The Buddha's Remarkable Teaching

How would you state, in at the most two sentences, the essence of the teachings of some of the most renowned religious teachers (for example Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad)? Almost certainly the word “God” will appear in this statement, since most of these teachers (or their disciples, on their behalf) either claimed to be a messenger of God, or identified themselves with God. The Buddha, on the other hand, was the only teacher who did not claim to be different from a human being. Furthermore, his teaching was indeed remarkable, as the following story will illustrate:

Once a wandering ascetic named Sariputta (Sanksrit Shariputra) came across Assaji, one of the earliest disciples of the Buddha. Sariputta was struck by Assaji’s countenance and concluded that here was a person either enlightened or well on the path to enlightenment. Having approached Assaji and exchanging friendly greetings, Sariputta asked Assaji, “Friend, you seem to be one whose faculties are extremely clear. Who is your guide and teacher? I would like to know about his teaching”.

Assaji replied, “My teacher is the great contemplative, born in the family of the Sakyas. It is to him that I owe my understanding”.

Sariputta continued, “But what is your teacher’s teaching? I would like to know more about it.”

Assaji said, “I am new to this teaching. I cannot explain it in detail, but here is the gist of this teaching”. Following this Assaji gave Sariputta the essence of the Buddha’s teaching in a most remarkable and concise manner (the original, from the Pali canon is reproduced below):

Ye dhamma hetuppabhava tesam hetum tathagato aha

Tesancha yo nirodho, evamvaadi mahaasamano

“Whatever phenomena arise from a cause, the Tathagata (Buddha) has explained their cause; he has also explained their cessation – such is the teaching of the Great Contemplative.”

On hearing this remarkable teaching, Sariputta was instantly transformed. Eventually he became one of the foremost disciples of the Buddha.

Now, you must agree that this is a most unusual way of summarizing the teaching of a great master, and indeed it is worth understanding the significance of the words used in this description. The important concepts are : dhamma (Sanskrit dharma), hetu, tathagata, nirodha, and mahasamano (Sanskrit mahashramana).

Dhamma (from the root dhr, to hold) has several meanings. Here the meaning is mental phenomena. Ultimately all problems have their source in the mind, and the Buddha, on several occasions has said that the essence of his teaching is the understanding and removal of dukkha (problems of the mind).

Hetu means cause, or more specifically, necessary condition.

Tathagata is a name for the Buddha, and literally means “thus gone”. It represents the state of a person who has put an end to craving, the result of which is that the “person”, as it were, does not exist any more. However, he has not gone anywhere, but the personality simply ceases to exist because the conditions for its existence are no more there. For more explanation, see the story of Vacchagotta.

Nirodha comes from the root rudh, meaning to obstruct. This word means cessation.

Maha samano comes from maha, meaning great, and samana, meaning striver. In ancient India, at the time of the Buddha, there was a vedic, orthodox tradition, but there was also a heretic tradition, represented by those called samanas. The word samana (Sanskrit shramana) comes from shram, meaning to strive.

In summary, the Buddha’s teaching was supremely practical and was based on the analysis of the human condition. The gist of the teaching is that it is possible, with one’s own effort, to overcome the problems of life by understanding the conditions that cause them, and putting an end to these conditions.