The Tree of Enlightenment

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less lives, combined with new actions performed in this life, and these two together result in rebirth and suffering. To summarize, we have the afflictions, which may be described as impurities of the mind – namely, ignorance, craving, and clinging. ese mental impurities result in actions – both actions done in previous lives, which result in the formation of habit energy, or volition, and actions done in the present life, which correspond to the component known as becoming and which are liable to conform to the patterns established in previous lives. Together, these impurities of the mind and these actions result in rebirth. In other words, they result in consciousness, in name and form, in the six sense spheres, in contact between the six senses and the objects of the six senses, in feeling, which is born of that contact, in birth, and in old age and death. In this interpretation, the five components of interdependent origination included in the groups of afflictions and actions – ignorance, craving, clinging, volition, and becoming – are the causes of rebirth and suffering. e other seven components – consciousness, name and form, the six sense spheres, contact, feeling, birth, and old age and death – are the effects of the afflictions and actions. Together, the afflictions and actions explain the origin of suffering and the particular circumstances in which each of us finds him- or herself, the circumstances in which we are born. You may recall that, in Chapter 8, I referred to the fact that, whereas the afflictions are common to all living beings, karma differs from person to person. In other words, although the afflictions account for the fact that all of us are prisoners within samsara, 124
our actions account for the fact that some are born as human beings, others as gods, and still others as animals. In this sense, the twelve components of interdependent origination present a picture of samsara with its causes and its effects. ere would be no point in painting this picture of samsara if we did not intend to use it to change our situation, to get out of the round of birth and death. Recognizing the circularity of samsara, the circularity of interdependent origination, is the beginning of liberation. How is this so? As long as afflictions and actions are present, rebirth and suffering will occur. When we see that ignorance, craving, clinging, and actions repeatedly lead to rebirth and suffering, we will recognize the need to break this vicious circle. Let us take a practical example. Suppose you are looking for the home of an acquaintance you have never visited before. Suppose you have been driving about for half an hour and have failed to find the home of your friend, and suppose suddenly you recognize a landmark and it dawns on you that you passed it half an hour ago. At that moment it will also dawn on you that you have been going around in circles, and you will stop and look at your road map, or inquire the way from a passerby so as to stop going around in circles and reach your destination. is is why the Buddha said that he who sees interdependent origination sees the Dharma, and he who sees the Dharma sees the Buddha. is is also why he said that understanding interdependent origination is the key to liberation. Once we see the functioning of interdependent origination, we can set about breaking its vicious circle. We can do this by removing the impurities of the mind – ignorance, craving, and clinging. Once these 125
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The Tree of Enlightenment Dr Peter
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CONTENTS About the Author..........
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Part ree he ajrayana Chapter Twenty
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out the uthor P eter Della Santina
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uthor’s ote F rom 1983 to 1985 wh
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ship. Finally, I want to thank all
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CHAPTER ONE uddhism: odern erspeiv
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mind, while in traditionally Buddhi
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is story illustrates the practical
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one’s own personal experience is
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e procedure adopted here is analyti
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transformation, whereas in Buddhism
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emained separate and distinct, but
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coveries at Mohenjo-daro and Harapp
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Whereas in the religion of the Indu
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look at some of the prominent facts
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Buddhism was a protest against, or
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CHAPTER THREE e ife of the uddha N
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inated by the correctives of renunc
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Siddhartha, being the faster runner
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permanently put an end to suffering
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CHAPTER FOUR e our oble ruths W ith
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the formula of the Four Noble Truth
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measures to remedy the disease. Suc
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lives often brings us into contact
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all right, but it would be still be
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as we take the tree stump to be a p
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ply because we have not experienced
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emedy the situation here and now, t
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earth, water, fire, and air, the su
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overly tight string produces an unp
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CHAPTER FIVE orality I n Chapter 4
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you will find that the basic rules
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In this context, right speech impli
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ever, some of the developments in r
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Very briefly, these are the origin,
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Page 76 and 77: ing the way we experience things an
Page 78 and 79: itself. Indeed, if you look at the
Page 80 and 81: Recognizing the value and importanc
Page 82 and 83: the mind on the object without dist
Page 84 and 85: CHAPTER SEVEN isdom W ith this chap
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Page 88 and 89: when you are sure you have understo
Page 90 and 91: will experience the happy effects o
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Page 94 and 95: of samsara, the cycle of birth and
Page 96 and 97: others are less fortunate, why some
Page 98 and 99: In the same way, according to the l
Page 100 and 101: Here we can see at work the princip
Page 102 and 103: Similarly, there are five alternati
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Page 106 and 107: CHAPTER NINE ebirth I n this chapte
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Page 110 and 111: death, we are reborn at every momen
Page 112 and 113: ey suffer from the human beings who
Page 114 and 115: ealms is undesirable. e three lower
Page 116 and 117: continue to circle endlessly among
Page 118 and 119: tinuity of cause and effect exists,
Page 120 and 121: On the basis of the Buddha’s own
Page 122 and 123: in this life result in rebirth in a
Page 126 and 127: impurities are eliminated, actions
Page 128 and 129: objective is admirably achieved thr
Page 130 and 131: can understand that fire is hot and
Page 132 and 133: is process of the constant change o
Page 134 and 135: emember the certainty of our own de
Page 136 and 137: their techniques of meditation and
Page 138 and 139: Although we know that certain thoug
Page 140 and 141: And when wisdom arises, we experien
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Page 144 and 145: to turn an indefinite experience in
Page 146 and 147: We discussed this in Chapter 11, wh
Page 148 and 149: CHAPTER THIRTEEN e undamentals in r
Page 150 and 151: art wo e ahayana
Page 152 and 153: to have taught innumerable living b
Page 154 and 155: dissemination of the Dharma. During
Page 156 and 157: school of realistic pluralism known
Page 158 and 159: is compassion for all living beings
Page 160 and 161: CHAPTER FIFTEEN e otus utra T he pe
Page 162 and 163: physician who has been away from ho
Page 164 and 165: Just as each plant benefits from ra
Page 166 and 167: nations of his children, the father
Page 168 and 169: But because our ambitions and aspir
Page 170 and 171: the Mahayana tradition. It is also
Page 172 and 173: e passage from wisdom to the perfec
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independent existence of things. On
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ory as well as to meditation. In th
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN e ankavatara utra
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speaks does not participate in thes
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and nirvana, both the phenomenal wo
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(1) the transcendental dimension is
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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN e hilosophy of the
