The Dhammapada for Awakening: A Commentary on Buddha's Practical Wisdom

The Dhammapada for Awakening

A Commentary on the Buddha’s Practical Wisdom

Abbot George Burke

(Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

Light of the Spirit Press

Cedar Crest, New Mexico

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Light of the Spirit Monastery

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014908826

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Table of Contents

Preface

1 The Twin Verses

2 Attention

3 The Mind

4 Flowers

5 The Fool

6 The Wise Man

7 The Enlightened

8 The Thousands

9 Evil

10 The Rod

11 Old Age

12 The Self (Atta Vagga)

13 The World

14 The Buddhas

15 Happiness

16 Preference

17 Anger

18 Impurities (Taints)

19 The Righteous (Dharmic) One

20 The Way

21 Miscellaneous

22 A Woeful State

23 The Elephant

24 Craving

25 The Bhikkhu

26 The Brahmin

Glossary

About the Author

More from Light of the Spirit Press

Preface

History of the Dhammapada

The Dhammapada is not a transcription of a single talk by Gautama the Buddha. Rather, it is a collection of his words on the most important subjects for those seeking Nirvana. It was compiled only three months after his passing away by his enlightened disciples (arhats), who gave it the name Dhammapada, which means Portions of the Dharma or The Way of Dharma. The Dhammapada consists of four hundred twenty-three Pali verses that were gleaned from about three hundred discourses of the Buddha. It is a distillation of forty-five years of teaching. The translation mostly used will be that of John Richards.

In this commentary you will encounter the word Aryan which Buddha used extensively in his teachings. Aryan literally means one who strives upward. It is an exclusively psychological term having nothing whatsoever to do with birth, race, or nationality. In his teachings Buddha habitually referred to spiritually qualified people as the Aryas. Although in English translations we find the expressions The Four Noble Truths and The Noble Eightfold Path Buddha actually said: The Four Aryan Truths, and The Eightfold Aryan Path. I have followed his example.

Also in this commentary there is a great deal of reference to the Bhagavad Gita. This is for two reasons: the Gita expresses the truths so well and expands on them, and I want to demonstrate that Buddha was a classical Sankhya Yogi whose philosophy was identical with that of the Gita.

The Dhammapada is traditionally divided into twenty-six sections, and so this commentary is divided accordingly.

1-The Twin Verses

What is the mind?

Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made (Dhammpapada 1).

What is the mind? The language of Buddha as well as Pali, in which his complete teachings are set down, was based on Sanskrit, so we can get some understanding by looking at the Sanskrit terms from which the Pali was derived. Sanskrit and Pali have the same word for mind: mana. Mana comes from the root verb man, which means to think. However, mind takes in more territory than the intellect; it includes the senses and the emotions, because it is in response to feelings and sensory impressions that thoughts arise to label and understand them.

Evolved minds have the capacity to think abstractly and to determine what shall be experienced by the senses or the feelings. In lesser evolved minds these impressions precede thought, but in higher evolved minds thought becomes dominant and not only often precedes those impressions but also determines them. Undoubtedly this is progress, but like everything in relative existence it has a down side, and that is the capacity of the mind to create reality rather than simply respond to it or classify it.

Perception is not a matter of exact and undistorted experience. Perception itself is learned, and is therefore extremely subjective. People born blind who later gained their sight have said that it took them weeks to tell the difference between circles, squares, triangles, and other geometric shapes, as well as the difference between many other kinds of visual impressions. This tells us that we do not just perceive spontaneously through the senses. We learn perception, it is not just a faculty. In other words, the senses do not perceive; it is the mind alone that perceives even though it uses the impressions of the senses as its raw material for those perceptions. Objectivity in human beings is virtually impossible. We might even hazard the speculation that objectivity is impossible outside of enlightenment.

