What is Buddhist Awakening?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 เม.ย. 2017
- Here we'll discuss what "awakening" ("bodhi") meant in an early Buddhist context. "Buddha" basically means "awakened" rather than "enlightened" so this is a key concept to get our minds around. This is my fifth TH-cam video so it's still a bit rough around the edges. Apologies!
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I’m amazed at your scholarly expertise on this subject. Thank you for being such a great teacher for all of us
My pleasure AC, you're very welcome!
When negative emotions or tendencies arise we should not identify with them. We cannot stop thoughts and feelings from arising but we can allow, accept them and observe them without judgment. When we do this in time they will subside. When we resist them we give energy to them and they will persist. The pendulum swings as far to the left as to the right. When we simply observe from a non judgmental, neutral perspective then they lose their momentum and the pendulum will eventually stop. When that happens self will dissolve and then we will see reality for what it is and become free.
Yes exactly. Easier said than done though! That's what practice is for.
Thanks for making the Buddha's teachings accessible to others in the way. Sadhu
It's my pleasure Terry!
Hi Doug! Your description of bhavasava resonated strongly with me. I am the youngest of a large family and have experienced existential depression and a strong fear of death from an early age. Subsequently this fear of death has been heightened by experiencing the death of my best friend. This may not be relevant but recently I have been experiencing the desire for immortality and the desire for non-existence almost merging. A kind of torture if you like. It is extremely powerful after consuming alcohol. This is why I initially turned to Buddhism and subsequently Secular Buddhism. Thank you for the videos....keep them coming!
Thanks Patrick, I hear you on bhavasava. Clinging to existence or alternately not wanting to exist at all can be a huge deal for many of us. Glad you're finding videos helpful! 👍
Hi Patrick, hope you are well. I can relate to what you have described as your experience with existential depression with fear of death coupled with opposite force of wanting to be immortal. Like you, I too lost a friend a few months addding to the anxiety. Also, when it comes to my grandmother I lost many years back whom I still greatly missed, i want things to be permanent so I can meet her some day etc. Do you still go through the pulls and pushes of these emotions or have you found solace in secular buddhism.
During my session of meditation one day, I was determined to find out more about the true nature of the mind. I questioned, what is the mind, what am I made up of, where did I come from? And ultimately, after about an hour or so, and some gooseflesh inducing bodily experiences, I realised that the mind is just like a stream, a river that keeps flowing with no start or end! It is an aggregate of past experiences that is all inclusive, devoid of attachments, and always in a neutral state (not happy, not sad, not anxious) which constantly keeps evolving, amassing more and more experiences, with every single day, every single passing moment. When it comes to the body, it is but the manifestation of the mind, of past experiences. After realising these things, I am glad to say, I have been able to deal with my everyday life a lot better! Things have changed for the better! I am able to come from a point of neutrality, and deal with the world around me.
Glad to hear it, Dr. Scolly!
I appreciate your rate of speech. Some Buddhist teachers speak unnecessarily slowly and it gets to be a bit much. Thank you for this content.
Well each of us has our own cadence, but I try to keep things moving along! 😄
One of your first videos, but still very much appreciated! 😊 Thank you!
You're very welcome xiao mao, yes that was a very early one!
Thank you for passing on this wisdom and teaching us about it. I’ve just started watching your channel and my mind has benefited greatly already. I would say you are a bodhisattva yourself, in the secular sense of course, but a real bodhisattva nonetheless. Thanks again. Take care and stay safe.
Well I don't know if I would go that far, but thanks for the kind thoughts anyway Mr. B. 🙏
Thanks for this it is very helpful. I have experienced loss and death used to scare me ,though not anymore people really can confront and conquer this fear within their selves with the teachings of the Buddha.
Yes, you’re very right Billy. It’s one of the things that makes practice so powerful and important.
Hi, I am an atheist but recently got into meditation (vipasana, metta) which has benefitted me greatly in improving myself and coping with some mental problems. Thanks a lot for your videos, I just found your channel and you explain the Buddhist ideas very eloquently and clearly, without resorting to unsubstantiated things which I can't really get behind. Hope you are having a great day, and thanks again for your videos!
