The Human Condition: The First and Second Noble Truths - After the Deer Park discourse the Buddha taught two very important discourses concerning the human condition that are important follow-ups to the teaching of the Four Noble Truths that elaborate on the first two of the noble truths.

After teaching the four noble truths to the five ascetics, the Buddha saw that they still harbored attachment to the idea of self, the most fundamental delusion. In order to remedy this, the Buddha taught them how to finally relinquish the attachment to self by discussing the five aggregates in terms of the three marks of existence.

“Monks, form is non-self. For if, monks, form were self, this form would not lead to affliction, and it would be possible to determine form: ‘Let my form be thus; let my form not be thus.’ But because form is non-self, form leads to affliction, and it is not possible to determine form: ‘Let my form be thus; let my form not be thus.’

“Feeling is non-self… Perception is non-self… Mental formations are non-self… Consciousness is non-self. For it, monks, consciousness were self, this consciousness would not lead to affliction, and it would be possible to determine consciousness: ‘Let my consciousness be thus; let my consciousness not be thus.’ But because consciousness is non-self, consciousness leads to affliction, and it is not possible to determine consciousness: ‘Let my consciousness be thus; let my consciousness not be thus.’

“What do you think, monks, is form permanent or impermanent?” – “Impermanent, venerable sir.” – “Is what is impermanent suffering or happiness?” – “Suffering, venerable sir.” – “Is what is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change to be regarded thus: ‘This is mine, this I am, this is my self’?” – “No, venerable sir.”

“Is feeling permanent or impermanent?… Is perception permanent or impermanent?… Are mental formations permanent or impermanent?… Is consciousness permanent or impermanent?” – “Impermanent, venerable sir.” – “Is what is impermanent suffering or happiness?” – “Suffering, venerable sir.”  – “Is what is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change fit to be regarded thus: ‘This is mine, this I am, this is my self’?” – “No, venerable sir.”

“Therefore, monks, any kind of form, whatsoever, whether past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near, all form should be seen as it really is with correct wisdom thus: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’

“Any kind of feeling whatsoever… Any kind of perception whatsoever… Any kind of mental formations whatsoever… Any kind of consciousness whatsoever, whether past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near, all consciousness should be seen as it really is with correct wisdom thus: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’

“Seeing thus, monks, the instructed noble disciple becomes disenchanted with form, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with perception, disenchanted with mental formations, disenchanted with consciousness. Becoming disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion [his mind] is liberated. When it is liberated there comes the knowledge: ‘It’s liberated.’ He understands: ‘Destroyed is birth, the spiritual life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being.’” (SN 22: 59, see In the Buddha’s Words, pp. 341-342)

The four noble truths taught that selfish craving is the source of suffering in this world and must be eradicated through the practice of the Middle Way. This sermon, however, focuses upon the fundamental source of craving, the false idea of a self. The four noble truths do mention the five aggregates in passing, but they do not conclusively reveal the vanity and perniciousness of the idea of a permanently abiding and happy self.

People have a tendency to be self-interested and self-concerned, but if questioned as to what this self is they can only answer in terms of the five aggregates. The body, its sense organs and the world it interacts with are all part of form. Likewise, all of our mental and emotional functions (including joy, anger, sadness, fear, love, hatred, desire, memory and awareness) can be grouped under the other four aggregates of feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. The Buddha has pointed out, however, that none of these five aggregates has any permanence, they all function in a constant state of flux. Additionally, they must all function in tandem. Any one of the five aggregates would be unable to exist without the other four. This lack of a stable basis for existence precludes any kind of peace or security that depends on something substantial and abiding. The life of the five aggregates is a dynamic interrelated process, and one who seeks some uninterrupted satisfaction from this process will only find suffering instead. Because the five aggregates are impermanent and lead to suffering they are said to be without a self. Specifically, this means that one cannot attribute to them the permanently abiding and happy self that was the goal of the religious sages and mystics of the Upanishads. A provisional self can be attributed in an abstract way to the life process, but an actual thing or substance called a self cannot be found within the process. Nor can one meaningfully talk about a self apart from the five aggregates because such a self would be a mere abstraction with no substance or empirical reality to back it up. So, the conclusion is that the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness are characterized by the three marks of impermanence, suffering and non-self. In this way, the Buddha revealed the vanity of the idea of a permanently abiding happy self. Once one ceases to think in terms of such a self, then one is free from all the compulsions, fears and desires that go along with the assumption that there is such a self to find, protect, or appease. One then becomes an arhat, or “worthy one”, who will no longer suffer from the cycle of birth and death. In fact, once the Buddha completed this discourse the five ascetics attained liberation and became arhats themselves.

