A wise teacher, commenting on the "suttas" tells us:
"One of the points made in Sutta 9 is that the three-fold training is
a path. Ananda first speaks about training in
morality/ethics/precepts. After concluding his presentation of that
aspect of the three-fold training, Ananda says, "That is the division
of Airyan (Noble) morality which the Lord praised . . . But something
more remains to be done."
"The second step, concentration or meditation, is treated the same
way. After realizing the jhanas, 'something more remains to be done.'"
"The third step of the three-fold training is wisdom; and it is with
the realization of wisdom that one concludes one's journey. As
Ananda says, 'There is nothing further here.'"
"So the three-fold training is progressive, culminating in wisdom. It
is similar to the analogies I have used before. Someone studying
music might first learn about scales, then about harmony, then about
counterpoint. Someone learning baseball might first learn how to
swing a bat, then how to catch a ball, then how to play the whole
game."
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sutrasalon/message/1183
But of course, things don't stop there.
For one thing the three fold training has to be iterative. For another thing, even though one attains personal wisdom that is not enough to end suffering. The wisdom has to be applied to the real world. And that is why the Lotus Sutra and other Mahayana sutras were preached. Ananda and Shariputra are told in those Sutras that "Wisdom" is not enough. That there is indeed something further. And that is the path of "Bodhisattva" opening a Wisdom that can not only save oneself, but help others. It is not enough to receive wisdom, that wisdom has to be transmitted.
And of course the critique opened here has a logic which if followed tells us that Buddhism cannot remain in the Monastery. That it has to get out in the real world. Buddhists must learn from other religions that religion is not about seeking intermediaries between oneself and the divine or seeking a selfish enlightenment. It is meant to inform a life of compassion, honor and purity.
I remember learning about the six perfections which enable one to become a buddha. These are generosity, precepts, patience, effort, meditation, and wisdom. I later saw how these all match the eightfold path -
right view - wisdom
right intention - generosity and patience
right speech, action, livelihood: precepts
right effort - effort
right mindfulness and right meditation - meditation
and of course these can all be boiled down to precepts, meditation and wisdom.
I later learned that these six perfections were derived from the qualities perfected by the Buddha before he became the Buddha according to the Jataka Tales - a non-Mahayana work.
Then I learned that Mahayana Buddhism had actually added four more perfections to go with these six:
skillful means
vows
power
knowledge
These four were much more explicitly Mahayana in orientation because they show that beyond the wisdom of liberation from birth and death one must cultivate skillful means to teach others, vow to do so, gain the power to do so, and attain a knowledge that doesn't just look for a way out of the world but shows how to deal with the world and actually overcomes the duality between "this shore" and the "other shore". It might be good for these four to be given more discussion. Robert Aitken wrote a book about them called The Practice of Perfection if I remember right.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
Thank you Mike. I'm working up to an explanation of how Buddhists should consider teaching and studying Buddhism using the context of the three main religions; "Christianity", "Judaism", and "Islam" by recognizing the importance of skillfulness and the "Lifespan of the Buddha."
And the key to understanding this is to recognize that "higher" religious teaching is a matter as much of perspective as it is of the forms used. We learn by "seeing" things from different perspectives. And we have to discipline ourselves to be able to receive and transmit those perspectives in an undistorted manner. The method of "discipline" isn't as important as that one pass through it. Like learning to fly.
Posted by: Chris at October 6, 2004 05:09 PM