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the sutras, and in the approach of
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It is interesting to note that thes
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far as cause and effect are identic
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say that perception is proved by it
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there’: they depend, rather, on t
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CHAPTER NINETEEN e hilosophy of ind
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opment of Buddhist thought. We all
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milk, but it would appear as nectar
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ern science. e atom as well as its
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the source of the phenomenalizing a
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to cause and effect, to samsara. e
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that the philosophy of emptiness wa
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Just as this was taking place withi
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ience suffused by great bliss. Whil
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it white, blue, or otherwise?’ Su
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the apparatus needed to produce a m
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE ahayana uddhism
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for the practice of unwholesome act
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mothers to you, should continue to
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dom. Similarly, without a concentra
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tary reassociation with fictitious
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ese three bodies or dimensions of B
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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO e rigins of the
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Let us spend a moment on the origin
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throughout India. Nagarjuna and Asa
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Asanga asked, ‘Where have you bee
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was also a professor at Nalanda. On
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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE hilosophical a
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y a magician using certain magical
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e object now appears to him without
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Mahayana both in its starting point
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR ethodology A s
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death, whereas nirvana is unconditi
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and nirvana is intellectual or dire
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us we can see that not only are obj
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lizes a variety of phenomena, and t
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE yth and ymbolis
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necklaces of severed heads, ornamen
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of knowledge in the Garden of Eden.
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alike, the name of a thing is a sou
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Red, which is the color of fire, is
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On the broadest level, we have been
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e idea of interpenetration is found
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the realm of the hell beings. It is
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sees no distinction between samsara
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ody of each individual person. ey a
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You can see how, in the Vajrayana t
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(4) death and impermanence, and (5)
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that these general preliminaries ar
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and others require alternative ritu
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of conditioned reality, they do not
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it is then the task of the practiti
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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT e ajrayana nit
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formation of the five aggregates in
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eserved for actually introducing th
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environment, the situation of the i
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initiation. ese methods or keys are
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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE ajrayana uddhis
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ties, and his achievement of Buddha
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the tutelary deity, in other words,
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and the sound of the mantra so that
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CHAPTER THIRTY n ntroduion to the b
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is said that when he returned to ea
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and so forth. is is the difference
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ontology, which means the study of
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ticularly interested here. ese are
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esponsibility because if the self i
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emained silent, and after a time Va
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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO ethodology I n t
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already have some intellectual acqu
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To arrive at the ultimate picture o
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these component parts do not exist
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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE nalysis of ons
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(lokiya) and are concerned with the
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ditioned by any of the three unwhol
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we have fifty-four types of conscio
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CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR e orm and ormle
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as evidence of the existence of a t
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‘striking,’ or ‘mounting.’
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formless-sphere absorption, which d
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CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE upramundane ons
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ness (the fruit consciousness of th
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consciousness, the fruit consciousn
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e clarity of that flash remains for
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX nalysis of ental
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to a particular object whereas atte
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e third group of unwholesome mental
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disassociated with knowledge, or as
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN nalysis of oug
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Heedlessness is the source of death
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ere are four types of physical thou
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sciousness, too, are either wholeso
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where he is. He stretches out his a
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ply have subjective and objective f
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porary thought about matter. Scient
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sciousness. is intermediate positio
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e only way we can avoid this plural
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existence, (12) repetition, (13) ka
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vious karma has an influence and se
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lar way identifiable in terms of th
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CHAPTER FORTY e irty-even aors of n
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Mindfulness with regard to the body
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Truths and in the destruction of th
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iver the eastern part and the other
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ment, equanimity is that integrated
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are the keys to self-development, a
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of right effort, right mindfulness,
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conditioned, relative, and empty na
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The Tree of Enlightenment

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