The UWF Buddhist Lecture Series, 3
The gift of Dharma excels all other gifts.
--Dhammapada, 354
Lecture Three: March 28, 2009
Formerly, as well as now, monks, I make known only suffering and the cessation of suffering.
--Majjhima-nikaya, 22
The Second Noble Truth
Scope: The Buddha’s method of teaching the Four Noble Truths can be compared to that of a peerless physician or a supreme surgeon. If Dukkha is the illness, then it is essential that we explore its cause/s and determine whether or not a cure is possible. The Buddha concluded that Dukkha is caused by tanha.
The gift of Dharma excels all other gifts.
--Dhammapada, 354
Lecture Three: March 28, 2009
Formerly, as well as now, monks, I make known only suffering and the cessation of suffering.
--Majjhima-nikaya, 22
The Second Noble Truth
Scope: The Buddha’s method of teaching the Four Noble Truths can be compared to that of a peerless physician or a supreme surgeon. If Dukkha is the illness, then it is essential that we explore its cause/s and determine whether or not a cure is possible. The Buddha concluded that Dukkha is caused by tanha.
Outline
I. The Second Noble Truth is what distinguishes Buddhism from other religious perspectives. Here the Buddha categorically declares that suffering is the effect of tanha (Pali).
A. In Sanskrit, trishna means “thirst.”
B. The difference between desire as craving and desire as thirst is a matter of degree.
1. A desire can become intense craving.
2. Thirst suggests an immediate need.
C. Why tanha makes us suffer.
II. Desire leads to attachment – a driving mechanism of samsara.
A. The problem is not with the object of attachment itself but with the nature of the relationship to the object.
B. Addiction.
1. Because everything changes, nothing can sustain our attachments.
2. If we become attached to anything that is subject to change, we suffer.
3. Seeking happiness through acquisition causes us to suffer.
C. Aversion is a form of attachment.
D. The Buddha’s answer to the dangers of attachment and aversion is the middle way.
III. What causes thirst?
A. Ignorance or Avijja.
1. When we misapprehend the nature of the world and of ourselves, we are ignorant.
2. When we impose wrong ideas and beliefs into reality, we are ignorant.
3. We mistakenly believe in permanence when everything is impermanent, a process.
4. Change is constant and persistent. Even solid objects are in constant flux. The foundational elements of the world are more like energy fluctuations than solid matter.
B. Many who admit impermanence try to sneak in permanence through the back door, declaring something exempt from change, for example, the soul.
C. Buddhism, however, teaches that there is no permanent, immortal, substantial soul.
1. Anatta is neither doctrine nor concept but anti-concept.
2. Anatta is not a belief but a denial of a belief.
3. The moment we think of anatta as a concept, we place an obstacle in the way of its understanding.
IV. Buddhism is also an attempt to disrupt our old habits of thinking about who we are.
A. Rather than viewing individuals as immortal souls housed in a body, the Buddha saw sentient being as a complex system of inter-connected and ever-changing energies, called the 5 aggregates.
1. Matter changes each moment as cells die and are replaced.
2. Sensation, or the way we judge experiences as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, thereby conditioning our tendencies of attachment and aversion.
3. Perception, not only what we perceive but what we perceive it as – apperception.
4. Mental formation, the source of tanha, the source of karma. As long as there is tanha, there is rebirth.
5. Consciousness, the process of awareness.
B. None of the above endures. All are in a flux. There is no permanent agent or subject underlying these processes, either.
1. The self is an illusion, the same way a rainbow is an optical illusion.
2. Atman is likewise an illusion created by changing conditions.
3. Our problems arise when we ascribe reality to this illusion. Believing in a permanent, substantial self engenders tanha, the root of Dukkha.
A. In Sanskrit, trishna means “thirst.”
B. The difference between desire as craving and desire as thirst is a matter of degree.
1. A desire can become intense craving.
2. Thirst suggests an immediate need.
C. Why tanha makes us suffer.
II. Desire leads to attachment – a driving mechanism of samsara.
A. The problem is not with the object of attachment itself but with the nature of the relationship to the object.
B. Addiction.
1. Because everything changes, nothing can sustain our attachments.
2. If we become attached to anything that is subject to change, we suffer.
3. Seeking happiness through acquisition causes us to suffer.
C. Aversion is a form of attachment.
D. The Buddha’s answer to the dangers of attachment and aversion is the middle way.
III. What causes thirst?
A. Ignorance or Avijja.
1. When we misapprehend the nature of the world and of ourselves, we are ignorant.
2. When we impose wrong ideas and beliefs into reality, we are ignorant.
3. We mistakenly believe in permanence when everything is impermanent, a process.
4. Change is constant and persistent. Even solid objects are in constant flux. The foundational elements of the world are more like energy fluctuations than solid matter.
B. Many who admit impermanence try to sneak in permanence through the back door, declaring something exempt from change, for example, the soul.
C. Buddhism, however, teaches that there is no permanent, immortal, substantial soul.
1. Anatta is neither doctrine nor concept but anti-concept.
2. Anatta is not a belief but a denial of a belief.
3. The moment we think of anatta as a concept, we place an obstacle in the way of its understanding.
IV. Buddhism is also an attempt to disrupt our old habits of thinking about who we are.
A. Rather than viewing individuals as immortal souls housed in a body, the Buddha saw sentient being as a complex system of inter-connected and ever-changing energies, called the 5 aggregates.
1. Matter changes each moment as cells die and are replaced.
2. Sensation, or the way we judge experiences as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, thereby conditioning our tendencies of attachment and aversion.
3. Perception, not only what we perceive but what we perceive it as – apperception.
4. Mental formation, the source of tanha, the source of karma. As long as there is tanha, there is rebirth.
5. Consciousness, the process of awareness.
B. None of the above endures. All are in a flux. There is no permanent agent or subject underlying these processes, either.
1. The self is an illusion, the same way a rainbow is an optical illusion.
2. Atman is likewise an illusion created by changing conditions.
3. Our problems arise when we ascribe reality to this illusion. Believing in a permanent, substantial self engenders tanha, the root of Dukkha.
