Chapter 7. The Buddhist MBA Buddhism is not merely a philosophy; it is a religion that consists of a philosophy together with a system of practice leading to its religious goal, i.e. attaining wisdom to see everything the way it is in each breath of life. Its system of practice shall be coined the “Buddhist MBA”. Here, MBA is an abbreviation for Mental Business Administration. Attainment of such wisdom will follow from culmination of one’s skills in one’s administration of one’s own mental business. The tools of administration are IM and EM.
Since one’s I (the Internal World of Senses) is complex and intricate, starting out as the CEO overseeing the whole I may be overwhelming. One may need to start out as a trainee, practicing simple tasks to develop skills and gain experiences before one takes on the entire enterprise. Simple exercises of training for development of one’s skills in applying IM and EM can be invented by restricting IM and EM to subsets of I. For example, consider a subset of N15 X N25 X N33, which is itself a subset of I, consisting of ordered triples of breath consciousness, breath perception, and neutral sensation. As one breathes in, focus one’s attention to the breath in the nostrils and count 1. As one breathes out, focus one’s attention to the breath in the nostrils and count 1. Represent these first two counts by (1,1). Continue in the same manner and count (2,2). Then continue and count (3,3), (4,4), and (5,5). Consider these five pairs of counting as the first round with five inhalations and five exhalations. Repeat the first round and append it with another pair of count (6,6). This is the second round with six inhalations and six exhalations. The third round will consist of seven inhalations and seven exhalations. Continue until reaching the sixth round with counts up to (10,10). This completes the first exercise that can be represented as follows: (1,1) (2,2) (3,3) (4,4) (5,5) (1,1) (2,2) (3,3) (4,4) (5,5) (6,6) (1,1) (2,2) (3,3) (4,4) (5,5) (6,6) (7,7) (1,1) (2,2) (3,3) (4,4) (5,5) (6,6) (7,7) (8,8) (1,1) (2,2) (3,3) (4,4) (5,5) (6,6) (7,7) (8,8) (9,9) (1,1) (2,2) (3,3) (4,4) (5,5) (6,6) (7,7) (8,8) (9,9) (10,10) To complete the above exercise, one must be both intensively and extensively mindful with one’s counting as one breathes in and out. Should one lose track of one’s counting at any time, recollect and start all over until one completes the exercise. Then immediately proceed to the second exercise by repeating the first exercise and so on. All these exercises can be performed anywhere at any time in any posture one may wish. Bed time before one goes to sleep is perhaps a convenient time. One may set one’s own goal as to how many such exercises one wants to perform each time. As one starts seeing the benefits of these exercises, one will want to do more and more. Such an exercise may sound rather simple, but those who have not tried it before will quickly find out concerning their concentration ability.
Chapter 6. Mindfulness In N4, there exist two transformations of particular interest and practical use. They are transformations from I into P, which shall be called “Intensive-Mindfulness (Pāli: sati) transformation” and “Extensive-Mindfulness (Pāli: sampajaññā) transformation”, and denoted by IM and EM, respectively. Buddhist mindfulness is conscious attentiveness. Let (a,b,c) ∈I . Then IM(a,b,c) is the knowledge acquired from conscious attention to the occurrence of (a,b,c) by watching the phenomenon locally and EM(a,b,c) is the knowledge acquired from conscious attention to the occurrence of (a,b,c) that is being watched by IM over an extended period of time. For example, suppose that a ∈ N15 such that a = r5(x) where x is an inhale breath, b ∈N25, and c ∈N33. That is, a is the touch consciousness arising from the inhale breath passing through the nostrils, b the corresponding touch perception, and c a neutral sensation. In this example, IM(a,b,c) is indifferent awareness (a kind of knowledge) at the nostrils of the entering breath and EM(a,b,c) is indifferent awareness of the entering breath through the nostrils over an extended period of time. Continuing to . . .