The understanding to be gained from this is that our life experiences are a training film, an exercise in the development of consciousness with the mind as its main instrument. We are to look and learn. The question Is it real? is almost irrelevant, Is it comprehensible? being more vital. There is a sense in which the individual alone exists and all that he experiences is but the shifting patterns of the movies of the mind, but for a purpose: insight that leads to freedom from the need of any more movies. Then the liberated can rest in the truth of his own self.

The problem is that those who have only an intellectual idea about the relation of experience to reality will come to erroneous conclusions that may result in very self-destructive thought and behavior. Only right experience garnered from right meditation and right thought (which is based on meditation) can clear away the clouds of non-perception and misperception and free us. The demarcation between out there and in here must become clear to us in a practical sense, as must me and not me. We must also come to understand that real and unreal have both correct and mistaken definitions, that all our perceptions are interpretations of the mind and never the objects themselves.

Our perceptions may be more or less correct as to the nature of an outside object, but how can we know? The enlightened of all ages have told us that a stage of evolution can be reached in which the mind is no longer necessary, a state in which we can go beyond the mind and enter into direct contact and communication with out there through a state of unity with in here and then perceive objects as they truly are, or at least as they momentarily are. The knowledge of temporality or eternality is inseparable from that state, so confusion cannot arise regarding them.

In our childish way we always think of perfection as consisting of all our good traits greatly increased and our bad traits eradicated. In the same way we think of eternity as time without end rather than a state that transcends time. Our ideas of eternal life are pathetic since we have no idea what life is, much less eternity. It only follows, then, that our ideas about enlightenment and liberation are equally puerile and valueless. This is why the wise center their attention on spiritual practice rather than theology and philosophy. Experience, Right Experience, will make all things clear or else enable us to see that they do not exist.

At the moment we can say that we do not know just what the mind is, but we are working on knowing it. So let us again set forth the opening words of the Dhammapada.

Mind, the source

Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made. First there is the mind. It is possible to view mind as both the machinery of perception we have been talking about and the consciousness which perceives the perception, the consciousness that is unconditioned and permanent-in other words, the spirit, the eternal Self. The Self is ear of the ear, mind of the mind, speech of speech. He is also breath of the breath, and eye of the eye (Kena Upanishad 2). From this higher aspect of mind all things proceed, in both the macrocosmic and the microcosmic sense. From the Mind of God all things are projected that are found in the cosmos; and from the mind of the individual are projected all that are distinctive to his life. We are all co-creators with God, even though we have long ago forgotten that and consider everything that goes on in our life as acts of God. From this delusion erroneous religion has arisen, religion that thinks it necessary to pray to and propitiate God in order for the good to come to us and the bad to be eliminated from our life. It is this religion and its false God that Buddha adamantly rejected and from which we must be freed if we are to gain any true understanding of what is really happening to us from life to life.

On the other hand, we need true religion, the conviction and aspiration for the uniting of the finite consciousness with the Infinite Consciousness in eternal Being. The call of the self to the Self is the essence of true religion, and in that sense those who would turn from death to life must be thoroughly religious. Any god that is separate from us is a false god; the true God is the very Self of our self. Though distinct from us, he is not separate. We are eternally one with Him. But we have to realize that, not just intellectually, but through direct experience. And that experience is only possible in meditation.

All right: mind precedes its objects, which are themselves governed and made by the mind. This has profound implications.

1) Karma is the creation of the mind, is simply the mind in extension. Karma need not be worked out or fulfilled; the mind need only be changed, or better yet brought into complete abeyance. Then karma is no more and its attendant compulsions, including birth and death, no longer exist. You dream that action is done, you dream that action bears fruit. It is your ignorance, it is the world’s delusion that gives you these dreams (Bhagavad Gita 5:14).

