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The Connected Discourse of the Buddha (CDB), 553. Sayutta Nikya II, 29 (SN 12.23).
The translation is adopted from Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Middle Discourse of the Buddha (MDB), 283. Majjhima Nikya I,
191.
3
The translation is adopted from Bhikkhu Bodhi, MDB, 655. Majjhima Nikya II, 32, Sutta No. 79 and III, 63, Sutta
No.115.
4
Sayutta Nikya II, 25 (S.12.20); CDB, i 550.
2
The doctrine of dependent arising is also called the Middle Teaching because it rejects the two
extreme views of the human condition that have polarized reflective thought through the centuries:
one is the metaphysical thesis of eternalism and the other extreme is annihilationism. The first
represents an extreme form of realism which asserts that everything exists absolutely and the second
an extreme form of nihilism, which asserts that absolutely nothing exists. Here the first represents a
monistic view that everything is reducible to a common ground, some sort of self-substance and the
second the opposite pluralistic view that the whole of existence is resolvable into a concatenation of
discrete entities.
What the theory not intended to explain
It should be understood that this theory does not try to explain how the universe started, the ultimate
beginning and it also makes no attempt to solve the riddle of an absolute origin of life because
according to Buddhism, these two issues or questions are not immediately connected with the problem
of human suffering and its eradication. The Buddha emphatically declared that the first beginning of
existence is something inconceivable.5 Therefore, it is futile to search for Buddhist answers to these
issues because the Buddha refused to answer such metaphysical questions which are known as the
unanswered questions in the Buddhist literature. It is equally futile to ask the question why the
Buddha did not answer it because the Buddha is a practical teacher and he was not interested in
questions that do not lead to any useful conclusions.
What the theory intends to explain
The theory of dependent arising explains the conditionality, or dependent nature, of all the manifold
mental and physical phenomena of existence; of everything that happens, be it in the realm of the
physical or the mental as Venerable Nyanaponika put it. In other words, the theory explains how
things work and proceed rather than how things are formulated and begin. It explains how the
phenomena in the world arise and disappear, particularly the process of human life.
The implications of the theory are as follows:
1. Everything in this world is interdependent, therefore, nothing is permanent.
2. Everything in this world is interrelated, therefore, nothing is independent.
3. Everything in this world is relative, therefore, nothing is absolute.
Hence, everything in this world is interdependent, interrelated and relative.
According to this theory, (1) there is no single cause leading to a single effect for any given
phenomena. This also rejects the God creation of the universe and human beings. Therefore, there is
utterly no place in Buddhist thought for the theory and concept of a single creator who rewards and
punishes the good and bad deeds of the creatures of his creation. There is also no permanent
everlasting substance that can be called a soul within the ever changing flux of psychical and physical
phenomena of a human being.
(2) There is no single cause leading to multiple effects and equally there are also no multiple causes
leading to a single effect. Some Indian teachers both from the Brahmana and Sramana traditions
taught these theories, some taught that a single cause leads to multiple effects and some taught that
multiple causes lead to a single effect. Buddhism rejects all these theories.
(3) According to Buddhism, it is always the fact that multiple causes lead to multiple effects in the
phenomena world. The Buddha spoke of conditionality and according to whom, the entire world is
subject to the law of cause and effect, in other words, action and reaction. We cannot think of anything
in this cosmos that is causeless and unconditioned. All social and personal issues and problems are
interconnected and interrelated. Thus the Buddhist theory of Dependent Arising rejects many ancient
Indian causal theories which are considered as imperfect.
5
Sayutta Nkya II, 178; English translation is adopted from the Kindred Sayings II, 118.
2
(4) This theory also rejects the views that everything happens haphazardly. Praa Kassapa, one of the
six sramana teachers, held the theory that there is no cause and effect, everything happens
fortuitously. 6 The Buddhas criticism to this theory is that it breaks the morality, the basis for a
peaceful society.
(5) Fatalism and determinism are also rejected. Fatalism and determinism are the same and both say
that humans actions are determined or caused by any external force or forces. However, according to
the Buddhist theory of dependent arising, humans actions depend on his own will, not on any external
causes. So Buddhism rejects all forms of fortune telling because our future is not settled yet, and it is
largely dependent on what we decide to do now and here. How can a fortune teller to tell your future
if the future is not fixed yet?
