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The Dhammapada and Suffering

The document summarizes key concepts from the Buddhist text "The Dhammapada" regarding suffering and its causes. It discusses how the text expands on the Four Noble Truths by identifying ignorance, craving, physical suffering, and impermanence as causes of suffering. However, the text also provides ways to overcome suffering such as developing a pure mind through watchfulness, faith, and following Buddhist teachings. It states that achieving enlightenment and Nirvana allows one to escape suffering and attain lasting happiness and peace.

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232 views

The Dhammapada and Suffering

The document summarizes key concepts from the Buddhist text "The Dhammapada" regarding suffering and its causes. It discusses how the text expands on the Four Noble Truths by identifying ignorance, craving, physical suffering, and impermanence as causes of suffering. However, the text also provides ways to overcome suffering such as developing a pure mind through watchfulness, faith, and following Buddhist teachings. It states that achieving enlightenment and Nirvana allows one to escape suffering and attain lasting happiness and peace.

Uploaded by

amy
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Kuang 1

Amy Kuang
Professor Jacoby
Religion 210: Intro to Buddhism
October 26, 2015
The Dhammapada and Suffering
In Buddhist philosophy, the notion of suffering, dukkha, is heavily
emphasized and juxtaposed with the path to lasting happiness. According to
the Four Noble Truths, the experience of all sentient beings is characterized
by dissatisfaction and that the only means of ceasing this dissatisfaction is
through achieving liberation. In the Dhammapada, the Buddhist work
detailing the laws of the universe, the concepts embodied in the Four Noble
Truths are expanded upon through the extensive use of metaphors and
repetition. This set of moral laws also cites a number of ways that suffering is
createdthrough ignorance, craving, physical suffering, and impermanence.
However, through good work and effort, one can set forth on a path to
enlightenment, resulting in release from the suffering in the universe.
The Dhammapada draws on the twelve links of causality, a chain of
dependent arising that begins with ignorance. It criticizes fools for
committing wrong actions for the sake of temporary pleasure without
understanding the more painful fate that results.1 There is a reason that it
claims that the greatest of all sins is indeed the sin of ignorancethis
ignorance will in turn spiral into evil.2 It is through basic ignorance that
conditions an impure mind. Similarly, if a man speaks or acts with an
1

Mascaro, Juan. The Dhammapada: The Path of Perfection. Harmondsworth: Penguin Group,
1973. 45.
2

Mascaro, The Dhammapada, 71.

Kuang 2

impure mind, suffering follows him as the wheel of the cart follows the beast
that draws the cart.3 In this metaphor, the beast is the impure mind and the
wheel that continues to roll behind it is the wheel of life. According to the
notion of self-possession, any wrong or evil a man does, is born in himself
and is caused by himself, therefore in the respects of dependent arising,
impurities are borne out of ignorance and continue to follow the person
throughout his existence.4
When a person is overcome by selfish desires, it is impossible for him
to escape the painful consequences of those cravings. The Dhammapada
uses the metaphor of a tree to represent sorrow, and instructs people to
uproot the roots of craving to in order to prevent suffering from reoccurring
and growing. It also addresses the idea that lust, pleasure, passion, and
sensuousness all lead to sorrow since the lack of these things cause sorrow.
The Buddha instead teaches people to search for lasting happiness instead of
clinging onto transient pleasures.
Death and impermanence are two other leading causes of suffering;
therefore, to eliminate suffering, one must first escape the cycle of samsara
by attaining the everlasting condition of Nirvana. The Dhammapada
compares people to gatherers of flowers and that death carries away the
man who gathers the flowers of sensuous passions. 5
3

Mascaro, The Dhammapada, 35.

Mascaro, The Dhammapada, 58.

Mascaro, The Dhammapada, 42.

Also, due to

Kuang 3

impermanence, the worldly pleasures of ones present life do not last.


Instead, the karmic condition of suffering is transferred from one life to the
next, implying that the suffering is never-ending if one continues to practice
the same foolish acts.6
On the other hand, the Dhammapada references many ways in which a
person can hopefully overcome the natural condition of suffering and
experience permanent peace and happiness. This realization, or Nirvana, is a
type of existence that Buddha describes as one in which a person can
wander through the pathless ways of the Infinite...whose victory cannot be
turned into defeatwhom the net of poisonous desire cannot allure. 7 In
other words, this is an experience marked by the end of all suffering and a
state of absolute joy and bliss. However, the spiritual path to happiness and
the supreme Truth is one that requires much endurance and determination.
The Dhammapada highlights the notion that, while an impure mind
leads to wrongdoings, a pure mind results in joy. Thus, a man must commit
himself to watchfulness, as watchfulness is the path of immortality. 8 He
must arise in faith, self-possession, and non-attachment while eliminating
foolishness, ignorance, weakness, and carelessness. The mind is wavering,
restless, and fickle, however, but wise men will attempt to straighten and
control the mind and its desires. The man who practices the high thought
6

Mascaro, The Dhammapada, 36.

Mascaro, The Dhammapada, 62.

Mascaro, The Dhammapada, 38.

Kuang 4

and deep contemplation necessary to establishing a pure mind therefore


creates an island for his soul which many waters cannot overflow. 9 The
island is a symbol of a well-guarded mind, and the waters represent the
many temptations that flow in and out of life. As a wise man strives toward
the path of righteousness, he eventually rises far above the rest of the world
and awakens to the greatest joy.
A monastic must therefore follow the teachings of the Dhammapada
carefully with great attention to detail in order to achieve the field of merit
and set a good example for the rest of the Buddhist community. This monk
shall never fall from Dhamma, from Truth, 10 but instead shall continue to
ponder the laws of righteousness and put them into daily practice. Through
the dedicated study of Buddhist doctrine and strong discipline for preserving
the good moral character, the monastic will reinforce himself as a model for
the laity and simultaneously help the lay followers earn their merit. The
monastic

must

consistently

practice

meditation

by

relinquishing

the

transient, worldly pleasures that surround him and focus on purifying his
mind and developing wisdom and virtue. He does not need to go through
deprivation or severe asceticism, but instead follow the Middle Way by
detaching himself from the fetters of pain and suffering and striving for
Nirvana. As mentioned in the Dhammapada, when a mendicant monk,
though young, follows with faith the path of Buddha, his light shines bright
9

Mascaro, The Dhammapada, 38.

10

Mascaro, The Dhammapada, 86.

Kuang 5

over the world, like the brightness of a moon free from clouds. 11 When one
achieves Nirvana, he ascends above all others and no longer has to deal with
the clouds of suffering.

11

Mascaro, The Dhammapada, 88.

Kuang 6

Bibliography
Mascaro, Juan. The Dhammapada: The Path of Perfection. Harmondsworth:
Penguin Group, 1973. Print.

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