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The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature c8.s9: X. The Eightfold Way and the Four Noble Truths

The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature c8.s9

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X. The Eightfold Way and the Four Noble Truths

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It is a curious circumstance that the eightfold Way is included among the thirty-seven bodhi-pakṣya-dharmas, but the four Noble Truths (ārya-satyāni) are not found in that formula. The eightfold Way itself is the fourth of the “Truths” that Gautama Buddha is said to have discovered on the night, during which he attained Enlightenment.³⁴⁶ The eightfold Way is thus torn from its original context in the formula of the bodhi-pakṣya-dharmas. It cannot be explained or understood without reference to the three other Truths that lead up to it. The Mahāyānists or semi-Mahāyānists, who devised that numerical list of the bodhi-pakṣya-dharmas, attached more importance to the eightfold Way than to the three other Truths, as the latter are merely theoretical in character and also suggest pessimism. The "eightfold Way", on the contrary, consists of positive and practical precepts, and it breathes a spirit of optimism. The author of the *Da. Bhū.* even puts the cart before the horse in his scheme of the ten *bhūmis*. A *bodhisattva* is supposed to practise the virtues and comprehend the principles that are embodied in the eightfold Way, while he is in the fourth *bhūmi*; but he understands the four Noble Truths subsequently in the fifth *bhūmi*.³⁴⁷ It is not explained how a *bodhisattva* can start on the eightfold Way without first realising the other three Truths, of which it is only a sequel. As a matter of fact, the Mahāyānists did not attach much importance even to the eightfold Way. They taught that the six or ten *pāramitās* (Perfections) were the most important factors in a *bodhisattva*'s career. The *Sad. Pu.* explicitly declares that the *arhats* (i.e. the Hīnayānists) preach the four Noble Truths and the twelve *nidānas*, while the *bodhisattvas* (i.e. the Mahāyānists) teach the *pāramitās*.³⁴⁸ The *Da. Bhū.* and the *M. S. Al.* devote only a few lines to the eightfold Way. This difference of opinion between the Hīnayānists and the Mahāyānists is reflected in Buddhist Sanskrit literature. The *Ava. Ca.* and the *Divy.*, which belong mainly to the Hīnayāna, speak of the four Truths as the fundamental doctrines of Buddhism, while the later treatises only mention them briefly without attaching great importance to them. The *Lal. V.* and the *Mtu.* transmit the older tradition, as they record the earliest sermons of Gautama Buddha; but they also value the *pāramitās* as the essential elements of a *bodhisattva*'s discipline.

(a) The Four Noble Truths

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The four Truths are called *ārya-satyāni* (Pāli : *ariyasaccāni*).³⁴⁹ The word *ārya* (Pāli: *ariya*) literally means, "that which is in accord with the customs and ideals of the Aryan clans, held in esteem by Aryans, generally approved. Hence: right, good, ideal" (Pāli Dicy., s.v.). The four Truths may thus be described as "sublime or noble" Truths. They are mentioned in several passages of Buddhist Sanskrit literature (*Lal. V.*, 350.5, 416.2 ff. ; *Mtu.*, ii, 285.3 ; iii, 331.17 ff. ; iii, 408.17 ff. ; *M. Vy.*, Sections 54, 56, 112 ; *Dh. S.*, Section 21 ; *Da. Bhū.*, 42.17 ff. ; *Mdh.*, 475 ff., etc.).

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The *Lal. V.* relates that Gautama Buddha explained the four Truths to the five disciples in his first sermon after the attainment of Enlightenment. He said: "O monks (*bhikṣus*), these are the four sublime Truths. What are the four? Pain (Duḥkha),³⁵⁰ the origination (samudaya) of Pain, the cessation (nirodha) of Pain, and the Way (mārga) leading to the cessation of Pain. Then what is Pain? Birth is Pain (or Evil); old age is Pain; disease is Pain; death is Pain; union with that which is disagreeable is Pain; separation from that which is agreeable is Pain; when one does not obtain what one desires and seeks, that is Pain. In short, the five elements or substrata of sensory existence, which depend on attachment to existence, are Pain. All this is called Pain. Then what is the origin of Pain? This Craving (tṛṣṇā), which leads to renewed existence, which is accompanied by the lust of sense-desire, and which takes delight in various objects (literally, “there and there”), even this is called the origin of Pain. Then what is the cessation (or destruction—nirodhaḥ) of Pain? The complete renunciation and destruction of this same craving,³⁵¹ accompanied by the lust of sense-desire, which takes delight in various objects, and which, as the cause of Birth and Rebirth, leads to renewed existence. Then what is the Way leading to the cessation of Pain? It is this same eightfold Way (literally, “with eight members or limbs”): Right Views, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Endeavour, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. These are the four sublime Truths.” (Lal. V., 417.2 ff.)

