ENG100 Bhikkhuni Triệt Như - The Fount of Happiness – No 20: THE FOREST OF DHARMA - Translated into English by Ngọc Huyền

THE FOREST OF DHARMA

     It is usually said “ Buddhism is as immense as the ocean.” , so it’s called the “ocean of learning”. But sometimes, that “ocean” is described as a vast and dense forest full of rare and precious plants, tangled vines with sharp thorns enmeshed among rocks and stones and once lost in there, hard to find the exit.

     If you see it as the “ocean of dharma”, you’ll surely know how to “cross it”. Just “float yourself” on the ocean. And done.  Or you can copy Patriarch Bodhidharma, who, only with his tiptoes on a reed raft, but quickly and strongly surfed across the Yangtze River up to the northern China long time ago.

     Now, we change our strategy, no more sea surfing. We’re still wandering in the Dharma Forest; some might not see the way home. So, we should stop and observe the immense jungle.

     How come some guys have said the forest of Dharma is filled with colorful flowers from various plants, abundant treasures and the Dharma preaching sounds from all the Buddhas echoing everywhere? But how come the others keep moving place from place and wondering “Where are the treasures? Where is the Buddha?  What path is for me? Why is it so obscure?” So many paths diverged from life. So do many paths for mind practice. How come?

     Now, let’s climb up a tall tree to get a bird’s eye view and focus on the sun direction to figure out the way home. But where is our home? How is it?

     You’ll possibly say:

     -We don’t know our home? There it is! The pure, quiet, calm, unagitated, objective place! We often draw a circle without anything inside; it’s the Knowing, or the clear wordless insight. No deep-rooted habit, no craving, anger and illusion, no language, thinking, discrepancies, nah….

     -Correct. Cool! Stop the long narration. A question, ok? Have we ever been there? For a couple of moments? If so, we’ve seen the treasure’s open up. No more question like “What’s the non-self? How could we absorb in it? Necessary to initiate the insight? When the themes dropped? How to merge the utmost truth?” ….

     So today, instead of the “empty circle”, I’m drawing a huge and filled-up circle.  Full of what? You’ll find it when finishing the article.

     The theme of this writing piece is Dharma.

                                                      In Pāli, it's Dhamma.
                                                      In Sanskrit, it's Dharma.
                                                      In plural form: Dhammā or Dharmā.

     The term “Dharma” has various meanings in three categories.

1. The Mundane Truths: the realities presented in the Buddha’s teachings, or Dhamma and Dharma, singular form.
2.  The approaches for Mind Practice instructed by the Buddha, or Dhamma and Dharma, singular form.
3. All worldly phenomena, physically and mentally, or all the Dhammā and Dharmā, plural form.

     Let’s explore each of them.

I- The Truths, Dhamma and Dharma in singular form

     These are the eternal truths applied to everyone regardless race, religion, good or bad characteristics, old or young, male or female.  They also deeply influence on sentient animals and every non-sentient species even in material or immaterial areas forever. The latter includes thinking, emotion of hate and love…

     They all come from the Buddha’s Enlightenment; so, they are transcendently invaluable whereas human discoveries coming from their judging, thinking, comparing are not, but true only in a certain space and time. The ones taught by the Buddha are universal and applied to all things, all types of beings, across all time and space. It’s the “Utmost and Righteous   Enlightenment” said in the Nikãya Sutra. It’s all the Buddhas ’wisdom in the past, present and future. No one could be above it.

     Those are the traits and values of the forever truths taught by the Buddha. Now let’s study them.

     According to the Buddha’s enlightening procedure, first, our Lord started with every phenomenon watched, observed and perceived by his six senses. Then came thinking and judgement about them. And gradually, discovering the nature deeply hidden in such mundanity.

From here, we categorize them into two aspects. Please note this category is just conventional.

1- Mundane Truths in Prajñāpāramitā

     They’re the truths shown in worldly phenomena and perceived by six human senses: eyes, ears, noses, tongues, thoughts and bodies; and we know life is existent. Due to lack of sagacity, most people assume that existence is their own happiness and possessions. That makes them eager to look for, grab and possess it. When they find it might be lost, they try their best to hold it for long. Boom! That’s the openings of worries, struggles, unsatisfaction and sufferings. Right from their view of life, the Buddha taught them the “sufferings” and gradually convinced them. Yep! Our Lord strongly stated there are 13 types of wretchedness and life is full of miseries. But where are the roots of those pains? - It’s our never-satisfied desires. With that, the Four Noble Truths, achieved from worldly life via the six senses, are the ones among the Mundane Truths. Though worldly, they all direct toward the Utmost Truths later.

