Chapter 2 SCIENCE AND BUDDHA DHAMMA

Strategies in the Analysis of Buddhism
1.   Extinction Vs Eternal Succour Of The Church
2.   Asceticism Vs Desire fulfilment
3.   Isolation Vs Hierarchy
Fact Based Teachings – Meditation and ethics
Faith Based Teachings (Reasonable or Unreasonable)
Unreasonable Faith-based teachings – Pernicious View or Popery
Fiction - Miracles and The 32 Marks
Fable
Thermodynamics and Impermanence
Cause and Effect – A Scientific Principle.
The Importance of Perspective and Understanding
Readying for meditation
Buddha’s Empiricism
Imagination and the Here-And-Now
The Technique of Apperception
Exercise 1 The Apperceptive Gaze
Other Meditation Techniques

Strategies in the Analysis of Buddhism

There is a doctrinal schism in Buddhism which gave rise to the Hinayana and Mahayana branches of Buddhism.
    For several hundred years prior to the Christian era, The Buddha’s practices were preserved using the historical Śrauta tradition. This is a way of preserving information by group chanting. The reliability of this method is well proven in India, but there are questions about the origins of some teachings in the Pali Canon and its development. The Buddhist Pali canon is a collection of teachings attributed to Sidhatta Gotama, collated from various centuries and locations, in and around India. Serious inconsistencies have found their way into the Canon. But credit to the compilers for passing on to us the opportunity to make up our own minds. Many of the discourses often start not unlike witness statements, stating who, where, when and what was said. The Buddha chastised those listening to his teachings to judge and exercise reasonable doubt.
    My attempt to exercise reasonable doubt became particularly burdened by the history of Mahāyāna Buddhism and the arrival of the Church in Southern India. They provide a date, location and motive, to support the possibility that Christianity catalysed the rise of Mahāyānaism. Christianity is well received where ever it goes. Significantly, one can reach the ultimate in one lifetime, compared to the countless incarnations taught in Buddhism and other Hindu faiths. I believe Christianity’s arrival in Kerala southern India, circa several hundred years after the Buddha’s death, motivated Buddhist revisionists to modify teachings that could compete with the appeal of Christianity. I believe, the result came to be known as Mahāyāna and created the Hināyāna-Mahāyāna schism. Let’s be honest, competition is very human. One might also wonder if the Trinity found in the Vedanta, (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) was also inspired by the Holy Trinity of the Church. Significantly, all Buddhist texts are from the Christian era, as are most Hindu texts105 .
     Before I go on, please understand that the implied conclusions in this book do not negate all extra-Buddhist wisdom in the Pali canon, after all, who cares where you get your wisdom from, as long as it is good? Christians should not think I am blaming Christianity in any way for the Schism in Buddhism. This book is about what is right, not who is right. Later in the book I will support these claims with detailed examples.
    I had to develop some bespoke tools of analysis to differentiate curiously Biblical teachings from Buddhist ones. This alone created several years of work.

To distinguish what constituted a Buddhist teaching, I needed some tools, some templates as I came to think of them, to winkle out what was Buddhistic and what wasn’t. These templates were attempts to distinguish how much a teaching was fact, faith, fable, fiction and fear. Having established which template a teaching best fits, in accordance with my modern mindset, I was then better placed to assess a teaching for Buddhistic-consistency.

I also needed more templates to apply to the curiously Christian teachings which appear in the Pali Canon. To isolate Buddhist characteristics I relied on the templates of solitude, asceticism and extinction. To isolate Monotheistic church teachings, I thought in terms of hierarchy, succour and externalism. Now let’s compare and contrast these two paradigms of church and Buddhism.

Extinction Vs Eternal Succour Of The Church

Eternity means dead for ever and forever is an eternity. Little wonder, for example, the Buddha remained agnostic on whether there was a creator God.  The Buddha described this question as “a thicket of views… beset by suffering, by vexation” (MN72:14). He said he never found the start of his existences, nor found a house builder (Dhammapada 153-54).

Buddhist doctrine does not assert nor deny an eternal anything, but it does ask, how could a compounded thing not pass away?  The Buddha did however teach Nibbana to be the extinguishing of the flame of passion and attachment.

Thus, when the former supply of fuel is exhausted, that oil lamp, not being fed with any more fuel, lacking sustenance, would be extinguished. So too, when one lives contemplating danger in things that can fetter, craving ceases…. Such is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering.”
SN12:53

By contrast the Monotheistic church teaches there is eternal succour available in the Eternal City that God will build at the end of time (Rev 22). So, we have a contrasting pair: extinction and externalism.

