Introduction to Buddhism (pt.9)
Welcome back to our continuing series exploring the Four Noble Truths. Last time we explored the first noble truth, now let’s move on to the second noble truth.
Samudaya ( the truth of the cause of suffering) —The second noble truth
Let’s start by presenting how the Buddha presented the Second Noble Truth to his first five disciples. Sutra translation from Plum Village
“Here, bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the cause of suffering. It is the desire to be born again, delight in being born again, attached to the pleasures found in this and that. There is the craving for sense pleasures, for becoming, and for not becoming any more.
……
“When I realized the Noble Truth of the causes of suffering, seeing, understanding, insight, wisdom, and light arose in me with regard to things I had not heard before.
“When I realized that the causes of suffering need to be given up, seeing, understanding, insight, wisdom, and light arose in me with regard to things I had not heard before.
“When I realized that the causes of suffering have been given up, seeing, understanding, insight, wisdom, and light arose in me with regard to things I had not heard before.
Noble Truth | The Buddha… | The truth of … needed | The Buddha … the truth of … |
Cause of Suffering | Realized truth of Cause of Suffering | To be given up | Have given up |
The Buddha realized the second noble truth, that it needs to be given up, and he demonstrated he has given it up.
However, what is the cause of suffering or unsatisfactoriness? In the last blog we discussed at length the type of suffering and unsatisfactoriness that defines our life. From physical suffering to the impermanent condition. The Buddha identified the cause of suffering is due to our desire or clinging as stated in the sutra excerpt above.
And the three poisons - Greed/Lust, Hate/Aversion, and Ignorance/Delusion - are the cause to our desire to clinging. With ignorance as the major driving force.
Three Poisons
The Three poisons ( the fundamental klesha. Klesha are mental states, affliction, mental poisons or defilements that cloud all sentient beings’ minds ). The Buddha called them the three fires with which the whole of samsara is ablaze.
In the Akusalamūlasutta of the Numerical Discourse (Aṅguttara Nikāya) the Buddha opens his sermon stating “Mendicants, there are these three unskillful roots. What three? Greed, hate, and delusion.”
It may seems doctrine at a glaze, but let’s stop and ponder. When considering one’s daily interaction, how much of it is motivated by the three poisons?
Are we motivated by greed to acquire certain items and entertainment?
How long is our joy for acquiring said items?
How do we feel when we can’t acquire it?
What is our mind doing?
Are we motivated by hatred to make hurtful comments or get into arguments with people around us?
How do we feel when we are in those moments?
How long does it last?
How much time and energy are we spending focusing on the first two poisons?
Now let's consider, how much of our actions and actions of others are motivated by greed, hatred or a mixture of both?
When you look at the world around us (society’s issues, community’s problems and world events) how much is driven by greed, hatred and delusions?
Now, let`s take a closer look to the definition of each of the poisons —
Greed or Passion is our sensual attachment and desire to chase, acquire or cling to that which brings pleasure.
Hatred or Aversion is our desire to destroy, remove, be hostile to that which we find unpleasant.
Ignorance or Delusion does not mean the conventional definition of being unaware. Ignorance in Buddhism refers to when one has a fundamental misunderstanding of the true nature of reality.
Ignorance (avidya) requires examining a few fundamental Buddhist concepts before it can be fully understood. It is the most deeply entrenched klesha (mental defilement) and the hardest to observe—partly because we rarely view ourselves as delusional, and partly because we simply do not know what we do not know.
It is also the driver to the cycle of life and death (samsara) otherwise known as the twelve nidanas. The twelve nidanas ( twelve links of dependent origination ) is the process in which all phenomena of samsara (sometimes referred to as Dharma) arises from. It is commonly depicted as a cycle of or a unidirectional flow of cause and effect.
Note: the Wheel of Life is a symbolic diagram to aid practitioner in visualizing key concepts. We will dice deeper into its imagery in a dedicated future blog.
Twelve Nidanas
As described above, the twelve nidanas or twelve links of dependent origination is the process in which all phenomena (sometimes referred to as Dharma) arises from. Ultimately, the twelve nidanas explain the process in which conditioned things arise from other things (further explanation when discussing impermanence and emptiness). The twelve nidanas in relation to the second noble truth describe how the notion of clinging to a permanent “I” leads to suffering or dukkha.
The twelve nidanas are represented by a chain of 12 processes, each one is the cause for the subsequent link. Understanding the twelve nidanas is also the foundation to learning about the law of karma.
Delusion/Ignorance (Avidya): Not knowing the true nature of reality.
Formations (Samskara): Mental habits and volitional impulses.
Consciousness (Vijnana): Basic awareness that enters a new existence.
Name and Form (Namarupa): Mind and body developing together.
Six Senses (Sadayatana): The five physical senses plus the mind.
Contact (Sparsa): The meeting of sense organs, objects, and consciousness.
Feeling (Vedana): Pleasant, painful, or neutral sensations.
Craving (Trsna): Thirst or strong desire for pleasant things.
Grasping (Upadana): Clinging tightly to desires and experiences.
Becoming (Bhava): The process that conditions a new state of existence.
Birth (Jati): Coming into a new life.
Old Age and Death (Jara-marana): Decay, sorrow, and the end of life
The start of the chain is ignorance or delusion, our inability to recognise all phenomena are transient. This is the cause which results in our formation or mental activity. Thus moving down the list, each result becomes the cause to form the next nidana. In the end, birth is the cause that will always result in death. The result of death also means our own suffering. Not understanding suffering is delusion or ignorance, thus restarting the chain. When one applies the twelve nidana to arising phenomena (ideas or concepts) each nidana progresses so quickly we fail to realize each item as it appears then leads to the next step, but if we apply it to samsara (cycle of birth and death) one can start to see how our clinging leads to being reborn over and over again.
