This talk was given at the London Buddhist Centre for the Buddha Day festival, May 1998
Today we are celebrating the traditional Buddhist festival of Wesak. Wesak is essentially the occasion of the Buddha's Enlightenment. It celebrates the moment when Siddhartha Gautama saw into the nature of Reality and had such a profound and far-reaching realisation that he became something more than merely human – a Buddha.
The word “Wesak” is the Sinhalese Vasakha. Vasakha is the Pali word for the Indian month of Vaishakha. Siddhartha Gautama is said to have gained Enlightenment at Vaishakha Purnima – which is the full moon day of the month of Vaishakha. This corresponds to our May full moon. So strictly speaking tomorrow is Wesak or Buddha Day as we prefer to call, as we are not a Sinhalese tradition. For Buddhists then, this day celebrates the most important event in the history of humanity so far – the Enlightenment of the Buddha.
It is important for us to understand the significance of this event. What did happen on that full moon night over 2500 years ago? Usually it is said that it is impossible to put into words what the experience of Enlightenment is. It is beyond language, beyond concepts, beyond space and time even. Then making an attempt to put it into words or somehow give a sense of it we say that it is the perfection of Wisdom, Compassion and Energy. Or we say that it is a transcending of the self/other dichotomy, an experience of transcending all sense of separateness between self and other and deeply realising the interconnectedness of all that lives. We say that Enlightenment is a vision of how things really are – a vision, an insight into Absolute Reality, an experience of Reality, an embodying of Reality. It is the overcoming of all greed, hatred and spiritual ignorance. We also speak of the Enlightenment as an Insight into the law of conditionality. And of course on the level of archetypes we have all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who communicate Enlightenment via the symbolism of colour, gesture and so on.
I thought that rather than try to explain or describe the experience of Enlightenment which is probably impossible, rather than give a philosophy of Enlightenment or even a poetry of Enlightenment, I thought I would approach the topic backwards so to speak and try to get a sense of the Enlightened Mind by looking at the effect that it has had down the generations.
As a result of his Enlightenment experience the Buddha had a big influence on the lives of many people when he was still living and he continues to have a big influence today – we are celebrating this Buddha Day because we have come under the influence of the Buddha in one way or another. As the title of the talk indicates, the Buddha was and is an influential man – a very influential man.
The question then is what kind of influence has the Buddha had and is the Buddha having? To answer this we could...
look at the history of Buddhism and the the way people have responded to the Buddha's message down the centuries.
We could try to discern the Buddha's influence by looking at Buddhist cultures
we could look at our own response to the Buddha's message and see how we have been influenced by the Buddha.
First of all I thought it would be interesting to take a quick look at the impressions of some people travelling in Buddhist countries.
In 1923, Alexandra David-Neel was the first European woman to visit Lhasa in Tibet. She comments on the humour, light-heartedness and positivity of the Tibetans. She speaks of
What these travellers remark on is the light-hearted, cheerful, good humour of the Northern Buddhists and the relaxed, carefree character of the Thais. Overall what is being experienced is
One of the greatest influences the Buddha has had is in the area of ethics and positive emotion. Buddhism has encouraged and enabled people to develop great positivity and give expression to it through generosity, hospitality and good humour. This is the relatively superficial view of the Buddha's influence.
On a deeper level the Buddha has communicated to people a meaningful vision of existence. This vision of existence spoke to and moved people during the Buddha's lifetime and it still speaks to and moves us today. This is a vision of the conscious evolution of individual consciousness into the great expansiveness of Enlightenment. It is a vision of the interdependence and interpenetration of all life. It is a vision of the great flow and flux of life, myriad conditions giving rise to further conditions. It is a vision of of the ability of the individual to step into this great flow and flux of life and give it conscious direction, through actions of body, speech and mind. It is a vision of the spiritual growth and development of the individual. It is a vision of a great many individuals choosing to pursue the path to Enlightenment together, in the unity of spiritual community. It is a vision of self-aware compassionate activity on a cosmic scale. A vision of life fulfilling its highest destiny.
And
it is this vision communicated by the Buddha which has had such a
huge impact on the lives of many millions of people for the past
twenty five centuries and continues to have an impact on the lives of
many millions today. When the Buddha was still alive the impact was
very direct. Bhante Sangharakshita observes: “Sometimes,
when reading the Buddhist scriptures, we get the impression that the
Dharma is a matter of lists, the five of this and the six of that and
so on – an excessively schematized and tabulated thing. But it
certainly wasn’t like that at the beginning. It was all fresh,
original, and creative. The Buddha would speak from the depths of his
spiritual experience. He would expound the Truth and show the Way
leading to Enlightenment, and the person to whom he was speaking
would be absolutely astounded and overwhelmed. In some cases he might
not be able to speak or do more than stammer a few incoherent words.