Chapter 5. Heaven and Hell When a sensory receptor and a sensory object meet, an element of the Internal World of Senses occurs. At this juncture, if we think wisely, peace and happiness naturally take their course. However, if we think ignorantly, misery and suffering will inevitably follow. When we are happy, we say that we are in “heaven” and when we feel miserable, we say that we are in “hell”. That is, heaven and hell are states of mind and are momentary depending on our thoughts. If we think wisely, we are on our way to heaven and if we think ignorantly, we pave our way to hell. Mathematically, think of N4 as a set of transformations with various domains and ranges. Some are from I (the Internal World of Senses) into P (the World of Wisdom) and many are from I into T X U (the World of Ignorance). Still, some are real functionals on P and T X U measuring amounts of happiness (in heaven) and misery (in hell), respectively. Others will be introduced at appropriate time.
Chapter 4. Wisdom and Ignorance “Wisdom” (Pāli: paññā) is knowledge of the three universal states of things (anattatā, aniccatā, dukkhatā). Lack thereof is “ignorance” (Pāli: avijja). To be wise is therefore to be constantly aware of these universal laws. At the very moment of forgetfulness of the laws, one becomes ignorant. That is, wisdom and ignorance are moments to moments, i.e. they are functions of time. Craving (Pāli: taṇhā) and attachment (Pāli: upādāna) are two common manifestations of human ignorance. To crave for or attach to something (saṅkhatadhamma) at any moment of time is evidence of not recognizing at that moment that the very thing one craves for or attaches to is impermanent (aniccā), unstable (dukkhā), and has no fundamental identity (anattā). Heed therefore Buddha’s advice:
“Sabbe dhamma nalam abhinivesaya.”
That is, "nothing whatsoever should be clung to". Since we were born ignorant and have by and large lived among the ignorant, we have not normally been educated or trained to be wise. On the contrary, we have been systematically educated and trained to crave and attach. In all, our craving is of three types and attachment four kinds. We crave sensual pleasures (Pāli: kāma-taṇhā), crave to become (Pāli: bhava-taṇhā), and crave not to be (Pāli: vibhava-taṇhā). Our attachments are sensual (Pāli: kamupadana), habitual (Pāli: silabbatupadana), theoretic (Pāli: ditthupadana), and egoistic (Pāli: attavadupadana) in nature. Having been led to walk such a normal well-trodden path, it becomes extremely difficult to see, think, and behave wisely. We must unlearn and learn anew to see, to think, to speak, and to act wisely. Let T be the set of all human cravings and U be the set of all human attachments. The set T X U will be called the “World of Ignorance”, while P will be used to denote the “World of Wisdom”, the set of all knowledge based on “Wisdom” (Pāli: paññā) defined above. Continuing to . . .
Chapter 3. The Worlds of Senses H contains six sense receptors:
r1, eyes to see; r2, ears to hear; r3, nose to smell; r4, tongue to taste; r5, body to touch; r6, mind to recall and imagine.
Let E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, and E6 be the sets of the corresponding sense objects of r1, r2, r3, r4, r5, and r6, respectively. Each ri (where i = 1,2,3,4,5,6) can be thought of as a mapping (possibly multivalued) from the set Ei into the set N1i X N2i X N3j (where j = 1,2,3). That is, if x ∈ Ei, then ri(x) = (y, z, w) where y ∈N1i, z ∈N2i, and w ∈N3j. For example, when the eyes (r1) see something (x ∈E1), eye-consciousness (y ∈N11), perception pertaining to the eyes (z ∈N21), and eye-related sensation/feeling (w ∈N3j) arise and the sensation/feeling is pleasant for the case j = 1. Define the set I (“Internal World of Senses”) and the set E (“External World of Senses”) as follows: I = (N11 X N21 X N31) U (N12 X N22 X N31) U (N13 X N23 X N31)
U (N14 X N24 X N31) U (N15 X N25 X N31) U (N16 X N26 X N31)
U (N11 X N21 X N32) U (N12 X N22 X N32) U (N13 X N23 X N32)
U (N14 X N24 X N32) U (N15 X N25 X N32) U (N16 X N26 X N32)
U (N11 X N21 X N33) U (N12 X N22 X N33) U (N13 X N23 X N33)
U (N14 X N24 X N33) U (N15 X N25 X N33) U (N16 X N26 X N33)
and
E = E1 U E2 U E3 U E4 U E5 U E6.
