Links to other pages Preface and Contents The Buddha The Dhamma Is it a Religion? Is Buddhism an Ethical System? Some Salient Features of Buddhism Kamma: The Law of Moral Causation Rebirth Paticca Samuppăda: The Law of Dependent Origination Anattă: Soul-lessness Nibbana The Path to Nibbana Appendix The Path to Nibbana How is Nibbana to be attained? It is by following the Noble Eightfold Path which consists of Right Understanding (sammă-ditthi), Right Thought (sammă-sankappa), Right Speech (sammă-văcă), Right Action (sammă-kammanta), Right Livelihood (sammă-ăjďva), Right Effort (sammă-văyăma), Right Mindfulness (sammă-sati), and Right Concentration (sammă-samădhi). Right Understanding, which is the keynote of Buddism, is explained as the knowledge of the Four Noble Truths. To understand rightly means to understand things as they really are and not as they appear to be. This refers primarily to a correct understanding of oneself, because, as the Rohitassa Sutta states "Dependent on this one fathom long body with its consciousness" are all the four Truths. In the practice of the Noble Eightfold Path, Right Understanding stands at the beginning as well as at its end. A minimum degree of Right Understanding is necessary at the very beginning because it gives the right motivation to the other seven factors of the Path and gives to them correct direction. At the culmination of the practice, Right Understanding has matured into perfect Insight Wisdom (vipassană-pańńă), leading directly to the Stages of Sainthood. Clear vision or right understanding leads to clear thinking. The second factor of the Noble Eightfold Path is, therefore, Right Thought (sammă-sankappa), which serves the double purpose of eliminating evil thoughts and developing pure thoughts. Right Thought, in this particular connection, is threefold. It consists of: Nekkhamma - Renunciation of worldly pleasures or the virtue of selflessness, which is opposed to attachment, selfishness, and possessiveness. Avyăpăda - Loving kindness, goodwill, or benovelence, which is opposed to hatred, ill-will, or aversion; and Avihimsă - Harmlessness or compassion, which is opposed to cruelty and callousness. Right Thought leads to Right Speech, the third factor. This includes abstinence from falsehood, slandering, harsh words, and frivolous talk. Right speech must be followed by Right Action which comprises abstinence from killing, stealing and sexual conduct. Purifying is thoughts, words and deeds at the outset, the spiritual pilgrim tries to purify his livelihood by refraining from the five kinds of trade which are forbidden to a lay-disciple. They are trading in arms, human beings, animals for slaughter, intoxicating drinks and drugs, and poisons. For monks, wrong livelihood consists of hypocritical conduct and wrong means of obtaining the requisites of monk-life. Right Effort is fourfold, namely: the endeavour to discard evil that has already arisen; the endeavour to prevent the arising of unarisen evil; the endeavour to develop unarisen good; the endeavour to promote the good which has already arisen; Right Mindfulness is constant mindfulness with regard to body, feelings, thoughts and mind objects. Right Effort and Right Mindfulness lead to Right Concentration. It is the one-pointedness of mind, culminating in the jhănas or meditative absorptions. Of the eight factors in the Noble Eightfold Path the first two are grouped under the heading of Wisdom (pańńă), the following three under Morality (sďla), and the last three under Concentration (samădhi). But according to the order of development, the sequence is as follows: I. Morality (sďla) Right Speech Right Action Right Livelihood II. Concentration (samădhi) Right Effort Right Mindfulness Right Concentration III. Wisdom (pańńă) Right Understanding Right Thought Morality (sďla) is the first stage on this path to Nibbana. Without killing or causing injury to any living creature, man should be kind and compassionate towards all, even to the tiniest creature that crawls at his feet. Refraining from stealing, he should be upright and honest in all his dealings. Abstaining from sexual misconduct which debases the exalted nature of man, he should be pure. Shunning false speech, he should be truthful. Avoiding pernicious drinks that promote heedlessness, he should be sober and diligent. These elementary principles of regulated behaviour are essential to one who treads the path to Nibbana. Violations of them means the introduction of obstacles on the path which will obstruct his moral progress. Observance of them means steady and smooth progress along the path. The spiritual pilgrim, disciplining thus his words and deeds, may advance a step further and try to control his senses. While he progresses slowly and steadily with regulated word and deed and restrained senses, the kammic force of this striving aspirant may compel him to renounce wordly pleasures and adopt the ascetic life. To him then comes the idea that: "A den of strife is household life, And filled with toil and need; But free and high as the open sky Is the life the homeless lead." It should not be understood that everyone is expected to lead the life of a bhikku (monk) or a celibate life to achieve one's goal. One's spiritual progress is expedited by being a bhikku although as a lay follower one can become an Arahat. After attaining the third stage of Sainthood, one leads a life of celibacy. Securing a firm footing on the ground of morality, the progressing pilgrim then embarks upon the higher practice of samădhi, the control and culture of the mind - the second stage on