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The M. Vy. analyses the clauses in this sermon that refer to the different forms of Pain, and it enumerates the eight items (birth, old age, etc.). These are called “the eight duḥkhatās” (forms of duḥkha).³⁵² Çāntideva adds a few others, e.g., the pain of poverty, the pain of rebirth in a state of woe, and the pain of a sojourn in the world of Yama.³⁵³ Another scheme of classifying the duḥkhatās (forms or states of pain) was also introduced. Three duḥkhatās are spoken of, viz. (1) duḥkha-duḥkhatā (painful sensation caused by bodily pain); (2) saṃskāra-duḥkhatā (pain having its origin in the saṃskāras, volitions or compounds, which are impermanent); and (3) vipariṇāma-duḥkhatā (pain caused by change).³⁵⁴ The author of the Da. Bhū. places them in this order: saṃskāra-duḥkhatā, duḥkha-duḥkhatā and pariṇāma-duḥkhatā. He changes vipariṇāma to pariṇāma in describing the third duḥkhatā, and also attempts to relate these duḥkhatās to the twelve nidānas (“causes”; vide infra). Thus saṃskāra-duḥkhatā is due to the first five nidānas (avidyā, saṃskārāḥ, vijñāna, nāma-rūpa and ṣad-āyatana); duḥkha-duḥkhatā arises from the next two nidānas (sparça and vedanā); and the third duḥkhatā originates in the remaining five nidānas (tṛṣṇā, upādāna, bhava, jāti and jarā-maraṇa, etc.).

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The Buddhist philosophers have also mentioned three aspects of each of the Truths, thus making a twelvefold scheme of "insight into Knowledge" (jñāna-darçanam) or of "the wheel of the Doctrine" (cakram). Each Truth receives three parivartas (turnings, revolutions), and is regarded in three ways, viz. (1) As the knowledge of the Truth obtained by thorough reflexion; (2) as something which is to be realised, practised and cultivated; (3) as something which has already been known, realised, practised and cultivated.355 This scheme of classification seems to have been generally accepted, as it is explained at length in the Lal. V. and also frequently mentioned in other treatises. An attempt was also made to introduce another formula with sixteen sub-divisions, but it failed to win general recognition. This formula is as follows:—

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Duḥkha. (a) Duḥkhe dharma-jñāna-kṣāntiḥ (Acceptance of the knowledge of the Law with regard to Pain).

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(b) Duḥkhe dharma-jñānam (Knowledge of the Law with regard to Pain).

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(c) Duḥkhe-'nvaya-jñāna-kṣāntiḥ 356 (Acceptance of the traditional or retrospective knowledge with regard to Pain).

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(d) Duḥkhe-'nvaya-jñānam (Retrospective or traditional knowledge with regard to Pain).

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Similarly, each of the three other Truths (samudaya, nirodha and mārga) are amplified in these four ways, thus making sixteen items in all (M. Vy., Section 56; Dh. S., Section 96; Mdh., p. 482).

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Apart from these elaborate and systematic statements, the Buddhist writers have also given us a few concise aphorisms, which assert the universal nature of duḥkha. "All this is Pain, not Happiness." "All the five skandhas are Pain." "Pain is like disease." "Pain grows surely and certainly, like weeds in a field." "Pain is assuredly everywhere, and Happiness is nowhere to be found." "Life is the epitome of all Pain." 357 This fundamental pessimism became the cardinal feature of almost all Indian systems of philosophy. The Yoga school borrowed the idea and the fourfold formula from the Buddhists. Patañjali declares that life is only Pain to a wise man; and Vyāsa, the commentator, speaks of saṃsāra (transmigratory existence), its cause (hetu), liberation (mokṣa) and the means or expedients for its attainment (mokṣ-opāya). (Yo. Sū., ii, 15, p. 74.) Vyāsa also refers to the usual formula of medical science: “disease, its cause, health, and the medicine or drugs prescribed” (p. 78). It has been suggested that the Buddhists borrowed the formula from the medical treatises.358 But medical science was not highly developed in India in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. It is more likely that the writers on medicine were indebted to Buddhist literature for the four terms. There is nothing very original or striking in the idea of putting these four propositions together, and the formula belongs to the earliest Buddhist texts in a historical sense. From that source, it found its way into the literature of Yoga philosophy and medical science.

