The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching Summary In your essays, I would like you to use at least two different peer reviewed sources to help substantiate your p

The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching Summary In your essays, I would like you to use at least two different peer reviewed sources to
help substantiate your points. One of the sources should come from one of the assigned
readings, and I would like at least one other source to come from outside our course
texts. There are some great resources out there to help you find appropriate peer
reviewed source material. One place to find some good journal articles is JSTOR
(www.jstor.org). short
essays of approximately 500 words (about 2 pages double spaced). chigaco stlye imbs”)
ents of the
se use your
Eightfold
CHAPTER NINE
Right View
The first practice of the Noble Eightfold Path is Right View
(samyag drishti). Right View is, first of all, a deep understand-
ing of the Four Noble Truths
— our suffering, the making of
our suffering, the fact that our suffering can be transformed,
and the path of transformation. The Buddha said that Right
View is to have faith and confidence that there are people
who have been able to transform their suffering. Venerable
Shariputra added that Right View is knowing which of the
four kinds of nutriments that we have ingested have brought
about what has come to be.
Shariputra described Right View as the ability to distin-
guish wholesome roots (kushala mula) from unwholesome
roots (akushala mula). In each of us, there are wholesome and
unwholesome roots – or seeds
in the depths of our con-
sciousness. If you are a loyal person, it is because the seed of
loyalty is in you. But don’t think that the seed of betrayal isn’t
also in you. If you live in an environment where your seed of
loyalty is watered, you will be a loyal person. But if your seed
of betrayal is watered, you may betray even those you love.
You’ll feel guilty about it, but if the seed of betrayal in you
becomes strong, you may do it.
The practice of mindfulness helps us identify all the seeds
in our store consciousness? and water the ones that are the
1
See chap. 7, pp. 31-37. See also Discourse on Right View, P.
269.
? See chap. 4, n. 1, on p. 12, for an explanation of store consciousness.
51
perception, ther
many occasions
THE HEART OF THE BUDDHA’S TEACHING
most wholesome. When one person comes up to us, the very
sight of him makes us uncomfortable. But when someone
else walks by, we like her right away. Something in each of
them touches a seed in us. If we love our mother deeply, but
feel tense every time we think of our father, it is natural that
when we see a young lady who looks like our
appreciate her, and when we see a man who evokes the
memory of our father, we will feel uncomfortable. In this
we can see the seeds that are in us —
mother and seeds of hurt vis-à-vis our father. When we be-
come aware of the seeds in our storehouse, we will not be sur-
prised by our own behavior or the behavior of others.
The seed of Buddhahood, the capacity to wake up and un-
derstand things as they are, is also present in each of us.
When we join our palms and bow to another person, we ac-
knowledge the seed of Buddhahood in him or her. When we
and that most
tions. We hav
sure?” Until we
vent us from ha
·mother, we will
way,
seeds of love for our
To perceive
that the objec
but that is no
moon is us. W
us, because sh
When we p
of our percep
the object of
sciousness in
sunshine, the
see our cons
If
you act in a
bow to a child this way, we help him or her grow up beauti-
fully and with self-confidence. If you plant corn, corn will
grow. If you plant wheat, wheat will
grow.
wholesome way, you will be happy. If you act in an unwhole-
some way, you water the seeds of craving, anger, and violence
in yourself. Right View is to recognize which seeds are whole-
some and to encourage those seeds to be watered. This is
called “selective touching.” We need to discuss and share
with each other to deepen
our understanding of this practice
and the practice of the Five Mindfulness Trainings, especially
the fifth, about the “foods” we ingest.
At the base of our views are our perceptions (samjña). In
Chinese, the upper part of the character for perception that is
“mark,” “sign,” or “appearance,” and the lower part is “mind”
or “spirit.” Perceptions always have a “mark,” and in many
cases that mark is illusory. The Buddha advised us not to be
fooled by what we perceive. He told Subhuti, “Where there is
sciousness. It
tion. To per
means the c
perceived. I
consciousne
the flower 1
ject without
tain the oth
The sou
our store C
will be ten
as a dog, a
sadness,
with then
3 See Thich Nhat Hanh, For a Future To Be Possible.
4 See Tv
taries on
5
See, e.g.
52
THE HEART OF THE BUDDHA’S TEACHING
percer
Cray-
mindf
–
dener. We have to lo
that are in us so th
View. The instrume
ful living
moment of our dat
perceptions and
from
At a peace rally
me,
“Are
you
was from the nort
munist, and if I ha
blame, condemn, or complain depending on our
tions. But our perceptions are made of our afflictions
ing, anger, ignorance, wrong views, and prejudice. Whether
we are happy or we suffer depends largely
on our percen
tions. It is important to look deeply at our
know their source.
