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The All-Embracing Net of Views
The All-Embracing Net of Views (The Brahmajala Sutta), one of the Buddha's most important and profound discourses, weaves a net of sixty-two cases capturing all the speculative views on the self and the world. This book contains an accurate and readable translation of this discourse, as well as of its massive commentary and the subcommentary, allowing for a close in-depth study of the work. It also contains translations of three commentarial treatises that throw valuable sidelights on rarely known aspects of Theravada Buddhism. The long introduction by Bhkkhu Bodhi is itself a modern philosophical commentary on the sutta. It elucidates the key points of the discourse and explains the place f the Brahmajala in the overall structure of Buddhist thought. The Brhamajala is more than merely the first item in a collection of discourses. It is the gateway to the entire Teaching of the Buddha itself. Its central message must be grasped to ensure a correct understanding of the Teaching.
351 pages, Paperback
First published July 28, 1998
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About the author
Bhikkhu Bodhi
97 books279 followersBhikkhu Bodhi is an American Buddhist monk from New York City. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1944, he obtained a BA in philosophy from Brooklyn College (1966) and a PhD in philosophy from Claremont Graduate School (1972).
Drawn to Buddhism in his early 20s, after completing his university studies he traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received novice ordination in 1972 and full ordination in 1973, both under the late Ven. Ananda Maitreya, the leading Sri Lankan scholar-monk of recent times.
He was appointed editor of the Buddhist Publication Society (in Sri Lanka) in 1984 and its president in 1988. Ven. Bodhi has many important publications to his credit, either as author, translator, or editor, including the Buddha — A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya (co-translated with Ven. Bhikkhu Nanamoli (1995), The Connected Discourses of the Buddha — a New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya (2000), and In the Buddha’s Words (2005).
In May 2000 he gave the keynote address at the United Nations on its first official celebration of Vesak (the day of the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and passing away). He returned to the U.S. in 2002. He currently resides at Chuang Yen Monastery and teaches there and at Bodhi Monastery. He is currently the chairman of Yin Shun Foundation.
Drawn to Buddhism in his early 20s, after completing his university studies he traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received novice ordination in 1972 and full ordination in 1973, both under the late Ven. Ananda Maitreya, the leading Sri Lankan scholar-monk of recent times.
He was appointed editor of the Buddhist Publication Society (in Sri Lanka) in 1984 and its president in 1988. Ven. Bodhi has many important publications to his credit, either as author, translator, or editor, including the Buddha — A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya (co-translated with Ven. Bhikkhu Nanamoli (1995), The Connected Discourses of the Buddha — a New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya (2000), and In the Buddha’s Words (2005).
In May 2000 he gave the keynote address at the United Nations on its first official celebration of Vesak (the day of the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and passing away). He returned to the U.S. in 2002. He currently resides at Chuang Yen Monastery and teaches there and at Bodhi Monastery. He is currently the chairman of Yin Shun Foundation.
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November 25, 2023
An in-depth examination of the first of the Buddha's suttas, with some valuable ancillary texts included as well.
Here again I'm up against the rating system for dharma books. This is a high-quality book that deserves to be read and studied by Buddhists and philosophers, but I try to keep my ratings based on my actual enjoyment of the read. But, thinking on, I may yet revise my rating up to 5 stars.
The first aspect of the Buddha's Eightfold Path is Right View, which means, roughly, having the right basic outlook on the world, or what we might call worldview. The view taught by the Buddha is, of course, the Right View, but in this sutta he lays out all of the wrong views. And when I say all, I mean he declares that these 62 "wrong views" are all the views there are. Whatever your worldview is, it is one of these 62; and if you change your worldview, you will necessarily be changing it to a different one of these 62, for there are no others. The Buddha says explicitly that his list is exhaustive; you can ransack your mind and the cosmos for a 63rd (wrong) view, but you will not find it, for there is no 63rd view.
It's an intriguing and provocative notion, and I would say that anyone, Buddhist or not, who has metaphysical leanings would want to gives this work a read. For one thing, the Buddha is no minor figure of intellectual history, but the founder of a major world religion, and one who specifically stated that he had seen to the depths of reality and achieved omniscience. Of all the people in world history who might make such a claim, he is the one who is most entitled to the suspension of our skepticism, based on what we know about him and on the power and far-reaching effects of his teachings.
So the number is 62, but in fact many of these views are actually the same; they are distinguished because they are held for different reasons. And what about our modern, Western, scientific worldview? Is it in here? Yes it is. As far as I can tell, we mostly embrace a couple of the listed views, since they are categorized by whether they refer to the past or to the future. With regard to the past, we, as a culture, tend to embrace a "doctrine of fortuitous origination, based on reasoning": that is, we believe that we (sentient beings) and the world came to be here by accident, and we believe this based on our own cogitation. With regard to the future, we tend to embrace a view of "annihilationism of the self composed of the four elements." That is, we think that we are mere physical bodies, and that our consciousness is annihilated upon death.