2) Our entire life experience is but a mirroring of the mind. If something is not already within our mind it cannot be projected outward as a (seemingly) external factor or experience of our life. So our life is our mind in motion. By observing it we can come to know what is in our mind, just as by running a film through a projector we come to know what is in it. If we do not like what is happening in our life, the solution is to alter our mind. People who like to tell of how cruel, selfish, dishonest, and disloyal others habitually are to them are merely telling us how cruel, selfish, dishonest, and disloyal they are, potentially if not actually. Victims are only victimizers in a down cycle. The moment the upswing comes in their life rhythms they will go back to victimizing others.

Action and reaction are purely psychological matters, the film in the projector, the light and sound on the screen being only its projection. Change the film and you change the experience. Since objects come from the mind they can only be compatible with the mind and therefore express and reveal its character.

3) All the factors of life are really only thought, attitude, and outlook in manifestation.

4) Study your life and thereby know your mind.

5) You are always in control, even though that control may be on an unconscious level.

6) Change your mind and you change your life. (Do not forget that mind includes consciousness.)

7) Mary Baker Eddy was right: All is Mind and Mind is All.

Action and reaction

To speak or act with a defiled mind is to draw pain after oneself, like a wheel behind the feet of the animal drawing it (Dhammapada 1).

Suffering is inevitable for the person with a defiled mind, for it is impossible not to act or think (which is speaking inwardly, even if not outwardly). Good or meritorious acts done by a person with a defiled mind will bring suffering-perhaps not as much as evil acts, but still the suffering will not be avoided. This is imperative for us to comprehend: Action is not the determining factor in our life-mind is. And mind alone. This is why in the seventeenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Krishna describes how bad people do good in a bad way and thus accrue more misery to themselves.

It is very important to understand this fact, since we tend to mistakenly assume that good acts produce good karma, etc., when in reality the actions mean nothing-it is the condition of the mind that determines their character and therefore their consequences. (Buddha was very insistent on this.) Selfish people do unselfish deeds to either cover up their selfishness or to get merit for themselves so they can enjoy this or a future life. Their intentions defile the actions and so little good (if any) accrues to them. Instead their selfishness and pettiness is compounded. This is the plain truth. False religion gets rich on such persons through promises of merit and remission of sins. Even after death the deception goes on as their relatives and friends offer prayers and almsdeeds that supposedly will mitigate their negative karmas and alleviate, or even eliminate, the after-death consequences of their defiled thoughts and deeds. It is common to hear patently evil people excused on the grounds of all the good they do along with their evil actions. The truth is plain: evil minds can only produce evil actions that produce evil results. That is why Jesus, a student of Buddha’s teaching, said: A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit (Matthew 7:18).

How then can a negative person break the pattern of negativity and escape it? By thinking and acting with the intention to change from negative to positive. The admission of negativity and the resolution to turn from it can produce positive thoughts and deeds when the intention is to change the consciousness, not just the consequences. Without the desire for real change nothing worthwhile can take place in life.

Unavoidable good

Buddha repeats his statement about the nature of objects and then continues:

To speak or act with a pure mind is to draw happiness after oneself, like an inseparable shadow (Dhammapada 2).

What is defiled and what is pure? Buddha is speaking of something much more than good and bad thoughts and deeds in the ordinary sense. Instead, he is speaking of defiled and pure minds. What is a defiled mind? One that is smudged and clogged with egotism and its demon attendants: selfishness, greed, jealousy, spite, hatred, and materiality. A pure mind is free from all these things, including their root, egotism. Further, a defiled mind is outward-turned and a pure mind is inward-turned. One roves through the jungle of illusion and delusion that is the world of man’s making, and the other rests in the truth and perfection of its immortal Self. A person who is spirit-oriented cannot but produce peace and happiness for himself. It is as inevitable as the suffering of the matter-oriented person. It is a matter of polarity of consciousness.

Again we see that suffering and happiness are matters of the mind alone.

Thinking makes it so-the indignant injured

I have been insulted! I have been hurt! I have been beaten! I have been robbed! Anger does not cease in those who harbor this sort of thought.

