Dhana and Single Meal

Single most important principle in Buddhist Practice is its Dhana, the giving away ones possessions, without expecting anything in return.

This is something of an antithesis to modern world, where, self, image and one’s possessions are dear and belonging.

How it is practiced by Buddhist monks is discussed here briefly to make a novice monk adopt to modern trends in a demanding world.

A Buddhist monk ought to be light in baggage and belongings. A monk could have only two cloths (Chivara), one for wearing and another for change. How it should be made is also under strict and elaborate instructions.

The eating habits are also under strict code of practice. I would discuss that in detail here. When it comes to eating, if one ignores the morning meal, which is very light indeed, a monk has to survive on a single meal, and that has to be taken in the early evening not late as is modern day practice.

You may wonder why I took some interest in this.

This examination is scientific in nature and if you need satire read American Pie elsewhere.

There are many reasons, and I would jot down only a few.

If a monk in the west practices this according to the strict code, it is a severe test for them, adopting this regime in the winter months. Equally, I have seen some monks who try to adhere to the regime regimentally and religiously have ended up sick and malnourished. If one becomes a Buddhist monk in adult life who had enjoyed somewhat a liberal life, changing to a single meal is a severe restriction on their diurnal habits. Ones hormonal status, glycogen storage and status of the acid secretion in the stomach are habituated by ones daily routine (life style). Changing this having become a monk should be done on a staggered basis giving time for the body to adjust.

Additionally, many of them do not have an understating of what is a balance diet.

What I stated above is obvious, but over years, I have seen many Buddhist monks suffering from food related diseases, especially diabetes mellitus. This is something not welcome and unexpected for my own consumption. I have no intention of going into how one becomes a diabetic but for me somebody on a single meal getting diabetes mellitus was something of an enigma.

In this scenario, having thought a bit about it I put the blame squarely on the layman.

Hope one is not amazed by this statement.

I would go into this briefly. The upper and the higher middle class families are the ones who get quota for the Dhana for the residential monks in the city. Their, idea of a meal is a lavish one. Many of them are also diabetic because of their over indulgence. The offer of Dhana is not done on a regular basis. So on the day all the sugary, starchy, heavy but nutritionally unbalanced is offered. These Dhana days also happen to fall on weekends and holidays. The monk has no choice. They consume a diet heavy in carbohydrates which stimulate their pancreas to the limits on weekends and practically having an austerely meal rest of the week. My theory of this up and down (erratic) stimulation of the insulin status, make them prone to diabetes in middle age. This may be aggravated by lack of exercise and having sugary drinks (tea) to counteract the late evening hypoglycemia.

It is the duty of the layman to look after their welfare on a regular basis instead of lavish feast once a month. Medical education is in its prime stage now especially on nutrition, the doctor should advise the upper middle class families what is a balance single diet for a monk who are practically at the mercy of the rich laymen who impart their inherent diseases to the clergy.

I would give some advice later regarding what to be offered and what ought not to be but for now let me digress a little.

I wanted to test myself whether I can survive on a single diet.

I am more than convinced that it is possible and healthy.
But it takes time and it cannot be practiced overnight.

Prehistoric Time -15,000 to 30, 000 ago
Having proved it to myself, I delved into man’s prehistoric period and how man survived in adverse climatic conditions and food scarcities. Hunter gather never had three meals a day. At best he had only a single square meal never three meals. He mainly survived on big games in a community life style. He was omnivorous and supplemented his diet with fruits and nuts. He probably did not suffer from diabetes mellitus and his teeth were strong, the enamel was thin but the dentin was thick, hardly had caries. In times of food shortages and diseases there were signs of enamel deficiency and bone diseases. These changes are recorded in prehistoric fossils which date back to 15,000 to 30,000 years. Until such time he became nomadic man milk was in short supply. Only milk supply was maternal. The average woman was thin, and she only had children once in four years or so. (It is now believed that when a woman is thin -prehistoric women had to work hard, almost equaling man’s efforts-like modern day women athletes the ovulation does not occur. Additionally, prolong breast feeding without weaning suppresses ovulation).

The man probably was sturdier and taller but comparatively thinner since he had to work hard in hunting exercises. He probably lived a shorter life than a woman (45 years), probably 35 years or so died not of modern day diseases but by injuries sustained in hunting.

As far prehistoric man is concerned a single diet existence is not a fantasy but a fact.

Paleolithic Period- 5000 to 13 000 years
Why man became an agricultural man is a mystery but available evidence suggests dramatic changes in climate at the end of the ice age and population expansion. With the emergence of the nomadic life and mans entry into agricultural endeavours, he entered into a sedentary life style. However, he never gave up game and hunting until such time he domesticated adequate livestock.
I would like to figure out that he was never a pure vegetarian.  

The Asian wolf became associated with man around 13,000 years ago probably scavenging around man’s domain. The dogs and wolf can live on a single diet perhaps even longer and with the loss of mammoths and huge games, wolf also found living difficult but drifted with the man for game. His eating pattern, scavenging to begin with which our present day dogs inherit and illustrate by scavenging city dumps, is a reminder that even this period the man existed (present day practice of feeding a single meal to a pedigree dog which I don’t agree with) on a single main diet.

Even though the agricultural practices were extensive, failure of crops were common phenomena, the demise of Maya Dynasty was a true example of catastrophe in history. In spite of extensive agriculture, food was not plenty and the food preparation from harvest to meal was labour extensive and man continued to supplement meal on animal and animal sacrifices. In this period population expanded probably because women becoming comparatively fatter and fertile (it is interesting to note that when a woman is too fat, like present day, fertility drops) and their body composition was ideal for reproduction. But with success there was impending catastrophe too. Famines were common due to reduction of crops, failure of rains or floods.
The man became shorter and less sturdy due to sedentary life.

We may be able to surmise that even in this period man ate a variable diet, characteristically a single meal which was supplemented by animal, fish, shells, fruits and nuts.

How and when man discovered use of salt and spices is an open to question probably towards the latter stage of Paleolithic time.

Contemporary History from 5000 years to 2500.
During this period man was eating mixed diet containing milk (animal), sugar, salt, spices and animal and fish products. In spite of agriculture man never ceased to consume animal food, in fact it became a major constitute, judging by the tribal and religious practices from 5000 to 2000 years. This is probably the period where single supper or a single meal changed to multiple meals especially the upper classes but slaves and lower classes subsisted on an average single large meal.