Not too long after teaching the five ascetics, now the five arhats, the Buddha traveled to the banks of the Neranjara River in the country of Magadha and there met the three Kashyapa brothers and their thousand followers who were all matted-hair ascetics who worshipped the fire god Agni. The eldest brother was named Uruvilva Kashyapa and the Buddha requested of him that he be allowed to stay overnight in the hall where the sacred fire was kept. Uruvilva was dominated by superstition and arrogance and believed the Buddha was simply a presumptuous ascetic who would be destroyed by the fire serpent that lived in the hall, but he allowed him to stay there anyway. The next morning, the Buddha not only emerged unscathed from the sacred hall, he had also safely contained the fire serpent in his bowl. Uruvilva was very surprised, but would not admit that the Buddha’s wisdom and holiness was any greater than his own. He was also afraid that the Buddha would try to steal away his disciples. For days on end, Uruvilva witnessed the Buddha’s great powers and saw that even the gods served him, but still he would not believe that the Buddha was any greater than himself in terms of wisdom or virtue. Finally, the Buddha realized that he needed to use a more direct approach, so he pointed out that Uruvilva would be unable to live a truly holy life until he discarded the envy that lurked in his heart. Upon hearing this, Uruvilva was so impressed with the Buddha’s insight that he foreswore his fire worship and along with all of his followers became disciples of Shakyamuni. The two younger Kashyapa brothers and their followers soon did likewise. Soon after, the Buddha preached the Fire Sermon to the three Kashyapa brothers and the thousand former fire worshipping ascetics, so that they could elevate their minds from the superstitious worship of fire to a true understanding of life and the path to liberation.

“Monks, all is burning. And what, monks, is the all that is burning? The eye is burning, forms are burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning, and whatever feeling arises with eye-contact as condition – whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant – that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hatred, with the fire of delusion; burning with birth, aging, and death; with sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair, I say.

“The ear is burning… The nose is burning… The tongue is burning… The body is burning… The mind is burning… and whatever feeling arises with mind-contact as condition – whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant – that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hatred, with the fire of delusion; burning with birth, aging, and death; with sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair, I say.

“Seeing thus, monks, the instructed noble disciple becomes disenchanted with the eye, with forms, with eye-consciousness, with eye-contact, with whatever feeling arises with eye-contact as condition – whether pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant; becomes disenchanted with the ear… with the nose… with the tongue… with the body… with the mind… with whatever feeling arises with mind-contact as condition… Becoming disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion [his mind] is liberated. When it is liberated there comes the knowledge: “It’s liberated.’ He understands: ‘Destroyed is birth, the spiritual life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming back to any state of being.’ ” (SN 35: 28, see Ibid, p. 346)

The first thing to notice about the Fire Sermon is that it encompasses the basic Buddhist categories of the six sense bases, the twelve fields, and the eighteen elements which are used to analyze the components of human existence. The six sense bases consist of the five physical sensory organs and the mind, which perceives ideas and emotions. These six sense bases are also called roots because they are what keep us rooted in the world. We are constantly fed sensory impressions that demand our attention and which feed the passions like wood feeding a fire. The twelve sense fields are the six senses and the six kinds of objects that correspond to them: forms, sounds, odors, flavors, tangibles, and mental objects. The eighteen elements consist of the six senses, the six objects, and the various forms of conscious awareness that arise based on the contact between the senses and their objects. For instance, when an eye sees a form there is a corresponding eye-consciousness.

The Fire Sermon also lists the three poisons of greed (listed here as lust), hatred, and delusion arising in reaction to the impressions derived from the six sense bases, twelve fields, and the eighteen elements. The three poisons are the fundamental internal source of suffering.

The sermon then lists the sufferings of birth, aging, and death that represent the universal fluctuation of life that will always thwart the aims of the three poisons. The four sufferings commonly referred to in Buddhism consist of these three with the addition of sickness. This, in turn, leads to “sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair”. All of this is what constitutes the burning that the Buddha uses as a metaphor for dukkha, the state of suffering or dissatisfaction that characterizes life. The Fire Sermon teaches that this constant burning can be extinguished (the etymological meaning of nirvana) when one ceases to seek satisfaction through sensory experience and practices detachment instead.

The Fire Sermon is important for many reasons. It not only clearly lays out the case for detachment, but it also introduces the six bases, twelve fields, and eighteen elements, and the three poisons, which will appear again and again in other Buddhist teachings. Together they compromise the fundamental sources of worldly suffering in Buddhism. Looking at them from a scientific angle, we can see that the six bases and the three poisons are not conducive to happiness. The six bases are the products of biological necessity; they developed to assist survival not happiness. The three poisons are biological imperatives that demand we use our minds and bodies to seek food, avoid danger and ignore anything that does not pertain to survival and the perpetuation of the species. One could say that trying to find happiness or blissful repose through the six bases and the three poisons is like trying to cool off on a hot day by swimming in a bonfire. In some ways, Buddhist liberation is an attempt to free humanity from mere biological necessity.

Sources

Bodhi, Bhikkhu, ed. In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2005.

Bodhi, Bhikkhu, trans. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000.

Nanamoli, Bhikkhu and Bodhi, Bhikkhu, trans. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya. Botson: Wisdom Publications, 1995.

Nanamoli, Bhikkhu, The Life of the Buddha. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1992.