I have been insulted! I have been hurt! I have been beaten! I have been robbed! Anger ceases in those who do not harbor this sort of thought (Dhammapada 3, 4).

Earlier I spoke about people who like to tell of how cruel, selfish, dishonest, and disloyal others habitually are to them, and that they are merely telling us how cruel, selfish, dishonest, and disloyal they are. As Jesus said: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh (Luke 6:45). So those who speak habitually of evil, especially in an emotional or angry way, are harboring that very evil in their hearts. We have all known people who love to foster resentment, brooding on wrongs of various sorts, both personal, social, and religious. These miserable souls continually stir themselves up to negative emotions, seeking justifications for their anger, hatred, and all-round discontent. Wishing to feel and spew out anger and hostility, they work themselves up into a state of righteous indignation to cover up the evil that resides in them. Many hope that by pointing the finger at others their own evil will remain undetected.

The truth of things

The main idea of this quotation from the Dhammapada is that by such thinking people consciously perpetuate their anger, and therefore their delusion. From them we see that all delusion is not only self-caused, it is self-maintained and even self-defended. Such a state is classically pathological-sociopathic, actually, as it is used to manipulate others as well as one’s self. Modern society trains its members to be sociopaths. We are never to blame for anything. Criminals have been failed by society. Laws make people criminals(!). Others have been failed or harmed by their family, religion, or close associates (including spouse). Others are failures because they did not have the support of family, friends, or society. A great deal of government programs are based on sociopathic thinking. The moving finger points everywhere but to the source: the individual himself. Psychiatry in many instances is a major factor in the creation of a sociopathic attitude.

Buddha shows us how to free ourselves from this vicious cycle. This is not easy, but Buddha is speaking to those who want to strive for enlightenment, not to those who want an easy path. The first step in weaning ourselves-or guarding ourselves-from falling into the muck trap of self-pity is the facing and accepting of some basic facts such as karma and the source of all things being in the mind.

Nothing that occurs in the world is an entity unto itself. Rather, all things are reactions to previous actions: karma. I am stolen from because I stole; I am lied about because I lied; I am harmed because I harmed. My actions may have been in previous lives, but the reaction is no less a revelation of my present life. And it is much more a revelation of my mind as it is right now.

In the nineteenth century children were often told the story about a little boy who visited his aunt that lived in a valley where sounds were echoed. One day he came into the house and told her: There is a bad little boy who lives up on the hill. Really? And how do you know he is bad? inquired the aunt. Because he called me bad names. The aunt understood the situation. The little boy had called out something while playing and heard an echo of his voice. Thinking it was another child, he began calling out and became frustrated by the bad boy just repeating everything he said. So he started calling out insults, and got them back, so he went to tell on the bad boy to his aunt, who sat him down and told him the facts, showing him that he was only getting back what he had first projected. Karma is like an echo. What we shout will be shouted back at us.

Our life is a continuous stream of karmic echoes. Yes, others become instruments for the manifestation of the karma, but we are the origin of it all. So who shall we blame? As Pogo said: We have met the enemy and they are us. The answer is to get busy and change ourselves. Then our lives will change automatically.

Ending hate

Occasions of hatred are certainly never settled by hatred. They are settled by freedom from hatred. This is the eternal law (Dhammapada 5).

Let us not waste our time trying to apply this to world peace or strife among nations. Certainly the principle enunciated by Buddha would bring peace, but vast numbers of people are simply not going to follow spiritual wisdom. That is the nature of the world. It is the violent ward of the lunatic asylum we call the universe. Everyone here is either an active or a recovering homicidal maniac. This is the truth. Recovery is never in a group; it is entirely an individual matter. The intelligent recognize this and work toward their own recovery so they can be released from the cosmic booby hatch. They may encourage and even assist other individuals who wish to further their own cure, but they can accomplish nothing on a mass level.

