Thich Nu Tinh Quang
The second part of the Noble Eightfold Path is
the ‘right resolve’ (samyak-saṃkalpa / sammā sankappa), which is also known as
‘right intention’, ‘perfect emotion’ and under several other names. The fact is
that word ‘saṃkalpa’ means ‘will’, thus, it is would be wrong to interpret
‘samyak-saṃkalpa’ for limited with meaning of Right Resolve.
It would be more
proper to call this principle the 'Perfect Will' or 'Integral Emotion', since
it is in accordance of volutional and sensual side of human nature with Right
View. Right Resolve knowingly takes the second place: it is, in some way, a
link between Right View and the rest of six stages. In addition, basing on the
division of the Eightfold Path to the 'Path of Vision' and the 'Path of Transformation',
which was discussed above, Right Resolve is the first stage of the path of
transformation. Of course, this is not accidental: 'samyak-saṃkalpa' teaches us
how to transform our will and our emotional responses in accordance with Right
View, because as we know, any belief and any aspiration should be supported by
the respective emotions. "And what is right resolve? Being resolved on
renunciation, on freedom from ill-will, on harmlessness: This is called right
resolve."[1]
The ‘right resolve’ could be divided into two
aspects, the first one of which is ‘The Negative Aspect of Perfect Emotion’. It
includes three concepts: ‘naiskramya’ – lack of desire, ‘avyapada’ – lack of
hatred, and ‘avihimsa’ – lack of cruelty. Each of those elements is highly important.
Thus, ‘naiskramya’ implies rejection of greed,
for a cleaner view of the world. This is particularly true in today's world,
where people cannot imagine a normal life without certain things (such as a
mobile phone, computer, car and so on). The whole capitalism system is built on
continuous production and satisfaction of wishes, passions and desires. More
and more new products and services on a daily basis appear in the market and
catch us in the eye, in fact, using the latest advertising technologies,
manufacturers try to awaken in us the desire to possess those or other things
that; if we think about it, we do not need at all too much. On the contrary, as
we have seen, all these desires only throw us farther and farther away on our
path to Enlightenment. With the development of progress, desires are imposed on
us from our childhood, and this affects all layers of the population in all
countries of the world. Of course, the temptations to different desires have
taken place at all times; however, it is unlikely they were so sophisticated
and pervasive as it is now.
The second point -- ‘avyapada’ – implies the
absence of hatred and anger. It is very closely linked to the previous one,
although it is not always visible at first sight. In most cases, the foundation
for anger is an unfulfilled desire. In vain dreaming about something, we can be
unjustly angry with anyone, then imagining him or her to be guilty of our own
failures. Another outcome of unfulfilled desires is envy. In history, there are
many examples when people succumbing to these and similar emotions, have caused
enormous damage both to others and themselves, and the amount of this damage
was dependent only on the amount of power they possessed. We should note that
negative aspects are tightly interconnected, and basically each of them is a
consequence of another one. Therefore, if a man is mean, he is, probably,
greedy as well, and vice versa: “There is the case where a certain person is
not covetous. He does not covet the belongings of others, thinking, 'Oh, that
what belongs to others would be mine!' He bears no ill will and is not corrupt
in the resolves of his heart. (He thinks) 'May these beings be free from
animosity, free from oppression, free from trouble, and maybe they look after themselves
with ease!”[2]
The last term of the 'The Negative Aspect of
Perfect Emotion’, as we have already said, is 'avihimsa'. Cruelty is usually
worse than simple malice, since it implies the infliction of pain to other
beings. Causing pain and suffering to other beings, violent people enjoy the
process, which is against nature. However, often the cruelty can occur unconsciously
because of stupidity or misunderstanding. In today's world, thanks to the
advent of television and the Internet, from childhood our mind is under
constant pressure. In particular, many children saw the news on television or
were watching the cartoons, trying to emulate the heroes of these episodes in
their games, so the level of violence of which often is much higher than
normal. Thus, from the very childhood each of us is instilled more with a more
lenient attitude to this phenomenon than it should be. And, of course, people
do not always see this problem allowing the vices of others to evolve. Thus,
what once were only childish funny games, and later can develop into a more
pernicious passion in the adulthood.
The second aspect of the ‘right resolve’ is
‘The Positive Aspect of Perfect Emotion’, includes positive matches of the ‘naiskramya’,
‘avyapada’, and ‘avihimsa’, which are ‘dana’ – alms, giving, generosity,
‘maitri’ – love, dearness, and ‘karuna’ – sympathy, compassion. The ‘right
resolve’ also contains ‘sraddha’, that is confidence and devotion, ‘upeksa’
(‘upekkha’) or equanimity, and ‘mudita’, that means sympathetic joy. Four of
them - dana, maitri, karuna and upekksha, in their turn, constitute ‘Brahma-vihara’
(sa. maitry-apramāṇa, pi. metta-appamaññā,
sa. karuṇāpramāṇa, pi. karuṇā-appamaññā, sa. muditāpramāṇa, pi.
muditā-appamaññā, sa. upekṣāpramāṇa, pi. upekkhā-appamaññā), which is also
called ‘The Four Sublime States’, and following those principles is the basic
method of interrelation between Buddhistm and the world, which is something we
should aspire for.