These are modern, scientific views, but, according to the Buddha, they are wrong.
Right View is the first component of the Eightfold Path. If we enter the Buddhist path, the path to the liberation from suffering, with a wrong view of the world, then we are handicapping ourselves. Indeed, we're walking in the wrong direction. And what is the Right View? Basically it is the Buddha's Four Noble Truths: the Truth of Suffering, the Truth of the Origin of Suffering, the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering, and the Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering. These simple-sounding truths are like doors to a vast and interconnected array of teachings, but key aspects to them are that consciousness persists between endlessly repeating rebirths, and that the experiences of each consciousness are driven largely by karma--the consequences of our moral actions, good or bad.
This book contains a couple of other very interesting texts: "A Treatise on the Paramis," the "perfections" of the bodhisattva, or the buddha-in-training who has vowed to help all other sentient beings attain enlightenment before he attains it himself. In the oldest lists there were 10 of these perfections, which eventually became consolidated down to 6, as they are given in the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism. Finally there is "The Meaning of the Word 'Tathagata,'" a detailed discussion of the shades of meaning of this term which was the one the Buddha generally used to refer to himself, often translated "the one thus come."
If you're a Buddhist or a philosophical person, this book will be an important addition to your library.
Here again I'm up against the rating system for dharma books. This is a high-quality book that deserves to be read and studied by Buddhists and philosophers, but I try to keep my ratings based on my actual enjoyment of the read. But, thinking on, I may yet revise my rating up to 5 stars.
The first aspect of the Buddha's Eightfold Path is Right View, which means, roughly, having the right basic outlook on the world, or what we might call worldview. The view taught by the Buddha is, of course, the Right View, but in this sutta he lays out all of the wrong views. And when I say all, I mean he declares that these 62 "wrong views" are all the views there are. Whatever your worldview is, it is one of these 62; and if you change your worldview, you will necessarily be changing it to a different one of these 62, for there are no others. The Buddha says explicitly that his list is exhaustive; you can ransack your mind and the cosmos for a 63rd (wrong) view, but you will not find it, for there is no 63rd view.
It's an intriguing and provocative notion, and I would say that anyone, Buddhist or not, who has metaphysical leanings would want to gives this work a read. For one thing, the Buddha is no minor figure of intellectual history, but the founder of a major world religion, and one who specifically stated that he had seen to the depths of reality and achieved omniscience. Of all the people in world history who might make such a claim, he is the one who is most entitled to the suspension of our skepticism, based on what we know about him and on the power and far-reaching effects of his teachings.
So the number is 62, but in fact many of these views are actually the same; they are distinguished because they are held for different reasons. And what about our modern, Western, scientific worldview? Is it in here? Yes it is. As far as I can tell, we mostly embrace a couple of the listed views, since they are categorized by whether they refer to the past or to the future. With regard to the past, we, as a culture, tend to embrace a "doctrine of fortuitous origination, based on reasoning": that is, we believe that we (sentient beings) and the world came to be here by accident, and we believe this based on our own cogitation. With regard to the future, we tend to embrace a view of "annihilationism of the self composed of the four elements." That is, we think that we are mere physical bodies, and that our consciousness is annihilated upon death.
These are modern, scientific views, but, according to the Buddha, they are wrong.
Right View is the first component of the Eightfold Path. If we enter the Buddhist path, the path to the liberation from suffering, with a wrong view of the world, then we are handicapping ourselves. Indeed, we're walking in the wrong direction. And what is the Right View? Basically it is the Buddha's Four Noble Truths: the Truth of Suffering, the Truth of the Origin of Suffering, the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering, and the Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering. These simple-sounding truths are like doors to a vast and interconnected array of teachings, but key aspects to them are that consciousness persists between endlessly repeating rebirths, and that the experiences of each consciousness are driven largely by karma--the consequences of our moral actions, good or bad.
This book contains a couple of other very interesting texts: "A Treatise on the Paramis," the "perfections" of the bodhisattva, or the buddha-in-training who has vowed to help all other sentient beings attain enlightenment before he attains it himself. In the oldest lists there were 10 of these perfections, which eventually became consolidated down to 6, as they are given in the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism. Finally there is "The Meaning of the Word 'Tathagata,'" a detailed discussion of the shades of meaning of this term which was the one the Buddha generally used to refer to himself, often translated "the one thus come."
If you're a Buddhist or a philosophical person, this book will be an important addition to your library.
Displaying 1 of 1 review