Also, we need to cure ourselves of addiction to others. We are individuals and have to live as individuals. What others think or do should not influence us at all. Whether we are supported or opposed it should make no difference at all. We should do the needful and get off the revolving wheel of birth and death. And it is only done one by one, not in batches or multitudes. Buddha’s wisdom must be applied personally to our own lives. Even if millions do so it will still be absolutely individual. A vast forest is green because each tree in the forest is green. There is no group-green in the forest, it is all individual.

So, what shall we do? Well, first of all, negativity is never counteracted by like negativity. So we do not react with hatred, anger, or suchlike. But neither do we mistakenly think that positive reaction is the answer either. Yes, I know, we have been told from Day One that love overcomes hatred, generosity overcomes selfishness, and gentleness overcomes violence. THEY DO NOT. Since negativity directed toward us comes from within us, our overt response effects nothing. Buddha does not say that love cancels out hatred. He says something far more profound (and practical): freedom from hatred within ourselves eliminates hatred directed toward us. Nothing else. Oh, indeed, we can shame others by our positive reaction, and even make them conclude (selfishly) that nice is more advantageous than nasty. But in the long-term nothing will change, just be delayed.

Until we are freed from negativity, consciously and subconsciously, negativity will occur in our life. That is the fact. Buddha says: This is the eternal law. Until we become incapable of evil our lives will be riddled with evil.

Peace with others

Others may not understand that we must practice self-control, but quarreling dies away in those who understand this fact (Dhammapada 6).

What? Buddha is advocating repression? Horror! We all know how destructive repression is, don’t we? No, we do not. We only hope it is destructive so we can run amok in our life-sphere and rejoice in our healthy self-expression. Buddha is not so sophisticated; he prefers the truth: Self-mastery is essential for peace with ourselves and with others. It is definitely true that (most) others will not understand that we must practice self-control, but that should not matter at all to us. We should just go ahead and do it and let them eat our dust.

Quarreling should not just not take place; it must die. That is, the root of ego that produces quarreling must be dissolved like the root of a baby tooth. Self-control does the dissolving to a great extent.

In such a few sentences Buddha has told us the way to both inner and outer peace. May we follow that way and demonstrate their truth.

The Tempter masters

The Tempter [Mara] masters the lazy and irresolute man who dwells on the attractive side of things, ungoverned in his senses, and unrestrained in his food, like the wind overcomes a rotten tree (Dhammapada 7).

There is a cosmic force of negativity that is the sum total of all the negativity, past and present, that has arisen in the history of creation. This force operates efficiently and therefore may be considered intelligent. This we may call Mara, as does Buddha, or Ahriman or Satan as do the Zoroastrians and Christians. Besides this there are intelligent beings who either consciously or unconsciously ally themselves with this force, merging themselves in it and becoming its instruments. Such beings may be in a body or disembodied. They may consider themselves evil, neutral, or even good, depending on the degree of their capacity for self-deceit. Put all together we have a league for evil that can collectively be called Mara. Since it is domination by evil that is being considered here, it matters little which aspect of Mara is doing the dominating, the result will be the same.

It is the nature of evil to coerce, cajole, tempt, entrap, dominate, weaken, and control. The nature of goodness is exactly the opposite. Its purpose is to provide freedom, encourage reason, strengthen, and make us independent-even of itself. Evil works through threats and the instilling of fear; goodness works through wisdom and freedom from fear. (From this we can see that virtually all religion is part of Mara, is Satanic. In their pure form most religions are free of Mara’s ways, but their degenerate forms are just as Satanic as any other.)

Mara, then, wishes to master men, whereas God wishes to make men masters-gods. (I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High Psalms 82:6.)

But man has free will, so who is subject to Mara’s domination?

The lazy and irresolute man

The one who acts not, whether from laziness or from lack of resolution, is overcome by Mara. Why? Because no one can stand still-we are either moving forward or backward. Those who are doing nothing, standing idle, are swept by Mara into the current of anti-evolution and become increasingly degenerate.