We have an idea of happiness. We believe that only certain
conditions will make us happy. But it is often our very idea of
happiness that prevents us from being happy. We have to
look deeply into our perceptions in order to become free of
them. Then, what has been a perception becomes an insight,
a realization of the path. This is neither perception nor non-
perception. It is a clear vision, seeing things as they are.
Our happiness and the happiness of those around us de-
pend on our degree of Right View. Touching reality deeply
– knowing what is going on inside and outside of ourselves
is the way to liberate ourselves from the suffering that is
caused by wrong perceptions. Right View is not an ideology,
a system, or even a path. It is the insight we have into the re-
ality of life, a living insight that fills us with understanding,
peace, and love.
Sometimes we see our children doing things that we know
thought I was pre
Center.” I wante
counter the real
language of Zer
and he wanted
was walking bes
had bent down
time he looked
“What did you
only remain si
will cause them to suffer in the future, but when we try to tell
them, they won’t listen. All we can do is to stimulate the seeds
of Right View in them, and then later, in a difficult moment,
they may benefit from our guidance. We cannot explain an
orange to someone who has never tasted one. No matter how
well we describe it, we cannot give someone else the direct
experience. He has to taste it for himself. As soon as we say a
single word, he is already caught. Right View cannot be de-
scribed. We can only point in the correct direction. Right
View cannot even be transmitted by a teacher. A teacher can
behind you, yo
the reality, yo
words and ide
way you
live.
If you con
about Plum
You might s
really only
might be sl
been there
Village. Yo
When you
help us identify the seed of Right View that is already in our
garden, and help us have the confidence to practice, to en-
trust that seed to the soil of our daily life. But we are the
reality.
??
gar-
SS
54
ic
THE HEART OF THE BUDDHA’S TEACHING
The eight practices of the Noble Eightfold Path nourish
each other. As our view becomes more “right,” the other ele
ments of the Eightfold Path in us also deepen. Right Speech
is based on Right View, and it also nourishes Right View.
Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration strengthen and
deepen Right View. Right Action has to be based on Right
View. Right Livelihood clarifies Right View. Right View is
both a cause and an effect of all the other elements of the
path.
When Ri
(samyak sa
our think
our Righ
mind. Rig
Because
needed
Right
ing caus
to prac
thinkin
Minda
import
bring
again.
Wh.
that w
exist
RIGHT VIEW
the very
someone
each of
eeply,
but
tural that
er, we will
vokes the
n this way,
ve for our
en we be-
not be sur-
ers.
up and un
each of us.
son, we ac
. When we
perception, there is deception.”4 The Buddha also taught on
many occasions that most of our perceptions are erroneous,
and that most of our suffering comes from wrong percep-
tions. We have to ask ourselves again and again, “Am I
sure?” Until we see clearly, our wrong perceptions will
pre-
vent us from having Right View.
To perceive always means to perceive something. We believe
that the object of our perception is outside of the subject,
but that is not correct. When we perceive the moon, the
moon is us. When we smile to our friend, our friend is also
us, because she is the object of our perception.
When we perceive a mountain, the mountain is the object
of our perception. When we perceive the moon, the moon is
the object of our perception. When we say, “I can see my con-
sciousness in the flower,” it means we can see the cloud, the
sunshine, the earth, and the minerals in it. But how can we
see our consciousness in a flower? The flower is our con-
sciousness. It is the object of our perception. It is our percep-
tion. To perceive means to perceive something. Perception
means the coming into existence of the perceiver and the
perceived. The flower that we are looking at is part of our
consciousness. The idea that our consciousness is outside of
the flower has to be removed. It is impossible to have a sub-
ject without an object. It is impossible to remove one and re-
tain the other.
The source of our perception, our way of seeing, lies in
our store consciousness. If ten people look at a cloud, there
will be ten different perceptions of it. Whether it is perceived
as a dog, a hammer, or a coat depends on our mind
sadness
, our memories, our anger. Our perceptions carry
with them all the errors of subjectivity. Then we praise,
up beauti-
-, corn will
u act in a
7 unwhole
ad violence
are whole
ed. This is
and share
nis practice
, especially
– Our
samiña)
. In
otion this
is “mind”
d in many
4.
not to be
re there is
See Thich Nhat Hanh, The Diamond That Cuts through Illusion: Commen-
taries on the Prajñaparamita Diamond Sutra (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1992).
5 See, e.g., The Honeyball Sutra, Majjhima Nikaya 18.
53

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