You're very welcome Pritam, thanks for the comment!
I recommend learning the historical and cultural background of Buddhism and then all the ritualistic things make more sense, especially in a time when there was no TH-cam guided meditations for people to self serve and you needed a way to show the ineffable to the masses
The Buddha himself makes it clear he is not all knowing nor all powerful and that ritual is only a tool, like how devotion meditation is a way to learn focus or how many meditations use different ways to exercise the same ability in different types of experiences in order to eventually notice what all those techniques have in common, i think even for the historical Buddha he probably knew he would reincarnate forever through the almost jungian archetype he created through his teachings and this was his gift to the world, becoming this myth that keeps living through all the people telling his story, this is another way to understand reincarnation. And then if the so called self is made of all the bits and pieces of your lived experience, how could you possibly fully cease to stop being if you exist in a mythical ever lasting collective unconscious? It is like reincarnating so much and so many times that his own self lost meaning amd now he truly no longer is, he is but a myth to us and he is both the Buddha but also is only a myth
Not sure if it makes sense I did have some ergot induced enlightenment last night so I hope it truly doesn’t come off as ramblings, this is how I reconcile the religious aspect with a more rationalistic western secular thought. It doesn’t have to be true, it’s just a way for one to be able to advance in the way without literally thinking the Buddha had physical magical qualities but also not being closed minded and using the teachings that these tales and myths being with them, reincarnation is not just a social or cultural tool, it also explains some of the fabric of the reality and the nature of the world in a philosophical level, in a deeper one than just the myth of a literal reincarnation of the self
Thank you for the video!
My pleasure!
Thank you very much teacher, I love this class. Evangelina Cortes.
Be well Evangelina. 🙏
Between greed and hatred (clinging and aversion) there is another attitude that I find useful to know - drawsines, sleepiness and so on. Most of my daily activities are motivated positively or negatively, when neutrality comes -I am not interested bored or finally resting. So, staying attentive also during neutral hedonistic tone seems to be a big part of equanimity.
Yes indeed Tobiasz, drowsiness is one of the five hindrances. I have a video on them here: th-cam.com/video/NFzc-yqxZtQ/w-d-xo.html
Thank's Doug,I really enjoy your channel. SMH at some of these comments.
Nice to hear Dr. Bombay, you're very welcome! 😀
If you haven’t done so already in your videos, can you talk about the differences if any between Buddhist awakening vs non-dual awakening such as what may be found Advaita Vedanta or Vedanta? Thanks! This was a great video!
You're very welcome Wes. I've thought about comparing early Buddhist notions with those of 'emptiness' (śunyatā) in later Buddhism. That's quite similar to the non-duality found in Advaita Vedanta and indeed in schools of later Buddhism generally. But it's a big topic and quite complex, and the history isn't well mapped out so far as I can tell. We'll see!
my Tibetan geshe teacher says that the realizations of advanced vedanta are the same
Good morning
Excellent and womderful explanation.What all Buddhas' enlightenment are dependent origination, and all Buddhas' taught the same thing is dependent origination and never beyond. That is suffering and how to end it.
Thank you very much for your kind comment, Phra Uckaradet Mettigo.
@@DougsDharma how did you pull out the fullname?🙄
Because TH-cam changed how they display names.
@Doug's Dharma 🤯🤯 it is so interesting ..you reply to each and every comment?? how you keep the buddha's presence of the moment? sometimes social media is just too much for many i suppose . thanks Doug for all the videos. i will be supporting your effort in patreon
Doug, appreciate the informative elaboration of "awakening". Question: the borrowed English word "Enlightenment" is used in many contexts outside Buddhism, particularly in spiritual and even political speak. Was the Buddha's original word for "awakening" or "nibbana", used to describe his mental state, a new word or concept he introduced? Or was that idea/term already in use in similar philosophies prior to his attainment?