It is on this principle that the Buddha explained the process of the human life, the conditional arising
of all those mental and physical phenomena conventionally named as living being, or individual,
or person. According to this theory, life is not an identity, it is a becoming. It is a flux of
psychological and physiological changes, a conflux of mind and body. Just as Bhikkhu Bodhi said,
The ultimate purpose of the teaching on dependent origination is to expose the conditions that sustain
the round of rebirths, samsara, so as to show what must be done to gain release from the round.7
The Buddha further explains the process of human life into twelve factors with an aim to illustrate the
human bondage and his freedom. It is expounded in two orders by way of origination to explain the
arising of suffering and by way of cessation to explain the ending of suffering.
Dependent on ignorance arises moral and immoral conditioning activities, dependent on conditioning
activities arises (relinking) consciousness, dependent on (relinking) consciousness arise mind and
matter, dependent on mind and matter arise the six spheres of sense, dependent on the six spheres of
sense arises contact, dependent on contact arises feeling, dependent on feeling arises craving,
dependent on craving arises grasping, dependent on grasping arises becoming, dependent on
becoming arises birth, dependent on birth arise decay, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and
despair. Thus this whole mass of suffering arises.
Then the dependent arising is explained by way of cessation. With the cessation of ignorance,
conditioning activities cease, with the cessation of conditioning activities (relinking) consciousness
ceases, with the cessation of (relinking) consciousness, mind and matter cease, with the cessation of
mind and matter, the six spheres of sense cease, with the cessation of the six spheres of sense, contact
ceases, with the cessation of contact, feeling ceases, with the cessation of feeling, craving ceases, with
the cessation of craving, grasping ceases, with the cessation of grasping, becoming ceases, with the
cessation of becoming, birth ceases, with the cessation of birth, decay, death, sorrow, lamentation,
pain, grief, and despair cease. Such is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering.
However, one should not misunderstand or take ignorance as the Buddhist explanation of ultimate
beginning or the first cause which is not discussed in the Buddhist literature as discussed above. In
fact, the dependent arising with its twelve factors forms a circle. There is no beginning and no end to
it. This method of dividing up the factors should not be misconstrued to mean that the factors are
mutually exclusive, but they may rise together. So whenever there is ignorance, then craving and
clinging invariably come along; and whenever there is craving and clinging, then ignorance stands
behind them. It is the arising of ever changing conditions dependent on similar evanescent conditions.
Here there is neither absolute non-existence nor absolute existence, only bare phenomena roll on.
CDB, 903. S 22. 60; PTS: iii 68. Praa Kassapa is described as holding the theory of inefficacy (akiriyavda) in CDB
995. S. 24:6; PTS: iii 209.
7
CDB, 517.
3
8
9
As the five aggregates are all impermanent, there is no unchanging substance in this process of human
life. Hence there is nothing that can be called a permanent self or soul or individuality, or anything
that can in reality be called I.
According to the Buddhist teaching, whatever is impermanent is suffering, dukkha. For the
impermanent nature of everything can but lead to one inescapable conclusion: suffering. This is the
true meaning of the Buddhas words: In brief the five Aggregates of Attachment are dukkha. As
everything is impermanent, they cannot be made the basis of permanent happiness.
However, in the Buddhist definition of suffering it is not the five aggregates themselves, but the five
aggregates of grasping that are characterized as suffering. Although the five aggregates in themselves
are not suffering, but they can be a source of suffering when they become objects of grasping. Thus
there is a clear distinction between the five aggregates on the one hand and the five aggregates of
grasping, on the other.
Strictly speaking, what Buddhism calls the individual is not the five aggregates, but the five
aggregates when they are grasped or appropriated. This explains why in the Buddhist definition of
suffering, the reference is made to the aggregates of grasping and not to the aggregates themselves.
The five aggregates of grasping takes place in our mind, because it is our mind that appreciates and
grasps the five aggregates. In short, dukkha can be explained as the problems in our lives. As long as
we grasp the five aggregates as ourselves so we have problems.
The so-called individual can thus be reduced to a causally conditioned process of grasping. And it is
this process of grasping that Buddhism describes as suffering. Hence the Buddhist conclusion is that
life, at its very bottom or core, is characterized by suffering.
