Listening to the True Dhamma

The opportunity to listen to the Dhamma is considered valuable both because it is rare and because it yields great benefits. Hard the chance to hear the true Dhamma. — Dhp 182 "There are these five rewards in listening to the Dhamma. Which five? "One hears what one has not heard before. One clarifies what one has heard before. One gets rid of doubt. One's views are made straight. One's mind grows serene. "These are the five rewards in listening to the Dhamma." — AN 5.202 To obtain these benefits, one must come to the Dhamma both with the right karmic background and with the right attitude. "Endowed with these six qualities, a person is capable of alighting on the lawfulness, the rightness of skillful mental qualities even while listening to the true Dhamma. Which six? "He is not endowed with a (present) kamma obstruction, a defilement obstruction, or a result-of-(past)-kamma obstruction; he has conviction, has the desire (to listen), and is discerning. "Endowed with these six qualities, a person is capable of alighting on the lawfulness, the rightness of skillful mental qualities even while listening to the true Dhamma." — AN 6.86 "With what virtue, what behavior, nurturing what actions, would a person become rightly based and attain the ultimate goal?" "One should be respectful of one's superiors1 & not envious; should have a sense of the time for seeing teachers;2 should value the opportunity when a talk on Dhamma's in progress; should listen intently to well-spoken words; should go at the proper time, humbly, casting off stubborness, to one's teacher's presence; should both recollect & follow the Dhamma, its meaning, restraint, & the holy life. Delighting in Dhamma, savoring Dhamma, established in Dhamma, with a sense of how to investigate Dhamma, one should not speak in ways destructive of Dhamma,3 should guide oneself with true, well-spoken words. Shedding laughter, chattering, lamentation, hatred, deception, deviousness, greed, pride, confrontation, roughness, astringency, infatuation, one should go about free of intoxication, steadfast within. Understanding's the heartwood of well-spoken words; concentration, the heartwood of learning & understanding. When a person is hasty & heedless his discernment & learning don't grow. While those who delight in the doctrines taught by the noble ones, are unexcelled in word, action, & mind. They, established in calm, composure, & concentration, have reached what discernment & learning have as their heartwood."4 — Sn 2.9 Notes 1. According to the Commentary, one's superiors include those who have more wisdom than oneself, more skill in concentration and other aspects of the path than oneself, and those senior to oneself. 2. The Commentary says that the right time to see a teacher is when one is overcome with passion, aversion, and delusion, and cannot find a way out on one's own. This echoes a passage in AN 6.26, in which Ven. Maha Kaccana says that the right time to visit a "monk worthy of esteem" is when one needs help in overcoming any of the five hindrances or when one doesn't yet have an appropriate theme to focus on to put an end to the mind's fermentations. 3. The Commentary equates "words destructive of the Dhamma" with "animal talk." See the discussion under Pacittiya 85 in The Buddhist Monastic Code, Volume I. 4. The heartwood of learning & discernment is release. — Sn 2.9 [Ven. Yasadatta:] Intent on quibbling, the dullard hears the Conqueror's teaching. He's as far from the True Dhamma as the ground is from the sky. Intent on quibbling, the dullard hears the Conqueror's teaching. He wanes from the True Dhamma, like the moon in the dark half of the month. Intent on quibbling, the dullard hears the Conqueror's teaching. He withers away in the True Dhamma, like a fish in next to no water. Intent on quibbling, the dullard hears the Conqueror's teaching. He doesn't grow in the True Dhamma, like a rotten seed in a field. But whoever hears the Conqueror's teaching with guarded intent, doing away with effluents — all — realizing the unshakable, attaining the foremost peace, is — free from effluent — totally unbound. — Thag 5.10 It's also important to understand clearly the standards for distinguishing true Dhamma from false. These standards come down to a pragmatic test: How does one behave, and what results come from one's behavior, when one puts the Dhamma into practice? As they were sitting to one side, the Kalamas of Kesaputta said to the Blessed One, "Venerable sir, there are some priests & contemplatives who come to Kesaputta. They expound & glorify their own doctrines, but as for the doctrines of others, they deprecate them, revile them, show contempt for them, & disparage them. And then other priests & contemplatives come to Kesaputta. They expound & glorify their own doctrines, but as for the doctrines of others, they deprecate them, revile them, show contempt for them, & disparage them. They leave us simply uncertain & doubtful: Which of these venerable priests & contemplatives are speaking the truth, and which ones are lying?" "Of course you are uncertain, Kalamas. Of course you are doubtful. When there are reasons for doubt, uncertainty is born. So in this