 
Buddha Impetus to Primitive Psyche

By Shelton Ranasinghe

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Contents  
Buddhist Notion

Introduction

Physical and Mental Development Process

Human Psyche

Let Us Analyze the Concepts of Buddhist Teachings

Science, Brain and Mind Matter

Question of Buddha After Death

Origination of Faith Concepts

History of Indian Religions

Fundamental Elements of Other Religions

Interpretation of Buddhist Scripture

References

Buddha Impetus to Primitive Psyche

Buddhist notion

(1 "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace. Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."

Introduction

We feel good about having answers to questions, whether the answers are real or not. It's the human nature. To keep our mind-body system in harmony this is necessary. This is specifically important when we encounter question of complex nature where there are no real answers. Most questions related to religions and mystic events are commonly answered backed by vague logic and pseudo reasoning. Each individual has his own recitations in regard to how he or she perceives complex questions associated with religious beliefs. Once a person settles it's psyche on a comfortable footing on a particular belief system, it is common that person justify his or her stand on these complex questions with reasons based on carefully preserved information and sometimes refers to experience in life that cannot be explained to others . I am not second to this process and hence realized that this essay is biased towards how I perceive things on the context of the Buddha teachings; but throughout this essay I have tried to be very rational and open minded as possible in expressing my ideas. After reading this essay a number of times, I realized that some parts read as extracts from technical papers. I attribute this to my engineering background and the conditioning of my mind to evaluate matters technically. I trust you would find that the excerpts you will read are a fine pool of ideas to clarify many complex topics that would be discussed.

This essay presents my reasoning, evaluation and judgment of some aspects of Buddhism and the way I think how those aspects ought to be interpreted. I assume it is natural that all my interpretations may not agree with the ideas of many others. The facts and logical reasonings that I have presented have gone through many evolutionary and debating processes within my own mind over many years. Having had different opinions on religious dogma at different stages of my life, I have fought many mental battles to bring clarity to the ideas that I have expressed in this essay. Generally, these types of mental battles are common to many of us who seek clarity pertaining to our own beliefs and superstitious ideas. Hence, I hope the ideas that I have expressed will be interested to those who wish to explore different opinions and interpretations of others.

In order to express how our thinking process works, I have used the computer as an analogy to the brain in several phases of this essay. Therefore, at least some fundamental knowledge of computer operation will be helpful to understand the relevant segments and terminology; better. This essay represents quite another rationale of looking at the Buddhist fundamentals, teachings and concepts. In the mid part of the essay, I have explained how to correlate attainment of enlightenment, to the development of a software program in our brain and bringing it up to its full fruition.

Especially, considering the very sensitive nature of our human psyche, I want to state that I am extremely apologetic, if my views cause any discomfort, to any reader. Newspaper and other media reports that I have read and seen as to how people react to free expression of radical ideas on religious concepts, prompted me to include the above statement. Also, the article appeared in the Time Magazine - October 2004 issue, which emphasized on the "God Gene" innate in the human psyche, was an additional reason that prompted me to address the readers on this. The God Gene article was written by Dr. Dean H Hamer. Dr. Hamer reveals that the inclination toward religious faith is no accident; it is hardwired into our genes. In fact, he argues, spiritual belief offers an indisputable evolutionary advantage, providing humans with a sense of purpose and courage that will help to overcome hardship and loss. As a growing body of evidence suggests, belief also increases our chances of reproductive survival process by helping to reduce stress, overcome anxiety, prevent disease, and extend life.

Physical and Mental Development Processes

I once watched a TV documentary on how we learn to do things and develop our memory process from the time of birth. The program showed how a few months old baby, trying to grasp a colored object that was hanging over the baby's crib. It showed that the baby with focused eyes on the object was frantically moving both hands, legs, body and head towards the object. The baby was desperately trying to reach the object, but didn't know how or with what he could get it. However, after struggling for some time the baby managed to touch the object with his right hand. As explained in the TV program, this achievement immediately got stored in the baby's brain. The baby's subsequent attempts were more successful, because of the stored information in the memory. After a few minutes, legs or body movements were not seen and approaching the object with the right hand was simple and precise. The narrator used computer terms to explain what happened. She said "Now the baby's brain is properly wired to execute the command to catch the object." All subsequent attempts made by the baby, strengthened the memory wiring process and made the stored memory readily available for his lifetime use. This brought to my mind the importance of learning any activity properly, right from the very beginning. For example, if you want to become a good golfer, it will be paramount to learn your basic techniques right from day one. If you do not get your brain wired correctly at the early stages of life, a lot of re-wiring or corrections will be inevitable at the later stage. Or, perhaps, you may never be able to get it right, if the system is "wrongly" wired.

By using the computer as an analogy, what occurred in the baby's brain is really a development of a miniature software program. This example makes us to understand the necessity of establishing a whole lot of small programs (in the brain), to run multiple types of body functions. I presume the "entire software requirement" required for all our physical operations, is built from our infancy in this manner. Whenever a new physical activity is learnt, the necessary elements will be added to the existing programs, similar to software "patches" we add to the computers. The links and interlinks that are necessary for the complex body operations will be established concurrently with the development of brain programs. This will be an on-going process throughout our life. But, as we reach old, it is possible for some of these programs to get erased thus disabling performance of simple tasks that we could do earlier. Though I have used the phrase "entire software requirement for the physical operations", one has to understand that we certainly need to have some basic inbuilt process at birth to initiate or commence the brain's "wiring" act. Also, in addition to this it is essential to have capabilities to do a few baby activities just after birth. The built-in capabilities, that we born with are often defined as "instincts." Instincts are common to all living organisms. How the instincts are built into our system is not understood. A few good examples of instincts are: 1. An infant's ability to suck the mother's nipple just after birth: 2. The ability and knowledge of a baby kangaroo, which is less than an inch long and totally blind at birth, crawling up to the mother's pouch to suck milk immediately after birth; 3. Baby turtles' ability to dash towards the sea just after hatching from the eggs, instead of running towards the land; 4. Birds' abilities to build complex nests exactly as their parents could, without going through any learning process. Beside instincts of this nature, I tend to presume that we also inherit traits such as anger, fear and other emotional feelings of to a certain extent at birth. All these traits are essential elements for our survival. These traits are possibly linked to our evolutionary process as well as inheriting from past group behaviors, etc., through our genes. It is a known fact that in extreme crisis situations, there are inbuilt brain programs which can make us instantly unconscious, and leave us in a survival mode until dangers are cleared off. This is similar to the safe mode operation of a computer. With these facts, we can conclude that the brain has a compact basic program package and a readymade skill set at birth. The inbuilt programs that enable us to develop and store software programs is analogous to the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) in a computer. However, we need to understand that there is a fundamental difference between the brain and the computer. The computers are fed with the software programs written by others but in the case of the brain, it has to develop its own software programs, as illustrated by the example of baby catching the toy.

Scientists have explained the vastness of the inbuilt program codes embedded in a single cell nucleus, referred as the DNA sequences. It has been estimated if we record all the genetic codes in a single cell nucleus in phone book size documents, the phone books can be stacked up to 32 feet high. Our brain has about ten billion cells. That amounts to ten billion times of 32-foot phone book size of information in a single cell. This gives an idea of the complexity and vastness of the complex arrays of the data involved with human life.

Also, it is interesting to know the fact that the cells in the body are new as a few seconds and as old as millions of years. This is simply because the formation of cells happens through a process of cell division or replication. Due to this process, the cells in our body inherits some full or partial forms of historical information associated with the past experience the cells have acquired over the millions of years.

If we explore the daily activities associated with the brain, we can argue, fundamentally our brain requires two core categories of programs. One category of programs is for the purpose of executing the physical functions (ex. Baby catching the toy, walk, run), and the other category is to deal with the mental functions. In this essay we will be adventuring into the program associated with the "mental programs" as this is what the Buddha did. As explained earlier by the baby's story how the programs get developed from our infancy for our physical needs, we concurrently develop our own software for the mental processes, too. Ability to recognize your mom is an example of a mental program. The inputs necessary for the mental program development come from many sources. Out of which the most common sources are our parents, teachers, priests, cultural systems, living environment and the media.

We should note that the inputs infused upon us by the external sources are mostly not original, but are bundles of information that they themselves have acquired from other sources (ex. Existence of angels, karma, 2+3 =5, etc.,). This information have been already undergone various influences, adjustments and conditioned with person specific ingredients pertaining to each provider. In the process of growing up from childhood to adulthood all new information becomes integral constituents for our developing psyche. Our own experiences gained by handling day to day matters, also play a vital role in building our mental programs (our psyche). If we look into our metal system, it includes properties such as preferences, likes and dislikes, behavior patterns for various inputs situations, affiliations to various organizations including sports teams and political parties, affinity to superstitious ideas and religious faiths, "We" against "Others" mentalities and many other similar characteristics that one can think of. However, religious and superstitious beliefs are extremely domineering constituents of our psyche. The religious and superstitious beliefs meticulously surpass all the other traits of our psyche.

We need to understand our entire psyche development takes place in our brain. The brain is a complicated living organ. The trend of comparing our logical thinking to mechanical items has been the past practice of many writers. Before the computers were invented, people emulated the brain to a telephone exchange as it was the most sophisticated instrument existed before the computers. In this essay, I will be comparing the brain to a computer to bring clarity to my view points, but I am not equating it by any means. The brain is the most complex organ known to man to date. In the recent past, there has been a rapid progress in understanding the intricacies of brain functions, specifically about various command locations in the brain connected with body functions, operational speeds, brain waves and the network functionality of vast arrays of neurons.

It is very interesting to analyze how our brain works in our day-to-day events. You may have experienced instances where you try to recollect a name of someone you know or a place you have visited. On most occasions the answers you seek from the brain come back in a flash, but sometimes it takes a few hours and other times even a few days. Sometimes the answers emerge as you wake up in the morning. As an example, if somebody asks you what is the 3rd song on a favorite musical CD you have heard many times before, instantly you may not know the answer. But if you play the 2nd song on the CD, and towards the end of it, automatically the brain prompts you the lyrics of the 3rd song. This indicates that logically your brain's memory had the details of the third song but it could not prompt the answer until certain conditions were met. Listening to the second song helped the brain to organize the necessary links needed to bring the stored memory back to you immediately.

Try to read the following; "Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

Though you can read the above paragraph with the wrongly spelled words, a computer would not be able to understand it in the way that your brain decoded it. This is an exceptional capability of the brain and it is a fine example to emphasize the superiority of the brain over the computer. Similar to the computer, when information is stored in the brain, it keeps a record of the content in a chronological order. This is to prevent you from having any confusion when you retrieve the information. Scientists and doctors have come across patients who have problems associated with not storing their information in chronological orders. When such patients retrieve the information, they get into utter confusions. For an example, the retrieved information from the brain might read the sequence of activities as B followed by A, although actually events had occurred in the sequence of A followed by B. It is like waking up before going to sleep. These are rare abnormal conditions, but patients of this nature do exist.

Human Psyche

As explained the brain develops our physical and mental software from infancy. Both mental (thought producing) and the physical (action producing) programs that we develop remains as a working progress exercise. These two streams of programs need to function harmoniously. The mind and the body have to look after each other and operate as a single entity. If the body doesn't do what the mind wants to do, it will be chaotic and the working of the mind & body as a single system will fail miserably. This is like your computer and its software. Any computer user will agree that there is a certain degree of behavioral expectations from your computer. We expect our computers to respond in a certain manner as we have had signed mutual agreements. Just think of a computer, which bothers you with error messages all the time. Will you live with a thing like that? No! You will like the computer to operate smoothly without any unnecessary troubles. This is how the mind and body programs run in the brain, are supposed to function. On that note, I have given below a few examples of personal conflicting situations that I have had. And, I am sure everybody will have tons of similar experiences to share.

Some days my wife drives my car and I sit in the front passenger seat. Often, I come across situations, where I feel that she seems to be too late in applying the brakes in traffic situations where I would have normally applied brakes earlier (and vice versa); passing vehicles in instances where I would not have overtaken (and vice versa); driving on a different lane that I would not have followed. In situations like these, I have found that I am distressed and uneasy, though in reality I know that she is a better driver than me. Given below is the explanation for the generation of these uneasy feelings. When you are used to drive a particular car for a long time, your mind treats the car as a part of the body system. Similar to how your hand obeys to your mental commands, the car you drive responds to your commands almost automatically. When you are driving the car, there are no conflicts between your body/car and the mind because your mind treats the car as part of your body. But when somebody else is driving your car, the car movement is asynchronous with your mind. So, the body-mind clash occurs in your brain without you pre-empting or understanding what is happening. If the driver does not synchronize the car movements to your stream of thinking, then a mental clash occurs immediately. This explanation works reciprocally too, when the driver's responses harmonize with your stream of thinking. This is one of the reasons we often feel comfortable with someone who has similar ideas, beliefs and behavior.

If some disturbance occurs to our stream of ideas or belief system, it remains as a nagging problem until the disturbance is resolved. This type of mental disturbances sometimes may last for days, weeks, months or much longer. Think of the stressful feelings we get when we have virus problems with the computer, and the soothing feeling we enjoy when we get rid of the problems. It should be understood that mind-body integrity is a vital factor in our daily life. This essay refers to this aspect, repeatedly, as it is highly connected to Buddhist philosophy.

At this point, it is important to understand the following facts very well to understand my views expressed in this essay correctly. The brain is an integral part of the body and the "mind – is the thinking process or the thoughts producing process" by the mental process software. In other words, if these two entities are compared to the components in a computer, the brain is the hardware with the embedded mental and physical software. The thinking process that undergo "execution" or "happening" through the mental software is the mind. The mind is a process, not a physical entity and it is a verb not a noun. A single output, generated by the mental process software is defined as a thought. We keep on producing thoughts every moment. The act of production is the mind.

Our religious and supernatural beliefs residing in our brains. As most of those beliefs have been absorbed from our childhood they have become foundations of our basic software. When studying and evaluating religions, we like to think of ourselves as open-minded ones. Unfortunately, in reality we are not, because we have been programmed from childhood not to be that. Our adult psyche has been built on the foundation that was established at our childhood. As Prof Joseph Campbell once said we think "Mythology is other people's religions". This is a canny way of explaining the response of people generally have on their beliefs and other's beliefs, but it is true. The right view should be to enhance our open mindedness to keep us free from prejudice and learn the reality.

It is important to understand that we need to think past the religious leaders, if we want to be open-minded. One can do this exploration and "think outside the box", by giving due respect to all religious teachings and their leaders. Most times people surrender themselves to the religious doctrines because of something called faith, which is another complex phenomenon that overpowers our rational thinking. The depth of thinking stops at the religious leader or the particular doctrinal source, because of faith. Faith discourage from you going on a journey beyond the particular religious icons etched in your brain, on to analyze how those religious leaders thought about them or the basis of their thinking or what their message really could be. When it comes to evaluation of religious concepts and ideas, one should realize, however much you try to be open-minded, invariably you do that with the conditioned mind which is the software program you cultured from childhood. Hence, accepting even a minor variation contradicting your own faith concepts is not easy. This is similar to the agility of an antivirus program designed to reject all unwanted intruders at the quickest time. The mental program you have is hard wired and is very well protected due to the fact that it is near and dear to you as a longtime companion of comfort in life. The natural reaction towards any new ideas (right or wrong) deviating from the faith based ideas will be generally concluded as error messages or warning signals marked for automatic rejection. Making changes to the conditioned mind will only be possible with an absolute conviction to openness. Keeping your "conditioned system" at bay, to make room for evaluation of new ideas is an enormous mental task. And as repeatedly stated earlier, it is not easy. But, we need to understand that our mental system has provisions for such avenues for exploration. It inherits the capability of evaluating the facts critically, if someone is seriously desired to do so. But, certainly you have to be very strong willed if you wish to contemplate in exploring these avenues of adventure. Also, you need to be aware of the aim of the mission and the task you have undertaken. The deplorability of this adventure, can be very narrow or wide depending on an individual's conditioned mind and the degree of rational thinking ability.

A person changing from a hard-wired belief system is somewhat akin to, a long-time user of a "LOTUS 123" program, switching over to "EXCEL" spreadsheet program after realizing the superiority of "EXCEL". I have assumed "EXCEL" as a better program than "LOTUS" just to clarify this point. Basically, what I am trying to emphasize in here is the degree of reluctance in making someone to change, rather than stressing on the superior or inferior nature of the new inputs or ideas. However, looking through our recent history, we should be happy that people now believe in things such as the earth goes around the sun, thunder is a natural event and the ability to walk on burning cinders is not influenced by supernatural powers; where all of which were believed wrongly before. Now we know the Earth is 4.5 billion years old and not 6000 years as some people believed earlier. These are a few examples of the positive changes people have infused into their mind programs in the recent history. But according to historical records this transient phase had been very stressful, and full of negative incidents. Many well-known historical scholars had to sacrifice their lives for sticking to the truth that they found, rather than accepting the conventional social norms imposed upon them to propagate. I tend to believe that our mental evolution process over the past millions of years had been much slower than the physical evolutionary process in the context of our affinity to supernatural, superstitious, mythical and faith based beliefs. We still have many residual ideas coming from the primitive man. Our conditioned thinking system is reluctant and adamant to reject the notion of getting rid of primitive ideas. In fact, sometimes, we still have a tendency of looking at ancient ideas as superior ideas. Most of the residual ideas we inherit, have been a direct result of a strong flow of such beliefs passed through to the children by the parents and by influential social groups. These ideas have provided comfort to us to get on with our lives. And for this reason, it has taken a positive trend in propagating further into proceeding generations, rather than disappearing or fading away with the advancement of knowledge. We, also, need to understand the regimental type of practices that some religious teachings impose on the followers from childhood, etch ideas in the brain so strongly, that those become virtually immune to any new intruding ideas, irrespective of the logics or true or proven nature of the substances. In fact, many historical rulers who were obsessed with strict dogma, didn't make room for any new ideas that contradicted their belief systems. This is one of the reasons why many astronomers had to sacrifice their lives in the past for simply stating that the earth is circling around the sun.