This process of grasping manifests itself in three ways: This is mine, this I am, and this is myself. The
first is due to craving; the second is due to conceit; and the third is due to the mistaken belief in a selfentity. It is through this process of three-fold self-identification that the idea of 'mine', 'I am' and 'my
self' arises.
It is in this sense that Buddhism concentrates on the analysis of psychological problems rather than
physical ones as the Sallatha Sutta of the Samyuttanikya says,
Bhikkhus, when the instructed noble disciple is contacted by a painful feeling, he does not sorrow,
grieve, or lament; he does not weep beating his breast and become distraught. He feels one feeling-a
bodily one, not a mental one If he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it detached. If he feels a painful
feeling, he feels it detached. If he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he feels it detached.10
Thus, those who have liberated still feel bodily pain, but not mental pain. In Chinese Buddhism the
often used word is fanniao which means klea, the psychological problems we have.
Causes of suffering
The Buddhist emphasis on the universality of suffering could also be understood from the causes of
suffering. One of the major causes of suffering is the self-centred desire which manifests itself in
many forms.
The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta says, It is the craving that produces renewal of being
accompanied by enjoyment and lust, and enjoying this and that; in other words, craving for sensual
10
CDB, 1844.
CDB, 1143.
13
Gowans, 128.
12
14
MLDB: 613. M i 508. It is also found in the counterpart sutra in the Chinese Madhyamgama. (CBETA, T01, no. 26, p.
672, b23-24)
15
Anguttaranikaya: Adanta Suttas: Untamed: AN 1.31-40; PTS: A i 5; Gradual Sayings, I 4.
16
Sayuttanikya, iv 331. CDB 1350.
17
CDB: 1140-42.
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Thus this knowledge is the final awakening to the true nature of the world of our own sensory
experience, but not the knowledge of a higher reality. According to Buddhism, when one attains the
highest knowledge he sees the same phenomenal reality, our own world of experience, but the
difference is this: he sees it in the true sense, he sees things as they truly are. So what takes place
when Nibbna is attained is not a change in the nature of reality, but a change in our perspective of the
nature of reality.
(4) From the psychological point of view, nirva is the highest level of mental emancipation, the
freedom of our mind, because all the polluting factors that restrict and restrain the mind such as selfish
desire, hatred, ignorance, conceit, pride, so on and so forth are eliminated, so the mind is pure and
healthy. It is full of universal love, compassion, kindness, sympathy, understanding and tolerance.
Negative emotions restrict an individual's psychological freedom; therefore greed, hatred, and
ignorance are described as poisons in the Buddhist literature because they circumscribe an individual's
freedom. Greed, hatred, and ignorance are roots of unwholesome mental states which fetter the
individual within sasra. So when all these bad mental elements are removed, our mind becomes
truly free.
(5) From the point of ultimate reality, nirva is the highest truth. The Dhatu-vibhanga Sutta of the
Majjhimanikya says:
His deliverence, being founded upon truth, is unshakable. For that is false, monks, which has a
deceptive nature, and that is true which has an undeceptive nature -- Nibbna. Therefore, a monk
possessing [this truth] possesses the supreme foundation of truth. For this, monk, is the supreme noble
truth, namely Nibbna, which has an undeceptive nature.18
When one attains nibbna, one realizes the truth of life, one understand things as they truly are, the
three characteristics of life: impermanence, suffering and no-self.
Nirva in this life
According to the Buddhist teaching, this kind of nirva is realizable in this world and in this life if it
is mature.
The Dhammakathika Sutta of the Sayuttanikya says: If through revulsion towards aging-anddeath, through its fading away and cessation, one is liberated by nonclinging, one is fit to be called a
bhikkhu who has attained nibbna in this very life.19
If through revulsion towards ignorance, through its fading away and cessation, one is liberated by
nonclinging, one is fit to be called a bhikkhu who has attained nibbna in this very life.20
This nirva can be attained in this world now and here. The Satipahna Sutta of the
Majjhimanikya says,
Let alone half a month, bhikkhus. If whoever should develop these four foundations of mindfulness in
such a way for seven days, one of two fruits could be expected for him: either final knowledge here
and now, or if there is a trace of clinging left, non-return.21
The Bodhirjakumra Sutta (No. 85) of the Majjhimanikya says,
18
Let alone one day and night, prince. When a bhikkhu who possesses these five factors of striving finds
a Tathagata to discipline him, then being instructed in the evening, he might arrive at distinction in
the morning; being instructed in the morning, he might arrive at distinction in the evening.22
5. Noble Eightfold Path
The fourth of the four noble truths is the noble eightfold path which is also called the middle path
because it is not a compromise but transcends the two extremes in practice, two misguided attempts to
gain release from suffering.