If we set
X= D – I – E
and solve for D, we obtain
D = I U E U X.
Now, if we stipulate that X = Ø, we have an “anthropocentric partition” for D:
D = I U E.
An argument that can be given for X to be empty is that any dhamma not detectable by the physical five senses is certainly comprehensible by the sixth sense. Our approach is to not make the assumption and leave the issue to future proof and/or discovery. Continuing to . . .
Chapter 2. Human Nature Dhamma can aggregate to form more dhamma and the aggregates can combine to form bigger and more complicated dhamma, and so on. There are five aggregates that are of particular interest. They are referred to as the "Five Aggregates" (Pāli: Panca Khandha) and will collectively be denoted byH . The set H consists of two subsets, R (Pāli: Rūpa) containing one aggregate and N (Pāli: Nāma) containing four aggregates, which will be denoted by N1, N2, N3, and N4. His identifiable to a human individual with R and N being what commonly referred to as the human body and the human mind, respectively. More precisely, R contains (or includes) all body parts, external and internal organs including all the sense organs, nerves, blood, fluid, as well as all the physical, chemical, and physiological processes. N1 contains six kinds of sense-consciousness, i.e. eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, taste-consciousness, touch-consciousness, and mental consciousness. The Pāli term for N1 is "viññāna". N2 is perception and sixfold with respect to the five senses and the ideas perceived by the mind. The Pāli term for N2 is "saññā". N3 contains three kinds of sensation and feeling, i.e. positive or pleasant, negative or unpleasant, and neutral or neither pleasant nor unpleasant. The Pāli term for N3 is "vedanā". N4 is thinking and all kinds of mental formation. The Pāli term for N4 is "saṅkhāra". In sum, H ∈DandH⊂Dsuch that
H = R UN where N = N1 U N2 U N3 U N4.
Furthermore,
N1 = N11 U N12 U N13 U N14 U N15 U N16
where N11, N12, N13, N14, N15, and N16 are eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, taste-consciousness, touch-consciousness, and mental consciousness, respectively. Similarly,
N2 = N21 U N22 U N23 U N24 U N25 U N26
where N21, N22, N23, N24, N25, and N26 are perceptions pertaining to the eye, ear, nose, taste, touch, and mind, respectively. In addition,
N3 = N31 U N32 U N33
where N31, N32, and N33 are positive, negative, and neutral sensation and feeling, respectively. Continuing to . . .
“Dhamma” (Pāli) or "Dharma" (Sanskrit) is a term that will be used to refer to things, may they be material or conceptual, forms or names, matter or mind or feeling, big or small, visible or invisible, past or present, born or unborn, etc. A chair, an animal, air, molecules, atoms, nuclei, quarks, beauty, goodness, hatred, happiness, sadness, properties, characteristics, learning, teaching, etc. are all dhamma. We will use the word “dhamma” in both singular and plural forms.
All dhamma have one common characteristic of being in the same state called “anattatā”. Anattatā is another Pali term that means the state of voidness, having no ultimate identity. An automobile is merely an assembly of parts, all of which can be broken down further, down to molecules, atoms, and further.
Dhamma are said to be “saṅkhatadhamma” (or “saṅkhāradhamma”) if they are in two additional states, viz. “aniccatā”, the state of constant change, impermanence, and uncertainty, and “dukkhatā”, the state of constant struggle and instability. Thus, all saṅkhatadhamma that have come into existence (birth) will necessarily transform (decay, getting sick) and eventually go out of existence (disintegration, death). Dhamma that are not saṅkhatadhamma are called “asaṅkhatadhamma” (or “visaṅkharadhamma”).
In Buddha’s own words,
“Sabbe dhamma anattā” ;
“Sabbe saṅkhāra aniccā” ;
“Sabbe saṅkhāra dukkhā”
where "sabbe" means "all".