I believe the words’ use predated Buddhism. For more on this topic see this later video of mine: What Does "Buddha" Mean? A Recent Article May Change Your Mind
th-cam.com/video/c_R2Y2P1sjI/w-d-xo.html . There is also a later video on Bhikkhu Anālayo’s response to Bhikkhu Bodhi.
Excellent series, enjoying the videos of this! Question though: if everything is impermanent, how can one be completely devoid of greed and hatred permanently (8:25 - 8:30)? Not meant to be a koan, just a question!
It's a good question Nikki. I did a video on that topic awhile back that might interest you: th-cam.com/video/XkJpp7rNBTA/w-d-xo.html
Your description of bhavasava seemed to lean heavily on the traditional Buddhist viewpoint of "being" as the desire to exist. I tend to interpret it a little more secularly as related to bhava in dependent origination; the desire to "become" a certain kind of self in a given moment. For example, I can become angry with someone (the poison of hatred) can arise because someone insults "me", and this insult rubs up against many self-concepts. Thus, the poison/fire of hatred is rooted in the asava of becoming, or bhavasava.
Does this interpretation hold any water? Or do the early texts more lean toward how you described bhavasava in this video?
Hi Greg and thanks for the great question. I wrote a bit about dependent origination here:
secularbuddhism.org/2016/10/31/can-dependent-origination-be-saved/
... but in a way that left somewhat open the question as to how to interpret "bhava" in the 12-link chain. I think to be fair it can be given both interpretations, and both are relevant in the context of early Buddhism.
In the context of the āsavas however, the desire for continued existence is particularly operative in early Buddhism. It is a kind of clinging to rebirth. That said, this could include desires for becoming certain kinds of selves as well; I don't think the two kinds of clinging are mutually exclusive, and to an extent they must operate together: to be reborn is to become a certain kind of self, and vice versa.
I think secularists can understand this perfectly well as a desire not to pass away, as a fear of death. We don't want to cease existing. But it can also be interpreted as you suggest, as a desire to be a certain kind of self, or as a tendency to take things personally. In a sense these are two sides of the same coin within a secular context as well, and the word "bhava" includes both.
A question on Bhavasava, would this annihilation of the desire for immortality include a discarding of the notion of the afterlife? Such as going to heaven?
Well eradicating the desire for immortality isn't quite the same as discarding the notion of rebirth or heaven, just as eradicating the desire for wealth doesn't necessarily discard the notion of wealth. That said, it makes such ideas less important for our lives. (I'd also argue that not really believing in them in the first place makes eradicating desire for them a bit easier as well).
Hello Doug. I have only just found you and I want to learn more. Can you suggest where the best place to to begin is though? My belief is that we are all a part of the universe, a form of energy and that everything constantly changes. Sorry, I have great difficulty in explaining myself!
Great, welcome aboard Terri! A great place to begin is with my various playlists, for example I have one on folks who are new to Buddhism: th-cam.com/play/PL0akoU_OszRjpRP1nwugCGAJF15oPbBLv.html . Enjoy! 🙂
@@DougsDharma Thank you Doug, look forward to it!
Did the Buddha mentioned those four quelities - equanimity, loving-kindness, sympathetic joy and compassion
or is it a later theory?
So far as we know the Buddha did mention the four Brahmavihāras; indeed they most probably arose before his lifetime and he accepted them as part of good practice. For more on the Brahmavihāras see this recent video of mine: th-cam.com/video/LMS37DNxG2A/w-d-xo.html
On the subject of Bodhisattvas and spiritual religiousity, it's not necessarily the case that Bodhisattvas are taken literally. Some people consider them metaphorical representations of positive qualities of a good practitioner. Manjushri, for example, represents the Wisdom of a Buddha, whereas Avaokiteshvara represents his Compassion. This is even more explicit in some Tibetan traditions, where there are yidams which are not considered literal beings at all, but archetypal focus-points for practice. Carl Jung would (did?) have a field day with that :p
It interests me how different people approach things differently. I, for my part, am less interested in the Buddha as a literal, historical figure than I am with the Buddha as an idea upon which to focus our minds. As such, I have a much easier time drawing on Mahayana and Vajrayana, despite my practice being essentially secular as well. If it works, it's Buddha-dharma as far as I'm concerned.