The longevity and average health increased proportionately to double the prehistoric period.

Most of the sages and philosopher except hedonists lived an austere life while recommending the same to the masses.

2500 and the emergence of the Vegetarian Life
Even though some Jainers advocated vegetarian life, it was with the emergence of the Buddhists way of life in India that preceded the current wave of vegetarian (purported to be healthy) food fads. Neither, Ten Commandments, the Jesus Christ’s Sayings nor Muslim Koran abhors sacrifices of animals.

The vegetarian life is comparatively new one probably only 2500 years old in the history of mankind and that is why, there are so many misconceptions. Unlike monkeys, baboons and gorillas who are mostly vegetarians, from which man originated in an evolutionary point of view, the man had always been a carnivorous mammal.

2500 years is a small time in evolutionary time scale, a healthy dialogue on vegetarian diet is mandatory in the present context.

Our intestine and teeth bear different relationships to tree dwelling mammals, some are morphological in nature (genetic) and some are based on the diet (environmental) we eat. That is the view I hold not an opinion substantiated.

As far as the growth and development of children are concerned my view is that single diet is not adequate.

That is my entry point to discuss another point of view.

Can a young novice monk who has not gone through puberty be sustained on single diet?
This is a question I find it difficult to answer even thought I have stated my gut feeling above. This is another reason I defer on ordaining young underage monks (there are other reasons stated elsewhere) apart from psychological maturity to go on an austere life as prescribed by Vinaya.

Parents should have a say in these issues. They should not plunge a young one into priesthood early in their tender years.

What should an average Dhana (Single Meal) should contain?
The physiological effect of an average meal should last 18 hours (that is the time when the glycogens storage starts to become depleted) of calorie intake. The diet should not have high sugary (desert) components that stimulate surge of insulin and late dumping syndrome due to insulin surge at the time of the meal. The vegetarian diet has no problem since the fiber makes the release of dietary sugar gradual. The best desert for the monks is not ice cream but fruits. Out of the fruits, the best is bananas which releases its sugars slowly without upsetting insulin surges and maintaining a stable blood sugar. Milk and curd are preferred, since they give a supply of fat for starving intervals.

Missing ingredient is nuts, not only they contain short fatty acids which supply nutrition for starving intervals and also healthy vitamins.

I would encourage the young monks to go liberal on fruits and nuts.

A supply of nuts (not aggalas and jaggery and sweets), fruits, papaw, banana and proper breakfast cereal containing millet (Kurrakkan) should be the breakfast for our monks.

Somebody should invest and develop a proper breakfast cereal for our kids (which can be used by young monks in their growing years) instead of foreign breakfast cereals.

For the monks in the west a Buddhist dietitian with knowledge in Vinaya practice should investigate how their mid day Dhana should be constituted.

My belief is many of them are having an inappropriate diet for winter conditions.
I hope a good breakfast cereal will emerge from there for the monks on a meagre diet.

My prescription for priesthood is entirely different. When I see young monks in the TV giving emotional speeches rather than mature sermons, I become sometimes terrified.

Even my twilight years, I sometimes reserve my judgment or giving advices on certain issues. Never over the telephone, only, when I can have an eye to eye contact with the person concerned where I, can have an immediate assessment of the person’s psychological makeup and the reactions.

One can do more damage by volunteering advice not appropriate.

My advice goes as this. Let the young one follows a simple observational life. In other words learn to observe in a simple scientific and logical fashion. Teach them science in simple terms as we tend to understand them from facts to fiction.

Children learn fiction better in the early years and they should be allowed to mature into scientific and factual way.

They have the philosophical views embedded in their brains. Encourage them as much as possible

This is why they always asks mommy why?

Encourage the philosophical views at an early age, even though we do not have ready made answers always.

Then only they should be allowed to think of a religion or religions in their life. If we are to stop, young from being taken into terrorist or religious cadres, that is the only way out left. That is the very thing we are not doing at present and ignoring. We are slowly encouraging and allowing young militants being made out of innocent minds because of our failure in commonsense education.

Some religious and militant groups know very well, the best currency to propagate their rigid views is the young mind.

Freeman

 Freeman

Let my mind

Toy and joy with

With compassion, kindness and equanimity

Let it be that nobody

Believe in something

Since it is

The tradition to do so

Or it is in the scriptures

Or it is hearsay

Heresy

And my teacher said so

Let there be no bias

Towards a notion

Specious reasoning

Faith

Liking

Soothing to the ear

For repeated hearing

Do not go upon

By rumour

Nor upon surmise

Nor upon a lovely axiom

Or just by pondering over

But by ones own realization

Greed, hate and ignorance

Are not the root causes?

The birth, decay and death

Are the miseries

And until one knows

By oneself

That what must be done?

Has been done

There is no more to be done

No more to come

The life has been exhausted.

Truly

The freedom is achieved

From within

Mind Boggling Question

Mind is

Fluid

Frequently

Flying

To reach

A distant goal

Flitting

And Fleeing

Why not call

It a mystery?

Which it is

Instead of the

Ill conceived

Ill understood

All abiding

All encompassing

Term called consciousness

Which truly

Is a misnomer par excellence

Buddha the unsung Environmentalist

Buddha the unsung Environmentalist

I often wondered
Why Buddha
Did not
Utter
A terse verse
On the mother nature?

Then again
He is one
Who lived
Half of his life
Under the shade
Of trees and caves
That mother nature
Had plenty then
Even in India

One who shed attachment
To dwellings of
All kinds
Be that it may be
Physical or psychological
He was wise
Not to trod on
To Climate,
Global Warming
A debate which illustrates
The fickle
And transient
Nature of
Material World

But where did he
Attained
The Enlightenment
Of all?

Was not
Under a bright floral tree?
Knowing
Even the flora is transient
But under a Bo tree
Which gave
Shelter
From harsh elements
But bears tiny fruits
The avian fauna
Love to eat
When hungry

Didn’t he
As a gesture of gratitude?
Gazed at the very
Bo Tree
In solid contemplative mediation
For a week on stretch
I wonder, I wonder

How can I say
He is not
An environmentalist?
Not by preach
But by precept
And practice

Asoka

Thinking of some Modern Philosophers

Chapter 12

Thinking of some Modern Philosophers

The Mind / Body Problem

The relationship between mind and body and explaining its behavior had been engaged by philosophers and psychologists alike. The neurologists of course try to map the brain to fit the observations but we have not yet understood fully the working of the mind. Mind / body dualism was in philosophical discussion from time immemorial. There was a belief that mind and body were two separate entities. The concept of dualism was born with it. The physicalists believe that there cannot be any mind substance outside the physical brain and is called the monism. Arguments for and against gone for ever but there is no consensus on this issue.

