An Atheist Explores the Dhammapada Part Sixteen: But What Kind of Conditioning? (16 Happiness/Sukhavagga)

Dhammapada Part Fifteen: Happiness (Sukhavagga)

But What Kind of Conditioning?

“Happy indeed we live, friendly amidst the hostile. Amidst hostile men we dwell free from hatred.”

Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Dhammapada).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Dhammapada, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post https://bit.ly/3IbwtwE

For the online Dhammapada that I use, see here https://bit.ly/3IgCiJr

And now:

Dhammapada Part Fifteen: Happiness (Sukhavagga)

This little section goes into a further discussion about the benefits of non-attachment, starting with a series of verses with a repeating motif, following on from Verse 1 quoted above. I’m going to give them in full, because, why not?

“Happy indeed we live, friendly amidst the afflicted (by craving). Amidst afflicted men we dwell free from affliction.

Happy indeed we live, free from avarice amidst the avaricious. Amidst the avaricious men we dwell free from avarice.

Happy indeed we live, we who possess nothing. Feeders on joy we shall be, like the Radiant Gods.”

So, by rejecting things such as craving, avarice, desire for possessions, this enables the wise person to move through a world of avarice and hostility but not be affected by it. Much like Socrates moving through the agora and allegedly declaring “what a lot of things that I don’t need”.

“Victory begets enmity; the defeated dwell in pain. Happily the peaceful live, discarding both victory and defeat”. This, almost, describes how one of the root causes of strife within a society is inequality, although the solution given by Buddha is not to eliminate the inequality, but to not be bothered by it. Although, actually, this verse is actually about “victory” and “defeat”, so perhaps one could say it’s more in tune with saying it’s not about winning or losing but how you play the game. So, you didn’t get the job this time. Never mind, at least you’ve got your health.

And I’m not just being flippant here – “Health is the most precious gain and contentment the greatest wealth”. The flip-side of this is that “Hunger is the worst disease, conditioned things the worst suffering”. It’s not clear here what “conditioned things” might refer to. The alternative translation says “Hunger: the foremost illness. Fabrications: the foremost pain.”

Conditioned Things. Fabrications. I’m still not sure what this is. Artificial things? Lies? Fabric Softener? Suggestions in the comments please….

This section finishes up with some advice about mixing with wise people and fools – “One will always be happy by not encountering fools”, it says, and I really can’t argue with that. “Association with fools is ever painful, like partnership with an enemy”. By contrast, “follow the Noble One, who is steadfast, wise, learned, dutiful and devout. One should follow only such a man, who is truly good and discerning, even as the moon follows the path of the stars”.

So, happiness comes from not associating with idiots and not getting too bogged down with winning and losing. That’s the take-away I get from this section, and I think that seems fair enough.

One last thing, there is mention of the “Aggregates (of existence)”, which I learn from the footnotes are the khandha: the five groups of factors into which the Buddha analyzes the living being — material form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. All of these are elements to rise above, apparently, which seems a bit odd for the last few, but there we go.

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