In this book the Ven. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu has made the point that the whole Buddha-Dhamma is nothing but the teaching dealing with "what is what". It is a remarkable fact that in this book the Ven. Buddhadasa has explained the meaning of one topic, thereby covering the spirit of the whole of the Buddhist teaching or the Tipitaka. He says that Buddhism is the religion which teaches one to know just this much : "what is what". All the chapters in this book dealing with five aggregates, the four kinds of attachment, intuition in a natural way (chapter VII), intuition by methodical practice (chapter VIII), and other topics all point to "what is what". The expression "what is what" seems to be rather easy to understand, as though it were pointless to think about its meaning. But this appears to be the standpoint of the layman or of those who take the materialist's view. When thinking in the language of Dhamma, however, (for details see the 'Two Kinds of Language' by the same author recently published in English) the knowledge of "what is what" signifies to 'know things as they really are', in Pali 'yathabhuta nanadassana', i.e. penetrating the Three Marks of everthing existent (tilakkhana); the understanding of "what is what" may further be taken in the sense of knowing 'assada, adinava, and nissarana' of all conditioned things, i.e. satisfaction derived from them, the inherent disadvatages, and final emancipation; finally "what is what" is directly pointing at Enlightenment. May the genuine 'loving-kindness' in your minds grow; may it arise in the minds of all beings in the world. The Sublime Life Mission. |