Nibbana, the blowing out of the flame, the end of attachment to passion. It is taken by tens of millions of Buddhists to mean no more lives upon death. And that is it, period. No more lives means no more suffering because the First of Four Noble Truths states The Truth Of Suffering is that ‘Life is suffering’ (DN22:17 MN141). However, this is in fact not all the Buddha said on the subject. He Buddha explains, ‘If, Mahāli, this feeling were exclusively suffering ... If this perception ... these volitional feelings ... this consciousness were exclusively suffering ... beings would not become enamoured [with existence*]… (SN III: 60)’. So, it can be seen, that the Noble Truth Of Suffering is often inadequately stated.
 The Buddha was clear, all existences, even the finest of godly realms, are transient and transiency carries with it the potential to suffer. Therefore, if Nibbana is the permanent end of suffering, then Nibbana cannot be found as an existence. Sounds like extinction then? However, later we will see how Nibbana is referred to as Temporary Liberation amongst other names, suggesting ‘Nibbana’, ‘no-suffering’, ‘extinction’, is only ever temporary. This opens up the suggestion that we are talking about the quality of consciousness when we talk about Nibbana.

Now let’s look at asceticism and desire fulfilment.

Asceticism Vs Desire fulfilment

Asceticism is very much the opposite of desire fulfilment. There are a lot of words that can be used to denote and are apposite to desire; opulence, ownership, status, satisfaction, materialism, ambition . . . . While the fulfilment of mundane desires and ownership are acceptable to the Church and Catholic practices, the bhikkhu’s life of asceticism is the road of perdition. The Bhikkhu traditionally owns two robes, a begging bowl, something to keep the sun off the head and eats one meal a day. Quite a contrast then.

Now let’s look at Isolation and hierarchy, which is not an immediately apparent contrasting pair.

Isolation Vs Hierarchy

God is at the top of the hierarchy in his creation. Working with God as his primary support is a cohort of angels. Then, there are his representatives on Earth, traditionally in the form of a Pope, or monarchy, and, one day, his favourite son. Next are God’s earthly helpers, such as the church, the apostles, and seers. These institutions and people are honoured, within the hierarchy. By the due worship of God, expressed through deference for his edicts, institutions and agents, he will make all well in the world and all of one’s needs will be met in consequence of being worthy. This is found in Revelation (21.1) but it happens only at the end of time, after God has made “a new heaven and a new earth,” and the Eternal city (15). Those who worship him properly, or repent, are saved, and offered eternal succour after death (6), in an abode ruled with a rod of iron (Rev 2.27). Conversely, the problems of the world are due to a lack of deference for God and his edicts. Nothing impure will ever enter the Eternal City, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life (21.27). It doesn’t get any more top-down than this.

We can see how hierarchy, succour, and eternity are exalted in the Biblical paradigm. By contrast, Buddhism can be reasonably defined by solitude, asceticism, and extinction (Parinibbāna). These three pairs of diametrically opposed characteristics make it difficult to see how Buddhist renunciation and monotheistic ideals can sit comfortably in the same canon. While the bible expects deference, Buddhism invites scepticism.

     “… visible here and now, timeless, inviting inspection, leading onward, to be realised by the wise each one for himself …”
Mahā-govinda (DN19:6),

Anything not visible here and now, and realisable for oneself, should be flagged up, and one should ask ‘is this what the Buddha would have taught?

As we go through the teachings of the Canon, we will look at them and assess them as either fact, faith, fable, fiction or fear based teachings. Let’s do this next.

Fact Based Teachings – Meditation and ethics

Crucially, Buddhist meditation is practiced in the context of an ethical life, collectively known as the Dhamma (Dharma Sr.). This Dhamma can be found presented in the form of many lists, for example, the Three Aggregates: The Aggregate of Wisdom, the Aggregate of Ethical Conduct, the Aggregate of Mental Development …. Ethics are universally used for attenuating expressions of gross energy, and this is so in Buddhism. Minding one’s gross instincts through ethical behaviour is not only a socially acceptable way to behave, but essential training for Buddhist meditation.

Ethical practice is training in the attenuation of gross mind states for more refined ones. An earnest Buddhist layman will likely spend most of his life endeavouring to live ethically, and might never engage in formal seated meditation. Ethical practice is where the layman largely earns his kammic merit.
    We can see from the above that Buddhist ethics and meditation are fact-based teachings. They are doable, realisable, here and now.

A note of warning however to lay practitioners: Don’t be dower when interacting in one’s daily life. You will piss people off big time, as well as yourself. There’s a time and place for everything, and a meditation retreat is where one pushes the boat out (see chapter 20).

