The End of the World (Part 04) Hesitation of the scientists

 Hesitation of the Scientists

The scientist, however, might hesitate to grant the possibility of a 'light-of-wisdom' which is not amenable to any demonstrative apparatus. He has recognized only the purely physical notions of light, and has already set a limit to this 'top-velocity' — 300,000 km. per  second.  He  considers  that  'the discovery of the existence in the Universe of the top velocity is one of the  greatest  triumphs  of  human  genius  and of the experimental capacity of mankind.'

On the basis of the foregoing observations, it can be said that this 'greatest triumph' was made  by  the  Buddha  more  than 2,500 years ago, when he discovered by means of  his  'noble experiment' (ariya pariyesana), that the mind is

intrinsically  luminous  ('pabhassaramidam. bhikkhave   cittam':

'This  mind,  monks,  is  luminous'  —  A.  I.  10)  and  that,  when

cleansed of all extraneous taints, it develops that penetrative, all-pervasive lustre of wisdom which liberates one from the labyrinths of the world of relativity. It is a penetration into the truth of impermanence (aniccatā)  by  thorough  reflection  on  the rise-and-fall of phenomena,  and  the  deeper  it  proceeds, the more one becomes aware of the conflict (dukkha). For Buddhism, the conflict of view-points is a far  more  intricate  affair than what the scientist  would  make  it  out  to  be.  It  is  not simply a question of a spectator's physical presence at a  point in time and space, but one that deeply involves  such  facets  of   psychological  life  as   interest  and  attention.

"Rooted in desire, friends, are all phenomena; originating in attention, are all phenomena;..." ("chandamūlakā āvuso sabbe dhammā, manasikāra sambhavā sabbe dhammā ..." — A. v. 106). The result is an awareness of a conflict that affects life as a whole (dukkhasaññā).

This awareness, naturally enough, is the springboard for utter detachment through the perception of 'not-self' (anatta- saññā), the culmination of which, as stated above, is the eradication of the most subtle conceit of all — the conceit  'I-am' (asmimāna). The Buddha has pointed out that the liberation from the world of sense-experience is not possible until the influxes (āsavā) are made extinct, and the influx of   the notion of existence  (bhavāsavā)  can  only  be destroyed by means of a penetrative perception of cessation (nirodha) focussed on sense-experience itself. 'As far as is the range of attainments to levels of perception, so far is there a penetration into Knowledge' (yāvatā saññā-samāpatti tāvatā aññāpativedho'. — A. iv. 426). The 'habit-energy' we have acquired in the course of our blind groping in Saṁsāra impelled by craving, readily flows in, in our ordinary sense experience, and, with its  agglutinative  effect,  creates  before us a world of 'things' that we can 'grasp.' Hence nothing short  of an inner illumination could fully penetrate this façade and liberate us from the bondage of the senses. It is noteworthy that the paradoxical samadhi of the arahants is also called 'ānantarika' ('Immediacy') in the sense that in it the extinction of the influxes is immediate ('anantarā āsavānam. khayo hoti'

A. III. 202. Cf. Sn. V. 226). In his infinite and all-lustrous

 

consciousness where view-points have been  displaced  by  an all encompassing vision of truth, the 'signal-transmission' as to the impermanence of the senses and their objects, occurs at such an infinite velocity that it prevents the most elementary coagulation or compounding which accounts for the six spheres of sense.

Rohitassa's fantastic journey, which was perhaps the prototype of modern space-travel, was undertaken for the purpose of 'coming to know and to see and reach that end of the world where there is no birth or death.' According to the Buddha, everything could not be verified in this manner. "Monks, there are these four realizable things. What four? There are things, monks, that are realizable through the body. There are things, monks, that are realizable through memory. There are things, monks, that are realizable through the eye. There are things, monks, that are realizable through wisdom. And what, monks, are the things that are realizable through   the body? The eight deliverances, monks, are realizable through the body. And what... through memory? One's former habitations, monks, are realizable through memory. And what... through the eye? The death and rebirth of beings, monks, is realizable through the eye. And what, monks, are the things realizable through wisdom? The extinction of influxes, monks, is realizable through wisdom. These, monks, are the four realizable things. (A. II. 182f).

Just as much as one cannot board a time-machine and race back into the Past in order to verify the fact of one's

 

former lives, even so it is inherently impossible  for one  to  take a leap into the Future in order to ascertain whether one has actually destroyed all influxes that make for rebirth. The verification can only be made through the penetrative faculty  of wisdom — the 'eye' of wisdom (paññācakkhu) —  which gives one the certitude, here and now, that all influxes of existence as well as the sediments of speech associated with them, 'are burnt out and are no more' ('bhavāsavā yassa vacīkharā ca — vidhūpitā atthagata na santi' —Sn. V. 472.) That h i s c y c l e o f S a m sār a . i s b r e a c h e d a t i t s v o r t e x (consciousness><name-and-form), is vouched for the  arahant by the breached epicycle that he sees and experiences in his paradoxical samadhi.  "The  whirlpool .cut-off, whirls  no  more  —

this, even this, is the end of Ill" ('chinnam vattam na vattati-

esevanto dukkhassa' — Ud. 75). The end of the world is thus seen and realized in this very life in one's own immediate experience, avoiding all pit-falls of speculative logic — a fact which accounts for such epithets of the Dhamma as 'sanditthiko..' ('visible in this very life'), 'akāliko' ('not involving time'), 'ehipassiko' (inviting every one to come and see for himself), 'opanayiko' (leading one onwards'), 'paccatam veditabbo viññūhi' ('to be understood by the wise, each by himself'), and, above  all, 'atakkāvacaro' ('not moving in the sphere of logic'). The ensemble of this realization is presented in that stereotyped sentence in the suttas which announces a new arahant. And he understood: "Extinct is birth, lived is the holy life, done is the task, and there is nothing beyond this for (a designation of) the conditions of this existence" ('Khīṇā jāti, vusitam. brahmacariyam. katam. karaṇīyam. nāparam. itthattāyati abbhaññāsi' — S. III. 54)