One extreme is the indulgence in sense pleasures by gratifying desires which gives enjoyment but not
happiness because enjoyment or pleasure is gross, transitory, and devoid of deep contentment. The
Buddha recognized that sensual desire can exercise a tight grip over the minds of human beings, and
he was keenly aware of how ardently attached people become to the pleasures of the senses. Thus the
Buddha describes the indulgence in sense pleasures as low, common, worldly, ignoble, not leading to
the goal.
The noble eightfold path avoids the extreme of sensual indulgence by its recognition of the futility of
desire and its stress on renunciation. Desire and sensuality, far from being means to happiness, are
springs of suffering to be abandoned as the requisite of deliverance.
The other extreme is the practice of self-mortification, the attempt to gain liberation by afflicting the
body. This practice may be motivated by genuine aspiration for deliverance, but it is guided by a
wrong view that the body is the cause of bondage, when the real source of trouble lies in the mind
the mind obsessed by greed, aversion, and delusion. 23 To rid the mind of these defilements the
affliction of the body is not only useless but self-defeating, for it is the impairment of a necessary
instrument. Thus the Buddha describes this second extreme as "painful, ignoble, not leading to the
goal."
The Buddhist renunciation does not mean physical renunciation, but psychological one. Because the
causes of human suffering is within the human mind not outside. This idea is very well brought out in
the Anguttaranikya as follows:
In passionate purpose lays mans sense desire,
the worlds gain glitters are not sense desire,
in passionate purpose lays mans sense desire,
the worlds gain glitters as they abide,
but the wise men hold desire, therefore, in check.24
So what the Buddha wanted to convey is that the manifold objects in the external world do not
constitute our craving. What constitute our craving is the lustful intention, lustful desire within us, not
things themselves, but lustful desire towards them.
M, I, 95-96: Bodhi: 707-8. if a monk (bhikkhu) has the following five factors of striving, (1) faith in the Tathgatas
enlightenment, (2) free from illness and affliction, (3) honest and sincere, (4) energetic in abandoning unwholesome states
and in undertaking wholesome states, (5) wisdom regarding to rise and disappearance, he can attain enlightenment in a
day.
23
Bodhi 1994: 15.
24
Gradual Saying 291. A. iii, 411. The same saying is also found in the Nasantisutta of the Samyuttanikya, Mrs Rhys
Davids translated it as The manifold objects in the world This in itself is not desires of sense. Lustful intention is mans
sense-desire. That manifold of objects doth endure; The will thereto the wise exterminate. (S:1.34; PTS: S I 22, trans. I
32) (Bodhi: CDB: 111) and also in Chinese Sayuktgama Sutra No. 752 (CBETA, T02, no. 99, p. 198, c27-p. 199, a12).
22
So the true renunciation is not completely withdrawn from the world physically, but the cultivation of
particular attitude of mind within us. So mental culture is not based on the suppression of senses, but
to develop the senses to see the phenomena as they truly are.
Thats why the Buddha returned to the world after enlightenment and he even advised his disciples to
go and preach his teachings when there were sixty arahant disciples around him.
Therefore, the practice of renunciation does not entail the tormenting of the body. It consists in mental
training, and for this the body must be fit, a sturdy support for the inward work. A sound mind is in a
sound body. Thus the body is to be looked after well, kept in good health, while the mental faculties
are trained to generate the liberating wisdom.
The Noble Eightfold Path gives rise to vision, gives rise to knowledge, and leads to peace, to direct
knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbna. 25 The noble eightfold path is the whole of Buddhist
training leading one to perfection both mentally and morally. This training can be summarized as:
To abstain from all evil, to cultivate the good, and to purify one's mind this is the teaching of the
Buddhas. (Dhammapada 183).
