CHAPTER 44
THE PROBLEMS OF LIFE
Who? Whence? Whither? Why? What?
are some important problems that affect all humanity.
1) Who is man?
is our first question.
Let us proceed with what is self-evident and
perceptible to all.
Man possesses a body which is seen either by
our senses or by means of apparatus. This material body consists of forces
and qualities which are in a state of constant flux.
Scientists find it difficult to define what
matter is. Certain philosophers define "matter as that in which proceed
the changes called motion, and motion as those changes which proceed in
matter.
[1]"
The Pāli term for matter is Rūpa. It is
explained as that which changes or disintegrates. That which manifests
itself is also another explanation.
According to Buddhism there are four
fundamental material elements. They are Pathavi, Āpo, Tejo, and
Vāyo
Pathavi
means the element of extension, the substratum of matter. Without it
objects cannot occupy space. The qualities of hardness and softness which
are purely relative are two conditions of this element. This element of
extension is present in earth, water, fire and air. For instance, the
water above is supported by water below. It is this element of extension
in conjunction with the element of motion (Vāyo) that produces the
upward pressure. Heat or cold is the Tejo element, while fluidity
is the Āpo element.
Āpo is
the element of cohesion. Unlike Pathavi it is intangible. It is
this element which enables the scattered atoms of matter to cohere and
thus gives us the idea of body.
Tejo is
the element of heat. Cold is also a form of Tejo. Both heat and
cold are included in Tejo because they possess the power of
maturing bodies, or, in other words, the vitalizing energy. Preservation
and decay are due to this element.
Vāyo is
the element of motion. The movements are caused by this element. Motion is
regarded as the force or the generator of heat. Both motion and heat in
the material realm correspond respectively to consciousness and Kamma in
the mental.
These four powerful forces are inseparable and
interrelated, but one element may preponderate over another, as, for
instance, the element of extension preponderates in earth; cohesion, in
water; heat, in fire; and motion, in air.
Thus, matter consists of forces and qualities
which constantly change not remaining the same even for two consecutive
moments. According to Buddhism matter endures only for 17 thought-moments.
[2]
At the moment of birth, according to biology,
man inherits from his parents an infinitesimally minute cell 30 millionth
part of an inch across. "In the course of nine months this speck grows to
a living bulk 15,000 million times greater than it was at outset.
[3] This tiny
chemico-physical cell is the physical foundation of man.
According to Buddhism sex is also determined at
the moment of conception.
Combined with matter there is another important
factor in this complex machinery of man. It is the mind. As such it
pleases some learned writers to say that man is not Mind plus Body, but is
a Mind-Body. Scientists declare that life emerges from matter and mind
from life. But they do not give us a satisfactory explanation with regard
to the development of the mind
Unlike the material body immaterial mind is
invisible, but it could be sensed directly. An old couplet runs:-
"What is mind? No matter.
What is matter? Never mind."
We are aware of our thoughts and feelings and
so forth by direct sensation, and we infer their existence in others by
analogy.
There are several Pāli terms for mind. Mana,
Citta, Viññāna are the most noteworthy of them. Compare
the Pāli root man, to think, with the English word man and the Pāli
word Manussa which means he who has a developed consciousness.
In Buddhism no distinction is made between mind
and consciousness. Both are used as synonymous terms. Mind may be defined
as simply the awareness of an object since there is no agent or a soul
that directs all activities. It consists of fleeting mental states which
constantly arise and perish with lightning rapidity. "With birth for its
source and death for its mouth it persistently flows on like a river
receiving from the tributary streams of sense constant accretions to its
flood." Each momentary consciousness of this ever-changing life-stream, on
passing away, transmits its whole energy, all the indelibly recorded
impressions, to its successor. Every fresh consciousness therefore
consists of the potentialities of its predecessors and something more. As
all impressions are indelibly recorded in this ever-changing
palimpsest-like mind, and as all potentialities are transmitted from life
to life, irrespective of temporary physical disintegrations, reminiscence
of past births or past incidents becomes a possibility. If memory depends
solely on brain cells, it becomes an impossibility.
