THE CAVE OF POISONOUS MUSHROOMS

梵網經

Almost everyone lives in the Cave of their mind where Identity feeds off the poisonous mushrooms which one finds in moist dark places and, believe me, the mind is full of those dank corners where poison dwells.

Some appear innocent enough and certainly edible and others are exotic and exciting, but all are deadly as far as true Dharma is concerned.

In Gotama Buddha's times there were fewer and he dealt with them quite efficiently with grave and clear warnings.

In the Supreme Net Sutra, the Brahmanet Sutra, 梵網經, Gotama Buddha describes what we can see as Sixty-Two types of Poisonous Mushrooms:

The Sixty-Two Kinds Of Wrong Views

Let us first look at Gotama Buddha's eight general categories.

He explains what the roots of the poison is within these wrong views.

"It is merely the EMOTIONS of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving.

"With regard to all of these… they experience these EMOTIONS by repeated SENSATIONS through the six sense-bases;

"EMOTION conditions craving; CRAVING conditions clinging; CLINGING conditions becoming; BECOMING conditions birth; BIRTH conditions ageing and death, sorrow, lamentation, sadness and distress."

You will recognise these as the Chain of Dependent Origination.

Becoming is that state where the roots of Identity arise and BIRTH is the actual constant birth and rebirth of Identity moment by moment as Identity develops its cancerous poisons.

He considers that wrong beliefs, at a time when scientific technology had not progressed as it has today, to generate error regarding:

The full or partial eternity or non-eternity of the self and the world,

The finite or infinite nature of the world,

The Eel-Wriggling evasive statements about anything,

The chance origin of the self and the world,

Speculative theories about the past, future or both,

Existence or non-existence of Conscious or Unconscious Post-death Survival,

Annihilation, destruction and non-existence of being,

The possibility of Nirvana here and now for an existent being,

"They (who believe these wrong views) are all trapped in the net, caught and held in the net."

The question is, why does he call all of these wrong views?

He then answers that question:

"When, monks, a monk understands as they really are the arising and passing away of the six bases of contact, their attraction and peril, and the deliverance from them, he knows that which goes beyond all these views."

These wrong views are presented in more detail at the end of this section and the complete version is in the subpage on the Sutra. The point we must make here is that, in this age when the Dharma has been diluted and distorted by stained Buddhism and other infiltrating ideas about meditation, the root of the problem of unsustainable views remains with the same poisonous roots; namely,

"The emotions of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving," and the roots of these emotions within visceral Identity Sensations.

Buddha in the sutra only maintained one position, which is that regarding the passing away of Mangos when the stalk is cut (see below). For the rest he declared in the Parable of the Arrow, that these concerns are of little import and that one should extract the arrows from one's flesh before worrying about where they came from, why they were fired and who fired them in the first place.

Science today indeed has answers that are close to certainty on many of these questions, but that is not the point.

What we are concerned about is "taking the arrows out of our flesh" and the the fact that the poisons that dilute and damage liberation are there by virtue of this chain of Dependent Origination. Break this chain and let Science make its own conclusions about important survival knowledge.

THIS CENTURY'S WRONG VIEWS

But what are this century's wrong views, related to Buddha Dharma, which must be added to any prevailing poisonous views that Buddha encountered?

They are not as philosophical as questions of the nature of the world, self, and after-life, they are more psychologically related. Yet the same poison exists:

- That Meditation is not necessary in order to discover one's liberation.

- That a Teacher is not required in order to discover liberation.

- That there are Many Paths to liberation or that there is only One Path.

- That Self-Affirmation is psychologically necessary for a balanced life.

THESE SECTIONS ARE IN CONSTRUCTION

NOTE

SUMMARY OF THE WRONG VIEWS WITHIN THE BRAHMANET SUTRA

Wrong view 1-4: "Thus, monks, when those ascetics and Brahmins who are Eternalists proclaim the eternity of the self and the world in four ways, that is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

Wrong view 5-8: "When those who are partly Eternalists and partly Non-Eternalists proclaim the partial eternity and the partial non-eternity of the self and the world in four ways, that is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

Wrong view 9-12: "When those who are Finitists and Infinitists proclaim the finitude and infinitude of the world on four grounds, that is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

Wrong view 13-16: "When those who are Eel-Wrigglers resort to evasive statements, and wriggle like eels on four grounds, that is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

