Squirrel Part 2

Note: If you didn't read "Squirrel Part 1" from last week don't worry, you don't need to have done so before reading this as I will fill in the necessary background. However if you would rather read that first you can find it here.

One of the perks of my day job is that I get to work with some of the most cutting-edge computer and software systems. One of the systems I have been playing around with lately is DALL-E 2, a state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI) system that has been causing quite a stir in both the arts and the computing communities since it was released a few months ago. What it does is take an English prompt and creates a picture (a photo, drawing or piece of 'art') that matches the prompt. If you are interested you can find a load of great examples here.

Those of you who did read the first part of this letter last week will know that I was enchanted by the concept of a "Squirrel Sanctuary," the location for the particular sutta that we have been looking at. So I could not resist entering the prompt "a drawing of a group of squirrels in a squirrel sanctuary listening to the Buddha in a bamboo grove" into DALL-E 2, and the picture above is what it produced. Not bad, eh? The drawing reminded me of the beautiful (and sometimes disturbing) Jataka Tales - a collection of moral stories from the Buddha's past lives which often involve animals. Because of this they are often thought of, and presented as, children's stories - but they are much more than that. Maybe I will do some letters on some of those stories - let me know if you would find that interesting. And maybe I will ask DALL-E 2 to help illustrate them as well!

Anyway, let's get back to the Squirrel Sanctuary in the Bamboo Grove, where the sutta we are reading - the Bhumija Sutta - takes place. Last week I talked about the events that lead up to the more famous part (which we will cover today). In the build-up the monk Bhumija went to visit his nephew Prince Jayasena. The prince asked him a question that had been troubling him. Basically some brahmans had visited and had told him that regardless of motivation, it was not possible to gain results from spiritual practice. He asked Bhumija what the Buddha would say, and Bhumija replied that he hadn't heard the Buddha talk on this subject, but based on his own understanding of the teaching then if the practice was followed appropriately then there would be results - whether or not there had been a desire for results in the first place.

Bhumija returns to the Buddha at the Squirrel Sanctuary and recounts to him what has happened:

Answering in this way when thus asked, lord, am I speaking in line with what the Blessed One has said, am I not misrepresenting the Blessed One with what is unfactual, am I answering in line with the Dhamma so that no one whose thinking is in line with the Dhamma will have grounds for criticizing me?

I can imagine Bhujima being a bit nervous here - he clearly wanted to answer the prince in a way that was helpful, but worried that his answer might not have been an accurate reflection of the Buddha's teachings. Fortunately for Bhujima the Buddha answered him like this:

Certainly, Bhumija, in answering in this way when thus asked, you are speaking in line with what I have said, you are not misrepresenting me with what is unfactual, and you are answering in line with the Dhamma so that no one whose thinking is in line with the Dhamma will have grounds for criticizing you. For any brahmans or contemplatives endowed with wrong view, wrong resolve, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, & wrong concentration: If they follow the holy life even when having made a wish [for results], they are incapable of obtaining results. If they follow the holy life even when having made no wish, they are incapable of obtaining results. If they follow the holy life even when both having made a wish and having made no wish, they are incapable of obtaining results. If they follow the holy life even when neither having made a wish nor having made no wish, they are incapable of obtaining results. Why is that? Because it is an inappropriate way of obtaining results.

Some of you will probably recognize that the inappropriate approach mentioned here - wrong view, wrong resolve, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, & wrong concentration is the exact inverse of the Noble Eightfold Path - right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, & right concentration. These are the qualities, the disciplines, that lead to liberation from suffering which is the core of the Buddha's teaching. If these are new to you (or you need a refresher) then I highly recommend this short book by Bhikkhu Bodhi you can read here.

So what the Buddha is saying here is that yes, if practiced inappropriately there will be no results regardless of your desire. But if practiced appropriately - with right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, & right concentration - then there will be a result and that result is the ending of dukkha - suffering, stress or 'unsatisfactoryness.' I have written before about this concept of dukkha in the letter "Not What We Want" that you can read here if you wish.

Now, as many of you know, I have a tendency to find a lot more humor in the Pali Canon than some others do. I don't know if that is just me projecting, but the Buddha often has what to me is a mischievous turn of phrase, and I can often imagine the monks laughing along with him (or sometimes squirming) when he uses a particularly outrageous simile. Whether or not they were meant to be funny, I am sure they were chosen to be memorable. And in this case the Buddha gives Bhumija a number of quite extreme examples of people behaving quite foolishly.

Suppose a man in need of oil, looking for oil, wandering in search of oil, would pile gravel in a tub and press it, sprinkling it again & again with water. If he were to pile gravel in a tub and press it, sprinkling it again & again with water even when having made a wish [for results]... having made no wish... both having made a wish and having made no wish... neither having made a wish nor having made no wish, he would be incapable of obtaining results. Why is that? Because it is an inappropriate way of obtaining results.

I can imagine Bhumija laughing at this - of course such foolishness wouldn't reap results! How could it? It would be foolish to expect results, no matter how much you wished for them.

The Buddha goes on to describe three other scenarios - trying to get milk from a cow's horn, trying to get butter from water and trying to get fire from wet, green wood. All of these are of course futile, and will not generate results, no matter how much we might desire the results. So what is the answer?

Suppose a man in need of oil, looking for oil, wandering in search of oil, would pile sesame seeds in a tub and press them, sprinkling them again & again with water. If he were to pile sesame seeds in a tub and press them, sprinkling them again & again with water, even when having made a wish [for results]... having made no wish... both having made a wish and having made no wish... neither having made a wish nor having made no wish, he would be capable of obtaining results. Why is that? Because it is an appropriate way of obtaining results.

Of course! Oil comes from sesame seeds!  Likewise milk from udders, butter from curds and fire from dry wood. Regardless of desire, it is going about things the appropriate way that generates results. In some ways you can think of the lesson here as the 'anti-Secret' - it doesn't matter how much you desire results if you go about things the wrong way!

And we are taught the right way is to practice right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, & right concentration. It's not easy, but it does get results.

Metta, Chris.

I have linked below a fully guided half-hour meditation on the concept of Dukkha, 'Not What We Want.' Feel free to use it in your practice in any way you feel helps.

 

cjrobson · Not What We Want

 

"Bhumija Sutta: To Bhumija" (MN 126), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013,
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.126.than.html .

Picture generated by OpenAI's DALL-E 2 system, using the prompt: "a drawing of a group of squirrels in a squirrel sanctuary listening to the Buddha in a bamboo grove"