Faith Based Teachings (Reasonable or Unreasonable)

A Faith-based teaching can be reasonable or unreasonable. The unreasonable ones I have further subdivided into fiction or fear.
     Even though Sidhatta Gotama’s teachings are first and foremost practical and to be made real, they are not without some purely faith-based teachings, and yet, by definition, a faith-based teaching is beyond empirical investigation. Even so, a purely faith-based teaching can have a very practical function, if only because it is supportive of mindfulness. Philosophical consistency is necessary for meaningful contemplation of life and the directing of one’s energy. For example, the law of kamma is a reasonable faith-based teaching. It asks us to believe that just as there is physical cause and effect, there is also moral cause and effect at a metaphysical level, and that physics and metaphysics are inextricably linked, and run from life to life. This faith-based belief supports the attenuation of expressions of gross energy, out of concern for what we bring upon ourselves tomorrow. Thus, the faith-based doctrine of Kamma, for example, is reasonable and practical for a spiritual effort.
    The Buddha did not expect anyone to be able to correlate a particular spiritual (selfless) deed to a particular kammic consequence. The Buddha asks Subha if he knew of any Brahmin who could say, ‘I declare the result of these five things ... merit … asceticism … celibacy … study … generosity … it seems that among the brahmins there is not even a single brahmin who says thus: ‘I declare the result of these five things having realised it myself with direct knowledge.’’ (Subha MN 99:9). This is a recommendation to see things as they are for oneself. I cannot recall any character in the Sutta Piṭaka, other than the Buddha, who was able to correlate a particular deed to a particular kammic consequence.

Cosmology is often also a faith teaching. Let’s look at some examples. In the Brahmanimantanika Sutta (a discourse about the gods) the Buddha respectfully speaks to the Brahma, the Chief god, in the Brahma Loka, about world systems, impermanence and

kammic reincarnation. The Buddha says, the Sun has an orbit, which is also a Vedic belief. This is indeed true; the Sun does revolve around the centre of the Milky Way:

As far as moon and sun revolve
Shining and lighting up the quarters,
Over a thousandfold such world
Does your sovereignty extend.
And there you know the high and low,
And those with lust and free from lust,
The state that is thus and otherwise,
The coming and going of beings.
MN49:9 Brahmanimantanika Sutta

In the following teaching, the Buddha similarly says the Brahmin Thousand World System extends as far as the light of our Sun and Moon travels.

Monks, as far as sun and moon revolve and illuminate all directions by their radiance, so far does the Thousandfold World System extend. And in that thousandfold world system, there are a thousand moons, a thousand suns, a thousand Sinerus106 , kings of mountains, a thousand Rose-Apple continents, …. But even for the Great Brahma, change takes place, transformation takes place.
AN Book of 10s Impermanence

The above might sound fantastical, but in principle it is not without good reason. After all, there are so many planets in the universe, it is unreasonable to assert there are no other life-baring planets. I don’t take the number of a thousand literally, but to mean more than one would care to count, baring in mind people’s numeracy skills 2000 years ago. This teaching implicitly accepts rebirth. And why not, having been born once, it is incumbent on the nay-sayer to explain why one can’t be reborn again, on Earth or another of the many numerous planets.

Is the above not saying that within the distance of the light of the Earth’s Sun and Moon there is a world of extra-terrestrials?

    Here is another cosmological faith teaching. The Pali canon teaches there are three fundamental levels of existence: Immaterial Existence, Fine-Material Existence, Sense-sphere Existence (see Table 21). On these planes we find supranatural beings, gods, creatures various and even what we would today call extra-terrestrials. I have never spoken to, nor heard of any monk who have seen any gods, although I believe, I have seen lower-level gods and extra-terrestrials107 . The Canon does record a number of bhikkhus witnessing gods/unearthly beings (Cūḷataṇhāsankhaya MN37:6) (Anāthapiṇḍikovāda MN143:20).
    Buddhist cosmology is largely reasonable and faith-based. It also implies rebirth, which is also reasonable. The reader may have their own recollections of previous lives to factor into this. I do not have any previous life memories but I have a pre-birth memory of being dropped onto this earth plane.

106 The myth of Sinerus, is that it is the central world-mountain. It is Hindic in origin and not just Buddhist. Its proper name is Meru (San) and Neru (Pāli), The prefix su is added, to mean ‘excellent Meru’, giving Sineru (Pāli). Sumeru (Sr.). 

