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From: Subash@uh.edu
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Re: buddhism questions
Message-ID: <8735.27d6248a@jetson.uh.edu>
Date: 7 Mar 91 17:31:21 GMT
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>From: [Email address unrecognizable] (Elliott Chapin)
>What do we take refuge *from*? 

  "Refuge" in Buddhism is taken not as fleeing from something, but rather
  as seeking a betterment, benefit , or development (using some pali terms
  seeking kalyana dhamma).
  
  A person seeking refuge in Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha do not do so out
 of fear.  In the worldly sense the word refuge is used in different 
 circumstances, i.e. people seeking refuge in fear of political prosecution,
 in fear of war, because of famine etc.  In the other religious senses
 it is not like going after a creator God also.
   But the refuge in buddhist teaching is going to these three (buddha,
 dhamm and sangha) taking them as guidance.  This is not done because
 buddhists are afraid of buddha,dhamma or sangha, not because these
 three punishes people who do not do so.  Why seeking refuge of buddha?
 Buddha means embodiement of enlightenment, of wisdom, of fearlessness.
 What is dhamma? Dhamma shows the way to this enlightenment,wisdom,fearless
 -ness.  Who is Sangha?  Sangha is the community of people who followed 
 this Dhamma and attained enlightenment.  These are few statements of
 the qualities (out of many) of these three refuge.
   One verse in Dhammapadha summarises these refuges.
     "Out of fear many people seek refuge of mountains,trees, buildings
 (religious - modern word) etc. But these do not provide a fearless refuge,
 these do not provide the noblest refuge, by going after these refuge the
 unsatisfactoriness is not eliminated.
     By seeking refuge in Buddha,Dhamma and Sangha; having developed a
 (reflective) insight into the Four Noble Truths,(i.e. unsatisfactoriness,
cause of unsatisfactoriness, enlightenment (or nirvana), and Noble
Eightfold Path) fearless refuge, the noble refuge is found.

  This leads to your second question  -->
   
>*questioning cause/effect*      
>Suffering is, I think, neither perpetual nor totally involuntary. 
>Is it not useful to ask as we go along "Is there a good reason why    
>I need to respond this way?" 

  Questioning the reason is required. But cynical questioning or
 questioning with other aims in mind could lead to orbiting mental traps
 which will never end.

  As given in Sridhar's posting the word suffering does not give the
 comprehensive meaning of dukkha.  Whatever the word, the nature of
 the unsatisfactoriness is true.  It does not matter whether it is
 perpetual or not, voluntary or involuntary, it effects everyone. The 
 perception of this nature is the difficult thing.  As we are aware there 
 are people who like pain (e.g. sadists).  Sometimes people develop cravings
 for the pain also.  That is why some people get kicks out of hurting others
 or self etc.  On the other extreme, there are people who are so overwhelmed 
 by the pleasures of life, they simply ignore the unsatisfactoriness.  
 Similarly  there are people who are covered with views regarding the life, 
 because of this attachment to these veiws they ignore (voluntarily or 
 involuntarily) the unsatisfactoriness.  Some other people because of pride in
 themselves try to cover up the unsatisfactoriness. Some due to combinations of
 various reasons try to deceive themselves regarding the unsatisfactoriness.
 
   So it is very hard for some people to look at their own lives honestly,
 reflect upon its true nature. However the buddhist teaching is to
 develop this impartiality and not get carried away by the earlier
 mentioned currents (views, pride, etc.).  It is very essential to
 reflect upon our actions and our own lives so we know what we do
 and why we do things etc.  Even thought buddhist idea is to understand
 this unsatisfactoriness, it is not meant for people to keep worrying
 about it or not meant to hold on to another pessimistic view.  It is
 a detached look at the life with wisdom.
 
  Therefore, it is very useful to ask as we go along why responding this 
 way. On the other hand, this questioning has to be done honestly, without
 being biased by views, other prejudices, pleasures etc. There cannot be 
 growth of wisdom with ignorance.  One best way to eliminate ignorance
 within oneself is this question "Why I am responding this way?".  Buddhist
 way of asking and answering this question is to live a life with 
 consciousness (or awareness).  This accompanied with other qualities of 
 the mind such as wisdom, compassion becomes helpful then.
  
  There are many great benefits of wisdom.  That is why
 buddhist teachings encourage wisdom rather than following it with
 unquestioning belief or faith.
 
 Bandula Jayatilaka