Great points, SOS. Thanks!
This might actually be a quite helpful perspective for me as a newcomer. As a secular person i was a bit turned off by the devotional stuff of mahayana but painting it in this light makes it easier
Great explanation, Sir. But, could you give me the reference in which sutta in Pali canon mentioned those three asavas. I am a new comer in studying buddhism. I want to read it more.🙏🏼
Thanks! Unfortunately that’s a very early video of mine and I’m not sure which sutta I was referring to. But there are many suttas that discuss the āsavas, such as MN 2: suttacentral.net/mn2/en/sujato
@@DougsDharma Thank you so much, Sir.
Dug,
What is the practice in secular buddhism?
Tvm.
Funny you should ask that question Hiruy, I did a video on that very question recently. It might interest you: th-cam.com/video/ABPBCT7A0ZY/w-d-xo.html
in kundalini practices when you done it and you got open eye those spiral hallusinations usually hunger vanishes for a while so does all kinds a worldly desires
Hi Doug, Which category does " Nostalgia " and longing for past times come under. I really miss certain past events and try to really relive them mentally and immerse myself in the feelings, thoughts and emotions of the past event or era. It feels like a pain/pleasure thing. Alan.
Yes it’s a kind of craving for the past, an identification with some “you” and pleasant experiences back then. It’s a central part of dukkha or the feeling of unsatisfactoriness. I did a recent video about that general topic with regard to the Coronavirus recently: th-cam.com/video/CJ3s7rP15sc/w-d-xo.html
@@DougsDharma Thanks for your prompt and helpful response Doug. Most people don't reply. I love the gracious way you reply to the picky, superior and insulting comments.
Thanks Alan, I do my best!
Hi Alan, i echo your feeling about nostalgia. I am immersed in childhood memories from perticulae era almost at obsessive levels. Are you able to do anything about it ? Just curious. Since we have both identified it, we also might know that there is a problem. The irony is not wanting the solution cause you kind of need to cling onto it.
I posted a comment here the other that was very badly worded, and so I deleted it. This is an excellent description of awaking. However it is an intellectual description. My teacher once told me that I had a very good intellectual understanding of Buddhism. This was not a validation of my understanding. I had to go deeper. One may read all about the mental, and physical effects of falling in love, however one really doesn't know what it is until it happens to you. One may take an amazing photograph of a bowl of rice, with an excellent camera, however, there is no nutritional value in it. What true awakening brings is an intuitive understanding of the oneness of everything. Like in a dream. There may be many different things within a dream, however, they are all contained within the dream, and therefore are of one nature. Just like lighting a match in a very large dark hall penetrates the darkness. Even a small but intuitive understanding can be called awakening. One last thing,. Awakening, doesn't end pain, however it does helps to keep it in perspective.
Thanks G R A. For sure, understanding something intellectually isn't the same as realizing it deeply. But it's a start.
@@DougsDharma Yes it is, it almost always comes first. However it’s so important to have a qualified teacher to help one separate the wheat from the chaff.
A ) According to the suttas (i.e. Early Buddhist Texts) does a person know when he or she becomes fully Enlightened? Practically speaking though, is it even that important to verify if one is Enlightened or not? Can’t we just keep practicing, doing our meditation, being ethical and compassionate until we pass away. It is good enough that we have led an ethical life full of meditation and compassion. That in itself is already an enlightened (with a small ‘e’) and nirvanic (with a small ‘n’) way of living. What do you think?
B) We are all inflicted with the Three Poisons (greed, hatred, and delusion) and Awakening means that we have fully extinguished these three poisons. However, these Three Poisons are not the only negative tendencies humans have. So I understand the Three Poisons to be the unwholesome roots of all other defilements we might have such as anger, jealousy, envy, pride, etc. Is my understanding correct?
