The
Concept of Personality Revealed
Through The Pancanikaya
Ven.
Thich Chon-Thien
Institute of Buddhist Studies
Saigon, Vietnam, 1995
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Part Five: Conclusion
V.1
Chapter 1
A New
Course of Education and Culture
-ooOoo-
From Lord Buddha’s teachings recorded in
the five collections of Paøli Suttapitaka, the author has discussed the
doctrine of Dependent Origination and its operation, the five Aggregates
and their operation, and Buddhist spirits of education for Individuals. He
has introduced a human being as a conditioned being, and has not come to
any personality theory in which a man is regarded as an entity having a
permanent self. This is, to his best knowledge, a special feature very
helpful to personality theorists and educators of the coming century in
opening a new course of culture and education for human beings’ peace and
happiness
It is time for them to make a choice
between these two things: one is considering self-thought way of thinking
as the basis on which all values in life are based, and considering the
fulfilment of one’s desire as a means to one’s happiness; the other is
developing non-self way of thinking as the wisdom regard showing a way of
life, and accepting the control of one’s desire as a means to one’s
happiness in the here-and-now, regardless of all difficulties one may meet
with in life. The former has brought to life a lot of troubles and crises;
only the latter is a belief and a hope of releasing those social troubles
and crises. This is the content mentioned in the fifth part of this work.
The truth of life, as discussed, says
that:
A man must be a man of some education and
culture, and an education or culture must be education or culture of man.
They cannot be separated from each other.
Lord Buddha’s teachings for human beings
on what the world really is, what a man really is, on individuals’
problems, their causes, their cessation, their way to their cessation, and
on spirits of individualized education, really imply the meaning of a way
of education which is going to be showed more clearly in the next lines.
V.1.1 NEW COURSE OF
EDUCATION
Now, let us take a look into the following
points of view on education suggested by some outstanding persons before
coming to a discussion about the details of the educational problem.
Dr. E.F Schumacher, the well-known author
of a very interesting book tittled "Small is Beautiful" wrote:
" Education can help us only if it
produces "whole men". The truly educated man is not a man who knows a
bit of everything, not even the man who knows all the details of all
subjects (if such a thing were possible). The "whole man", in fact, may
have little detailed knowledge of facts and theories, he may treasure
the Encyclopaedia Britanica because"she knows and he needn’t", but he
will be truly in touch with the centre. He will not be in doubt about
his basic convictions, about his view on the meaning and purpose of his
life. He may not be able to explain these matters in words, but the
conduct of his life will show a certain sureness of touch which stems
from his inner clarity". (1)
Dr. E.F. Schumacher defined the word
"centre" in the above quotation as follows:
" The centre, obviously is the place
where he has to create for himself an orderly system of ideas about
himself and the world, which can regulate the direction of his various
strivings." (2)
For him, the root purpose of education
must be helping a man understand the truth of himself and the world he is
living in, see his course of life, and be responsible for his deeds.
Although he cannot say what that truth is, but his words sound very
humanist and pratical. His point of view on education deserves to be
considered.
As a very well-known economist, journalist
and progresssive entrepreneur, an Economic Adviser to the National Coal
Board from 1950 to 1970, in England, a Founder and Chairman of the
Intermediate Technology Development Group Ltd., etc., his advice on
problems of rural development praised by many overseas governments, his
above mentioned book printed 34 times from 1963 to 1993, his ideas must be
thoughtful, especially ideas on man, economy and environment. (3)
For Albert Einstein who is one of the
greatest scientists of our modern age, he delivered some other special
opinions on education which runs as follows:
" The school has always been the most
important means of trans-fering the wealth of tradition from one
generation to the next..."
" Sometimes one sees in the school
simply the instrument for transfering a certain maximum quantity
knowledge to the growing generation. But that is not right. Knowledge is
dead; the school, however, serves the living. It should develop in the
young individuals those qualities and capabilities which are of value
for the welfare of the commonwealth. But that does not mean that
individuality should be destroyed and the individual become a mere tool
of the community, like a bee or an ant. For a community of standardized
individuals without personal originality and personal aims would be a
poor community without possibilities for development. On the contrary,
the aim must be the training of independently acting and thinking
individuals, who, however, see in the service of the community their
highest life problem..." (4)
And he added:
"It is not enough to teach man a
specialty. Through it he may become a kind of useful machine but not a
harmoniously developed personality. It is essential that the student
acquires anunderstanding of a lively feeling for values... He must learn
to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their
sufferings in order to acquire a proper relationship to individual
fellow-men and to the community.