The etched ideas in the brain are analogous to un-erasable programs or "ROM -Read Only Memory" sectors in a computer. One has to understand that there are many people in the world who will merely sacrifice their lives for their beliefs, principles and practices. Acting against the concepts of faith or even doubting about the spiritual teachings, is considered as a big crime by most religions. Millions of people have been killed for stepping out of the social norms that were set out for us to follow based on belief systems. On the 17th February 1600, the philosopher Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) was burnt alive as a heretic in Rome. He was burnt at the stake for saying "there is not merely one world, one earth, one sun, but as many worlds as we see bright lights around us" which was against the belief system prevailed at that time. This was not a long time ago – only about 400 years ago. Even in the recent past cult leaders have been very successful in convincing their followers to commit acts, including suicide, on the pretext of achieving goals that they believed to be able to accomplish by adhering to those stupid acts. The mechanism of how our primitive psyche works in us today, will last for many more generations to come or may even last forever as long as humans manage to survive on earth. The underlined fact from the above part of the essay is to recognize the mind system that we have. It is simply a very powerful and an overprotective software entity residing in our brain. It is also necessary to note the fact that If the brain gets injured, some programs will not operate properly. If the brain gets affected by certain deceases or poisoned, or drugged then behavioral changes to our psyche is inevitable. When the brain dies the programs get destroyed at the same time stopping generation of thoughts.

The Buddha is recognized as a person who mastered the mind-body system. The Buddha is the only world religious leader who invited people to analyze his teaching before making anyone to accept it. Let us analyze the Buddhist teaching and concepts, in a logical manner.

Let us analyze the concepts of Buddhist teachings

We will be analyzing the path to Enlightenment, emulating it to development of a software program in the brain. Irrespective of whether this analysis holds ground and the readers agree or not, this will be the core message projected by this essay. First, let us examine some information we know about the Buddha and the leading concepts of Buddhist teachings.

Buddha

Prince Siddhartha was an ordinary person like any of us, but of course he was a prince, born in 563 BC to King Suddhodana and Queen Mahamaya, in India. He became an ascetic at the age of 28. After he meeting with famous religious teachers and following the practices of their methods, he realized that it was not what he was looking for. So, he went on his own way. Finally, on his own, after realization of life in its true sense, he achieved the status of Buddhahood (Enlightenment) at the age of 35. The Buddha was known as Gautama Buddha, as he was from Gautama clan.

What is the extraordinary status the Buddha achieved?

What is Enlightenment? What does one really accomplish by attaining Enlightenment? What makes the Buddha different from others? These are interesting questions and let us examine all these questions relating them to a development of a software program in the brain.

Enlightenment is explained in many ways in the Buddhist texts. The Buddha was known as the "Awakened One", "Mindful One", "Enlightened One", "One who attained Nirvana." Also, there are many other definitions. For easy understanding and explanation purpose throughout this paper, I have used the word "Enlightenment" as a direct interpretation of the achievement of the status of Buddhahood. I consider "Enlightenment" as a psychological status of the mind. We need to understand that the Buddha accomplished this psychological status of mind, on his own. He attributed all his realization, attainments and achievements to human endeavor and human intelligence, and not on any belief system. In other words, he developed his own software program, installed it in the brain, debugged and used it. The program was excellent in quality, depth and performance. Also, it never became obsolete with time. Even after 2500 years, people are still trying to understand the full spectrum of the program and attempting to emulate it. Though nobody has managed to develop and use it recently, it is recognized that it is a logical and practical program that could be developed and used. As a faith based note from Buddhist scripture, "the psychological status the Buddha achieved is a perfect one; a perfect program that cannot be perfected further."

As you know, when a scientist makes a discovery, the immediate follow up step would be the presentation of its findings to the world. Such a physical presentation is an anxious moment for any scientist involved in an invention. Generally, the presentation event occurs soon after the innovation is made. The scientist understands the importance of the event. He or she ensures that the presentation is done extremely well without leaving any room for errors or glitches, as it would be disaster if the listeners are unable to understand it. Likewise, the Buddha would have been very anxious to divulge what he discovered or attained as "Enlightenment," to the world. In this context, it is interesting to look back to understand what the Buddha presented and taught to the world, soon after attaining the "Buddhahood."

This is what the Buddha thought after attaining the Buddhahood

2"Just four weeks after his Enlightenment, seated under the "Bodhi" tree, he thought for himself: 'I have realized this truth which is deep; difficult to understand; comprehensible only by the wise; men who are overpowered by passions and surrounded by a mass of darkness cannot see this truth, which is against the current, which is lofty, deep, subtle and hard to comprehend." With these thoughts in mind, the Buddha hesitated for a moment, whether it wouldn't be vain if he tried to explain to the world the truth that he had just realized. Then, he compared the world to a lotus pond. In a lotus pond there are some lotuses still under water; there are others, which have risen only to the water level; there are still others which stand above water and are untouched by it. In the same way in this world, there are people at different levels of cognitive development. Some would understand the truth. So, the Buddha decided to teach it."

The above excerpt, briefs the thinking process the Buddha went through soon after attaining enlightenment, and the reason why he decided to engage himself on a path of teaching what he discovered. (In scripture it says the Buddha offered his teaching - known as "Dharma", rather than he taught it to the seekers). Also, it shows that even after achieving the Buddhahood, he didn't have any supernatural means of predicting his future, or to forecast the outcome of his teaching mission that he was planning to launch. If he had, he would have got to know a count of the number of "Arahants" (enlightened disciples) that his teachings would have produced. Many Buddhists may not agree with this view, and may have different explanations to this rationality. But, then those need to have a logical answer to understand why the Buddha hesitated on this issue just four weeks after attaining Enlightenment. My view though bluntly expressed is, the decision to teach what he discovered was purely based on logical thinking and reasoning, and wasn't associated with any supernatural vision that many Buddhists believe that he had. Throughout his teachings, the Buddha emphasized the importance of logical thinking and reasoning, to all his followers who wanted to learn the Dharma. This liberty is considered as a fundamental principle of Buddhism. The Buddha understood that his teaching was against man's selfish desires, but decided to proceed through, as he reasoned it out. Having had enormous compassion on the living beings, the Buddha had been very cautious in what he was preaching and to whom he was preaching. He didn't want to hurt anybody in the teaching process.

Buddha's presentation to the world

This is what Buddha presented soon after attaining the Buddhahood:

The very first sermon Buddha delivered was Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, meaning "Setting in Motion the Wheel of Truth". This was about the Four Noble Truths, which is considered as the core foundation of the teachings of the Buddha. Sutta – is the word for sermon in Pali language (the written language of the Buddhist teachings).

The second sermon was Annattalakkhana-Sutta, which states the core characteristics of his doctrine on the 'non-self' (anatta). Here he begins by emphasizing that if there was a self it should be autonomous, but no such thing is to be found in reality. The concept of self is a delusion.

One has to understand the significance of the above two "Suttas" (sermons) becoming the first and the second in the lineup thousands of Buddha's sermons. I consider that the content in these two Suttas gives the entire essence of the Buddha's discovery as the Buddha himself prioritized these two by cautiously selecting the core presentation material to broadcast his invention to the world. I would like to point out here that the concepts of "karma" and "rebirth" were already renowned concepts at that time and hence were not new discoveries. However, these two aspects were not highlighted in these two Suttas.

The following segments are an attempt to elaborate what these two Suttas revealed, and to correlate the contents to the structure of mind-body system that we discussed in length at the first portion of this essay.

Buddha's First Sermon – Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

This Sutta was delivered to the group of five wise ascetics who were close associates of the Buddha. These five ascetics were sent to acetic prince by his father and they were supporting him for nearly six years during the period he was going through arduous meditation exercises combined with fasting. But later on, when the ascetic Siddhartha changed his practice to a moderate path, these five ascetics abandoned him thinking that the new path chosen was not what they thought would suit to achieve the Buddhahood. It is good to understand that there was no definition to the word Buddhahood before the Buddha. Hence, we have to assume what was considered as the Buddhahood by the people at that time was the Hindu term "Moksha," which is defined as liberating from the cycle of birth and death.

The Buddha thought that these five ascetics were the most suitable to receive his first presentation. As such, this was his first selected audience for the presentation. The Buddha walked a distance of over 140 miles from where he attained Enlightenment to reach the town of Isipathana to meet the five ascetics. The five ascetics wondered why acetic prince was coming to see them. At one point he had to plead them to listen to his sermon. Remarkably, towards the end of preaching of the first Sutta, the Buddha realized, Kondanna (who was supposed to be the wisest of the five ascetics) was progressing in realizing the crux of his teaching. The Buddha was so impressed of Kondanna, and exclaimed twice, "Kondanna has realized; Kondanna has realized".

As a remark, when Prince Siddhartha was an infant, Kondanna as the wisest man of his father's counselors, predicted that the prince will become the Buddha, one day. Contrary to Kondanna's convincing prediction that the prince will become the Buddha one day, why he abandoned ascetic Siddhartha with the other four when ascetic Siddhartha changed this practice to a moderate path, has puzzled me.

The core elements disclosed by the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta were the four noble truths. These are noble truths; and not taught as ultimate truths. In Pali language "Sathya" is truth. However, it is important to note that the deeper meaning of the "Pali" language word "Sathya" is "Reality" rather than "Truth".

Four Noble Truths, namely the Realities are:

  * Unhappiness exists

  * There is a cause for unhappiness

  * Unhappiness can be ceased

  * There is a way to the cessation of unhappiness

This is also explained as a doctor's treatment for the illness of unhappiness, with the properly defined stages of diagnosis through to ultimate treatment.

The core focus of Buddha's teaching was the cessation of unhappiness. Unhappiness (Pali word Dukkha) has many meanings such as suffering, pain, misery and particularly in Buddhist teaching it has a deeper philosophical meaning. There are volumes of text books on the subject of Dukkha, with the details of its constituents and categorizations as disclosed in the Buddhist Suttas. For simplicity, I have used the word unhappiness. Unhappiness can be broadly categorized into two areas: 1. Physical unhappiness and 2. Mental unhappiness.

The persons like the Buddha and the "Arahants" (Arahants were the monks who had attained Enlightenment) ceased their own unhappy conditions. The way I comprehend this state of cessation of unhappiness, is by referring it to the mental stream of unhappiness, and not to the unhappiness associated with the physical stream. We need to understand that even the Buddha became old, sick, physically weak and finally had to face death like anyone else. These were the same for all his disciples, including the Arahants. Unhappy situations such as getting old and sick that are associated with the physical body cannot be ceased or avoided even by the Buddha. The Buddha defined getting old and sick are parts of unhappy conditions in his teachings to emphasize the impermanence nature of all things. One could argue that the aches and pains can be suppressed by mental development and control. It is true; but they cannot be ceased or avoided and everybody has to face such sufferings and the ultimate deaths. Also, one can point out that the cessations of physical unhappiness are meant to be associated with the cessation of the cycle of birth and death. We will be discussing this.

As expressed in the first sermon one needs to comprehend that the primary emphasis of Buddhist enlightenment is "cessation of suffering" and not anything else. From the above passage it is clear, even the Buddha and the Arahants who attained mindfulness/awakening/enlightenment simply had to undergo the physical suffering processes, including getting sick and old, like any other people. Hence, we need to understand prudently what the Enlightened personnel principally achieved was the cessation of mentality associated unhappiness or mental suffering. If we think broadly, the major share of all sufferings that we experience belong to the mental stream.

Does cessation of birth mean the end of suffering? Is this the message of the Buddha delivered?

Many Buddhists might say that it is the crux of Buddhism, as found in many other eastern religions. At this stage let presume that the cessation of the cycle of birth and death as an integral by-product of enlightenment in a phycological sense. Clarity around this concept will be brought about when we discuss the content in the second sermon. Let us go further into the logics in understanding the cessation of mentality associated unhappiness.

How can the mentally associated unhappiness be ceased?

As I perceive it, the Buddha provided the guidance for people to attain the status of Enlightenment. Enlightenment is a psychological status. Achieving the status of Enlightenment culminates, cessation of all mentally associated sufferings. It has no significance to cessation physical suffering. The Buddha very clearly defined the path that is necessary to be followed to achieve the Enlightenment. The path to achieve the Enlightenment/Mindfulness/Awakening is the Noble Eightfold Path that is disclosed in Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. The Noble Eightfold Path is appended in the following tabulation, with its three basic sub-categories namely wisdom, ethical conduct and mental development as denoted in the right column.

Noble Eightfold Path

I comprehend that the prime focus of the Buddha's teaching is to divert one's ultimate attention towards this noble eightfold path. Hence, this is the only path that one has to follow to develop and achieve the Enlightenment/ Mindfulness/Awakening, and not anything else. This is it and it's a crystal-clear fact, in the Buddhist teachings. This is what the five ascetics heard from the Buddha from the very first sermon. The path is very well defined for the followers to pursue.

As a direct correlation in understanding the elements of Noble Eightfold Path for cessation of unhappiness, the following cyclic process and the logic behind it would be helpful to us.

1. Ignorance creates desire

2. Desire creates action (karma)

3. Action creates ignorance

Therefore, theoretically the cycle of unhappiness can be ceased by stopping either 1 or 2 or 3, as they are the core linking elements in the cycle of suffering. Taking one element out breaks the cycle. One may question, which one should be chosen out of the three elements, to break the cyclic process?

Very logically, "Ignorance" is the one the Buddha selected, to take out of the cycle. The Buddha's teaching was not focused on removing the "Action" or "Desire" but was aimed to uproot the "Ignorance". Removing ignorance stops the desire and in-turn the action causing suffering.

Very simple logic!

As we now understand this logic, what is the linkage between uprooting the ignorance and the Noble Eightfold Path?

Noble Eightfold Path is the "guide" to remove the ignorance. In other words, the eight elements principally cater for the education and training required for enhancing the wisdom. The ultimate result of removing ignorance is the stoppage of desired actions that causes mental suffering.

To uproot the ignorance, one has to follow the Noble Eightfold Path. Very simple instructions, to any follower!

This is the very first lesson preached by the Buddha, after his discovery of how to cease suffering.

But how can we do this?

Let's go to the next chapter to understand how we can do this.

Is it easy to follow the Noble Eightfold Path?

At this point, I'd like to go back to the nature of the "human psyche" explained earlier. As a reminding exercise, all programs in our brain can be basically categorized into two major sets. A first set of programs is for the physical operations as explained by the infant's story. The second set of programs are the ones we similarly develop from the time of birth for processing of all mentally associated activities. The programs in this stream produce thoughts. It may not be wrong to define the set of the mental programs, as the "Ego" program at this stage of our analysis, as they are somewhat linked to our Ego. From our childhood the Ego program has been nurtured to become a "highly conditioned program" as explained before, because of various influences imparted by many input sources.

In order to achieve Enlightenment/Mindfulness/Awakening, one has to develop the noble eightfold path program (treat this as a new software program) and replace the existing mental program (ego program) with this new program. This is not an easy task as our brain has been already wired and re-wired to establish the ego program over many years. But, one has to trust that by following the guidelines given by the Buddha, with absolute commitment, discipline and dedication, the development of this new program is possible. Human potentials have been repeatedly emphasized by the Buddha in many occasions to encourage the followers to assure the tangibility of Enlightenment with right mind set.

What is the difficulty in developing the Enlightenment/Mindfulness/Awakening program?

We would be extremely lucky if such programs exist as software programs written by others for our immediate use. Unfortunately, the noble eightfold path program that we have to develop in our brains, have to be done by each individual. The Buddha's teachings give only the "guidelines" to build the program and not the program. Again, the guidelines are not like a "Do-it-yourself" kit. Each individual will have to select what is relevant and suitable for the individual, and develop it gradually. One fundamental important guideline advocated by the Buddha was to follow a middle path in the process of developing the program, without resorting to either of the two extremes of harsh or pleasure indulging practices. Persistence, dedication and determination are the important determinants and disciplines, required for the development of the program. Buddhism is a do-it-yourself religion, if we wish to consider it as a religion. It gives a project with a defined goal for you to complete with guidelines to execute.

To understand more about the physical and mental process that was discussed, I have given below is a graphical illustration depicting the basic core structure of our mind and body system.

Figure 1: Mental and Physical Processes of a Human Being

The physical stream depicted in figure 1, will not be discussed further in this essay. The focus will be on the stream of mental process. This stream encompasses the inputs, the block that is named as "Mental Process" and the outputs.

As per this diagram, the inputs 1 to 6 will be subjected to mental processing and will produce mental outputs. The Buddha correctly and clearly defined six types of inputs that enter our mental stream. The inclusion of the 6th input denoted as "external ideas" is unique to Buddhist teaching and it is a major input that build our psyche. A few examples of input number six are: ideas such as earth goes around the sun, life after death, heaven, Karma, 4+3 =7, etc., The inputs received by us as well as what we gather from other media and what we have experienced from childhood are the main sources that keep conditioning our ego or the psyche. What happens in the mental stream is, it takes inputs into the mental process block, then process the inputs and generate outputs. Generally, all the mental outputs are the thoughts we generate. The thoughts are mainly delivered as expressions, concepts, theory, emotions, speech and the actions that are directed by the thoughts.