Somewhere down the line the word conscious and subconscious were born and they have been in use in the present century liberally. Nobody dares to define these two entities with distinction in a scientific sense. But the words are used in different connotations blurring their meaning and in what context it is being used. When it comes to subconscious it is even more difficult to discern. Only a very few philosophists have ventured into describe the mind and its beahviour.

Followings are a few of their descriptions for one who is interested in delving deeper without any religious bias.

William James 1842 -1910

American Psychologist

William was physician who in his final years devoted life for philosophical investigations. His large and famous work Principles of Psychology published in 1890 amply exhibit his conviction it is the inward experience rather than theory, abstractions and traditional philosophy that is the key to understanding ourselves and the world. He refused to subscribe to traditional dualism of physical and mental but at the same time would not be allowed it to be reduced to the physical. He was a believer of stream of thought not individual thought moments. He says, every mental state belong to a personal consciousness, that thought is continuous in the sense that even though one may sleep or lose consciousness of one’s waking consciousness it links back to the one’s pre-sleep consciousness; that thought is always changing in the sense there are no identical recurring states and that the consciousness is able to be selective of it objects.

Consciousness does not appear to itself chopped up in bits. Such words as chain or train do not describe it fitly as it presents itself in the first instance. It is nothing jointed; it flows. A ‘river’ and a ‘stream’ are the metaphors by which it most naturally should be described.

Metaphysics and theology may prove the existence of souls but for psychology the hypothesis of such substantial principle of unity is superfluous.

He also spells out the contrast between empiricists, rationalists and monistic. The empiricists who are pessimistic, irreligious, skeptical and pluralistic and the rationalist who are optimistic and idealists and the monistic who is dogmatical. in his essays on pragmatism.

Gerald Maurice Edelman 1929-

American immunologist and neurobiologist

There is no end to the hypothesis about consciousness, particularly by the philosophers. But most of these are not what we might call principled scientific theories based on observables and related functions of the brain and body. Several theories of consciousness based on functionalism and on the machine model of the mind have recently been proposed.

Daniel C Dennett 1942-

American Philosopher

Human consciousness is just about the last surviving mystery. A mystery is a phenomenon that people don’t know how to think about-yet.

With consciousness, however, we are in a terrible muddle. Consciousness stands alone as a topic that often leave even most sophisticated tongue-tied and confused. As with all the mysteries, there are many who insist and hope that there will never be demystification of consciousness.

Conclusions

Mind boggling question

Mind is

Fluid

Frequently

Flying

To reach

A distant goal

Flitting

And Fleeing

Why not call

It a mystery?

Which it is

Instead of the

Ill conceived

Ill understood

All abiding

All encompassing

Term called consciousness

Which truly

Is a misnomer par excellence

Freeman

Let my mind

Toy and joy with

With compassion, kindness and equanimity

Let it be that nobody

Believe in something

Since it is

The tradition to do so

Or it is in the scriptures

Or it is hearsay

Heresy

And my teacher said so

Let there be no bias

Towards a notion

Specious reasoning

Faith

Liking

Soothing to the ear

For repeated hearing

Do not go upon

By rumour

Nor upon surmise

Nor upon a loverly axiom

Or just by pondering over

But by ones own realization

Greed, hate and ignorance

Are not the root causes?

The birth, decay and death

Are the miseries

And until one knows

By oneself

That what must be done?

Has been done

There is no more to be done

No more to come

The life has been exhausted.

Truly

The freedom is achieved

Science, Psychology, Philosophy and the Language of Expression Confessions

Chapter 11

Science, Psychology, Philosophy and the Language of Expression

Confessions

I must make frank confessions even before I delve into above tenets. In the field of medicine, we were hopelessly inadequate in our training when we were graduated. To cover our inadequacy we have a system called internship for one year. I will state one incident when I was a medical student (there are many) to illustrate the point of inadequacy in communication. We were doing our orthopedic rotation appointment and one day the consultant asked me to examine a little baby of under, one year. I took little time (I had some paediatric experience by then) to get on with the job. The surgeon with his impatience interrupted me and told me why you don’t offer him a cigarette. This was annoying to me say the least. I felt how inadequate he was (he had three children) as a father let alone a consultant. The consultant was crude in his examination. Both mother and baby ended up in crying. The class wound up soon with the baby crying hell out of the clinic. I was happy to leave the clinic with a lesson in my head. I have to learn communicating skills to communicate with a baby who has no grasp of the language.

We were not taught communication skills. I learned them when I was in UK. Earlier incident taught me a good lesson. That is, learn by gestures and observations and be patient with the young ones. After all, patients have patience to wait in long queues.

My Upbringing

It is relevant to jot down briefly my progress in various fields including science and the freedom of thinking. I was never brought up in rigid atmosphere at home or school. In any case, I was gifted with the ability, courage and stamina to stand to any oppression. Even though I was born as a Buddhist, I was sent to a Christian School for my primary education. My mother used to make me to recite Buddhist verses (which I did not understand) before going to bed but one day I abruptly stopped that habit without any consequences. Under my mother’s care, I found this newfound freedom a blessing. Everything blossomed from that point. Everything I did turned all right including sports. In school, we were taught from a book with Bible stories (not Bible) and a daily dose of an alien story. Now that I found freedom from my mother, I used to ask relevant (budding philosopher) questions from the Catholic master which he could not answer. Then one fine day he threw me out of the class with anger. I achieved my goal and freedom. Unfortunately, for the teacher (I left a legacy of budding philosophers in the class) my friends followed me and continued to ask more questions. They wanted to join me outside the class with vigour. He sent few of the others out of the class and soon the Rector got to know what was going on. He (Rector) one day came to our class and he also had a barrage of questions including my own questions. He was stunned by our pure innocence and courage. He had no option but to send us all out and that was to play until that class was over. We spent playing while our catholic friends had to toil in the class.

We won our first freedom by being young philosophers and I became an instant leader in the class. Nobody challenged my leadership qualities until I left the school years later.