Unreasonable Faith-based teachings – Pernicious View or Popery

In addition to reasonable faith-based teachings there are unreasonable ones. These are distinguished by their lack of practical and philosophical integrity. Bare in mind, a teaching by the Buddha avails itself to be investigated and realised (DN19:6).
    The Mahāsihanāda discourse alleges the Buddha warned a Brahmin, that should anyone think the Buddha hammered out his teaching by logic alone, that person would be assured of rebirth in a world of woe (MN12:21). But why would one go to Hell for thinking so? First impressions of this teaching is that it is more like a blasphemy law, than empirical law. Even if logic alone is tantamount to calling the Buddha a fraud, critical thinking is still indispensable to the reasonably minded. It is difficult to see how selectively dismissing logic for some issues is consistent with a teaching to be investigated and made real. I’ve got the Mahāsihanāda discourse down as being an unreasonable faith-based teaching, as it does more to frighten than enlighten. Angulimāla actually tried to kill the Buddha, but went on to become an Arahant (see Chapter 8, Pernicious View). It is hard to support a blasphemy law in Buddhism.
    But let’s say something got lost in translation, and this teaching is not about the Buddha, but about thinking using ‘logic alone’. Anyone with a little practice compiling logic tables will know how they produce more bizarre statements than correct conclusions, even when the premises are well founded. Who uses only logic in their daily life?

 Fiction - Miracles and The 32 Marks

Some teachings are so devoid of philosophical consistency and utility, they come across as fiction. Some miracles in the Pāli Canon are so farfetched they are insulting. We will look at miracles in Chapter 14, and try to distinguish them from the fantastical and feasible.
    An unreasonable teaching is the alleged 32 markings of the Buddha (see Chapter 14 Miracles & Psychic Abilities). They have no practical baring upon the life of a renunciant, and in my view do not add any credibility to the Pāli Canon. The 32 marks would have us believe the Buddha looked half-gorilla. I can’t help but suspect that the 32 marks are an attempt to exalt the Buddha to the level of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten (cerca 1370 BC), the most powerful man in his day (see table Thirty-Two Marks of a Great Man). Akhenaten exhibited peculiar physical characteristics, possibly due to Marfan syndrome. Akhenaten played his part in establishing monotheism, by presenting himself as the living personification of God. Anciently, and to some extent even today, leaders were commonly exalted to the level of Gods. More recently, up to World War II the emperor of Japan was deemed a living god by the Japanese, and the Head of the UK monarchy is still regarded as the leader of the Anglican Church, God’s official body in the UK.

Fable

Another basic type of teaching, found throughout the ancient world and the Pāli Canon, is the fable. It is different to fiction in that it carries a moral message, as distinct from a questionable event.
    It has to be noted, the Pāli Canon does present its fabulous teachings as if they were fact. Mara the Evil One is one such example108 . Mara is nearly always presented in the Pāli Canon as literal, except for in the Saṃyutta Nikāya (III. 23:1) where the Buddha makes it explicit that Mara the Evil One is allegorical.

Table 2 Types of Teaching

    Using these templates proved very useful for identifying inconsistencies in the Pali Canon and comparing its teachings to other doctrines. I have identified over eight fundamental teachings in the Pāli Canon that are inconsistent with other teachings in the Canon and that have a curious resemblance to a biblical teaching. Inconsistency needs investigating. Would you trust your destiny to inconsistencies? Eight such significant inconsistencies, I say, is not coincidence. This is another reason why I believe Christianity influenced Buddhist revisionists. We will go into the details of these in chapter 10.

