The Fundamental Tenets of Buddhism Concerning Reality – Part 1 of 3
Buddhism is a comprehensive system of thought. In it we find a materialistic school, which denied the existence of the mind and affirmed the reality of the external world; there was also an extreme idealistic school, which explained all perceptions and phenomena as illusions. Moreover, in Buddhist thought, philosophical theories are intricately interwoven with religious faith regarding the person of the founder; and, similarly, the various ways of practicing contemplation are inseparable from ethical considerations which bear upon the religious, or ecclesiastical, community. The mind is minutely analyzed; yet Buddhist psychology was not a theoretical study but was considered to be a means of introspection in meditation, which in turn very much influenced the psychological theories in question. The law of causation was the chief tenet of Buddhist cosmology; but for Buddhism this conception was highly teleological, being understood in the sense of moral retribution. Morality is taught, of course; and every Buddhist is expected to observe its rules; the moral ideal, however, was not limited to human life, but extended to all kinds of existence, visible and invisible. A religious ethic, or a philosophical religion, or a religious philosophy – each one of these designations may be applied to Buddhism; while in the numerous schools within it different points have been given prominence.
Thus, to abstract a phase of Buddhist thought, apart from other factors, is as if one were to dissect a human body into parts and treat one of them as a unit. As a Buddhist simile expresses it, none of the numerous diamonds studded on a net can be touched without affecting all the others. Yet I shall try here to take up one aspect of Buddhist thought concerning reality. It would be an altogether hopeless task, if there were not a certain continuity of thread even in the meshes of a net. And this continuity is given in the conception of Dharma, which means “law,” or “truth.” This is one of the Buddhists Trinity, the others being Buddha and Sangha, that is, the person of the founder and the community of believers. This Trinity is the foundation of the Buddhist religion, and none of the three is perfect apart from the others. It will presently appear how the Buddhist conception expressed in the idea of Dharma is supported by, and connected with, the faith in Buddha, the revealer of truth. But I shall start with the idea of Dharma, apart from the other terms of the Trinity.
Dharma is a very flexible term in Buddhist terminology. It meant originally, in the Brahmanic idea, “what endures,” that is the law of social order. Buddha adopted this term, divorced from its association with social sanction, and used it to designate his teachings about the truths of existence. These teachings were expressed in words and preserved in writings, although to the Buddhist they were not merely letters or words, but truths, and therefore things, as well. Buddha is the revealer of truths as they are in reality, and the doctrines are proclaimed in accordance with the reality of things. That is the reason why the word Dharma, especially when used in the plural, means things, or conditions, or realities, both mental and physical. These things and conditions are not products of chance but exist and change according to the definite order of laws, or truths. This order of truth is expressed pre-eminently by the law of causation, which is assumed by Buddhism to be universal and irrevocable throughout all changes of the world. “That being present, this comes to be; because that has arisen, this arises” – this is the keynote of the Buddhist view of the world. The law of causation is applied to the physical and mental orders of existence, to the subjective and objective aspects of our being. It is the essential nature of things and processes that they are through and through ruled by the same Dharma of causation.
Partly because of the assumption of universal causality, and partly because of its religious ideal of communion, Buddhism assumes the basic unity of existence, notwithstanding the fact that it admits apparent diversity. We comprehend the Dharma of the external existence because the same Dharma is inherent in us; we understand other people because they are beings subsisting by the same Dharma. Thus, the fundamental nature of all Dharmas is one and the same. The fundamental nature of existence, in this sense of unity, is called dharmatā, that is, the essential quality of being subject to the laws of existence. Dharmas exist and become such as they are (yathābhūtam), and yet they are one in nature and in relation. Everything that is born and grows is subject to age, ills, and death – this is the essential nature of things. All Buddhas, of the past, present, and future, have attained, and will attain, the highest freedom by treading the same way of perfection – this is the universal qualification (dharmatā) of Buddhas. Buddha’s teachings and injunctions aim at the purification of the mind and are efficacious to lead us up to the supreme enlightenment – this is the invariable import of the Dharma. The term Dharmatā applies to every one of these aspects of the universal nature. The same idea is expressed adverbially by the word tathatayā, that is, in accordance with nature, and as a noun by tathatā, i.e., “as it is,” or “Thatness.” Therefore, Buddha is called Tathāgata, the One who has attained the Truth of existence, the Dharmatā or Tathatā of the world, and has come to reveal the same truth to us. He is the Truth-winner and Truth-revealer. Because the Dharmatā is the same in him and us, his truth is revealed to us, and we are enlightened by the same truth.
The Dharma is the truth revealed by Buddha, the Lord of Truth; yet he is not the creator of it. We are enlightened by the truths taught by him, but we can be thus enlightened because our existence and nature are based on the same Dharmatā that is found in Buddha himself. The final Dharmatā is the fountain of Buddhist attainment and revelation, for Buddha as well as for ourselves. The world of Dharmas is a perpetually flowing stream; foam and flakes float on its surface, but one can attain the tranquil ocean of Nirvāṇa by pursuing the course of the stream; after all, one and the same is the water in the fountain, in the stream, and in the ocean. Seen in this way, the fundamental Dharmatā of things and beings is the source of illusion as well as of enlightenment, of vices as well as of virtues. One who does not realize this unity is in illusion, while one who has grasped the Dharmatā or Tathatā, is a Buddha. It is said:
All are subject to the laws (dharmas) of ill,
Of age, as well as of death;
Beings exist according to the laws.
(yathā dhammā, tathā sttā). (Anguttara, v. 57.)
The deluded are distressed by these changes, while the enlightened man is not troubled by them because he knows the truth. The Truth is permanent, even independent of persons who are troubled by it, or are enlightened in it. Again, it is said:
“Where there is birth, age and death necessarily follow. This realm (of causal nexus) is perpetual, regardless of the Tathāgata’s appearing or not appearing (in this world); and the stability of truth and the order of truth follow their necessary and natural concatenation. The Tathāgata has comprehended this and penetrated into the Truth; having comprehended and penetrated into it, he announces and preaches it, makes it known, establishes and reveals it, and makes it clear and visible.”
(Samyutta, 12. 20.)