Dana is one of the most important Buddhist
virtues. Since dana is based not merely on the immediate transmission of
values, as it might seem, but specifically on the feelings that we feel when we
are giving something to others. We can highlight a few of its forms, in order
to better understand the principle on which it operates and its significance in
Buddhism at all. Of course, the first thing that stands out and that is the most
obvious is the giving of property. Following the principles of dana, you need
to share with others all the benefits that you can share, because, among other meaning,
it helps to get rid of attachment to things. It is also important that dana as
well as many other aspects of the teachings of the Buddha is not an abstract
rule or tradition, it is one of the fundamental principles of relations in
society, which has undoubtedly changed the world for the better.
Apart from material values we can share, for
example, our wisdom, which is very important for Buddhism as wisdom should not
be monopolized by an individual, and shall be the heritage of all mankind to
which everyone should have the right of access. We can also pass around our
confidence, supporting people in difficult moment for them, which will also
apply to the given. In addition, of course, we can donate to someone our time
and energy even our life and health, and, of course, the most important gift of
all is considered among the gift of truth – the gift of knowledge and wisdom
that leading us to Enlightenment. Thus, in fact, any donation is related to
dana, regardless of its importance and volume, which, as we know, are not
always in correspondence with modern ideas about the donations, which in today's
world are narrowed only to material goods.
Maitri (Sanskrit) or Metta (Pali) in Buddhism
means benevolence, friendliness, amity, friendship, good will or kindness. In
contrast, to modern Western ideas about love, which often related to the search
of a sexual partner and family; maitri implies a feeling akin to love for the
closest friend without sexual connotations. Ideally, love is not just for one
person but cover the whole world, which is what we have to seek for, constantly
developing this feeling. Thus the true Buddhist wishes all the best to every
living thing, and helps with everything what he can do.
“In this case, monks, a monk cultivate the
enlightenment-factor of mindfulness accompanied by loving-kindness and
similarly the enlightenment-factors of investigation-of-states, energy,
rapture, tranquillity, concentration, equanimity, accompanied by
loving-kindness which is based on detachment, dispassion, leading to maturity
of surrender. If he wishes to dwell perceiving the repulsive in what is not
repulsive, he dwells thus perceiving the repulsive. If he wishes to dwell
perceiving the unrepulsive in what is repulsive, he dwells thus perceiving the
unrepulsive. If he wishes to dwell perceiving the repulsive both in what is
repulsive and what is not repulsive, if he wishes to dwell perceiving the
unrepulsive in both..., he dwells thus. If he wishes, avoiding both the
repulsive and unrepulsive, to dwell equanimous, mindful and clearly aware, he
dwells thus, equanimous, mindful and clearly aware, or, attaining the heart's
release called 'beautiful' he abides there. I declare that the heart's release
by loving-kindness has the beautiful for its excellence. This is the attainment
of a wise monk who penetrates to no higher release.”[3]
The next principle related to 'The Positive
Aspect of Perfect Emotion' called Karuna- means compassion. According to the
Buddha’s teaching, compassion as an emotion is a condition very similar to
love, but felt only in a relation to all living beings, who is going through
some difficulties in his or her life, and because of this, love for him is
magnified. This is the most spiritually ascended feeling among all feelings
that are inherent to people. From the point of view of many practitioners of
Buddhism, compassion is the most important point on the path to enlightenment,
as it is thanks to the compassion the Buddha began the path to enlightenment.
Some also believe that in order to achieve enlightenment is is enough to simply
learn and practice karuna, because the Path of the Buddha's teaching is, in the
first place, based on the practice and mutual assistance, leading to immediate
use, rather than on the cultivation and multiplication of theoretical knowledge
about Buddhism.
That is what the Buddha said about the goal of
cultivating release by compassion: “In this, monks, a monk cultivates the
enlightenment-factors of mindfulness... equanimity accompanied by compassion...
he dwells thus, equanimous, mindful, clearly aware, or by passing utterly
beyond all perception of objects, by the going-down of perceptions of sensory
reactions, by disregarding perceptions of diversity, thinking 'space is
infinite,' he attains and dwells in the sphere of infinite space. I declare
that the heart's release by compassion has the sphere of infinite space for its
excellence. This is the attainment of a wise monk who penetrates to no higher
release.”[4]
The
next component of ‘The Positive Aspect of Perfect Emotion’ is Mudita –
‘rejoice’ – that is a sense of joy that arises at the sight of the joy of
others, and the sharing of joy with others. This seems to be simple and
intuitive principle but in practice it is not always valid, especially when
confronted with the views of the Western world, where people are more often
inclined to negative emotions, such as jealousy, for having learned about the
success of others. Cynical attitudes, which are so popular in today's world,
suggest rather gloating for failures of the others and envy for the success of
the others, which is undoubtedly a selfish approach. The point is that instead
of the principle of competition, where everyone wants to take first place,
ahead of the others, the Buddha offers us the principle of global cooperation
based on a mutual understanding, love and respect, which is much more
productive from a global perspective. However, this path is to some extent the
opposite of the ideal conditions of capitalism where people produce more and
more new benefits only for their own satisfaction, and competing in this senseless
business.