In the case of a typical person, inputs are processed through the ego program and produce spontaneous outputs. In a way, those outputs can be defined as instant "reactions". For example, if someone scolds you, the mental process may be programmed to shout back at that person immediately. The thinking and analytical properties that have gone into the designing of the "ego" program may not have sufficient built-in characteristics, ex. time to respond in a thoughtful manner than in a reactive manner. Even in the instances where response time is not an issue, the output generated may still not be the best "delivered product", fitting the quality standards of an Enlightened person. This is the area we are going to explore further.

To explain why the mental process is so important, I like to quote the following example, though this example seems a bit out of context and has loose language. I was living in a different country when my mother died. I got the bad news about three hours after her death. As soon as I got the message, I was shocked and saddened. As time passed by, all the good memories which I had with my mother in the past lined up one after the other, adding more fuel to my grievances. This is what all of us experience at similar instances. The fact I like to highlight here is that the death itself didn't make me sad. If it did, I would have been saddened three hours before I got the news. Sadness is directly related to how we process information mentally. If I was conscious of the internal process which was going through in my brain, probably I could have followed a different path to control my emotions.

Given below is another example in a different circumstance, to illustrate the possible variations we adopt in processing and perceiving information. This is part of a Power Point presentation I received from a friend of mine in an e-mail. I think this presentation is very relevant to enlighten the exact point that I am trying to emphasize.

"One day a wealthy father took his child to spend the night with a very poor family with the intent to show him the reality of other people who didn't have a lot of money to spend.

On their return home, the father asked his son, what he thought about the experience, and the son replied:

It has been a very good experience daddy, I have learned that we have one dog and they have four, we have a very nice swimming pool but they have the river, we have a sun roof and they have the sky with the stars and the moon, we have a beautiful porch with a big garden and they have the forest.

While the child was speaking the father was flabbergasted by hearing the things his son was telling him. Then the child added: Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are!

For you my friend:

When we measure what we have, the result is our perception of life. If we have love, friends, health, sense of humor and positive thinking, we have everything in life. If we are poor of spirit, then... Houston, we have a problem"

What matters most is, how we involve our mental process to handle the inputs and generate appropriate outputs. Theoretically, in our day-to-day life, there should not be any stress or emotions in us, only we create stressful and emotional thoughts.

The mental processing of information is a powerful exercise occurring in all of us, all the time. We need to understand that the processing of an input signal can prompt the thinker to start a war, make him fall in love with someone, make him become a drug addict, a hero, a traitor, a thief, a liar, a rapist or a Samaritan. This is why the mental processing software as depicted in figure 1, is so important. This is the exact realm, the Buddha advocated us to take control of.

Understand the logic of "Mindfulness/Awakening" or "Enlightenment" Program

The following passage describes the basic logic of the development of "Mindfulness/Awakening" program over the existing "Ego" program. Here after I will use the words Mindfulness/Awakening as Enlightenment. I specifically used Mindfulness as it gives us a psychological edge to bring some sense to the exercise.

In the Buddhist teachings point of view, though we have an ego system which controls us, the brain still has the necessary provisions to support building another set of programs called "Mindfulness/Awakening Program". The development of the "Mindfulness/Awakening Program" is the principal task that one has to perform to attain enlightenment. In other words, successful completion of the Mindfulness/Awakening program makes you attain the psychological status that the Buddha and the Arahants achieved, experienced and enjoyed when they were living.

The schematic diagram below illustrates the mental process of a person who develops the "Mindfulness/Awakening Program", adopting the ingredients of the noble eightfold path.

Note: The physical process is taken out from the previous diagram. Pali language words from Buddhist scripture, which describe these elements, are also inserted. Ignore the numbers shown in the diagram at this time.

As depicted in the diagram, I tend to think that the Mindfulness/Awakening program will be developed alongside the existing mental program (ego), as the ego program cannot be deleted. The program developer's main objective should be to keep-on building all the ingredients of the noble eightfold path, such as right view, right intention etc., into the Mindfulness/Awakening program. In what quality and quantity shall be added at each time of development, is a question that one may ask? The answer really depends on the individual's capabilities and mental composure, as this is a DIY (do it yourself) task. However, you develop the Mindfulness/Awakening program, ultimately it should encompass all the subprograms that are necessary to create the ingredients listed in the noble eightfold path. The ultimate goal expected to achieve is to replace the ego program with the Mindfulness/Awakening program. It is a gradual development process as you would be able to understand.

The question around the quality and quantity aspects of the Mindfulness/Awakening program is discussed next. Like any other software program, the Mindfulness/ Awakening program will have two important technical determinants.

Capacity (Depth, Ability, Capability)

Quality (Comprehensiveness, Affectivity, Bugs free, etc.,)

Initially, when someone starts developing this particular program (ex. Say beginning to practice right speech, or starting to develop and practice right concentration), the sub-programs that are developed will be sketchy in composition; simply because it is of a beginner's work. Both aspects of "Capacity" and "Quality" will be very low and poor. In computer terms, there will be a lot of bugs and errors. At the beginning there could be many frequent changes to the program as the performance will be poor. Hence, in computer terms, it can hardly be called as an executable program. It may not even be able to save properly in the brain for future use, or perhaps it may not be in a state to be saved. Considering the nature of how the brain function, even if you think that you have saved it, the probabilities of it getting erased could be very high, or perhaps it would reside only in the working memory where we do day to day things and gone in the next minute. Even if it is stored in the long-term memory, erasure will be still eminent, especially if it is ignored or not reviewed for a long time. So, working on it vital to have it.

Assume you have managed to develop and save a draft version of the program. (Ex. Now you are getting good at having the 'right view' in the day to day matters.) Still, it needs a lot of "Patches" and continuous improvements at every time you exercise in building on it, until it is brought to a reasonable performance standard. If the above words are a computer jargon, just consider that you are trying to condition your brain to develop a method to practice "right speech" to practice on day to day situations and this is the first instances that you are trying to adopt some practical way to remember the steps of doing the task of right speech. Remembering the steps and making these steps come into action automatically to deliver 'right speech', is not easy but possible. This example of implementation is the goal of the Mindfulness/ Awakening program development.

Above and beyond the said flaws, at the initial phase, assume that you have developed this program to a substantial extent. Say, it can now be called as a 'partial Mindfulness/Awakening' program. For example, consider that you have a partially developed program to deliver "Right Speech" in all the day to day situations. Because now you have the "Right Speech" program in your brain, technically you should deliver right speech most of the time.

But, when you intend to practice this new program, you will immediately observe that there is a major drawback in the system. You will realize that you are using your new program only at times, but not at all the time as expected. This is simply because of the difficulty in making all the inputs flow through the new "Right Speech" program. You will realize that the system lets inputs flow through the ego program (see figure 2), without you realizing it, although you need them to go through the right speech program. Your partial mindful program now has many Buddha conscious ingredients, (ex. Right speech program, right view program, etc.). But these may render useless, if the inputs are still going through the ego process. As such, the system to work effectively, invariably it will have to have an input capturing mechanism, in order to divert the inputs through the Mindfulness/Awakening program, instead of allowing them to go through the ego program. In the example I quoted on my mother's death, the inputs automatically crept through my "ego" program and the information were processed without any of my control over those. If I was able to capture the inputs immediately, and processed them through the Mindfulness/Awakening program in whatever the capacity and quality I had then, the outcome could have been different.

The famous story of Kisagothami who came to Buddha carrying with her the dead child is a good example to evaluate what I am trying to emphasize here. In this story Buddha said, that he will be able to help her to resurrect the child's life, if she can bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where there had been no deaths of a child, husband, parent or relative. She thought that it was an easy task initially, but eventually, after exhausting herself in the searching process and realizing that she cannot find a handful of mustard fitting the specific requirements, she came back to the Buddha empty handed. From the time the Buddha said that he could help her, Kisagothami started visiting from house to house desperately, but could not fulfill the requirement at the end. The experience gained from the search, she unknowingly built a subsidiary mental program (separate from the "Ego" program) in her brain, as depicted in the schematic diagram. In Kisagothami's case, all the inputs eventually channeled through the "New Program" which made her realize the true nature of life and the reality. The self-realization of the worthlessness in reacting to the emotions generated by the "Ego" process finally made her to overcome her emotions. While this is a good example to illustrate the mechanism of the Mindfulness/Awakening program that I am trying to explain, this story exemplifies the enormity of the psychotherapeutic skills of the Buddha that was exercised.

I believe by nature, most of us have an elementary "Mindfulness/Awakening Program". Depending on each individual, the quality and capacity of the program varies. The elementary Mindfulness/Awakening program of an individual may have a direct correlation to his or her intelligence and the specific nature of the person. This is quite apparent if we review behaviors of various people we have associated, met and read about. Some personnel definitely have elevated levels of ingredients such as right view, right speech, right intention, right action etc., in their partial Mindfulness/Awakening program; and the outputs we observe from them are fine examples to prove that the inputs are going through the Mindfulness/Awakening process, rather than the ego process. The Dalai Lama is a fine example to demonstrate this fact. These superior personnel, process the inputs in an intentional manner to generate desired appropriate thoughts for the situation that they are dealing with. They think of the thinking, in the process of producing the output thoughts, to ensure that the thoughts are ethical, constructive, intelligent, and are obviously beneficial to the world in many sense.

To get you some idea about the comparative capacity in percentages of a partial Mindfulness/Awakening programs existing in an average person and that of a full-fledged Mindfulness/Awakening program of a person like the Buddha, I have given below is a tabulation. The percentages posted are arbitrarily selected for explanation purpose. Note: Arahanthood is equivalent to Buddhahood in terms of mental composure.

In our personal lives, in certain instances we have experienced situations of becoming happy about dealing with particular situations in a mindful-manner. For example, say that your output was the "Right Speech" (3rd above), in response to a particular input event. If it was processed through your Mindfulness/Awakening program as depicted in the figure 2, I consider that moment as a mindful or awakened instance.

It is somewhat logical to say you have attained "momentary enlightenment" at that instant. But unfortunately, it is only a momentary situation. It is not a lasting feature that can be kept occurring continuously. The reason for the above is, the elementary nature of the Mindfulness/Awakening process that we have. The "Capacity" and "Quality" aspects are very basic; hence unstable, un-reliable, inconsistent, and also it is not fully etched in the brain as a permanent operating program access every-time.

Because of the above facts, you are not an Enlightened one, not even close. During the stage of "Mindfulness/Awakening" process development, most of the mental processing will still like go through the existing ego program as it is the one that has been used from the time of birth. However, because "Mindfulness/Awakening". program is in a process of being developed a few inputs will start going through it.

To illustrate this fact further, I am using the Figure 2, once again. In here, I have considered 100 input events.

As depicted in the figure, out of 100 inputs, only 5 has gone through the new Mindfulness/ Awakening program and the remaining 95 has gone through the existing ego process. An Enlightenment seeker would not like to have this situation. He or she will like to have all 100 inputs to go through the Mindfulness/ Awakening program. Hence, the program developer's prime focus must be to enhance the diversion of all the inputs through the Mindfulness/Awakening process and zero the inputs going through the ego process.

As emphasized before, the only way to divert inputs through the Mindfulness/Awakening process is to have an intentional "input capturing" capability at the front end of the "Mindfulness/Awakening" program. Now we will explore what the Buddha teachings has disclosed on tackling this technical aspect of diversion of inputs to the Mindfulness/Awakening program.

Can we find in the Buddha teachings, clues on input capturing and input processing mechanism needed for the Mindfulness/Awakening program?

Yes, we can find! It is the "meditation" that would help to incorporate this mechanism to the system. There are two principal meditation streams given in the teaching. They are known as Samatha and Vippassana in Pali language.

Both streams of meditation, "Samatha" (serenity) and "Vippassana" (insight meditation), are solely for the purposes of providing the inputs capturing and data processing of the mental stream of programs. I strongly believe that Samatha meditation by nature of its makeup helps to develop the input capturing role. Just think of the nature of the mindfulness exercise practiced in breathing meditation. If we try to think of any benefit of this practice to the system of Mindfulness/Awakening program that is what it standout as a logical benefit. On the other hand, Vippassana - insight meditation by nature of its makeup develops the Mindfulness/Awakening processing sector, principally catering the practice for tasks such as analysis, evaluation, rationalization and wisdom building training. Training in Samatha meditation therefore, is the key to mental alertness and intentionally capturing the incoming inputs and diverting the inputs to the "Mindfulness/Awakening" program for processing. Basically, Samatha tricks ego. Samatha meditation when practiced to a level that can be used on day to day life events, that will be a leading edge in intentional capturing the inputs and diverting them for intentional analysis and evaluation in the thought generation process.

In respect of Samatha meditation the above idea is not from the Buddhist scripture but I believe that it should be viewed this way to make sense of the purpose of Samatha meditation, specifically considering the nature of pertinent training practices. The makeup of numerous Samatha meditation guidelines, expresses this fact clearly. When an input is captured intentionally, the input has more clarity than it is taken for processing arbitrarily. When the inputs are diverted to the noble eightfold path based Mindfulness/Awakening program for processing, it produces thoughtful thoughts.

If we analyze the make-up of the Vippassana - insight meditation as disclosed in the Buddhist scripture, it is very clear that it is the stream of meditation that helps the "operation training" of the Mindfulness/Awakening program. The core facets of it are: Recognize the incoming inputs! Control! Analyze! Apply! Deliver Output! For a demonstration please try and apply these facets to produce a 'right speech' at your next opportunity. You will experience a big difference in the output you produce as speech. The both streams of meditation are vital for perfecting the "Mindfulness/Awakening" program as they are closely supplement each other for the overall objective.

One has to clearly understand that the sole purpose of all meditation streams is to get to the mind track of the Noble Eightfold Path. The high status of mental controls achievable through meditation practices is merely integral parts of the operation of the Mindfulness/Awakening program. We have to bear in mind, that it is the Noble Eightfold Path that becomes the podium for one to attain the enlightenment and not the meditation. Enlightenment (the cessation of suffering) is not possible without the elements like right speech. Meditation is the vital and integral training facet that is required for the development of the "Mindfulness/Awakening" program. In "Pali" language the word "Bavana" is meditation. It means the cultivation of the mind process. It is another way of activating the thinking of "how to think." The nurturing of mind should be directed to the development of the Noble Eightfold Path program. The day to day use of this new program shall be an integral part of the developer. In meditation you watch the birth process of a thought and stay with it, hold it in consciousness, and watch its ending. The Vippassana meditation is a training of the above process.

Until one reaches the status of Enlightenment, it appears that both observing the processing of a thought and the act of producing a thought, have to happen quite intentionally. During this stage the practitioner will be aware of what is even happening in its internal emotional theater. But all this awareness is intentionally acquired and not automatic. It will be an automatic process only after attaining the status of Enlightenment. A person who has a well-developed Mindfulness/Awakening program will identify the fractional elements of what is being processed, like a prism separating the white light into seven colors. Such a person will deal with each fractional element in a most appropriate way. All that would happen automatically as that person has passed the training phase and has become Enlightened. The fractional elements are discussed later in the essay. The mental training exercise is obviously an arduous task considering the erratic nature of the mind.

The meditation centered on love and kindness is known as "Maitri Bhavana." It helps to develop the ethical elements (speech, livelihood, action, effort) in the noble eightfold path. Hence, it has a direct impact on cultivating the essential elements of the Mindfulness/Awakening program during its development. Meditation streams such as "Sattipatthana" meaning "Generating Insight" are particularly focused on the micro fractions of mind elements and the impermanent nature of body elements and nature of life. In this particular stream of meditation, the meditative objects are the mind elements, body components and the body itself. It also outlines the four foundations of mindfulness, addressing the issues of the mental alertness and development. But I tend to think that this stream of meditation is relevant only at a later stage of the path development, after the Mindfulness/Awakening program has advanced to a substantial extent and when it is ready for another "add-on" sub-program to wisdom enhancement.

In Mindfulness/Awakening program development, what is important is to get the eightfold path ingredients into the "Mindfulness/Awakening" program. This is done by continuous study and practice; with the focus of getting on board the operational characteristics (i.e. Input capture and data processing), which are integral to the system. In reality, these operational characteristics are developed through enhancing the knowledge of the eightfold path ingredients and meditative practices. It is important to understand or to have a right view of what you are aiming to develop.

I tend to think that most Buddhist practitioners give more emphasis to meditative practices, ignoring the importance of promoting the development of the ingredients such as right speech, right action, right view, etc. This is probably because the real purpose (right view) of meditation is wrongly perceived. For example, right view is the forerunner of the entire path. The development of right view, gives the correct big picture of the entire goal of achieving the Mindfulness/Awakening program. Ironically, there are numerous meditative centers all over the world to help the development of the right mindfulness and right concentration of the noble eightfold path, but it is hardly known or may be extremely rare to find specific established Buddhist institutions teaching the development of right speech and other elements in the noble eightfold path. Among many things, common sense tells us that the lack of right speech attributes in causing most of the unhappy situations (distress, conflicts, quarrels, anguish - mental suffering) in our day-to-day life. Look at the newspapers and listen to world news for evidences.