I was free of any bounden duty for Buddhism or Christianity from my early days I never stopped asking questions to clear my doubts. I was ready for science education in the school in the city and even science teachers found me annoying but they never chased me out of the class.

This was the time when the rational movement was prospering in Sri-Lanka. We had a talk and a discussion from an eminent rationalist. He was very forceful in his arguments and one of my friends who wanted to ask a question from him came to me. Just to show off!

I told him, asked him whether he was sure of his father. Which he did, in a trembling voice.

The talker paused for a while then said, I am not sure of my father but I am sure of my mother.

Then I got up and asked him how can he be a rationalist?

He did not have an answer. Everybody in the audience except me spontaneously started hooting and that was the end of the talk. I was only 14 years old then.

My first philosophical question at the right time toned me for years to come and also to any outcome of hooting. I was immune to hooting by the time I entered the university.

In the medical school, of course I did not have any difficulty except for lectures on psychology. I wanted to tear some psychological concepts apart but our teacher was a patient listener and never indulged in those doctrines. He taught us that in psychology what one needs is to allow the patient to express his or her own inner feeling without interruptions and that itself is a remedy. One does not need to do anything else most of the time. This was very useful and I generally apply this to our politicians with great comfort to them barring sometimes my inner health.

Ordination of the young

I am a believer that very young people should not be ordained in any Ministry including Sasana unless they are ready intellectually. One reason for this is to avoid misfits getting into any religious ministry. The other reason is that Buddhism (Sasana) is for the higher intellect and anybody with lower intellect would not progress far in Dhamma. The third reason is freedom to think and mature in one’s own accord without the rigidity of a religious system. That was what I blessed as a young one. I enjoyed that freedom and I want everybody else to enjoy the same freedom without uprooting one’s social upbringing.

Philosophy

My definition of philosophy is the ability to ask the right question at the right time lest one asks the right question in the wrong time one would be beheaded. A good philosopher should be able to reframe the original question and ask it in a better way than its original tenet. It is the ability to ask the right question which would have a domino effect of producing better questions.

That is the beauty of philosophy.

Philosophers are not expected to provide answers to their questions within compartments. However, this was not the case in western philosophy until recently. Since the Church has hijacked the original scope of philosophical arguments into their own sphere. By putting a close lid and by preventing the tradition of questioning, the Church hindered both science and philosophy.

I want to act as a philosopher and ask a few questions. My answers are however with a scientific tone without moral implications. My questions and my short answers are given below.

I believe the questions are appropriate in time and are not hypothetical.

It should be understood that the philosopher’s job is to ask the appropriate question at an appropriate time. He (philosopher) has the freedom to pose more questions based on the answers he gets but one should not expect the philosopher to come home with fixed readymade answers. He has the freedom of choice but the scientist has to give clear-cut answers or bear his ignorance without hiding behind jargon of words. The scientist does not have the freedom of choice which the philosopher enjoys very much. In fact, most of the time the philosopher asks the questions for fun knowing very well that there are no free answers available.

That is the fun of philosophy.

Psychology

Where does the psychologist fit in this scenario?

Unfortunately, psychologists seem to be everywhere where the scientist has failed to answer a particular question with clarity. A psychologist can get away with flimsy answers since he has a plethora of jargon words he has coined for his own confusion and non-psychologists consumption.

Throughout history, uncertainty and fear were the key reasons for the origin of the religion. Even though, in the west, for a time the religion was able withstand the onslaught from the free thinkers, which they called heretics, it was not able to counteract the freedom of inquiry and the advancement of science and its discoveries. Especially, the theory of evolution and the origin of the Universe were big thorns in the flesh of orthodox religions.

Unfortunately, the science could not provide all the answers and this is where the relatively unscientific discipline like psychology could creep in and fill the vacuum with jargon. With time, they managed to change the name to Behavioural Science instead of psychology, to catch the trends of the time.

This is a disaster as I see it.

The vacuum created by the nonbelievers who jumped this bandwagon without a proper evaluation to see whether there are scientific qualities in psychology was an aberration in the modern history. What is lost to science was the gain for these pseudo-psychologists. If one look at a dictionary of psychology it has more jargon words than religion. The mathematics and physics have less number of jargon words.

This is where we stand today.

Science

Fortunately for science, discoveries were made one after the other and it has become a scientific tradition to disprove others theories and evolve new ones. The time was right for a change and the science had the freedom (not choice) to explore every concept old and new.

I think a verse would do more justice to science than its description in words.

Just as there are

Many notions

To the origin of the Universe

There are many misconceptions

To the meaning of Science

Which literally means

Acquisition of knowledge

The first of the

Many misconceptions

And the foremost of it is

That science is infallible

And the second that originates

From the first is

That is the only explanation

And science has all the answers

And from that,

Derive the notion

That all interpretations

Are logical, complete, concrete and final

None of the above statements is true

In scientific sense

And that is the beauty

Of science

Which is expanding

Challenging

And changing

All the time

As for science, since it is evolving let it discover whether the Dhamma has a meaning or not and whether it has an application or not for the present moment. Until, then we do not need to be bombarded with scientific connotations in Dhamma.

Language of Expression

Why man has many languages instead of one is another philosophical question I would like pose. But that won’t solve our problem. This is what the eminent modern philosopher Wittgenstein called the “Language Games” and “Machine Gone Idling” are relevant. If Pali is taken out (uprooting) of its original home, which is Dhamma, the meanings, conventions and expressions are lost. This is what Wittgenstein says by his expressions of language games and language goes on a holiday. A machine gone idling (Wittgenstein’s expression) is what has happened to Pali today due to its wrong rendering

Dhamma

The Dhamma is not a philosophy, as it is understood by the modern philosopher.

The Dhamma asks the questions and provides answers and a prescription to the misery of suffering. It cannot be labeled as a philosophy.

The Dhamma is not a branch of psychology. Even though Dhamma analyses the mind in detail in Abhidhamma this analysis is for a particular purpose. That is for emancipation from Sansara.

Dhamma does not categorize ails in the mind to many disease entities like anxiety, depression, psychosis and the lot but it has one whole category called ignorance, from which all the others ailments descends. The salvation from this ailment is the wisdom of understanding the Dhamma.

So talking about psychology is redundant for a wayfarer.

If meditation has, some application in stilling the mind of impurities be that be said so. Using it as a therapeutic tool for other endeavours is a misappropriation. Then, the meditation practice is in the wrong hands. In Buddhism, it is focused on one focus and one focus alone. It is the emancipation from suffering.

