A Gift of Dharma for 11.28.09
by Danny Fisher
Today’s quote comes to us from Bhadantācariya Buddhaghosa, the great Indian Buddhist scholar of the fifth century.
According to the Mahavamsa, Buddhaghosa, whose name means “The Voice of the Buddha,” was born into a Brahmin family in the ancient Indian kingdom of Magadhi, somewhere near Bodh Gaya. Well versed in the Vedas, he became a Buddhist monk after a philosophical debate with a bhikkhu. The intensity of his study of the Tipitaka is perhaps best bespoken by the fact that when he discovered that a particular text was lost in India, he resolved to go to where it was preserved in Sri Lanka.
Once in Sri Lanka, Buddhaghosa absorbed vast libraries of commentarial literature, and sought permission to assemble them into a single commentary in Pali. The elders asked him to demonstrate his abilities by writing a commentary on two verses from the Sutta-Pitaka. The result was the Visuddhimagga (or, The Path of Purification)–which Buddhanet accurately describes as ”[having] long been and [remaining] today the most authoritative text in Theravada apart from the Tipitaka itself.” Though he went on to write other commentaries, it is this work for which he is best known. It has been translated into English by Pe Maung Tin and Bhikkhu Ñanamoli.
His life story is written in the Pali text entitled Buddhaghosuppatti (or, The Development of the Career of Buddhaghosa), which has been translated into English for the Pali Text Society by James Gray.
Here’s the quote from–what else?–the Visuddhimagga:
Mere suffering exists, no sufferer is found.
The deeds are, but no doer of the deeds is there.
Nibbaana is, but not the man that enters it.
The path is, but no traveller on it is seen.[...]
No doer of the deeds is found,
No being that may reap their fruits.
Empty phenomena roll on!
This is the only right view.
Though not a Buddhist myself, I love so much of the culture and ways of seeing that is found in many Buddhist traditions. This idea of no-self, I admit blows me away. I cannot comprehend it. If is frustrating to me as I want to understand what you mean when you write these things, but sadly I know there is no comprehension of it on my part. Perhaps you would be willing to explain it in a future post?
[...] is a timely issue here at this blog: recently, “Green Monk” at Night Caravan left a comment here, saying, “This idea of no-self, I admit blows me away. I cannot comprehend it. If is [...]
[...] Buddhist scholar of the fifth century, whom I first quoted and write a little biography for in this post. Here’s the quote, from his Visuddhimagga as translated by Henry Clarke Warren and published [...]