In todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte titled and#8220;In response to the Buddhaand#8221; Sangharakshita explores how we come into contact with the Buddha through our intellect, emotion and our will. From the talk and#8220;Intellect, Emotion and Willand#8221; given at the opening of the Manchester Buddhist Centre in 1996.
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In Response to the Buddha
[Music] Dharma Bites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for real life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, come and join us at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. Thank you, and happy listening. [Music] So what happens? Let's look briefly at the way in which we come into contact with the three jewels, especially to begin with, say, the Buddha. First of all, we may say we come to know about the Buddha. This is what usually happens. We hear about the Buddha. We read about the Buddha. We come to know the historical facts about the Buddha. We know that he was born. In the borderlands between the present-day Nepal and the present-day India. We know that he was born into a tradition, even a princely family. And we know how he went forth from the household life when he was, according to most traditions, 29 years of age. We know how he sat beneath the Bodhi tree and how he gained enlightenment. And how he taught his Dharma so frequently and gathered the disciples. So we know these historical facts. Here it's our intellect, for one for a better term, that comes into play. Incidentally, I wish that we didn't have to use this term in intellect. It's one of these terms which has been in recent or centuries, perhaps very grossly devalued. But we don't seem to have any other term to replace it. But I use it, so to speak, within inverted commas. We have this, as it were, intellectual knowledge about the Buddha. We know the historical facts. But, of course, you can know the historical facts about the Buddha, about the Buddha's life without being a Buddhist. There may be non-Buddhist scholars, academics who know the historical facts about the Buddha's life, much better than you do. But there's no feeling. That's the difference. When you know simply about the Buddha, as a historical personage, and you know simply the historical facts are what we believe are. The historical facts about his career is simply your intellect, which is coming into play. But if you become sufficiently acquainted with those historical facts, especially if you dwell upon certain incidents, certain episodes in the life of the Buddha, then perhaps you start developing a feeling for the Buddha. Perhaps you come across that incident where the Buddha is making his rounds of the monks dwelling camp, and he sees an old monk just lying there sick and neglected by the other monks. And the Buddha calls upon Ananda, his faithful attendant and disciple, to help him lift that sick monk onto a bed, to wash him, to care for him. And then the Buddha, of course, calls together the other monks, and asks them why they are not caring for that sick monk. And he says, "Monks, you've no father and no mother, you should care for one another." So when one reads incidents like that, or when one reads, for instance, the story about the Buddha and Kisego to me, the woman who had lost her only child, and when one comes to know how tactfully and compassionately, but at the same time, how profoundly and radically the Buddha dealt with her case, or he consoled her, consoled her in the highest possible way. Then, you're not just learning facts about the Buddha's life story, you begin to have some feeling for the Buddha, some feeling for the Buddha's compassion, some feeling for the Buddha's wisdom, some feeling for the Buddha's energy, his unremitting energy, as he preached the Dharma for so many years. Then, as you start feeling in this way, your emotions come into play. The Buddha is no longer just an object of your knowledge, he's also an object of your emotion. It's not just your intellect that is brought into play, but your feelings and your emotions. And you can contemplate the attributes of the Buddha quite systematically to build up your feeling for you. You can also do the sevenfold puja that has much the same effect. Your devotional feelings are increased and enhanced. And perhaps you can do, if you're an order member, a visualization exercise. Visualizations say of Shakyamuni. I say exercise but again single inverted commas. Because when you visualize say Shakyamuni or any other Buddha or Bodhisattva, it isn't just an exercise in a neutral sense, in an emotionally neutral sense. There must be some feeling for the person, the spiritual person, the transcendental person whom you're endeavoring to visualize. So in this way, as you develop more and more feeling for the Buddha, you become as it were drawn towards the Buddha. You want to become more like the Buddha. And in this way, will comes into play. So how is it that will comes into play? Well, will comes into play because it isn't an easy thing to become like the Buddha. As you wish, you have to make an effort. So in this way, intellect, emotion and will, each in turn, one by one, come into play. And it's only when all come into play, when we know about the Buddha, when we feel for the Buddha, and we have the will to become like the Buddha, that we are able effectively to go for refuge. We hope you enjoyed the talk. Please come and help us keep this free at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. And thank you. [music fades out] [music fades out] [music fades out] You [BLANK_AUDIO]