This is why I propose that Dhamma should divorce itself from modern jargon of science, psychology and philosophy. Dhamma has its own language and one should not allow it to be hijacked by any modern language for convenience. I have of course used English as a native language knowing very well that English is limited with vocabulary to express Dhamma in its pristine form and correct context.

Philosophical Questions

1. What has the UNO done for world peace in last 50 years?

Very little

2. What has the WHO done for health in last 50years?

Very little

3. What has Church done to uplift the spiritual well being of its congregation?

Very little

4. What has the Buddhism done for world peace?

Very little

5. What have the modern day philosophers done for the freedom of expression?

Practically nothing

6. What has the modern education done for one’s independent existence or employment capability?

Nothing

My answers would initiate a plethora of publications from UNO to WHO to Church to our Education Department to defend their stand and how bad the world would be without these three institutions. They have no intentions of accountability, flexibility or transparency on these issues.

They go on to say that, there are no alternative ways to deal with the current problems.

Then I have one all encompassing question.

Is the money well spent?

No sane person in any of these three institutions would answer this question clearly fearing that bearing free the corruption in these institutions is a sure recipe for his or her expulsion from the elite congregation.

The status quo will remain until the next world war is looming round the corner. That is of course a nuclear war. Then we will have very little time to remedy or rectify the present anomalies.

Now is the time to act and now is the time to ask the right questions and be proactive.

The Mind

Chapter 10

The Mind

Durangamam, ekacaram, asariram, ghuahasayam

Ye sittam sannamesanti mokkhanti marabandhana

Fairing far, wandering alone, bodiless, lying in a cave, is the mind.

Those who subdue it are freed of Mara

Wandering alone No two thought moments are alike but changeable and move fast

Bodiless Mind is not understood as of material form

Lying in a cave No particular association with a site or an organ (brain for example). Conditional association with the body and dependent on material things

Yam rupam nissaya Dependent on material form (in the form of life-existence)

Mara Described as of five kinds in Buddhism

1. Death

2. Passions

3. Activities both moral and amoral

4. Association with sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin–touch)

5. Extremes of passions

Translated by Reverend Narada Thera of Vijirarama, Sri-Lanka

Pali Verse-37

My comments (Asoka):

The first sentence of this verse addresses the nature of the mind in descriptive terms.

The second sentence addresses the needs of its control.

There are no terms like conscious, subconscious, personality, id, ego and superego. The concepts when analyzed with the three basic tenets of Anatta, Dukka and Anatma (devoid of permanence, satisfactoriness and person) ingrained in Dhamma are quite the opposite of western psychological analysis. The representation of the behavior of the mind is lucid and simple. The mind resides in the cave (material body) but has no formal material form but quite free to wander on its own. The seat of its residence is neither indicated as to the brain nor the heart. This is also quite significant since in medical parlance the mind and its various perceptual functions are mapped to various anatomical regions in the brain.

Yam rupam nissaya– further reinforces this impression that the mind depends (arising from) on material thing (form) but not specifically localized in terms of reference to any focal point of origin.

Buddhist psychology has a distinctive form and with opposing themes of no-self, no soul or having any permanent substantial entity but subjected to eternal vagaries of change. To borrow a scientific notion, similar to the behaviour of energy (which cannot be made from nothing nor destroyed altogether), the mind in its subtle form that arises within biological forms (having an organized neural system) is dynamic in nature.

As going by modern psychology of not having a personal, emotional and cognitive elements to represent the behaviour of my memory, thoughts, beliefs and prejudices, I am really stuck and at cross roads.

I have only one option left though, but to delve into Abhidhamma. The fear aroused in me was much more than when I started experimenting with Linux. In experimenting with Linux I had windows to fall back to, if I failed. In this scenario I have nothing to fall back to except to my own insecurity. In any case the plunge was considered worthwhile.

I organized myself into certain compartments.

1. Contemporary physiological psychology of Mind

2. Behavioural psychology of Mind in Abhidhamma Context

3. Application if any?

The content of the Abhidhamma is colossal and the following discussion is very selective. Patisandhi, Bhavanga, Avajjana, Pancavinnana, Javana and Cuti were the essential words mentioned in Abhidhamma out of 14 characteristics. One unexpected finding was Sutta explanation include six elements or essentials.

Solid Pathavi

Liquid Apo

Heat Tejo

Motion Vayo

Space Akasa

Consciousness Mano

Abhidhamma explanation of six psycho-physiological elements are

Eye Visible Object Visual Perception

Ear Sound Audible Perception

Nose Odour Smell

Tongue Food Taste

Body Touch Sensory Perception

Mind-element Thinking Thought Process

(Mano-dhatu) (dhamma-dhatu) (Mano-vinnana-dhatu)

1. Bhavanga

This is the essential mental accompaniment of every conditional of existence. It consists of succession of three components, arising, formation (development) and decay of thought moments. Arising and perishing it flows like a stream not remaining the same for two consecutive moments and is called by Bhavanga-sota (stream of consciousness). It has a past, present and a future course and is present in both wakeful and sleep states in a dynamic continuum.

2. Avajjana

In its formal existence the stream of consciousness Bhavanga-sota is subjected to attention and focus of a new thought process coming from all six senses. The stream is disturbed (Bhavanga-calana) and arrested momentarily (Bhavanga-upacchheda)

3. Pancavinnana

The six senses take over the perception (a physiological process) depending on the attention (avarjjana) focused. The three processes, the reception (Sampaticchana) of the (impulse or the impression), investigation (Santirana) and determination (Vothappana) of the impulse set forth an important mental activity called Javana.

4. Javana

Javana which consists of 4 to 7 thought moments is the most important part of the mental activity as far as Buddhist psychology is concerned. Javana means dynamic and running and this is the psychological stage where the Buddhist ethical concepts stand out prominently. Good and the bad, in effect the Kamma Concept (moral and immoral Javanas) is ingrained in this mental activity. The quality of the Javana is dependent on the intensity of the Sanna which is graded into four intensities. While feeblest of Sanna does not give rise to Javana.

In Jhana absorptions there are four (4) thought moments. This is quite acceptable concept in physiological responses (all or none) as the threshold and sub-threshold impulses. However the grades are finely defined in Abhidhamma into 4 grades.

5.Tadaramnna

The object of the Javana thought process in effect get registered in the stream of consciousness soon after. After tadarammana the stream of consciousness lapses into Bhavanga.

