|
The Itivuttaka, a collection of 112
short discourses, takes its name from the statement at the beginning of each of
its discourses: this (iti) was said (vuttam) by the Blessed One.
The collection as a whole is attributed to a laywoman named Khujjuttara, who
worked in the palace of King Udena of Kosambi as a servant to one of his
queens, Samavati. Because the Queen could not leave the palace to hear the
Buddha's discourses, Khujjuttara went in her place, memorized what the Buddha
said, and then returned to the palace to teach the Queen and her 500
ladies-in-waiting. For her efforts, the Buddha cited Khujjuttara as the
foremost of his laywomen disciples in terms of her learning. She was also an
effective teacher: when the inner apartments of the palace later burned down,
killing the Queen and her entourage, the Buddha commented (in Udana vii.10)
that all of the women had reached at least the first stage of Awakening.
The name of the Itivuttaka is
included in the standard early list of the nine divisions of the Buddha's
teachings -- a list that predates the organization of the Pali Canon as we now
know it. It's impossible to determine, though, the extent to which the extant
Pali Itivuttaka corresponds to the Itivuttaka mentioned in that list. The
Chinese canon contains a translation of an Itivuttaka, attributed to
Hsüan-tsang, that strongly resembles the text of the Pali Itivuttaka, the major
difference being that parts of the Group of Threes and all of the Group of
Fours in the Pali are missing in Hsüan-tsang's translation. Either these parts
were later additions to the text that found their way into the Pali but not
into the Sanskrit version translated by Hsüan-tsang, or the Sanskrit text was
incomplete, or Hsüan-tsang's translation was left unfinished (it dates from the
last months of his life).
The early history of the Itivuttaka
is made even more complex by the fact that it was originally an oral tradition
first written down several centuries after the Buddha's passing away. For a
discussion of this issue, see the Historical Notes appended to Dhammapada: A
Translation.
Whatever the history of the text,
though, it has long been one of the favorite collections in the Pali Canon, for
it covers a wide range of the Buddha's teachings -- from the simplest to the
most profound -- in a form that is accessible, appealing, and to the point.
However, although the discourses in
the Itivuttaka cover many topics, they all relate to a common theme: the
consequences of one's actions, or kamma. Because this theme is so central
to these discourses, and because it is so commonly misunderstood, I would like
briefly to explain it here.
The Buddha's teachings on action, or
kamma, and his accompanying teachings on rebirth, are often dismissed as
unessential to his teaching, something he simply picked up from his Indian
environment. Actually, they are central to his teaching, and form one of his
most original insights. Although many people assume that the Buddha derived his
teachings on kamma from a view of the cosmos as a whole, the line of
experiential proof was actually the other way around. After directly observing
and analyzing the role of action in shaping his experience of time, he then
followed the implications of his observations to confirm his vision of the
process of rebirth and the structure of the cosmos that lies under the sway of
time.
In the course of his Awakening, the
Buddha discovered that the experience of the present moment consists of three
factors: results from past actions, present actions, and the results of present
actions. This means that kamma acts in feedback loops, with the present moment
being shaped both by past and by present actions; while present actions shape
not only the present but also the future. This constant opening for present
input into the causal processes shaping one's life makes free will possible. In
fact, will -- or intention -- forms the essence of action. Furthermore, the
quality of the intention determines the quality of the act and of its results.
On the mundane level there are three types of intentions: skillful, leading to
pleasant results; unskillful, leading to painful results; and mixed, leading to
mixed results, all these results being experienced within the realm of space
and time. However, the fact that the experience of space and time requires not
only the results of past actions but also the input of present actions means
that it is possible to unravel the experience of space and time by bringing the
mind to a point of equilibrium where it contributes no intentions or actions to
the present moment. The intentions that converge at this equilibrium are thus a
fourth type of intention -- transcendent skillful intentions -- which lead to
release from the results of mundane intentions, and ultimately to the ending of
all action.
The Buddha's direct perception of
the power of intention confirmed for him the process of rebirth: if experience
of the present moment requires the influence of past intentions, then there is
no way to account for experience at the beginning of life other than through
the intentions of a previous lifetime. At the same time, the power of the quality
of intention provided the framework for Buddha's vision of the cosmos in which
the process of rebirth takes place: there are pleasant levels of rebirth -- the
worlds of the Brahmas and the higher devas; unpleasant levels -- hell, the
realms of the hungry shades, common animals, and the angry demons; and mixed
levels -- the human realm and some of the lower deva realms. Even in the
pleasant levels of rebirth, however, the pleasure is unstable and impermanent,
giving no sure release from suffering and pain. The only secure release comes
through transcendent skillful intentions, leading to the experience of nibbana,
totally beyond the process of rebirth and the constraints of space and
time.
Nibbana itself is totally
unconditioned and so cannot be analyzed, apart from a distinction in how it is
experienced before and after death (see §44). However, the path of practice
leading to nibbana can be analyzed. It has eight factors -- right view, right
resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right
mindfulness, and right concentration -- and goes through four levels of
Awakening. The early texts say very little about the content of these Awakening
experiences, but are very specific about how these experiences function in
effecting lasting changes in the mind. Stream-entry -- in which one enters the
"stream" to nibbana, gaining one's first glimpse of the deathless and
cutting through the mental fetters of self-identity views, uncertainty, and
grasping at precepts and practices -- ensures that one will be reborn at most
only seven more times. Once-returning ensures that one will be reborn only once
more on the human level. Non-returning -- which cuts through the mental fetters
of sensual passion and resistance -- ensures that one will never be reborn on
the human level. If one goes no further in this life, one will be reborn in one
of the five Brahma realms called the Pure Abodes and attain full Awakening
there. Arahantship -- which cuts through the mental fetters of passion for
form, passion for formlessness, restlessness, conceit, and ignorance -- frees
one entirely from the suffering caused by craving, and from the cycle of
rebirth as a whole.
This, then, is the picture of the
cosmos that derives from the Buddha's insight into the power of intention. And
what shapes skillful intention? Two connected qualities: appropriate attention
(§16) and right view (§99). Appropriate attention focuses on questions that
help foster skillfulness in one's actions, and avoids questions that get in the
way of developing that skill. On the mundane level, right view provides a
proper understanding of action and its potential for producing mundane pleasure
and pain. On the transcendent level, it reduces experience simply to cause and
effect, skillful and unskillful -- expressed in terms of the four noble truths
-- without focusing on whether there is anyone performing the action or
experiencing the result. This untangles the mind from issues of space and time,
and allows it to act in a way that opens to transcendent release. Simply put,
appropriate attention asks the right questions; right view provides the right
answers. The interplay between these two mental qualities explains the
question-and-answer format used in many of the discourses in the Itivuttaka.
And, given the role of right view in skillful action, the fact that all of the
discourses deal with right view means that they are all aimed -- directly or
indirectly -- at helping the reader reach true happiness by using those views
to foster skillful intentions in his or her own life.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Metta Forest Monastery
March, 2001
|