Mathematically, let D be the set or collection of all things in the universe and beyond. We shall refer to the elements in D as “δ-elements”. A δ-element may be material, conceptual, known, or still unknown. All δ-elements have one common fundamental property, called “α-property”. One way to describe this fundamental property is to say that every δ-element has no ultimate identity. What this means is that when a δ-element is analyzed, the ultimate finding will always be nothingness, emptiness, or void.
The set D can be partitioned into two disjoint subsets:
D =S ∪A such as S ∩A =∅.
Members of S are δ-elements with two additional properties to be described later. Members of A are δ-elements that do not belong to S, i.e. A = D – S. Let us call the elements of S and A “σ-elements” and “α-elements”, respectively. Every σ-element is always in the state of instability and constant decay and we shall refer to this characteristic as “β-property”. Furthermore, every σ-element is dynamic and always in the state of change, and thus transitory; this characteristic of the σ-elements shall be referred to as “γ-property”.
In sum, all δ-elements have α-property and some, the σ-elements, have β-property and γ-property as well, while α-elements have only α-property. In symbols,
S = { δ∈D: δ has α-property, β-property, and γ-property }
and
A = { δ∈D: δ has only α-property }.
Finally, note that if A = Ø, then D = S .Generally, Buddhists believe that A ≠ Ø. Since the present approach is mathematical and scientific, whether A is a null set awaits proof and/or discovery.
Putting the above two (nonmathematical and mathematical) parts together, it should be obvious that δ-elements, σ-elements, and α-elements refer to dhamma, saṅkhatadhamma, and asaṅkhatadhamma, respectively, while anattatā, dukkhatā, and aniccatā are mathematically referred to as α-property, β-property, and γ-property, respectively. Note, however, that the latter three concepts are undefined, i.e. are not defined in terms of previously defined concepts, but are only described by appealing to intuition and everyday experience. Mathematicians call this kind of concepts “primitive notions”, “primitive terms”, or “undefined terms”. In that view, “dhamma” or “ D ” is also considered as a primitive term. Furthermore, the above three statements made by the Buddha can be viewed as “axioms”, as in mathematics, and “laws” or “principles”, as in physics. In other words, they should be considered as starting points of the presently new discipline being proposed herewith. Those who are familiar with Buddhism know that these axioms or laws, known as “the three universal characteristics of things”, constitute the very core of Buddhism or the heart of Buddha’s teaching. Some serious practitioners of Buddhism even believe that if and when they truly understand these concepts, they would become “enlightened” or would have reached “nibbana” (or nirvana). Therefore, one can consider all that will follow as further illumination for these basic concepts. Since Buddhism is neither a purely logical system nor a philosophy per se, but a discipline with specifically practical training and self-development, the insight to be obtained from its practice will build up one’s intuition for these fundamental notions. In any case, whether the above axioms and primitive terms are sufficient to axiomatize Buddhism or the formalism will lead to an extension of modern science remains to be seen.
Application to daily living
1. Since everything is anattā (in the state of void, lacking an ultimate identity), in our daily living we must not cling to anything as if it is real or fix our view to it. We must not fall into a delusion that we can possess it or take it to be ours.
2. Since everything is aniccā (in the state of constant change, impermanent and uncertain), in our daily living we must be nimble, ready to change with situations under the presently moving circumstance. We must be dynamic. How can we live in harmony (and thus at peace) with things in this dynamic world if we are static and resist to changes? In order to harmonize with things around us, we must therefore be dynamic in every nanosecond (so to speak) of our life, as are all the electrons in every atom in our body.
3. Since everything is dukkhā (in the state of constant struggle, unstable), in our daily living we must constantly keep in mind that everything that we come into contact is necessarily decaying, unstable by its own nature, and will eventually disappear. We ourselves are also unstable and decaying as well. This is just the way things are and we are simply powerless to change this natural course. The best we can do is to recognize it and live wisely.