this Path. Samădhi - is the "one-pointedness of the mind". It is the concentration of the mind on one object to the entire exclusion of all irrelevant matter. There are different subjects for meditation according to the temperaments of the individuals. Concentration on respiration is the easiest to gain the one-pointedness of the mind. Meditation on loving kindness is very beneficial as it is conducive to mental peace and happiness. Cultivation of the four sublime states - loving kindness (mettă), compassion (karună), sympathetic joy (mudită), and equanimity (upekkhă) - is highly commendable. After giving careful consideration to the subject for contemplation, he should choose the one most suited to his temperament. This being satisfactorily settled, he makes a persistent effort to focus his mind until he becomes so wholly absorbed and interested in it, that all other thoughts get ipso facto excluded from the mind. The five hindrances to progress, namely: sense desire, hatred, sloth and torpor, restlessness and brooding, and doubts are then temporarily inhibited. Eventually, he gains ecstatic concentration and, to his indescribable joy, becomes enwrapt in jhăna, enjoying the calmness and serenity of a one-pointed mind. When one gains this perfect one-pointedness of the mind, it is possible for one to develop the five Supernormal Powers (abhińńă) - Divine Eye (dibbacakkhu), Divine Ear (dibbasota), Reminiscence of past births (pubbenivăsănussati-ńăna), Thought Reading (paracitta vijănana), and different psychic powers (iddhividha). It must not be understood that those supernormal powers are essential for Sainthood. Though the mind is now purified there still lies dormant in him the tendency to give vent to his passions, for by concentration, passions are lulled to sleep temporarily. They may rise to the surface at unexpected moments. Both Discipline and Concentration are helpful to clear the Path of its obstacles but it is insight (vipassana pańńă) alone which enables one to see things as they truly are, and consequently reach the ultimate goal by completely annihilating the passions inhibited by samădhi. This is the third and the final stage on the Path to Nibbana. With his one-pointed mind which now resembles a polished mirror he looks at the world to get a correct view of life. Wherever he turns his eyes, he sees nought but the Three Characteristics - anicca (transiency), dukkha (sorrow) and anattă (soullessness) standing out in bold relief. He comprehends that life is constantly changing and all conditioned things are transient. Neither in heaven nor on earth does he find any genuine happiness, for every form of pleasure is a prelude to pain. What is transient is, therefore, painful and where change and sorrow prevail, there cannot be a permanent immortal soul. Whereupon, of these three characteristics, he chooses one that appeals to him most and intently keeps on developing Insight in that particular direction until that glorious day comes to him when he would realise Nibbana for the first time in his life, having destroyed the three Fetters - self-illusion (sakkăya-ditthi), doubts (vicikicchă), indulgence in (wrongful) rites and ceremonies (sďlabbata-parămăsa). At this stage he is called a Sotăpanna (Stream-Winner) - one who has entered the stream that leads to Nibbana. As he has not eradicated all Fetters he is reborn seven times at the most. Summoning up fresh courage, as a result of this glimpse of Nibbana, the pilgrim makes rapid progress and cultivating deeper Insight becomes a Sakadăgămi - (Once-Returner) by weakening two more Fetters - namely, sense-desire (kămarăga) and ill-will (patigha). He is called a Sakadăgămi because he is reborn on earth only once in case he does not attain Arahatship. It is in the third stage of sainthood - Anăgămi (Never-Returner) that he completely discards the aforesaid two Fetters. Thereafter, he neither returns to this world nor does he seek birth in the celestial realms, since he has no more desire for sensual pleasures. After death he is reborn in the Pure Abodes (Suddhăvăsa), a congenial Brahma plane, till he attains Arahatship. Now the saintly pilgrim, encouraged by the unprecedented success of his endeavours, makes his final advance and destroying the remaining Fetters, namely, lust after life in Realms of Forms (rüparăga) and Formless Realms (arüparăga), conceit (măna), restlessness (uddhacca), and ignorance (avijjă), becomes a perfect Saint - an Arahat, a Worthy One. Instantly he realises that what was to be accomplished has been done, that a heavy burden of sorrow has been relinquished, that all forms of attachment have been totally annihilated, and that the Path to Nibbana has been trodden. The Worthy One now stands on heights more than celestial, far removed from the rebellious passions and defilements of the world, realising the unutterable bliss of Nibbana and like many an Arahat of old, uttering that paean of joy: "Goodwill and wisdom, mind by method trained, The highest conduct on good morals based, This maketh mortals pure, not rank or wealth." As T.H. Huxley states: "Buddhism is a system which knows no God in the western sense, which denies a soul to man, which counts the belief in immortality a blunder, which refuses any efficacy to prayer and sacrifice, which bids men look to nothing but their own efforts for salvation, which in its original purity knew nothing of vows of obedience and never sought the aid of the secular arm; yet spread over a considerable moiety of the world with marvellous rapidity - and is still the dominant creed of a large fraction of mankind."