What is Buddhism all about?
People who are interested in Buddhism know that the
Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths. Some may think that Buddhism is about
gaining merit so that one can go to heaven.
The following story
may give us a clearer picture of what Buddhism is all about. Once a hermit used
his magical wand and instantly changed a man into a tiger. What is the most
important thing for this man? Should he carry on living as a tiger or should he
quickly find a way to change himself back into a man again? Obviously, there is
only one sound answer. We must find the magic wand and say the magic word so
that we can return to our normal self. The point is that someone else has to do
it for us. The person who can help us has to know that this tiger is not truly
a tiger but one under a spell. With the power of loving-kindness and
compassion, such a person searched extensively until he found the magic wand
and the magic words. He quickly came back to the tiger and changed the tiger
back to his normal self at last.
This story contains
the essence of Buddhism. The magic wand is the ignorance. The man refers to the
innocent mind, which is totally free from suffering. The tiger refers to the
mind, which is taken over by greed, anger and delusion. The kind and
compassionate man refers to the Buddha who found the way to end all suffering.
Metaphorically, we were all tigers until the Buddha came along, found the magic
wand and helped us to return to be normal once again. The normal self is indeed
the state of Arahantship.
We have lost our
innocent mind because of ignorance. Our only duty in this life is to get rid of
the ignorance so that we can return to our innocent mind or to enter
Aranhantship. Metaphorically speaking, the Buddha was the one who told us that
we were not tigers and that he would help all of us to return to be men.
There is, however, a
problem. When the kind man came to tell the tiger about the good news and asked
him to stand still so that he could undo the magic, the tiger refused and said
that he had always been a tiger and there was no need to return to anything
else. This is the type of person who thinks that they don’t need the dhamma. As
long as they can make money,
indulge themselves and survive physically, there is no need to have a religion.
As for those who do
merit and expect to go to heaven, this is compared to changing from a tiger to
a leopard. That is all there is to it. All the sentient beings in the different
realms of samsara (reincarnation) from Brahmas, deities (gods), humans, ghosts,
animals to hellish beings, were different types of tigers, in the comparative
sense, of course. However, among the Brahmas, gods and humans, there are some
who are in the process of transformation from tiger to human. Those who are
deeply interested in Buddhism and engage in the vipassana-bhavana may know
about the 16 levels of insight or Solasa-nana. However, the 13th
level of insight is called Gotrabhu-nana or the knowledge at the moment of the
“change-of-lineage”. In other word, it is the moment when a person is leaving
human status and entering holy status. Comparatively speaking, this is the
moment when the tiger transforms back to a human in different stages
accordingly. They are as follows:
1)
Sotapana- Stream-Enterer (25% transformation)
2)
Sakadagami-Once-Returner (50% transformation)
3)
Anagami-Non-Returner (75% transformation)
4)
Arahanta-the worthy one (100% transformation)
Phra Arahants are
those who have completed their duty for their lives and have successfully
claimed their innocent mind back forever. That is to enter the state of the
supreme simplicity and ordinariness or Ta-tha-ta or Nirvana. They all refer to
the same state.
The above comparison
allows us to understand the structure of life. The ultimate purpose of life for
all sentient beings is indeed to reach that supreme simplicity or becoming a
Phra Arahant. We cannot be content even in reaching the three levels of
holiness let alone just being gods or Brahmas. As long as we have not yet
returned to our normal self-to enter Arahanship, our lives are not complete and
we cannot afford to stop our effort in practising the dhamma. The
vipassana-bhavana is the exact practice, which allows the transformation to
take place. People who can truly understand this piece of good news will
quickly ask experts to teach them the vipassana-bhavana, which exists only in
Buddhism.
Being born as a human
is considered a greatly fortunate event because it allows us to learn about
this piece of good news or the four Noble Truths and that we also have a chance
to engage in the crucial practice so that we can be normal again. If we cannot
complete our task in this lifetime, the parami or the good kamma will at least
pass forward to our next incarnation and we can be a bit nearer to Aranhantship.
The most important
thing is whether we have heard about this piece of good news yet. Paying no
attention to the dhamma and the dhamma practice means we accept our tiger
status. To the enlightened ones, these people are refered to as being ignorant.