The noble eightfold path consists of eight factors as follows:
Division
Eightfold Path factors
1. Right understanding or view
Wisdom
2. Right intention or thought
3. Right speech
Ethical conduct 4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
Meditation
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration
The eight factors are not step by step training but they are components of training and thus should be
practiced simultaneously as they are interdependent and interrelated. The eight factors are usually
divided into three groups: (i) the moral discipline including right speech, right action, and right
livelihood; (ii) the meditation including right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration; and
(iii) the wisdom including right thought and right view.
The moral discipline which is based on the universal love and compassion for all living beings is
training in verbal and physical behaviors and it aims at promoting a happy and harmonious life both
for the individual and for society. Moral discipline is indispensable for mental training, meditation, the
main practice of Buddhism, which aims at cleansing the mind of impurities and disturbances and
cultivating such qualities as concentration, awareness, intelligence, etc. Thus meditation will lead
finally to enlightenment, the attainment of highest wisdom which sees the nature of things as they are.
The Buddhist concept of wisdom is the perfection in both morality and intelligence so it is different
from what ordinarily we understand as wisdom as it includes only intelligence. It is in this sense that
the Buddhist training aims at the perfection of man in two qualities that should be developed equally:
compassion and intelligence. In other words, the noble eightfold path leads one to the attainment of
wisdom that dispels ignorance, the root of human lifes problem. As the Buddha says: The element of
ignorance is indeed a powerful element.26
25
26
The Buddha says in the Sallekha Sutta, we shall not misapprehend according to individual views nor
hold on to them tenaciously, but shall discard them with ease thus effacement can be done.29
6. Karma and Rebirth
First let us look at the definition of karma given in the early Buddhist literature. In the
Anguttaranikya, one of the five collections of Buddhist teachings, we find this saying of the Buddha:
I declare, O Monks, that volition is Kamma. Having willed one acts through body, speech and
thought.30
(1) The word karma or kamma literally means action or doing, but in the Buddhist theory of
karma it does not mean any action, it is only the volitional action. Involuntary, unintentional or
unconscious actions, though technically deeds, do not constitute karma, because volition, the most
important factor in determining karma, is absent. Karma or action is performed in three ways, by the
mind, speech and body.
(2) The Buddhist theory of karma is the theory of cause and effect, action and reaction. As volition can
be morally good or bad so karma also can be morally good or bad. Thus, good volitional actions
produce good effects or fruits and vise versa.
The nature of karma is determined by its motives. According to the Buddhism, any action motivated
by desire or attachment, hate or aversion and ignorance or confusion is morally bad and
unwholesome. On the other hand, any action is motivated by the absence of greed, hatred and
ignorance is morally good and wholesome.
(3) Karma is a law in itself which operates according to the principle of dependent arising. There is no
intervention of any external, independent ruling agency or power. Even the Buddha is neither a creator
nor the controller of karma. The Buddhist doctrine of kamma thus places ultimate responsibility for
human destiny in our own hands. It reveals to us how our ethical choices and actions can become
either a cause of pain and bondage or a means to spiritual freedom.
(4) Karma is similar to the natural law, but not exactly the same, so karma cannot be interpreted as tit
for tat as the Lonaphala Sutta says,
Monks, for anyone who says, 'In whatever way a person makes kamma, that is how it is experienced,'
there is no living of the religious life, there is no opportunity for the right ending of suffering. But for
anyone who says, 'When a person makes kamma to be felt in such & such a way, that is how its result
is experienced,' there is the living of the religious life, there is the opportunity for the right ending of
suffering.
In the case of a person who has not properly cultivated his character, mind, intellect even a trifling
evil deed leads him to a lower destiny. On the other hand, in the case of a person of opposite (good)
character, the consequences of such trifling acts are experienced in this very life and sometimes may
not appear at all.31
(5) Karma does not necessarily mean only past actions, it embraces both past and present deeds.
Hence, in one sense, we are the result of what we were, we will be the result of what we are. In
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another sense, we are not totally the result of what we were, we will not absolutely be the result of
what we are.
In the Buddhist scriptures, the present action (karma) is more emphasized because past actions are
also done and we cannot change them. It is the present actions that contribute to build our future life.
