Discovering the law of cause and effect under the Bo tree
The Blessed One, the Buddha Sakyamuni, proclaimed the Doctrine of Nirvana for the happiness and welfare of human and divine beings, who had the qualifications to comprehend the lofty doctrine, which had been similarly proclaimed by the Buddhas of the past.
To comprehend the principles of the Nirvana Doctrine one has to walk in the Noble Eightfold Path, destroy the ten ‘samyojana’ fetters, get rid of the five ‘nivaranas’ which are obstacles for the attainment of mystic illumination which is called Dhyana or Jhana. Pragna and Dhyana are inter-related, as is declared in the Dhammapada gatha.
‘Natti Jhanam apannassa natthi ajhyato’, which means that Dhyana is not for the man deficient in the higher wisdom, and to him who has not the attainment of Jhana there can be no super-wisdom. When the two are combined in the devotee he stands on the threshold of Nirvana.
The path of mortification of the body is traversed by ascetics to gain emancipation from ‘sanasara’. In ancient India asceticism was a form of religion practised until death. The Prince Siddhartha after he made the Great Renunciation in his 29th year practised the most oppressive form of bodily mortification in order to gain deliverance from samsaric sorrow. Ancient Indian sages knew of the torments of samsara, and they made asceticism a vehicle in order to get out of the circle of samsara. The Prince Siddhartha followed the ancient method and continued the ascetic method for six years in the most virulent form as detailed in the ‘Bhaya berana sutta’ in the Majjima Nikaya. When he had realised that even the extremist form of asceticism did not give an insight into the comprehension of truth he abandoned the tortuous path and discovered the Middle Path which avoids the extremes of asceticism and sensuous pleasures.
To get an insight into the history of the evolution of the doctrine of Nirvana, the earnest student has to get a clear view of the life of the Blessed One. This means that he has to study the Pali texts as they contain authentic accounts of the life of the Blessed One. The first book that one should read is the Mahavagga of the Vinaya Pitaka to get an idea of the foundation of the Nirvana doctrine.
There you read the Prince ascetic sitting at the foot of the Bodhi Tree on the bank of the river Neranjara was enjoying the bliss of deliverance (‘vimurisuka pati samvedi’) and in that state He had discovered the law of inter-related causes and effects beginning with Ignorance as the immediate cause of all sorrows and sufferings in the world of cosmic phenomenon. Why should man as such suffer, was the question he wished to solve. The cause of sorrow, misery, suffering, disappointment, despair, lamentation,anguish in the life of man was due to ‘avidya’ (ignorance). Ignorance produces sankharic ideations in the mind, which giveth rising to ‘Trishna’, and the two elemental causes keep men and gods tied to the wheel of samsara, and they continue to whirl round until the two causes are destroyed. In the Anamatagga Samyutta, Samyutta Nikaya, the Blessed One declares: Beginning-less is the circle of samsara, whose ultimate point is beyond knowledge. Under the glamour of ignorance, and fettered by unsatisfying sensuous desire the individual being (‘satta’) continues to run round the circle.
It is said that the Bodhisatva before He gained supreme enlightenment of a perfect Buddha gained the divine right to look back into the past and to the future. He saw by his divine knowledge that man was not a created being but had existed from the beginning-less past and that after death he was reborn according to karma he had done, that the karma of the past had brought him into the present existence, and that the karmic energy generated here in this life make him to be reborn in the next. He saw an infinite past, and an infinite future, and the law of cosmic change working in the universe, with numberless solar systems, world systems in their nebulous states, other habitable worlds also numberless. Birth, death and decay are the constituents of the endless samsara, and in this net He found men and Gods struggling and dying. Under the Bodhi tree he discovered the panacea of Immortality, which brings relief to the suffering wayfarer. He arrived at the condition of supreme wisdom which gave Him power to keep the mind disentangled from sansaric reproductions. and cosmic desires. No more birth, no more death. He had won the state of Nirvana.
Nirvana is a state of; positive realization free from ignorance, ignoble desires, hatred, ill-will, pride, covetousness, false beliefs, and full of faith, energy, vigilance, peace and wisdom. Love universal and supreme wisdom find their consummation in Nirvana. The path to reach the goal is the Noble Eightfold Path: Right Insight, Right Yearnings, Right Speech, Right Deeds, Right Livelihood, Right Exertion, Right Analysis and Right Illumination. To elaborate, Right Insight is to be freed from metaphysical aberrations, superstitions, heathen beliefs, dependence on ignoble rituals; Right Yearnings generating thoughts of love, compassion, pity, harmlessness, and renunciation from ignoble sensuous pleasures; Right Deeds freed from destruction, dishonesty, lustfulness and intemperance; Right Livelihood wherein one gains from one’s livelihood freed from cruelty, selling nothing that will cause suffering or pain to another; Right Exertion where he makes a strenuous effort to avoid evil and do good in the word, deed and thought; Right Analysis whereby he purifies his mind from the impurities of the body, feelings, thoughts and acquires the right mind to follow the principles of enlightenment avoiding the obstacles which prevent his progress in the path of Nirvana. With these weapons in hand he prepares himself to enter the right Samadhi which requires the wayfarer to practise the four Jhanas, whose realization brings him into the threshold of Vimuktic emancipation. All Ignorance is annihilated, ignoble desires are forever abandoned, and he lives realizing Nirvana in perfect consciousness.
From Mahabodhi Journal Vol.31, July 1923. Paper read at the first Buddhist Convention held in connection with the Sarnath University.