Something had been revealed to him. Something had burst upon him that
was above and beyond his ordinary understanding. For an instant, at
least, he had glimpsed the Truth, and the experience had staggered
him. Time and again, on occasions of this sort, the scriptures tell
us that the person concerned exclaimed, ‘Excellent, lord,
excellent! As if one should set up again that which had been
overthrown or reveal that which had been hidden, or should disclose
the road to one that was astray, or should carry a lamp into
darkness, saying, “They that have eyes will see!” even so hath
the Truth been manifested by the Exalted One in many ways.’ In this
manner would he express himself. Then, out of the depth of his
gratitude, such a person would fervently declare, ‘Buddham saranam
gacchami! Dhammam saranam gacchami! Sangham saranam gacchami! To the
Buddha for refuge I go! To the Dharma for refuge I go! To the Sangha
for refuge I go!” (Complete
Works, Vol.2,p.291)
The influence of the Buddha has of course been transmitted through various outstanding individuals during the course of the history of Buddhism – Ananda, Shariputra, Bodhidharma, Dogen, Hakuin, Hui Neng, Vasubandhu, Buddhaghosha, Nagarjuna, Padmasambhava, Milarepa, Tsong Khapa, Ryokan, Anagarika Dharmapala, Lama Govinda, Thich Nhat Hanh, The Dalai Lama, Dr Ambedkar and Sangharakshita, to name but a few. It has also been transmitted faithfully and comprehensively by innumerable less well known men and women down the ages and the Buddha's vision and message continues to be transmitted in this way, from individual to individual and you could say, I am here today playing my small part in this great pattern of influence. And you too are playing your part. Those of you who hear the message of the Buddha and who respond from the depths of your heart to the vision and take up the practices of meditation, ethics and friendship – you too will have an influence on the world; you will be part of this great cosmic drama of universal compassion. If you practice you will change, you will be transformed and that transformation will communicate something to others who will be moved to take up the challenge and they too will be transformed and so the vision of the Buddha will be transmitted through space and time for the benefit of all beings – those born and those yet to be born. Our sincere practice of the Dharma is the greatest legacy we can leave to future generations.
We can all have an influence on the world – an influence for the better. We do all have an influence whether we like it or not and whether we know it or not.
Other people have an experience of our influence, often they will know better than we do what kind of effect we have. They may not tell us, of course. For instance, you will know much better than I, what effect or influence this talk is having. I would only know if you all responded in some extreme way, like falling asleep or walking out. However, I can tell that many of you are interested in what I'm saying and listening to it and therefore so long as it is in accordance with the truth, it will have a beneficial effect on some people and at least not a harmful effect on anyone.
We can gain some idea of the effect we have by noticing how other people relate to us. Of course some people will relate to us purely subjectively, but if almost everyone we know relates to us as friendly or relates to us as unfriendly, relates to us with fear or relates to us with pleasure, it does indicate something about the influence we are having and it is worth our while noticing it, acknowledging it and endeavouring to gain some self-knowledge by contemplating it. Probably, all of us want to have a good influence, a beneficial influence and according to Buddhism we can choose to do this. We can decide to move in the direction of having a enhancing influence on those we come into contact with.
The kind of influence that any Buddhist would want to have is an influence similar to or along the lines of the influence of the Buddha. The influence which the Buddha had is the quintessential Buddhist influence. To have this kind of influence we need to behave and speak and think as far as possible as the Buddha would have done. We need to emulate the Buddha. And fortunately for us we have a very succinct and clear description of how the Buddha acted in the
Training in the precepts
It is not a matter of of pointing out other people's mistakes and faults, it is not even a matter of complaining about other people's mistakes and faults, it is, as I said, a matter of training ourselves to respond creatively to whatever happens. If we train ourselves in this way then we will have a beneficial, life-enhancing influence. If we have a close friend who can encourage us and point out when we are falling short of keeping the Precepts and rejoice when we do well, that will be an enormous help. If we want to have a good influence, it is also worth our while putting energy into befriending people. If we befriend someone, we both benefit from the friendship. Our observance of the Precepts and our friendship will help us to be more emotionally positive, emotionally expansive and this is a very good basis for our meditation practice.