6. Patisandi (relinking) and Cuti (death consciousness)

The Kamma Concept is invariably associated with rebirth and the other two mental activities are rebirth consciousness (Patisandi-relinking) and death consciousness (Cuti) or the passing away from one life to another. As Patisandhi is the initial thought moment of life, so is cuti the final thought moment. The Bhavanga-sota flows into the next cycle of existence and carry with it the immense potentials of past Kamma Energy. If one is to accept the Abhidhamma Concepts the personality and emotionality of an individual is based on the mental activity that is neither destroyed nor different from the previous existence. Na ca so na ca anno; the identical stream of Kammic Energy.

Thought Moments

The contentious issue is the duration of a single thought moment which is considered very, very small. I do not intend to delve into time since it is a linear concept of only two dimensions which is not adequate to measure a multi-dimensional concept called the “thought process”. It is said that there are 17 thought moments for the impulse of the Sanna to alert awareness in Mind (consciousness). If one takes the transmission time of an impulse along a long un-myelinated (slowest conducting) nerve fiber, what we are talking about is in milli-seconds. One should not have any difficulty in perceiving that, the normal (ordinary) thought processes having fraction of a second duration.

What one is not sure is how finer is these measurements when somebody is in Jhana absorptions. If we are to take time as a relative concept as in modern physics this difficulty is imaginary.

Memory

It is a striking fact that there is paucity of discussion about memory in Buddhism. Sati does not correspond to western conception of memory and mindfulness is better equivalent. Samma-sati in fact is right consciousness and not memory. Similarly, Sanna is only a precursor of memory. The characteristic of Sanna is cognition of an object by way of its special attributes (mark of recognition-colour, rose). The stage of tadarammana(registering)in thought process can be considered as the final stage of memory (imprint) construction.

Could it be that the Kamma that is the vehicle for memory in Buddhist connotation?

In other words memory cannot be compressed into a one single existence. Similarly, the habits that one inherits, is the composite of many previous existences of personalities and not a single product of a single existence. It seems that the Buddhist thinking is quite at variance with the modern behavioural psychology.

The attempt at localizing memory to certain parts of the brain is made in physiological psychology. Certain parts of the brain seem to localize short term and long term memory but the chemical mediators (memory proteins) that are proposed as modifiers of this function are not identified convincingly as yet.

Are we barking at the wrong tree?

How is that some individuals who are exceedingly gifted with fluency in many languages (but ordinary people at best can master two or three languages)?

One should realize that I have not given conclusive evidence for or against the Abhidhamma Concepts. The intention was to present Dhamma concepts as it is in the scriptures without corrupting and rendering my interpretations. However, I have posed appropriate questions that come to my mind as a starting point for an apprentice wayfarer which I am.

Perception of Nature or Nurture

Modern psychology gives greater significance to behavioural modification assuming that nearly 50% is inherited and other 50% nurtured. This equation has outlasted its practical use. In modern day analysis in every matter with some obscurity related to biological phenomena that include mind, three elements have to be taken into account. There are genetic, environmental and unknown factors to consider (roughly 30% as far as intelligence is concerned) when analyzing scientifically (read my article in the web Nature or Nurture http://www.writeclique.net).

The above simple equation has to be modified if one is to apply the Abhidamma Concepts for personality, emotion and behaviour. Instead of two factors at least three factors which include unknown elements should be considered in evaluation of mind and its behaviour.

Significantly Abhidhamma does not waste its energies on mundane affairs and its concentration is on wholesome Kammas and attainment of higher mental states leading to Nibbana. One should not waste time in discovering mundane psychological facets in Abhidhamma. Instead one should concentrate on developing Sati and concentrating on four Satipatthanas (Kaya, Vedana, Citta and Dhamma).

Bhavana is the only way.

Buddha Dhamma and its Corruption

Chapter 09

Buddha Dhamma and its Corruption

It looks as if the meaning of Dhamma has being subjected to corruption by three sources. First category by well meaning writers, with scientific background with little knowledge in Pali (its terminology relevant to Buddhism) and Dhamma who make interpretations and connections with various sources of science. They tend to interpret natural phenomena (for example tsunami) in religious and scientific overtones and these interpretations or explanations are out of context of Dhamma tenets. They substitute Dhamma for explaining physical phenomena. Scientists tend to take the available data at hand and try to analyze them for practical use but make mistakes along their way. The recent tsunami was an object lesson for misinterpretation of scientific data.

Secondly by self proclaimed philosophers of ill repute (there is only a handful of philosophers in Sri-Lanka and I do not intend to belittle them but would only praise them if they could come forward and defend philosophy from corruption, the same way I am trying to defend Dhamma) with bizarre interpretations of their own without understanding of Dhamma or Philosophy. Philosophers I believe tend to ask appropriate questions at appropriate times and by these appropriate questions stimulate others to a take a lead in formulating much more subtle questions, thereby enhance the way we think. They do not tend to provide answers for the questions like the instant philosophers of ill repute that are mushrooming in Sri-Lanka.

By the third category of writers with sinister motives to distort Dhamma and quote Dhamma in wrong context with their hidden agenda to propagate confusion among the average reader not versed in depth in Dhamma. I have analyzed a Pali verse not of Dhamma origin above.

Soon after the tsunami I was having a chat with one of my good Christian friends. He was puzzled by his little girl’s question.

Why did tsunami happen on the Boxing Day?

Having felt the gravity of the question, I told him that he should make the following expression to his dear little daughter.

Thank god it did not happen on the Christmas Day!

Firstly, we should allow the young ones to be expressive. Secondly, we should not undermine the very base of social security inherent in the religion the children are brought up with. Thirdly we should leave the question unanswered open ended in a philosophical sense.

There are writers who say that Pali is an old Indian Language that very few would understand and should let die a natural death. They tend to forget Sinhala Language has its origins in Pali. I go little further by saying Sinhala originated by killing Pali on its way and distorting original Pali to a great extent. I even go to the extend that Sinhala will have a Hara-Kiri in not so distant future. If one listen to the electronic media and the Yes FM radios that Hara-Kiri is self evident. Mr.Amen Kariyakarawana expresses this view in his book “Basa Nasana Hati”. The next language is Singlish.

