An Atheist Explores the Dhammapada Part 21: Not the Garden Path, Probably (The Path/Maggavagga)

Dhammapada Part Twenty: The Path (Maggavagga)

Not the Garden Path, Probably.

“This is the only path; there is none other for the purification of insight. Tread this path, and you will bewilder Mara.”

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 Twenty: The Path (Maggavagga)

The “path” spoken of would appear to be the Eightfold Path (“Of all the paths the Eightfold Path is the best”), although this chapter does not exactly spell it out in such a fashion. Although, like much of the Dhammapada, it has verses that repeat a refrain (in this case “when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification”), it only does so for three items, and not eight. So, if it does indeed enumerate the Eightfold Path, you kind of have to pick the bits out for yourself.

But then again, this section also says that “You yourselves must strive; the Buddhas only point the way” and that “The idler who does not exert himself when he should, who though young and strong is full of sloth, with a mind full of vain thoughts — such an indolent man does not find the path to wisdom”. So, maybe part of the lesson is that we need to work it out for ourselves in order for the Path to be effective, where “Walking upon this path you will make an end of suffering”.

So what can we glean?

The aforementioned three verses with the refrain tell us that “All conditioned things are impermanent”, “All conditioned things are unsatisfactory” and “All things are not-self”. First off the bat, “conditioned things” is a strange expression. I turned to the Thanissaro translation, which gave me “fabrications”. Which… doesn’t help a lot, frankly. Manufactured things? “Stuff” in general? Nothing lasts forever, and don’t rely on possessions to bring you happiness, perhaps?

Then after the above warning that idleness won’t help us, we are told that “Let a man be watchful of speech, well controlled in mind, and not commit evil in bodily action. Let him purify these three courses of action, and win the path made known by the Great Sage”. I guess that’s … six things, now? Or do the “three courses of action” count as one thing?

Then we get “Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes. Having known these two paths of progress and decline, let a man so conduct himself that his wisdom may increase”. Now, here, I’m inclined to lump these “two paths” as one thing – meditation is needed for wisdom, since the other “path” is really just the opposite, and one could presumably come up with something similar for the other points – an uncontrolled mind will lead one away from wisdom, for example.

And, if these verses actually do expound the Eightfold Path, and I’m not just leading myself up the Garden Path, that’s probably seven, and the eighth is “For so long as the underbrush of desire, even the most subtle, of a man towards a woman is not cut down, his mind is in bondage, like the sucking calf to its mother”.  The rest of the verses basically expand upon this, about how a man has to cut off attachment to others in order to reach Nibbana (and although the Pali Canon also includes lots of rules for nuns, here it’s been translated very much from a male perspective).

And because we don’t know when death will strike – “As a great flood carries away a sleeping village, so death seizes and carries away the man with a clinging mind, doting on his children and cattle”, it’s therefore sensible to “hasten to clear the path leading to Nibbana”. Where, once again, I’m reminded of the New Testament and its “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.” (Matthew 24:42 in this case, but the message is repeated). What this means in terms of convergent or divergent ideas, I cannot say.

So, can I piece together the parts of the path? Let’s see:

1)      Things don’t last

2)      Things don’t bring satisfaction

3)      Things are not the self

4)      Be mindful of what you say

5)      Be mindful of how you think

6)      Don’t perform evil actions

7)      Meditation brings wisdom

8)      Get rid of desires

Well, that actually seems to make sense as a set of guidelines, although I’d have to check if it matches the “official” Eightfold Path.

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