case, Kalamas, don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.' When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when undertaken & carried out, lead to harm & to suffering' — then you should abandon them... "What do you think, Kalamas: When greed arises in a person, does it arise for welfare or for harm?" "For harm, lord." "And this greedy person, overcome by greed, his mind possessed by greed: Doesn't he kill living beings, take what is not given, go after another person's wife, tell lies, and induce others to do likewise, all of which is for long-term harm & suffering?" "Yes, lord." (Similarly for aversion & delusion.) So what do you think, Kalamas: Are these qualities skillful or unskillful?" "Unskillful, lord." "Blameworthy or blameless?" "Blameworthy, lord." "Criticized by the wise or praised by the wise?" "Criticized by the wise, lord." "When undertaken & carried out, do they lead to harm & to suffering, or not?" "When undertaken & carried out, they lead to harm & to suffering..." "...Now, Kalamas, don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.' When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when undertaken & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness' — then you should enter & remain in them. "What do you think, Kalamas: When lack of greed arises in a person, does it arise for welfare or for harm?" "For welfare, lord." "And this ungreedy person, not overcome by greed, his mind not possessed by greed: He doesn't kill living beings, take what is not given, go after another person's wife, tell lies, or induce others to do likewise, all of which is for long-term welfare & happiness — right?" "Yes, lord." (Similarly for lack of aversion & delusion.) So what do you think, Kalamas: Are these qualities skillful or unskillful?" "Skillful, lord." "Blameworthy or blameless?" "Blameless, lord." "Criticized by the wise or praised by the wise?" "Praised by the wise, lord." "When undertaken & carried out, do they lead to welfare & to happiness, or not?" "When undertaken & carried out, they lead to welfare & to happiness..." — AN 3.65 "Gotami, the qualities of which you may know, 'These qualities lead to passion, not to dispassion; to being fettered, not to being unfettered; to accumulating, not to shedding; to self-aggrandizement, not to modesty; to discontent, not to contentment; to entanglement, not to seclusion; to laziness, not to aroused persistence; to being burdensome, not to being unburdensome': You may definitely hold, 'This is not the Dhamma, this is not the Vinaya, this is not the Teacher's instruction.' "As for the qualities of which you may know, 'These qualities lead to dispassion, not to passion; to being unfettered, not to being fettered; to shedding, not to accumulating; to modesty, not to self-aggrandizement; to contentment, not to discontent; to seclusion, not to entanglement; to aroused persistence, not to laziness; to being unburdensome, not to being burdensome': You may definitely hold, 'This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher's instruction.'" — AN 8.53 "Upali, the qualities of which you may know, 'These qualities do not lead to utter disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, nor to Unbinding': You may definitely hold, 'This is not the Dhamma, this is not the Vinaya, this is not the Teacher's instruction.' "As for the qualities of which you may know, 'These qualities lead to utter disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding': You may definitely hold, 'This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher's instruction.'" — AN 7.80 The test for the true Dhamma being pragmatic, this means that even when you are convinced that you have heard the true Dhamma, you must be careful to realize that simply hearing the truth is not enough to know it for sure. [The Buddha:] "There are five things that can turn out in two ways in the here-&-now. Which five? Conviction, liking, unbroken tradition, reasoning by analogy, & an agreement through pondering views. These are the five things that can turn out in two ways in the here-&-now. Now some things are firmly held in conviction and yet vain, empty, & false. Some things are not firmly held in conviction, and yet they are genuine, factual, & unmistaken. Some things are well-liked... truly an unbroken tradition... well-reasoned... Some things are well-pondered and yet vain, empty, & false. Some things are not well-pondered, and yet they are genuine, factual, & unmistaken. In these cases it isn't proper for a knowledgeable person who safeguards the truth to come to a definite conclusion, 'Only this is true; anything else is worthless." [Kapadika Bharadvaja:] "But to what extent, Master Gotama, is there the safeguarding of the truth? To what extent does one safeguard the truth? We ask Master Gotama about the safeguarding of the truth." [The Buddha:] "If a person has conviction, his statement, 'This is my conviction,' safeguards the truth. But he doesn't yet come to the definite conclusion that 'Only this is true; anything else is worthless.' To this extent, Bharadvaja, there is the safeguarding of the truth. To this extent one safeguards the truth. I describe this as the safeguarding of the truth. But it is not yet an awakening to the truth." — MN 95