Tradition - Early Buddhism

The teaching of the Buddha (Dhamma) is centered around one singular goal: liberating one’s mind from suffering (dukkha). He taught that suffering comes with craving (taṇhā), and that craving is expressed and fueled by actions of body, speech, and thought.

To abandon all such actions and put a permanent end to craving, he taught a training consisting of progressive stages (anupubbasikkhā) in which the habits that fuel craving are abandoned at increasingly subtle levels:

“Master Gotama, in this stilt longhouse, we can see sequential progress down to the last step of the staircase. Among the brahmins, we can see sequential progress in learning the chants. Among archers, we can see sequential progress in archery. Among us accountants, who earn a living by accounting, we can see sequential progress in calculation. For when we obtain an apprentice, we first make them count: ‘One one, two twos, three threes, four fours, five fives, six sixes, seven sevens, eight eights, nine nines, ten tens.’ We even make them count up to a hundred. Is it possible to similarly describe a sequential training, sequential progress, and sequential practice in this teaching-and-discipline?”

“It is possible, brahmin. Suppose a deft horse trainer were to obtain a fine thoroughbred. First of all, he would accustom it to wearing the bit. In the same way, when the Realized One obtains a man for training, he first guides him like this: ‘Come, bhikkhu, be virtuous. Live restrained by the code of conduct, endowed with proper behavior and a suitable environment. Seeing danger in the slightest fault, train yourself in the training rules.’

When the bhikkhu is virtuous, the Realized One guides him further: ‘Come, bhikkhu, guard the doors of your faculties. When you see a sight with the eyes, do not grasp at signs and features of it on account of which—due to abiding with the eye faculty unrestrained—bad, unbeneficial thoughts of longing and upset would flow in on you. Practice to restrain that; guard the eye faculty and bring about the restraint of the eye faculty.’ When you hear a sound with the ear … When you smell an odor with the nose … When you taste a flavor with the tongue … When you touch a touch with the body … When you cognize a phenomenon with the mind, do not grasp at signs and features of it on account of which—due to abiding with the mental faculty unrestrained—bad, unbeneficial thoughts of longing and upset would flow in on you. Practice to restrain that; guard the mental faculty and bring about the restraint of the mental faculty.

When the bhikkhu has the doors of his faculties guarded, the Realized One guides him further: ‘Come, bhikkhu, be moderate in eating. Eat with reflection in light of the origin: ‘Not for entertainment, indulgence, beautification, or adornment, but only to sustain this body, to avoid harm, and to support the renunciate life. In this way, I shall put an end to old discomfort and not give rise to new discomfort, and I shall live blamelessly and at ease.’

When the bhikkhu eats in moderation, the Realized One guides him further: ‘Come, bhikkhu, be committed to vigilance. During the day, cleanse your mind of obstructive states while walking or sitting. During the first watch of the night, cleanse your mind of obstructive states while walking or sitting. During the second watch of the night, you should lie down in the lion’s posture—on the right side, placing one foot on top of the other—recollected and aware, having set the intention to arise. Having arisen in the last watch of the night, continue to cleanse your mind of obstructive states while walking or sitting.’

When the bhikkhu is committed to vigilance, the Realized One guides him further: ‘Come, bhikkhu, be possessed of recollectedness-and-awareness. Act with awareness when going out and returning; when looking ahead and aside; when bending and extending the limbs; when bearing the outer robe, bowl, and robes; when eating, drinking, chewing, and tasting; when urinating and defecating; when walking, standing, sitting, sleeping, waking, speaking, and keeping silent.’

When the bhikkhu is possessed of recollectedness-and-awareness, the Realized One guides him further: ‘Come, bhikkhu, frequent a secluded lodging—a wilderness, the root of a tree, a hill, a ravine, a mountain cave, a charnel ground, a forest, the open air, a heap of straw.’ And he does so.

After the meal, he returns from almsround, sits down cross-legged, sets his body straight, and establishes recollectedness at the fore. With the giving up of longing with regard to the world, he abides with a mind rid of longing; he cleanses the mind of longing. With the giving up of ill will and hatred, he abides with a mind rid of ill will, compassionate for the welfare of all creatures and beings; he cleanses the mind of ill will and hatred. With the giving up of indolence-and-lethargy, he abides with a mind rid of indolence-and-lethargy, perceiving light, recollected, and aware; he cleanses the mind of indolence-and-lethargy. With the giving up of restlessness-and-anxiety, he abides without restlessness, his mind internally appeased; he cleanses the mind of restlessness-and-anxiety. With the giving up of doubt, he abides having gone beyond doubt, not uncertain about beneficial qualities; he cleanses the mind of doubt.

He gives up these five hindrances, defilements of the mind that weaken understanding. Then, having thoroughly withdrawn from sensuality, having withdrawn from unbeneficial phenomena, with thinking and with pondering, with joy and ease born of withdrawal, he abides having entered upon the first jhāna. With the appeasement of thinking and pondering, with internal confidence and collectedness of mind, without thinking or pondering and with joy and ease born of composure, he abides having entered upon second jhāna. With the fading of joy, he abides equanimous, recollected, and aware, experiencing ease with the body. He abides having entered upon the third jhāna, with regard to which the noble ones say “one abides equanimous, recollected, and at ease.” With the giving up of ease and unease—and with the ending of joys and upsets beforehand—without ease or unease, with purity of equanimity and recollectedness, he abides having entered upon the fourth jhāna …”

—MN 107

The fruit of this training is the understanding (paññā) of the Four Noble Truths: suffering, the origin of suffering (craving), the cessation of suffering (the abandoning of craving), and the path leading to the cessation of suffering (the Noble Eightfold Path).

When the training has been sufficiently followed so that this understanding is clear and imperturbable, one’s mind (citta) no longer craves—not even when assailed by the most provocative experiences:

Venerable sir, for a monk whose mind is thus rightly liberated, even if forceful sights cognizable by the eye come into the range of the eye, they do not overpower his mind (citta). His mind remains equally unmixed, steady, attained to imperturbability, and he is attuned to the impermanence of that [mind]. Even if forceful sounds cognizable by the ear . . . smells cognizable by the nose . . . tastes cognizable by the tongue . . . touches cognizable by the body . . . phenomena cognizable by the mental faculty come into the range of the mental faculty, they do not overpower his mind (citta). His mind remains equally unmixed, steady, attained to imperturbability, and he is attuned to the impermanence of that [mind].

Venerable sir, it is as if there were a rocky mountain, without holes, without hollows, a single solid mass. Even if heavy wind and rain should come from the east, west, north, or south, it would not shake it, would not rock it, would not make it tremble.
—AN 6.55

The Buddha established a code of conduct (Vinaya) in order to  ensure that those who sincerely aspire to this goal will not veer too far from it even in their most forgetful moments. This is the code around which the lifestyle of the early monks and nuns was built, and that the residents of Samaṇadīpa and its associated hermitages adhere to.