C) In religious Buddhism, you mention that a Bodhisattva delays her own Awakening so she can keep being reborn to help other beings. So from a traditional perspective, the Bodhisattva has not even achieved the first stage of Enlightenment, i.e. Stream-entry? Correct?
Sometimes the Bodhisattva is defined as a being who has achieved Enlightenment but delays entry into Nirvana so she can keep coming back to help other beings. However, I think this definition is incorrect since one cannot be Enlightened yet delay attaining Nirvana. You cannot have one without the other. If you have one, you have the other. Is my understanding correct?
Hi Haca Ce, thanks for the questions. In general one is supposed to know when one is awakened, yes. And yes, the poisons are roots of all unskillful mental states. As for how bodhisattvas fit into early Buddhism, it's a bit complicated. Presumably they either bypass stream entry or are somehow able to postpone nibbāna. But this is all theoretical so I wouldn't really worry about it. 🙂
Equinimity is a word that comes up a lot. what does it mean to you?
It means neither being pulled this way nor that. For example, neither being pulled towards the pleasant nor away from the unpleasant by craving.
Judgment is a subset of what one awakes from. There are no right or wrong tendencies, just tendencies. Judgment is the mind using past experiences to pigeonhole new information, it's a survival mechanism, and using the mind to find enlightenment is like trying to understand a mirror by studying its reflection. When one learns to quiet their mind, all that is left is a mirror without a reflection - but if a mirror doesn't have a reflection, is it still a mirror? (the game of Maya) 🙏
Thanks for that J Norfleet. You're describing an attitude that stems from later Buddhism. In early Buddhism there are right and wrong tendencies: they are what distinguish right progress along the Eightfold Path (Right View, etc.) from wrong. Distinguishing these helps lead us towards eradication of the three fires of greed, hatred, and ignorance. 🙏
@@DougsDharma thank you for the reply, the opposite of the Three Fires are just as deadly. To steal a quote, the path to hell is paved in good intentions. 😇
I do enjoy your perspective and historical knowledge, thank you for the videos, they're always thought provoking, maybe too much sometimes :)
Well, the opposite of the three fires are generosity, kindness, and wisdom. That's what we're all about here. 😉
Yet they are still aspects of the Ahamkara, which must be removed for enlightenment to occur. Nobility is an aspect of the ego, and the self cannot be present when one is in this state.
About the desire for death, I know that this is secular Buddhism so maybe my reaction is not suited.
It is my understanding that the Buddha referred to the desire for nonexistence rather than desiring to die because perception/awareness persists after physical death.
For me at least, it's from a weariness with having to respond to a world of stimuli over which i have little control, a lack of enthusiasm for conscious existence probably rooted in early childhood abuse - life is loneliness & pain, best not to have awareness so cant sense the despair that comes with it.
The never-endingness of the tiring ups & downs of conscious existence (Samsara) was painfully selfevident for me from a single-digit age.
Believing there is an end (nirodha) to the seemingly endless rounds of rebirth in Samsara, but moreover that i deserve it, is the primary fetter i have.
Do you have any advise? Thank you.🙏
I hope you have friends and family with whom you can discuss all this, because loneliness is a burden. I would suggest practicing the Brahmavihāras, lovingkindness and self-compassion in particular. 🙏
Doug Smith is as awakened as "Buddha" himself &
the earth is my witness.
Well this is not true, though I hope you are finding calm and happiness in your life!
Bhante Punnaji gave Influence as an interpretation
Hi Alfred, how do you mean?
Can you please explain me as non-science person, in brief about *How Science means Soul ?"
I don't think there is any room in science (psychology, neuroscience) for a concept of "soul". Instead there are concepts of mind, mental states, and so on.
The buddha has said BIRTH is seffering,i belive that there could be suffering in life,but life is not suffeting,
What do you think?
Your teaching is like a delicious food.
Tvm
Thanks Hiruy, I’m glad you are finding it nourishing! For the Buddha all experience was inherently unsatisfactory. “Suffering” can be a misleading translation of “dukkha” because as you note there are times in life that are very pleasant! 🙂
Isn’t it the realisation of emptiness of self?