(5)
So, Einstein supposes education has a role
of maintaining the wealth of tradition, but he doesn’t emphasize the role
of developing it, and choosing which of the traditions should be
maintained, which of it should be reconsidered, because the root purpose
of life is to live in happiness but not exactly to live with tradition.
He also supposes education has a role of
educating men to be a man of power-or a social man with specialized
knowledges; and a man himself who must know the wholeness of himself, his
illusion and suffering..., and his community. This sounds very
interesting, although it cannot say what a man himself really is.
As a very outstanding scientist,
Einstein’s seeing things is so scientific and seeing human beings is so
realistic that it should be brought into practice. His opinions on
education, to the author, may suggest a good course of education.
For Bertrand Russel, a very well-known U.S
writer and thinker of the second part of the twentieth century A.D.,
mentioning the problem of "Education and social order", he wrote:
"Three divergent theories of education
all have their advocates in the present day. Of these the first
considers that the sole purpose of education is toprovide opportunities
of growth and to remove hampering influences. The second holds that the
purpose of education is to give culture to the individual and to develop
his capacities to the utmost. The third holds that education is to be
considered rather in relation to the community than in relation to the
individual, and that its business is to train useful citizens..."
(6)
Russel’s speech reflects rather faithfully
what education of today is. His view is "no one of the three is a adequate
by itself", and a right system of education must apply all the above three
theories.But all those three theories still lack of the most important
thing which is the truth of a man and the true way to his happiness in the
present. In principle, providing opportunities for the growth of
individuals, and helping a man develop his capacities to the utmost are
very necessary to every good course of education. For the problem of
training useful citizens, it should be noticed that a citizen, or a social
man, must come after a man himself; without a man himself, a citizen can
never be trained. So, here emerges a significant realization that the
truth of the world and of human beings Lord Buddha Gotama discovered
twenty six centuries ago is an invaluable discovery for men’s new
education and culture if it is to be brought today into schools for use.
It must be known as a way of life bringing peace and happiness for
individuals as well as for their commonwealth, and must be regarded as a
major subject of philosophy, psychology, and educational psychology. This
new branch of education will offer people a new regard to values and
attitude of life leading to the calm of desire and ill-will, and to the
destruction of wrong perception and thought. This branch of education will
help individuals analyse their own mind, behaviour and trouble to find the
right way to live: they will come to recognize that happiness does not ask
them to do anything more than stopping their desires, and that the very
present moment of the here-and-now is when they really are free from
troubles, because it always is completely new. At that wonderful moment,
no one, or no power, puts any trouble into their mind. However, to abide
in that moment a person should know how to control his self-thought and
desire by the insistent practice of wisdom regard and of the four
foundations of mindfulness. Here he only needs guidance, advice,
encouragement, and wakefulness from his teacher and others. This means a
helping role of education is needed, but not command, force or power;
school discipline is still maintained for providing appropriate atmosphere
for learning and opportunities for the development of individuals’ mind
and capacities; and the content of teaching aims at transferring
knowledges for understanding and cultivating individuals’ mind, and for
the service society in response to the commonwealth-requirements of
safety, peace and prosperity. Methods of teaching are also demanded for
wakefulness rather than stuffing with senseless notions.
With regard to the above way of education,
the appraisal of learning skill of a student, award, punishment, exams,
etc., must be reconsidered according to the new course of education.
In the author’s opinion, if the above
things are adopted, a way of education for the wholeness of man, humanness
and wisdom will come into existence and survive. Because the truth of life
and man wears no label, so this way of education will wear no label
either. Since it wears no label, it may be a way of education for all
people of all time. Because a man is but the operation of the five
aggregates, so no image of personality is created for any pattern of
education to be followed: for individuals, the meaning of life is to live
with what he is in the very present moment without attachment to it: in
doing this they will realize peace and happiness in their mind and body;
the meaning of life is not anything of thinking or wishing: thinking or
wishing only creates an image of life which is dead. Since individuals are
strongly influenced by their old kamma, or old habits, by environment and
by culture, so education has another role of helping them see what
influences are hindering their mind, obsessing them, from seeing the five
aggregates as they really are, to get rid of them.