Some Buddhist practitioners tend to resort solely to meditative track simply because the Buddha attained the enlightenment by this practice. One has to understand that this is the practice which helped the Buddha to discover the noble eightfold path. As such, if a practitioner attempts to re-discover the noble eightfold path through the meditative process, it is a futile exercise. That person is on the wrong track as regards to the guidelines given by the Buddha. But regardless, if one wants to do so for one's own desire, it is up to that individual.

If someone keeps practicing only meditation, then I believe that person has not understood the purpose of meditation in the context of the Buddha teachings. Regardless, if someone keeps on practicing meditation that person will be able to sustain control over the mind. Undoubtedly, the trained mind will be helpful in the day-to-day dealings to a great extent. But, we should try to understand the purpose of meditation that the Buddha intended for. If you resort only to meditative practices, without knowing the scope of your task, you may become an "expert on meditation" and nothing else. That doesn't mean much. Meditation is part of the mechanism in incorporating all the ingredients into the noble eightfold path based Mindfulness/Awakening program. Control of mind in combination with wisdom development is the core purpose of meditation. Both, "Noble eightfold path ingredients" and "Operational characteristics" (i.e. - Capture & processing), achieved through "Samatha" and "Vippassana" meditation should be built concurrently with the understanding that these are the fundamental and integral structural constituents of the Mindfulness/Awakening program.

How can meditation end suffering?

Here again, I would like to mention that it is the Noble Eightfold Path, which will take us to attain the enlightened state of mind. The meditation process helps to develop the Noble Eightfold Path based program in our brain. Once this mental program is established in the brain, it will not generate outputs having any elements of suffering, thus ceasing the mental sufferings. As I perceive this is the mechanism of ending suffering.

I have elaborated my rational answer to the intriguing question of how meditation helps to cease the suffering. The answer includes the purposes of "Samatha", "Vippassana" and other meditational practices attributing to building the Mindfulness/Awakening process. Mahacattarisaka Sutta, Sallekha Sutta and Lomasakangiyabhaddekaratta Sutta, are some of the sermons in Buddhist scripture that present insights into these exact points that I have mentioned up to this point. It is recommended to read the above sermons to understand deep into the validation of my rationale.

Here on, we will venture into exploring this idea further, in order to bring further clarity to the Mindfulness/Awakening program building route.

The figure 3 gives a graphical illustration of the Mindfulness/Awakening development process alongside the ego process. The properties of the Mindfulness/Awakening process are depicted in the adjacent text boxes linked with large arrows. Please bear with me for using the words "process" as well as "program" at some places in an interchanging manner to imply the same meaning. In reality program is the software (a noun), and process (a verb) is what is happening in the program.

Mental Development Process in Details

As explained earlier my opinion is that the main objective of the Buddha's teaching is the systematic development of this Mindfulness/Awakening program, along with gradual refinement of all parts of our "conditioned" ego process. A person who practices to become a mindful-person will systematically develop this process. As an integral characteristic of the development process, the practitioner will seek diversion of more and more inputs, through the new program that is being developed, for intentional processing of inputs rather than letting them process through the "Ego" program. The alertness in exercising the new process can be influenced by many internal and external factors. As a result of intentional diversion of inputs, the number count of thoughts processing by the old ego process will decrease while the number in the new process will increase. With a persistent effort, one may gradually be able achieve a standard where a very high percentage of thoughts be processed through the new process. With further intense practice, the effort of concentration required for diversion of the inputs through the Mindfulness/Awakening process will gradually become easy, routine and ultimately will reach a standard of the diversion become unintentional.

During the Mindfulness/Awakening program development stage, the following will take place concurrently.

1. Capacity enhancement of the Mindfulness/Awakening program

2. Quality improvement of the Mindfulness/Awakening program

3. Increasing "input flow" through the Mindfulness/Awakening program

4. Review and re-evaluation of outputs generated through the ego process, back through the Mindfulness/Awakening program

5. Gradual elimination of hindering elements that are present in the ego process

One should understand, the development standard or a "Level" of achievement of the Mindfulness/Awakening program can be rapidly deteriorated if the practice is stopped. If the practice is abandoned, the natural tendency would be the possible reversal of thinking, back to the old ego process within a short period.

I tend to think that the distinct mental stages of achievements leading to enlightenment described in Buddhist teachings as "Margapala" namely Sovan, Sakadagami, Anagami and Arahant, can be considered as stable "Attainment Levels" of progress in the path. The following table gives an idea of these achievement standards. The percentages shown are the average number of thoughts processed through the ego process and also through the Mindfulness/Awakening process. These percentages have been used as an index to measure of the achievement standard. The data presented are not based on any test, facts or from Buddhist scripture, but is arbitrarily chosen to make my explanation better.

Revisiting the development process for further clarification

The content up to this point explains the logic behind the mental process. The flow process explains what happens in the input–output system. But the explanations hitherto didn't address the dynamic nature of the mind system. To bring clarity to the logic and to understand the dynamic mind situations, we need to look at what really takes place in the system beyond production of a thought. The mind process in a real operational situation, receives an input and produces an output. This happens at a reasonably high speed. The actions in the process do not stop after producing an output. The mind process is designed to crave for inputs, one after the other, all the time and keeps-on generating outputs. That is how our brain works all the time. The output produced as a result of a particular input does not diminish after the output is formed. Then what happen to the outputs? Many outputs remain in the brain for a short time, and a very few get stored in the brain for a long time. Long time memories are like mental seeds, stored for future use. Most outputs get fed back as inputs for re-processing. This is the reason for the continuation of the grieving I experienced in the example that I quoted earlier on my mother's death. If we have a button to press to delete outputs as they are generated, it would be fascinating. But, we do not have a such mechanism. These mind streams (loop/flow patterns) that are generated by this feedback action can be multifold. Given below are some probable categories of mind operating streams that I could think of.

Stream 1: Say an input produces an output (A). Immediately after producing this output, the mind process checks for any other inputs. If there is none, then it automatically it feeds back the output (A) as the new input for further processing. This time the process may take a set of stored information associated with (A) from the memory of the brain for the second round of processing and will generate another output (B). The new output (B) will be fed back as the input again. This time some more or different allied information will be taken or accessed for analysis and processing; thus, producing a different output (C). This process will keep on happening as a loop until the process is disturbed or taken over by an entirely new input.

Example: Someone scolds you (input). You scold back (A- output). The person scolded you is silent. You evaluate the degree of admonishment you delivered (processing) in scolding. You have mental seeds from a previous encounter with this person (processing). You make a fresh attack on the person (B- output),

Stream 2: After producing a "strong" or "dominance" output (A), regardless of any pending inputs in the system, this output (A) is fed back as input (A), and will continue the "output to input" looping circuit as on stream 1 until disrupted by a completely new input. All of us have experienced similar situations in daily life when we get involved in events of high mental concentration. In such situations, even the sensory inputs will not make an impact to disrupt the circuit of concentration (in fact, sometimes sensors will lay dormant). Many meditative practices, base the tasks on this stream.

Example: Someone scolds you. You scold back (A). The person scolds you is saying something to you. A friend of yours is also saying something to you. You are not concentrating on what the other person or your friend is saying. You are in the process of evaluating the substantiality of the yell-out you delivered (A). You have mental seeds from the previous encounter with this person. You scold the person again (B), ....... - You are a totally lost person in respect of the other inputs around you.

Stream 3: After producing an output (A), the mental process itself can create an internal input (B) without having any connection to the referred output (A). The new input will go through the process and produces an output (C). This output will not have any relevance to (A) or original input.

Example: You are driving. Someone makes a nasty remark on what you did wrong in driving. You react with some words (A). The person yelled at you, already has passed you. You remember about a personal matter (B). Then you remember an office matter (C) - something entirely different.

Stream 4: Stream 4 is a combination of the above 3 streams. As an example, take a particular output (A). It can be replaced by a new output (B) without any connection to the existing output (A). But the new output (B) can be replaced by another output (A+) connected with the original output. This is normal in our daily life and happens all the time.

Example: You are driving and you were thinking about a personal matter. Someone scolds you. You scold back (A). The person scolded has passed you. You go back to thinking of a personal matter. You have mental seeds from the previous encounter with the driver on a similar matter. You disregard what you were thinking about the home matter and go back to think again about the incident of scolding (A+).

Stream 5: This is similar to Stream 3 but occurs when you are sleeping. If you have any memories of those thoughts when you wake-up, you call them by the word "dreams." In this case the looping process takes place in your brains, even when all the external inputs are on. (According to scientific findings, Whales, Dolphins and Echidnas will not have this stream of thinking as they do not dream).

Example: The act of dreaming. No inputs as sight, sound, smell, taste or touch reach your brain as you are sleeping. All inputs come from the brain itself (mental seeds) and get subjected mental processing to generate outputs.

In our daily life events, only a very few of the generated outputs from all the above streams, will get stored in the brain as memory. Those ones that get stored can be called as mind objects which I also called as mental seeds, earlier. Some examples: 1. An annoyance you have had with someone, 2. A good deed you have done, 3. A poem, 4. Number 9 \+ 1 = 10. As explained, the inputs you receive on a daily life could have direct connection to the stored mind objects. When such inputs are received, the specific input and mind objects will become the primary constituents that get into the mental process to produce the thoughts.

The above are macro level delineations of possible mind streams. I presume the explanation expressed make sense to the reader. Theorizing the mental flow process certainly is a complicated task. The thought generation process is very complex and many people have tried to crackdown this for centuries. The readers need to be aware that the above made up streams are only an attempt to bring some simplicity to explain the thought process. The illustrations given are not backed by any scientific research or any theories, but based on application of common sense, simple logic and reasoning.

As explained earlier the thought process (mind) gets executed in the brain and cannot function independently or outside the brain. This is evident when the brain ceases to function under the administration of anesthetic medication. It is interesting to note that there are two types of anesthetic methods. One type stops the inputs sensors and the other type stops the input processing function. This can be easily understood from Figure 2. Doctors use both these methods depending on the situation. If your brain gets into a partial anesthetic condition, the mind process may still function similar to dreaming situations (stream 5). The out of body experiences that you have read, where some patients claimed to have experienced, are the situations under this condition. One has to understand if the brain can be transplanted like any other organ, it will retain the memories and the mind programs of the donor. Immediate character changes have been observed in people who have had brain injuries, proving that the self is very connected to the brain. If we intoxicate our brain with alcohols or drugs, then our outputs change dramatically. People with down-syndrome, has a different mental composure. If you have a brain injury, you may act as a completely different person afterwards and could forget your past as well as many other things, due to losing some memory faculties.

It has been estimated that our brain generates about 60,000 thoughts per day. This is a fact. Therefore, the brain has limitations in processing inputs and generating thoughts. As our mind is a process, we always feel young at any age, as long as we have healthy brains. Like your computer programs, processes do not get old, though the physical body does. As we become old, parts of the brains may not function properly and the thought processing could get altered accordingly. Ex. Patients of Alzheimer's decease.

Note: The brain is a very high energy consuming entity capable of burning more calories than any other organ in the body.

To broaden the logic and understanding of the mind streams discussed, the former schematic diagram given in Figure 2 was enhanced to Figure 4, with the necessary additions.

As you can see in Figure 4, the re-evaluation of an already generated output thought, can happen through the ego process or through the Mindfulness/Awakening process. The Buddhist focus is to make all our primary inputs and re-processing of outputs to go through the Mindfulness/Awakening program. A person who has achieved a substantial level of Mindfulness/Awakening skills will have a greater probability of sending its feedback thoughts through the "Mindfulness/Awakening Program". This will enhance the opportunities of correcting a wrong output thought originally generated by the "ego" process (dotted thick line), now through the Mindfulness/Awakening process.

Example: Someone scolds you for something. You scold him back as a responding output (A) through ego. Then you process output (A) through the Mindfulness/Awakening program and realize that you shouldn't have scolded him. As a result of your second processing, you immediately apologies (output B) or explain to him your misconduct and calm down the situation with mutual understanding of what led to the unpleasant situation.

A skilled person on the Mindfulness will be aware of each moment of the flux of thoughts generated by the looping process and will become the controller of the process. He will make the mental process steady and keep the dynamism of the process under control.

As depicted earlier in the tabulation, when someone attains Enlightenment, both the ego and Mindfulness/Awakening processes become one. As I perceive, the final status of this achievement is what is "Enlightenment" or "Nibbana". Once achieved, this status does not undergo any changes. Ego processes will not re-appear as it has been completely up-rooted. One of the important points the Buddha stated was, that although Enlightenment was produced by causes and conditions introduced during the gradual development process, the ultimate experience accomplished would not be subjected to any conditionality. Hence Enlightenment is referred to as an "Unconditioned Dhamma." A person who had achieved the state of Enlightenment lives in a supreme psychological sphere (or status or realm) of experience rather than in a conceptual world. The mental stream of suffering will be completely ceased by not having any room of creating any thoughts with suffering. In fact, Buddha has explained Nibbana as supreme happiness, serenity, liberation and peace. Basically, all the outputs generated will be deprived of unhappiness, and hence the serenity, liberation and peace.

There is a common belief that the attainment of enlightenment is only possible during the era of a living Buddha (or a future Buddha), and the whole process needs to span through so many life cycles. Unfortunately, these pessimistic views probably are etched in many Buddhist followers' brains as a fact, thus unconsciously creating negative impacts on people who wish to exert full attention to build the Mindfulness/Awakening program in this life. Ironically, these types of views are a fundamental characteristic of almost all the religions. In general, the religions give better hopes after life, than in the present one, catering for the craving of the primitive brain circuitry that we have inherited through the evolutionary process. The slogans such as "when you die, you go to heaven" commonly found in belief systems, are the ideal hopes and comforts that the human psyche delight to accept to curb the anxieties in present life and to have high expectations after life. These superficial views and ideas act as catalysts to sustain faiths and comfort of the human psyche. A dominant characteristic of the human psyche is the readiness to accommodate an idea of something rather than nothing after death, because it is a psychological nightmare to think there is think of an abrupt end of a self. The Buddhist concept of Non-self if understood properly eliminates this psychological barrier.

"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism. - Albert Einstein"

Mind and Consciousness

Mind (the processing action of the thinking system) and the consciousness are two different things, though some might argue these two, to be the same. It totally depends on how you like to define the two. If you consider consciousness as the part, that identifies that you are awake, then it is part of the body and the mind system. Human consciousness is sometimes defined as the background status on which the thought process occurs. In other words, it is the status you are in, during the silent time gap between two thoughts. Read my book titled "Thinking Explored" for deeper understand of consciousness.

As I understand the generic consciousness can be found in virtually everywhere. It is all over in the animal and plant world. Even our individual cells are conscious. If you have an injury, the cells at the injured point will know exactly what to do. The cells will send signals to the brain, organize and coordinate so many activities instantly, without any other internal or external guidance to commence the healing process. All this will happen without the involvement of the mental processes, entirely by the built-in survival process that has no commander to give direction. When food goes into your stomach, the stomach knows exactly what it has to do. The same is true with plant life. There are volumes of information to prove how conscious the plant life is. In the case of the material world, though one cannot define it as conscious, even matter behaves according to certain rules and patterns emulating consciousness. Growth of crystals is a good example. The crystals have beautiful patterns and when they grow it follows some complex mathematical order. Even the structure and motion of electrons in atoms are good examples. David Bohm renowned world, physicist illustrates these facts with many relevant examples, basing his logic using theory of quantum physics.

For a matter of interest there are similarities of ego processes in the non-living entities as well. In a way sun keeps all the planets in its egocentric world (heliocentric orbits). The same principle is observed by the nuclei of atoms with regard to the electrons running around them. Similar to the way we are attracted to many things (ex. People) without any apparent intermediate physical connections in between; the sun has connections to its planets and the moons. Resembling the gravitational force, the human mind, too, is a joiner in our world.

Buddha's Second Sermon – Annattalakkhana Sutta

The above Sutta was the second sermon of the Buddha. The "Anatta" doctrine is presented through this Sutta. The prioritization of this as the second Sutta demonstrates the importance of the "Anatta" doctrine in Buddha's discovery. This Sutta very deeply explains the philosophical aspect of self. This specific teaching stands uniquely in the world of religions. The five wise ascetics, who were close associates of the Buddha, attained Enlightenment, after listening to this Sutta. Hence it shows that this Sutta had something very importantly different to what they knew from the Hindu religion. Most essentially what they grasped was "Anatta," to become Enlightened. This Suttas give summary form of the Buddha's disclosures as all the other suttas. But, I believe the five ascetics would have had hours of discussion on the subject matter, before they well and truly realizing it.

Basically "Anatta" means "Non-self" or "Absence of a separate self". The Buddha explained that there is no personality as self. What we experience as self is an illusion; an imaginary mental projection, a false belief and non-reality. It is important to understand the subject matter of the Sutta has a direct link to the "Wisdom" and "Mental Development" categories of the Noble Eightfold Path. To understand "non-self" concept, the wisdom and mental development are the two categories from the Noble Eightfold Path that need to be perfected. The sense of self only seems solid, but this is in fact an illusion. The true nature is something else entirely. The Buddha said "the man attains Enlightenment only when he overcomes the delusion of self." As such, "Wisdom" and "Mental Development" are critical to understand anatta, and in turn attain Enlightenment.