If we want to have an influence along the same lines as the influence of the Buddha, in other words a Buddhist influence, we need to understand and observe the Precepts, we need to befriend people and we need to engage in the “willing of the Good” which is the essence of meditation.
As I said earlier we all have an influence, we all have an effect. Even if we think we are invisible, or a wimp or a weakling, or incapable in one way or another – we are still having an effect. We are all influential people. The question we need to ask ourselves is what kind of influence am I having? And answer as honestly as possible. (It's one of the perversities of human nature that those who have a good influence often think they're having a bad influence and vice versa). It could be said that the practice of Buddhism is a practice of positive influence – as the Threefold Puja says “
The practice of Buddhism is a practice of being mindful, kind, generous, appreciative and honest and by embodying these qualities of mindfulness, kindness, generosity, appreciation and honesty we influence others to practice also. This is essentially what a Bodhisattva does. A Bodhisattva influences others to live the spiritual life, the life of awareness and altruism. A Bodhisattva is someone who is dedicated to gaining Enlightenment for the sake of all living beings, including of course himself or herself.
One way in which we can speak about the life-work of a Bodhisattva is in terms of building the Buddhaland. The Buddhaland is the Bodhisattva's sphere of influence and a Buddhaland consists of all the living beings who respond to the influence of the Bodhisattva, all those who take up the life of ever-growing awareness and altruism, the spiritual life, in other words, all those who are themselves aspiring Bodhisattvas. The Buddhaland is a co-operative effort then. A Buddhaland is not a place. It is a fellowship of individuals who are putting Buddhist values and principles into practice, under the influence of someone who is far more spiritually advanced.
There are various ways in which the Bodhisattvas or the spiritually mature can communicate their influence. One of the ways is traditionally spoken of as skilful means. Skilful means means refer to the fact that the Bodhisattva communicates with people on their own level and in their own language so to speak. Skilful means is the seventh Paramita or Perfection of the Bodhisattva. Most of you will have heard of the six Perfections – however there are ten perfections, the last four are less frequently referred to and skilful means is the seventh. Skilful means is explained in terms of..
the four Pratisamvids – ie the four analytical knowledges
the four Sangrahavastus – ie the for means of unification of the Sangha, and
the dharanis or magical formulae.
The four analytical knowledges are
the analytical knowledge of Phenomena
the analytical knowledge of Meaning
the analytical knowledge of Etymology, and
the analytical knowledge of Courage
I'm not going to say any more about them here. If you want to know more, see Sangharakshita, Complete Works, Vol.16,p.488. I'm not going to say anything about the Dharanis either.
What I want to concentrate on is the four Sangrahavasstus – the four means of Unification of the Sangha. These are important practices which have the effect of creating spiritual community and spiritual community is essential to the spiritual life. The influence which we all need to have is an influence which encourages, and cultivates and creates spiritual Community. The four Sangrahavastus tell us how to do this. It may seem that all this is beyond you, that I'm talking about Bodhisattvas and spiritually advanced people and it's all too much for you.
We all need to practice at our own level and have a beneficial effect at our own level. This is how we progress. There is nothing static about the spiritual life – it is a constantly evolving process and as we evolve we can benefit others by making a genuine effort – even if we frequently fall short of the Ideal. We just have to be honest about the gap between our ideals and values and our actual attainments and practice. If we are honest, if we communicate ourselves, then we will have a positive effect on others. Authenticity is recognisable and attractive.
Whatever stage of the Path we are at, we can practice the four Sangrahavastus, the four Means of Unification of the Spiritual community and have a good influence or be a good influence. The four Sangrahavastus are..
Dana or generosity
Priyavadita – kindly speech
Arthacarya – beneficial activity, and
Samanarthata – exemplification.
This is what we have to practice: generosity, Kindly Speech, Beneficial Activity and Exemplification, in order to develop a united and co-operative Sangha.
Generosity
I've already mentioned the Precepts and generosity is of course the principle behind the second precept. Dana is also the first of the Perfections. And now here we have Dana again in the seventh Perfection as the first of the four Sangrahavastus. This gives us some indication of the importance of generosity in the Buddhist tradition, at every level of the spiritual Path. With the second Precept we are training ourselves to be more generous. We try to notice and act upon our generous impulses. We try to develop a more spontaneous open-handedness. Dana as the first Paramita is a more natural, spontaneous outflow or eruption of our general positivity and Dana as a Sangrahavastu is primarily motivated by friendship towards everyone we meet. We understand deeply the importance of a co-operative collective effort to practice the spiritual life, we understand and are deeply moved by the possibilities of Sangha and we give of ourselves and our possessions as a natural response to the Ideal of Spiritual Community. We experience a genuine, even inspired, motivation to befriend others and out of that we act generously. We want everybody to experience the benefits of the Dharma and Sangha and we do what we can to help them.