If the performance of all above
requirements is done, that way of education is then regarded as education
of humanness, reality, wisdom and creativeness. This is the meaning of a
new course of education.
V.1.2 NEW COURSE OF
CULTURE
From a new course of education, a new
course of culture originates.
As quoted in (V.1.1), Albert Einstein, a
creative scientist, thinks that Education plays a role of maintaining,
transferring and developing culture from generation to generation. This
culture is defined by The Random House College Dictionary as, "The sum
total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings transmitted
from one generation to another" In the author’s mind, it may be understood
as all aspects of life of a group of human beings made up by education and
its creative works to cope suitably with nature and to be improved on.
Regarding this meaning, a new course of culture is discussed.
As mentioned before, the current culture
of human beings is dominated by self-thought which has created the meaning
of goodness, badness, gain and loss, success and failure; superiority and
inferiority, etc. These meanings appear in life as a strong worldly wind
that makes men’s life-boat rock in the ocean of suffering: it is those
meanings which act upon men’s mind and cause troubles to arise; these
troubles, in their turn, hinder men’s regard to things from truth, and
pull off their mind from abiding in the very present moment, and so pull
off men from true life - besause true life only exists in the present.
That self-thought makes arise in one’s
mind perception of "I am", "I am this" "I am that", "I am not this", "I’m
not that", "I was", "I was this", "I wasn’t this", "I was that", "I wasn’t
that", "I will be". "I will be this", "I will be that"..., "May I be",
"May I be this", "May I be that", etc. These perceptions therefore are
root causes of craving for sensual desire, craving for existence,
cravingfor non-existence, hatred, anger, etc. They lead men to sorrow,
lamentation, grief, suffering. Such is the operation of self-thought.
Regarding the doctrine of Dependent
Origination, self-thought means ignorance (avijja), and its operation
really is the operation of ignorance: this is the arising of Dependent
Origination leading to suffering, and is the truth of this current
culture. Self-thought, therefore, exists as what determines the fateful
suffering of human beings. If all efforts of those who are searching for
happiness are based on self-thought, happiness will always be out of their
reach. Such is the current culture.
In fact, all efforts of human beings to
build up a culture aim at true happiness as the final purpose of life. So,
to achieve that intimate purpose, self-thought or ignorance must be
replaced by the destruction of ignorance, or wisdom (vijja or pannaaø):
all actions of human beings must be put into the operation of non-self
thought as what Buddha taught. This operation will open a new culture or a
new course of culture leading to the destruction of suffering. Here is
happiness.
Non-self thought will function as an
intelligent architect who ardently constructs new aspects of life, such
as:
* The most important aspect of life,
called the most important architectural work, is love for life: love for
human kind, for a country, for parents, for husband or wife, for children,
relatives, neighbors, etc. This love led by wisdom (right view and right
thought) comes from one’sseeing the truth of selflessness of existing
things. It can extinguish a lot of causes of suffering in life.
* The next architectural work is giving
the true sense to "loyalty" and "justice": morals group, or right speech,
right action and right livelihood, is the giver of the sense. If a person
practises right speech, right action and right livelihood, he must go on
the way of "loyalty" and "justice" faithfully: right action implies the
meaning of "justice" right speech means "loyalty" and so on.
* Morals group itself means morality and
humanity.
* Non-self thought leading to happiness
shows that: happiness of individuals, the commonwealth and the culture,
tradition of a country are two separate things: in the case culture and
tradition cannot bring happiness to individuals and the commonwealth, they
must be revaluated and improved.
* Non-self thought helps people see the
co-existence of human beings and environment so that they come to protect
environment from pollution and human beings from war. Tragedies and
sufferings.
* Non-self thought will open a way of
thinking for men, creating new concepts of value for the beauty,
architecture, painting, etc.; serving happiness of men.