 

The fact that the arahant has transcended the relativity of space, mass, motion and time with which the scientist is still grappling,  is  clear enough  from  certain  Canonical  statements. It is said that in his 'non-manifestative consciousness,' the concepts of earth (paṭhavī), water (apo), fire (tejo) and air (vāyo) find no footing and that the relative concepts of long (dīgham). and short (rassam). are cut off altogether. (D. I. 213, M. I. 329). Likewise, the concepts of 'here,' 'there' and 'between-the-two,' have lost their significance for him ('neva idha na huram. na ubhayamantarena - Ud. 8). He does not consider himself to be anywhere (na kuhiñci maññati — M. III. 45), nor can any god or man trace him as to where he 'stands' (Sn. V. 1055). He has done away with the 'abode of the mind' ('nivesanam. yo  manaso  ahāsi' - Sn. V. 470) and is 'abodeless' (anoko - S. I. 126) in the fullest sense of the term. The distinctions between a 'subtle' (aṇum). and a gross (thūlam). which may well be a reference to the relativity of mass, have also faded away (D.  I. 213). So too,  the concepts suggestive of the relativity of motion, such as 'coming' 'going and 'standing' (āgati gati thiti. — Ud. 80). Relativity of time which the modern world regards as the 'brain-child' of Einstein, was not only discovered but transcended by the Buddha in that extra-ordinary dimension of the mind. 'Death-and-birth' (cutupapaata) - the most formidable dichotomy of all - has no sway at all in that jhanic consciousness of the emancipated one.

The elusive phenomenon of time, is hypostatized in Buddhist usage in that multiple personality of Māra - the god of Death. As his epithet, 'kinsman of the indolent' (pamattabandhu)

 

ironically suggests, he has the vicious trait of lying low in order to take his victim unawares. He is also very aptly called 'the Ender' (antaka). Māra as the symbol of death, is indeed 'the curfew' that 'tolls the knell of parting day.' Now, the Buddha  and the arahants are those who have outwitted Māra, blinded him, put him off the track and attained the Deathless. (M I. 160 Dhp. V. 274; Ud. 46; Itiv 50, 53, etc). This feat was made possible by a recognition of the principle of the relativity of time.

The Buddha discovered that the concepts of birth and death are correlative - the one being given the other follows   (D. II. 55). And the concept of birth itself, is born in the matrix of the notion of becoming or existence (bhava). The 'becoming,' the existence, is an attempt to 'stand-forth' - that is, to stand forth in defiance of the universal law of impermanence. It is an ever-failing struggle, but the struggle (ie, Dukkha) itself continues depending on the supply of fuel, which is upādāna ('grasping'). 'Dependent on grasping is becoming; having become one undergoes suffering; unto the born there is death; this is the origin of suffering.' (Sn. V. 742). The Buddha realized that Māra's tragic drama of birth-decay-and-death,  is  staged on this supply of fuel itself: 'Whatever they grasp in the world,

by  that  itself  does  Mara  pursue  a  man'  ('yam. yam.  hi

lokasmim.  upādiyanti-teneva  māro  anveti  jantum. ' - Sn.v.1103).

"Whatever they egotistically conceive of, ipso facto it becomes

otherwise" ('yena yena hi maññanti tato tam. hoti aññathā' Sn. v.

757). The only escape from Mara's strategy, therefore, lay  in  the complete giving-up of all supplies of fuel which grasping implies (anupādā  parinibbāna). "Save  by their giving up all -  no weal for beings do I behold" ('nāññatra sabbanissagā - sotthim. passāmi pān. inam. '  - S. I. 53). With the cessation of the process of

grasping and becoming ( i . e., 'upādānanirodha' and

'bhavanirodha') consequent on destruction of craving or 'thirst' (tan. hakkhaya), all 'assets'(Upadhi)* are abandoned (nirupadhi), thus depriving Māra of the basic wherewithal for his drama.

*Upadhi: The word has two distinct shades of meaning. Primarily, in accordance with its etymology (upa+dhā- 'putting under or near') it means 'foundation,' 'basis,' 'ground,' 'substratum' or 'support' (Cf. upādhāna - pillow or bolster). Secondarily, in its Canonical usage it often stands for one's possessions ('wife and children,' flocks and herds, silver and gold, etc.

M. I. 162. Sn.v.33 = S.I.6==S.I.107. Translators who stressed the former sense preferred   'substratum' 'support' 'basis' or 'ground,' while those who went    in for the latter, used such terms as 'possession,' 'attachment' and 'clinging.'

Perhaps 'asset' will do justice to both senses, since assets are 'things

laid-by'  which  one  'relies  on'  as  'supports.'  (Cf.  'upadhīsu  tān. am. na  karonti

buddhā' - S.I.107: 'Buddhas do not seek refuge in assets';  'Sammādit.t.hi  sāsavā puññabhāgiyā upadhivepakkā - M. III.  72:  'Right  view  associated  with  influxes,  on  the  side  of  merits  and  ripening  into  assets').  Being  less

impersonal than 'substratum,' it captures the nuances of the  secondary  sense as well. Being less trenchant than 'clinging' or 'attachment,' it is better suited in references to the arahant's 'Saupādisesa-Nibbāna-dhātu,' since he   is no longer attached to the assets, which are now, for him mere appendages (though upādi is of different derivation than upadhi).