Dana as a Sangrahavastu, as a means of Unification of the Sangha, could be spoken of as co-operation. We give because we want to co-operate with the whole collective project of the Sangha, which is creating the conditions for spiritual practice. Co-operation is the emotion of Metta taken into the realm of action and manifesting as a spirit of generosity. This spirit of generosity, which is co-operation, is the hallmark of Sangha, the life-blood of Sangha and the whole point of Sangha.
Kindly Speech
Kindly speech as a Sangrahavastu, a means of Unification of the Sangha, corresponds to the principle of harmonising speech, which is the principle behind the seventh of the ten Precepts. Kindly speech is the exact opposite of slanderous speech. It is the exact opposite of speaking ill of people behind their backs. It could be characterised as speaking well of people behind their backs and spreading whatever good you hear about people.
Gossip and slander involve speaking ill of people and spreading bad reports – usually all justified on the grounds of truthful communication. According to Buddhism it is not enough to be truthful in our speech, our speech also needs to be appropriate, kindly, meaningful and harmonising.
Kindly speech, Priyavadita, the second Sangrahavastu is a rejoicing in others, especially when they are not present, and spreading good reports about people – enhancing their reputation. We could do a lot more of this. It is obvious how this would help to develop a unified and co-operative Sangha. Obviously we all have faults and shortcomings, but there is no need to dwell on other people's faults or weaknesses, just having shortcomings is burdensome enough. We need to try to relate to the best in people – relate to them as aspiring Bodhisattvas. If we have to criticise others, and it will be necessary sometimes, we need to do so from a basis of metta, of compassion even. If we do that it will still be Kindly speech.
Beneficial Activity
What this is about is sharing our experience with others, our experience of the Dharma. It is even a sharing of inspiration. For example sharing our inspiration for meditation or study or friendship or ethics or Puja. We sometimes feel inspired, excited even, by the whole adventure of the spiritual life and it is good to share that with others. I'll just mention two little warnings here. Firstly, it's best to share our enthusiasm with those who want to hear – it can be very demoralising to try to share it with those who mock or don't care, to cast pearls before swine, as the biblical phrase has it. Secondly, when sharing our experience we should be careful to be clear that it is
Exemplification
This means simply that it is not enough to talk and read about our values, we have to embody them to some degree too. We need to practice the virtues to the best of our ability. This is what has the greatest influence for good in the world, people actually practising and embodying their values and ideals to the best of their ability. We will fall short of what we know to be the best way to behave and speak, but we can pick ourselves up again and carry on making an effort. In this way we will change and grow and have an ever greater influence on those we come into contact with. An act of kindness or an act of generosity speaks louder than whole volumes of words about kindness and generosity.
Exemplification is not a matter of pretending to be better than we are, hiding our imperfections from view. It is a matter of trying to change ourselves by putting into actual practice what we deeply believe in. If we do that we will change and begin to embody the qualities which we venerate. If we are real Buddhists we will be, to some degree, exemplars of the spiritual life and we will have a positive influence.
I have been talking about influence and how to have a beneficial influence in the world. All of what I've been saying has its ultimate source with the Buddha Shakyamuni and his experience of Enlightenment on that full moon night in the month of Vaishaka. From his experience, his tremendous insight into the nature of Reality there has come an influence that has echoed down the centuries, resounding in the lives of great individual teachers and in the lives of millions of ordinary Buddhists. This influence has touched and transformed the lives of many of us here in the Western world at the beginning of the twentieth century.
We are candles burning with the flame of the Dharma, some blazing more strongly than others perhaps, some
Our aim as Buddhists is not just to be Buddhists but eventually to be Buddhas. In the meantime the message of my talk is that we are all influential people, we all have an influence and the question is what kind of influence do we have. And following on from that we can make a conscious decision to have a beneficial influence. We can do this by understanding the spirit of the Precepts and putting them into practice. By meditating, by befriending people and by practising the four Sangrahavastus:
We can be an influence for good in the world because we are influential people just as Shakyamuni was an influential man – or to be more precise, an influential Buddha.
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