The doctrine of non-self (anatta) was very controversial even at the time of Buddha. It is complicated to understand though many books have been written by a number of scholars, based on their own understanding. The Buddha stated very clearly that "All Dharma" are without self. "Dharma" include conditioned things (ex. Samkhara - mental formations) as well as non-conditioned things (ex. Nirvana – State of Enlightenment). Though the Buddha vehemently rejected the "soul" theory, which was popular at the time from Hindu religion, on various occasions he didn't openly attack the other religious personnel who were preaching the soul theory. The attack was not the strategy in his mission. The dialogue the Buddha had with disciple Ananda after he being silent on the famous question asked by a person named Vacchagotta on "Self", is a well-known incident found in Buddhists scripture. In this particular dialogue, the questions were directly associated with the two streams of definitions for a soul which existed at that time. One stream was the belief in a permanent soul, transmigrating from one life term to another. The other was having a soul, only confined to the existing life period. The Buddha was not agreed to both these beliefs that refer to a soul.

To explore the understanding of "Anatta", it is good to know how the Buddha explained the two categories of truths, namely the "Conventional truth" and "Ultimate truth." In our day-to-day life most of the things we perceive can be categorized as conventional truth. We perceive the earth as flat. That is a conventional truth, but it is really not flat. We know that an atom is over 99% hollow, because the electrons circle around the nucleus of the atom are at vast distances compared to the size of the nucleus of the atom. We are made of atoms. Hence, we must be over 99% hollow. But as a convention we do not define our body as 99% hollow. The light is conventionally colorless or white. But the light is made of seven colors. Hence, there are conventional truths and ultimate truths. In everyday life we refer to both these truths for the purpose of understanding and explaining things. If people try to be absolutely specific or scientific in selecting words for day to day communication with each other, we will run into deep problems. The self exists as a conventional entity, but not in the sense of ultimate truth. "Anatta" has to be evaluated in the context of the ultimate truth and if one tries to explain it in the context of conventional truth it is meaningless.

In all world religions other than Buddhism, there is a clear definition of the soul. It is what carries the ownership of self from one life to another. As explained in many religious doctrines the soul gets punished or rewarded through its journey and it may become eligible to end up in the kingdom of God, in a place called heaven. In Hinduism the soul can achieve special status called "Moksha" which is defined as the freedom from the cycle of birth and death. In a such event the soul is supposed to be joining the ultimate flux of energy where everything supposed to have originated from. In the great books of Hinduism, the subject of self is defined in association with two facets namely the "Nama" (Soul or Atman) and "Rupa" (body). Hindu teaching is very much allied to Buddhist teaching in many respects and hence it is important to understand the marked difference between the two ideologies in respect of the definition of soul. In Hinduism the self can be explained around the following slogans: "You identify your body (rupa), but you are not your body, your soul is the witness of your body; you identify your thoughts (nama), but you are not your thoughts, your soul is the witness of your thoughts; you identify your emotions, you are not the emotions, your soul is the witness of your emotions". As phrased above, the self or the soul is correlated to a witness with the "nama" and "rupa" concept. But the Buddha clearly explained that there is no witness either, to be defined as self. In other words, there is no thinker of thoughts or a feeler of sensations or a receiver of reactions under the context of ultimate truth that we discussed earlier. The self is an illusion and a non-reality. At every moment, there is a birth followed by a death, and vice versa. Every instant is a momentary rebirth, without a soul. The nature of this illusion is the crux of the Buddha doctrine disclosed by Annattalakkhana Sutta, which helped the five wise ascetics to understand the Buddha's discovery and attain Enlightenment.

It is interesting to note that there are stories written about the out-of-body experiences. Leave alone the subject of out-of-body experience, if someone asks you to explain exactly where you are in a body (say in-body), there is no proper answer to explain where you are in the body or who you are, other than merely giving some references as the answer. This is exactly what the Buddha pointed out by saying that self is an illusionary mental process that we have been fooled by to feel. To explain this further, Buddha fragmented all elements which we perceive as self that is ascribed in soul theory of Hindu religion and pointed out that all those fragments are ever changing entities and none of them, or any combination of them or all of them, can be defined as self. On many occasions to explain, the Buddha talked about the five aggregates (Pāli word Khandhas -meaning piles). By talking about the five aggregates the Buddha didn't refer self as the five aggregates, but acknowledged that it was what people consider as a self at that time. The five aggregates are defined as form (body) and four mental constituents namely feeling, perception, fabrication and consciousness. The Buddha explained that either none of those aggregates or any combination of those or all of those do not constitute a self.

The fragmentation study of self and the dynamism of our existence are further expounded by the Conditioned Genesis (Paticca-Samuppada) in Buddhist teachings. Conditioned Genesis is a law of conditionality based on the following formula.

"When there is this, that comes to be.

With the arising of this, that arises

When there is not this, that does not come to be.

The ceasing of this, that ceases"

The Buddha derived the following fragmented logic elements by applying "Paticca-Sampuppada" to the dynamism of our existence.

Conditioned by Ignorance, Intentional activities arise

Conditioned by Intentional activities rethinking Consciousness arises

Conditioned by Consciousness, Mind and matter arise

Conditioned by Mind and matter, the Sixfold input base arises

Conditioned by the Sixfold input base, Contact arises

Conditioned by the Contact, Feeling arises

Conditioned by Feeling, Craving arises

Conditioned by Craving, Grasping arises

Conditioned by Grasping, Becoming arises

Conditioned by Becoming, Birth arises

Conditioned by Birth, aging, death, sorrow, pain, grief and despair arise.

This explains the process of all elements associated with life. It is to be considered as a cyclic process. Some scholars, explain this formulation as cyclic as well as a complex interwoven network process. It touches the birth and death elements. It is a "cause and effect" theory. For example, say that you have craved to buy a luxury car. That craving, ultimately results in arising grief when you are unable to buy it. As long as you have the car in your mind the logical elements from 1 to 12 given above, keep on forming in a cyclic stream. This is the stream depicted in the block diagram (Figure 4) with input and output with the feedback looping we analyzed before. As long as the "Car – input" exists, the "Car – output" exists. The moment the "Car- input" is taken off from your system the "Car-output" ceases to exist. As the words imply in the "cause and effect" theory, that is how it is being taught. The simple meanings of the two Pali words in the context of the computer model discussed earlier, translate as "Influences (Paticca) of Inputs (Samuppada)". Think of the input–output model we examined earlier to understand the Paticca Samuppada (influence of inputs), better.

Buddhist scripture states – "The foolish man conceives the idea of self; the wise man sees there is no ground on which to build the idea of self. Acceptance of the truth of the impermanence of self and the world will therefore free a man from much suffering, if he only makes the effort".

If self is an illusion, the question arises as to "who" gathers or receives the Karma or the resultant reactions (conventional merits and demerits associated with actions) associated with most of the eastern religions. The soul theory in Hinduism perfectly answers this question as it recognizes a transmigrating entity, the soul. Most Buddhists tend to grasp the soul theory inadvertently, as a result of the Hindu concept. Acceptance of soul theory contradicts the Buddhist teaching. The Buddha pointed out the in-validity of the above question with the word self in it. Because of the fact there is no self or soul, the word "who" does not bear any validity or meaning in the question of "who gathers or receives the Karma." Because the question is not valid, an answer cannot be composed.

The self is an illusion. This non-self-theory tumbles the operational logic of rebirth and Karma concepts. Rebirth and Karma concepts existed prior to the Buddha era, and were integral parts of Hinduism that creeped into the stream of Buddhist doctrine. However, the Buddha's explanation of Karma and rebirth is not soul based and shall be understood in that respect. As you can understand, in the first two sermons the Buddha delivered, which I called as the presentation of his discovery to five wise men, didn't have the concept of Karma and rebirth. But, down the line of his 45 years of preaching there are so many Suttas that state about Karma and rebirth. The Buddha was very keen to propagate his doctrine; but at the same time if he vehemently rejected Karma and rebirth concepts it would have hindered propagating his teachings tremendously. As the logically reasoned out to teach his discovery after comparing the lotus flowers in the pond to people in the world, he had to preach his dharma to people of various intellectual capacities. What he preached had to create some degree of impact on people's psyches, to get their attention. Hence the inclusion of Karma and rebirth concept for benefit of some can be understood pondering on it in a broad sense.

One might point out that in the 4th week after he attained Enlightenment, the scripture says that the Buddha was in an exercise of memorizing all his past lives. We need to understand the full story of what happened after he became the Buddha, including the food offering by the village headman's daughter Sujatha, what happened during the seven weeks after attaining Enlightenment, comparing the lotus pond to the world, the decision-making process of who to deliver his presentation and meeting a wonderer on his way to see the five ascetics had been disclosed decades after the Enlightenment. All these were disclosed by a Sutta named Ariyapariasana Sutta (meaning Noble Research) that was preached to a chief female disciple named Visakha, well-known in scripture. By this time Karma and rebirth had been already in many other Buddhist discloses. Prudently, the Buddha would have decided to touch on Karma and rebirth to get attention of most of the common people who were very deeply seated with this concept.

Science, Brain and Mind Matter

I read an interesting article about the brain and consciousness in the following website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mind/. The name of the article is "The Electric Brain" and it was presented as a dialogue between Dr. Llinás (the author of the article) and NOVA. It is well worth reading the full version, if it's still available.

The article points out that the nervous system first came about, when cells decided to deviate from plant life to make animals. Animals needed a nervous system, as they are oriented to a lifestyle with movement. The nervous system accommodates the movement requirements, different environments and behavioral conditions. Dr. Llinás explains that the consciousness is the sum of perceptions of the consensus derived from the cells, when the cells talked to one another a long time ago. He further states - 4 "We assume that we have free will and that we make decisions, but we don't. Neurons do. We decide that this sum total driving us is a decision we have made for ourselves. But it is not. The brain is made out of cells. It is a long and very distinguished group of cells, about 550 million years or more years old. These cells have a small mass. Our brain is about one-and-a-half liters, or three pounds, but it has 1010 cells, which is a huge number of cells, ten billion cells. And each cell (Neuron) has 1,000 to 10,000 synapses, which forms the connections between the cells. So, the brain has trillions of synapses. Neurons, like one another very much. They respond to one another's messages, so they basically chat all day, like people do in society with questions like, where can I park? How much is it going to cost? Am I going to get a ticket? One set of neurons talks to another set of neurons, and they talk back, so we have dialogues between different components in the brain. And the dialogue is not between one cell to another cell, but rather between many cells with many other cells. It's like having a huge number of people holding hands, dancing together, making ever-changing circles and organized together in such a way that every cell belongs at some time, to some circle. It's like a huge square dance. Each dancer belongs to a particular movement at a particular time". This article points, that the self as an operating entity without a single commander. A collection of constantly changing network of tiny communication entities, keeps the life operation running.

After reading the above article, I was thinking of another TV documentary, which I have seen called "K9 Conspiracy". This was about dogs. A crux of the documentary was to explain how this original wild beast made use of the opportunity that it recognized during the ancestral hunter period, and how it manipulated the human beings to accept them, and then gradually made its way up to the present social status that they are enjoying now. The hunting man adopted the dog because of its associated benefits. The dogs were the first to realize the reciprocal benefits, therefore they responded accordingly. Originally the dogs were hanging around people, at a distance. The dogs were not allowed inside hunters' dwellings. They guarded the dwellings of the masters. The cuddly puppies they produced, played with the children. First the puppies, then the adults gradually made their way to accept them in the houses, through the children. The lucky ones ended up on the beds of the man. The crafty scheme of achievement in their master plan seems to be still working efficiently. Today, there is hardly any service that many dogs render to the man, other than providing companionship. Really, now the people have become slaves of the dogs. People bathe them, look after their health, give them good food, even clean up their messes and allow them to sleep on their beds. You would have seen even the Presidents of United States, carry and comfort them in their helicopter rides. If the dog that masterminded this conspiracy is living today, I am sure it will have a permanent canny grin on its face to reveal its success.

I think the dogs' conspiracy story has a direct parallel correlation to Dr. Llinás concepts, with the "cells" taking the place of the "dogs". The cells originated on the earth many millions of years ago. It started multiplying and created primitive plant and animal life. The cells realized that it is important to work as a group. The cells also realized the importance of communication with each other. The cells made necessary variations to its constituents, to make adjustments to the ever-changing environment and various other needs. At some stage, it realized the importance of introducing gender into the system for better reproduction. This change made the cell conspirators, in order to produce advanced life forms as they wanted. While the genetic programming was evolving throughout the gender mixing process, all tasks were orchestrated by a set-up of complex network of the cells. The complex network of communication set-up was an integral part of the cells' master plan. Similar to the K9 conspiracy story, if there is a cell, which masterminded the present living world, it will definitely have a cunning grin on its face, to indicate the joy of success to date and also an expression to show the probable surprises in the future. When I wrote this passage, what came to my mind was a cartoon character of a cross legged cell, relaxing in an easy chair with the sunglasses on with a cigar in the mouth.

In regards to living beings, all our actions or the results we produce are not originated and controlled by a specific cell, but by a network-array of cells. In other words, we may be acting as slaves to the commands of the craftily organized army of billions of cells. We (our body and mind) are the robots of the army of cells who controls us. This army of cells will not have a single commander, but arrays of commander-network of cells, as explained by Dr. Llinás. Do you see any self under this logic?

The behavioral pattern of bees and ants, also might help to understand the above insight (controlling concepts) clearly as there are a lot of similarities. In each bee colony, there is a queen. The queen's main function is to lay eggs. Other than the queen, there are drones and workers. All workers have different tasks to perform at various stages of their life. The amazing fact is that the bees are not commanded by anybody, not even by the queen. Each bee is like a pre-programmed robot. They function in a network of communication systems without a commander. For an example, if there is a threat to the colony or to a single bee by an intruder, the alarm system will go off. According to studies, each bee knows what to do in these situations. If the situation is to fight, then an assigned army (no assignees) of bees will fight. If they are losing the battle, another set will join them; but strangely there is not a single commanding officer to summon the second set of bees, or to give commands at any stage of all these operations. This behavioral pattern or the unseen commander type of operating network that prevails in the bee colonies are amazingly unbelievable. Similar systems do exist with ants and other insects as well. This operational phenomenon has a direct correlation or similarity to the cell organization described earlier.

Probably the consciousness of our cells and the decision-making processes described above through the networking of cells, may be the mechanism of our life operation system. If this is so, we will not be able to attribute what is happening in our life to a single commander that we could consider as "self". Could this be what anatta is disclosing?

Our brain cells control us. In order to cater for multiple physical needs, the brain multitasks all the time. Else, we will not be able to perform complex physical functions like walking, talking, listening, playing, etc. The brain sectors responsible for the physical functions, can take very many inputs and produce very many appropriate outputs at same time to produce various physical functions.

However, contrary to this, our thinking process does not multitask but a single thought producer at a time. This is a proven fact. The illusionists make use of this human characteristic to its maximum extent when they perform their illusion acts. The thinking process produces only one thought at a time. It is impossible to absorb two mental inputs at the same time. We automatically shut down the doors to all the other inputs, when an input is undergoing the processing stage. That is why, we cannot understand the contents when two people talk at the same. Our thinking process is limited and the brain can produce only about 42 thoughts per minute according to scientific studies. Though this is an extremely slow speed for the brain, using this speed for any comparison of brain with a computer, is not justifiable as the brain is far superior to a computer in many other respects.

Based on the above, I think the recognition of a self (or I'ness) in us, or what we perceive as the thinker in us, seems to be logically limited to a "single input processing" concept. But, considering the enormous capacity, complexity, manipulability and craftiness of our brain networks, I hypothesize that the brain has purposely given us reigns to make "us" aware, only about the functionality of this limited sector of the thinking process. Because of this unreasonable victimization of "us", by our own brains, we cannot perceive what else is happening in the brain.

As we are unable to process more than one thought event at a time, we are always in an illusionary state of wonder, as to whether someone else is behind us. We always feel there is someone in us and believe that inner person is the owner and the sole occupier of the mind body system. But, that is only an assumption, an intuitive aspect or a feel. We do not know who that person is, and shouldn't consider that feeling as "self". As Dr. Llinás explained, we believe we have free will but we do not. We believe that there is a thinker behind the thinking, but there is no thinker. We believe there is a driver of our body and mind. But there is no driver. Just like the colony of bees functioning without a commander, our so-called "self" functions without a governing entity in us. Just like every bee is an integral part of the colony that keeps the colony running, each of our cells with the organized arrays of cell-networks are the drivers of our mind-body operating system, without a single self or soul that man opts to have as self.

The illusionary other part that we always have an internal dialogue with, and that gives us the feeling as the shadow consciousness, is nothing other than shadow operation of the brain itself. But there is a twist to this statement. To explain this statement further, I like to categorize the portion devoted to the single input operating/processing system that we also discussed earlier, as the ego system. I believe that there is more to the mind process than the ego system (Ego). I think there is another mental sector (say HM- hidden mental sector) other than the ego system, in the brain.

For our exploration assume that these two mental sectors plus the physical sector (P) is the entire brain.

I think that this portion (HM) plays a big role in our mental system, but we are not allowed to be aware of its operations by our brain. I believe this hidden system has the capability to perform more than one thought event at a time. But we (the ego system) have no way of knowing it, simply because of the inherent built-in restriction that has been induced to "us", by the brain. The functioning of the "hidden system" is somewhat similar to your superior officer monitoring your activities with a hidden link to your computer. He/she knows all what you are doing without your knowledge of where he/she is, or how he/she is monitoring you, or how he/she is mysteriously influencing you to do various actions. You think that all what you are doing is known to you only. But it is not so. There is a lot more going on in the brain than what we think. Can you remember the example of the 3rd song in the CD we discussed? Could it be possible that the hidden system suppressed the details of the 3rd song purposely?

