Night and Morning with Bhikkhu Tissa

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Gene: What I’m afraid of, I guess, is that I’m not really capable of doing good work, in a Buddhist sense atleast. I’m just worried by the passage of time and my own inability to get meaning out of the moments as theypass by. I need wisdom but I don’t have it.Bhikkhu Tissa: I’m afraid I can’t entirely sympathize with your gloom. It sounds to me as though you hadan edifying birthday and then a most fortunate visit from a dragonfly.Gene: But both have upset me, in fact.Bhikkhu Tissa: Yes. Do you think a man who dozes his way comfortably through life would ever find anydeep truth, let alone enlightenment?Gene: No, I suppose not.Bhikkhu Tissa: Given that the world is so changeable, could a careless, complacent person really be happyfor very long?Gene: No, probably not.Bhikkhu Tissa: So I congratulate you on your dissatisfaction! If you turn it into skillful action it may bringwonderful results.Gene: To tell the truth, I doubt that I have the necessary energy or perseverance.Bhikkhu Tissa: That’s like doubting you can swim across a river you have never seen or climb a hill youhave only heard about. It’s better to concentrate on the present. Now then, you said you thought of yourself asa Buddhist. Why is that?Gene: Because Buddhism offers the best and clearest explanation of life that I’ve ever heard.Bhikkhu Tissa: You admire it, then?Gene: Oh, more than admire it. My experience is quite limited, but still I feel that the Buddha has reallyshown the healthiest, wisest, most inspiring path.Bhikkhu Tissa: What is the purpose of a path?Gene: Ah…. To lead somewhere. To provide a means of traveling to some place.Bhikkhu Tissa: Should the traveler on a path concern himself with what is out of sight, around a curve?Gene: Well, he might think about it, but he should pay most attention to where his feet are at the moment.Bhikkhu Tissa: Could it be you’re getting ahead of yourself with your worries?Gene: That’s possible, venerable. But I see trouble in every direction. It seems my feet are sunk pretty deepin the mud.Bhikkhu Tissa: Oh, perhaps not so deep, Gene. You did, after all, exercise yourself in order to get here thisevening.Gene: And I’m probably wasting your time with my complaining. Whether it’s real weakness or just lackof confidence, I find myself wondering if I can really make progress, if a truly Buddhist life is possible for me.And I’m thinking—this is something else that’s been on my mind—that maybe I should lead a more energeticlife, take up some more hobbies. Maybe that would give me more of a sense of meaning. Maybe I should startthinking about getting married and having a family, getting more serious about my career. I have to live inthis world so maybe I should learn to live in it as it is and make the best of it. What do you think?Bhikkhu Tissa: Certainly we ought to make the best of our life and exercise our strengths in the best way.But first we need to know what exactly we have to work with. In Buddhism we try not to take things forgranted. We try to examine all preconceptions. For example, what is this world after all? The Buddha says thatin this fathom-long body with its perceptions and thoughts there is the world and the world’s origin and theworld’s end and the way to the world’s end. It’s all right here! Also he says that the “all” is only the eye andvisible forms, the ear and sounds, the nose and smells, the tongue and tastes, the body and tangibleimpressions, and the mind and mental objects.Gene: But then is the world just some kind of illusion?4
Bhikkhu Tissa: This world is a put-together thing that depends on conditions, and we should try tounderstand it in order to remove suffering and attain peace. I don’t mean we have to torment ourselves withspeculations about ultimate reality or unreality. What matters is understanding our experience as it happens,as it presents itself to us right in the present moment. The world we live in and need to understand is,according to Buddhism, not a permanent entity but only the built-up result of innumerable conditions, whichwe are aware of through the functioning of our senses. Light falls on the eye, or sound on the ear, andconsciousness occurs. Out of the many operations of our senses there comes to be our idea of the world.Gene: This world—I’m sure you’d agree—is full of all kinds of danger and suffering. I don’t see, in myown case, much hope of avoiding all of it, so I wonder if I couldn’t be more energetic and make better use ofmy time, so that at least I could have more real enjoyment from the world in order to make up for the pain.Perhaps just sitting around and thinking too much is unhealthy. Activity is a good thing, isn’t it?Bhikkhu Tissa: It depends on the quality of the activity. Conscious, wholesome deeds will certainly bringyou benefit. But do you really think that just being absorbed in activities, even pleasant or amusing or goodones, will free your mind from worry about the impermanence of life? Will dragonflies no longer upset you orinspire you?Gene (sighing): That I don’t know.Bhikkhu Tissa: If the idea of impermanence has occurred to you, and if you are concerned about thepassage of time and the need you feel for meaning, you have already made progress in the Dhamma, thetruths made known by the Buddha.Gene: Very little progress, it seems!Bhikkhu Tissa: Now then, to go further it’s necessary to return to primary matters.Gene: I don’t understand.Bhikkhu Tissa: What does the Buddha teach first and return to again and again? The Buddha’s teachings,in all their vastness and complexity, are all directed toward one goal. What would you say that is?Gene: I would say, it must be the overcoming of suffering. Yes, suffering is the basic fact.Bhikkhu Tissa: Yes, that’s right. We mustn’t lose sight of that. The Buddha, you know, would not answerpurely speculative and metaphysical questions, because they are not useful in the great matter of doing awaywith dukkha, or pain, suffering, unsatisfactoriness. You are aware of this dukkha, I’m sure, or you wouldn’tvisit here or call yourself a Buddhist.Gene: That’s true. I’m just afraid I’m not prepared to make a direct assault, as it were, on this problem ofsuffering.Bhikkhu Tissa: The problem of suffering is not just going to disappear by itself, you know. The first of theFour Noble Truths that the Buddha penetrated was the truth of suffering. The Buddha had faced up to thissuffering and conquered it. Then he went on to explain how we also might conquer it. First, we mustinvestigate and understand our situation as it really is. Now, while every thinking person is aware of sufferingto some extent, the Buddha saw the problem as going much deeper than the world usually believes.Gene: Yes, I understand that. He saw dukkha in its true dimensions. He also saw what the rest of theworld did not—the cause and the solution of the problem.Bhikkhu Tissa: He did indeed. And what is the extent of this dukkha? Birth, old age, death. Afflictions ofall kinds, mental and physical. Illnesses, fears, doubts, regrets, longings. Loss of property, loss of relatives,failure, blame, poverty, grief—many, many kinds of suffering.Gene: That’s dukkha, all right. That about covers it!Bhikkhu Tissa: No, actually that doesn’t cover it. Those are only a few of the things that anybody can see asbeing suffering. The Buddha’s vision was much wider.Gene: Well, I mean, what else is there?Bhikkhu Tissa: This condition of dukkha—of suffering or unsatisfactoriness—has three aspects. There isthis familiar suffering that everybody knows—this pain or misery of body and mind. But there is another,5
Page 3: about ready to go and waste the res
Page 7 and 8: Gene: I guess so. But, Bhikkhu Tiss
Page 9 and 10: Bhikkhu Tissa: Would you really be
Page 11 and 12: Gene: I guess I would be annoyed an
Page 13 and 14: somewhere an insect chirps, and the
Page 15 and 16: Bhikkhu Tissa: Nibbána is known in
Page 17 and 18: Right view is the understanding tha
Page 19 and 20: Gene: Well, the first two are clear
Page 21 and 22: Bhikkhu Tissa: Yes, exactly. Now, t
Page 23 and 24: Gene: That’s an interesting idea
Page 25: —§§§—The Buddhist Publicatio

Night and Morning with Bhikkhu Tissa

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