Like electricity mind is both a constructive
and destructive powerful force. It is like a double-edged weapon that can
equally be used either for good or evil. One single thought that arises in
this invisible mind can even save or destroy the world. One such thought
can either populate or depopulate a whole country. It is mind that creates
one's heaven. It is mind that creates one's hell.
Ouspensky writes:--"Concerning the latent
energy contained in the phenomena of consciousness, i.e. in thoughts,
feelings, desires, we discover that its potentiality is even more
immeasurable, more boundless. From personal experience, from observation,
from history, we know that ideas, feelings, desires, manifesting
themselves, can liberate enormous quantities of energy, and create
infinite series of phenomena. An idea can act for centuries and milleniums
and only grow and deepen, evoking ever new series of phenomena, liberating
ever fresh energy. We know that thoughts continue to live and act when
even the very name of the man who created them has been converted into a
myth, like the names of the founders of ancient religions, the creators of
the immortal poetical works of antiquity, heroes, leaders, and prophets.
Their words are repeated by innumerable lips, their ideas are studied and
commented upon.
"Undoubtedly each thought of a poet contains
enormous potential force, like the power confined in a piece of coal or in
a living cell, but infinitely more subtle, imponderable and potent.
[4]"
Observe, for instance, the potential force that
lies in the following significant words of the Buddha:
-- Mano-pubbañgamā dhammā – mano - setthā -
manomayā.
Mind fore-runs deeds; mind is chief, and mind-made are they.
Mind or consciousness, according to Buddhism,
arises at the very moment of conception, together with matter.
Consciousness is therefore present in the foetus. This initial
consciousness, technically known as rebirth-consciousness or relinking-consciousness
(Patisandhi viññāna), is conditioned by past kamma of the person
concerned. The subtle mental, intellectual, and moral differences that
exist amongst mankind are due to this Kamma conditioned consciousness, the
second factor of man.
To complete the trio that constitutes man there
is a third factor, the phenomenon of life that vitalizes both mind and
matter. Due to the presence of life reproduction becomes possible. Life
manifests itself both in physical and mental phenomena. In Pāli the two
forms of life are termed Nāma jivitindriya and Rūpa
jivitindriya -- psychic and physical life.
Matter, mind, and life are therefore the three
distinct factors that constitute man. With their combination a powerful
force known as man with inconceivable possibilities comes into being. He
becomes his own creator and destroyer. In him are found a rubbish-heap of
evil and a storehouse of virtue. In him are found the worm, the brute, the
man, the superman, the deva, the Brahma. Both criminal tendencies and
saintly characteristics are dormant in him. He may either be a blessing or
a curse to himself and others. In fact man is a world by himself.
2) Whence?
is our second question.
How did man originate'?
Either there must be a beginning for man or
there cannot be a beginning. Those who belong to the first school
postulate a first cause, whether as a cosmic force or as an
Almighty Being. Those who belong to the second school deny a first cause
for, in common experience, the cause ever becomes the effect and the
effect becomes the cause. In a circle of cause and effect a first cause is
inconceivable. According to the former life has had a beginning; while
according to the latter it is beginningless. In the opinion of some the
conception of a first cause is as ridiculous as a round triangle.
According to the scientific standpoint, man is
the direct product of the sperm and ovum cells provided by his parents.
Scientists while asserting "Omne vivum ex vivo"--all life from
life, maintain, that mind and life evolved from the lifeless.
Now, from the scientific standpoint, man is
absolutely parent-born. As such life precedes life. With regard to the
origin of the first protoplasm of life, or "colloid" (whichever we please
to call it), scientists plead ignorance.
According to Buddhism man is born from the
matrix of action (kammayoni). Parents merely provide man with a
material layer. As such being precedes being. At the moment of conception,
it is Kamma that conditions the initial consciousness that vitalizes the
foetus. It is this invisible Kammic energy generated from the past birth
that produces mental phenomena and the phenomenon of life in an already
extant physical phenomenon, to complete the trio that constitutes man.
