The Foundations of Buddhism

36 The Word of Buddha: Scriptures and Schools

( darsana) of Dharma-different visions of the way things are and

the way to act. Of course, when we examine the teachings of the

various schools, we find that there is often substantial common

ground and much borrowing from each other. Yet the.Buddha's

vision and understanding of Dharma must be reckoned to have

had a profound influence on Indian culture and, to an extent unpar-

alleled by other visions of Dharma, on cultures beyond India.

The Buddha regarded the Dharma he had found as 'profound,

hard to see, hard to understand, peaceful, sublime, beyond the

sphere of mere reasoning, subtle, to be experienced by the wise'.

Thus knowledge of Dharma is not something that is acquired

simply by being told the necessary information or by reading

the appropriate texts. Knowledge of Dharma is not a matter of

scholarly and ~ntellectual study. This does mean that such study

may not have a part to play, yet it can never be the whole story.

In fact according to an ancient and authoritative view of the

matter knowledge of Dharma comes about as a result of the

interplay between three kinds of understanding (prajnii/pannii):

that which arises from listening (sruta/suta ), that which arises from

reflection (cintii), and that which arises from spiritual practice

(bhiivanii).^2 The aim of Buddhism is to put into practice a par-

ticular way of living the 'holy life' or 'spiritual life' (brahma-cariya)
that involves training in ethical conduct (fila/slla) and meditative
and contemplative techniques (samiidhi) and which culminates
in the direct realization of the very knowledge (prajnii/paniiii)
the B·uddha himself reached under the tree of awakening. There-
fore what the Buddha taught is often referred to in the early texts
as a system of 'training' (sik~ii/sikkha), and his disciples may be

referred to as being 'in training' (saik~a/sekha) or 'not in need

of further training' (asaik~a/asekha). Thus in certain important
respects the nature of the knowledge that the Buddha was trying

to convey to his pupils is more akin to a skill, like knowing how

to play a musical instrument, than a piece of information, such
as what time the Manchester train leaves tomorrow.
That knowledge of Dharma was conceived of in this way
explains in part why the written word was not originally the
medium for its communication. Practical training is difficult to