 Thermodynamics and Impermanence

A particularly interesting comparison to make is the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence and thermodynamics. The Anicca doctrine treats all compounded things as transient. A compounded thing is anything made up of two or more fundamental building blocks. This doctrine is also applied to the self, in which case it is called the Anatta doctrine (a + nata = no + self). It says there is no immutable self, as consciousness is dependent on conditions.  We learn this when Sāti, son of a fisherman, expressed the understanding that the Buddha taught “… it is this same consciousness that runs and wanders through the round of rebirths, not another.” Sāti was confronted by some bhikkhus over his wrong view. “Friend Sāti, do not say so. … it is not good to misrepresent the Blessed One. The Blessed One would not speak thus. For in many ways the Blessed One has stated consciousness to be dependently arisen, since without a condition there is no origination of consciousness.” (MN38:3 Mahātaṇhāsankhaya Sutta). We take from this that whatever it is that brings about a sense of self, it is not permanent, due to consciousness being dependent on conditions.
    Studies of the microscopic and macroscopic universe reveal nothing is truly motionless, which is consistent with the Anicca doctrine of impermanence. All things apparent are in a constant state of flux. This causes a great deal of work for scientists, who have to contemplate variables against constants that are, at best, the least variable phenomena available.
    All scientific thought can be seen as a branch of thermodynamics, philosophically speaking. Thermodynamics is the study of heat. Heat is movement . Movement is disorder. Heat and movement are energy.
    Science attempts to qualify and quantify heat/movement/disorder/randomness …  with a concept called entropy. Entropy is a measure of relative sophistication in a system. A system of relatively high sophistication is described as having low entropy, and conversely, a system of relatively low sophistication has high entropy. For example, a sand castle has lower entropy (higher sophistication) compared to the pile of sand into which it will eventually decay. A frozen glass of water has less entropy (higher sophistication) than when the same glass of defrosted water is at room temperature. Even though we may not think of ice as sophisticated it is more ordered than when the water molecules are freer to move, as more randomness equals lower sophistication.
    I say, Siddhatta Gotama expounded a law of thermodynamics when he taught all compounded things are impermanent. A compounded thing isthermodynamically speaking, a system, or part of a system. By saying “all compounded things are transient”, he was saying; energy must change form. This is different to the First Law of thermodynamics which states; the energy within a closed system can change form. I say the Buddha gives us a veritable fifth law of thermodynamics . After all, just what has science found that is immutable?
    Some scientific thinkers believe the entropy of the universe is increasing, meaning it is becoming less sophisticated, less structured. Hence, mountains crumble, metal erodes, and buildings fall down, instead of up. It is highly unlikely wind alone will produce a sand castle.
    But there are forces in the universe that bring about order and sophistication and store energy. A cold wind will freeze water. Planets form out of stellar debris, plants and forests grow, species evolve and cities are built. Life can be recognised by its ability to create order out of disorder . Life is characteristically constructive and the opposite of Entropy.
    A universe that is constructive as well as destructive is cyclic. This is the nature of the Steady State Universe, and it is the universe of the Pāli Canon. The Buddha did not address a beginning or end to the universe. That is a paradigm he considered “a thicket of views” (MN72).
    A particularly poignant consequence of impermanence (Anicca/thermodynamics) for sentient beings is that nothing is eternally reliable, and so there can be no permanently unbroken succour in the universe. All heavens are temporary, even if they last for aeons. The doctrine of impermanence is the kingpin in the Buddha’s teaching.
    The Buddhist doctrine of Anicca is consistent with the observable universe and a reasonable faith-based teaching.

Cause and Effect – A Scientific Principle

The Principle of Action and Reaction, and the Principle of Conservation of Energy are the bedrock of scientific thought. The Principle of Action and Reaction says there can be no reaction without an action. The Principle of Conservation of Energy says the extent of a reaction is proportional to the amount of energy doing the actioning. For example, a stationary snooker ball moves when hit by a moving snooker ball, (action followed by reaction) and it will move even faster when hit by a faster moving ball (Principle of Conservation of Energy). The Principle of Action and Reaction can be compared to the Universal law of Kamma. Just as there are physical mechanics operating to create cause and effect, we see in the snooker ball example, there are metaphysical mechanics operating that form part of the machinery of cause and effect at kammic and moral levels.
    In Buddhism, kamma can be described as heavy, that is, dark kamma with dark kammic comeuppance, or it can be described as light, that is bright kamma with bright kammic comeuppance.
    Matching a specific kammic fruition with its cause is not a skill the Buddha expected of anyone. He questioned those who thought they could recognise the fruition of their deeds (MN99). Some discourses state the Buddha was unique in that he could match specific kammic cause with specific kammic fruit (DN2:95-96).
    The Principle of Conservation of Energy is also found in the Gotama’s teaching which compares our passions to a fire. This fire, metaphorically speaking, heats the boiler that makes the steam, which drives the wheel of birth and death (see figure13, Paṭicca-Samuppāda, the 12 Niddana). The Buddha taught that in order to end the cycle of birth and death, we must stop putting fuel on the fire of our passions. Hence, a bhikkhu practices meditation, celibacy, humility and frugality with equanimity. The principle of conservation of energy tells us that if a fire has its fuel reduced for long enough, the boiler will lack the pressure to turn the wheel of life. It is at this juncture that the renunciant becomes a noble being, an Ariya Puggala, guaranteed to live a limited number of lives, as the wheel of live grinds to a halt (see chapter 10 Nibbāna Guaranteed).