Dealing with the conception of beings the
Buddha states:--
"Where three are found in combination, there a
germ of life is planted. If mother and father come together, but it is not
the mother's period, and the 'being-to-be born' (gandhabba) is not
present, then no germ of life is planted. If mother and father come
together, and it is the mother's period, but the 'being-to-be-born' is not
present, then again no germ of life is planted. If mother and
father come together, and it is the mother's period, and the 'being-to-bc-born'
is also present, then, by the combination of these three, a germ of life
is there planted."
Here Gandhabba (= gantabba) refers to a
suitable being ready to be born in that particular womb. This term is used
only in this particular connection, and must not be mistaken for a
permanent soul.
For a being to be born here a being must die
somewhere. The birth of a being corresponds to the death of a being in a
past life; just as, in conventional terms, the rising of the sun in one
place means the setting of the sun in another place.
The Buddha states:--"a first beginning of
beings who, obstructed by ignorance and fettered by craving, wander and
fare on, is not to be perceived."
This life-stream flows ad infinitum as
long as it is fed with the muddy waters of ignorance and craving. When
these two are completely cut off, then only does the life-stream cease to
flow; rebirth ends as in the case of Buddhas and Arahants. An ultimate
beginning of this life-stream cannot be determined, as a stage cannot be
perceived when this life force was not fraught with ignorance and craving.
The Buddha has here referred merely to the
beginning of the life-stream of living beings. It is left to scientists to
speculate on the origin and the evolution of the universe.
3) Whither?
is our third question.
Where goes man?
According to ancient materialism which, in Pāli
and Samskrit, is known as Lokāyata, man is annihilated after death,
leaving behind him any force generated by him. "Man is composed of four
elements. When man dies the earthy element returns and relapses into the
earth; the watery element returns into the water; the fiery element
returns into the fire; the airy element returns into the air, the senses
pass into space.
Wise and fools alike, when the body dissolves.
are cut off, perish, do not exist any longer. There is no other world.
Death is the end of all. This present world alone is real.
The so-called eternal heaven and hell are the
inventions of imposters.
[5]
Materialists believe only in what is
cognizable by the senses. As such matter alone is real. The ultimate
principles are the four elements -- earth, water, fire and air. The self
conscious life mysteriously springs forth from them, just as the genie
makes its appearance when Aladdin rubs his lamp. The brain secretes
thought just as liver secretes bile.
In the view of materialists the belief in the
other world, as Sri Radhakrishna states, "is a sign of mendaciousness,
feminism, weakness, cowardice and dishonesty."
According to Christianity there is no past for
man. The present is only a preparation for two eternities of heaven and
hell. Whether they are viewed as places or states man has for his future
endless felicity in heaven or endless suffering in hell. Man is therefore
not annihilated after death, but his essence goes to eternity.
"Whoever," as Schopenhaeur says, "regards
himself as having become out of nothing must also think that he will again
become nothing; or that an eternity has passed before he was, and then a
second eternity had begun, through which he will never cease to be, is a
monstrous thought."
The adherents of Hinduism who believe in a past
and present do not state that man is annihilated after death. Nor do they
say that man is eternalized after death. They believe in an endless series
of past and future births. In their opinion the life-stream of man flows
ad infinitum as long as it is propelled by the force of Kamma,
one's actions. In due course the essence of man may be reabsorbed into
Ultimate Reality (Paramātma) from which his soul emanated.
Buddhism believes in the present. With the
present as the basis it argues the past and future. Just as an electric
light is the outward manifestation of invisible electric energy even so
man is merely the outward manifestation of an invisible energy known as
Kamma. The bulb may break, and the light may be extinguished, but the
current remains and the light may be reproduced in another bulb. In the
same way the Kammic force remains undisturbed by the disintegration of the
physical body, and the passing away of the present consciousness leads to
the arising of a fresh one in another birth. Here the electric current is
like the Kammic force, and the bulb may be compared to the egg-cell
provided by the parents.
Past Kamma conditions the present birth; and
present Kamma, in combination with past Kamma, conditions the future. The
present is the offspring of the past, and becomes in turn the parent of
the future.