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The few Sanskrit treatises that belong mainly to the Hinayāna represent the four Truths as the central and fundamental dogmas of Buddhism. The Ava. Ṣa. and the Divy. teach that a person, who understands these Truths, has attained the first stage on the way to arhatship. Gautama Buddha converts the people by first expounding these Truths, which are always mentioned as constituting the theme of the sermons.359 The Mahāyānist authors, on the contrary, do not attach much importance to the four Truths. The M. S. Al., for instance, does not mention them at all. The Mahāyānists really took up a new attitude towards the problem of Duḥkha. The older tradition of Buddhism emphasised the fact of Pain so persistently that it tended to generate a kind of morbid cowardice in the arhat, who learned to avoid Pain at all costs and under all circumstances. But the Mahāyāna introduced the new and revolutionary idea that Pain (duḥkha) should be welcomed with joy, if it is endured in the service of other creatures. This alchemy of altruism transmuted evil into good, and led to a thorough re-valuation of all values. Duḥkha and sukha were recognised to be relative terms, and a bodhisattva was exhorted to suffer duḥkha for the good of others. The whole basis of Buddhist philosophy, theoretical and practical, was thus radically altered. The centre of gravity was shifted from duḥkha (Pain) to karuṇā (Love), and the formula of the four Truths was not regarded as the central doctrine of the religion. The new ideal is expounded by almost all the Mahāyānist authors. Candragomin defines it in a concise phrase: “Pain (endured) for the sake of others is Happiness” (par-ārthe duḥkham sukham).360

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Kṣemendra says : “Pain is regarded as happiness by those, who sacrifice themselves for doing good to others.” 361 The author of the M. S. Al. declares that a *bodhisattva* feels profound joy even in Pain on account of his great compassion.362 He is prepared to suffer in a purgatory or other states of woe in order to save all creatures.363 He thinks only of the interests of others, and not of the pain endured.364 He is not afraid of *duḥkha*, and he may indeed be said to be closely associated with *duḥkha*, though he is free from it in another sense.365 It is clear that these Mahāyānist philosophers exhibit a new attitude towards *duḥkha*, and they have travelled far from the negative and pessimistic standpoint of the early Buddhists. For this reason, they do not think that the comprehension of the four Truths is the beginning of Wisdom. They also rise to a higher point of view, when they declare that an advanced *bodhisattva* is really beyond and above both Pain and Pleasure. He does not associate the notion of Pain or Pleasure with anything in the universe.366 Such is a *bodhisattva's* perfection of insight with regard to Pain.

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(b) *The Eightfold Way*

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The fourth of the Noble Truths is “the eightfold Way” (Pāli : *aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo*). In Sanskrit, the first word is found in two forms : (1) *aṣṭāṅga* (*Mtu.* iii, 332.10 ; *Lal. V.*, 417.13 ; *M. Vy.*, section 44 ; *Pr. Pā. Ṣata.*, 1010.14 ; *Kar. Pu.*, 106.31 ; *Sam. Rā*, fol. 193b, 3 ; *Ava. Ṣa.*, i, 232.3, etc.).

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(2) *Aṣṭāṅgika* (*Divy.* 164.14 ; *Kā. Vy.*, 46.1 ; *Dh. S.*, section 50 ; *Mtu.*, iii, 331.12 ; *Lka.*, 204, verse 117, etc.).

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The latter form corresponds to the Pāli, but the former occurs more frequently in the Sanskrit treatises. The phrase means; “The Way, which has eight constituents or parts, or embraces eight items.” It is also called a *vīthi* (street or road).367

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This Way was taught by Gautama Buddha to his first disciples as a middle path between excessive unbridled sensuality on the one hand and severe self-mortification on the other. He said to them in his first sermon : 368 “O monks (*bhikṣus*), there are two extremes that a monk should avoid. Attachment to sensual pleasures is low and vulgar ; it is fit only for the ordinary persons and not at all for the noble disciples ; it is associated with evil ; it is not conducive in the sequel to the spiritual life, to disgust with the world, to dispassionateness, to destruction (of Pain), to insight, to perfect Wisdom and to final Liberation. And this (other)

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extreme course, which consists in the practice of mortifying (tormenting) one’s body, this is also painful and associated with evil; it causes Pain in this present existence and also results in Pain in the future. The Tathāgata, avoiding these two extremes, teaches the Doctrine of the Middle Way.”

