Monks, mauna and communication

[Guest guest]

Thankyou Sri Dhyanasarasvati,

> (I shall not talk about this anymore, since social

> issues donot concern me being a Bhikku and a monk.

> )

>

> Yogiji , i found these two lines not only amusing

> but intriguing as

> well. The very fact that a bhikku and monk is a

> member of the

> Advaitin group tells me that he likes to associate

> with like-minded

> devotees and loves SATSANGATI.

 

Please note: I am not promoting Buddhism. Yet if

people think so, I cannot help that. This post is

sincerely only in response to the question raised

 

This is a question that concerns me as a Bhikku. Under

normal circumstances I would not bother about this

message of yours. But this might be needed to

understand the way certain portions of Dhamma are

modified as time progresses.

 

In being a monk seeking after enlightenment, there are

two requirements:

 

1. To work towards one's own enlightenment.

2. To gain from the world insight about thought,

philosophy and if possible impart some useful Dhamma

to those that are willing to hear or those that

question appropriately.

 

The first requires complete mauna or 'Arya mauna'

(noble silence) where a monk communicates with noone

else.

 

The second however requires communication. These may

seem contradictory. This is why there is training. A

trained monk should not need to indulge in the second

activity. Besides, he is considered trained when he

reaches the stage of non-return. For such a monk,

confidence in the path is so high that he would get

enlightened in this very birth.

 

A monk still undergoing training, need however to work

on the first activity with ardor and in the second

activity as well, till he reaches the stage of

non-return. This is done to ensure that lay people who

are unaware of Dhamma may be able to gain something

from him and so may the monk himself gain from the

people about Dhamma itself. It is however imperative

that the monk deal only with Dhamma. He should not

read, hear, talk etc. about anything other than the

Dhamma. He should also keep away from debates and

arguements, but may humbly give up with an earnest

protest, if someone speaks ill of the Dhamma. (Giving

up ensures that the monk has no more interest left in

winning arguements on Dhamma.) This ensures that he

remains focussed. If violated, the monk jeopardizes

his own progress.

 

When the Buddha said Sangha in the ancient days, this

is what he meant, in the secondary sense, although in

the primary sense a Sangha consists of monks alone,

meant for those not yet ordained. In the secondary

sense, meant for monks just ordained and still

undergoing training, it means all those people that

seek liberation or enlightenment through prajna or

knowledge or wisdom, ordained, or unordained.

 

In this stage, one reads the texts containing the

teachings of the Buddha and the arahants. He also

reads the texts of all other philosphies, to gain

confidence in the Buddha's Dhamma.

 

When this monk enters the stage of non-return, he does

not indulge in such activities, but gives them up

without difficulty as he loses attachment/clinging for

such communication.

 

The Buddha specifically says that the monk should

discard questions such as 'Who am I?' 'Do I have a

self?', 'Who created the Universe?', for they lead

only to stress. Keeping this in mind, a monk reads all

philosophies, without clinging to any of them

[including the Buddha's Dhamma] and when he enters the

stage of non-return, all philosophies and metaphysics

[whether Buddhist or otherwise] become worthless.

 

Such a monk is a once-returner or one who would attain

enlightenment in one more birth. He may not take birth

in the human realm, but in some real of gods or some

other higher realm and then may be enlightened in that

realm of consciousness itself. He may also take birth

in the human realm like Gotama the Buddha or others

like Sankara and would then be enlightened in that

birth itself. In that birth, he is born as a

non-returner and hence all works on philosophy,

ritual, metaphysics etc. would appear worthless to

him.

 

This does not entail anything about my progress and a

monk never talks of his own progress, as he then

measures himself and either feels remorse at not

attaining enlightenment [which is sorrow, the very

thing he wishes to do away with.] or feels pride in

acheivement [another deterrent to progress.]

 

-Bhikku Yogi