My take on this hypothesis is that "you" are the ego process in the brain. But without your ego process's awareness, your main brain knows everything what you are thinking of. In computer terms you are just a sub-program (ego) of a big comprehensive program (B). You have been programmed to assume you are the big program (B). But you are not. You do not have any control over the big program, or even have the slightest awareness of its existence. You are limited to the boundaries of the ego based sub program (Ego). You (Ego +P) assume and feel that you run the big program. But you do not. The big program runs you, controls you, and restricts your control to your territory of activities. The big program even makes your ego program reject this type of ideas, just like an antivirus program rejects the viruses in computers. The big program and the programs that you understand as yourself, constitutes your entire brain run by the complex arrays of massive live cell-networks. We human beings are mere puny mortals who cannot ever hope to understand this due to our mental makeup.

The Human mind is clever in creating ideas. These ideas often lead to the development of material things that are beneficial as well as destructive to mankind. Mathematics and science based theories are powers of the ideas that have been developed as useful tools to understand the nature of universal laws. Meanwhile from our primitive ancestral time, our thinking processes have generated ideas that carry imaginary metaphysical concepts. Some of these concepts have led to religions. Many people have become slaves to those ideas, concepts and imaginary entities. In general, in the process of people becoming adults from childhood, they give consideration to the things they like carry and shed most of the literary non-factual stuff learnt in the nursery schools. But, this principle of shedding is rarely get applied to the religious beliefs learnt at childhood in a rational manner as those ideas have already become near and dear to their psyches.

My diversion from the subject of "Anatta" to above narration, was simply because I thought some readers may find it interesting exploring into the brain function. In the previous chapter, we discussed about the soul theory in Hinduism and anatta concept in Buddhism. The subject matter of "self", has a direct relation to the logic discussed above. We, as human beings, consider us as individuals. We have organized ourselves to presume us as individual entities. But, could we be of multiple entities or single entities or zero entities? Should the information coming from the scientific discoveries become eye openers for all of us to re-think about us (self) in a different way; not as individuals or controllers of our bodies? Shouldn't we think outside the box of our conceptual thinking to understand this fully? Has the Buddha already done that for us by the disclosure of anatta concept? Is this what the five ascetics understood to become Enlightened by grasping the material of the first two sermons of the Buddha?

The typical tendency of our psyche is to reject these ideas as explained before, and lock us up into the same old ego-based scenarios that we are very attuned to embrace tight. This tendency is the default characteristic of the psyche, in order to keep our ego in peace and harmony, without having any conflicts or giving a hard time by causing self-inflicting mental wounds. Can there be current scientific knowledge in reference to the Buddha teachings specifically on the questions of suffering and the non-self? I think undoubtedly there is. We may have to start a fresh mental battle in order to go deep into grasping these concepts with an open mind.

Question of Buddha after death

Similar to the questions raised by many about the non-self (anatta) concept, on several occasions, the question as to whether the Buddha was going to exist after his death was asked by a wide range of people during Buddha's time. The Buddha answered this question, a few times. The logical structure of his answer was the same in all occasions. The following story is an example, to show as to how the Buddha answered. It also, summarizes the structure and the core logics of his answer.

Anuradha was regarded as an intelligent monk who was renowned for answering questions with similar perspectives to the Buddha. When some nomadic intellectual asked the question regarding the status of the Buddha after his death, Anuradha's answer was based on four positions. He said that, "Buddha exists after death; does not exist after death; both does & does not exist after death; neither exists nor does not exist after death." After observing the reactions expressed by the intellect, and having doubted about the factuality, with self-realization that the answer was not a suitable one, Anuradha made it a point to get clarification from the Buddha.

The Buddha based his answer, by questioning Anuradha about the five aggregates (Khandhas – piles that we discussed before in the essay) that many people perceived as self at that time. In summary the Buddha questioned Anuradha as to whether he can define the Buddha as the form, feeling, perception, fabrication and consciousness (these are the five elements of Khandhas) or a combination of all or a combination of some of those? When Anuradha answered that the Buddha is none of those mentioned, the Buddha said, then how could Anuradha give an answer about his afterlife when there is nobody as the Buddha exists in reality. After stating that, the Buddha emphasized to Anuradha that the core element of his preaching is about the suffering and the cessation of suffering. Basically, the above answer directly links its logic to the concept of anatta. The Buddha implied that the question is wrong, as there is nothing called self (or the Buddha) in the context of "Ultimate Truth". Because of the question is meaningless, a meaningful answer to an ordinary person cannot be construed.

Many times, the Buddha was reluctant to answer this question, or get involved in the question. This question is one of the ten questions the Buddha refrained from providing answers, according to scripture. However, I argue that, because of Anuradha's answer, the Buddha was compelled to correct it without leaving it for adverse speculation. In many other instances where the Buddha answered this question, the logical basis of answering was the same as outlined above. Some references to this question can be found in Samyutta Nikaya – Anuradha Sutta. Also, there is reference to Sariputta (the Buddha's chief disciple) narrating the same answer in Yamaka Sutta. There are indirect references to this question in Bhara Sutta and Khajjaniya Sutta under Samyutta Nikaya, and also in Vacchagotta Sutta under Majjhima Nikaya. It is an extraordinary event to note, that Sariputta once asked this question from his colleague Maha Kassapa who was considered as a monk of incredible intelligence and had enormous respect from the Buddha himself. Maha Kassapa's answer to Sariputta was, that the Buddha hadn't declared a direct yes or no answer specifically. When asked why not, Maha Kassapa said 4"Because it is of no benefit and does not lead to turning away from worldliness, nor from dispassion, cessations, inner peace, direct knowledge, enlightenment and Nibbana". Most of the monks mentioned above are Arahants, meaning Enlightened ones. With the mentioning of Maha Kassapa's name, it is interesting to state, that the Buddha once brought a flower to a Dharma discussion with a gathering of monks, and then he kept the flower on the center table in the hall and walked away smiling. Maha Kassapa was the only one who was supposed to have understood what the Buddha signified by that action and the meaning of the flower.

Factually, as a finishing note on the question of life after death, I don't have any logical argument to reject the application of the same structured answer that the Buddha expressed, for any living being. Of course, we need to understand that this logic holds under the ultimate truth scenario. Readers will have to have their own opinion on this view. It will be interesting to get our minds think further on the whole aspect of self and this particular logic the Buddha expressed!

"It is a good thing that this individual life has an end with all its conflicts and problems. Those who brought about the belief that the individual continues to live after death must have been very sorry people indeed \- Albert Einstein"

Origination of Faith Concepts

In order to understand the teachings of the religions, including the Buddhist philosophy, it will be good to get an idea of as to how and when the origins of the supernatural beliefs intruded the human brain. The earliest fossils of humans so far found are about 4.5 million years old. According to historical findings, we have started our life journey as hunters. The Primitive man was a food-hunter. Prior to the first ever historically known civilizations, the era of the hunting-man lasted over four million years. During this time, the forces of nature influenced the hunting man's life, tremendously. The Primitive man didn't understand the natural phenomena such as day and night, hot and cold, sun and moon, thunder and lightning, rain and drought, wind and snow, diseases, animal migrations, tides, floods, tsunamis, cyclones, earthquakes, volcanoes, stars, eclipses, meteorites, etc. They considered these natural phenomena as creations of the supernatural powers. Along with the ideas of supernatural power, the superstitious ideas imagined by the man, conditioned the human psyche, continuously. The superstitious beliefs influenced their life, greatly.

Though he continued hunting the animals, later-on in history, the hunters established a covenant with the animals. A lot of evidence has been found about the performance of rituals associated with the hunt. Some people even believed that the animals purposely gave up their lives for the survival of the hunters. Therefore, later on in this era, the hunter treated animals as savior gods. He also thought that the animal would come back from the death at another time for their consumption. This idea was particularly strengthened with the seasonal migration of animals. Though the reason of animal migration was not known by the primitive man, they anticipated it for their survival. He believed the cyclic appearances of the sun and moon were supernatural acts. He had no clues, as to what thunder and lightning was, other than assuming that those were the acts of supernatural powers.

Recently, I watched a video documentary on gorillas. It showed how a group of gorillas was reacting to a thunder and lightning incident. The gorillas were throwing stones and tree branches at the lightening mimicking a mock counter attack. This behavior has been there, even with the primitive man. This behavior has been recorded even today with slight differences, in many isolated primitive societies. Instead of throwing things at lightening, these people throw out all their weapons from the dwellings to show their surrender to thunder and lightning. The Hunters developed superstitious ideas. Superstitious beliefs influenced their life a lot. Hunters didn't live as long as modern humans. Their destiny depended on the agility, strength and the ability to cope with the injuries sustained from hunting. Just as old animals become prey to predators, most hunters didn't have natural deaths, but became prey to wild animals while hunting.

Researches of human evolution have found an extraordinary rapid growth of the human brains just around 100,000 yrs ago. This is relatively recent times compared to the 4.5 million years of human existence. The size of the brains of our ancestors lived prior to 100,000 years had been small. Then it became large within a short time to the size of the present day human brain. According to analysis, the brain prior to this growth had been about one third of the size of present brain.

The information based on archeological diggings, the people lived in the period from 2,000,000 BC to about 100,000 BC had been very primitive; indeed, in many ways. The primitive hunter had been using the same type of stone tools for over millions of years without making any improvements, whatsoever. The improvements to the stone aged tools had really started to evolve around 70,000 - 60,000 BC, immediately after the apparent brain growth. The reason for the sudden brain growth is still being debated by the scientists. Some scientists attribute this to the change in food habits and use of fire for cooking. With the bigger brain the man became an innovator. But, even at 70,000 BC, the man was still a hunter, with the latest improved versions of the primitive tools.

Around 10,000 to 8,000 years ago, the primitive hunter became the herders and gatherers (collectors and growers) and paved the way for our first known human civilization. As herders and gatherers, they had more time to socialize, and do things other than gathering food. Most importantly, they had spare time to think. But like the hunter, the herders also held on to their superstitious ideas. The natural events like rain, drought, flood, pest problems, plant diseases and weather conditions that affected their prosperity were regarded as signs of either good luck or bad omen by them. However, this is the era in which various supernatural belief systems appeared to have originated.

A remarkable difference between the "hunter & gatherer" vs the "hunter", was their longevity. Because of their longevity, they experienced the natural deaths; in other words, deaths without violence or injuries the hunters' had. A death was a supreme shock, and was a mystery to the ancient man. He was unable to understand the reason for dying. When a person who was living a moment ago dies without any violence or injury, they wondered as to what really happened to that person. This led to, the conceiving the idea of a "spirit" associated with the dead. This idea eventually resulted in developing rituals and burial customs associated with the dead. When they were hunters, there were no burials, as most deaths happened during the hunt. The injured bodies were eaten by the carnivorous animals, birds and other creatures. The hunter gatherer's long life led to extended families. The children could see their grandparents and sometimes even they saw their great grandparents. Such situations didn't exist in the primitive hunter periods, due to the short lifetime. The people observed that some children born into their families resembled their ancestral grandparents. This observation led to the idea of reincarnation of their ancestors and hence the conception of reincarnation or rebirth. This concept was caught-up in certain societies, as they thought they had enough evidence to believe those concepts are true.

The primitive man believed that the ancestors, from whom they sought help when they were living, could help them even in their "spirit" lives. At the same time, they feared that the ancestors would take them away to the world of the dead, if they disobeyed the ancestors' spirits. The spirits were considered as super human; meaning "more powerful than the man." The ancestors that they saw in their dreams confirmed the existence of the spirit worlds. They didn't know how to communicate with the spirits, and were feared those extremely.

The mystic forces of the spirits they believed, affected their psyches considerably. The Primitive man didn't have any clue of the natural forces that they observed and experienced in day to day life. They didn't have any knowledge about the diseases, including the mental diseases like epileptic. Hence, perpetually they attributed all those to the evil spirits. The beliefs of supernatural powers somewhat comforted the human psyche psychologically, as these beliefs seemed to have provided the answers to the nagging questions they had. After centuries of trial and error, the man realized that the good and bad events over which he had no control before, can now be influenced and governed through the mystic ghosts and spirits, by performing various rituals. Even animal and human sacrifices became part of these rituals. They wondered who had the capability of influencing the mystic powers. Many people tried to communicate with the spirits using their own ways. Later in history, the man inferred that some men are better at this task than the others. Soon after realization of this (of course over many years), it added a new functionary category of service provider to human society, namely the "Shaman or Spiritualist".

At this time in history, people embraced the idea of shamanism. The Shaman became an essential part of community and the social structure. The Shamans were opportunists. They mastered their profession by performing complex rituals and other acts. They acquired skills to address both physical and mental aspects of the people who sought treatment or favors from the spirits. The Shamans secured their dominance and assumed a high status in the society. They even initiated codifying behavior systems to the communities and dictated terms to those who sought their services. In many instances, people were more scared of Shamans than the bad spirits that they thought could ill-treat them. The favors that the primitive man sought from the spirits through the rituals performed by the Shamans or spiritualists, expanded to a wide range of demands; including seeking personal favors and causing deliberate ill effects to their enemies.

The belief-based answers really made sense to them in understanding some of the worldly matters, thus quenching the anxiety of the savaged psyche. Moreover, it gave them the most important expansion that human psyche needed for hope and survival. Gradually, with time, the man's vision of looking for answers expanded to deeper psychological visions such as the meaning of life, life beyond this life, etc. The progress made in expanding the man's imagination, demonstrates that it was the man who created spirits, gods, devils and the supernatural phenomena. The human mind is the creator of all the above. Our dreams helped to reinforce some of these ideas because all the inputs required to create dreams come through our psyche itself. The man could easily have millions of gods and spirits as required. There is no boundary to these numbers for the man to imagine, design and define such entities and tell others what those entities are empowered by.

It is interesting to note that around 3000 BC, the man didn't have the concept of hell and heaven or the idea of rewards and punishments resulting from their good and bad deeds. The gods that the man created at that time, was mostly connected with nature; such as sun, moon, stars, rain, fire, thunder, ocean, mountains, and also the gods who were responsible for special events of human life, such as love, war, deceases, death, farming, etc. For an example; the god of farming, brought fertility to the soil and the rain at the proper time. The man performed rituals to build the relationship with the relevant gods. The gods provided what the man wanted after the rituals were performed. What was required for a particular ritual was also choreographed and dictated by the man with their imagination. Some rituals included animal and human sacrifices, involving the spirits of others' lives into the acts.

From about 5000 BC, the man started to observe the changes of the seasons, closely. The changes and behaviors in plant and animal life during the seasons of autumn, winter, spring and summer were tracked and recorded. They also observed the remarkable day-time fluctuations during the summer and winter seasons. Early man accepted all these as the conditions created by the supernatural powers. The tracking records kept on the seasonal changes, enabled them to predict the incoming seasons and relevant changes. This became the functional responsibilities of the leading advisors of the rules. A few thousand years later, after the religions came into existence, seasonal predictions became the responsibility of the priests. The priesthoods mushroomed, because of the demand for their service. The correct prediction of the seasons and seasonal changes were very important after the man became a farmer from the previous hunter-gatherer role. With the predictability of the seasons, the seasonal ceremonies, rituals and many other related activities were established for the community participation. These events were orchestrated by the priests with the direct support of the rulers. At certain stages in the ancient history, the priests held a supreme role in the society. During these times, some high ranked priests held more power than the rulers. The people, who didn't follow or obey the social traditions dictated by the priests, were victimized and sometimes killed mercilessly by the rulers to please the priests.

Later in history, the priests started observing the movements of star clusters and developed abilities to correlate life events to the positioning of the star clusters. Some priests predicted future events based on the positioning and the movements of these heavenly objects. As narrated by the priests, many rulers believed that their life and the kingdoms are under the influence of the star positions. The rulers heavily depended on the priests for making the correct predictions and often engaged themselves in rituals that were recommended by the priests to negate bad influences of the stars that they were influenced by. Important events were scheduled at auspicious times forecasted by the priests. Later in history, these experiences and knowledge branched into a theme called astrology. The long-term observations and experience taught them to make their predictions somewhat accurate. The influence of the moon on the sea and astronomical eclipses are some of the examples of their predictions. Though the scientific reason for the tidal waves were not known by the priests, the predictions made by them benefited the man.

It is also interesting to acquaint, how miracles came into existence. At the early stages of human development, miracles were the proprietary materials of the priests and the shamans. The miracles performed by the priests and the shamans were nothing but magic with or without them knowing the real reason (in some cases, yes) why those miracles/magic could be performed. A good example is the man's ability to walk on burning cinders. They knew they could do this act without burning, but really didn't know why they could do it. The amazing wonders such as how to make the front doors of a temple open when devotees' light-up the fires at the entrance became closely guarded secrets by the priests. These acts brought surprise and wonder to the devotees and helped to enhance their faith in the supernatural and paranormal ideas as the man's psyche curiously awaited to observe and enjoy such moments. The role of the priests didn't stop with providing advice and lead performing rituals for the rulers. The inquisitive nature of the human psyche was not a secret to the priests. They looked forward to interact with the common people lived in the communities. They saw the importance of catering for their needs such as mind reading, forecasting life events, providing auspicious times for their special needs, etc. Initially they provided these services at a small scale, on trial and error basis. Over time, they improved their skills by applying common sense to their tasks.