The Importance of Perspective and Understanding

The Buddha taught that our perspectives, and what we believe, are not without consequence. Some perspectives lead to one’s enduring welfare for a long time (MN34:11). Some cause unwholesome states to increase, some cause wholesome states to diminish (MN114:10), some preclude enlightenment (MN117:5), some cause personal damage for a long time (MN38:6-7), and some can damage other people for a long time (MN104:5).
    This is not because disdain for the Buddha’s teaching is naughty. It is because the universe requires navigating, and this necessitates a perspective, a roadmap so to speak, that is faithful to reality. Our beliefs and perspectives, significantly determine what we feel, say, and do. Buddhist ethics are for attenuating one’s grosser energies which conduces towards being the master, not the slave, of our desires, and attaining the blowing out of the flame. The blowing out of the flame is not being free of desires, in my experience, but the temporary alleviation of all consciousness.
    The Buddha taught nihilism precludes rebirth in the heavenly realms (MN71:13). There is reason to this. Anyone who genuinely does not believe in cause and effect at the moral level is less likely to respect others, or believe in the value of self-discipline. Without self-discipline to refine our energies, rebirth in a refined place is less likely, as gross behaviour conduces to rebirth in a gross place, and refined behaviour conduces to rebirth in a refined place.
    Energy is what it says it is; energetic. Energy must express itself, otherwise, what use is it? A disciplined life, a life of creativity, mitigates against the forces of randomness. Our kamma ripens when conditions allow.
    Being precluded from realising Nibbāna for being a nihilist may seem incredible, or even unfair, so a simile might help. Just as a line of computer code, can control the largest of machines with great consequence, our perspectives and beliefs can direct our energies with far reaching consequence.
    Even though Buddhism is born of empiricism, faith-based teachings still play a crucially practical role.

Readying for meditation

Part of scientific experimentation requires being able to identify the variables from the constants. Thus, if a scientist conducting an experiment adheres to the same set of conditions, he expects to get the same result. Compare this with the Buddha’s teaching,

“… this Lord’s Teaching, visible here and now, timeless, inviting inspection, leading onward, to be realised by the wise each one for himself.”  Mahā-govinda DN19:6

“To be realised” means to make real, and it has to be done for oneself, “each one for himself.”  There’s nothing vicarious about the Buddha’s discipline. It is timeless because he reveals fundamental truths about existence which one can observe, inspect, and introspect for oneself, right here and now. There is no act of faith involved. Gotama is clearly calling for a scientist’s empirical approach. Therefore, by the same logic of scientific verification, a meditator can expect the same results from the same conditions. Just as an earnest science student investigates theory through practice, meticulously repeating the same conditions, the investigator of meditation will become familiar with mental and physical conditions, how they vary, how to deal with them.

Buddha’s Empiricism

The Buddha taught that the teachings from secondary sources should not be passively accepted, but should be “compared with the suttas, and reviewed in the light of the discipline (DN16:4.8)”. Let’s look at the two recommendations of compare and review. Note, the many references in this book are provided for those who care to search the Canon for themselves, and make comparisons. To review them in the light of discipline requires the reader has some experience. The Buddha taught, the wisdom of the discourses is, “to be realised by the wise each one for himself (DN19:6)”, and, “truth is deathless speech (SN.I.8:729)”, and the bhikkhu’s “deliverance, being founded upon truth, is unshakeable (MN140:26)”. Such talk is the empiricism of scientists, and why we should make our own investigation into the deathless, and the unshakable, reliable, nature of the truth.