Coming back to Pali one should consider that one’s ignorance in Pali is a great handicap in this century. Instead of sending Pali to Death Goal one should start reviving it. Only a few words in Pali would illustrate its excellence. Pali Language is very precise and specific and there is no mincing of its words. The English and Sinhala rendering has made it less precise. For the comprehensive understanding of Dhamma (the methodology) the analytical knowledge recommended is “discrimination” which consists of four components.

Patisambhida (Analytical Knowledge)

1. Meaning (Attha)

2. The Conceptual Law (Dhamma)

3. The Conventions of the Pali Language (Niruthhi)

4. Perspicuity in Expression and Knowledge (Patibahana)

When one looks at these provisions it looks as if Buddha had modern thinkers in mind. This analysis is very much in common with Wittgenstein philosophical analysis. If Pali is taken out of its original home which is Dhamma, the meanings, conventions and expressions are lost. This is what Wittgenstein says by his expressions of language games and language gone on a holiday. Machine gone idling (Wittgenstein’s expression) is what has happened to Pali today due to its wrong rendering (Prof.A.D.P.Kalansuriya book on ”The Buddha’s Discourses and Wittgenstein” is a good introduction to the misguided). Only option is to start learning Pali and start the engine running. The relevance of Patisambhida is not for scientific use. Its use is for the analysis of Anapanakatha (Respiration Mindfulness) and in Pali context its use is for Patisambhida- Magga. What I cannot understand is why words like Bhavana, Maithrie, Patisambhida and Patibahana which do not have English equivalents do not get included in the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries. In essence the Dhamma embodies the conceptual frame work of meaning of existence; path and a practice for deliverance form the endless stream of existence and realization of ultimate goal the Nibbana. Outside these contexts it can be used to explain natural disasters like tsunami but has no meaning and is a wasteful exercise. Dhamma explains the uncertainty principle which is Anitta and the disorder principle of mater (Unsatisfactoriness) but not the quantum physics. Quantum physics cannot be utilized to explain macroscopic, microscopic or even at nano level events. Quantum physics tend to take different connotations at quarks level and it is again a waste to contemplate quantum physics in respiratory mindfulness (Anapanasati).

Chaos, Mind, Matter, Life and Energy

Chapter 08

Chaos, Mind, Matter, Life and Energy

One might think that this chapter is out of place in a book on critical analysis on Dhamma. But I have reason to include it and the concepts developed here are necessary to discern Buddhist perspective and scientific perspective in life and matters of concern. The Science and Dhamma are poles apart and any connections one may perceive are superficial and superfluous. At the end of this chapter one would see how out of place if analogies are made between Dhamma and science (environmental science in this case). One may skip this chapter but if one is interested in environment and its concern for this planet this chapter introduces the scientific way of looking at energy issue.

Life in general (plant and animals) is the only form of energy in this world that has an organized form of arrangement with arising, peaking to a stable state and gradual decay. This cycle of origin, growth and decay repeat itself with intervals of regeneration (reproduction to be precise) of an almost identical image of the predecessor giving rise to a new equilibrium.

This observation is easily misunderstood and is applied to the physical world without thought by many. But in physical world there is no reproduction or replenishment of energy but a constant state of chaotic energy transformation from one form to the other in perceptible but in a disorganized fashion. For example rain is known for its constant change with time, location of a particular point on the planet (its changing orbit around the sun making subtle changes in angle at which sunrays fall on the earth surface) and the altitude. The changing pattern from one physical form to (vapour to water) another determined by temperature, wind and contours of the planet and in real term is chaotic. If one imagines the surface land as a concrete block without plants and vegetation the pattern of air currents over the land is going to be entirely different and would depend mainly on physical factors. If one takes the entire globe as unit and assumes that there is no vegetation covering the surface on earth the rain pattern would be determined by random and physical events determined by temperatures and wind patterns (cyclones and anticyclones).

But the trees and vegetations are a collective physiological process both macroscopic and microscopic which work in unison to produce climatic changes, which cannot be understood only by physical (physics) processes. One has to be a biologist to understand the intricacies associated with such a mass of physiological processes. The forest cover affects the cooling process of rising air and it also contributes a body of water vapour to the air that ascends over the mountains. The jungle is not something dead but it is a living creature contributing to the atmosphere. With vast vegetation covering the planet earth with uneven contours and distortions the weather pattern are perceptible to be predictable in some way. The physiology of water metabolism in plants which in turn reacts with the physical factors gives some uniformity to the planet that would be otherwise chaotic and without which life cannot be sustained as it is of now.

This is why man should not upset its balance by man made misadventures. Global warming is one of them we seem to barely understand but not come to term with. Inter monsoonal rain is an obvious example where would be chaotic rain patterns are organized into a somewhat recognizable weather pattern. So the biosphere is vital in our stability and any disturbance in this biosphere by physical means (whether nuclear bomb or a terrorist blast in a nuclear plant) is going to be catastrophic.

But if one looks at the behaviour of water in purely physical terms the lower the temperature the less is the chaotic behaviour. Ice is organized into crystal pattern, the water is semi organized physical form which takes the shape of its containers contour but the water vapour behaves in random and chaotic manner. But it is this chaotic behaviour that makes life possible and water available, even though unequal in distribution all over the planet. Moments the ice caps melt and there is no ice on this planet the catastrophic changes going to be unimaginable.

That is point I want to arrive at but getting there needs some understanding of matter and energy. Matter is energy and has linear relationship with motion and at a particular speed of motion (the speed of light) the distinction between matter and energy becomes indistinct. At this point the behaviour of matter can be understood only by the principle of chaos. A linear equation has its limits and another dimension of mathematics takes precedence in such a scenario. Either there going to be random occurrence of events or haphazard chaotic behaviour that would set in at the speed of light and it is the most natural thing to imagine or guess at high speeds.

But in real life, there is neither complete disorderliness (randomness) nor complete orderliness but it takes its shape somewhere in between. There is some orderliness in the disorder phenomena. This orderliness is mainly due to the biosphere which we are enriched with. This is a fact which we tend to forget covertly or overtly. Because of the magnitude and the diversity of the biosphere and the ability of it to sustain some equilibrium and orderliness we tend to think that the biosphere is dispensable.