The human mind has a severe affinity to experiencing mystery and magic. The theme of magic even to date, is basically built around three principles, namely; "Life", "Death" and "Resurrection." Depending on who (the priests and magicians) performed these acts, the acts were called either miracles or magic. The purpose of the performer was to show that they could bust the natural form of nature. However, with time, some people understood how the priests performed these miraculous tricks. The clever ones, who stole these ideas, directed their knowledge towards entertainment as magicians. Others used the skill as witchcraft for the purposes of acquiring power over the weak-minded customers whilst building wealth for themselves. As both the above offshoots were obvious threats to the survival of faiths and the traditional functions of the priests, the religious sects were very concerned in safeguarding these secrets tightly. There are recorded historical instances of the magicians and witchcraft practitioners putting to death by the rulers as advised by the priests.

The evolutionary processes of the belief systems are still continuing today to suit the current social environments. As discussed in this essay the belief systems have played a strong role in the rapid evolution period of man becoming the modern man from the primitive hunter-gatherer. The belief systems embedded in man are an extremely domineering characteristic of the psyche. The primitive belief systems helped the man to bring comfort and hope to their life. It provided the means of dealing with the fears caused by death. The beliefs floated among them told them which supernatural power was responsible for what. Characteristically, the human psyche is an information seeking entity. Intuitively, it needs to understand the reason and the meaning of every event happening around him. People didn't want to let anything materialistic or spiritual, go away if they thought that those beliefs provided "comfort" with a "meaning" to their psyche. The "meanings" supplements the "comfort" of the psyche. The comfort vanishes when there is no meaning. The mental comfort is the driver of the decisions we make in our life journey. Though "meanings" are specific and very relative to each individual; we need to understand what comforts our psyche is the inner dialogue that we have with us. The psyche gets into very unsettled standing, when the reasons and the meanings are not convincing. The psyche calms down quickly when a reason or meaning is available. Most of the time, the psyche tends to find quick solutions rather than robust solutions derived through hard contemplative thinking. The religions provide quick answers that well suits the lay characteristics of our psyche. Comforting the man's psyche beyond any mean, the religions provide hope of extending our present life to another life after death that the scientists or the doctors are unable to provide.

If we go back to our primordial period and check the liberties the people had in criticizing any belief systems, if they wanted to do so; they had absolutely nothing. Irrespective of whether people liked or not, the prevailed belief systems at most times in history, were forced upon on everybody by the ruling authorities. The people, who didn't obey the set social norms and the behavioral expectations, were mercilessly killed and decimated from their societies. Unfortunately, these tribal practices are preached (to a lesser extent) among some radical religious groups, even now. The enforcement of the religious beliefs on people and the killing the radicals, is an undeniable fact to point out as to why such rebellious ideas didn't propagate further down the human evolutionary process. In other words, those genes that had radical ideas have been purposely destroyed to prevent propagation down the generations.

The belief systems are part and parcel of the human evolutionary process. Probably our genes are programmed to propagate such entities through our psyche's innate mechanisms. An article in the TIME magazine revealed the phenomena of a "God Gene", emphasizing on this fact. The ideas that we carry in our psyches as beliefs, are programmed to safeguard these faiths based ideas tenaciously. Our psyches are attuned to a rhythm of consciously agreeing with the doctrine of our belief system, to ensure keeping up harmony of our mind-body integration. To exercise this innate dominance, our psyche has a vicious psychological tendency to fight any opposing and intruding ideas; very similar to how our bodies fight with diseases that are trying to intrude our bodies.

As mentioned before, sometimes the innate mental mechanism can be heavily influenced by others even to extents of making people to scarifies their lives, on religious guidelines. When such situations are encountered, the psyche always convinces itself the reason for engagement and ensures striking harmony with its mind-body integration. Though it may be scientifically incorrect to express our psyches have traits such as allergies in a psychological sense, it seems logical to express that there may be psycho allergies specific to each individual or cult groups, who basically have no leeway in accommodating any other dogmatic ideas, other than their own set of beliefs. These psycho allergies may be common in some community groups who follow radical streams of dogmatic ideas. The reason can be simply because of the uniqueness of the source material that is being used to condition the psyches of their group members.

History of Indian Religions

Hinduism

The first evidence of civilizations in the world dates back to about 3000 B.C. India has one of the longest recorded civilizations associated with a rich history of mythological records. Since Buddhism originated in India and has a very close association with Hinduism, it is useful to know the history of India and the religious environment that prevailed at the time of the Buddha.

The Dravidians People who were spread throughout India seem to be the oldest known habitants between 3000 B.C and 2500 B.C. Historical ruins dating back to 2500 BC provide evidence of an advanced civilization in the Indus Valley, where the principal cities were named to be Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. The deities and cults who lived in these two regions were believed to be Mesopotamian in origin. Being an agricultural people, the gods worshipped by them were connected with fertility. The only archeological findings, which give some clues about their religions, were the seals found in Harappa. A figure bearing a yoga posture with crossed legs, a plant with a "Bodhi" leaf(leaf of peeple tree), a bull, an elephant and a tiger, are among some of the figures found on those seals. It is surprising to see a "Bodhi" leaf on a seal, which is of significance to the Buddhists. The yogi figure is also remarkable, as similar pictures have not been found in any other part of the world. Studies have shown that the Hindu god Shiva may have some relevance to this figure and the resemblances on the seal.

Towards the 1700 B.C., a new wave of conquest destroyed the Indus Valley civilization, and these invaders brought their own religion. They were the Aryans. They were a light skinned warrior people of relatively low culture, compared to culture existed in India. They were masters of horses, chariots and swords, which brought them victory over the Dravidians. They despised the Dravidians who were dark skinned. Out of habit, the Aryans didn't settle in one place for a long time. As such, their gods were not connected with the fertility of soil. Basically, they believed that they could get anything they wanted get done by the special gods they worshipped. They had shamans who could intervene with the gods. In return for the favors they got, they made sacrifices and performed many rituals. Most of their gods were associated with specific functions. Examples: - Agni: god of fire, Surya: Sun god, Vayu: God of the air, Vishnu: originally had numerous functions but later on has been identified as the protector god. Aryan invasion tremendously influenced the original religions existed in India. As a result of this invasion the deities and the belief system became really complex and led to an evolution of religions. Reincarnation and Karma were pre-Aryan conceptions existed in India. Stemming from the influences of the Aryans' religion, the concept of "Brahman – supreme source of power" came into existence. This was around 800 BC. The people at that time believed, because that the man could manipulate the gods at their will, that the people are more superior to the gods. This was a novel idea, which was never found in the West. This historical idea, in mixed forms, still exist in various parts of India and in the eastern religions. Owing to various circumstances in our history, many factors influenced in changing the mode of religious practices. One of the major influences had been the dynastic changes. In the midst of the religious and social evolution process, something unique to India happened (the time of this happening is debated). That is the origination of "Vedas". Vedas is a collection of hymns written at this time. The Vedas are considered to be divine in origin, and not man made. One of the main social factors defined in the Vedas is the caste system in India. The castes categorized the people. The principal castes are the Brahmin (priests), Kshatriya (nobles), Vaishya (craftsman & merchants) and Shudra (workers). The only unification of the people of all castes was in the belief in the religious system defined in the Vedas. For a long time, the Vedas were kept as a closely guarded secret by the Brahmin Caste, and taught only to a selected few. The "Mantra part" of Vedas contains mantras or hymns addressed to various gods and goddesses. The "Brahmanan part" of Vedas contains information about rites and rituals and served as a kind of guide book for such events. The "Aranyakas", or the forest books deal with the significance and philosophical background of various rituals. The fourth part of the Vedas is called the "Upanishad". The Upanishads are books of deep spiritual knowledge known as the "Vedanta". There are hundreds of Upanishads ascribed to the four Vedas of which 12 are considered to be the most important. Hinduism is the final outcome of this religions evolutionary process. The Indus river (initially river Sindhu) derived the word "Hindu" – the word used for the inhabitants around the area. Hindus believe in "Samsara" (the endless cycle of birth and death); "Karma" (laws of cause and effect); "Maya" (creative energy); "Dharma" (moral duty); "Ahimsa" (nonviolence); "Brahman" (the pursuit of liberation from Samsara); "Atman" (eternal soul); "Moksha" (liberation from birth & death cycle and closeness to supreme god). The spiritual practice directs one to adhere to inner search and to achieve the ultimate state of self-realization. However, Hinduism is also associated with a multiple system of thousands of gods and goddesses. Brahman is the supreme one and sometimes considered as the ultimate energy source – "the one absolute being". Among all the gods coming under the umbrella of Brahman, the following three principal gods (at the same level of hierarchy) are outstanding. 1 - Brahma (the creator), 2 - Shiva (the destroyer) and 3 - Vishnu (the protector). Brahma represents the balance between the destroyer and the protector. Brahma (not Brahman) – although is in the same hierarchy as Vishnu and Shiva, Hindus do not often worship Brahma independently. This is simply because people do not see any direct benefit in worshipping Brahma (creator). This is a good example of the nature of our human psyche (primitive or modern with primitive elements) to understand what our psyche needs; mostly the hope, comfort, security and something in return for worshipping or for performing a ritual.

Hindus are vegetarians, because of the belief in reincarnation. A Hindu person refrains from eating meat because of the belief that they may accidentally eat the flesh of a reincarnated relative as the souls of people can be born as animals. Hinduism teaches four main stages of life. These stages are as follows. 1. Student, 2. Householder, 3. Retired person and 4. Ascetic. Especially, the Hindus of Brahmin caste strictly practices these four stages of life. Most of them resort to the fourth stage by the mid age. When a son is born to a family it is customary to assume that the father's responsibility to the world is over then and the son could take over from there. In Hindu scripture this is explained as akin to cutting a tree down to allow a new shoot to sprout and become a new tree. This was a common practice at the Buddha's time. The purpose of the Hindu ascetic stage is the rejection of life, including the rejection of household duties and responsibilities of all stages of life. The last part of the ascetic's function before his death, was to give back to the society the things that he learnt during the ascetic stage, in a role of a teacher or an advisor.

Prior to attaining enlightenment, the Buddha as Prince Siddhartha was well exposed to the above religious concepts during his childhood and also during the period he joined with the renowned ascetic teachers as an ascetic, to understand the ascetic life. However, the Buddha became a counterculture figure to the Hindu Brahmin culture of the day. There are remarkable differences in the two religion concepts. As discussed before, Hindu religion believes in a soul and the Buddha taught about anatta (non-self), contrary to the soul theory. Among many things, as many would have wondered, the Buddha didn't advocate the monks to become vegetarians as practiced by the Brahmins. As an interesting note, if the Buddha had implemented such a rule, the monks would have had to visit only the Brahmins' dwellings to beg for food (begging for food was a custom practiced by the monks). Though this fact is not commented in any Buddhist scripture, had the pure vegetarian principle was practiced, it could have raised a caste related issue in the doctrine. The Buddha's advice to people was to abstain from killing and nothing mentioned about becoming vegetarians.

Jainism

Jainism is another religion in India which originated at the same time as Buddhism. This faith also seeks freedom from the cycle of rebirth or reincarnation. The originator, Mahavira is a contemporary of the Buddha. Like Gautama Buddha who was supposed to be the 28th Buddha according to the Buddhist scriptures, Mahavira was the 24th in the line of the Tirthankaras (Buddha equivalent in Jainism) in the world. Mahavira's predecessor was born 250 years before him in India. It is a coincidence that the Buddha and Mahavira stand in similar orders in the religious leaderships before their followers. The names of all the past Buddhas and predecessors of Mahavira seem to be typical contemporary Indian names and the stories around their lives are similar. This may be probably due to prevailed customs and opinions circulated at that time, gradually creeping into scripture rather than mere historical facts. Both were born as princes, and coincidentally, the names of their wives before they became ascetics were Yasodara. Prince Mahavira had a daughter and prince Siddhartha had a son. Events such as various gods coming to see him from heavenly worlds, even when Mahavira was a child are common citations in the Jain scripture. Mahavira's mother was the queen of a king named Siddhartha. She had seen dreams similar to queen Mahamaya (Prince Siddhartha's mother), before prince Mahavira was born. God Sakra (the king of the heavenly worlds) played a role in transferring Mahavira's fetus from a low caste birth to a high caste birth.

The Dharma preached by Mahavira and the Buddha seems principally similar, though there are variations in the precepts and interpretations of their philosophies. Like in Buddhism, there is no supreme creator-god in Jainism. Nonviolence is the main teaching in Jainism. Mahavira was believed to have achieved a similar status of enlightenment in terms of the Jain definition of the supreme status called "Moksha". He died at the age of 72 years in 527 BC. According to Jainism, the achiever of the enlighten status was the soul of Mahavira, contrary to Buddhist doctrine on "Anatta." He preached for 30 years. In Jainism there are five supreme beings – Arhats (great teacher), Siddhas (Saints), Acharyas (leader of the monks), Upadhyayas (teaching monks) and Monks. Jains believe in the Jiva (soul), Karma, Rebirth, Renunciation (avoid further accumulation of karma), Moksha (soul floats on top of the universe).

Similar to the Buddhists' noble eightfold path, in Jainism the path to achieve salvation is defined as "The Three Jewels" which are 1. Right knowledge, 2. Right faith and 3. Right conduct. Mahavira preached and followed the non-violence concept to extreme extents. He was even concerned about accidental breathing of insects and practiced preventive measures. Contrary to the strict Jainism principles, Buddhist precepts such as abstain from killing as opposed to abstain from eating meat, come into view as a practical way to assimilate the Buddha teachings to the general public. The Buddha's discussion with the general named Simha of Mahavira's sect, is very illuminating and details some of the different viewpoints of the two leaders. Similar to Buddhist Suttas (disclosures) there are many Suttas in Jain religion, disclosing the teachings of Mahavira. From the above, it is quite evident that most of the fundamental ideas of the two philosophies are very similar in reference to the core doctrines, though there are distinct differences in respect to specific sectors of the teachings.

To explore further on similar ideas existed in other parts of the world, given below are several quotes from prominent contemporary philosophical leaders lived in the period between 600 BC to 250 BC.

Buddha in India (563 to 483BC)

The wise ones fashioned speech with their thoughts, shifting it as grains is sifted through a sieve.

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exist only as an idea.

Work out your own salvation. Do not Depend on others.

Confucius in China (551 to 478 BC) – Emphasized on social participation – Tao life order.

What the undeveloped man seeks is outside; what the advanced man seeks is within him.

Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and stars.

What the superior man seeks is, in him; what the small man seeks is in others.

If a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.

Socrates (470 BC to 399BC) in Greece

Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore, avoid undue elation in prosperity or undue depression in adversity.

There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.

The unexamined life is not worth living for man.

Pythagoras (569 to 475BC) in Greece

Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. No man is free who cannot control himself.

Silence is better than unmeaning words.

The oldest and shortest words "yes" and "No" are those require the most thought

Virtue is harmony

Aristotle (384 to 322BC) in Greece – rational philosophy – man and man

Happiness depends upon us

All men by nature desire knowledge

It is the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.

Plato (427 to 347 BC) in Greece

Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil.

Never discourage anyone... who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.

The soul of man is immortal and imperishable.

These quotes indicate a sphere of general commonality found in philosophical thinking of all these great leaders.

All religions, art and science are branches of the same tree – Albert Einstein

It is appropriate to mention here that during the period 600 BC to 250 BC most religions associated the "self", and the "implied control center" of the body was thought to be the human heart; not to the brain. In Buddhist scriptures there are many references to body organs, but nothing mentioned about the brain. Probably the function of the brain was not known by anyone, at the time of the Buddha (563 to 483 BC). This was the case for many centuries even after the Buddha's death. Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) believed that the heart, not the brain, was the location of the intelligence and thought. At that time people thought the function of the brain was to cool the blood circulating in the body. The Egyptians when they mummified the bodies they scooped out the brain through the nostrils and discarded it as they didn't know the importance of it. However, the Egyptians preserved the heart and other internal organs for the next life. Alcmaeon, a Greek physician, (450-? BC) identified the brain as the seat of intelligence and the brain's involvement with sensations. He, also, stated that the feelings and moods originated in the brain. His ideas didn't have a place in the society as those ideas were not appealing to the common beliefs prevailed at that time. The functioning of the brain was made to understand only in the 17th century. The above facts are some of the interesting references to the brain, for us to understand the lack of knowledge of the function of the brain, in relevant historical periods. Though the Buddha didn't know about the functionality of the brain, the extent to which he analyzed the mind is rally amazing. He knew the exact function of the mind but not the place it was taking place.

Fundamental Elements of Other Religions

Progressing along with the subject that we evaluated up to this point, given below are the core elements of major religions that are existing today. Reading about these fundamental elements will give a brief idea of the constituencies representing the religions.

Sikhism

Believe in one God

Followed ten gurus

The aim is to move through five spiritual stages in life to achieve a favorable rebirth

Live by God's law, self-discipline, grace, knowledge, truth

Believe in karma, "Mukthi" – liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth

Judaism

Jewish people believe that God made a covenant with their ancestors and that it is their duty to live faithfully under God. God selected them as the chosen people

Tanakh - Hebrew bible

Torah – first five books, the book of genesis (creation story)

Abram the founder. His son is Isaac; the grandson is Jacob.

Jacob had 12 sons, they created 12 tribes

Promised Land. On the journey, God gave him Torah & ten commandments

Christianity

Jesus is the son of God - Only son.

Humankind has been in a state of sin ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God who created the world.