     With the six senses, we also realize changes in every phenomenon: morning then evening, rain and shine, hot and cold, young and old, happy and sorrowful, sickness and deaths…The Buddha taught we have to understand one among the long-lasting truths is the Impermanence and should not cling to cravings that when lost leave us sufferings. Moving forward, the Buddha taught every human being formed by the combination of the five aggregates: materials, feeling, perception, mental perceptions and consciousness that are not permanent but always changing... They gather and dissolve due to causes and conditions. Humans are born, then dead and reborn. They’re selfless, non-self, because of no consistent identity. Therefore, they come into being due to the cause-aligned conditions and are controlled by the laws of causes and effects. Broadly viewed, all worldly phenomena arise from their responsive preconditions. So, they are also non-self.

     When assuming the world truly exists, it turns into an ocean of boundless sufferings. The Mundane Truths also state that human beings are existent with mind and body formed and transformed by the interdependent causes and preconditions that make them aged and dead.

2- The Utmost Truths in Prajñāpāramitā

     They’re the higher and deeper truths that can reach the nature of human beings and worldly phenomena. That essence can be viewed as the final conclusions held from the outward traits of every phenomenon. Humankind and phenomena are formed by the interdependent causes and conditions, so both are subjects to constant changes.  Humans want everything but cannot  hold anything. So, they’re wretched. Human beings and phenomena are selfless. The nature of both  is emptiness, Śūnyatā. Both exist in life. But that existence is delusional. So, their essence is illusion, Māyā. Humans and phenomena are forever Such, or Thus, like that. It’s the Utmost Nature or Suchness, Tathatā;  and any further speech is unnecessary. And the final essence of all phenomena is Equality.

II- The Approaches For Mind Practice: Tools and Paths Instructed by the Buddha, or Dhamma and Dharma in singular form

     This area also consists of universal truths, applicable to those who wish mind trainings aiming at the results of being released from sufferings, enlightenment, and mind liberation. The core of these truths is also affirmed in the Nikāya scriptures as the paths walked and experienced by all the Buddhas of the three-time marks, the past, present, and future. They’re Moral Rules (Śīla), Concentration (Samādhi), and Wisdom (Prajñā). More specifically, it is the noble Eightfold Path; or in the case of Arhatship, the Tenfold Path (added the Righteous Sapience and Righteous Liberation)

Here are some detailed tools for practice.

1. Not grasping general or specific characteristics when coming into contact with worldly phenomena
2. Establishing right mindfulness in front of you: before practicing the mindful breathing
3. Maintaining day and night awareness: eliminating unwholesome thoughts arisen in  mind
4. Right mindfulness and clear comprehension: in daily activities, ex: aware of walking, aware of sitting...
5. Insight of things as-is
6. Dwelling in right mindfulness (as taught in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, Discourse on the Four Contemplations of Mindfulness)
7. Moderation in eating and sleeping (as said in the sutra of the Horse Village)
8. Renunciation, accomplishments of monastic virtue and precepts, concentration, sagacity and mind liberation (said in the sutra of the Simile of the Heartwood)
9. Transforming unwholesome thoughts into wholesome ones (said in the sutra of Thought-Dwelling and the Discourse on Two Kinds of Thought)
10. Practice of generosity, donation and observing the Five Precepts: for lay followers
11. The Seven Dharma of Non-Retrogressive: the Buddha taught monks the detailed tools of practice in the Great Parinirvāṇa Sūtra.
12. The Buddha’s Enlightening Procedure, from renunciation to full enlightenmen (stated in the Sutra of the Journey for Spiritual Search, the Discourse of Saccaka, and the Sutra of Bodhi Prince)
13. The Procedure of Step-by-Step for Practice: taught to monks (stated in the Sutra of Horse Village)
14. The Seven Factors for Enlightenment: mindfulness, experiencing and evaluating Dhamma, joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity (satta bojjhaṅgā)
15. The Four Utmost Dharma: Contemplation, Mindfulness, Concentrating, Sagacity. The Four As-Wished Sufficiency
16. The Five Grounds for Awakening: faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom

     In summary, there are many training approaches for the three aspects: body, mind, and insight. They all  aim at monastics (bhikkhus) who are fully committed to the spiritual path, while lay practitioners usually follow a more supportive role.