Death is therefore not the complete
annihilation of man, for though that particular life span ended, the force
which hitherto actuated it is not destroyed.
After death the life-flux of man continues
ad infinitum as long as it is fed with the waters of ignorance and
craving. In conventional terms man need not necessarily be born as a man
because humans are not the only living beings. Moreover, earth, an almost
insignificant speck in the universe, is not the only place in which he
will seek rebirth. He may be born in other habitable planes as well.
[6]
If man wishes to put and end to this repeated
series of births, he can do so as the Buddha and Arahants have done by
realizing Nibbāna, the complete cessation of all forms of craving.
Where does man go? He can go wherever he wills
or likes if he is fit for it. If, with no particular wish, he leaves his
path to be prepared by the course of events, he will go to the place or
state he fully deserves in accordance with his Kamma.
4) Why?
is our last question.
Why is man? Is there a purpose in life? This is
rather a controversial question.
What is the materialistic standpoint?
Scientists answer:-
"Has life purpose? What, or where, or when?
Out of space came Universe, came Sun,
Came Earth, came Life, came Man, and more must come.
But as to Purpose: whose or whence? Why, None."
As materialists confine themselves purely to
sense-data and the present material welfare ignoring all spiritual values,
they hold a view diametrically opposite to that of moralists. In their
opinion there is no purposer -- hence there cannot be a purpose.
Non-theists, to which category belong Buddhists as well, do not believe in
a creative purposer.
"Who colours wonderfully the peacocks, or who
makes the cuckoos coo so well?" This is one of the chief arguments of the
materialists to attribute everything to the natural order of things.
"Eat, drink, and be merry, for death comes to
all, closing our lives," appears to be the ethical ideal of their system.
In their opinion, as Sri Radhakrishna writes:-- Virtue is a delusion and
enjoyment is the only reality. Death is the end of life. Religion is a
foolish aberration, a mental disease. There was a distrust of everything
good, high, pure, and compassionate. The theory stands for sensualism and
selfishness and the gross affirmation of the loud will. There is no need
to control passion and instinct, since they are nature's legacy to men.
[7]"
Sarvadarsana Sangraha says:--
"While life is yours, live joyously,
None can escape Death's searching eye;
When once this frame of ours they burn,
How shall it e'er again return?
[8]"
"While life remains let a man live happily, let
him feed on ghee even though he runs in debt."
Now let us turn towards science to get a
solution to the question "why."
It should be noted that "science is a study of
things, a study of what is and that religion is a study of ideals, a study
of what should be."
Sir J. Arthur Thompson maintains that science
is incomplete because it cannot answer the question why.
Dealing with cosmic Purpose, Bertrand Russell
states three kinds of views -- theistic, pantheistic, and emergent. "The
first", he writes, "holds that God created the world and decreed the laws
of nature because he foresaw that in time some good would be evolved. In
this view purpose exists consciously in the mind of the Creator, who
remains external to His creation.
"In the 'pantheistic' form, God is not external
to the universe, but is merely the universe considered as a whole. There
cannot therefore be an act of creation, but there is a kind of creative
force in the universe, which causes it to develop according to a plan
which this creative force may be said to have had in mind throughout the
process.
"In the 'emergent' form the purpose is more
blind. At an earlier stage, nothing in the universe foresees a later
stage, but a kind of blind impulsion leads to those changes which bring
more developed forms into existence, so that, in some rather obscure
sense, the end is implicit in the beginning.
[9]"
We offer no comments. These are merely
the views of different religionists and great thinkers.
Whether there is a cosmic purpose or not a
question arises as to the usefulness of the tapeworm, snakes, mosquitoes
and so forth, and for the existence of rabies. How does one account for
the problem of evil? Are earthquakes, floods, pestilences, and wars
designed?
Expressing his own view about Cosmic Purpose,
Russell boldly declares:--"Why in any case, this glorification of man? How
about lions and tigers? They destroy fewer animals or human lives than we
do, and they are much more beautiful than we are. How about ants? They
manage the Corporate State much better than any Fascist. Would not a world
of nightingales and larks and deer be better than our human world of
cruelty and injustice and war?