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It may be inferred that the eightfold Way occupies an independent position by itself, although it is also included in the formula of the Four Truths. It is placed before those Truths in the *Lal. V.* and the *Mtu.* Those Buddhist Sanskrit writers, who maintain the tradition of the Hinayāna, hold it in high esteem; but the Mahāyānists dismiss it with a few words. The author of the *Ava. Ca.* relates the story of Subhadra, who is told by Gautama Buddha that the eightfold Way constitutes the essential and central principle of the new religion. “In whatever religious Discipline, the noble eightfold Way is not found, there the śramaṇas (holy, saintly men) of the first, second, third or fourth degree are not found . . . In this religious Discipline, the eightfold Way is found, and the śramaṇas of the four degrees are also found in it.”³⁶⁹ A perfect Buddha is praised in the same treatise as “the teacher of the eightfold Way”.³⁷⁰ The ideal of moderation is also emphasised by Kṣemendra, who employs the simile of the lute-string for this purpose. “If the string is stretched too much or too little, no music can be produced; even so a wise man should cultivate moderation.” The Middle Way is indeed the ambrosia of piety; it is the one blessed Way for all Buddhists.³⁷¹

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The eightfold Way is mentioned in several passages of Buddhist Sanskrit literature;³⁷² but it is not thoroughly discussed in detail, as it is in the Pāli canon.³⁷³ The eight items are as follows:—

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(1) *Samyag-dṛṣṭi* (Pāli: *sammā-diṭṭhi*): “Right Views.” The word *dṛṣṭi* has been variously translated as “doctrine”, “la vue”, “belief”, “faith”, “outlook”, “opinion”, etc. The English word “View” corresponds literally and etymologically to Sanskrit *dṛṣṭi*. The *Dhamma-saṅgaṇi* seems to identify *samyag-dṛṣṭi* with Wisdom in general, and its verbose explanation does not exactly define the meaning of this word.³⁷⁴ In other Pāli passages, *samyag-dṛṣṭi* is said to denote belief in the utility of alms, sacrifices, oblations and good deeds, and in the existence of other worlds, of spontaneously generated beings and of holy saints and monks.³⁷⁵ But such interpretations seem to be unsuitable and far-fetched. The author of the *Pr. Pā. Ṣata.* explains *samyag-dṛṣṭi* as faith in the Buddha, the Doctrine and the Confraternity or Church (dharma, saṅgha).³⁷⁶ The M. S. Al. defines it as “conformity to the knowledge of things as they are (or to the insight into Truth).”³⁷⁷ But it is perhaps admissible to suppose that samyag-dṛṣṭi originally referred to the comprehension of the four Noble Truths, which were mentioned with the eightfold Way in Buddha’s first sermon and which were regarded as the cardinal dogmas of Buddhism. This view is also confirmed by several important Pāli passages.³⁷⁸ The Lal. V. teaches that samyag-dṛṣṭi helps a bodhisattva to observe the Rule.³⁷⁹

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(2) Samyak-saṅkalpa (Pāli : sammā-saṅkappo): The word saṅkalpa has been variously translated as “aspiration”, “resolve”, “thoughts”, “aim”, “intention”, “decision”, “la combinaison”, “la volonté”, “le jugement”, “die Gesinnung”, “das Entschliessen”, etc. The Dhammasaṅgaṇi regards it as synonymous with vitakka (Sections 7, 283 and 298). It explains thus: “The discrimination, the application, which is the disposing, the fixing, the focussing, the super-posing of the mind, right intention, which is a component of the Way, and is contained in the Way.” The Saṅgīti-suttanta of the Dīgha-Nikāya mentions three kusalā saṅkappā and three akusalā saṅkappā, the latter being “sense-desires, enmity, and cruelty”.³⁸⁰ The same triad is mentioned in several passages of the Majjhima-Nikāya, and sammā-saṅkappo is said to consist in renunciation, goodwill (amity) and kindness (harmlessness).³⁸¹ T. W. Rhys Davids and W. Stede render sammā-saṅkappo as “Right thoughts or intentions” (Pāli Dicy.). It is perhaps best to translate, “Right Intention,” thus preserving the singular number as in the original. The Tibetan equivalent rtog-pa (Lal. V. Tib., 362.21) means “ideas, thought, full comprehension” (Tib. Dicy., Das, 539). According to Vasubandhu, samyak-saṅkalpa consists in the analysis and arrangement of the knowledge that constitutes samyag-dṛṣṭi.³⁸² He thus establishes a close relation between samyag-dṛṣṭi and samyak-saṅkalpa. The Lal. V. teaches that right Intention enables a bodhisattva to get rid of all doubt, uncertainty and indecision.³⁸³

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(3) Samyak-vāk (Pāli : sammā-vācā): Right Speech. A bodhisattva’s duties with regard to Speech will be discussed in the sections on śīla and the saṅgraha-vastūni (vide infra).