God exists in three forms father, son and the Holy Spirit

Evil in the world is the result of the intervention of Satan (Devil)

Christ's death offered people the chance to return to God and save them

On the Day of Judgment, the people will be subjected to go to either heaven or hell depending on their faith and acts

Muslim

The meaning of Islam, is the submission to the will of God, named Allah

Believe in a final judgment, to go to heaven or hell

Muhammad the founder, had four children

At 40, he was troubled by the God's worshippers. He often went to Mount Hira to meditate on the nature of God

In mount Hira, he received a revelation by angel Gabriel

In Medina, he had the first Muslim community

He captured Mecca (Kaba) and removed all the statues of other religions gods

Abu Baker, father of Aisha led the religion after Muhammad

Fraction "Sunnis", meaning "path", presume that they follow the path of Muhammad

Shi'I, the party of Ali; – and some believe Ali and the descendants are the true leaders of Muslim

Muslim is the youngest of all major religions and is about 1500 years old. All the above religions are based on a creator God. There is no creator God in Buddhism. However, it is evident that all these religions, including Buddhism adjust to the necessary changes required by society, with time. Generally, what you always find in many religions is the old beliefs with new interpretations. As explained throughout, religions mean a lot to mankind. Religions deal with all of human life and almost everything in our life. Religions inspire the creation of music, art, icons, symbols, poetry at the very stretch of human imagination. Religions influence the architecture of our buildings, the food we eat, the legal system we follow, our customs, rituals and how we behave. Astrology, has been another category of belief system which influences the people. Religious and astrological phenomena were closely linked in the ancient world. Even at present, astrology is widely used in many parts of the world for individual needs and social requirements. Astrology based events and predictions recorded during and prior periods to the birth of the Buddha and Jesus are evidence of these practices. There are a lot of myths associated with astrological events. Similarly, there are enormous accounts of supernatural events recorded as historical events in ancient times. A lot of these events can be found in scriptures of all ideologies, including Buddhism. Acceptance or rejection of those mythical events depends on people's mental composure. As repeatedly stated in this essay, faith plays a vital role in the choices that individuals make. Religions have provided us ethical and mystic answers to keep our psyches happy and harmonious.

By nature of our streams of thinking, we always have to have answers to all events happening around us, regardless of whether the answer is right or wrong. Most times, the answers we generate are supported by reasons. In uncertain situations hypothetical and gullible answers suffice our psyche. In many situations where scientific or logical answers cannot be found, our psyche resort to reasons based on our belief systems. Sometimes "nature" as an answer seems to fit the puzzles perfectly. But, it is not the popular choice, simply because we are nurtured not to look at the answers based on nature. When we were primitive, even thunder and lightning were supernatural events. During the time the pyramids were constructed, people in Egypt, knew about the electrical eels. Drawings of electrical eels have been found on the pyramid walls. People at that time believed that the shocks created by the eels were due to the spiritual powers of the creature. According to historical findings, this has been the belief, for many centuries during that time. I presume that people would have been very pleased with that answer then. Incidentally, similar to eels there are many animals in man's supernatural belief systems. Cobra, bear, loris, owl, eagle, peacock, wolf is a short list of very common creatures that have been considered as possessing supernatural and spiritual powers, in many parts of the world, even now.

It will be surprising to find that most people attribute their core life events to four common categories given below.

If statistical information could be gathered on this to evaluate where these four categories stand, it would be interesting to readers like you.

G - God or God's will  
K - Karma as explained in Buddhism, Hinduism and other eastern religions  
A – Astrology; Fate influenced by planetary positions and star clusters  
N - Nature

It will be a good exercise to see whether we could assign an answer or multiple answers from the above, attributing to each event given below.

Nonspecific events:

An extremely poor woman winning a ten-million-dollar lottery ticket

An extremely rich woman winning a hundred-million-dollar lottery ticket

An extremely bad criminal winning a hundred-million-dollar lottery ticket

Being born blind or beautiful or ugly or brilliant or disabled

A Samaritan is dying at a young age

Extremely bad criminal living over 100 years with good health

An extremely good man living over 100 years with good health

Quadruplets having completely different characters when they become adults

A blind man gets his sight back after facing a lightning strike, accidentally

All life vanishing from earth due to a meteoroid hitting the planet earth

Specific historical events:

For a period of over two million years man used the same stone tools without making any improvements. Then 60,000 years ago man changed that trend and started making improvements to the tools. It progressed at a rapid rate. Within a short time, man, even escaped from the planet earth and landed on the moon.

In 2004, a Tsunami hit many South Asian countries and destroyed over 150,000 lives within a few hours.

Many people who have received donor organs, have developed liking of foods, music and even adopted new behavioral patterns that they never had before. Further investigations have revealed that those were the common habits of the donors of the organs.

At age 26, Terri Schiavo of USA suffered brain damage from an accident. The brain injuries were very significant. She didn't have a terminal illness and she was healthy except her brain damage put her in a coma. She was a living woman, and her family along with others said she was quite responsive. At the age of 41, the life supporting system was removed after living in that condition for 15 years. (Was she really able to think during that time? If not, what was she at that time? - A body without a mind?)

In the year 2002, nine miners were trapped in a mine in Pennsylvania, USA. They celebrated life, when they were recovered after a few days through a drilled hole.

News - 12th January 2006 - Dozens of people were reported killed in a stampede during a symbolic stoning ritual at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

An explosion in a mine in West Virginia, USA, trapped 12 miners in January 2006. After two days only a sole survivor was found.

Profoundly Gifted Children: Alex taught himself to read, write, and count before age 3. By the time he entered school, he was capable of 4th grade math. In the second grade, he had an IQ of 169.

In 1960's a sperm bank was established by Robert K Graham in USA and most of the seeds were obtained from Noble Price winners. This project was closed later on. However, most of the children produced by this partly scientific experiment had outstanding levels of intellectual capabilities.

250 Million years ago, prehistoric animals were extinct due to a catastrophe.

There were no humans on the planet earth 6 million years ago.

In 2005 Pope Paul was in a coma for a long time before his ultimate death.

Buddha fell sick after eating foul food a few days before his death.

Kondanna, the wisest man of king Sudhodana, didn't attain Arahathood by the Buddha's first sermon, but thousands others did become first time achievers in Buddha's subsequent sermons.

Interpretation of Buddhist Scripture

Unlike Jesus Christ, who preached for a period of about one year (four years, according to some scripture), the Buddha preached for nearly forty-five years, after he attained Enlightenment. The Buddha words were not written, but passed on from person to person according to the verbal teaching system practiced at that time. By the time the teachings were written, it was five hundred years after the death of Buddha. It is evident that the leading Buddhist monks had taken extra care to scrutinize and structure the Buddha's teachings to ensure the integrity of the Buddha words. The structured teachings which were first preserved by verbal process and then written as text, is known as "Tipitaka", the three baskets or the "Pali canon". The three baskets are the "Vinaya Pitaka" (rules of conduct), "Sutta Pitaka" (collection of discourses) and "Abhidhamma Pitaka" (Teaching dealing with micro elements of the mind). The Pali canon is a vast body of literature.

However, like the findings in all religions, the contents in Buddhist texts are mixed with a lot of myths and material with symbolisms. Obviously, some of these materials which are not the crux of Buddhist teachings cannot be true and need not be taken in a literal sense. The Buddhist scripture on Siddhartha's birth, Enlightenment and forty-five years of preaching and his death are full of miracles, signs and wonders. Mahaa-sakuludayi Sutta states about paranormal tasks that one could develop by meditative practices, including brushing the sun and moon by one's palm. There are many miracle stories in the "Jataka Tales", which are deemed to have associated with previous, multiple lives of the "Buddha to be".

In the context of the Buddha's emphasis on the importance of rational thinking and logical evaluation of facts, I tend to believe if these tales originated from the Buddha words, then the aim of all these tales would have been to stress particular points or teach moral lessons to the followers, or perhaps for a particular intended purpose that the Buddha envisaged at the time of preaching. Many tales speak of devils, ghosts, angels, gods, even the king of the gods, animal realms and others. In one of the tales there is an incident of "the Buddha to be" having a confrontation with a devil and getting stuck in the devil's sticky body hair, like in the case of tar baby story with the rabbit. Believing the existence or non-existence of such strange beings or creatures and many other supernormal events, miracles and wonders cited in the scripture are up to one's imagination and choice. No archaeological dig in the planet earth or any other planets conducted up to now or happen in the future can ever verify the truth of the content in the Jataka Tales. Mahapadana Sutta discloses about the previous Buddhas existed many years ago – millions of years ago. According to this Sutta many of the former Buddhas have been born in the Brahmin (priests) caste and Kshatriya (nobles) caste in the Hindu caste system. Also, this Sutta makes a comparison of Gautama Buddha to Vipassi Buddha and attests that both Buddhas were born into the Kshatriya caste. It also states, that at the time of Vipassi Buddha the human life span was 80,000 years. Vipassi Buddha had been born millions or trillions of years ago. If these facts are correct and occurred in another cosmos (as the planet earth civilizations do not run to that extent), it raises a question of the involvement of the Hindu caste system prior to the birth of any Buddha, under each existence of a Buddha, thus evoking more skeptical thoughts on this context of the scripture. In other words, Hindu religion first has to come to existence to form the caste system. Physical characteristics of the Buddha are also described in Buddhist texts. This particular sector of the Pali canon speaks about thirty-two distinguished super-human features of the Buddha. They are gross exaggerations made by people because of their devotion to the Buddha. I have expressed these facts to point out some of the mythical aspects of the Buddhist scripture. These opinions under any circumstances should not be read as points to demean the great teachings of the Buddha, but to filter the frills to see the essence.

At the time of the Buddha, people were surrounded with many superstitious ideas including beliefs such as interpretation of dreams. This is quite evident in the scripture linked with the dreams seen by queen Mahamaya (Prince Siddhartha's mother) and even by acetic Siddhartha himself before he attained the Buddhahood. The Buddha eliminated all these supernatural beliefs by logical thinking and practical evaluation of such occurrences. In Bhayabherava Sutta: Fear and Dread, the Buddha disclosed, how he eliminated the undue fears which were caused by natural events. However, there are two instances where the Buddha interprets dreams that were seen by King Bimbisara. In those two instances, the Buddha narrated the dreams as a consequence of the king's relatives born in ghastly spiritual realms. I argue that these two specific instances were merely the best "situation proper" interpretations and remedial recommendations that the Buddha suggested to the king, with my emphasis on Buddha's vast knowledge and feel of human psyche associated with the common belief system prevailed at that time. The remedies suggested by the Buddha at that instants were similar to the solution given in the story of Kisagothami; purely psychotherapeutic in nature, rather than factual. Interpretations of Buddha's own dream are not to be found in scripture after he attained Buddhahood.

As a general decree, the Buddha avoided arguing against common belief systems, the other religious ideas or any sensitive subjects that hurts the human psyche. The strategy he used to stress an important point in his teaching was to give a clear explanation of the particular point (Dharma), to make the listeners work out their own logic and sort-out solutions acceptable or make sense to them. However, at some instances his explanations had been very critical. Vatthupama Sutta is a good example. In this Sutta, the Buddha made a big blow to the ideas prevailed with the people at that time, concurring that they can wash away their evil deeds and gain merit by bathing in some of the selected rivers in India which were specified in the Hindu religion. The Buddha pointed out, even if someone soaks in specific rivers forever (or entire lifetime), that the bad deeds will not go away. He also remarked, what would happen if the rivers go dry? Disclosure of anatta concept is another specific disclosure which was against the popular soul theory prevailed at that time, but the Buddha invigoratingly kept on stressing his logic.

Buddhism flourished in India for many centuries after the death of the Buddha. King Ashoka (300 years after the death of Buddha), sent Buddhist monks to many parts of the world, including to the western extent of Alexandria. Most parts of India where Buddhism flourished for centuries have reverted back to the other belief system, today. This is not surprising, if we understand the nature of the psyche. As previously explained, we have inherited many psyche comforting elements through the human evolutionary process. Worshipping a deity and expect favors in return is one of the drivers of the said inheritance. This appeared to be a fair governing principle of law of the primitive psyche with a substantial degree of reliability. This principle facilitates the modern man too. Some elements of these ideas are in fact induced into Buddhist follower thus helping their psyche significantly, as an added avenue of hope and comfort. I presume, the Buddha understood this fact very well and mended his preaching accordingly. I believe the Buddha, being an expert on psychology with boundless compassion to all living beings, recognized the benefits to the mankind by making references to the subject of hells and heavens.

5 Venerable Narada of Sri Lanka in his book "The Buddha and His Teachings" states "To the average man the Buddha at first speaks of generosity, discipline, and heavenly bliss. To the more advanced, He speaks of the evils of material pleasures and of the blessings of renunciation. To the highly advanced, He expounds the Four Noble Truths". As stated above the Buddha stressed the crux of his teaching is to be the cessation of suffering and he disclosed the path to achieve it. As stated above, the Buddha also, aimed his disclosures to address the fundamental characteristics of the human psyche which was pivotal to the mind-body integration. To explain the above opinions, I like re-write the following quote.

"Just four weeks after his Enlightenment, seated under the "Bodhi" tree, he thought for himself: 'I have realized this truth which is deep; difficult to understand; comprehensible only by the wise; men who are overpowered by passions and surrounded by a mass of darkness cannot see this truth, which is against the current; which is lofty, deep, subtle and hard to comprehend'. With these thoughts in mind, Buddha hesitated for a moment, whether it would not be vain if he tried to explain to the world the truth he had just realized. Then he compared the world to a lotus pond. In a lotus pond there are some lotuses still under water; there are others, which have risen only to the water level; there are still others which stand above water and are untouched by it. In the same way in this world, there are people at different levels of development. Some would understand the truth. So, the Buddha decided to teach it".

The Buddha categorically told his followers not to accept even what he pronounced as Dharma without examination and proper evaluation. As such there is no compulsion to believe or accept any teachings without examination and evaluation as scientists do. People, who are interested in the great teachings of the Buddha, shall perpetuate their own understanding of the core elements of the doctrinal scripture. In reality, in the process of understanding the Buddha's teachings given in scripture, each individual should subject the scripture in a filtering process for scrutiny; for acceptance or rejection. The degree of filtering depends on the degree of faith in the conditioned ego system we discussed at the beginning of this essay. Surprisingly, this scrutiny process may or may not have a bearing on the intellectual capacity of a person; but definitely it has a direct connection to the extent of "ego conditioning" that each person has undergone specially during the childhood. Irrespective of one's specific religious alliance, the filtering process of one's faith continuously take place throughout our life period. It is a "fact" and a "logical truth". Depending on the individual, this may take place at certain life phases for some, or may happen all the time for others. What is chosen through the filtering process becomes near and dear to the individual's belief system, and those partners with the mind-body integration to sustain the comfort of the psyche. The safeguarding, containment and strengthening of the belief system take place, thereafter. The psychological comfort provided by the religious and superstitious observances keeps the harmony of the mind-body relationship intact.

On many occasions the Buddha emphasized that his teaching is about the understanding of the nature of suffering and how to end the suffering. The first two Suttas of the Buddha, which were discussed initially, unfold the crux of his teaching as detailed in this essay. Our psyche still ponders primitively because of some inheritances and how we have been nurtured. I like to sum up the material content of those two Suttas as the Buddha impetus to primitive psyche, as summarily it helps to set a new foundation to understand the delusion of a self and guide the development of Noble Eightfold Path to achieve the goal of Mindfulness/Awakening. The Buddha is a prime example to ascertain the full potential to which the human thinking process can be developed. The Buddha advocated, you to be a refuge unto you, and said that he is not a source for salvation to anybody. Based on my views, throughout this essay, I simply trying to emulate the Mindfulness/Awakening to a mental software program that could be developed in our brains and used as an effective alternative replacement for the ego program. The person who develops and practices this program initially will undergo a gradual process of intentional control of his flow of thinking, and then finally progress into a status of unintentional and unconditional thinking. That would bring about the cessation of mental suffering.

The highest conceivable happiness is the bliss of Enlightenment (Nibbana), which is the total extinction of suffering, according to the Buddha.

"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves" - Buddha

References:

1. Extract from Kalama Sutta

2. "What the Buddha Taught" by Walpola Rahula, Published by Buddhist cultural center, Sri Lanka, page 52

3. Web site – pbs.wgbh./nova/mind - The Electric Brain

4. Lives of the Disciples – Maha Kassapa – Hellmuth Hecker- Buddhist Publication Society, Sri Lanka, 1967 page 23

5. "The Buddha and His Teachings" by Venerable Narada – chapter 13

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Buddha Impetus to Primitive Psyche

ISBN 978-1-4524-6297-4

Copyright © reserved by Shelton Ranasinghe

18 Sandstone Drive, Nashua, NH 03063, USA

sr2665@gmail.com

3rd Revision -January 2018

Discover the other titles written by Shelton Ranasinghe at smashwords.com

Our Extraterrestrial Neighbors  
Buddha Impetus to Primitive Psyche  
Self – A Delusion?  
Are We Being Fooled By Our Brains?  
The Phone Rang in the Middle of My Shower  
Thinking Explored  
Our Psyche and Beliefs  
DOOOD

Books Written by Shelton Bernard Ranasinghe

SELF – A DELUSION?

ARE WE BEING FOOLED BY OUR BRAINS?

BUDDHA IMPETUS TO PRIMITIVE PSYCHE

THE PHONE RANG IN THE MIDDLE OF MY SHOWER

OUR EXTRATERRESTRIAL NEIGHBORS

THINKING EXPLORED

OUR PSYCHE AND BELIEFS

DOOOD