The Buddha’s truth is universal, however, piecing it together from the Pāli Canon is a considerable task to say the least. Beginner friendly it is not. So, we will start not with the discourses, but by exploring our mutual experience of the here-and-now, and how to meditate, using non-technical, ordinary language. This is not about what’s true just for you, but more so mutually observable, repeatable truth. This will provide some grounding in real experience, to bring to the discourses, and help minimise any leaps of faith. Even if the reader doesn’t care for the Canon, personal experience of meditation is likely the first and foremost reason you are reading this book.
    A key part of Buddhist ethics is the doctrine of perfect speech (samma vaca), which calls for the use of accurate, meaningful and helpful speech. Ideally, a Buddhist should be aware of the meaning of every word he uses. Similarly, we should make the effort to evaluate what we read and hear, particularly when it is attributed to the Buddha. While studying the Dhamma, in later chapters, we will have to stop to reflect on the meanings of some words and do some serious disambiguation.
    There is more to using the right words than academic rigour. Using the right words is a mental discipline. It is crucial to the practice for the Aggregate of Wisdom, the Aggregate of Ethical Conduct, and the Aggregate of Mental Development (MN44:1). Exercising control over what one is thinking, brings some control over what one is feeling, and conversely, what feelings are controlling you. This is a real and invaluable, here-and-now benefit. Indeed, a wakeful, clear mind and the ability to direct one’s thinking, are functions of each other. A mind that is wakeful, calm and clear is easier to direct. This is referred to in the discourses as a malleable and wieldy mind (MN79:28-44). Buddhist psychology says a calm and clear mind is not an ordinary mind but is Noble and wholesome.
    A word we need to understand is contemplation. Let’s investigate this word for what we can discover. A regular etymological dictionary shows the word contemplation has a Latin root of contemplārī112 , defined as ‘to mark out carefully’. Contemplārī is a compound word of con, meaning completeness, and templum113 meaning temple. The word template also has templum for its etymology114 . Just as a template is used to mark out the same shape, again and again, contemplation requires an ethical template for preserving the same standards of behaviour. A temple is also used as a dedicated place of contemplation. The Buddhist’s ethical template is found in the Noble Eight-Fold Path.
    Contemplation, meditation and concentration, are words that are used interchangeably. But I prefer to think of contemplation as thinking about two or more issues, such as a conundrum, as one would while contemplating an ethical issue. I see meditation as focusing on one thing, or nothing. Concentration is required for both.
    Ethics in Buddhism have a very practical role. The idea of maintaining an ethical practice is to moderate one’s behaviour, and to evaluate the volition behind the actions and reactions of oneself and others. We all do this to some extent, but ordinarily it is for selfish reasons, such as gain, or self-defence. I say these are acceptable for the urbanite. But in the case of the Buddhist renunciant, someone who has renounced mundane life, it is not. A bhikkhu’s behaviour is not ordinary. His ethically moderated behaviour deeply affronts his human nature and survival instincts. Make no mistake about it, all selflessness is self-denial; is self-negation. But the renunciant must be insightful. Self-negation per se is not the point. We could give away all our possessions to do that. For a Buddhist, self-negation should be an act of self-transcendence. That is, where a thought or feeling is not ethically justifiable, it is to be subordinated in deference to a better wisdom or even just pure awareness (see Chapter 4).
    Buddhist mindfulness is not about making oneself miserable. Negative feelings and thoughts are ideally killed off, or abandoned, in the moment. In reality, this is not always realisable. It has to be said, extended, moment-by-moment mindfulness is an advanced skill, not expected of an urbanite. The urbanite must understand this, or he will risk making himself profoundly stressed and miserable, amid life’s demands. The Buddha didn’t teach higher dhamma to urbanites (householders). If the householder wants to make the full-on renunciant effort, it should be reserved for a dedicated environment, such as a meditation retreat, or short stay in a monastery. But, minding an ethical code is sustainable in one’s daily life. This practice attenuates the grosser aspects of human nature and similarly, attenuates dark kamma, conducing to a more refined rebirth.
    There is no record of the Buddha prescribing the higher dhamma of meditation for householders. In fact, he had to be persuaded to communicate his realisation at all, by the Brahma god Shahampati. Later we will read how he even made fellow renunciants ask three times before he revealed his dhamma (dharma sr.) to them. I say this is because of the arduous nature of his discipline, and the fact that it is the road to perdition. Clearly, this is disastrous for a householder. A lack of direct understanding about Buddha dhamma will bring confusion and misery. Right View/Understanding is essential (see Sammā diṭṭhi, table 5 Eight-Fold Path). Right Understanding of Buddha dhamma arms one to better deal with confusion and misery. Nevertheless, warning heeded, I say a householder who meditates earnestly, can, to use that misleading Buddhist term, ‘attain Nirvana’. But be told, nothing is attained. My experience says succumb to voidness, is a better term. Nibbana/ succumbing to voidness, is a temporary loss of all consciousness, and that is freedom from suffering is it not? That I tell you is Nibbanic Liberation.

It is this very reason that compels me to spend a tenth year honing this book.