The believers in cosmic purpose make much of
our supposed intelligence, but their writings make one doubt it. If
I were granted omnipotence, and millions of years to experiment in, I
should not think Man much to boast of as the final result of all my
efforts.
[10]"
What is the purpose of life according to
different religions?
According to Hinduism the purpose of life is
"to be one with Brahma" or "to be re-absorbed in the Divine Essence from
which his soul emanated."
According to Judaism, Christianity and Islam,
it is "to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever."
Will an average person of any religion be
prepared to give up his earthly life, to which he tenaciously clings, for
immortality in their ultimate havens of peace?
Very doubtful, indeed!
* * *
Now, how does Buddhism answer the question
"why?"
Buddhism denies the existence of a Creator. As
such from a Buddhist standpoint there cannot be a fore-ordained purpose.
Nor does Buddhism advocate fatalism, determinism, or pre-destination which
controls man's future independent of his free actions. In such a case
freewill becomes an absolute farce and life becomes purely
mechanistic.
To a large extent man's actions are more or
less mechanistic, being influenced by his own doings, upbringing,
environment and so forth. But to a certain extent man can exercise his
freewill. A person, for instance, falling from a cliff will be attracted
to the ground just as an inanimate stone would. In this case he cannot use
his freewill although he has a mind unlike the stone. If he were to climb
a cliff, he could certainly use his freewill and act as he likes. A stone,
on the contrary, is not free to do so of its own accord. Man has the power
to choose between right and wrong, good and bad. Man can either be hostile
or friendly to himself and others. It all depends on his mind and
its development.
Although there is no specific purpose in man's
existence, yet man is free to have some purpose in life.
What, therefore, is the purpose of life?
Ouspensky writes:--"Some say that the meaning
of life is in service, in the surrender of self, in self-sacrifice, in the
sacrifice of everything, even life itself. Others declare that the meaning
of life is in the delight of it, relieved against 'the expectation of the
final horror of death.' Some say that the meaning of life is in
perfection, and the creation of a better future beyond the grave, or in
future life for ourselves. Others say that the meaning of life is in
the approach to non-existence; still others, that the meaning of life is
in the perfection of the race, in the organization of life on earth; while
there are those who deny the possibility of even attempting to know its
meaning."
Criticising all these views the learned writer
says:--"The fault of all these explanations consists in the fact that they
all attempt to discover the meaning of life outside of itself, either in
the nature of humanity, or in some problematical existence beyond the
grave, or again in the evolution of the Ego throughout many successive
incarnations -- always in something outside of the present life of man.
But if instead of thus speculating about it, men would simply look within
themselves, then they would see that in reality the meaning of life is not
after all so obscure. It consists in knowledge.
[11]"
In the opinion of a Buddhist, the purpose of
life is Supreme Enlightenment (Sambodhi), i.e. understanding
of oneself as one really is. This may be achieved through sublime conduct,
mental culture, and penetrative insight; or in other words, through
service and perfection.
In service are included boundless
loving-kindness, compassion, and absolute selflessness which prompt man to
be of service to others. Perfection embraces absolute purity and absolute
wisdom.
--- The End ---
[1]
Ouspensky -- Tertium Organum p. 8.
[2] During the time
occupied by a flash of lightning billions and billions of thought-moments
may arise.
[3] Sir Charles
Sherrington – Life’s Unfolding, p. 32.
[4] Ouspensky --
Tertium Organum p. 125
[5] Sri Radhakrishna
-- Indian Philosophy. Vol. 1. p. 278.
[6] "There are about
1,000,000 planetary systems in the Milky Way in which life may exist." See
Fred Hoyle, The Nature of the Universe pp. 87-89.
[7] Indian
Philosophy Vol. I, p. 201.
[8] Indian
Philosophy Vol. I, p. 2.
[9] Bertrand
Russell, Religion and Science. p. 191.
[10] Bertrand
Russel, Religion and Science, p.221.
[11] Tertium
Organum, p. 192.
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