Wrong view 17-18: "When those who are Chance Originationists proclaim the chance origin of the self and the world on two grounds, this is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

Wrong view 1-18: "When those who are speculators about the past, having fixed views about the past, put forward various speculative theories about the past in eighteen different ways, this is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

Wrong view 19-34: "When those who proclaim a doctrine of Conscious Post-Mortem Survival do so in sixteen different ways, that is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

Wrong view 35-42: "When those who proclaim a doctrine of Unconscious Post-Mortem Survival do so in eight different ways, that is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

Wrong view 43-50: "When those who proclaim a doctrine of Neither-Conscious- nor-Unconscious Post-Mortem survival do so in eight ways, that is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

Wrong view 51-57: "When those who are Annihilationists proclaim the annihilation, destruction and non-existence of beings in seven ways, that is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

Wrong view 58-62: "When those who are Proclaimers of Nibbána Here and Now proclaim Nibbána here and now for an existent being on five grounds, that is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

Wrong view 19-62: "When those who are speculators about the future in forty-four different ways, that is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

Wrong view 1-62: "When those ascetics and Brahmins who are speculators about the past, the future, or both, having fixed views, put forward views in sixty-two different ways, that is merely the feeling of those who do not know and see, the worry and vacillation of those immersed in craving."

CONDITIONING BY SENSATIONS

"When those ascetics and Brahmins who are Eternalists proclaim the eternity of the self and the world in four ways, that is conditioned by contact." [70]

"When those who are partly Eternalists and partly Non-Eternalists..."

"When those who are Finitists and Infinitists..."

"When those who are Eel-Wrigglers..."

"When those who are Chance-Originationists..."

"When those who are speculators about the past in eighteen ways..."

"When those who proclaim a doctrine of Conscious Post-Mortem Survival..."

"When those who proclaim a doctrine of Unconscious Post-Mortem Survival..."

"When those who proclaim a doctrine of Neither-Conscious-Nor-Unconscious Post-Mortem Survival..."

"When those who are Annihilationists..."

"When those who are Proclaimers of Nibbána Here and Now..."

"When those who are speculators about the future..."

"When those ascetics and Brahmins who are speculators about the past, the future, or both, having fixed views, put forward views in sixty-two different ways, that is conditioned by contact."

"That all of these (Eternalists and the rest) should experience that feeling without contact is impossible."

THE TRAP OF DEPENDENT ORIGINATION

"With regard to all of these… they experience these feelings by repeated contact through the six sense-bases; feeling conditions craving; craving conditions clinging; clinging conditions becoming; becoming conditions birth; birth conditions ageing and death, sorrow, lamentation, sadness and distress. When, monks, a monk understands as they really are the arising and passing away of the six bases of contact, their attraction and peril, and the deliverance from them, he knows that which goes beyond all these views."

"Whatever ascetics and Brahmins who are speculators about the past or the future or both, having fixed views on the matter and put forth speculative views about it, these are all trapped in the net with its sixty-two divisions, and wherever they emerge and try to get out, they are caught and held in this net. Just as a skilled fisherman or his apprentice might cover a small piece of water with a fine-meshed net, thinking: ‘Whatever larger creatures there may be in this water, they are all trapped in the net, caught, and held in the net’, so it is with all these: they are trapped and caught in this net."

THE MANGOS GO WHEN THE STALK IS CUT

"Monks, the body of the Tathágata stands with the link that bound it to becoming cut. As long as the body subsists, Devas and humans will see him. But at the breaking-up of the body and the exhaustion of the life-span, Devas and humans will see him no more.

"Monks, just as when the stalk of a bunch of mangoes has been cut, all the mangoes on it go with it, just so the Tathágata's link with becoming has been cut. As long as the body subsists, Devas and humans will see him. But at the breaking-up of the body and the exhaustion of the life-span, Devas and humans will see him no more."

At these words the Venerable Ánanda said to the Lord: "It is marvelous, Lord, it is wonderful. What is the name of this exposition of Dhamma?"

"Ánanda, you may remember this exposition of Dhamma as the Net of Advantage, the Net of Dhamma, the Supreme Net, the Net of Views, or as the Incomparable Victory in Battle."

Thus the Lord spoke, and the monks rejoiced and were delighted at his words. And as this exposition was being proclaimed, the ten-thousand world-system shook.

IN CONSTRUCTION