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(4) Samyak-karmānta (Pāli : sammā-kammanto): The word karmānta has been translated as “conduct”, “action”, “la fin de l’œuvre”, etc. Its general meaning is “doing, acting, working, work, business, occupation, profession”. The *Dhammasaṅgaṇi* (Section 300) defines it as “*tīhi kāya-duccaritehi ārati virati*” (aversion to and abstention from the three errors of conduct), and it is understood as referring to the avoidance of the bodily sins of killing, theft and unchastity in some other Pāli passages.384 But this interpretation is surely too narrow. It is best to interpret it in a general sense: “Right Action.”

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(5) *Samyag-ājīva* (Pāli: *sammā-ājīvo*): Right livelihood or mode of earning one’s livelihood. A *bodhisattva* must have a pure and honest mode of gaining his livelihood.385 Various dishonest or unsuitable pursuits and professions are described in some Pāli passages.386 But we do not find a similar list in the principal Sanskrit treatises.

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(6) *Samyag-vyāyāma* (Pāli: *sammā-vyāyāmo*): “Right Endeavour.” The word *vyāyāma* is derived from the root *yam*, “to stretch out,” “to extend.” It originally signified “struggle, fight”, and also “physical exertion and athletic exercise”. But the Buddhists employed it in a spiritual sense to denote “moral striving, effort, exertion, endeavour”. The *Dhammasaṅgaṇi* (Sections 13, 22, 289, 302) regards it as a synonym of *vīrya* (Energy), and it is interpreted in the same way thus: “the striving and the onward effort, the exertion and endeavour, the zeal and ardour, the vigour and fortitude, the state of unfaltering effort, the state of sustained desire, the state of unflinching endurance, etc.”387 A *bodhisattva*, who practises *vyāyāma* indefatigably, eliminates all obstacles to knowledge and reaches the further shore of transmigratory existence.388

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The word *vyāyāma* has been translated as “effort”, “energy”, “exertion”, “l’application”, “la tension”, “perseverance in well-doing”, “das Mühn”, etc. The Tibetan equivalent *rtsol-ba* (Lal. V. Tib., p. 363, line 1) means “zeal, endeavour, exertion, diligence, perseverance” (Tib. Dicy., Das, 1015).

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(7) *Samyak-smṛti* (Pāli: *sammā-sati*): Right Mindfulness. The term has been discussed in the section on the four *smṛty-upasthānas*.

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(8) *Samyak-samādhi* (Pāli: *sammā-samādhi*): Right Concentration. The term *samādhi* will be discussed in the section on *Dhyāna-pāramitā*.

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It is probable that the Buddhists borrowed the word *samyak* from the Jainas, who employed it in their well-known formula: *Samyag-darśana-jñāna-caritrāṇi*.³⁸⁹ The Jainas also reckon eight *aṅgas* of the *samyag-darśana*. E. Senart has suggested that the eightfold Way may be compared to the eight *aṅgas* of the *Yoga* philosophy.³⁹⁰ But there is really very little in common between these two formulae, for the eight *aṅgas* of *Yoga* are: *yama* (moral abstentions), *niyama* (observances), *āsana* (postures), *prāṇāyāma* (regulation of the breath), *pratyāhāra* (withdrawal of the senses), *dhāraṇā* (fixed attention), *dhyāna* (contemplation) and *samādhi* (concentration: *Yo. Sū.*, ii 29, page 101). The number of the items in such formulae is due to the old custom of counting by tetrads, which was also applied to the Olympiads of Greece.

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The principle of moderation, which is embodied in the eightfold Way, constitutes a link between Indian and Hellenic thought. Aristotle defined Virtue as the mean between two extremes: “Virtue is a mean state between two vices, one in excess, the other in defect.”³⁹¹ This noble ideal was discovered and formulated independently in India and Greece.

Cites (18)