Spiritual laziness is a terrible curse, for it is not actively evil and therefore does not seem so bad. After all, tomorrow is another day, and perhaps then we will set out on the journey to higher consciousness.... Laziness plunges us into spiritual sleep that often becomes the sleep of death (see Psalms 13:3, 4). Solomon wrote: I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man (Proverbs 24:30-34). Yes indeed: a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep and all is lost, at least for that lifetime. Spiritual sleep becomes a habit, even from life to life. Often only intense suffering wakes us up, and then we often blame God or cite it as proof that there is no God.

Irresolution is as much a curse as laziness for the result is the same, though the irresolute person often suffers from his constant vacillation. Irresolution arises from ignorance, fear, and confusion-torments all. Which way should I go? How can I know the right thing? Will I be safe from harm? What will happen to me if I go in that direction? These and many other agonies torture the irresolute. Seeing this weakness Mara strikes him down and tramples him mercilessly underfoot. Here, too, the slavery can last for ages.

Who dwells on the attractive side of things

Those who are always looking for pleasure, enjoyment, and gratification in all things are specially vulnerable to Mara’s ways, for they have no standards but I like and I want. Selfish to the core, they have no interest in the consequences of the actions that may be needed to get the things they want, considering that even wrongdoing is justified if that obtains their desires. Nor do they care about the real nature of the desired things. Addicts of all kinds embody this foolish disregard of reality, refusing to acknowledge the destructive effects of their actions on themselves and others and classically blind to the dangers and defects of the objects of their addiction. So inveterate can addiction to objects become that the addict in time may even admit their harmful consequences but boldly declare that he simply does not care. Spiritual suicide is the end result of all continued addiction.

Ungoverned in his senses

The slave of Mara is dragged along the road of life by the wild horses of the senses, horses he has himself whipped into mad frenzy. Everyone knows repression and suppression are bad for you! they trumpet as they plunge on down the path of willful self-destruction. The chariot race of their life gives them no pause for reflection or good sense-they are too busy living life to the full and know not that they are sinking into dullness and death. Such persons often (if not usually) become earthbound after death, obsessing others like them and urging them to like addiction in anticipation of some kind of vicarious experience. Only exorcism can free them from this baleful cycle, for they have truly become demons.

Unrestrained in his food

The importance of diet in the context of spiritual life can hardly be overestimated. What we eat and how much we eat is important for two reasons: the effect of food on the mind and its effect on the body.

Everything is vibrating energy, including the mind. What we eat is absorbed in the form of energy into the various levels of our being. Some energies are life-sustaining, some are life-inhibiting and some are even life-destroying. Animal flesh, alcohol, nicotine, and mind-altering drugs consist of destructive energies, and so do other forms of food and drink, including sugar, coffee, tea (non-herbal) and junk food. If we take them into our body we not only harm our body, we distort our mind and greatly hinder any attempts at increased and clear-sighted awareness. We are already too body-conscious, and if we make ourselves ill we only compound the problem. Overeating does not directly harm the mind, but the motives for it, such as greed and desire for sensory distraction from inner discontent, are evil habits to cultivate. Overeating, however, does greatly harm the body, which in turn distracts the mind. Buddha gave an entire discourse on the importance of eating only once a day, and that before midday. By observing this discipline he claimed to eliminate nearly all disease and functional problems from the body. (Section 2 of the Kitagiri Sutra, Majjhima Nikaya 70. See also the sixth section of the Latukikopama Sutra, Majjhima Nikaya 66.) In the Jivaka Sutra (Majjhima Nikaya 55) he also spoke of the necessity to avoid the eating of meat.

Gandhi discovered that mastery of greed and taste brought about mastery of the other senses as well. I eat everything and I eat what I want, when I want, and as much as I want are self-imposed death warrants.

Like the wind overcomes a rotten tree

Those who have spent much time