The Atthakavagga, or Book of Eights, is one of a group of texts that is considered to be one of the earliest in the Buddhist canon – although there is no reliable date of composition. Many scholars consider these texts as predating the majority of the canon, giving us a glimpse of Buddhist teachings as they might have been soon after Gotama Buddha’s life and death. The Atthakavagga itself, comprises sixteen poems. [I am using the 2016 translation by Gil Fronsdal] Another text in the group is a poem titled, An Auspicious Day. It includes the following lines:
Don’t chase the past
Or long for the future.
The past is left behind;
The future is not yet reached.
Have insight into whatever phenomenon is present,
Right where it is;
Not faltering not agitated,
By knowing whatever is present
One develops the mind.
In another poem in the same group of texts we find these lines:
Let what was in the past fade away,
Make nothing of the future.
If you don’t cling to what is in the present,
You can wander about calm.
The Book of Eights is about the qualities that a wise person or ‘sage’ manifests. Fronsdal argues that the sage, as portrayed in the Book of Eights, ‘is not interested in doctrines as much as how people relate to them. Freedom isn’t found through doctrines, though it does require not clinging to them.’ (Fronsdal 2016: 13) Clinging to views, concepts, beliefs and doctrines tends to lead to disturbance, argument and conflict. The primary characteristics of the sage are peace and equanimity or composure – these are qualities denoted by the Sanskrit term, ‘shanti.’ It is these qualities that constitute freedom (from suffering). In other words, clinging to fixed beliefs and doctrines, is a form of bondage – binding us to habits of thought and action – and this is not a viable path towards freedom or peace. To cultivate peace of mind, and peacefulness towards the world, is only possible if we let go of habits of belief and doctrine, and to change the way we relate to our experiences. Much better to step back and loosen our hold on these habits and approach each situation we encounter with flexibility, curiosity and a freshness of response.
Fronsdal also makes the point that in the Book of Eights there is almost no reference to attainment of ‘transcendent or extraordinary states of consciousness’ or ‘psychic powers’ (ibid: 17) – instead there is repeated mention of peace and equanimity, and ethical behaviour, the ‘qualities of inner virtue or character’ manifested by a sage. ‘Such a person advocates peace, sees and knows peace, is at peace, and is peaceful.’ However, the sage does not ‘depend on peace or intentionally take it up; instead, they let go.’ (ibid) Indeed, it is only by letting go of, or stepping back from, even the search for peace, that peace is realised.
For the sage, it is not just that, I have peace of mind, it is that, I am at peace with this or that idea, this or that person, the world and its ways. I am at peace with myself and with existence. As Thich Nhat Hanh was fond of saying, to create peace, we need to be peaceful.
Fronsdal goes on to say that sages are sometimes called ones who know and see. But what they know and see is not ‘the nature of ultimate reality or some form of ultimate consciousness. Rather, sages know and see the ways in which people struggle. They know what is not harmonious and what is dangerous. They know the problems that come from pride and holding on to opinions. They see how people selfishly thrash about, get elated and deflated in their disputes, speak with arrogance and cling to teachings. By having insights into these afflictive states, a wise person knows not to get involved with them and to let go of them.’ (ibid: 18) In my view, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have beliefs and opinions, but rather that we don’t hold too tightly to them, that we don’t try to impose them on others and that we try to be open to revising them as we learn and grow in understanding. Being open in this way is to free ourselves from bondage to habits of thought, belief and action – enabling us to cultivate understanding, composure and peace.
The Book of Eights also makes clear that the qualities of a sage can be developed and realised by anyone – not by help gained from gods, gurus, or other people, or external forces (this is an opinion that would have been considered unusual by contemporaries of the author) – but by practicing these qualities in one’s own daily life: ‘One trains by being what one is training to become. If the goal is to be peaceful, the way there is to be peaceful.’ (ibid: 20)
The Book of Eights suggests that the way to realise peace is: by letting go of lust or ‘the craving for sensual pleasure;’ by letting go of clinging to self/perceptions/ideas by being present and mindful; by ‘shaking off every view’ – that is, not clinging to views, doctrines and beliefs that lead to conflict and disturbance; by having ‘nothing to grasp’ – that is, by letting go of, rather than grasping at, anything and everything – it is the clinging or craving that is problematic, rather than the object we cling to. In other words, changing the way in which we relate to our experience is what is needed to cultivate wellbeing. The text also advises that the way of peace means ‘living without conflict.’ In other words, by letting go of dogmatic beliefs and not claiming that what they say is the only truth, sages lay down their burden of fixed habits of thought, belief and action. This enables them to be open to fresh insight and learning, and to be peaceful.
Fronsdal points out that there are some concepts notably not mentioned in the Book of Eights. For instance, there is no mention of eternity; of deathlessness or reincarnation; or of peace as a transcendent, abstract state. This would have been seen as extraordinary by the author’s contemporaries, who tended to believe that these concepts were self-evidently the goals of a religious life. It is quite possible that the Book of Eights would have been viewed as a radical departure from, and critique of, many of the ideas and beliefs that were current at that time. These were part of the revolutionary teachings of Gotama Buddha.
It is interesting to me, that this text, one of the earliest in Buddhism, is in many ways echoed in the much later literature of Zen – which has a similar emphasis on direct experience, letting go, stepping back, flexibility and responsiveness.
References
Fronsdal, Gil. 2016. The Buddha before Buddhism: wisdom from the early teachings (a translation of the Atthakavagga with commentary). Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala Publications.