Imagination and the Here-And-Now

The here and now is the eternal moment. It is the only moment we experience, and the one in which all happens, including our efforts to contemplate and meditate. Meditation starts with the effort to stay in the here and now. Before we learn how to stay in this moment, as taught in the words of the Buddha, let’s look at the here and now for ourselves and try to describe it.
    If we sit for a moment with nothing to do, the likelihood is that within seconds the imagination will start to stir, often for no apparent reason. If we look at what constitutes these mental stirrings, and how they manifest in the imagination, we see they are threefold. They consist of the faculty of vision, the faculty of sound, and the faculty of feeling/sentience. If asked, what did you eat for breakfast, the answer would require some visualisation of what was eaten, however fleeting the image may be. If asked, what was the last thing said to you, the answer would require some audio recall, even if the recall isn’t hi-fidelity, or verbatim accurate. Thus, we have a visual faculty and an audio faculty. But imagination is more than a video machine. Our memories and thoughts carry a charge of feeling. Feelings are sentience, which we evaluate by the size of its charge and whether it is pleasant or not. We are attracted or repelled accordingly. This is the nature of the psycho-physical mechanism that we are.
    The imagination can be problematic. It is always at the centre of worry, and dreaming. It can run away with us, and even make us paranoid. It never seems to stop, day or night, regardless of whether it is wanted. This is because the imagination’s faculties are stimulated by hunger, thirst, tiredness, loneliness, discomfort and illness. The imagination is an integral part of the body’s survival mechanism. It’s not going to go away - ever - not even for a Buddha. Without the effort of self-reflection, imagination can inordinately colour how we perceive a situation, if we are not mindful enough to mentally cognise when the body is hungry, thirsty, tired, … etc.
    Recognising the condition of the mind-body mechanism is the starting place of self-transcendence. Without self-transcendence, we are animalistic. If we can’t cognise and recognise how we feel, and implement at least some detachment, the primitive human tendency is to project one’s own frustrations outside of oneself onto others, and even inanimate objects.  
    When we lack the capacity to appreciate the machinations of body, mind and imagination, we are more likely to express selfish and destructive behaviours (See Chapter 20 A Meditation Retreat, and Appendices 8, The Mechanism). A contemplator and meditator, on the other hand, trains in knowing the imagination for what it is, and is not so readily persuaded by it.
    The imagination may be a good servant, informing us of our needs, but as a master, it can lead us to savagery.

The Technique of Apperception

There is in fact a very effective tool for detaching from the imagination. We can stop the audio, and visual faculties in their tracks, and consequently exercise control over the feeling faculties, by a simple act of apperception. Bare in mind, the imaginative faculties are not going to be permanently dissolved. They are part of your survival mechanism. The technique of apperception is to simply look and listen inside the head, and cognise anything and everything (wanting, emotion, physical sensations) that could excite the imaginative faculties into involuntary activity, that is distraction. Just enough energy is used to do this, and no more.
    Physical and emotional feelings are very often stubborn. Nevertheless, you can stop an upset becoming a distress with a resolute use of apperception.
    The stop button for the imagination is spring loaded. The second you take your apperceptive finger off the imagination’s stop button, the imagination will start up again, but the technique works while ever it is applied. It is the easiest thing in the world to do, but the hardest to maintain. The apperceptive gaze is the gateway to suññata (voidness). It is elaborated in detail in the Great Vipassana discourse, which we will study shortly.
    The reader might try the following empirical investigation.

Exercise 1 The Apperceptive Gaze

Spend the next 30 seconds, or so, looking, listening and feeling inside the head and body. Notice that the harder you look, listen and sense (apperceive), the less the imaginative faculties produce. If any imaginings do arise, it is because you have lost focus, in which case, simply refocus - straight away. Use the minimum effort necessary.
   
*       *       *

During this exercise, you might have heard noises from the outside world, and perhaps internal noises from the body, such as the stomach grumbling, the sound of your own breath, maybe tinnitus. Even though external and internal stimuli are still cognised, the apperceptive gaze is still able to check the imaginative faculties and keep consciousness pure. In such a moment, the forces of selfishness no longer dominate you. You are meditating. You are practicing equanimity. It is the road to liberation.
    Repeat this exercise until you are satisfied with the accuracy of what you have just read. If the above exercise stands scientific verification, it is repeatable with the same result, again and again.
    The apperceptive gaze is how to do nothing, and that requires the minimum of effort. It is work, but not like lifting heavy weights, where heavier weights require more effort. It is more like remembering to keep your finger on a pause button that keeps springing back up. The Buddha recommended using just enough energy as is necessary “…just to the extent necessary for knowledge and awareness (DN22:2).
    Ordinarily, we dislike confronting the imaginative faculties with pure awareness for prolonged durations. But this is what mindfulness and meditation is all about; the struggle between wakeful, apperceptive insight, and the distractions of mind and body. The battle for higher consciousness is won and lost at the interface between the imaginative faculties and pure mindedness. It can be meaningfully said that the apperceptive gaze is the easiest thing in the world to do but the hardest to maintain.
    The here-and-now is the eternal moment and that makes the apperceptive technique eternally useful.
    Ordinary consciousness means ordinary experiences. No one gets to walk about in a permanent bubble of bliss, not even the Buddha (see DN 2.25).

Other Meditation Techniques

The apperceptive gaze is not the only meditation technique in the Pali Canon. There are techniques to focus the mind by putting the imagination to work, using nimittaṃ, (nimitta pl.). These include mindful awareness of the breath, body posture, visualising a colour, or holding a wholesome sentiment in mind. These objects of attention are the basis for samadhi meditation, which we will study shortly. Relatively speaking, these are gross mental states, more tangible forms of contemplations and meditation than the apperceptive gaze, but less gross than some more mundane psychological states.