* All the above new aspects of life will
make up a new culture, or new course of culture, for peace and happiness.
* The world is in serious crises: social
crisis and environmental crisis. If the course of culture is not changed,
those crises cannot be resolved, and human beings will be drowned in that
ocean of crises. It is time for the world to make a choice between the
operation of self-thought and that of non-self thought. The writer’s
belief in the latter is clear. It will be shown next.
V.2
Chapter 2
Solutions
for Current Crises
-ooOoo-
Men's thought is the root
cause of their actions. Their wrong thoughts condition wrong actions which
cause troubles and crises in individuals' mind and in human society, then
series of troubles and crises arise and arise... The search for solutions
for them become more and more complicated. However, with a great
determination, the writer believes, human beings can resolve all by
changing the direction of the operation of their thoughts.
V.2.1.
SOLUTION FOR "THOUGHT CRISIS"
The most basic crisis of
individuals and society is the crisis of individual's thought itself.
From the old days men's
thought has been regarded as the measure of existing things: It gives
value to everything. It has been used as the crucial means for the search
for truth and happiness. But, it is this which creates an imaginative self
for things, while they have in reality no self at all. From this, men's
thought creates a world of imaginative values full of contradictions and
troubles. The more human beings engage in this imaginative world, the more
they sink in the darkness of thought and in a crisiscalled "thought
crisis".
With self-thought, people
see things as having a permanent self and grasp it. This seeing is called
"inversion of view" which hinders their mind from reality itself. So, the
way to resolve the above crisis is coming out of their "inversion of view"
or coming into "right view" which sees the truth of Dependent Origination
existing in everything. In seeing this, people come to realize that:
self-thought is empty; desire is coming from self-thought; the phenomenal
world of selfness is empty; and desire, ill-will or illusion relating to
that world also is empty: they become free from the bondage of them. This
is solution for "thought-crisis" people are expecting.
No mystery exists in men's
desire, suffering or happiness, etc. except their self-thought. The
extinction of self-thought is the extinction of "thought crisis" indeed.
V.2.1. SOLUTION FOR "DESIRE CRISIS"
Self-thought also causes
another crisis: from it, desire for things arises and causes troubles in
man's mind as the author discussed in (II.1.2) of this work. A human being
exits in life as a thirsty man in the open sea drinking salty water. The
more he drinks, the more he becomes thirsty and wants to drink again.
Drinking salty water is not the solution for the thirsty man. It is the
same for a man in life: desiring for senses and things is not the solution
for his suffering. This is called "desire crisis", or the "inversion of
mind".
Falling into that
"inversion", people often do not have any choice other than continuing
desiring: their desirebecomes so strong that it is understood as the real
meaning of life, therefore they see no way out. The Buddhist doctrine of
Dependent Origination (Paticcasamuppàda), of the five aggregates
(Pancakkhandhà), and of the Four Noble Truths (Cattàri Aryasaccàni) say
the same thing: "desire is the cause of suffering", and the way out is the
way of ceasing men's desire as the author discussed in (IV.1.5) and
(IV.2.1)
So, if self-thought
ceases, "desire crisis" ceases; if non-self thought operates, "desire
crisis" will come to destruction. This is the solution for "desire
crisis".
In addition to the above
crises, some other crises are present by the presence of self-thought as
showed next.
V.2.1.
SOLUTION FOR "HEART CRISIS"
Self-thought tends to give
a permanent nature to every existing thing. To the love for parents, it
gives a name called "filial piety", and defines it as duties done by a
daughter or son toward her/his parents. If these duties are not performed
by her/him, she/he does not deserve being a human being. Such is the
meaning of "filial piety" suggested by Confucianists.
To the love for a country,
it gives another name called "loyalty", and defines it as duties done by a
citizen for her/his country or her/his King. If these duties are not
realized by her/him, she/he is understood as "unfaithful citizen" who does
not deserve being in life. Such is the sense of "loyalty" suggested by
Confucianists.
To the love for a
sweatheart, it gives a name called"Love", and defines it as an intimate
relationship which requires some duties done for each other. If either a
husband or wife is unfaithful to the other by any reason, she or he is
known as the evil one who does not deserve to exist in life. Such is the
meaning given to "Love" by Confucianists.
