Ordinary worldlings (prithagjana) are caught up in appearance, both externally and internally; specifically, the are caught up in sensory consciousness and figurative thought. They know of no other existence except one where there is impermanence, suffering, and a lack of self.
When it comes to “right view” (samyag-drishti) of the Noble Eightfold Path (arya-astanga-marga), whereby the normal temporal view of reality is transcended, worldlings (prithagjana) have no satisfactory understanding of right view and certainly they lack its accomplishment. Another way of describing right view, is it refers to true vision as opposed to the ordinary person’s false vision of reality in which they are trapped in the world of samsara.
Right view is described in the Mahacattarisaka Sutta as being noble (aryan), without defilements (anâsrava), and supermundane (lokottara) (M. iii. 73). Mind is said to be noble and and without defilements (anâsrava-citta). According to the Buddha the arising of defilements (âsrava) is the arising of ignorance (M. i. 54). Right view is really to see nirvana for the first time (M. i. 510).
Without right view the Noble Eightfold Path is impossible to complete. It races ahead of them all.
"As to this, monks, right view comes first. And how, monks, does right view come first? From right view proceeds right aspiration, from right aspiration proceeds right speech, from right speech proceeds right action, from right action proceeds right livelihood, from right livelihood proceeds right effort, from right effort proceeds right mindfulness, from right mindfulness proceeds right concentration, from right concentration proceeds right gnosis, from right gnosis proceeds right liberation” (M. iii. 75–76).
purrhos, that is only the case if you are attached to the temporal rewards, meaning that you do not see through them, do not know of their emptiness. If you do, you can just enjoy s.th. like the lust for a woman IN THE PRESENT MOMENT. In this respect, you should not overlook that some of Dogen's teachings were insightful (though he was not the first one to give them). Here it is the wisdom that at the core "abstaining from" like "indulging in" are empty, the sacred and the profane are one.
Posted by: dooyen | December 23, 2012 at 10:16 AM
Well, that doesn't help. The basis of right view is enlightenment. Without enlightenment, how can you have a right view? Therefore this is a statement that has to be taken metaphorically and not as a chain of events. The Buddha himself would not have known if not awakened first. So you can only come to right conclusions after awakening. The writers of the Palicanon, or be it the Shakyamuni himself, have unfortunately put it as a vicious circle. This is just a sign of bad writing, we can now do better.
Posted by: dooyen | December 23, 2012 at 10:13 AM
Well said.
In addition, the addiction to temporal rewards leads to a state known as the "hungry ghost" state. Always hungry, never satisfied, forever wandering. It is a state that can strike fear in the heart of one who has perceived it.
Where do they evolve to? Only God [Adi-Buddha] can say.
Posted by: purrhos | December 19, 2012 at 03:00 PM