III- All Worldly Phenomena, Physically And Mentally, The Dhammā And Dharmā, in plural form

     In the Buddhist doctrines, worldly phenomena encompass all the objects of six human senses: materials, sounds, smelling, tastes, touching and mental objects or dharma. They’re equivalent to human eyes, ears, noses, tongues, physical bodies and mind. The technical terms for those are the six external bases and six internal grounds. From those, six types of conciousness arise:eye consciousness,  ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, and mind-consciousness. They all gather and form the Eighteen Domains of Human Perceptions. The collective term for them is the Worldly Phenomena or the Dhammā or Dharmā, in plural form. They consist of material and immaterial areas, including sentient and non-sentient beings.

     The characteristic of worldly phenomena is that they come into being due to causes and conditions, or by the gathering of countless interdependent preconditions. That’s why they’re called the conditional phenomena or Dhammā and Dharmā. Sometimes, Dhammā and Dharmā  named as formations, saṅkhāra.  

     Mundane phenomena or Dhammā and Dharmā possess the following traits because they’re established on innumerous conditions  and preconditions gathered.

1. Dependent nature: All phenomena essence arises from the dependence on conditions. Without enough supported conditions,  they  cannot come into existent (Idappaccayatā).
2. Impermanent nature or Transforming nature: constantly changing and changing
3. Cessation nature: Phenomena can cease or come to an end because they are not long lasting and inconsitent in their identities. They are non-self (anattā).
4. Empty nature: Their true nature is emptiness (śūnyatā).
5. Illusory nature: Though appearing to exist, their existence is dreamlike or illusionary, not real.
6. Suchness: When nothing is said or conceptualized about them, they simply are as-is. They have no name, quality, or attributes. They’re absolutely tranquil and objective. That’s their true essence, called the Suchness (Tathatā).
7. Equal Nature: Ultimately, all phenomena are equal in their true nature at the deepest levels

IV- CONCLUSION

     The title of this piece of writing is "The Forest of the Dhamma", we visualize our getting lost in a forest at the foot of a mountain.  Looking around in confusion, we found being surrounded by dense trees, unable to find a way out.  Having climbed to the top of the mountain and looking down, we now clearly sees the three directions in the panorama of the "Forest of the Dhamma":

1. The Forever Truths
2. The Tools and Paths for  Mind Practice
3. The Worldly Phenomena, Dhammā and Dharmā,  governed by those truths

     And we happily smile when realizing: "Ah, so that’s how it is."

  
     Just One Word, Dhammā or Dharmā, but encompasses this Entire World and Endless Depths.

     The World or Life indicates everything exists and manifests all the absolute and objective truths. Therefore, Life and Truths cannot be separated but intermingle into each other. When we wish to understand the truths, we must live in the truths. That’s to say we must assimilate into the truths. Thus, the path of mind practice must also be one with truths.

Briefly, the three aspects: Truths, Methods, and Life are united into One. The ancients, illusionarily and reluctantly presented them in one word only, DHAMMA. 

     Dhamma encompasses:

1. The three-thousandfold world system
2. The 84,000 paths for mind practice
3. All the eternal, unchanging truths

     At the end of this article, it’s like the vision of those who are awakened, standing atop a high mountain, watching down over the vast world. They clearly see the foot of the mountain is the dense forest. They also see numerous paths to climb up the mountain, and realizing that only from the summit, they now can see how all the truths operate and shape this immense world.

In the same way, human beings, or human mind also manifest all those truths governing the world. They both also possess the capacity of applying all the various practice approaches to reach the utmost realization. And humans with their mind, too, is one among the myriad conditioned phenomena, made up of the four great elements (earth, water, air, fire),  and will eventually dissolve themselves.

Bhikkhuni Thích Nữ Triệt Như

Written at the Sunyata Monastery, July 19, 2021

English version by Ngọc Huyền

Link to Vietnamese article: https://www.tanhkhong.org/a2593/triet-nhu-snhp020-