However, life is very
complicated, people sometimes meet with situations in which they can do
their duty either for their parents, or for their country/king, or just
for their husband/wife; in these cases they will be either "unfilial", or
"unfaithful", or "unloyal" and will be too suffering to make a choice, and
too suffering to survive. These are tragedic cases caused by the
conception of "filiality", of "loyalty" and of "faithfulness" created by
self-thought.
So, in those cases - many
cases happened in the history of the Chinese and Vietnamese the story of
"Le Cid" in French literature also is a typical one - people should follow
the call of their beautiful heart, but not the call of imaginative
conceptions. No choice deserves to be made here, because it actually is
full of tears. This is called a "heart crisis" caused by self-thought.
With regard to non-self
thought, "filiality", "loyalty" or "love" is conditioned and selfless; it
must be redefined in an "open sense" how to be very human and very helpful
to individuals and their happiness in the present.
In addition to the above
cases, some customs, some social laws, or some disciplines in schools
which may bring tears to men should be revaluated too for happiness
ofindividuals as human beings.
V.2.1.
SOLUTION FOR "EMOTIONAL CRISIS"
"Heart crisis" mentioned
above is caused by reasons outside of man. There exists another aspect of
"heart crisis" caused by reasons inside of man, by sentimental habitude
which is called"emotional crisis". This crisis operates in the following
manner:
- The current culture
created by self-thought strongly influences men's mind: thinking,
sensing, feeling,... It becomes so intimate to men that it is regarded
as reality: people cannot abandon it, or part of it, even when they do
realize it is wrong, or it is suffering, and do realize that there is a
better way of life led by non-self thought. This event is known as an
"emotional inversion" or "emotional crisis".
- All values created by
that culture also become very close to men although they may bring tears
to them very often because of their inversive qualities. But people
prefer being with them to being with the new.
- The old way of
education is imperfect, but it's very difficult for people to think of a
new way and to realize a new way. This happens owing to men's "emotional
inversion" etc.
- In the case of a
religious a non-Buddhist man, even when he realizes the truth of life,
which is different from what he has believed in, he cannot leave his
belief for that truth: this also means "emotional inversion".
The above "emotional
crisis" seems simple but really is a dangerous hindrance of one's mind.
The solution for it must be the practising again and again one's regard of
wisdom to have new emotion replacing the old.
V.2.1.
SOLUTION FOR "MORALITY CRISIS"
Morality is also a value
of life created by man's thinking or self-thought. It is understood as the
"should do's'' and the "should not do's" for an individual, for his
family, community and country which really are the production of man's
thinking. So, when "thought crisis" appears, "morality crisis" comes into
existence.
"Heart crisis" as
mentioned is something of morality, something relating to morality; when
"heart crisis" is present, "morality crisis" must exist.
In another aspect of human
society, morality is known as the relationship among human beings in a
society; when the sphere of economy is developed fast, that relationship
must be changed out of one's mind. It is the same, when the policy, or the
sphere of politics, in a society is changed, the relationship among men
cannot remain as what it is. This causes a "morality crisis".
If people follow Lord
Buddha's teachings on the Eightfold Noble Paths, and consider "morals
group" (including right speech, right action and right livelihood) as
morality on life, there will never be any "morality crisis" regardless of
the change of life. This is a right solution for it.
Morals group is a way of
life wearing no label. It does not have any meaning of any religion at
all, so itmay be applied in schools for students without any
discrimination.
Is it right time for
education to accept "morals group" as morality of modern schools ?
V.2.1.
SOLUTION FOR "ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS"
Environmental crisis is a
hot problem people over the world are concerned much about.
As the author mentioned in
(II.2.3), environmental crisis is environmental pollutions caused by
ionising radiation, nuclear fission, natural dusts, forest fires,
transportation, incineration and other minor sources. This is the result
of the fast industrial development, as said in the beginning of this work,
which is very harmful; it also is the result of the lack of responsibility
toward environment of people which may bring mass-destruction to human
beings in a very near future. So the protection of environment should be
done as early as possible. For protection, a philosophy and a way of
education for environment are needed to arrange lots of things as follows:
Educating men to recognize
the close relationship between human beings and nature by the doctrine of
Dependent Origination or/and the five aggregates, so that they themselves
may voluntarily protect environment.