It is in this sense that every moment we are creating our future. Every moment then we must be careful.
For instance, a criminal today may be a saint tomorrow, a good person yesterday may be a vicious one
today.
(6) Many people misunderstand karma as an occult power or as an inescapable fate. If karma is fate
then it is like determinism or fatalism. However, karma is neither because the future of our life is not
determined as we are now still creating our future.
(7) In the working of karma its most important factor is the mind. All our words and deeds are colored
by the mind or consciousness we experience at such particular moments. As the Citta Sutta says:
The world is led around by mind;
By mind its dragged here and there.
Mind is the one thing that has
All under its control.32
If one speaks or acts with a wicked mind, pain follows one as the wheel, the hoof of the draught-ox.""If
one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows one as the shadow that never departs.33
That is why, as discussed above, the Buddhist training aims at the cleansing the mind of impurities on
one hand and cultivating good mental qualities on the other.
So according to Buddhism human behaviors are conditioned by causes and it is followed by correlated
consequences. This correlation between action and its consequence constitutes the doctrine of karma
in Buddhism.
Vipka
The correlated consequences of action (karma) are called vipka which means fruit in Buddhism.
As karma is action so vipka is its consequence or result. Karma may be ethically good or bad, so
Vipka, fruit, is also ethically good or bad. Karma is mental, so Vipka too is mental; it is experienced
as happiness or bliss, unhappiness or misery according to the nature of the karma seed.
As we sow, so we reap somewhere and sometime, in this life or in a future birth. What we reap today
is what we have sown either in the present or in the past.
The Samyuttanikya states:
Whatever sort of seed is sown,
That is the sort of fruit one reaps:
The doer of good reaps good;
The doer of evil reaps evil.
By you, dear, has the seed been sown;
Thus you will experience the fruit.34
32
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The fruits or consequences of karma are many different kinds dependent on the nature of karma and
rebirth is the most important fruit of karma. At the moment just preceding death, the death-proximate
kamma may take the form of a reflex of some good or bad deeds performed during the dying persons
life. This determines the nature of the linking consciousness that serves as a condition to next birth.
Thus, the accumulation of good karma in life ensures one a good rebirth.
As Buddhism does not accept the concept of an eternal soul as an agent of performance, then who is
the performer of karma? Who reaps the fruit of karma? In answering these subtle questions, the fifth
century commentator Buddhaghosa wrote in the Visuddhimagga, (the Path to Purification):
No doer of the deeds is found,
No one who ever reaps their fruits;
Empty phenomena roll on:
This only is the correct view.
As discussed above, according to the Buddhist analysis of a human being or an individual, it is only a
combination of the five aggregates and there is no permanent self or soul within or outside to control
and dictate. Hence volition or will is itself the doer, feeling is itself the reaper of the fruits of action.
Apart from these pure mental states there is none to sow and none to reap as life itself is an ever
changing flux and behind this flux there is nothing serving as an agent. Everything is a process and in
this process there is no eternal and unchanging substance.
King Milinda questioned the Venerable Ngasena, Where, Venerable Sir, is Kamma?
Ngasena said, Kamma is not said to be stored somewhere in this fleeting consciousness or in any
other part of the body. But dependent on mind and matter it rests manifesting itself at the opportune
moment, just as mangoes are not said to be stored somewhere in the mango tree, but dependent on the
mango tree they lie, springing up in due season.
In conclusion, the basic Buddhist teachings concentrate on the analysis of life, how life goes on from
one birth to another, how our ethical behaviors affect our life, our lifes problems and their causes and
solutions. The practical aim of this teaching is to lead one to attain wisdom through practice called
three trainings: morality, concentration and wisdom, because as the root cause of our lifes problems is
ignorance so wisdom is the only solution. Nirvana is nothing but wisdom with which one can see
things as they truly are.
Reference
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Bhikkhu Bodhi. 1994. The Noble Eightfold Path, The Way to the End of Suffering. First edition 1984 published as Wheel
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Boston: Wisdom Publication.
Gowans, Christopher. 2003. Philosophy of the Buddha, London and New York: Routledge.
M = Majjima Nikya. 2000. Oxford: the Pali Text Society. Reprint.
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