“In this, monks, a monk cultivates the
enlightenment-factors of mindfulness... equanimity accompanied by sympathetic
joy...he dwells thus, equanimous, mindful, clearly aware or, by passing utterly
beyond the sphere of infinite space, thinking 'consciousness is infinite,' he
attains and dwells in the sphere of infinite consciousness. I declare that the
heart's release by sympathetic joy has the sphere of infinite consciousness for
its excellence. This is the attainment of a wise monk who penetrates to no
higher release.”[5]
Upekksha (捨/abandon) – a term
for tranquility – is a serene state of mind, which is a common human condition;
however, in consequence of evolution, the mankind has started to increasingly
forget about it. Above all contributed to this, as for me, the industrial
revolution of the twentieth century, when more and more new discoveries have
been mad has extremely accelerated the rhythm of modern life, which sometimes
seems completely impossible to break out of it, and because of that, many
people think that the constant anxiety and stress is characteristic for a human
initially.
In practice, Upekksha (abandon) is resolve of unattachment to anything, letting go of
greed and selfishness, and self-centered view. Calmly when people disparage,
defame…is characteristic of Upekksha; unnattachment to wealth, lust, fame… is
the wisdom of Upekksha; the resolve is not caught up in opposition of the
duality, in a state of ‘nothingness', so one is not tied by sufferings and
afflictions, and can live inc states of bliss and peace.
“In this case, monks, a monk cultivates the
enlightenment-factors of mindfulness, investigation-of-states, energy, rapture,
tranquillity, concentration, equanimity accompanied by equanimity which is
based on detachment, dispassion, leading to maturity of surrender. If he wishes
to dwell... he dwells thus, equanimous, mindful and clearly aware. Or by
passing utterly beyond the sphere of infinite consciousness, thinking 'there is
nothing,' he attains and dwells in the sphere of nothingness. I declare that
the heart's release by equanimity had the sphere of nothingness for its
excellence. This is the attainment of a wise monk who penetrates to no higher
release.”[6]
As it
was mentioned above, ‘sraddha’ means trust and loyalty. Do not confuse it with
Western notions of faith, plaiting them here, as soon as ‘sraddha’ means our Right
resolve to the truth and our respond to it. What is also included in the
concept of ‘sraddha’ is respect to the three "jewels" of Buddhism which
consist of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
In conclusion, the Right Resolve centered 3
meanings: resolve of detachment, resolve of rageless and resolve of harmless.” The ‘resolve of detachment’ is to let go of greed and craving; ‘resolve of
rageless’ is to eradicate hatred, and develop metta; the ‘resolve of harmless'
is the elimination of murder, arising. And the resolve is also divided into
three categories: Wrong resolve, Right Resolve of leakage (āsava dhammā), and Right resolve of no leakage (no-āsava dhammā). The ‘wrong resolve’ is lust, anger, and hurt oneself
and others. The ‘Right resolve of leakage’ is the
renunciation of desires, no anger, and harmless. And the ‘Right resolve of
no leakage’ is the resolve of
achievements of sacred mind, no leakage mind; it is thinking of a saint. This
resolve is result of diligent practice in Noble Path.[7]
To the term of
society, the ‘Right resolve of leakage’ is capable to prevent the negative feelings,
bad desires, and stop the arising in our anger and aversion that harm us and others.
The ‘Right resolve of leakage’ is also thinking of human development with a
perfect heart; how ideal the society is if everyone would have such thinking,
and when each person has no much greed, anger and hurt each other!
[1] SN 45.8, Thanissaro Bhikkhu
[2] AN 10.176, Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta
[3] SN 46.54, Mettam Sutta: The Brahma-viharas, translated from the Pali
by Maurice O'Connell Walshe
[4] Ibid…
[5] Ibid…
[6] Ibid…
[7] 《巴利大藏經•長部》（卷22《大念處經》）：“諸比庫，什麼是正思惟呢？出離思惟、無恚思惟、無害思惟。諸比庫，這稱為正思惟。 《清淨道論》第九品：“以維持有情的利益行相為相。取來有情的利益為味（作用），惱害的調伏為現起（現狀），見有情的可愛為足處（近因），嗔恚的止息為（慈的）成就，產生愛著為（慈的）失敗。 《清淨道論》第九品：“以拔除有情之苦的行相為相，不堪忍他人之苦為味，不害為現起 見為苦所迫者的無所依估為足處，害的止息為（悲的）成就，生憂則為（悲者）失敗.” 《巴利大藏经•中部》（卷117）：“欲思惟、嗔思惟、害思惟，諸比庫！此等為邪思惟。” 《巴利大藏經•中部》（卷117）：“出離思惟、無嗔思惟、無害思惟，諸比庫！此等是正思惟之有漏而有福分、有持依果.” 巴利大藏經•中部》（卷117）：“以成就聖心、無漏心、聖道者，修習聖道結果之思擇、思惟、專注、細專注、心之專精、語行，諸比庫！此等為正思惟之聖、無漏、出世而有道支者。”
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