In a diagram by Thich Nhat Hanh, he explains how the twelve links are each other’s cause and effect and its relationship with death and rebirth.
The diagram shows past, present and future and two sets of cause-effect. Buddhism differs from other beliefs in that it discusses past, present and future as a cycle and never discusses permanence.
For more in-depth analysis, the Vibhaṅgasutta in the Linked Discourse (Saṁyutta Nikāya), the Buddha explores each of the twelve nidanas to his followers.
Karma
To wrap our brains around how karma works. Karma means action or intent. Contrary to popular beliefs, karma does not mean a divine judgement and punishment that is levied for our actions. No one created karma, it is just a law of nature, like how gravity is a physical law in our world, it has no inherent good or bad, it just is.
How does karma work? There is always an intention or action, whether physical or mental. This plants a karmic seed. The seed will bear fruit as a result or a karmic fruit, but similar to the physical action of planting a seed, it requires conditions to be met for the seed to germinate and grow. Conditions fostering an outcome or consequence can be referred to as dependent origination.
For example the act of killing plants an unwholesome karmic seed. This seed can be fostered by further unwholesome acts or negative thoughts like hatred, anger and/or ignorance. When enough conditions are given to the karmic seed, it grows into an effect or results. The result could be illness, death, or other misfortunes in this life or next lives.
Note: The exact result varies depending on the magnitude of the cause. Further analysis of the law of karma can be explored by the Yogachara school or Weishi school in Buddhism to be discussed in the future.
The law of karma motivates one to take ownership of his/her actions and accept responsibility for the outcome. It doesn’t place blame or associate reward with a higher power for one’s fortune. Some people are born or experience misfortune through their lives. It can be associated with the fruit of karmic seeds from past lives, but when one understands the law of karma, it should motivate one to strive to build better seeds for a changed and better future. Ultimately, this should lead all who understand karma to live a more fulfilling and meaningful life.
To summarize, Karma refers to action or intent which is sometimes understood as cause and effect. The concept that conditions turn a karmic seed into karmic fruit (outcome or consequences) is known as the law of causality or karma in general.
We discussed Ignorance / Delusion as the driver for the twelve nidanas. At its core, ignorance is also mistaking the impermanent (anicca) for permanent, which leads us to react with unwholesome actions whenever change inevitably occurs. Yet impermanence is only one dimension of reality. To truly unravel ignorance, we must look deeper into the complete nature of ultimate reality that we so often fail to see.
Three marks of existence
The three marks of existence ties all the above topics and lay out the formula for existence.
Anicca (Impermanence) - all conditioned things are impermanent
Dukkha (Dissatisfaction) - all conditioned things are unsatisfactory, imperfect, unstable
Anattā (Non-self ) – all dharmas (conditioned or unconditioned things) have no unchanging self or soul.
The above concepts: Karma, Impermanence, Dependent Origination, Non-Self, Emptiness and the Three Marks of Existence are thoroughly explored in Abdhidharma (commentaries) in the centuries after the Buddha’s Parinirvana.
Impermanence, Emptiness and Non-self
Understanding karma and conditions, we can deduce that life, object, phenomena and all things are present only because the conditions allow it to be. When a condition is absent, it decays or disappears. The concept that everything is dependent on conditions is known as dependent origination. What does this mean for ourselves? It means we are impermanent and even our identity changes, arises, and decay based on the conditions that surround us.
Combine this with the five aggregates can we truly believe there is a permanent indivisible element we can call ourself (soul)?
This is why Buddhism does not believe in a permanent entity like a soul. We are ever changing, and impermanent.
Impermanence is further expanded to understand that everything around us is empty. Empty does not mean nothingness like the conventional meaning. What it means is that the property of a being, object, idea etc existence is subject to dependent origination and come together and fall apart due to conditions, then it is devoid of an indivisible, permanent "self" (Ātman). The Heart Sutra explores the concept of emptiness as it applies to our self and our reality.
Lastly, let’s discuss non-self (Sanskrit: anātman, Pali: anattā). In Buddhism, the concept of non-self built upon impermanence and emptiness then applied to each individual sentient being. The term self in Buddhism refers to an idea or being that can exist independently of all conditions, it is born of itself, permanent, indivisible and never changing. Non-self does not mean there is no physical being, it means it is something that is born from conditions, impermanent and is in a state of always changing.
Now that we have defined the concepts of impermanence, emptiness and non-self, let’s apply it to our everyday situations. When encountering situations, ask ourselves “What in this is permanent, unchanging?” " Are my thoughts and actions being driven by greed, hatred and delusion? " Such questions will remind us the truth of reality, keeping our mind clear and centered, therefore the internal fire and turmoils of would be ceased — which lead to what we will discuss in the next post, the third noble truth Nirodha ( Cessation of Suffering ) and introduce the fourth noble truth Marga (Path to Cessation of Suffering).
In summary, This blog has been packed full of philosophy, doctrine and thought provoking concepts. The second noble truth states suffering is caused by our ignorance to the true nature of reality. The true nature of reality is impermanent (anicca), conditioned (pratītyasamutpāda), and empty of self-existence (śūnyatā). Yet, because we mistake it for permanent and fixed, we act out of the Three Poisons—greed, aversion, and delusion. These unwholesome actions plant negative karmic seeds, creating outcomes that inevitably lead to suffering. Trapped by our own ignorance, we repeat these patterns, driving the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination (twelve nidanas) and perpetually binding ourselves to the cycle of birth and death (samsara).
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