Explaining to men the
terrible dangers caused by pollutions.
Showing that men's desire
for advantages and powerscan cause suffering to people.
Suggesting what to do for
environmental protection.
Such a philosophy and
education, as the author has displayed through out this work, may be found
from the doctrine of Dependent Origination and/or the five aggregates.
This is solution for "environmental crisis" and for the safety of life on
earth.
V.2.1.
SOLUTION FOR "EDUCATIONAL CRISIS"
It is very evident that
all the above crises are present because of the presence of a cause called
"educational crisis".
If education is not based
on a right concept of personality created by a regard of wisdom, it will
lead to a wrong course of transferring empty knowledges and unsuitable
things of education to students, and will bring sufferings to life.
Dominated by self-thought and self-perception, all standards of value in
this education can only create an imaginative world for men to live, but
not reality itself. What can people expect from this world if not a
fateful loss of hope ? What can people expect from economy, politics,
competition,..., together with desires, ill-will, illusion, hatred, etc.
if not building up on Earth a colossal market for goods, weapons of mass
destruction, etc. bringing harms and fears ?
If education is based on
non-self thought regarding a man as a compounded thing of depend
Origination or the five aggregates, but not an entity, education will find
a right way for "what to educate" and "how to educate" men: the role of
education then is helping persons see what they really are, what the world
really is, and get rid of all causes of troubles and sufferings from them
for happiness in the here-and-now. This is a positive solution for
"educational crisis".
The above are current
crises of human society and solutions for them
The history of human kind
shows that self-thought of dualism has dominated human culture on Earth
over thirty centuries, but the suffering of birth, sickness, old-age, and
death caused by men's attachment and craving are still there,
contradictions, fights, despairs, harms and fears of human beings more and
more increase without solution. What can human beings expect from that way
of culture ?
Lord Buddha's teachings
recorded in Pàli pancanikàya suggest a new way of thought of non-self
which is different from the point of view of other religions and
philosophies. This way of thought does not regard a human being or the
world as an entity having a permanent substance, but as a conditioned and
conditioning thing, it may bring human beings happiness in the present and
interesting solutions if it is applied in actual life. These teachings may
be used in modern schools and universities as a major subject of a study
branch of philosophy; educational philosophy, educational psychology,
educational psychotherapy, or personality theory. Why not? -This way of
thought, or regard to things, will helpeducation adjust personality
theories which are unreal, adjust the educational spirit of competition
which harms the spirit of co-operation; it will help students develop
independent thought and creativeness, and effectively deal with their
problems and troubles in daily life; lastly, it will suggest a standard of
value based on happiness of individuals and the commonwealth but not on
morality, based on wisdom but not on imaginative knowledge, based on human
love and humanness but not on hatred or fighting; etc.
This is the reason why the
author chose the topic entitled "Concept of personality revealed through
Pancanikàya" as his Ph. D. thesis in Buddhist Studies. In choosing this
topic, he realizes the difficulties in presenting Buddhist doctrine as a
way of life and education for worldly people, and the difficulties in
persuading others to accept that way. But, difficulty does not mean
impossibility, so he comes to persuade himself to proceed with this
research work by his belief in the condition of possibility. Let the work
be tested, he thinks. What should come will come.
REFERENCES:
(1) : E. F. Schumacher,
"Small is Beautiful" An Abacus book, Little Brown an Company (UK),
Limited, London, 1993, p.77.
(2) : Ibid. p.78.
(3) : Introduction of "Small is Beautiful".. by the Publishing house.
(4) : Albert Einstein, "Ideas and Opinions" Crown Publishers Inc., 1954,
11th impression, 1993, p.60.
(5) : Ibid., p.66.
(6) : Bertrand Russell, "Education and the Social Order"
unwinpaperbacks, London, Sydney Wellington, Printed in Great Britain by
Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading, Reprinted 1988, p.21.
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Contents| Part 1
| Part 2 | Part 3
| Part 4 | Part 5
| Biography
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