{"id":103175,"date":"2020-06-04T15:52:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T22:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=103175"},"modified":"2020-06-04T15:52:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T22:52:00","slug":"covid-19-and-the-reality-of-the-buddhas-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/06\/04\/covid-19-and-the-reality-of-the-buddhas-teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID 19 AND THE REALITY OF THE BUDDHA\u2019S TEACHING"},"content":{"rendered":"

Palitha Mapatuna<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

What is evident today in the face of Covid 19 is the sense\nof sheer helplessness even among those who may presume to be powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To a discerning individual, this situation can bring into\nfocus the essence of the teaching of the Buddha, namely the universal\ncharacteristics of existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The universal characteristics consist of the following\nrelationships:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

impermanence<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

suffering in impermanence, <\/em>and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not-self in suffering<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is a brief discussion of these\ncharacteristics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impermanence<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Existence is a series of experiences and each experience\nconsists of five elements: form (matter), feeling, perception, determinants\n(intention), and consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All these elements are subject to rise and fall and, hence,\nimpermanent. They change and dissolve with the change and dissolution of the\nthings on which they depend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such change and dissolution are mostly hidden in the busy\nday to day existence, but a keen individual may vividly perceive it in the\ncurrent circumstances of Covid 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suffering in impermanence<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arising\u00a0from impermanence is a sense of oppression of being relentlessly\u00a0subject<\/em>\u00a0to it. No agreeable state of affairs can be relied upon to continue; it is accompanied by an underlying sense of insecurity, and subtle anxiety. This is the essence of suffering in impermanence.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sense of oppression is manifest in mainly aging, sickness and death, and the latter two are particularly evident currently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not-self in suffering<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With regard to not-self, the term \u2018self\u2019 (or \u2018soul\u2019 or any other term representing it) needs definition; without defining this term will be meaningless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basically, the function of a thing defines it. The\n(supposed) function of \u2018self\u2019 is essentially that of \u2018master\u2019 (one who \u2018owns\u2019\nor \u2018dominates\u2019). In the absence of this unique function, anything could be\nself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, a master requires mastery and, therefore, self requires mastery. In the absence of mastery, \u2018self\u2019 will be an empty notion, a mere sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The absence of mastery is emphasized in the sense of helplessness<\/em> in the face of \u00a0Covid 19.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this way, there could be an insight into not-self in impermanence and suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an insight into reality, leading to freedom from delusion. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palitha Mapatuna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Palitha Mapatuna What is evident today in the face of Covid 19 is the sense of sheer helplessness even among those who may presume to be powerful. To a discerning individual, this situation can bring into focus the essence of the teaching of the Buddha, namely the universal characteristics of existence. The universal characteristics consist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}