This is the basic error we are making in energy planning. There is obsession on production of energy and mechanization but one does not realize the energy efficiency and transformation cannot go beyond 30 to 40% at best and the rest (60%) is wasted in the process of transformation. It is a colossal waste and that is why the question of sustainability comes into operation. For a start only 3 to 5 % of the solar energy is converted to biochemical energy in photosynthesis and this transformation takes in small doses at an electronic level by the changing orbit of electrons from one orbit to another (electrons are in constant state of chaotic motion determined by atomic numbers). Even though the energy transformations in biochemical pathways are slow the energy efficiency in atomic level is very high. This is why biotransformation does not upset the equilibrium that exists at a particular time but any changes that may occur are spread over millions of years. But in scientific terms the nuclear fission (man made) or nuclear blast is an obvious aberration to even the so called chaotic behaviour of atoms in general.

We have had series of underground atomic explosions (so called testing) in Asiatic plate (India, Pakistan, China and Russia) and southern hemisphere (France) and in North America. So far we have not had any scientific estimates of the stresses that they may have caused on the tectonic plates. These stresses however small to begin with are cumulative and may initiate random disorder (chaos) on the movement of tectonic plates and the recent earth quakes and tsunami (of the order of 8 Richter scale) may have resulted from these small aberrations. I believe that the scientists are covering up these issues.

It took some decades to understand the effect of acid rain on inland water reservoirs but when it was recognized it was too late and an irreversible damage was done in all countries in Europe. Now it is evident by the understanding of eco-principles in the West but lack of it in the East. Whether one likes it or not with the explosion of population the eco-crisis is looming. It is not only energy crisis we are going to face we are going to face many other crisis that include food crisis too. What ever energy policy one may espouse if the eco-crisis is not taken into account the domino effect is going to be chaotic.

The relationship of temperature to global warming even one ignores the carbon dioxide factor has brought about chaotic weather patterns, floods, cyclones, hurricanes and the like. They are eye openers to more chaos to come from time to time. Man’s overriding desire for 100% energy sufficiency is only a pipe dream and would not be ever achieved unless sustainability factor is taken into account. For sustainability the renewable energy source is the only viable option and any other approach would be disastrous. For an example going for nuclear energy without adequate safeguards for over 100% safety and security can be catastrophic. One suicide bomber may nullify years of safety and preparation in a moment of insanity. In the long run any energy generations by physical means (atomic) is going to destructive and strain the biosphere. It would bring about chaos unforeseen.

In all the above descriptions I cannot find any appropriate connection with Dhamma Principles and Science of chaos and perceived orderliness in events in nature except for the clock like precision of the earth rotation and cyclical pattern of the rain. But the apparent orderliness on earth is due to the biosphere and its adaptation to suit the earth rotation.

Mind and its behaviour

The destruction the mind of a maladjusted person can do is enormous. This brings me to the point and mind and its chaotic beahviour. Mind is known for its chaotic behaviour. If one lists down all the thoughts for only five minutes one would realize how chaotic the mind is. Further elaboration is unnecessary. But the beauty is that mind inhabits a biological system which is very slow in its perception whether visual, sensory, and auditory or any other sense. This makes the chaotic behaviour of the mind under check. The living being’s activities are under ordinary circumstances are fortunately determined by primary senses and the mind’s contribution is generally secondary. I am referring to a basic biological plan but not of the philosophical plane which I would come to later in this book.

Relevance of Buddhism and Chaos

Mind’s basic behaviour is chaotic and what I believe is that all the energy planners in the East and the West are also behaving in a chaotic fashion. They lack a global vision. Dhamma is the only current practice that deals with the vagaries of mind and its contents. Dhamma has a principle for controlling the chaos. It is the meditation and its practice according to principles in Dhamma. The Abhidhamma is a treasure trove of mind culture and its behaviour. Brief outline would follow in a later chapter.

Meditation and its Perspective

Chapter 07

Meditation and its Perspective

There are many misconceptions related to meditation and meditation practices. First and foremost the English word meditation is most inappropriate for the Pali word“Bavana”. As much as there is no English synonym for “Maithri” there is no proper term in English that closely approximate its meaning.

Second misconception is that “Vipassana Bavana” is the most appropriate Bavana Practice. If that is so, the voluminous “Vissudhi Magga” is a colossal waste of an intellectual exercise. “Samatha Bavana” has a unique place for those who merit its value. To borrow a phrase from Ven. Ajahn Brahmavanso Samatha and Vipassana are two sides of the same coin one leads to tranquility and other yields insight and the two are inseparable in highest meditative states.

Third misconception is that the “Bavana” is not for the layman.

Fourthly, for its practice solitude of the forest or a hermitage is a prerequisite. For the initiated any desirable place and time without hindrances would suffice.

Fifthly, it is therapeutic (medical parlance) and has commercial value. For example it is recommended by some misconceived advocates for blood pressure treatment. It may of some benefit if properly guided to alleviate blood pressure fluctuations associated with emotionally predisposed but not for essential hypertension for which the cause is unknown and the medical treatment though effective is empirical in nature.

Sixth misconception is that the practice of “Bavana” helps the learning capacity. There are many other good techniques for learning and memory enhancement. “Bavana” should be a tool for concentration and getting rid of undesirable mental accompaniments associated with bad learning practices for students with difficulties in grasping learning material. One who has practiced Bavana and adept at it, learning becomes an easy task due to their ability to avoid distractions and concentrate on the task at hand.

Seventh misconception is that the Lord Buddha discovered it. “Bavana” had been in practice in the east for many centuries and it is believed that even the Red Indians Chiefs practiced one form of it. What Lord Buddha did was to refine its use for emancipation of suffering of never ending “Samsara”. It is therapeutic in its meaning within the context of cessation of “Bava” and “Vibhava Thanha”.

Eighth misconception is that a weekend course in “Bavana”would entitle a person to come back to his or her office and convert the uninitiated and start preaching about its benefits. “Bavana” certainly has no commercial value but its aesthetic values permeate through all para-psychology.

Ninth misconception is that it is a practice suitable for any uninitiated. Certainly it is not. It would only benefit one with Sila, Samadhi and Panngha.

Finally “Bavana” is the only way (Ekayana Maggo) for emancipation as extolled and expounded by the Lord Buddha. It should be practiced with diligence.

There are lots of good books including colossal Visuddhi Magga in meditation for one who is interested in meditation practice to read. It is not a reading exercise but a practice one needs to learn from a mature meditation master (teacher and a guide). The selection of a correct guide has to be done clinically accurately and precisely. Buddha was the best guide and one has to remember it needs years of practice and one cannot learn it in a half a day workshop on mediatation.

Uppamado Amatha Padham!