Well yes, that can be one aspect of the realization, depending on how it's understood.
Intellectual grasping of concepts and thoughts is to real awakening as at best a useful tool... it also can turn into a barrier to attain true experience... the curse of philosophy, beware!
Indeed Emil, it's a double-edged sword sometimes.
Is it really a complete and practical philosophy in an age of capitalism and with our benefits from technology? I compare Buddhism to Randian Obectivism and see Objectivism and more encompassing of our actual human condition as organisms that must produce to survive and who must percieve reality to do so, and how the real rises in wellbeing are indebted to advancements on those scales.
I would argue it's particularly critical to have a philosophy of kindness and interdependence in an age where so much is at stake on a planetary level. Greed and selfishness are only the route to destruction.
Interesting videos but like any theory this is quite mental in its approach. Funny to see for example how the Buddhists focus on the side effects to describe awakening rather than the actual realization that it is. The description just becomes obsolete after realization. For example, it's not that the Buddha was equanimous with death that matters, it's just that the notion of death of the body becomes irrelevant. Death is just a human concept. It's the end of the concept, not the acceptance of it.
Same for greed/hatred, the notion of morality is a concept. Good and bad don't exist as such. There is a natural movement toward what humans consider good and a natural reflex of the body/mind to protect life for example, but this is not done out of charity or choice.
Well that’s one interpretation of it, but the main point is that many people claim various kinds of awakening state. If that state doesn’t include the effects of ending greed, hatred, and delusion, then it isn’t awakening in the early Buddhist sense.
why do you feel the need to call you beliefs secular Buddhism and not just Buddhism. What part of Buddhism are you leaving out or what fear do you have from just calling your beliefs Buddhist?
Well it's a bit of a different focus than traditional belief. But I don't really care how it's described, if you prefer just to call it "Buddhism", so be it!
the mistake that makes non pacifists to look right is that the idea of denying hatred is mistaken , i had a friend who didn't disclose his religion but once he said in a gathering "my religion is against hating" where people asked him you don't even hate injustice? he replied no ! . and i think thats being indifferent , and it has nothing to do with denying the feel of hatred and greed which are bad things in my opinion, its like a thief attacked your home and while he is fighting and hurting your family , you just say i don't want to harm nobody and you go to your room to meditate while your family is being butchered , and thats wrong , what i believe buddha meant is that you should not hate people if they are more successful more lucky or wealthy or beautiful which is connected to jealousy and about the greed we all know what it can do to a person's life, but not all of us should shave our heads and go to the jungles or tibet ,thats against the idea of being awaken since you want to be awaken to live a better life , not to be demotivated and deny life's lawful pleasures , and unfortunately the line between using life's pleasure and getting abused by the pleasure is narrow ,and i'm confused about the lines between them . but these are my interpretations and by all means it doesn't mean i read books about them or i am experienced in the buddhism and i may be wrong about what i said . but in our region religions tend to practice exact same things buddhists say and even we have people who are like monks and they called Sufi and also some believe in reincarnation but they all believe in a superior being who asks them to do what he says otherwise they will be burnt in hell ,where buddhism as far as i know doesn't say anything about a being that has created us and demands us certain things to reward us virgin girls and wine in gardens , although i believe the so called prophets were aware of the emptiness of their promises for the afterlife but i think they tried to practice of recommending good things while prohibiting bad things with using those promises for selling point , since not every uncivilized person from millennia before would understand being awakened but they did love wine and girls and living in a garden for eternity .
Thanks for your input Behrooz!
Many Buddhists put forward the argument about permanence. It is demonstrably false. Our life is made of little pleasures: walking in the woods, contemplating a sunset, reading poetry, playing chess, etc.
Life is beautiful because the moments of joy are fleeting; we should cherish them. We do not seek pleasures because we think they are permanent but because they are pleasurable; they give us joy.
Buddha himself advocated a way of life outside the society (in the woods) where one watches moment by moment the mind. A social Buddhism is a betrayal of the thought of the founder.
In any case, your attempt to discuss a secular form of pseudo-Buddhism is interesting.