I have already replied to it.

> The  two  most  closely relevant questions are these:
> "are  the soul and body identical, or is the soul one
> thing  and  the  body another?; do saints exist after
> death  or do not exist after death, or both exist and
> do  not  exist  after  death or neither exist nor not
> exist after death?"

   They  have  nothing  to  do with rebirth. The Buddha
taught  that  there  is  not  soul, so asking about the
relationship between the soul and the body simply don't
make  sense.  The  tathagatas  have stopped the rebirth
cycle,  so  when  Malunkyaputta  asked if the Tathagata
exists after death, he was not talking about rebirth.

> “And  what,  Malunkyputta, have I elucidated? Misery,
> Malunkyputta, have I elucidated; the origin of misery
> have  I  elucidated;  the  cessation of misery have I
> elucidated;  and the path leading to the cessation of
> misery have I elucidated (by the way, Professor Hayes
> has  suggested that the path leading to the cessation
> of   misery,   of  necessity,  requires  the  gradual
> reduction of misery).

   Not  matter  what  Richard has suggested, the Buddha
ALWAYS  said  that the goal is the cessation of dukkha,
not  not reducing it--in addition to that, I think that
suddenists  will  not  be happy with reducing preceding
cessation.

> So, my question to those who insist that folks who do
> not    require    belief    in    literal    rebirth,
> rebirth-consciousness,  literal kharma, etc., because
> they  are  talked about in early suttas -- how do you
> deal with sutta 63 of the Majjhimaniday?

   The  Buddha taught dukkha and its cessation. Life is
dukkha,  bodymind  is  dukkha. The only way of stopping
dukkha  is  stopping  rebirth.  Those  of you who don't
believe  in rebirth must redefine dukkha as a subset of
the Buddha's definition.

> Why don't you insist that, to be a Buddhist, everyone
> must believe in these stories as literally true?

   I  can't  speak for others. As far as I'm concerned,
the  Buddha sumarized its teachings saying that he only
teaches dukkha and its cessation. Life is dukkha:

    Now  this,  monks,  is  the  Noble Truth of dukkha:
    Birth  is dukkha, aging is dukkha, death is dukkha;
    sorrow,  lamentation,  pain,  grief,  & despair are
    dukkha;  association  with the unbeloved is dukkha;
    separation  from  the  loved is dukkha; not getting
    what  is  wanted  is  dukkha.  In  short,  the five
    clinging-aggregates are dukkha.

    SN LVI.11

and this human life is precious:

    "Monks,  suppose that this great earth were totally
    covered  with  water, and a man were to toss a yoke
    with  a  single  hole  there.  A wind from the east
    would push it west, a wind from the west would push
    it east. A wind from the north would push it south,
    a  wind  from  the  south  would push it north. And
    suppose  a  blind  sea-turtle  were there. It would
    come  to  the surface once every one hundred years.
    Now what do you think: would that blind sea-turtle,
    coming to the surface once every one hundred years,
    stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole?"

    "It  would  be  a sheer coincidence, lord, that the
    blind  sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every
    one  hundred  years,  would stick his neck into the
    yoke with a single hole."

    "It's likewise a sheer coincidence that one obtains
    the  human state. It's likewise a sheer coincidence
    that  a  Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened,
    arises   in   the  world.  It's  likewise  a  sheer
    coincidence  that a doctrine & discipline expounded
    by  a  Tathagata  appears  in  the world. Now, this
    human  state has been obtained. A Tathagata, worthy
    & rightly self-awakened, has arisen in the world. A
    doctrine  &  discipline  expounded  by  a Tathagata
    appears in the world.

    "Therefore your duty is the contemplation: 'This is
    stress...This  is  the origination of stress...This
    is  the  cessation  of stress...This is the path of
    practice leading to the cessation of stress.'"

    SN LVI.48

   I  don't  want anybody lost this opportunity because
nobody told him.

> No   one  denies  that  early  suttas  discuss  these
> questions.   The  issue  is  whether  a  person  must
> absolutely  believe  in the exact same ones as Benito
> and Vicente say we must.

   Plese,  don't  put  words in my lips that I have not
pronounced. I have insisted that everyone should follow
what  he finds wholesome. I have also insisted that the
Buddha  didn't  teach  a  way  of improving our life in
Samsara  but  a  way  of  stopping  the  rebirth cycle.
Moreover,  I  have  also  said  that  if  someone takes
rebirth  away  from  Buddhism,  he  loses  an essential
meaning-giving   aspect   of  Buddhism  (he  changes  a
religion for a psychotherapy).

   Best wishes,

   Beni